Death of diesel looms as carmakers accelerate to electric future

PARIS - The world's biggest diesel engine factory in Tremery, eastern France, is undergoing a radical overhaul - it's switching to make electric motors.

From less than 10% of output in 2020, electric motor production at Tremery will double to around 180,000 in 2021, and is planned to reach 900,000 a year - or more than half the plant's peak pre-pandemic output - by 2025.

The shift is testament to a car industry in flux. Demand for diesel cars has slumped since a 2015 pollution scandal, while tough new EU regulations, which fine carmakers for exceeding emissions limits, are pushing them to make more electric models.

So, in the midst of a pandemic and with the level of consumer demand for battery-driven cars still uncertain, automakers from Volkswagen to Nissan are ditching diesel models and ramping up output of electric drives.

"2021 is going to be a pivotal year, the first real transition towards the world of electric models," said Laetitia Uzan, a representative for the CFTC union at Tremery.

But for Tremery's 3,000 workers, and the wider car industry, there's an added complication.

Electric motors only have a fifth of the parts of a traditional diesel engine, putting a question mark over jobs.

Uzan acknowledged a risk that fewer staff may be needed, but was optimistic that could happen "quite naturally" as workers retire without being replaced.

Tremery's owner Stellantis - newly created from the merger of Peugeot maker PSA and Fiat Chrysler to help tackle the industry changes - has said it won't close factories and will seek to protect jobs.

But some industry researchers warn Europe's car manufacturers, already suffering from overcapacity, will have to make big cuts in order to deliver the investments needed to catch up with U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla.

French car lobby group PFA estimates 15,000 jobs linked to diesel are at risk in France, out of 400,000 employed by the industry as a whole.

IAB, a German labour research institute, calculates the arrival of electric vehicles could threaten 100,000 jobs in Germany, or about one in eight German auto industry jobs.

'UNPRECEDENTED YEAR'

The transition from diesel is particularly marked in Europe, where sales of diesel vehicles made up at least 50% of the total as recently as 2015, according to data from research group JATO Dynamics, far higher than in both North America and Asia.

At least 20 car models will no longer offer diesel versions in 2021, from Volkswagen's Polo and Renault's Scenic to Nissan's Micra and Honda's Civic, according to researchers IHS Markit, which says 2021 will be "an unprecedented year" in the shift away from diesel.

Meanwhile, a slew of new electric models will hit showrooms.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Britain's car lobby group, expects 29 new fully-electric and seven plug-in hybrid models will be launched in the country this year, compared with 26 internal combustion engine models - only 14 of which will have diesel variants.

There are encouraging signs that consumer interest in electric vehicles is picking up.

In September, EU registrations of electrified vehicles - fully electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid - overtook diesel registrations for the first time, according to JATO data.

EU sales of fully-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles surged 122% in the first nine months of 2020, at a time when overall vehicle sales fell 29% due to the pandemic.

But they still only accounted for around 8% of total sales, with some drivers put off by the limited availability of charging points and higher cost of many electrified models.

At Renault's Cleon plant near the northern French coast, the switch from diesel is well under way, with only half a building housing the assembly lines for diesel motors while hybrid and electric motors are spread over two whole buildings.

"If an employee came back after several years away, they wouldn’t recognize the place," said Lionel Anglais, a union representative with oversight of manufacturing at Renault.

-reuters

Tesla moves a step closer to building electric cars in China

BEIJING/DETROIT | Tesla Inc took a step closer toward establishing an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in China with its announcement on Thursday that it is in exploratory talks with the Shanghai municipal government.

Tesla has said it wants to build electric cars in China to avoid a 25-percent tariff on imported vehicles.

The company did not provide a timeline for setting up a China plant, but said it expects to “more clearly define” its China production plans by the end of the year.

Tesla shares closed up 1.7 percent at $382.61 in Thursday trading.

China’s central government requires foreign companies such as Tesla to have a Chinese partner in new auto manufacturing ventures, with the foreign company owning no more than 50 percent.

Tesla did not say which companies it might partner with, sparking rampant online speculation. At least three companies – Shanghai Electric Group Co, Shanghai Lingang Holdings Co and Tianjin Motor Dies Co – reported in exchange filings that they were not in touch with Tesla about its plans in response to media reports implicating them.

Much of the speculation has centered on Tencent Holdings Ltd, the internet giant that is China’s largest company. Earlier this year, Tencent acquired a five-percent stake in Tesla for $1.8 billion (1.4 billion pounds).

Tesla has not said which vehicles it plans to build in China. However, a supplier familiar with the company’s thinking said it was considering the Model 3 sedan and a crossover companion called Model Y. The Model 3 is slated to begin production in July at Tesla’s Fremont plant in California, with the Model Y tentatively scheduled to follow in mid-2019.

In a separate but related development, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Thursday he was concerned about Ford Motor Co’s announcement earlier this week that it will move some production of its Focus small car to China and import the vehicles to the United States.

“If it happened for reasons that are non-economic reasons, then I think the administration should take action,” Lighthizer told U.S. lawmakers.

Tesla is the most valuable U.S. automaker, with a market capitalization of more than $60 billion, but it has yet to turn an annual profit.

source: interaksyon.com

Toyota recalling fuel-cell Mirai vehicles

TOKYO, Japan — Toyota said Wednesday it is recalling all the Mirai fuel-cell vehicles it has sold globally due to a software glitch that can shut off its hydrogen-powered system.

The auto giant said it would call back about 2,800 Mirai vehicles made between November 2014 and December 2016 to repair the defect.

Toyota launched Mirai — which means “future” in Japanese — in late 2014 as it looked to push further into the fast-growing market for environmentally friendly cars.

Mirai was its first mass-market hydrogen fuel-cell car, after Toyota scored a win with the top-selling Prius hybrid, which combines a regular engine and rechargeable electric battery.

Separately, Toyota on Wednesday launched a new plug-in model of its Prius, after the first version sold poorly following its 2012 release.

The new model can run in electric-only mode — unlike the original Prius — at higher speeds and longer distances than the previous version, Toyota said.

Fuel cells, meanwhile, work by combining hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction, which produces electricity. This can then be used to power vehicles or home generators.

