Category Archives: news

Former Nikola and GM Engineer Joins Volkswagen of American

“Lyndon brings incredible experience to the Volkswagen brand, which will help us achieve our goal of growing our market share across North America in this decade,” said Pablo Di Si, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “Designing and engineering our vehicles to meet the unique needs of our markets is more critical than ever before. To achieve this, we continue to take proactive steps to strengthen our capabilities and experience within the North American market.” Continue reading

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US Sales Lengthen Bidenomics Growth Streak in July

“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, July continued the trends that we have observed for several months now. As vehicle availability has improved, sales have grown, and the economy remains sufficiently strong to support the market’s activity, despite high transaction prices, rising interest rates and fears of a recession later in the year or in 2024,” said David Oakley, Manager, Americas Sales Forecasts, GlobalData. Continue reading

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First Look – Automobili Pininfarina PURA Vision

Automobili Pininfarina today in the Cambiano part of Turin introduced its PURA Vision design concept of an electric luxury vehicle – e-LUV in marketing babble. The new design concept will inspire the next generation of Automobili Pininfarina’s pure electric luxury vehicles and will make its public debut at Monterey Car Week in August, where it will appear alongside the recently revealed Battista Edizione Nino Farina hyper GT and another new production vehicle. Continue reading

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Parts Maker Sinister Diesel to Pay $1 Million After Guilty Plea

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced in the criminal case by US District Court Judge John A. Mendez for the Eastern District of California on 14 November 2023. Although Sinister Diesel agreed to pay a $500,000 criminal fine under its plea agreement, the company faces – for each count – a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense. Its sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of all applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which consider a number of variables. Continue reading

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First Look – 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota (NYSE: TM) has finally officially acknowledged that its longest-running nameplate will return to the North American after a three-year hiatus. Moreover,  the off-road vehicle is less expensive with a MSRP in the mid-$50,000 range. (The Lexus LX 600 version of the platform is on sale now in the US at ~$100,000.) Now built off of the less expensive TNGA-F global truck platform, the new Land Cruiser is available with the range-topping i-FORCE MAX hybrid powertrain producing 326 horsepower and 465 lb.-ft. of torque. Continue reading

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EPA Awards Grants to 21 Student Teams on Public Health

“EPA’s P3 program, now in its twentieth year, is an exciting and unique program that recognizes the power of students to translate imagination and science into new solutions that protect human health and the environment,” said Chris Frey, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. Continue reading

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Toyota Posts Strong FY 2024 Q1 Results – $9.2 Billion Net

Sales volume increased in all regions due to productivity improvements inside TMC and with its suppliers. Consolidated vehicle sales Q1 was 2,326,000 units, at 115.5% of consolidated vehicle sales for the same period of the previous fiscal year. Toyota and Lexus vehicle sales was at 2,538,000 thousand units, at 108.4% of such sales for the same period of the previous fiscal year. This coincided with the better supply of  semiconductors, which is still delaying delivery, particularly on new models. Notably, electrified vehicles were 34% of total sales. Continue reading

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New Pattern Bargaining – UAW and Unifor Strike All Makers?

“This year, negotiations are expected to be more contentious, and UAW President Shawn Fain has alluded that things may be done differently this time around which could mean that they negotiate with all three simultaneously – ultimately leading to a strike against all of the Detroit 3 if their demands are not met,” said Taylor Prodin, Analyst, Americas Vehicle Forecasts, GlobalData*. Continue reading

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Ford Motor Recalls 2023 Super Duty Pickups

Ford said, “If the driver and front passenger door module experiences a low power condition and resets while the window is moving, the anti-pinch function may not detect an obstacle near the top edge and may not automatically reverse direction.” Continue reading

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Toyota China Re-Org as EV and Trade Wars Proceed

“The Chinese market is growing at an unprecedented pace,” said Tatsuro Ueda, Chief Executive Officer of the China Region. “Toyota will also work together as a group to reform how we work and think to survive in China.” Continue reading

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USDOT Proposes 58 MPG Fuel Economy Standard

The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today issued a proposal to update fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The “preferred alternative” among several in NHTSA’s proposal includes a 2% per year improvement in fuel efficiency for passenger cars and a 4% per year improvement for light trucks beginning in model year 2027. This increases through model year 2032, potentially reaching an average fleet fuel economy of 58 miles per gallon by 2032. However, NHTSA notes that real word fuel economy is ~20-30% lower than estimated CAFE fuel economy.* Continue reading

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Lotus Engineering Shows New Olympic Bike

Lotus Engineering showed today gen 2 of the Hope-Lotus bike with revised front forks and handlebars and the HBT Paris Frame, developed by Hope Technology. Lotus Engineering has collaborated with the Great Britain Cycling Team (GBCT), Hope Technology and Renishaw to modify the Tokyo 2020 track bike which contributed to the track team winning seven Olympic medals and leading the event medal table. The competitive track debut will be in August at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Continue reading

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Porsche to Buy All of IT Consultancy MHP

The global auto industry is in the midst of a digital transformation after a century of blacksmithing metals. Internal processes, customer interactions, computer-based charging or other services are all becoming competitive requirements. Continue reading

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Stellantis Completes Symbio Hydrogen Purchase

“The addition of Stellantis as a shareholder will boost Symbio’s development across Europe and in the US,” Stellantis said. Acquiring an equal stake in Symbio supports Stellantis  fuel cell van production in France, and supplements the company’s growing battery electric vehicle portfolio. Continue reading

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EU New Commercial Vehicle Registrations Up in H1 2023

Commercial vehicle sales in Europe are up in double digits during H1 2023, according to ACEA* data released this morning. During the first half of 2023, new EU van sales increased by 11.6% to 725,418 units as supply chain issues eased. Continue reading

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