Latest news with #FirstShift
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
U.S. declares Biden fuel economy rules exceeded legal authority
WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department on June 6 declared that fuel economy rules issued under then President Joe Biden exceeded the government's legal authority by including electric vehicles in setting the rules, automaker officials said.T The department made the declaration as it published a final 'Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program' rule. Removing EVs from the calculations for credits and the regulatory mandates will likely result in lower overall fuel economy requirements. A future separate rule from the administration of President Donald Trump will revise the specific fuel economy requirements. Senate Republicans on June 5 proposed eliminating fines for automakers who fail to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules as part of a wide-ranging tax bill, a boost to Detroit automakers selling gasoline-powered vehicles. Sign up for our daily First Shift morning newscast email for a quick video to start your day. Last year, Chrysler parent Stellantis paid $190.7 million in civil penalties for failing to meet U.S. fuel economy requirements for 2019 and 2020 after paying nearly $400 million for penalties from 2016 through 2019. General Motors previously paid $128.2 million in penalties for 2016 and 2017. Thursday's proposal also makes emissions credits sold by Tesla Inc. less valuable as rivals won't have to pay Tesla to meet requirements. The lawmakers estimated it would save automakers $200 million. GM and Chrysler did not immediately comment. U.S. House Republicans are pursuing similar aims but with a different approach. Last month they proposed repealing planned hikes in fuel economy requirements as well as vehicle emissions rules adopted under the Biden administration. The House bill would also kill a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles, impose a new $250 annual fee on EVs for road repair costs and would phase out EV battery production tax credits in 2028. The two chambers have also voted to bar California's landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 which has been adopted by 11 other states representing a third of the U.S. auto market. That bill is currently awaiting President Donald Trump's signature. The Transportation Department is expected to declare that fuel economy rules issued under Biden exceeded the government's legal authority by including EVs. Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would hike fuel economy rules to an average of 50.4 miles per gallon by 2031 — up from 39.1 mpg for light-duty vehicles. It warned the auto industry collectively was expected to face a total of $1.83 billion in fines through 2031. Have an opinion about this story? Tell us about it and we may publish it in print. Click here to submit a letter to the editor.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
In EV reality check, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe cuts sales, investment targets
TOKYO — Honda Motor Co. is dramatically reducing its investment and sales goals for EVs amid shifting regulatory and trade policies. The company will slash its planned R&D investment in electrification and software, announced last year, by 30 percent through the end of the decade. Honda will shift its focus instead to gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, including a next-generation technology debuting in 2027. Japan's No. 2 carmaker now estimates that EV volume will be around 700,000 to 750,000 vehicles in 2030, down from its expectation for 2 million EVs it announced last year. By contrast, Honda expects hybrid sales to double to some 2.2 million vehicles in the time. Sign up for our daily First Shift morning newscast email for a quick video to start your day. CEO Toshihiro Mibe fleshed out the plans May 20 at the company's annual business briefing, saying the R&D spending on EVs and software will total ¥7 trillion ($48.28 billion), down from ¥10 trillion ($68.97 billion). But overall investment will stay unchanged as Honda spends more on hybrids, internal combustion and the wider deployment of advanced driver assist systems. Mibe cited loosening environmental regulations in the U.S. and Europe and new trade policies as causes for the course correction. 'It has become increasingly clear that the environmental regulations, which held promise for the widespread adoption of EVs, are becoming relaxed, mainly in the U.S. and Europe,' Mibe said during a press conference at Honda's global headquarters. 'In addition, the recent development in trade policies of various countries makes our business environment increasingly uncertain.' Mibe said EV demand will be hurt by the rollback of environmental regulations under the Trump administration, the expected loosening of fuel economy standards and possible elimination of tax credit incentives. EV demand could be set back five years by the policy shift. 'If the EV penetration period is pushed back a little, I feel that it will be pushed back by about five years, especially in North America,' Mibe said. 