But a lack of hydrogen refuelling stations has been a major hurdle to bringing fuel-cell cars into the mainstream.

The Mirai was launched with a relatively expensive 6.7 million yen ($58,000) price tag.

source: interaksyon.com

CES 2017 | The future of car tech: getting to know you

LAS VEGAS — The car of the future doesn’t just want to drive you. It wants to know you.

The automotive technology showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show over the past week was in part about self-driving vehicles, but also about personalizing the driving experience.

Artificial intelligence and facial recognition will allow vehicles to let you in (if it’s your car), and adjust the seating, lighting, music or other elements of the environment for you, automatically.

“The idea is to be more than a machine, to be a partner, make you happy,” said Toyota’s Amanda McCoy, who explained some of the innovations of the Japanese automaker’s Concept-i vehicle at the Las Vegas tech show.

The manufacturers want the car to hold a conversation, help you make a shopping list and determine where and how you want to travel.

In a demonstration, the Toyota vehicle started a conversation and suggested potential destinations for the driver. Its camera detected that the driver was in an upbeat mood and thus suggested “the happier route.”

The concept car will also keep a driver alert to potential perils on the road, with sound and light signals. Moving to autonomous mode, it allows the seats to recline.

Swiss-based group Rinspeed showed a prototype electric car called Oasis with a miniature garden inside.

The vehicle with an “intelligent rolling chassis” can also operate in autonomous mode, converting its windshield into a screen for videoconferencing.

“The interior of the car in the future will be redefined entirely, to meet different needs,” said Rinspeed chief executive Frank Rinderknecht.

Rinderknecht said the company has no plans to produce an entire vehicle but use elements of the company’s technology, which could be available in a few years.

Other technologies shown in Las Vegas could turn the car into a payments platform. Honda, for example, said it was working with Visa to allow motorists to pay directly from the vehicle for parking or refueling, for example.

Several automakers at CES unveiled plans to move forward on autonomous driving technology. But they also showcased ways to incorporate virtual and augmented reality, use voice systems and other technology to personalize the experience.

Digital assistant on board

One part of that experience is the “digital assistant” which is making inroads in connected homes.

Ford announced it would incorporate voice-controlled Amazon’s Alexa onboard while Renault-Nissan and BMW announced plans to use Microsoft Cortana.

Hyundai is installing sensors in its seating which evaluate posture and in seatbelts to monitor respiration. This could allow an intelligent car to know if a driver is having a heart attack or falling asleep at the wheel.

The South Korean giant is experimenting with a number of ways to deal with different scenarios: it may use blue lights or cold air to wake up a groggy driver, or change the enviroment to calm a stressful one.

“If we can see the mood (of the driver), we can probably do something with this information and modify the environment,” said Hyundai’s David Mitropoulos-Rundus.

Even if a car is autonomous, Mitropoulos-Rundus said there will be times when a driver will need to assume control, and the automaker want a system to “re-engage him in emergency situation.”

source: interaksyon.com

Apple invests $1 billion in China taxi app Didi

BEIJING, China — Apple has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride hailing app Didi Chuxing, the Beijing company said Friday as it vies with bitter US-based rival Uber for market share in China.

The injection was the “single largest investment the company has ever received,” said Didi, which dominates the car-hailing sector in China and says it has almost 90 percent of the market.

Formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, it also has backing from Chinese Internet behemoths Tencent and Alibaba.

Its most powerful competitor Uber — in which Chinese search giant Baidu is an investor, along with state-owned Citic Securities — is also trying to win more business in China.

Though Apple’s investment in Didi is large, the money seems more notable for its strategic rather than financial significance.

Didi and Uber both have deep pockets and are spending big in the country.

In February, Uber said it lost $1 billion annually in China as it competes for market share and Didi is thought to be burning through similar amounts as both companies subsidise user’s rides, which are much cheaper than regular cab fares.

Apple’s linkup with Didi fits the California firm’s desire to shore up sales in the Asian giant, and its rumoured plans to enter the auto sector.

“We decided to make the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including the chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market”, chief executive Tim Cook told the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.

He added that he saw “lots of opportunities for closer cooperation between the two companies”.

Apple lost its crown as the world’s biggest publicly traded company to Google parent Alphabet in US trading Thursday. Shares closed 2.4 percent down.

The tech giant’s shares have lost more than 13 percent since reporting its first ever drop in iPhone sales on April 26.

The world’s second-largest economy is Apple’s second-biggest market, but revenues are flagging and its business there has taken a number of hits.

Last month, it had its movie and book services shut down by authorities, and it emerged that the company lost a court case over the use of its iPhone trademark.

Cook will travel to Beijing later this month to lobby senior leaders on the company’s behalf.

Apple is also widely believed to be developing a self-driving car, with the Chinese market a likely target.

Large user base

One area of cooperation the companies are likely to explore is mobile payments, according to Chinese analysts who say that the investment could be a good opportunity for Apple Pay.

The service was recently launched in China but has to contend with very well established existing competitors owned by Alibaba and Tencent — now its fellow shareholders in Didi.

Didi says it has more than 300 million passengers registered and provides over 11 million rides a day.

Those numbers provide an excellent opportunity for Apple Pay, according to an article on Chinese web site Huxiu.

“It is undoubtedly a good value for Apple to tie up with an app that has a large user base and where frequent payments are made,” said an article about the deal.

But despite the growing popularity of ride-sharing apps and state-backed investments in them, their future is not necessarily secure.

It is technically illegal in China for private cars to offer rides for payment and authorities occasionally stage stings to arrest drivers, but regulations are spottily enforced, creating an opening for ridesharing services to flourish.

Asked about ridesharing’s future, transport minister Yang Chuantang told the Beijing Times in March that private cars would “never be allowed” to operate commercially in China.

Didi invested in Uber’s US rival Lyft last year, along with Alibaba and Tencent, and announced last month that it would cooperate with it to compete with Uber on its own turf.

source: interaksyon.com

Google autonomous car project teams with FiatChrysler

SAN FRANCISCO, California — Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday announced that it has partnered with Fiat Chrysler in a major expansion of its fleet of self-driving vehicles.

