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I grew up in a household with parents who were of the Greatest Generation. They lived and shouldered through the Great Depression, and then their lives and families were thrown into turmoil on Dec. 7, 1941. My grandfather worked for the War Department in Washington, D.C., and during World War II, my father served in the Pacific Theater. Both my mother and father made a solemn vow that as long as they lived, they would never buy a German or a Japanese car. No matter how well they were made. They were the enemies. They were the ones who killed...

World leaders are currently meeting at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland to review the progress that has been made since the 2015 Paris Climate Accords and negotiate new, more ambitious goals for the future. On Wednesday, six major automakers—including Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz—and 30 national governments signed a pledge to stop sales of new gas and diesel vehicles by 2040 globally, and by 2035 in “leading markets.” However, the governments of three of the most significant car markets—the United States, China, and Japan—refrained from joining the pledge, as did major...

Two months after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a nearly $1-billion deal with Chinese automaker BYD to purchase respirators, California has yet to receive any of the much-needed N95 masks. And on Friday, state officials announced that they would give the company a second extension to deliver on its promise... ...While state lawmakers said they understood the state's desire to buy the critical supplies, the governor received bipartisan blowback for how his administration handled the deal. Lawmakers said they learned about the $1-billion contract at the same time as the public, when Newsom went on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show...The governor’s...

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Wednesday that General Motors CEO Mary Barra offered the automakers’ shuttered factories to produce ventilators to address the coronavirus crisis. Barra reportedly made several suggestions for how GM could assist the government, including using factory space for ventilator production, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, adding that the government has yet to formally request the use of GM facilities. The automaker “is working to help find solutions for the nation during this difficult time and has offered to help, and we are already studying how we can potentially support production of...

General Motors, the auto maker that sells millions of cars and trucks each year, has a new production target: zero. CEO Mary Barra hasn’t lost her mind. Instead, GM’s goal is a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, the company said at an investor event following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings. It’s a bold vision to say the least. Zero EmissionsNo greenhouse gases coming from a tail pipe, of course, is all about vehicle electrification. GM, it seems, is leaving the traditional motor behind. “We believe climate change is real, it’s a global concern and the...

General Motors Co will revive the Hummer name to sell a new family of electric pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles and will tout the return with a Super Bowl ad featuring NBA star Lebron James, two people briefed on the matter said on Friday. The vehicles will be sold under the GMC nameplate. Reuters reported in October that GM planned to build a new family of premium electric pickup trucks at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant beginning in late 2021 and was considering reviving the Hummer name, citing several people familiar with the plans.

Ford Motor Co. is adding 3,000 jobs at two factories in the Detroit area and investing $1.45 billion to build new pickup trucks, SUVs, and electric and autonomous vehicles. The company said Tuesday that about $750 million will go the Michigan Assembly Plant in the Detroit suburb of Wayne, where 2,700 jobs will be added during the next three years. Another $700 million will be invested in the truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where 300 new jobs will be added. Hiring will begin next year.

The new film “Ford v Ferrari” is a celebration of three of the most important energy sources in the world: capitalism, gasoline and testosterone. The race-car drama flattened the latest tired, feminist iteration of “Charlie’s Angels” last weekend at the box office, proving that there’s an appetite for stories that haven’t been told a thousand times before and also for good old star luster, embodied by Christian Bale as British racer Ken Miles and Matt Damon as the Texas racer turned car designer Carroll Shelby. Yet “Ford v Ferrari” isn’t just a fun movie about pressing the pedal to the...

GM Hits Fiat Chrysler with Bombshell Corruption Lawsuit by Alex Shanahan, Anna Wells 11-21-2019 "GM says Fiat Chrysler has been in cahoots with the UAW for years, and it's cost them billions."

California said on Monday it will halt all purchases of new vehicles for state government fleets from GM, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler and other automakers backing President Donald Trump in a battle to strip the state of authority to regulate tailpipe emissions. Between 2016 and 2018, California purchased $58.6 million in vehicles from General Motors Corp, $55.8 million from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles $10.6 million from Toyota Motor Corp and $9 million from Nissan Motor Co. Last month, GM, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and members of the Global Automakers trade association backed the Trump administration's effort to bar California from setting tailpipe...

