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California Lowers Auto Emissions Rule

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California regulators have drastically cut the number of zero-emission vehicles required to be sold in the state by the year 2014, a decision that frustrated environmentalists but came as a relief to auto manufacturers, according to the Associated Press.
The rules adopted Thursday put the number of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that automakers sell in California at 7,500 by 2014 - a 70 percent reduction from the 2003 target.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 2:55 PM to Alternative fuels | Permalink | Comments 0

Backseat Driver: Not a great week for Detroit’s Big Three

Chrysler, which has been scrambling to organize itself after being taken over by private Cerberus Management last year, lost a senior executive this week in a move that seems to reflect dissent at the top levels. The departure of engineering vice president Mike Donoughe was seen as a loss, according to thecarconnection.com.

In addition, the minivan market, which has long been Chrysler’s bread and butter, has fallen off, with sales down by double digits. All this against the backdrop of Consumer Reports’ poor ranking of Chysler in its annual automotive survey earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Ford finalized the sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover divisions to Tata Motors of India for $2.3 billion. But that included an agreement by Ford to inject $600 million into the two divisions’ pension funds, meaning Ford actually nets $1.7 billion.

This against the $2.5 billion Ford paid for Jaguar in 1989 and the $2.7 billion it paid for Land Rover in 2000, to say nothing of the billions it has spend on the marques since then, especially on Jaguar.

Finally, the five-week UAW strike at American Axle & Manufacturing might halt production on General Motors’s Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5 production lines in Lordstown, Ohio, according to Automotive News. The strike has already stopped GM’s light-truck production.

Silver lining? The weak dollar continues to play in Detroit’s favor by keeping prices of imports high.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 2:52 PM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

NYT Profile of GM's President and CEO

DETROIT — If General Motors were to design a president and chief operating officer from scratch, the new model would probably look a lot like Frederick A. Henderson, according to The New York Times.

Born in Detroit and the son of a sales manager in G.M.’s Buick division, Mr. Henderson rose through the automaker’s finance ranks and parts division to head its operations in Latin America, then Asia and Europe.

When G.M. appeared headed for bankruptcy in early 2006, he was tapped as chief financial officer, and played a major role in shaping G.M.’s North American turnaround plan and negotiating a contract with the United Automobile Workers.

Now Mr. Henderson, who is known as Fritz, is charged with accelerating G.M.’s growth around the world while steering its comeback effort at home.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 1:39 PM to GM | Permalink | Comments 0