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Total new vehicle sales in September dropped to 1.01 million vehicles, down 37% from 1.6 million vehicles in March, when there were still enough new vehicles to sell. The industry-standard Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales – which adjusts for the number of selling days per month and for seasonal factors, and converts the monthly sales into what sales would be for an entire year – plunged for the fifth month in a row, by 29% year-over-year, to 12.2 million units SAAR, the lowest, outside of the two lockdown months, since June 2011 ,according to data from the Bureau...

China Evergrande Group, the property developer currently on the brink of default, has made many efforts over the years to branch off into businesses beyond real estate, but what is more impressive is how it has managed to manipulate the capital markets through the stories it created. One such story is Evergrande as a new-energy car maker. The market value of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. (Evergrande Auto), which has yet to sell a single car, once surged to as high as HK$674.1 billion ($86.6 billion), making it not only the most valuable listed car company in China,...

Container shipping rates are in uncharted territory. Dry bulk rates are at decade highs, and the latest boom in rates because of the shipping crunch has been with vessels that move wheeled cargo across the ocean, according to Bloomberg. Cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, trailers, and railroad cars, buses, and or even heavy machinery, commonly referred to as Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships, are demanding nearly $25,000 per day, with at least one vessel that has been booked for three years at the cost of $30,000 a day, according to Pareto Securities AS. These...

The great computer chip shortage of 2021 will likely get worse before it gets better. This conclusion was reached following brief study and anecdotal review. Moreover, while COVID lockdowns may have initially triggered the shortage, several decades of shortsighted decisions and simmering geopolitical tensions make it much more than a matter of fixing a few broken links in the supply chain. Here’s why… The world’s top two leading chip companies are Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. These two Asian firms, combined, control more than 70 percent of the semiconductor manufacturing market. The U.S., which was once a leader,...

The global semiconductor shortage we have been reporting on for the better part of the last year looks as though it could finally be turning a corner for the automotive industry. Smartphone production, however, may have to continue to suffer deficient supply until well into 2022, according to a new report by Reuters. Supply for the auto sector could improve in coming months as China has picked up some of the production slack that Taiwan hasn’t been able to meet, according to ING Greater China chief economist Iris Pang. While Taiwan has run into the headwind of continued Covid-prevention measures...

Tata Motors shares fell as much as 10% to hit an intraday low of Rs 311.45 on the BSE Shares of Tata Motors, the parent of luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover, crashed as much as 10 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 311.45 on the BSE after the company warned of negative operating profit margin or EBIT margin in the second quarter of current financial year as it expects chip supply shortages to be greater than in the first quarter. “Based on recent input from suppliers, we now expect chip supply shortages in the second quarter...

President Biden's top national security and economic advisers are trying to address a critical supply crunch that is slowing U.S. automobile manufacturing and threatens other sectors, including national security, according to experts. National security adviser Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council director Brian Deese, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimodo will meet with executives from 19 companies to discuss growing shortage of semiconductors, a key component of many computerized electronics. The shortage touches nearly every industry, but U.S. auto makers have been especially hit hard. General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (formed by a merger involving Fiat Chrysler) have all temporarily closed down...

The numbers paint a daunting picture. In 2019, consumers worldwide bought 64 million new personal cars and 27 million new commercial motor vehicles, a paltry 2.1 million of which were electric-powered. Climate scientists tell us that we have less than a decade to make meaningful reductions in carbon emissions — including those from internal combustion engines — if we have any hope of staving off the worst effects of global warming. Yet manufacturers are still making, and consumers are still buying, overwhelming numbers of vehicles that will, on average, continue to spew carbon into the atmosphere for a dozen years...

The courtship between Apple and Hyundai's Kia to build an Apple car seems to be progressing nicely. According to a report by CNBC, the two companies are close to finalizing a deal that would have Kia building an electric, autonomous Apple vehicle at a Kia assembly plant in West Point, Georgia. According to CNBC's sources, the deal hinges on Apple being in control of both the software and hardware of the vehicle. In other words, it would not be a Kia or Hyundai with Apple technology but would instead be an Apple vehicle that’s built by the Korean automaker in...

The era of electric cars isn't coming; it's already here. Though they still make up a small portion of the new car market, EVs are where the action is when it comes to the exciting realms of vehicular development. No longer are they battery-powered compliance cars or subcompact shuttles for the crunchy granola set; today's electric vehicles come in a broad range of sizes, shapes and prices. Still, while Tesla may have carved out a solid niche as purveyor of cutting-edge automobiles, Porsche has redefined sport sedans and Audi and Jaguar have whipped up stylish crossovers that feel imported from...