The Google autonomous test fleet would be more than doubled with the addition of 100 new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans, with the companies aiming to have some on the road by the end of this year.

The collaboration with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) marks the first time that the California-based Internet giant has worked directly with an automaker to build self-driving vehicles.

“FCA will design the minivans so it’s easy for us to install our self-driving systems, including the computers that hold our self-driving software, and the sensors that enable our software to see what’s on the road around the vehicle,” the car team said in a post at the Google+ social network.

The minivan design also provides opportunity to explore the potential of large self-driving vehicles that could be used mass-transit style with features such as hands-free sliding doors for getting in or out, according to the post.

Alphabet said it was not licensing its autonomous car technology, nor would it be selling the self-driving minivans.

The move signals that Google has a particular interest in “people mover type vehicles” with the potential to autonomously shuttle passengers about in settings such as college campuses, cities or shopping districts, Kelley Blue Book analyst Karl Brauer told AFP.

“I’m confident that Google feels that is where the greatest mission potential for the autonomous vehicle is.”

Google began testing its autonomous driving technology in 2009, using a Toyota Prius equipped with the tech giant’s equipment. It now has some 70 vehicles, including Lexus cars adapted by Google and its in-house designed cars unveiled in 2014.

FCA will design and engineer minivans uniquely built for self-driving technology that Google will integrate into vehicles, according to the carmaker.

Accelerating efforts

The companies will position engineering teams at a facility in Michigan to accelerate the design, testing and manufacturing of the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica.

“The opportunity to work closely with FCA engineers will accelerate our efforts to develop a fully self-driving car that will make our roads safer and bring everyday destinations within reach for those who cannot drive,” said Google Self-Driving Car Project chief executive John Krafcik.

The US agency in charge of highway safety early this year provided feedback indicating that a bubble-shaped autonomous car built by Alphabet could qualify as being its own driver.

In a written response to a query from the Silicon Valley-based technology firm, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that since the self-driving cars lacks steering wheels or other controls for humans, it is “more reasonable to identify the driver as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving.”

While the administration’s response didn’t change rules of the road, it is seen as a green light of sorts for getting autonomous vehicles to market.

Packed starting line

Google has been testing self-driving cars on California roads for a while, and an array of automobile makers including Audi, Ford, Mercedes, Lexus, Tesla and BMW are working on building self-driving capabilities into vehicles.

FCA chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said the partnership may help boost innovation in the sector.

“The experience both companies gain will be fundamental to delivering automotive technology solutions that ultimately have far-reaching consumer benefits,” he said.

The US administration pledged in January to help clear the way for autonomous vehicles with an investment of $4 billion to fund research and testing projects.

A Chinese auto firm revealed last month that it was buying two foreign companies and their self-driving technologies for more than $1 billion.

Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. said it signed an agreement to buy US-based Key Safety Systems (KSS) Holdings Inc.

Ningbo, which provides driver control systems to auto giants such as General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, also plans to buy the car navigation business of Germany’s TechniSat Digital GmbH.

Chinese tech giant Baidu, which has opened a California research center for autonomous driving, has said it is planning to produce driverless cars by 2020.

The Alphabet-FCA collaboration could “easily encourage an Apple, an Uber or another technology company to follow the same path and work more closely with an auto maker,” according to Kelley Blue Book’s Brauer.

source: interaksyon.com

Ford in talks with Google to build self-driving cars — Automotive News

Google is said to be in talks with automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N) to help build the Internet search company’s autonomous cars, Automotive News reported, citing a person with knowledge of the project.

The contract manufacturing deal, if finalised, is expected to come during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas during the first week of January, Automotive News said.

A Google spokesman told Automotive News that the company would not comment on speculation, although Google officials confirmed that the company is talking to automakers.

Earlier this year, Google began discussions with most of the world’s top automakers and assembled a team of traditional and nontraditional suppliers to speed efforts to bring self-driving cars to the market by 2020.

In June, Google began testing tiny, bubble-shaped self-driving prototype vehicles of its own design on public roads around Mountain View. The company has also started testing self-driving prototypes in Austin.

Google is expected to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under its parent company, Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), next year, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Ford, although lagging behind most competitors, ramped up its pace to develop self-driving cars earlier this year and said it would expand advanced safety technology, including automatic braking, enabling hands-free operation of cars under certain conditions by automating such basic functions as steering, braking and throttle.

This was to be included across its global lineup over the next five years.

Reuters could not independently reach Ford Motor and Google for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

soure: interaksyon.com

Driverless buses, platoons of trucks to shape Singapore’s transport future

SINGAPORE — Singapore unveiled its public transport future on Monday, and it was a vision of passengers commuting in driverless buses along roads and freeways populated by platoons of autonomous trucks following a single driver.

The city state’s plans to streamline its transport future have begun with two self-driving vehicles going through their paces in a Singapore estate that is home to research facilities and educational institutes.

The vehicles are the vanguard of two projects – one run by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) with the National University of Singapore and one by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

Some U.S. states and countries including Germany also allow testing of driverless vehicles on public roads.

Singapore, with its limited land and workforce, is hoping that autonomous vehicles will encourage its residents to use more shared vehicles and public transport, and avoid further congestion on its roads.

“Trying to look for bus drivers, truck drivers – big challenge for us,” said Pang Kin Keong, permanent secretary in the ministry of transport.

“We don’t have a huge population and these are not some of the professions which Singaporeans aspire to,” Pang said after taking a ride in SMART-NUS’s driverless car – a modified Mitsubishi Motors Corp electric vehicle with a top speed of 30 km per hour (20 mph).

The government and port operator PSA Corp also said on Monday that they would seek proposals to design and implement autonomous truck platooning trials, in which a human-driven truck is followed by other driverless trucks.

Autonomous vehicles could spur the mass-market adoption of ride sharing, ultimately resulting in a marked reduction in personally owned vehicles and in the total number of cars on the road, at least within cities, according to a Boston Consulting Group report in April.

Google and a number of automotive manufacturers and suppliers have said the technology to build self-driving cars should be ready by 2020.

The Singapore government said in June that it was seeking ideas on how autonomous vehicle technology could be harnessed for more land transport options.

