Ford and VW Formally Unveil “Collaboration” on Autonomous and Electrified Vehicles
Ford and VW today formally unveiled an expanded “collaboration” they hope will position them as leaders in autonomous and electric vehicle development, even while helping slash the massive expenses required to bring those technologies to market. The announcement comes...
Ford Knowingly Made Millions of Fiestas, Focuses with Faulty Transmissions
Ford Motor Co. started selling Focus and Fiesta models with defective transmissions between 2010 and 2011 — and knew it. Owners of these cars reported more than 50 injuries and filed more than 4,300 complaints about the vehicles with the National Highway Traffic...
Tesla Makes Model 3 Compatible with Third-Party Chargers
Tesla Model 3 owners now have a choice, at least when it comes to charging their vehicles. After making its mainstream vehicle only chargeable using the company’s Supercharging network, Tesla’s allowing Model 3 owners to also use CHAdeMO adapters too. However, the...
Automakers Pushing House Dems to Pass New NAFTA
The rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement is apparently about to sink, ratcheting up the anxiety for the automakers with operations in Mexico. “House Democrats say there’s little-to-no chance that Congress will take up President Donald Trump’s...
BMW, Daimler Ink Long-Term Autonomous Vehicle Development Deal
Daimler AG and BMW Group, often bitter rivals, signed off on agreement to continue cooperating on the development of automated driving. The agreement calls for long-term strategic cooperation between the two companies, focusing on joint development of next-generation...
Hyundai Claims CVVD Engine Tech Improves Performance While Cutting Emissions, Fuel Consumption
According to conventional wisdom, most of the cars we’ll be driving by mid-decade will need to be electrified, in some form or another, to meet increasingly stringent mileage and emissions mandates – and many experts believe it’s only a matter of time until the...
EU Requiring EVs to Make Noise to Alert Pedestrians, Bicyclists
The European Union is imposing a new rule on battery electric vehicles, requiring them to sound like a vehicle with a gasoline or diesel engine. The regulation is designed to address concerns that low-emission cars and vans are too quiet, putting pedestrians at risk...
Exclusive: FCA Has Big News Coming in Electrification
Not all that long ago, former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne was asking potential customers not to buy the automaker’s all-electric Fiat 500e because it lost too much money on every one of them. Just months before his unexpected death, Marchionne began to shift...
Tesla Gets Tariff Exemption from Commerce Department
Despite all of the bluster by the Trump administration about levying tariffs on steel and aluminum, the U.S. Commerce Department has offered plenty of tariff waivers on auto companies. Most of those have been for steel, but Tesla just got the government to waive 10%...
Japanese Government Catching Blame for FCA-Renault Merger Talks Breakdown
The Japanese government played a central role in the breakdown of merger talks between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Group Renault earlier this month, according to a report by the Bloomberg news service. The agreement, proposed by FCA last month, was widely expected...