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Obama Aims to Allay Auto Lobby Concern on Korea Trade

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Bloomberg - By Edwin Chen, Julianna Goldman - Nov. 21 (News Report) - President Barack Obama said he is committed to pushing through a free trade agreement with South Korea that has been stalled by the U.S. auto lobby and unions, who argue it doesn’t do enough to open up Korean markets. Obama’s joint press conference in Seoul today with South Korean counterpart Lee Myung Bak was a last chance on his four- nation Asia trip to show he opposes protectionism. The accord has been held up in Congress, where lawmakers are demanding wider access for Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. Lee said today he is willing to reopen talks on the auto industry.

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GM Plans to Repay U.S. Loan

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By John D. Stoll - Nov. 16 (News Report) - General Motors Co. plans to begin paying back a $6.7 billion loan it owes the U.S. government starting late this year, putting it on track to potentially repay the entire note by the middle of 2011, said a person familiar with the matter. But in a move that could be controversial and risky, the car maker plans to use other money it received from the government to pay back the borrowing.

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Buffett Bigs Big on Railroads, Buying Burlington Northern

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Michael J. del la Merced, Andrew Ross Sorkin - Nov. 04 (News Report) - America’s best-known investor, Warren E. Buffett, is making his biggest bet yet on the nation’s economic future by buying, of all things, a railroad.

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Ford Earns $997 Million, Projects Solid 2011 Profit

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Bloomberg - By Keith Naughton - Nov. 02 (News Report) - Ford Motor Co., the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, posted net income of $997 million in the third quarter and its first operating profit since early 2008. Ford said it expects to be “solidly profitable” in 2011.

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Hudson Crash Bares Friction Between Safety Board and F.A.A. - NYTimes.com

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Al Baker - Aug. 14 (News Report) - In 2007, the agency, the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Federal Aviation Administration that it wanted to require air-tour operators to track complaints about pilot performance. This year, it said instruments to track a flight’s vital signs — flight data recorders — should be customary in helicopters and other tour aircraft, to aid in investigating fatal accidents.

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Senate Hearing Examines Pilots’ Living Conditions

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Sholnn Freeman - Aug. 06 (News Report) - A Senate aviation panel on Thursday questioned executives from Continental Airlines and Colgan Air about the living conditions of pilots, including what one senator described as food-stamp-level pay and the controversial industry housing known as crash pads.

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Conservative group offers to sell endorsement for $2M

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Mike Allen - Jul. 17 (News Report) - The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a $2 million check in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay. In return for the $2 million, ACU offered a range of

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Volatile Swings in Oil Prices Hobble Industry

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Jad Mouawad - Jul. 06 (News Report) - The extreme volatility that has gripped oil markets for the last 18 months has shown no signs of slowing down, with oil prices more than doubling since the beginning of the year despite an exceptionally weak economy.

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Americas | How Texas manure ethanol plan fell flat

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - By Jamie Coomarasamy Washington correspondent, BBC News - Jun. 23 (News Report) - There are some things that don't change in Hereford, Texas. The country music that's played on the local radio station and the brown plastic bull, which welcomes you to town, above the slogan "Hereford, Beef Capital of the World". But one thing has appeared on the skyline since I was last in the panhandle three-and-a-half years ago - the gleaming, silver silos of the Panda ethanol plant.

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Senators fly high on taxpayers' dime

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Abby Phillip - Jun. 11 (Special Report) - Sens. John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer each spent more than $140,000 in taxpayer money on travel in the first half of the fiscal year — roughly 10 times as much as some of their thriftier colleagues.

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New Era in Autos as GM Set for Bankruptcy

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Kevin Helliker, Neil King Jr., John D. Stoll - Jun. 01 (News Analysis) - The question now facing 56,000 auto workers, 3,600 GM dealers and the Obama administration: Will it work?

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As Political Winds Shift, Detroit Charts New Course

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By John M. Broder, Micheline Maynard - May. 20 (News Analysis) - The auto industry is flat on its back, with Chrysler in bankruptcy, General Motors close to it, and both companies taking billions of dollars in federal money. Foreign automakers are getting help from their own governments. Climate change legislation is barreling down the track, and Congress showed last fall that it had no appetite to side with Detroit any more.

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Spain's Bullet Train Changes Nation -- and Fast

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Thomas Catan - Apr. 20 (News Report) - ... AVE's backers say high-speed rail can only be economical if the state bears much of the construction costs. But they say the benefits -- lower greenhouse-gas emissions, less road congestion and, in Spain's case, greater social cohesion and economic mobility -- make it worthwhile.

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GM says Volt isn't dead yet, despite panel's bleak report

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

McClatchy - By Renee Schoof - Apr. 08 (News Report) - President Barack Obama's auto task force last week said in an assessment of General Motors' viability that it was a full generation behind Toyota in "green powertrain development" and that "while the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need substantial reductions in manufacturing cost in order to become commercially viable."

