Workers at Tesla’s Fremont plant celebrate the 1,000th Model S body built, 2012.
United Auto Workers president Bob King has said that the labor union is interested in organizing Tesla’s assembly plant in Fremont, California and that a group of workers at the site have set up an organizing committee for the UAW. That factory is where Tesla assembles the battery powered Model S. Tesla has prided itself in being different from Detroit and its headquarters’ location, the Silicon Valley, is not exactly a labor hotbed. (Read More…)
It’s being revealed that Opel registered the Calibra and Cascada names with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in December. While some have speculated from the fact that Opel was the registrant of record that General Motors is considering returning its European brand to the United States, more likely the use of Opel was to hide a possible plan by GM to use the nameplates on Buicks. When GM sold Opel’s Astra as a Saturn before shuttering that brand, Opel had been the registrant for that name as well. (Read More…)
Last Friday, for the first time since the communist revolution there more than 50 years ago, Cubans were able to buy new and used cars without government permission, as state owned dealerships started retail sales, but residents of the island were disheartened by markups of 400% or more that the government is framing as a luxury tax. Cubans walked away from the Havana Peugeot dealer, a state-run enterprise, shaking their heads in disgust after seeing sticker prices ranging from the equivalent of $91,000 for a 2013 206 to $262,000 for a 508. For comparison, in the UK most 508s sell for less than $42,000. That’s quite a substantial additional dealer markup. Eighty percent of employed Cubans work for the state and the average wage in the country is about $20 a month so the cars area still out of reach to the vast majority of Cubans. The tens of thousands of small private businesses that have sprung up since the introduction of economic reforms have a great need for vehicles, but they too have been priced out of the market. At those prices, don’t expect Cuba’s fleet of old American iron to be taken out of service any time soon. (Read More…)
Chevrolet used the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to introduce what it says is an industry first for the 2015 Corvette, a factory equipped Performance Data Recorder that integrates video, audio and motorsport inspired telemetry recording to improve driver technique and lap times. Tadge Juechter, Corvette chief engineer, said in a statement, “The Performance Data Recorder combines the ability to record and share drive videos with the power of a professional-level motorsports telemetry system. Drivers can easily record and share their experiences driving down the Tail of the Dragon or lapping Road Atlanta. In addition, with the included telemetry software, users can analyze their laps in incredible detail and find opportunities to improve their driving and lap times.” The PDR will be available when the 2015 Corvette goes on sale in the third quarter of 2014 and pricing will be announced closer to launch. (Read More…)
December sales of automobiles and light trucks in the U.S. were up slightly from last year, but failed to meet analysts’ predictions due to winter storms and some sales being pulled forward in a strong November. Nissan led gainers, up 11% while GM had the worst year to year performance, down 6%. Most automakers closed out the year with an increase.
The seasonally adjusted sales rate also came in below expectations. The SAAR fell in December to 15.4 million from November’s six-year high of 16.4 million. Last year’s SAAR for December was 15.2 million so it’s a slight improveent. Most analysts predicted a 15.6 million unit SAAR for the month. Overall, December sales were up 0.2% from last year and for the year deliveries were up 8% to a total of 15.6 million units, the best year since 2007. Car sales were up 4% while light truck sales rose 11% on the strength of CUV and large pickup sales. This is the 5th straight year of increased sales since the industry cratered at 10.4 million units in 2009.
After several delays, on Dec. 25th, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration submitted a proposed revised regulation to the White House that could mandate automakers to equip cars and light trucks with backup cameras. According to Automotive News, the regulation will be part of new rear visibility standards for passenger vehicles sold in the U.S and the rationale for the backup cameras is to prevent children from being injured or killed by drivers that don’t see them behind their cars when traveling in reverse. NHTSA estimates that backup cameras would save about 100 lives a year.
No details on the planned standards have been released yet. (Read More…)
Bloomberg is reporting that Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp. and scion of its founding family said that a slowdown in emerging markets and uncertainty over demand in both China and the Japanese home market makes 2014 “unpredictable”.
Fiat SpA said on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to buy the remaining 41.5% stake in Chrysler that it does not own from the United Auto Worker’s retiree health-care trust, known as VEBA, for $3.65 billion in cash up front and another $700 million after the deal is completed. The agreement will allow Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne to realize his dream of creating a global automotive group out of the two companies. The joint automaker would be the 7th largest in the world. (Read More…)
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