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The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back fuel economy incentives for start-stop technology, a system that automatically shuts off a car’s engine when stopped at a red light or in traffic. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the decision, calling the feature a “climate participation trophy” that drivers overwhelmingly dislike. The move marks a significant shift in federal policy, reversing regulations that encouraged automakers to include the system in new vehicles. Start-stop technology was introduced as part of Obama-era emissions rules, designed to reduce fuel consumption and lower carbon emissions. The system became widespread, with 65 percent of new cars featuring...

Quote of the Week: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry FordTalk about chaotic markets. Donald Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico caused markets to see-saw last week.Regardless of what happens next, the uncertainty could now weigh on markets until permanent trade deals are negotiated.The auto industry is right in the crosshairs of these tariffs and is understandably under pressure. The outlook for automakers was already looking shaky with electric vehicle sales losing momentum and consumer spending beginning to slow.On the other hand, pessimism creates opportunities. So...

President Donald Trump will exempt automakers from proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month after pleas from industry leaders. “We are going to give a one month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference on Wednesday. “Reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April, 2, but at the request of the companies associated with USMCA, the president is giving them an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage,” she continued.

Auto worker in Georgia at the Hyundai electric car plant He’s reporting ICE just showed up and HUNDREDS of illegal workers ran away. Hyundai is employing HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL WORKERS at their plants He says “80-90%” of the group he works with are illegal Venezuelans “They are making electric cars. Today immigration came and hundreds of people left running, jumping fences” “Who do not have documents, who do not have legal status in America”

The three largest American automakers, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, are, according to a recent New York Times report, planning a coordinated lobbying push to convince President-elect Donald Trump to maintain a suite of climate rules forcing electric vehicle purchases. The Thursday report—titled "Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles"—cites unnamed "lobbyists and officials from several car companies" who say manufacturers want Trump to keep the Biden administration's tailpipe emissions regulations, fuel economy standards, and generous tax credits for electric vehicle purchases. But at least one of the referenced automakers, the multinational automaker Stellantis, is pushing back...

Executives at Ford Motor Company, General Motors (GM), and Stellantis are begging President-elect Donald Trump to keep in place President Joe Biden’s Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates. The plea comes as automakers have invested billions in EVs that have failed to turn a profit. In March of this year, Biden issued a federal regulation to begin phasing out gas-powered cars, requiring American automakers to produce EVs and ensure that by 2032, the majority of new cars sold in the U.S. market are electric. Since then, Ford, GM, and Stellantis have staked their futures on EVs. The results have been bleak as...

A German newspaper published an explicit single world headline after Donald Trump emerged as the victor in the 2024 presidential election. Die Zeit, which is the country's biggest weekly paper, posted a reaction piece this morning headlined : 'F***'. The piece outlined factors that could result in scenarios for his political opponents, and was penned by Nele Pollatschek for the outlet, which has been published in the city of Hamburg since it was founded in 1946. In the article, seen by The Latin Times, she wrote: 'Last time, Trump's advisors stopped him from doing too much nonsense. 'Except that he...

Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.. consumer demand for EVs hasn’t shown up in the way executives had expected ... The buzz around electric vehicles is wearing off. For years, the automotive industry has been in a state of EV euphoria. Automakers trotted out optimistic sales forecasts for electric models and announced ambitious targets for EV growth. Wall Street boosted valuations for legacy automakers and startup entrants alike, based in part on their visions for an EV future. Now the hype...

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to bring back a class action lawsuit alleging four auto manufacturers had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers’ private text messages and mobile phone call logs. The Seattle-based appellate judge ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automakers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, which are defendants in five related class action suits focused on the issue. One of those cases, against Ford, had been dismissed on appeal previously....

DETROIT (AP) — A 46% pay raise. A 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay. A restoration of traditional pensions.The demands that a more combative United Auto Workers union has pressed on General Motors, Stellantis and Ford — demands that even the UAW’s own president calls “audacious” — are edging it closer to a strike when its contract ends Sept. 14.

The union representing approximately 150,000 workers at the Big Three U.S. automakers -- General Motors, Ford and Stellantis -- has voted to authorize a strike if no deal is reached amid ongoing contract negotiations. Across the three companies, United Auto Workers union members voted a combined average of 97% in favor of a strike authorization, with votes still being tallied, the union said Friday. The vote does not mean a strike will be called, but that the union has the right to call one if they see fit. "Our union's membership is clearly fed up with living paycheck-to-paycheck while the...

President Biden on Monday called on both sides to strike a fair agreement amid the contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the top U.S. automakers, known as the Big Three. “As the Big Three auto companies and the United Auto Workers come together — one month before the expiration of their contract — to negotiate a new agreement, I want to be clear about where I stand. I’m asking all sides to work together to forge a fair agreement,” Biden said in a statement.

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...