Two of the world's biggest car companies Fiat Chrysler and PSA - the owner of Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall - confirmed that they have agreed a merger today. The move would tie together Fiat Chrysler's major position in North America and PSA's status as Europe's second largest carmaker, to create the world's fourth biggest vehicle firm. The firms say that they could save £3.2billion (€3.7billion or $4.1billion) in costs with the merger, but claim they could do this without any factory closures. However, the deal is likely to face fierce scrutiny as employees and unions fear that it would lead...

The UAW announced Sunday morning that it would strike "effective at midnight tonight" after contract negotiations fell through. During a press conference on Sunday, the union's vice president said it informed GM that its membership would follow through after the contract ended Saturday at 11:59 p.m.. "This is our last resort," said VP Terry Dittes. A spokesman said the strike impacts about 48,000 UAW workers at GM plants across the country.

President Donald Trump on Friday attacked General Motors for its significant presence in China and questioned whether the automaker should move the operations to the U.S. Trump, in a tweet, said GM, “once the Giant of Detroit, is now one of the smallest auto manufacturers there. They moved major plants to China, BEFORE I CAME INTO OFFICE. This was done despite the saving help given them by the USA. Now they should start moving back to America again?” Many of the claims in the tweet against the Detroit automaker were misleading or inaccurate, according to industry data and officials.

Auto industry icon Lee Iacocca -- forever connected to the Ford Mustang and former chairman of Chrysler -- has died ... according to a family source. A family member tells TMZ Iacocca passed away, but could not provide any further detail. Iacocca is credited with saving Chrysler from bankruptcy back in the 1980s ... and he's often referred to as the father of the legendary Ford Mustang. While he was always known within the auto industry ... he became a household name across America when he starred in a series of TV advertisements for Chrysler.

Michigan automakers, parts suppliers and advanced manufacturers have worked hard to innovate, Peters said, but need a strategy backed by policy guidelines and federal investment to remain world leaders in manufacturing. “Other nations identify their goals, their plans, and then execute,” Peters said. The United States, on the other hand, has no comprehensive national manufacturing policy and no key person in charge of guiding U.S. manufacturers through the tumultuous changes that lie ahead."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who borrowed $517 million on margin to buy more stock, potentially would be forced to liquidate all his shares and risk bankrupting Tesla if the price falls by 20 percent.

Ford Motor Co said on Monday it will eliminate about 10% of its global salaried workforce, cutting about 7,000 jobs by the end of August as part of its larger restructuring in a move that will save the No. 2 automaker $600 million annually. Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett said in an email to employees that the cuts include both voluntary buyouts and layoffs, and a spokesman added it freezes open positions as well. About 2,300 of the affected people are employed in the United States, the spokesman said. “To succeed in our competitive industry, and position Ford to...

Jordan Felo had just finished hiking in the local mountains outside Portland, Ore., several weeks ago and was headed home in his 2010 Toyota Prius when it suddenly lost power and slowed to a crawl. Felo had taken the Prius to a Toyota dealer a few weeks earlier for a 2018 safety recall. New software was installed to fix an overheating problem in the electrical power system. Yet when Felo hit the accelerator pedal, a key electronic component called an inverter overheated and fried itself. “I was lucky nobody was behind me because I would have been rear-ended,” recalled Felo,...

TOKYO — A lawyer for Nissan former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who was taken back into custody last week, has outlined the conditions for his initial release on bail in an effort to clarify what he called incorrect speculation in the Japanese media. Ghosn, accused of financial misconduct, was arrested in November, but released in March. He was detained again on fresh allegations Thursday. It is unusual in Japan for a suspect who cleared bail to be arrested again.

Tesla on Wednesday reported a massive drop in auto sales for last quarter, though the company said it's confident it will still reach its annual sales goal. About 63,000 vehicles were delivered to customers in the first three months of 2019 — a 31% drop compared to the prior quarter. The total sales figures included about 50,900 Model 3 sedans, Tesla's best-selling vehicle, and 12,100 luxury Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.