Category Archives: auto news

General Motors Launches Online Parts Sales

Posted on 19 January 2022 by Ken Zino

GM forecasts that online sales of parts and accessories will make up a $40 billion total potential market by 2030. GM claims there will be significant revenue growth from its expanded e-commerce effort. GM launched online accessory sales in 2015 and sells all of its 5,000 accessory products online. Continue reading →

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Blink Charging to Supply EV Chargers to GM Dealerships

Posted on 18 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Working with ABM, which delivers turnkey EV charging installations, Blink has already started shipping chargers to selected GM dealerships and currently has orders on hand to supply GM dealers in the U.S. and Canada with additional charging stations over the next several months. Continue reading →

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Canopy – Ford Forms JV with ADT Home Security

Posted on 18 January 2022 by Ken Zino

New products will integrate the Safe by ADT platform to provide professional monitoring and help businesses protect work equipment in vehicles and individual owners improve security inside and outside of their vehicles. Canopy plans to launch industry-first, multi-sensor security systems with optional professional monitoring early next year. Continue reading →

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Renault 2021 Global Sales at 1,751,089 or -6%

Posted on 17 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Markets outside of Europe now represent 44% of Renault’s sales (+2 pts vs 2020). The New Renault Duster launch registered sales: 41,000 units in Russia (+31% vs 2020), 22,000 units in Brazil (+15% vs 2020), 6,200 sales in Mexico (+55% vs 2020) and 9,100 sales in Colombia (+34% vs 2020). In India, the new Renault Kiger sold 29,000 units. This is 30% of Renault sales there. Renault claims this “upselling strategy” for this market is working. Continue reading →

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MLK – Changes in African American People Since 1964

Posted on 17 January 2022 by Ken Zino

In noting Martin Luther King day, here are data* about African Americans relating to differences between 1964 and 2020 in the percentage of African Americans completing high school, the number of African American college students, and the percentage of citizen population voting in the United States. Continue reading →

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CARB – New Diesel Regs Cost Effective, Lobbyists Wrong

Posted on 14 January 2022 by Ken Zino

A key part of the report AutoInformed thinks is when CARB staff compared 2022 model year warranty cost estimates made by CARB and manufacturers that reflect the intermediate impact of lengthening warranty periods. The report finds that, on a “per miles covered” basis, the industry data essentially agrees with CARB’s lower estimates for current model year vehicles. Continue reading →

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Mike Krack Leaves BMW for Aston Martin Formula One

Posted on 14 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Mike Krack the head of BMW M Motorsport is leaving the company at his request and moving to Aston Martin Formula 1 as team principal. Andreas Roos will take over responsibility for the motorsport activities of BMW M on 1 … Continue reading →

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IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona – 61 Cars Entered

Posted on 13 January 2022 by Ken Zino

“The racing world turns its eyes to the Rolex 24 every year since it typically kicks off the season for everyone in the industry and draws such an immense amount of international driver and team talent together,” IMSA President John Doonan said. Continue reading →

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Biden Proposes New Clean Energy Policies and Actions on Offshore Winds, Public Lands, Transmission Lines

Posted on 13 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Build Back Better will, no doubt, continue to be opposed by the Republican party comprised of nope-dopes heavily financed by fossil-fuel and related businesses. Continue reading →

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NADA Predicts 2022 New-Vehicle Sales of 15.4M, up 3.4%

Posted on 11 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Whether such long-term predictions are of any use is an open question at AutoInformed given the volatility of the ongoing COVID pandemic. Consider that 2021 closed with new-light vehicle sales of 14.93 million units, an increase of 3.1% compared to 2020’s sales volume of 14.47 million units. However, December 2021’s SAAR totaled just 12.44 million units, a decrease of -23.7% compared to December of 2020. Continue reading →

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Used Car Marketplace Catch Up? GM introduces CarBravo

Posted on 11 January 2022 by Ken Zino

CarBravo uses the resources of GM, GM Financial and the GM dealer network to create a flexible, shopping and buying service that is already in full use at True Car, Edmunds, Autotrader, Cars Direct and AutoNation, among others. Major automakers have been slow to use the resources of the web, but Covid has forced changes in standard business practices across the vast automotive industry and the aftermarket. Continue reading →

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BMW – Digital Art Coming in Cars During 2022?

Posted on 10 January 2022 by Ken Zino

These new modes in BMW geek speak ,filtered through marketing babble: “Their unique moments enhance BMW’s driving experience by creating a synergy of the vehicle’s functions and its interior design. Depending on the driving situation and the overall mood, a holistic user experience featuring both a functional and an emotional level can be created at the touch of a button or via voice control. To that end, drive control and steering control, mood lighting and sound as well as the color scheme and graphics of the BMW Curved Display are precisely synchronized.” Continue reading →

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First Place! Toyota Ousts GM as US Sales End 2021 at 14.9m

Posted on 6 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Overall, US Light Vehicle sales in December fall by 27% YoY, ending a chaotic 2021 at 14.9 million units. LMC noted that even December – traditionally one of the strongest months of the year – flopped and registered the steepest YoY decline of the calendar. AutoInformed notes the rate of change in the Covid infected world is increasingly making traditional long-term based indexes – such as calendar years irrelevant, or even downright harmful indicators for policy makers, businesses and anyone who uses them for planning. Continue reading →

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GM, Qualcomm Enabling Hands-Free Driving in 2023

Posted on 6 January 2022 by Ken Zino

In Silicon Valley geek speak: “The Ultra Cruise compute is comprised of two Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs and one SA9000P AI accelerator to deliver key low-latency control functions on 16-core CPUs and high-performance AI compute of more than 300 Tera Operations Per Second for camera, radar and lidar processing. The Snapdragon SoCs are designed with 5nm process technology, enabling superior performance and power efficiency. The Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs will provide the necessary bandwidth for Ultra Cruise’s sensing, perception, planning, localization, mapping and driver monitoring.” Continue reading →

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Volvo Car 2021 Global Sales +5.6% at 698,693

Posted on 6 January 2022 by Ken Zino

However, Volvo delivered 64,436 retail vehicles in December, a decline of -18.1% compared to the same month in 2020. “The result was significantly influenced by continued component supply shortages, which affected production and consequently deliveries to customers,” Volvo said. Almost 40% of all new Volvo cars sold in December were Recharge models, with fully electric cars comprising 7.4%. Continue reading →

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