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority said it had received proposals from eight applicants, including Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL], BMW AG and the Toyota group’s trading arm, Toyota Tsusho Corp.

source: interaksyon.com

Porsche boss is named new Volkswagen CEO

Wolfsburg, Germany - Embattled car maker Volkswagen tapped Porsche chief Matthias Mueller Friday (early Saturday in the Philippines) to steer it out of the wreckage of a widening scandal over pollution test rigging, as Washington said it would check all diesel cars for devices that fool emissions tests.

The 62-year-old Mueller replaces Martin Winterkorn, who has resigned over the stunning revelations by US environmental authorities that the German car maker had fitted some of its diesel cars with software capable of tricking environmental tests -- a scam that could lead to fines worth more than $18 billion (16.1 billion euros).

The scale of VW's deception became clear when the company admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with so-called defeat devices that covertly turn off pollution controls when the car is being driven and back on when tests are being conducted.

Calling the cheating a "moral and policy disaster", the company's supervisory board chief Berthold Huber said the group is now looking to Mueller, who "knows the company and its brands", to tackle the crisis.

Board member Bernd Osterloh added that "a small group had caused great damage to Volkswagen".

Mueller himself vowed that his "most pressing task will be to restore confidence in the Volkswagen Group -- through an unsparing investigation and maximum transparency, but also by drawing the right lessons from the current situation".

"We will overcome this crisis," he said, adding that the car maker could "emerge stronger from the crisis in the long term" if it learned from its mistakes.

Mueller has a daunting task ahead given the global amplitude of the scandal.

Swiss authorities said late Friday that they have temporarily banned the sale of Volkswagen vehicles potentially fitted with the rigging software.

The ban came as authorities from India to Norway announced new probes, while the US environmental regulator said it would test all diesel car models.

"Today we are putting vehicle manufacturers on notice that our testing is going to include additional evaluation and tests designed to look for potential defeat devices," said Christopher Grundler, director of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation & Air Quality.

An hour before the group announced its new chief, VW shares closed 4.32 percent down Friday at 107.30 euros, after a rout this week in which a third of the company's market capitalization -- or over 20 billion euros -- was wiped off.

Mueller, born in Chemnitz in the former Communist East Germany, has been dubbed "the imperturbable" by newspaper Die Welt.

He has also been described as someone who knows how to use his elbows, "but I don't see it as playing foul, rather as a sign of perseverance and mettle", the daily quoted him as saying.

Winterkorn, who once famously said he knows "every screw in our cars", said he was "stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen group".

The 68-year-old said he accepted responsibility as chief executive but was "not aware of any wrongdoing".

With the German car industry reeling, top-of-the-range automaker BMW suffered collateral damage on Thursday when its shares skidded after the weekly Auto Bild reported that emissions from one of its diesel models were 11 times higher than European Union norms.

While there was no indication that BMW had cheated in pollution tests -- something the company strongly denied having done -- the report nevertheless shook investors.

Daimler too issued a firm denial Friday that its vehicles were rigged, after an environmental group claimed that they too, were affected.

VW faces a growing list of legal tangles.

Norway and India have opened fraud probes, Australia said it was checking to see if it was affected, and Mexico was investigating whether 40,000 VW cars there comply with emissions rules.

France and Britain announced new checks and the European Union urged its 28 member states to investigate whether vehicles in their countries complied with pollution rules.

Private law firms are also lining up to take on the German company, with a class action suit already filed by a Seattle law firm.

VW has set aside 6.5 billion euros in provisions for the third quarter to cover the potential costs of the disclosures, while ratings agencies have warned they may cut Volkswagen's credit rating, which could increase the company's financing costs.

The company's two main joint ventures in China have said, however, that their products were not involved in the rigging scandal.

China -- the world's biggest auto market -- is crucial for VW, which delivered 3.67 million cars in the country last year, beating US rival General Motors' 3.54 million sold, figures from the companies showed.

source: interaksyon.com

Fiat Chrysler US to recall 7,810 SUVs to prevent hacking

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s U.S. arm said on Friday it would recall 7,810 sport utility vehicles in the United States to update software for radios to prevent hacking.

The announcement by FCA US LLC, formerly Chrysler Group LLC, comes more than a month after the company recalled about 1.4 million vehicles in the United States for the software update.

Cybersecurity researchers used the Internet to turn off a car’s engine as it drove, escalating concerns about the safety of Internet-connected vehicles.


FCA said on Friday that it was unaware of any injuries related to software exploitation.

The recalled vehicles include 2015 Jeep Renegade SUVs equipped with 6.5-inch touchscreens.

FCA said that more than half of the recalled vehicles remain with dealers and will be serviced before they are sold.

source: interaksyon.com

Daimler CEO mulls joint ventures with Apple, Google — magazine

BERLIN — Daimler’s chief executive said “different types” of cooperation with Apple and Google are possible as carmakers realize next-generation autos cannot be built without greater input from telecoms and software experts.

“Many things are conceivable,” Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with quarterly magazine Deutsche Unternehmerboerse published on Friday.

The emergence of self-driving and connected cars has made software a key component in future cars, opening the market to new entrants like the U.S.-based technology giants.

“Google and Apple want to provide system software for cars and bring this entire ecosystem around Apple and Google into the vehicle,” Zetsche said. “That can be interesting for both sides.”

His comments echoed those of German rival Volkswagen, whose chief executive Martin Winterkorn has urged collaboration with technology firms to make future cars safer and more intelligent.

One option could be for Daimler to build cars as part of a joint venture by using the digital expertise of its U.S. partners, Zetsche said, but added that his comments were “purely theoretical”.

Zetsche said Daimler would not allow itself to be demoted to the role of dumb supplier, simply producing cars for the Silicon Valley giants.

“We don’t want to become contractors who have no direct content with customers any more and supply hardware to third parties,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

BMW, Apple in courtship with an eye on car collaboration

FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO — BMW and Apple may rekindle a courtship put on hold after an exploratory visit by executives of the world’s top maker of electronic gadgets to the headquarters of the word’s biggest seller of premium cars.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook went to BMW’s headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker’s Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric car, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The dialogue ended without conclusion because Apple appears to want to explore developing a passenger car on its own, one of the sources said.

