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- BMW Expands Factory Use of Humanoid Robots
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Category Archives: people
Second Shift at GM Oshawa Assembly is Half Women
Pickups trucks are GM’s largest and currently the most important market segment in North America. The Oshawa plant – once doomed only a couple of years ago as GM prepared to abandon it because of NAFTA and archaic attitudes toward labor, will help GM meet demand for trucks. Oshawa Assembly is now one of the most flexible and advanced of its kind in the industry, GM claims. Oshawa began shipping trucks to dealers in December 2021. Continue reading
Posted in manufacturing, people
Tagged auto industry commentary, autoinformed.com, Ken Zino, Oshawa Assembly, Silverado pickup
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MLK – Changes in African American People Since 1964
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
Mike Krack Leaves BMW for Aston Martin Formula One
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
Posted in people, performance, racing
Tagged Aston Martin Formula One, auto industry commentary, autoinformed.com, f1, Ken Zino, LMDh, M4 GT3, Mike Krack
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Amazon and Stellantis to Connect Vehicles to Digital Services
The STLA SmartCockpit platform will use Amazon products that are purpose-built for vehicles, it’s claimed. Stellantis will produce custom, brand and vehicle-specific capabilities. The software will offer services through an app store displayed through an “adaptive user interface design that presents timely, relevant information and features suited to each occupant’s individual needs and preferences.” In other words, you will be tracked. What happens to your personal information – how it is used, sold or resold or given to government entities – was not disclosed in the announcement. Continue reading
Notable Deaths During 2021
“This is a crisis. More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind. We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America,” said United States Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Continue reading
Census – Who Aren’t Vaccinated Against COVID?
Most of the Household Pulse Survey response options are either about information (“Don’t know if it will protect me”) or trust (“Don’t trust the vaccine”). However, one involves access: “It’s hard for me to get a COVID-19 vaccine.” Continue reading
Mustang Mach-E SUVs Delivered to ‘Customers’ in China
The locally-produced Mach-E is being sold via Ford BEV’s tiny network of 25 direct-to-customer stores located in major Chinese metropolitan markets Continue reading
Posted in connected vehicles, electric vehicles, marketing, people
Tagged auto industry commentary, autoinformed.com, changan ford, china, Ken Zino
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Nikola to Pay $125 Million to SEC on Fraud Charges
The SEC’s order says that “before Nikola had produced a single commercial product, Milton embarked on a public relations campaign aimed at inflating and maintaining Nikola’s stock price. Milton’s statements in tweets and media appearances falsely gave investors the impression that Nikola had reached certain product and technological milestones.” Continue reading
Census – US Population Growth Slowest Ever
Given our urgent need to be internationally competitive and the staunch Republican opposition to helping poor families and young children in favor of tax cuts for the super wealthy, the news comes at a particularly bad time for the Party of Nope , aka Republicans or the grand old white NOPe. When will they put country over ideological allegiance to what is now the party of insurrection and treason? Continue reading
Volkswagen Spending $20M on 50-State EV Dealer Fitness
Volkswagen also has started an EV Technician Retention Program to support dealers by increasing training, “incentivize their highly skilled technicians, and recruit new talent equipped at addressing the EV shift.” The program enables Volkswagen and participating dealers to financially reward dealership technicians with a retention bonus of $2,000 per year, “empowering them to gain new individual certifications to enhance their skills and build up cexpertise for the ID.4 and all coming electric Volkswagens. Continue reading
Posted in electric vehicles, labor issues, people
Tagged auto industry commentary, autoinformed.com, Ken Zino, Volkswagen ID.4
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Hazel Chapman Co-Founder of Lotus Dead at 94
“Her contribution to motorsport and the motor industry in the latter half of the 20th century should not be under-estimated. She was a successful racing driver, a shrewd businesswoman and the rock upon which the Lotus foundations – since 1948, when the very first Lotus car was made – were built. Her involvement in the development of the Lotus business was almost without equal at the time, in a world where women so often played second fiddle to their husbands,” said Lotus. Continue reading
Posted in milestones, people
Tagged auto industry commentary, autoinformed.com, Graham Hill, Hazel Chapman of Lotus, jim clark, Ken Zino, Lotus Formula 1
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Hagerty Debuts as a Publicly Traded NYSE Company
The transaction values Hagerty* at a pro forma enterprise of, gulp, ~$3.1 billion. Net proceeds of ~$265 million it’s claimed will be used to advance Hagerty’s growth. Hagerty is self-described as an automotive lifestyle brand and a leading specialty insurance provider focused on the global automotive enthusiast market. The firm has been close to the automotive Concourse scene with financial support, particularly in the US. It also sponsors classic car ride-and-drives associated with classic auto shows or events. Continue reading
Immunomedics CFO Charged with Insider Trading
Herewith the, err, lowlights from the SEC legal action: while serving as CFO of Immunomedics, Usama Malik learned that the FDA had permitted the company to halt a clinical trial for a breast cancer drug because the existing trial data provided compelling evidence that the drug was effective. Malik – who was subject to a trading “black-out” that prohibited him and anyone living in his household from purchasing Immunomedics stock – immediately told Lauren S. Wood, with whom he lived at the time, as well as three family members. Wood and two of the family members then bought Immunomedics stock, as did an account in the name of the third family member’s spouse. Continue reading
Thanksgiving 2021 – We Celebrate Our 401st Annual Feast
This war was won – against all odds by common militias and irregulars. They compelled a superpower British Army to surrender in the field for the first time since the tyrant Napoleon – because the Crown and its privileged generals were fighting an idea first put forth in our Declaration of Independence, then codified in our Constitution that “We the People” would govern ourselves. This WE idea was bigger than a richly privileged class who hired others to fight for them. Now, once again, the courtiers of privilege and wealth – if not mega-wealth itself – is presiding over our fate using hatred and drummed up grievances that omit WE in favor of traitorous behavior aimed at burning Our Constitution at the hands of proud boys of insurrection. Continue reading
Daytona This Weekend Starts 2022 IMSA Racing Season
The pole is significant beyond it starting position because this is the second yearpoints for qualifying count in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Last year, the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R claimed the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) championship over WTR by 11 points – the same margin it gained in qualifying points during the course of the 2021 season. Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi V.R was third in the DPi class grid with co-drivers Mike Rockenfeller, Jimmie Johnson and Jose Maria Lopez. Continue reading →