Tag Archives: Ken Zino

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Posts Highest Sales in 117 Years

The company said that growth came principally by Ghost sales, with demand increasing following the launch of Black Badge Ghost in October 2021. This, together with sales of the Cullinan and the marque’s pinnacle product, Phantom, means that at the moment order books are full well into the third quarter of 2022. The company’s Provenance (pre-owned or used) also posted an all-time record. Continue reading

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BMW – Digital Art Coming in Cars During 2022?

These new modes in BMW geek speak ,filtered through marketing babble: “Their unique moments enhance BMW’s driving experience by creating a synergy of the vehicle’s functions and its interior design. Depending on the driving situation and the overall mood, a holistic user experience featuring both a functional and an emotional level can be created at the touch of a button or via voice control. To that end, drive control and steering control, mood lighting and sound as well as the color scheme and graphics of the BMW Curved Display are precisely synchronized.” Continue reading

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BMW 2021 US Sales up ~21% Beating Mercedes-Benz

“The company and its network of dealer partners have worked together to manage inventory levels and fulfill strong customer demand for new vehicles. In the first quarter of 2022, BMW customers will begin to take the first deliveries of two all-new, fully-electric offerings: the BMW iX Sports Activity Vehicle and BMW i4 Gran Coupe,” BMW said in a release. Continue reading

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Mercedes-Benz 2021 USA Sales Soft at 329,574

Year-to-date MBUSA posted sales of 276,102 Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles and 53,472 Vans or a total 329,574 units, a slight increase of 1.1% versus 2020. Continue reading

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First Place! Toyota Ousts GM as US Sales End 2021 at 14.9m

Overall, US Light Vehicle sales in December fall by 27% YoY, ending a chaotic 2021 at 14.9 million units. LMC noted that even December – traditionally one of the strongest months of the year – flopped and registered the steepest YoY decline of the calendar. AutoInformed notes the rate of change in the Covid infected world is increasingly making traditional long-term based indexes – such as calendar years irrelevant, or even downright harmful indicators for policy makers, businesses and anyone who uses them for planning. Continue reading

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GM, Qualcomm Enabling Hands-Free Driving in 2023

In Silicon Valley geek speak: “The Ultra Cruise compute is comprised of two Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs and one SA9000P AI accelerator to deliver key low-latency control functions on 16-core CPUs and high-performance AI compute of more than 300 Tera Operations Per Second for camera, radar and lidar processing. The Snapdragon SoCs are designed with 5nm process technology, enabling superior performance and power efficiency. The Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs will provide the necessary bandwidth for Ultra Cruise’s sensing, perception, planning, localization, mapping and driver monitoring.” Continue reading

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Volvo Car 2021 Global Sales +5.6% at 698,693

However, Volvo delivered 64,436 retail vehicles in December, a decline of -18.1% compared to the same month in 2020. “The result was significantly influenced by continued component supply shortages, which affected production and consequently deliveries to customers,” Volvo said. Almost 40% of all new Volvo cars sold in December were Recharge models, with fully electric cars comprising 7.4%. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Introduces 2024 Silverado EV 

She also teased the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, a full-size pickup developed from GM’s Ultium platform. Customers will have the ability to buy or lease the truck within various price ranges, with MSRPs around $50,000, $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 and much, much more for the more for the flagship RST First Edition, which will debut with an MSRP of $105,000, plus $1695 for shipping. The Silverado EV will be offered only in Crew Cab models. Continue reading

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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

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Toyota Motor US Sales off -31% in December, +10.4% in 2021

Based on early sales reports, TMNA was the leading seller of electrified vehicles for the 22nd consecutive year with electrified powered vehicle – hybrids, plug-ins and fuel cells – at 583,697or +73.2% in 2021. EPV sales now make up one-quarter of total volume. There now are 18 total EPVs available in dealerships between both the Toyota and Lexus brands, the most among any automaker, with two more in showrooms by middle of 2022. Continue reading

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GM Delivers 2.2M Vehicles in US During 2021 off -13%. Q4 -43%

Both GMC and Chevrolet are preparing all-electric pickups, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which will be revealed virtually on Jan. 5, during the Consumer Electronics Show – a segment where it is trailing Ford with its sold-out Lightning EV pickup. Ford said today that it is planning to nearly double production capacity of the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup to 150,000 vehicles per year at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, to meet soaring customer demand. Deliveries start this spring. Ford is sitting on 200,000 “reservations” for the Lighting. Continue reading

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Significant 2021 Automotive Stories and Trends

With that in mind, here’s our perspective on the last annum, from autonomous vehicles to global warming, to driving high disasters, to trade and tariffs and to the rise of fascism. We do this with a humble awareness that AutoInformed conducts its education in public. We begin with our take on significant automotive stories as we enter another year of plagues – covid, political, social or otherwise. Continue reading

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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

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Recall – New F-Series Aluminum Driveshafts Fracture

There have been 27 reports of fractured aluminum driveshafts potentially related to a sagging underbody insulator on these vehicles. Continue reading

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Washington Diddles. India Puts Billions into Securing EV Jobs

This is not an isolated occurrence. Electric vehicles, the so-called hydrogen economy and connected cars are the future of the planet and high paying employment. Virtually all major industrial nations are promoting policies and incentives to become major forces where no automaker dares to go alone. Except the dis-United States it seems. Even Senator Manchin’s next Maserati that he drives to his yacht will likely be an EV. Built where? The question facing Washington politicians of his ilk is simple: Do you care about the people in your district? Continue reading

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