Also, BMW is being cautious about sharing its manufacturing know-how because it wants to avoid becoming a mere supplier to a software or internet giant.

During the visit, Apple executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about tooling and production and BMW executives signaled readiness to license parts, one of the sources said. News of the Leipzig visit first emerged in Germany’s Manager-Magazin last week.

“Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too,” a senior BMW source said.

The carmaker says there are currently no talks with Apple about jointly developing a passenger car and Apple declined to comment. However, one of the sources said exploratory talks between senior managers may be revived at a later stage.

It is too early to say whether this will be a replay of Silicon Valley’s Prometheus moment: The day in 1979 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs visited Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center where the first mouse-driven graphical user interface and bit-mapped graphics were created, and walked out with crucial ideas to launch the Macintosh computer five years later.

BMW has realized next-generation vehicles cannot be built without more input from telecoms and software experts, and Apple has been studying how to make a self-driving electric car as it seeks new market opportunities beyond phones.

Staff changes

Since the visit, there has been a reshuffle at the top of BMW, with Harald Krueger, appointed BMW Chief Executive in May, in favor of establishing his own team and his plans for BMW by year end, before engaging in new projects, a person familiar with his thinking told Reuters.

A further complication was the departure of BMW’s board member for development Herbert Diess, who played a leading role in initial discussions with Apple. He defected to Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) in December.

Diess, who declined to comment for this piece, oversaw the development of BMW’s “i” vehicles which are built using light weight carbon fiber, using a radical approach to design and manufacturing.

Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies ranging from Google Inc (GOOGL.O), which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric car-maker Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O).

Diess has said the German auto industry needs to undergo radical change because consumers are demanding more intelligent cars and anti-pollution rules mean the next generation vehicles will increasingly be low emission electric and hybrid variants.

In 2030, only two generations of new cars away in auto manufacturing time scales, only a third of vehicles will be powered by a conventional combustion engine alone, experts predict.

“It means that in two cycles we will shut down two thirds of our engine manufacturing,” Diess told a panel discussion in July last year, adding that the value chain for new electric cars is already shifting, with vehicle batteries made mainly in Asia.

“The second part is that the car will become intelligent, part of the Internet,” Diess continued. “And the strong players in this area are in the United States, in the software development area. We will surely need to find alliances in this field.”

Germany has two years to prove that it can hold its own against new entrants when it comes to shaping the future of luxury vehicles, Diess said.

Them and us

Carmakers including BMW have already developed next generation self-driving cars, vehicles which need permanent software updates in the form of high-definition maps allowing a car to recalculate a route if it learns about an accident ahead. The technology is moving ahead faster than the legal and regulatory rules which would allow large-scale commercial availability.

Earlier this year, BMW’s new R&D chief Klaus Froehlich said his company and Apple had much in common, including a focus on premium branding, an emphasis on evolving products and a sense of aesthetically pleasing design.

Asked, in general terms, whether a deeper collaboration beyond integration of products like the iPhone would make sense, Froehlich initially said BMW would not consider any deal that forces it to open up its core know-how to outsiders.

“We do not collaborate to open our eco systems but we find ways, because we respect each other,” Froehlich told Reuters.

BMW will keep in mind the needs of the customer, and what the company’s core strengths are, when it considers the merits of entering any strategic collaboration, Froehlich added.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW’s management board member in charge of the Mini brand as well as digital services declined to comment on possible talks with Apple in an interview earlier this year.

But he said: “Two worlds are colliding here. Our world, focused on hardware and our experience in making complex products, and the world of information technology which is intruding more and more into our life.”

The winners will be those companies that understand how to build intelligent hardware, he said, adding it made sense for carmakers and tech firms to cooperate more closely.

“We need to get away from the idea that it will be either us or them … We cannot offer clients the perfect experience without help from one of these technology companies,” Schwarzenbauer said. That dialogue is well underway, he stressed.

With $202.8 billion in cash, Apple has the resources to enter the automotive market on its own, said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, a consulting firm in Orange, Calif.

The tech giant would have an edge on the dashboard, its CarPlay infotainment system connecting iPhones to cars, but would be at square one with the rest of the car, Noble said.

If Apple decided to sell a car it could make sense to find a partner to help with industrial scale production, retail and repair, since demand for such a vehicle could be high.

There are no estimates for potential Apple car sales but the brand and its products command a loyal following. So if only 1 percent of Apple’s annual iPhone customers decided to order a car, it would need to make 1.69 million vehicles.

That’s more than the 434,311 vehicles Jaguar and Land Rover produced last year. Even BMW Group, which made just over 2 million cars last year, would struggle to free up capacity.

source: interaksyon.com

Carmudi raises $25-M for Asia and Latin America expansion

MANILA, Philippines — The online car classified ad platform Carmudi of the Rocket Internet group has raised $25 million in funding to strengthen its operations in Asia and Latin America.


“The funding will be crucial in boosting our operations in Asia and Latin America,” company co-founder and global managing director Stefan Haubold said in a statement. “Our goal is to be the number one car classified platform in all our markets. There are over 300 million active Internet users that we are aiming to tap into in these markets.”

Carmudi was launched in October 2013 and now has presence in 20 countries. In the Philippines, the platform officially started in January 2014.

At present, Carmudi said they have recorded listing of over 300,000 vehicles globally.

Recently, Carmudi expressed optimism on their growth prospects in the Philippines due to sustained expansion in automotive sales.

“We are excited for the local automotive industry as sales remain resilient and steady,” Subir Lohani, Carmudi Philippines managing director, said.

Last year, local automotive sales grew 30 percent last year to 234,747 from 2013.

“Thirty percent is a bigger number in terms of inclusive growth. One thing I can tell for sure is that the Philippines is a major key market for Carmudi’s growth,” Lohani said.

PLDT presently has a 6.1 stake in the Rocket Internet group.

InterAksyon.com is the online news arm of TV5, which is also part of the PLDT group.

source: interaksyon.com

Display makers look to next-generation cars to drive growth

SEOUL — First there were TVs, then smartphones, but as those two markets mature the world’s top screen makers are looking to the auto sector to drive future growth, with car display volumes expected to almost triple by 2018.

