What fun for brand managers – a common platform for Cadillac and Acura SUVs?
In identical releases this morning from Detroit and Tokyo, GM and Honda said they will design a new EV series expected to go on sale in 2027 starting in North America. The unnamed vehicles will be based on a new global architecture using GM’s next-generation Ultium battery technology. The companies said they will also work toward standardizing equipment and processes to achieve “world-class quality, higher throughput and greater affordability.” Specifically mentioned was the compact crossover segment, which is the largest in the world, with annual volumes of more than 13 million vehicles – think Buick Encore and Cadillac XT4. (AutoInformed on: Honda Prologue EV – Vapor Ware Until 2024; Honda to Abandon IC Engines – Global Electrification by 2040; Honda, GM Ink MoU on North American Alliance!)
The business justification for the expansion of GM Honda collaboration has increased in urgency since yesterday’s release of the latest UN report on Greenhouse Gases. It said that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 – at the latest – and then drop by more than 40% by the end of the decade to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. (U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Continue reading
EPA: Bans Asbestos – First Under Chemical Safety Act
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today it is finally taking action to protect people from asbestos exposure by releasing a proposed rule to prohibit ongoing uses of the only known form of asbestos currently imported into the U.S. This proposed rule is the first-ever risk management rule issued under the new process for evaluating and addressing the safety of existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that was enacted in 2016.
The proposed rule would ban chrysotile asbestos, the only known form of asbestos that’s currently imported into the U.S., which is found in products such as asbestos diaphragms, sheet gaskets, brake blocks, aftermarket automotive brakes/linings, other vehicle friction products, and other gaskets also imported into the U.S. Most consumer products that historically contained chrysotile asbestos have been discontinued. Continue reading →