Air Travel Consumer Complaints Up 2.7X Pre-Pandemic levels

Posted on 29 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Air Travel Consumer Complaints Up 2.7X Pre-Pandemic Levels

Number One in June cancellations!

The  latest US Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) on airline operational data compiled for the month of June and for the second quarter of 2022 shows a 35% increase in air travel service complaints from May to June. Complaints are up nearly 270% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

DOT uses the data from the ATCR, consumer complaints, and other information it secures from the airlines to inform its enforcement activities and the adequacy of existing rules. Judging by DOT’s own data, clearly its so-called rules from its Office of Aviation Consumer Protection are ineffective to laughable in AutoInformed’s view. However if you are in the automobile business, it’s an incentive to use vehicles for your transportation needs. Free marketing from the Airline industry and the US Government.
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LG Energy Solution, Honda to Form US EV Battery Production

Posted on 29 August 2022 by Ken Zino

Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on LG Energy Solution, Honda to Form US EV Battery ProductionLG Energy Solution* (LGES: KRX 373220) and Honda Motor Co. (NYSE:HMC) today announced they will form a joint venture (JV) company to produce lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. to power Honda and Acura EV models for the North American market. With this agreement, LGES and Honda claim they will invest a total of $4.4 billion and establish a new JV plant in the US. The pouch-type batteries made at the new plant will be supplied exclusively to Honda factories in North America.

The two companies want to begin construction in early 2023 with the start of mass production of advanced lithium-ion battery cells by the end of 2025. The plant will have an annual production capacity of ~40GWh but the location has not yet been established. Let the taxpayer-financed bidding war on incentives among the states begin.
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CARB Shows Heavy-Duty Inspection and Maintenance Program

Posted on 29 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on CARB Shows Heavy-Duty Inspection and Maintenance Program

Implement to breath cleaner.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has previewed its Heavy-Duty Inspection and Maintenance Program (HD I/M), which is due to begin phasing in on 1 Jan. 2023, at an enforcement truck event held at the Port of Los Angeles. More than 1200 trucks were screened, to help make owners and operators aware of the new ‘smog check’ requirements for heavy-duty vehicles and the phase-in timeline.

The progressive public health program is the first in the nation of its kind and will ensure that emissions control systems on heavy-duty vehicles operate effectively for the life of the vehicle, improving air quality and protecting public health. The HD I/M program will apply to all heavy-duty trucks, buses, agricultural equipment and personal motor-homes with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of more than 14,000 pounds traveling in the state regardless of whether they are registered in California. (AutoInformed.com on: Death of the Diesel – CARB Approves Truck, Bus Smog Checks; CARB – New Diesel Regs Cost Effective, Lobbyists Wrong; CARB OK’s Record $1.5B for Clean Vehicles, Mobility Options) Continue reading →

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Pro Consumer Milestones: California Mandates 100% Zero Emissions Vehicles by 2035. More States Certain to Follow

Posted on 25 August 2022 by Ken Zino

The California Air Resources Board today approved the Advanced Clean Cars II rule that sets California as the first US state to embrace a path to require zero-emission vehicles with concurrent massive reductions in climate-warming pollution.

The rule establishes a year-by-year roadmap so that by 2035 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. This is a huge gain for clean air  as well as the climate benefits the regulation delivers in the nation’s largest vehicle market. CARB’s analysis says that battery-electric vehicles are likely to reach cost parity with conventional vehicles by 2030. Continue reading →

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DOJ Thwarts Chinese Takeover of Shipping Containers

Posted on 25 August 2022 by Ken Zino

Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on DOJ Thwarts Chinese Takeover of Shipping ContainersChina International Marine Containers Group Co. Ltd. (CIMC) confirmed today that it has abandoned its intended acquisition of Maersk Container Industry A/S and Maersk Container Industry Qingdao Ltd for~$987 million (collectively, MCI) after a Justice Department Antitrust Division’s meticulous investigation conducted under the Biden Administration. The German Bundeskartellamt, aka Federal Cartel Office, cooperated with DOJ during the course of their respective investigations. The Bundeskartellamt said last December it had opened an investigation into the effects the takeover of Maersk Container Industry (MCI)* by CIMC could have on markets.