Manufacturers like South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd and Samsung Display are eager to boost their exposure to the sector, which promises bigger and more stable margins than their mainstay mobile and TV businesses.

“Previously, display makers saw little merit in auto displays because of their small volumes and slim margins … but they are now revising their strategy as the market is growing,” said Lee Byeong-hoon, a principal engineer at the South Korean unit of German auto parts giant Continental, the biggest buyer of automotive displays.

Luxury cars already carry two or three displays and could have as many as nine in the near future, as safety and convenience features proliferate. Kia Motors’ K9 sedan, for example, has five displays – an instrument panel, a centre information screen, two backseat displays and a “head-up” display projecting information onto the windshield.

Future cars could add transparent side-window displays and replace rear view mirrors and side mirrors with screens, according to LG Display, the biggest liquid crystal display (LCD) maker.

Looking further ahead, self-driving vehicles in development by Google Inc and others will free up passengers to watch movies, play video games or check emails, meaning even more in-car screens, analysts said.

Samsung Display, a subsidiary of smartphone giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, is testing its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays with BMW and Continental in hopes of gaining a foothold in the sector, two sources familiar with the experiments said.

LG Display, which supplies smartphone screens to Apple Inc, intends to become the top auto display maker next year, leapfrogging Japan Display Inc, Sharp Corp, LG Display Vice President James Shin said.

“Auto displays have a very bright future,” Shin told Reuters.

Competition is heating up with LCD automotive display shipments forecast to almost triple to 174 million from 2013 to 2018, according to data from research firm IHS.

Auto display revenue will grow from $4.6 billion (3 billion pounds) to $8.3 billion over the same period, it says. Even so, the sector is small by mobile standards, with global handset screen revenue estimated at $28.9 billion in 2013, according to DisplaySearch.

But auto displays promise better returns than smartphones. They need to be more durable and carry longer warranties, so they are more expensive. Margins can reach 30 percent compared with as little as 5 percent for consumer electronics displays, IHS analyst Stacy Wu said.

Average smartphone display prices slumped almost 14 percent last year and another double-digit fall is likely in 2015, according to IHS Technology.

OLED edge

Late last year, BMW executives visited South Korea for demonstrations of display products by Samsung and LG, one source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. All three companies declined to comment.

“It may take a couple of years or three to four years, but Samsung thinks it needs to enter the market, whether it is OLED or LCDs,” a person with direct knowledge of Samsung’s thinking said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

OLED screens, offering more vivid colours and greater flexibility than LCDs, could be a key differentiator for LG Display and Samsung Display, the only firms currently capable of mass producing them.

LG’s Shin said he expected OLED screens to be available in mass-produced cars by the end of the decade.

“The year 2020 is not in the distant future from the automakers’ perspective,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Toyota, Honda and Chrysler involved in new air bag recall

DETROIT/WASHINGTON - The auto industry's air bag troubles deepened on Saturday as U.S. federal safety regulators said three big automakers will recall about 2.1 million older vehicles to fix defects that could cause air bags to deploy when they are not supposed to.

The vehicles involved in the recall announced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are made by Toyota Motor Corp, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Honda Motor Co.

There have been about 400 reported cases of inadvertent air bag deployments in the recalled vehicles, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. The incidents have caused some minor injuries, but no known deaths, he told reporters.

The recall concerned a defective chip in air bag systems and the fix involved replacing the entire air bag module, including circuits manufactured by parts maker TRW Automotive Holdings, Rosekind said.

The automakers involved had issued three earlier recalls to fix the chip problems. But the NHTSA said it had reports that 39 vehicles fixed under those actions had experienced inadvertent air bag deployments, hence the new recall.

It was not related to millions of vehicles recalled over Takata Corp air bags. U.S. safety regulators have said defective Takata air bag inflators in certain vehicles can rupture and spray metal fragments inside the vehicle.

Air bag failures were also central to the controversy last year over General Motors Co's delay in recalling millions of vehicles with defective ignition switches that could unexpectedly cut off power to the safety systems.

Honda said that approximately 374,000 Honda and Acura vehicles are affected in the United States.

"Honda has received a small number of complaints of inadvertent airbag deployment in these vehicles after the original recall repair was completed," Honda said in a statement. "No crashes have been reported to Honda related to this issue."

Noting potential consumer concerns about air bags, the NHTSA said the chances of being involved in a crash in which an air bag could prevent serious injury or death were far greater than the risk of serious injury from an inadvertent bag deployment.

NHTSA blamed the problems it reported on Saturday on "electrical noise" in the air bag system. It said a fully effective solution might not be available until late this year.

The agency said the models affected were: 2002-2003 Jeep Liberty and 2002-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees (about 750,000 vehicles); 2003-2004 Honda Odyssey; and 2003 Acura MDX (about 370,000 vehicles) and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe; Dodge Viper; and Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix, and Toyota Avalon (about 1 million vehicles, not all of which were sold in the United States.)

The agency said the affected models had a part called an electronic control unit that controls deployment of its air bags. TRW supplied control units containing the same control circuit to all three automakers.

Although the recalls were not related to the Takata cases, the NHTSA said there was an overlap, in that about 1 million of the vehicles affected were also covered in separate recalls of Takata air bag inflator systems.

The recall highlights the difficulty automakers and regulators have with increasingly complex electronic systems. The agency said in a statement it could take several months for the companies to obtain enough parts to fix all the vehicles involved.

In the Takata cases, Honda on Friday said it has confirmed that a Takata air bag inflator ruptured in a Jan. 18 crash in Texas that killed the driver. Prior to that incident, air bags made by the Japanese company had been linked to at least five deaths.

source: interaksyon.com

Toyota recalls more cars for dangerous Takata air bags

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it would recall 57,000 vehicles globally to replace potentially deadly air bags made by Takata Corp, as a safety crisis around the Japanese auto parts maker looks far from being contained.

Toyota's action follows a recall by rival Honda Motor Co for the same problem two weeks ago after revelations of a fifth death, in Malaysia, linked to Takata's air bag inflator. More than 16 million vehicles have been recalled worldwide since 2008 over Takata's air bag inflators, which can explode with too much force and spray metal fragments into the car.

