Free Republic

A report from Korea Times says Apple is close to finalizing deals with LG and Magna International to build the long-rumored Apple Car...The new rumors say Apple is close to signing a deal in which it would partner with Canadian manufacturer Magna International to build an EV powered by LG-supplied batteries and running on Apple software.So far none of the companies involved have commented on the reported negotiations, so there's no guarantee that this deal will be finalized or that it will result in a physical car...If the reports circulating now are correct (none of the three companies responded immediately...

Shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology were up as much as 9% in Shenzhen overnight on news that it could be the company involved in supplying batteries for Apple's electric vehicle project.The jump in shares marks the best day for the company's stock in four months, Bloomberg reported Monday morning.The report, which appears to be unconfirmed for the time being, was published in Xuangubao.cn, a Chinese online stock news platform. That platform did not report a source for the information.A battery is "still being tested" for the project, according to Bloomberg, and the company did not respond for comment when asked...

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...

Detroit - As the Texas power grid shudders in part under renewable power, the auto industry is also facing an uncertain transition to green energy. General Motors dropped a bombshell last month that it will build only electric vehicles by 2035. The commitment comes as the Biden administration stocks up on climate activists to?transform the economy to fight global warming.The administration is in line with governments from Europe to China that have declared EVs the future and - for the first time - are mandating which powertrains automakers must use.But as GM and other automakers spend billions to bring electrics...

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors says it will no longer support the Trump administration in legal efforts to end California’s right to set its own clean-air standards. CEO Mary Barra said in a letter Monday to environmental groups that GM will pull out of the lawsuit, and it urges other automakers to do so. She said the company agrees with President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to expand electric vehicle use. Last week, GM said it is testing a new battery chemistry that will bring electric-vehicle costs down to those of gas-powered vehicles within five years.

PROTECTING AMERICAN AUTOWORKERS: President Donald J. Trump is taking action to address the Obama administration’s decision to terminate the pension plans of non-union and salaried autoworkers of the Delphi Corporation. Today, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum directing his Administration to review the Obama administration’s decision to terminate the pension plans of Delphi Corporation’s non-union and salaried workers. When Delphi Corporation spun off from General Motors (GM) in 1999, its union workers received a deal from GM to protect their pensions, while non-unionized and salaried workers did not.After both companies went bankrupt, Delphi’s union pensions were fully protected while its...

Today, we reveal why we believe Nikola is an intricate fraud built on dozens of lies over the course of its Founder and Executive Chairman Trevor Milton's career... Inexpensive hydrogen is fundamental to the success of Nikola’s business model. Trevor has claimed in a presentation to hundreds of people and in multiple interviews to have succeeded at cutting the cost of hydrogen by ~81% compared to peers and to already be producing hydrogen. Nikola has not produced hydrogen at this price or at any price as he later admitted when pressed by media. Trevor has appointed his brother, Travis, as...

GM is suspending its quarterly dividend and stock buybacks to preserve cash during the coronavirus pandemic. The automaker said it also extended a $3.6 billion, three-year revolving credit facility to April 2022 to help bolster its liquidity. GM’s U.S. plants have been shuttered since mid-March due to Covid-19. union leaders said last week they oppose an early-May restart, which several automakers have announced.

Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky and activist Ammon Bundy take stands for the US Constitution in the face of America's "Coronavirus Crisis" but first..... French President Emmanuel Macron expressing his gratitude to Iraqi authorities over the release of four workers from a French Christian charity who were kidnapped in Iraq... Israel air force planes attacking targets in Gaza tonight after a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip.... President Trump calling for the ejection of libertarian Republican US Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky from the Republican Party for insisting on a roll call vote to pass the multi-billion dollars coronavirus bailout...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESSUBJECT:      Order Under the Defense Production Act Regarding General Motors CompanyBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  On March 13, 2020, I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our national security.  In recognizing the public health risk, I noted that on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization...

President Donald Trump invoked the rarely used Defense Production Act on Friday to order the Department of Health and Human Services to compel General Motors to manufacturer ventilators hours after he sharply criticized the company for slow-walking production. "Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course," Trump said in a statement. "GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives." Trump,...

President Donald Trump is demanding General Motors start manufacturing desperately needed ventilators 'NOW' – after a stunning report his administration stalled a potential deal over the cost. After sustaining weeks of questions and criticisms about why his administration hadn't demanded rush orders for medical equipment weeks ago, Trump took to Twitter to demand GM get on the task 'FAST.' He even demanded they reopen a shuttered Ohio plant – even though the company has already put forward a proposal to start assembly at a plant in Indiana.

General Motors (GM) recently announced it was investing billions into a new eco-friendly “electric car” initiative to compete with the tech giant Tesla in an effort to go green, and tech media outlets are touting the change. Both Axios and The Verge ran stories March 4 on GM’s $20 billion bet over the next five years on its new green initiative. And while Axios questioned the stability of GM’s commitment, and The Verge tried to play gotcha by criticizing how the company’s past positions have aligned with the policies of President Donald Trump, the outlets appeared to like the shift...

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.

Union workers can say a lot while under the protection of American labor law. For example: “Go back to Africa, you bunch of —ing losers!” That was only one of the racial epithets shouted in 2012 by picketing Ohio tire workers at a group of replacement employees, many of them black. When the tire company fired one offender, its decision was overturned by an administrative judge. That ruling was upheld by the National Labor Relations Board in a 2016 decision, Cooper Tire . These kinds of precedents, employers say, put them in a bind between labor law and workplace standards—even...

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...

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs on Friday after the October employment report blew past estimates. The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs last month, well ahead of the 89,000 that economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6 percent as wages grew at a 3 percent year-over-year clip. The better-than-expected results came despite the pressure from a six-week General Motors strike. Helping fuel the rally was improvement in the manufacturing sector. ISM Manufacturing reading rose 0.5 percentage points to 48.3 in October, but that was below the 48.9 that economists...

General Motors has joined Fiat Chrysler and Toyota in saying on Monday that they are siding with the Trump administration in taking on California over fuel economy standards, according to the New York Times. The argument presented by the automakers siding with Trump is that the federal government and not California has the authority in the matter, according to The Times. Those automakers are represented by the group the Association of Global Automakers. General Motors and Fiat Chrysler referred queries to Global Automakers. Toyota did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Times.

From California raging wildfires and fear of more wildfires causing Pacific Gas and Electric to warn that up to 850-thousand customers...... Protesters back on the streets of Iraq today with at least 40 reported dead.... The demonstrations continuing in Lebanon..... The streets of Bolivia's capital La Paz blocked today in protest at the election result..... Some one million people reported participating in a mass rally in Santiago, Chile...... A federal judge ruling late Friday that the Justice Department must hand over grand jury materials from the Robert Mueller investigation to the Democrat controlled House Judiciary Committee.... The news late Thursday...