The acquisition would have combined two of the four suppliers of insulated container boxes and refrigerated shipping containers in the world  thereby increasing anti-consumer consolidation in the global supply chain. It would also have combined control of more than 90% of insulated container box and refrigerated shipping container production worldwide in Chinese state-owned or state-controlled entities. China International Marine Containers and Maersk Container Industry in a joint statement that they have discarded a merger plan because of  significant regulatory challenges. Patrick Jany CFO at A.P. Moller – Maersk was cited fof MCI.

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US Retail New Vehicle Sales to Decline in July. Prices Up

Posted on 24 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on More of Same US Retail New Vehicle Sales to Decline in July. Prices Up.

An affordability crisis is stalking the industry.  Click to Enlarge.

New-vehicle retail sales for August 2022 are forecast to decline when compared with August 2021, according to a joint release today from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive*. Retail sales of new vehicles August are expected to reach 980,400 units, a 2.6% decrease compared with August 2021 when adjusted for selling days. August 2022 has one additional selling day compared with August 2021. Comparing the same sales volume without adjusting for the number of selling days translates to an increase of 1.3% from 2021.

Higher prices along with a rising interest rates are leading to monthly loan payments reaching new all-time highs. After breaking $700 for the first time ever in July, the average monthly finance payment in August is forecast to hit a record $716, up $78 from August 2021. That translates to a 12.2% increase in monthly payments from a year ago, which is above the 11.5% increase in transaction prices. Continue reading →

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CJPT expels Hino over Emission Data Certification Fraud

Posted on 24 August 2022 by Ken Zino

Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on CJPT expels Hino over Emission Data Certification FraudCommercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation (CJPT) said today in Japan that it is expelling Hino Motors “in light of Hino’s misconduct concerning certification testing.”

In a move that appears to be an attempt to isolate Hino’s owner Toyota from ongoing legal and other liabilities in the emissions data fraud scandal that now goes back as far as 2003, Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation “suggested that the misconduct committed by Hino is incompatible with CJPT’s * aspirations and goals and that the continued inclusion of Hino in activities will not gain the understanding of its customers and the public.” Continue reading →

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Fires! Park 2020-22 Hyundai Palisades, Kia Tellurides Outside

Posted on 24 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Fires! Park 2020-22 Hyundai Palisades, Kia Tellurides Outside

A good place to park… Click to Enlarge.

Hyundai Motor America and Kia America are telling owners of some Model Year 2020-2022 Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride vehicles park their cars outside and away from homes or other structures until their vehicles have been repaired, due to new recalls for the risk of fire. More than 280,000 SUVs are potentially involved.

An accessory tow hitch made and installed in Korea or sold through dealerships may allow moisture into the harness module, causing a short circuit. In some cases, an electrical short can cause a vehicle fire while driving or while parked and turned off. As a temporary repair, Hyundai dealers will inspect the tow hitch module and remove the fuse, as necessary. A short-term repair is not available for Kia vehicles, which are apparently without a fuse in some cases.  Continue reading →

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Canadian Industrial Policy Actively, Successfully Pursuing EV Climate and Economic Benefits with New Mercedes, VW MOUs

Posted on 23 August 2022 by Ken Zino

Canada with abundant material resources, an advanced automotive industry with extensive production and a qualified workforce, is ideally positioned to thrive in the inevitable EV vehicle industries. These can only grow as the devastating effects of climate change from fossil-fuel use continues to increase. The Canadian Federal government not only recognizes this, but is actively pursuing an industrial policy that is beneficial for its constituents and the environment.

Free market ideologues, many of them backed by fossil-fuel providers, disdain such progressive thinking and are positively scornful of a federally directed industrial policy such as the tiny one established in the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Not a single Republican voted for it. Continue reading →

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GM Recalls 500,000 2021-22 SUVs for Bad Seat Belts

Posted on 22 August 2022 by Ken Zino

General Motors is recalling 2021-2022 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles equipped with third-row seats.  The safety defect covers 2021-2022 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles equipped with third-row seats. These six product lines, of course, are among the most popular and profitable SUVs sold in North America.