Toyota is recalling some Vitz subcompacts, called Yaris in some markets, and RAV4 crossover models made between December 2002 and March 2004. About 40,000 are in Japan, 6,000 in Europe and the rest in other markets outside North America. Toyota said it was not aware of any injury or death related to the recall.

Separately, Toyota's small-car subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co also issued a recall, in Japan, of 27,571 Mira minivehicles produced between December 2002 and May 2003 for the same reason - its first recall involving Takata inflators.

About 2.6 million vehicles have been recalled in Japan so far for Takata's air bag inflators, a transport ministry official said.

Takata-related recalls are almost certain to balloon after U.S. safety regulators on Wednesday ordered the company to expand a regional recall of driver-side air bags to cover the entire United States, not just hot and humid areas where the air bag inflators are thought to become more volatile.

Takata has so far resisted expanding the recall, saying that could divert replacement parts away from the high-humidity regions that need them most.

Tuesday deadline

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has given Takata until Tuesday to issue a nationwide recall, and could fine it up to $7,000 per vehicle if it doesn't comply. It remains unclear how many more vehicles that would add, but it could be in the millions, affecting five automakers: Ford Motor Co, Honda, Chrysler Group LLC, Mazda Motor Corp and BMW AG.

A U.S.-wide recall of driver-side air bags could cost an estimated 70 billion yen ($600 million), Nomura Credit Research analyst Shintaro Niimura wrote in a Nov. 26 report.

"Takata could need nearly 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) of reserves in the event of a U.S. nationwide recall (including passenger-side air bags), and the company's cash-on-hand would be tightly squeezed," he wrote, noting Takata had just 8.33 billion yen of cash and deposits.

"If the company makes any missteps, we cannot say that there is 'zero' chance of the company dying a sudden death - that is, being hit with excessive debt or facing a cash-insolvency bankruptcy," Niimura added.

Shares hit

NHTSA's action and the latest recalls come on the heels of an announcement by Japan's transport ministry on Wednesday that it received a report of an "unusual deployment" of a Takata air bag as it was being removed from a scrapped car on Nov. 6. The inflator was manufactured in January 2003 at Takata's Monclova, Mexico factory, and had not been subject to recalls, at least in Japan, raising the prospect of an expanded recall, the ministry said.

A Toyota spokesman said the scrapped car was a 2003 Will Cypha, a Japan-only compact model that is no longer in production. Toyota said it was investigating the issue as part of its wider probe into Takata's air bag inflators. "We will take prompt and appropriate action if we find there is a need for a recall as a result of the investigation," it said.

Takata shares dropped as much as 7.9 percent in Tokyo on Thursday, closing down 4.8 percent. Toyota shares eased 0.5 percent and Daihatsu shares slipped 1.2 percent, roughly in line with the broader market. Shares of Honda, Takata's top customer, underperformed other auto stocks, falling 3.3 percent.

Honda had said the Takata air bag inflator that failed in the Malaysia crash had likely been exposed to excessive moisture at the supplier's now-shuttered plant in LaGrange, Georgia. A transport ministry official said no further recalls are expected in Japan related to the problem identified at the LaGrange line between November 2001 and November 2003.

A second U.S. congressional hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, where representatives from Takata, NHTSA and several automakers will testify.

source: interaksyon.com

Uber-heated battle as mobile apps rattle Asia’s taxis

SINGAPORE — Southeast Asia’s notorious taxi market is undergoing a shakeout as Uber and homegrown mobile booking applications gain popularity in a region that has long endured inefficient cartels and price-gouging drivers.

San Francisco-based Uber, which allows customers to hail taxis or private vehicles via smartphones and pay with a credit card, is expanding rapidly in the region while fending off legal and regulatory challenges in various markets across the world.

Founded in 2009 and backed by Google Ventures, the investment arm of the Internet giant, Uber now operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam after first entering Southeast Asia in Singapore last year.

The firm, whose valuation was placed at $18.2 billion after an investment drive in June, employs smartphone and satellite technology to match taxi supply and demand.

A list of the world’s 10 worst cities to hail a taxi compiled by industry website tourism-review.com in March included Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Phnom Penh and Bangkok.

In Singapore, locals grumbled in pre-Uber days about vanishing taxis during peak periods, with cabbies refusing to pick up roadside passengers while waiting to earn extra fees from reservations made via antiquated phone-in booking systems.

In some cities, it was not uncommon for cabbies to demand exorbitant fares before taking passengers at peak periods, during heavy rain and floods, or at times of day when taxis are scarce.

Regulatory tangles

Uber executives say they welcome competition and are more than ready to go head to head with the likes of Malaysia-based GrabTaxi, Indonesia’s Blue Bird, and Easy Taxi, a regional player backed by German startup incubator Rocket Internet.

“As long as people are giving people options, that’s a good thing,” Michael Brown, Uber’s Southeast Asia general manager, told AFP in an interview.

“What makes Uber bristle is when special interests try to protect monopolies and keep new entrants and new competitors out,” said Brown, who is based in Singapore.

Despite threats to have it banned in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, Uber continues to operate there.

The firm is also facing legal threats in San Francisco and other major cities including New York and Frankfurt.

It is has also run into opposition in Seoul, where officials believe it should follow South Korean laws regulating taxi or rental car companies.

“Uber insists that it is acting as an online broker connecting drivers and customers rather than acting as a rental car company,” a Seoul city official told AFP.

“We do not agree with their characterisation of their business.”

Authorities in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta also say its car-hailing service makes use of private vehicles that do not comply with strict regulations that traditional taxi operators come under.

Uber has vehemently denied the accusations.

The firm does not own its own limousine or taxi fleet. Instead, its app allows customers to summon cars in its network, usually from a private car company.

It takes a cut of the total fare from the driver, which is paid electronically. Other taxi app players allow their members to take cash.

“Up to this day our principle remains that this taxi service is illegal,” Muhammad Akbar, head of Jakarta’s transport authority, told AFP.

In Malaysia, authorities say they began a crackdown on private cars using Uber on October 1, fining drivers up to 10,000 ringgit ($3,070).

Giving people options

Commuters and market analysts say unyielding bureaucrats are not seeing how taxi apps like Uber have the potential to significantly improve the standard of living of city dwellers.

