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Category Archives: milestones
Miss Shilling’s Orifice Fixed Merlin Engines on Spitfires
In one of those odd and startling connections, we are in a war now against Covid that will require the collective sacrifice and patriotism that was on display during the British battle and subsequently – in another parallel – our struggles under the Roosevelt Administration that followed a demonstrably incompetent Republican one. Continue reading
Droning On: FAA Belatedly Issues Unmanned Aircraft Regs. Bits of Aircraft Rules Pilots Obey Now Will Eventually Apply
These rules come at a time when drones are the fastest-growing segment in the entire transportation sector – with currently more than 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA “certificated” (not even close to what private pilots must know on the FAA written test) remote pilots. Continue reading
COVID Changes – Porsche Starts Online Car Sales in Europe
The dealers in the nine countries offer most of their new and used cars on the platform. These include standard variants of the Porsche models as well as rare derivatives. There are also plans to further expand the platform, claims Porsche, who is dependent on dealers for distribution unlike Tesla. Continue reading
Posted in marketing, milestones, sales
Tagged auto industry commentary, autoinformed, autoinformed.com, Ken Zino, online selling, Porsche online
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EU – Truck Makers Agree to Be Fossil-Fuel-Free By 2040
This is a bold move considering that ~97% of new European trucks sold are powered with diesel engines. It also underscores a growing movement of citizen voters who hold corporations accountable for negative social effects produced by their goods and services. The incoming President Biden Administration has promised to address environmental issues mocked by loser Trump and has already said it will rejoin l’accord de Paris. This agreement is within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation. AutoInformed thinks that it is only a question of time before a similar deal is put in place in the US. Continue reading
Posted in alternative fuels, electric vehicles, energy, environment, milestones, news analysis, transportation
Tagged auto industry commentary, autoinformed, autoinformed.com, European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, Henrik Henriksson, Ken Zino, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
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US, Mexican Volkswagen Plants to Link with Industrial Cloud
The Industrial Cloud is an IT platform, designed to gather and analyze data from all connected Volkswagen Group facilities on a real-time basis to help increase efficiency and productivity. Volkswagen’s three North American plants are the first outside Europe to be networked with the Industrial Cloud. The three Volkswagen locations are expected to be connected by the end of the year. As early as spring 2021, Chattanooga, Puebla and Silao could access standardized software applications that are available for all factories in the Volkswagen Group connected to the Industrial Cloud. Continue reading
Milestones – 10th Anniversary of First US LEAF Delivery
Produced at plants in the U.S., Japan, and the U.K., the Nissan LEAF is sold in 59 markets around the world. Continue reading
CARB Regulation Limits Chemical Refrigerants to Lower Levels
The refrigerants, known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, are super pollutants because they trap heat in the atmosphere thousands of times more effectively than carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas. These rules can serve as a national model for super pollutant reduction and come at a time when the newly elected Biden Administration is promising to do something about Global Warming after years of Republican resistance or malfeasance. Continue reading
GM Signs MoU with Nikola to Supply Hydrotec Fuel Cells
Despite decades of fuel cell research, GM appears to be far behind Toyota in the market use of fuel cell commercial vehicles – increasingly looking like a mandatory segment for survivors of the commercial truck wars. Continue reading
CARB Alters and Adds Stationary Source Emissions Measurements to Improve Local Air Pollution and Health
Once fully implemented, the amendments aim to create a unified reporting mechanism resulting in the most comprehensive emissions inventory programs in the nation. They also established expanded and consistent reporting applicability criteria that determines which facilities need to report their emissions data, CARB said. Continue reading
GM Doubles Down on EVs in Bid to Win Global Race
“Climate change is real, and we want to be part of the solution by putting everyone in an electric vehicle,” said Barra. “We are transitioning to an all-electric portfolio from a position of strength and we’re focused on growth. We can accelerate our EV plans because we are rapidly building a competitive advantage in batteries, software, vehicle integration, manufacturing and customer experience.” Barra’s announcement is in line with President Biden as of 20 January 2021. Continue reading
Nürburgring – Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S Beats Porsche
This variant and this lap time are officially listed by Nürburgring GmbH on their homepage. Mercedes-AMG has regained the crown in the class for the moment. The freshened Porsche Panamera Turbo S set a 7m 29.81s earlier this year, bettering the 7m 30.11s lap Schaffert set a couple of years ago. The AMG record run footage shows a mostly clean, albeit with some curb clipping/banging and the Michelin tires screaming during turns. Continue reading
FAW J7+ Autonomous Truck Passes Chinese Certification
China with its own vast market and a Communist central government that can quickly decree and implement policy – think Covid response or Trump’s defeat in the trade war he started – would seem to have an advantage here. It is lucky for western automakers that Chinese industrial policy allowed them to operate there but only with local partners. How the pie is sliced outside of China when and if the exports become voluminous will be subject to much behind the scenes maneuvering and uncomfortable board meetings Continue reading
Commerce – Countervailing Duties on Vietnamese Cars,Tires
Among the subsidies preliminarily countervailed is Vietnam’s undervalued currency. This is the first time that Commerce has ever made an affirmative CVD determination regarding a foreign currency with a unitary exchange rate. Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of passenger tires from Vietnam based on these preliminary rates above. Continue reading
New Mercedes-Benz Strategy Aimed to Help Higher Profits
This follows the Q2 Daimler disaster. The COVID pandemic or the Grim Reaper saw a decline in demand for cars, vans, trucks and buses. Group total sales decreased by -34% to 541,800 cars and commercial vehicles (Q2 2019: 821,700). Revenue slipped significantly by -29% to €30.2 billion (Q2 2019: €42.7 billion). EBIT was minus -€1,682 million (Q2 2019: minus -€1,558 million). Adjusted EBIT was -€708 million (Q2 2019: plus €2,447 million). Continue reading
BrightDrop? New GM Business Will Electrify, Improve Goods and Services Delivery
BrightDrop introduces GM’s Ultium platform to the commercial vehicle segment and has Level 2 and DC fast charging capabilities. FedEx Express will be the first customer of BrightDrop. An EP1 pilot program has been completed in partnership with FedEx Express. During the pilot, FedEx Express couriers were able to handle 25% more packages effectively and safely per day with the EP1s. FedEx couriers said that the EP1s were easy to maneuver and reduced physical strain. Continue reading →