“The rivet that retains the buckle to the mounting bracket in the left- or right-side third-row seat belt buckle assembly may have been improperly formed,” was the defect cited in a mandatory NHTSA filing made public today. GM had reports of the problem going back to October of 2020. Workers at GM supplier ZF Occupant Safety Systems manufacturing plant in Mexico may have not properly followed processes and inadvertently missed the rivet forming operation. Continue reading →

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Toyota: More Today Trouble Over Hino Motors Emission Fraud

Posted on 22 August 2022 by Ken Zino

Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Toyota: More Today Trouble Over Hino Motors Emission FraudThe Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has been found more wrongdoings related to the Hino Motors engine emissions certification fraud, on top of previously announced offenses on 4 March and 2 August 2022, Hino-owner Toyota Motor said this morning in Japan.

The added “facts following were found in the emission performance deterioration endurance tests conducted by Hino on all of the company’s vehicle engine models subject to the 2016 emission regulations in Japan.” Thus the embarrassing anti-environmental aspects of the cheating scandal are still expanding. (AutoInformed: Toyota Motor FY Q1 Profit Drop Spooks Market) Continue reading →

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IndyCar: Rain Soaked Bommarito 500 Goes to Chevy

Posted on 21 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on IndyCar: Rain Soaked Bommarito 500 Goes to Chevy

This was Newgarden’s third straight victory at this 1.25-mile oval.

Josef Newgarden won the rain-interrupted Bommarito Automotive Group 500 late Saturday night at World Wide Technology Raceway. This moved him closer to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship lead. Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, drove to his series-leading fifth victory of the season in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet by 0.4708 of a second over rookie David Malukas, whose brilliant charge – as threatening as the lightning that rag-flagged show – after the race restarted in the No. 18 HMD Honda finished second – a career-best.

The Race distance is 260 laps, but the rain delay made it a 213-lap race in daylight, followed by a 47-lap all-out dash under the lights. When the race resumed at 9:05 p.m. local time, track conditions had changed significantly because of the rain-cleaned asphalt. There was better adhesion with lower temperatures after sundown. The race was a contest of strategies as well as drivers and teams. Continue reading →

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Club of 25: McLaren Solus GT revealed

Posted on 19 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Club of 25: McLaren Solus GT revealed

Click to Enlarge.

McLaren Automotive today showed the McLaren Solus GT, the realization of a concept car from the screens of virtual racing+ into what is now described as an “extreme expression of track driving engagement that will exhilarate in the real world.”

That virtual-to-reality world is tiny. A special commission for just 25 customers with all cars already sold. The single-seat, closed-cockpit track car was unveiled during Monterey Car Week in California by Michael Leiters, McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer. (AutoInformed:Rolex 24 – Cold Beginning to Start a Sizzling Racing Season)
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ZDX and Type S To Be Acura’s First Pure EVs in 2024

Posted on 19 August 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on ZDX and Type S To Be Acura’s First Full EVs in 2024

Click to Enlarge.

Acura today announced that its first full-electric SUV coming to market in 2024 will be named the Acura ZDX. Acura will also launch with a ZDX Type S performance variant. The ZDX will be the first production model to use many of the styling themes of the new Acura design direction introduced during Monterey Car Week in the form of the Acura Precision EV Concept.

Well, yes but largish ZDX is being co-developed with GM using the highly flexible global EV platform powered by Ultium batteries. What fun for brand managers – a common platform for Cadillac and Acura SUVs? Acura eventually will launch additional EV models starting in 2026 based on the company’s own global e:Architecture. (AutoInformed: GM, Honda to Develop New EVs for Sale in 2027; Honda Prologue EV – Vapor Ware Until 2024) Continue reading →

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Covid Recovery: GM Stock Dividend Returns

Posted on 19 August 2022 by Ken Zino

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized the reinstatement of a quarterly cash dividend on the company’s outstanding common stock at a rate of $0.09 per share. The first dividend will be paid on Sept. 15, 2022, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 31, 2022.

GM suspended its quarterly dividend in April of 2020 in response to uncertainty caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. While some uncertainty still exists, AutoInformed thinks that the ongoing successes of the Biden Administration’s public health and employment policies – particularly the passage of the Stop Inflation Recovery Act of 2022 – are reasons for optimism. (AutoInformed: Biden Recovery: Transportation Jobs Equal Pre-Pandemic; Biden Administration Cuts Republican Budget Deficit by 66%; President Biden Targets 50% Electric Vehicle Sales in 2030)  Continue reading →

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