Jakarta resident Winda Rezita said the arrival of Uber in the Indonesian capital was a relief.

“When I am too lazy to drive in Jakarta’s heavy traffic jams or when there’s a long taxi queue at the mall, I just switch on the app,” the e-commerce business founder told AFP. “It’s so much better than waiting outside a building or standing in a long queue.”

Daphne Kasriel-Alexander, a consumer trends consultant at research firm Euromonitor International, said “inadequate and overburdened public transport systems” coupled with the emergence of more middle-class consumers have boosted the usage of taxi-hailing apps in Southeast Asia.

Expansion plans

GrabTaxi, which first launched in Malaysia in 2012 and has since expanded to Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, is aiming for further growth.

Unlike Uber, the firm, backed by Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings, has so far avoided regulatory difficulties.

Its app mainly matches customers with registered taxis. A recently launched function called GrabCar allows for booking of private vehicles just like Uber, but so far it has not been flagged by authorities.

“We’re the leading taxi booking app in Southeast Asia including Singapore, and we are well-positioned to extend our lead,” Lim Kell Jay, GrabTaxi’s general manager in Singapore, told AFP.

The firm says it gets one taxi booking every two seconds in the whole region, with more than 300,000 people using it at least once a month.

Taxi drivers say they hope the intense rivalry between the apps will continue.

A Singaporean taxi driver who only wanted to be known as Tan said his revenue has increased by 20 to 30 percent since he signed up with UberTaxi last month.

The service connects Uber users to registered taxis, just like rival GrabTaxi.

“With the apps like Uber, it’s like a win-win. You (passengers) wait around less, and we drivers don’t have to roam around hunting for passengers, saving time and petrol,” he told AFP.

source: interaksyon.com

Senate adopts 'Lemon Law' vs defective cars

MANILA - A law aimed at protecting buyers from defective motor vehicles has finally been passed, which gives consumers the right to claim full amount paid if not satisfied with the car, Senator Bam Aquino announced on Friday.

Senator Aquino said the Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the Philippine Lemon Law of 2014 before the body's sine die adjournment on Wednesday.

After that, it is to be transmitted to Malacanang for President Aquino's approval.

Earlier, the bicameral conference committee adopted the House version of the Lemon Law, authored by Las Pinas Rep. Mark Villar.

"The passage of the Lemon Law is crucial since owning a vehicle is essential in today's fast-paced life, especially for businessmen and entrepreneurs,” said Aquino, sponsor of the consolidated bill filed by Senators Cynthia Villar and JV Ejercito.

"Aside from consumer protection, the Lemon Law will provide consistent standards of quality and performance in the auto industry," he added.

The law calls for the return to the consumer of the full value of money if the motor vehicle that was bought does not turn out to be up to standard and expected quality, 12 months or 20,000 kilometers from date of original delivery.

If the consumer remains unsatisfied with the efforts to repair the vehicle up to four times, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will exercise exclusive and original jurisdiction over disputes.

source: interaksyon.com

GM recalls another 3.4 million cars for ignition problem

WASHINGTON — General Motors on Monday recalled 3.4 million cars in North America to fix an ignition problem that could cause the car to lose power that is linked to injuries.

The bulk of the 2000 to 2014 model-year cars — 3.2 million — are in the United States, the largest US automaker said.

GM said that the ignition switch may move out of the “run” position if the key is carrying extra weight and is jarred, such as when the car hits a pothole or crosses railroad tracks.

Switching out of the “run” position affects power steering and power braking and could cause air bags not to deploy in a crash.

GM said it knows of eight crashes and six injuries related to this recall.

The company said the recall stems from its review of safety issues following its recall in February of 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for ignition switch problems.

The cars covered in the newest recall are Buick Lacrosses, Chevrolet Impalas, Cadillac Devilles, Cadillac DTS, Buick Lucernes, Buick Regals, and Chevy Monte Carlos.

GM said addressing the problem would involve replacing existing ignition keys with new ones designed differently, or retooling existing keys.

“Until the rework or replacement is completed, owners of the recalled cars are urged to remove additional weight from their key chains and drive with only the ignition key,” GM said.

GM announced five other recalls for a total of 165,770 vehicles for a variety of problems, including with automatic transmissions and power steering.

The company said it knew of no crashes or injuries related to four of the conditions, but injury data was unclear for a problem that could cause the rollover sensor to unintentionally deploy the roof rail air bags, which happened on 15 occasions.

GM said it would take a charge of about $700 million for recall repairs in the second quarter, including the $400 million provision it previously announced. That brings to $2.0 billion the amount set aside for recall costs in the first half of the year.

GM has now recalled some 20 million vehicles this year in the US and foreign countries for safety problems.

The automaker is under congressional and, reportedly, Justice Department investigation over why it failed to act on the Cobalt ignition switch problem until this February despite knowing about it for more than 11 years.

That problem has been tied to dozens of accidents and at least 13 deaths, according to GM. Outside analysts have said the death toll could be much higher.

The company is facing multiple lawsuits for that problem, which analysts say could ultimately cost the company billions of dollars in damages.

GE chief executive Marry Barra will return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for another congressional grilling before the oversight panel of the House of Representatives about the Cobalt recall scandal.

source: interaksyon.com

Italy sells luxury state cars on eBay

ROME — Italy’s government on Friday said it had raised 371,400 euros ($513,200) so far in an eBay auction of luxury official cars in a symbolic effort to cut outrageous spending by ministries that has sparked public anger.

The 52 cars sold were being used by the police, the fire brigade and the defence ministry and included five BMWs and two Audis, the government said in a statement.

“The average final price was 7,142 euros,” it said.

A total of 151 chauffeured cars will be auctioned off by May 16 in an initiative that has gained broad public support and was launched by centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi shortly after coming to power in February.

The cars yet to be sold include eight armoured Maseratis formerly used by the defence ministry. A brand new Maserati can cost around 100,000 euros.

The government said the official cars chosen for sale were “those that the public administration retains no longer essential for institutional ends”.

As Italy struggles to recover from a painful two-year recession, national and local authorities have been forced to cut down on thousands of official cars known as “auto blu” (blue cars) that have been for decades one of the many perks for the political class.

source: interaksyon.com