During the infamous year 2020, with all its distortions and shifts, automakers delivered 14.46 million new vehicles in the US, retail and fleet combined, down 15.4% from 2019, the largest year-over-year percentage decline since 2008 (-18%). Topping off years of declines, 2020 took auto sales back to levels first seen in the 1970s. Every recession has left a deep scar on auto sales. But over the past 20 years, it has taken many years to get back to the prior highs, only to then watch sales plunging again. The last high was in 2016, which had barely eked past the...

Senate Minority Leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has proposed legislation that would have the federal government “buy back” all motor vehicles that use fossil fuels. He says he got the idea from Democratic presidential candidate Rep, Beto O’Rourke’s plan to “buy back” firearms. Under Schumer’s bill, the government would buy these vehicles for amounts ranging from $2500 to $4500 apiece. “The great thing about my bill is that for a cost of less than $400 billion over a ten year period we will completely eliminate these climate damaging machines,” the Senator boasted. “Hopefully, vehicle owners will voluntarily turn over their gas-guzzling,...

President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency will revoke California's waiver that allows the state to require automakers to build cleaner vehicles than federal requirements demand – a move that will set off a massive legal battle. Reuters and other media outlets reported on Tuesday the administration was set to formally announce the decision as early as Wednesday. The Trump administration will announce in the coming weeks a separate rule to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency standards for light vehicles. Trump urged automakers to back the action, but so far none have publicly supported revocation of California's...

As Tesla bears celebrate the electric-car maker’s stock decline on news of disappointing deliveries in the first quarter, many are soft-pedaling a key angle: Tesla reiterated its 2019 delivery guidance. I’m not surprised. Tesla TSLA, +0.03% short-sellers, who bet on a decline in the shares, have recently displayed signs of hubris and mob-like overconfidence every time the stock falls into the $200s, as it continues to vastly underperform the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.21% This suggests to me the electric-car company is more of a buy than a sell at these levels, in the contrarian sense.

If you drive a Subaru, you may want to avoid wearing perfume or a sweater treated with fabric softener—they could prevent the engine from starting. Subaru Corp. said Friday it plans to recall as many as 2.3 million Impreza and Forester vehicles world-wide after discovering that certain chemical compounds released by everyday products such as cosmetics, fabric softener or car polish could cause parts to malfunction. These malfunctions could affect a brake-light switch that is also involved in starting the engine or cause a vehicle-stability warning light to flash unnecessarily, the Japanese auto maker said. No accidents related to the...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has formally ended talks with California over federal plans to roll back fuel economy rules, the White House said on Thursday, setting the stage for what could be a lengthy legal fight over the state’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. California could be joined in any court fight by 12 other states that have adopted its standards and want stricter rules to fight climate change. Several other states have also demanded the administration abandon its August proposal to freeze federal fuel efficiency standards after 2020 and take away California’s ability to impose stricter emissions...

The speedometer climbs as we race down a straightaway in Humble, Texas. As the needle edges to 60, 70, then 80 miles per hour, the 36-year-old automobile rattles and the wind whistles through the windows. Finally the DeLorean zooms up to 88 miles per hour and we feel, just for a moment, like we've gone back to the future. Then, a series of loud honks from the other side of the road, followed by animated waving, awaken us out of our speed spell. “We get that all the time," says DeLorean Motor Company CEO Stephen Wynne, sitting shotgun. “That doesn’t...

Beautiful photos of beautiful cars in beautiful settings. For best viewing - click "Full Screen" just below the right hand corner of the first photo.

[excerpted]...passenger car market share dropped to 30.6 percent in the month of August as a tide of crossovers, trucks, and SUVs continued swamping the automotive landscape. Few automakers can say their traditional passenger cars are making headway against the current... ...The Ford Taurus is not among this crowd of holdouts. Scheduled for death and talked about only by fleet managers, its sales dropped 16.8 percent over the first eight months of 2018. Its Lincoln Continental stablemate? Down 29.2 percent. At General Motors, where sales reporting is a quarterly phenomenon, Chevrolet Impala sales fell 11.7 percent at the end of the...

WAKE COUNTY, NC (WTVD) -- One hundred ninety-eight miles per hour! It's how fast a driver in Wake County got up to last month on US-1 near the Triangle Expressway. William Jefferson, 22, was behind the wheel -- he has since been charged with street racing and reckless driving. Only on #ABC11 the wild video of a street racing stunt in wake county. If you can believe it, the car got up to 198 MPH! @NCSHP pic.twitter.com/7kL4vBqSju — Josh Chapin (@JoshChapinABC11) August 17, 2018 "It's one reason why I don't want my kids on the roads late at night," said...