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Autoworkers tired of the "tough love"

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Jeff Karoub - Mar. 31 (News Analysis) - when it comes to auto manufacturing and middle-class jobs and people that don't matter on Wall Street, there are certainly different standards that we have to meet — higher standards — than the financials. That is a double standard that exists and it's unfair," Fredline said.

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Factory And Auto Towns Shift Gears

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

National Public Radio - Mar. 30 (News Report) - Some of the hardest-hit communities in this recession are the towns and cities that have lost jobs in the automobile industry — or worse, saw an entire auto plant close.

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Tire inflation: From campaign joke to California rule

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Don Thompson - Mar. 27 (News Report) - An issue that briefly brought President Barack Obama ridicule on the campaign trail last year is gaining traction in California, where air regulators are seeking to mandate proper tire inflation as a way to reduce fuel consumption.

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Can the Nano solve Tata's problems?

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - Mar. 27 (News Analysis) - Is the Tata Nano the car the world has been waiting for, its launch this week a moment not only of automotive history but of real social significance? Or will it prove to be no more than a dazzling digression for its troubled maker? Fifteen months after its unveiling at the Delhi motor show, the cheapest and most talked-about car of modern times has gone on sale. The plainest version costs 1 lakh (100,000) rupees ($2,000), as promised by Ratan Tata (pictured above), the head of the Tata group and the driving force behind the project. At half the price of the next cheapest car on the market (the aged Maruti 800), the Nano will bring car ownership to people who would never previously have considered it. But it has not been an easy gestation.

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Zenn plans to be the 'Intel Inside' of electric cars

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

CNET News - By Candace Lombardi - Mar. 26 (News Report) - Zenn CEO Ian Clifford offered a true-believer-style pep talk: With the commercialization of EESTor's game-changing electronic storage technology Zenn will take the central role in enabling electric drive around the world with a business model that can best be described as an Intel Inside energy solution custom tailored to work with any and all OEM platforms. We'll partner with the automotive industry and governments around the world to ensure that electric vehicles are available to all consumers both as new highly capably vehicles and conversions of existing internal combustion vehicles to Zennergy drive.

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Hey, Private Sector, Wanna Buy a Bridge?

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Dave Demerjian - Mar. 24 (Special Report) - The real cost of modernizing the country's infrastructure, says the American Society of Civil Engineers, exceeds $2.2 trillion — an overwhelming figure. Cities and states increasingly are inviting private firms to manage assets these governments can no longer afford and build projects they can't finance. More than half of the states are considering public-private partnerships to get things done, following an example set by European countries that have turned over airports, highways, waterworks and other critical infrastructure to the corporate sector.

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Industry's Big Hope for Small Cars Fades

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Matthew Dolan - Mar. 23 (News Report) - AutoWay Honda in Clearwater, Fla., last summer could hardly keep fuel-efficient models like the Civic sedan and Fit on the lot. "When one would come in, it'd be out the door the same day practically," said Brian Speas, the dealership's general manager. Now, Mr. Speas is struggling to get customers to give them a look. He has a whole row of Civic hybrids that draw little interest, and a half-dozen Fits that have been sitting unsold for more than three months.

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Share My Ride

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Mark Levine - Mar. 07 (Special Report) - Joe replaced the car, more or less, with nothing, or rather, with an Idea, which he carried around in his wallet on a plastic card, lawn-green, embedded with a computer chip and prominently imprinted with a playfully mellow looking “Z,” for Zipcar — an upstart company bent on altering the primal bond between Americans and their vehicles.

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Key to Eliminating U.S. Flight Delays? Redesign the Sky Over New York City

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Wired - By Andrew Blum - Mar. 04 (Special Report) - More than 2 million flights pass over the city every year, most traveling to and from the metropolitan area's three busiest airports: John F. Kennedy, Newark, and LaGuardia. And all that traffic squeezes through a network of aerial routes first laid out for the mail planes of the 1920s. Aircraft are tracked by antiquated, ground-based radar and guided by verbal instructions issued over simplex radios, technology that predates the pocket calculator. The system is extremely safe—no commercial flight has been in a midair collision over the US in 22 years—but, because the Federal Aviation Administration treats each plane as if it were a 2,000-foot-tall, 6- by 6-mile block lumbering through the troposphere, New York is running out of air.

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Obama plots huge railroad expansion

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By David Rogers - Feb. 17 (News Report) - Railroads made Chicago, and now a Chicago-rich White House wants to return the favor: remaking rail with a huge new federal investment in high-speed passenger trains.

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Let's explore what defines the American car

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

USA Today - By Chris Woodyard - Feb. 16 (Special Report) - GM's Pontiac Vibe and Toyota's Corolla are built in the same factory in Fremont, Calif. About 65% of the parts for Japan's Honda Accord come from the U.S. or Canada vs. 50% of the parts in a Chevrolet HHR. Accords are made in Marysville, Ohio. The Chevy HHR, a small SUV, is assembled in Mexico. "There truly isn't an American car anymore," says Ron Harbour of consultant Oliver Wyman's automotive practice. "Every car has parts from all over the world."

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