'The Trump administration will remain in power for four years, but that doesn't mean that EV demand will bounce back immediately. I think it will be pushed back by about five to six years.' The revision drastically scales back Honda's big push into EVs, a key part of Mibe's long-term strategy. Among its Japanese competitors, Honda has been the most bullish on EVs. It is the only Japanese automaker to target a complete phaseout of internal combustion in its vehicles by 2040. Mibe said that goal was unchanged. But the ramp-up would come from the mid-2030s. The company will launch the first of its next-generation 0 Series EVs next year. Honda's new outlook aims lower for overall global sales of all automobiles. Last year, Mibe expected EV sales of 2 million vehicles to account for around 3 million vehicles, implying volume exceeding 6 million vehicles. In curtailing Honda's EV ambitions, Mibe said the company now would simply try to increase overall sales beyond the 3.6 million booked in the just-finished fiscal year The company is also suspending investment in a Canada EV production hub amid uncertainty about trade policy in North America after the Trump administration's tariff rollout. The company didn't give a concrete sales target for 2030. But Mibe showed a sales growth chart for global volume that barely edges upward through the end of the decade. Honda now expects EVs to account for less than its previously announced target of 30 percent of global volume at the end of the decade. Mibe floated an estimate of 20 percent for EVs, saying that pure electric deliveries could extend into the 700,000-unit range. That outlook implies global volume climbing only as high as 3.75 million in 2030. From 2027, the company will introduce 13 new hybrids based on a next-generation hybrid vehicie platform. They will be rolled out over a four-year period, Mibe said. Honda will leverage hybrids to boost profitability, partly by expanding the range of vehicles using the gasoline-electric drivetrains. It will endeavor to improve the value proposition by equipping these hybrids with a next-generation advanced driver-assist system. In North America, Honda will deploy this next-gen hybrid system to large segments. The goal is to improve the appeal and utility, with improved capability for towing and rough-terrain driving. The upcoming hybrid platform will achieve a 10 percent improvement in fuel economy over the hybrids Honda sold in 2018. And they will cost half as much to build, Mibe said. 'In contrast to the slowdown in the EV shift, demand for hybrid-electric vehicles is growing,' Mibe said. 'In the end, the value of battery-electric vehicles is not yet equal to or greater than the value of the existing hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles. That is the main reason why customers have not yet jumped on the EV bandwagon.' Honda sold 64,444 EVs globally in 2024, more than triple the 19,134 it sold the year before. Honda's EV sales in North America surpassed volume in China, thanks to its addition of the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX crossovers that were were jointly developed with General Motors. Honda said it sold 40,308 EVs in North America and 11,450 in China. But Honda's hybrids still do the heavy lifting. Honda sold 868,265 gasoline-electric hybrids globally in 2024, and they accounted for 23 percent of the company's global sales. Some 308,000 were delivered in North America. Honda's worldwide sales dipped 4.6 percent to 3.81 million vehicles in 2024. Mibe said Honda will use the slowdown in EV demand to improve its product. 'We should take advantage of this period and take the technological evolution to another level, so that customers can buy our BEVs and we will be able to make a profit,' Mibe said. 'We will take these difficult times as an opportunity to advance our technology one more cycle, and create value that surpasses the current gasoline-powered cars and HVs within five years.' The revamped road map came a week after Mibe said Honda would suspend big investments in its Canadian EV production hub and warned that operating profit would crater nearly 60 percent in the current fiscal year after being broadsided by tariffs. Mibe predicted Honda would face a $4 billion impact from tariffs. In Canada, Mibe said it would postpone the full investment of ¥1.5 trillion yen ($10.35 billion) in building an EV supply-chain infrastructure for at least two years. That investment, he said, was predicated on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. With that framework up in the air amid ongoing tariff negotiations, Mibe said Honda would take a fresh look in two years. But it doesn't mean Honda will necessarily resume investment then. 'We have to look at the situation at that time and make a decision then,' he said. 'However, we have already made some investments, but that is not a very large amount. We have curbed our investment where we could.' Honda, which sources about a third of its U.S. vehicles from plants in tariff-targeted Mexico and Canada and a smaller volume from the home market of Japan, says it is preparing various countermeasures to cope with duties implemented by the Trump administration. Naoto Okamura contributed to this report. Have an opinion about this story? Tell us about it and we may publish it in print. Click here to submit a letter to the editor.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
First Shift review – like Training Day with the good bits removed
The most interesting thing about this crushingly mediocre cop movie is that it's directed by the notorious Uwe Boll (Postal, Alone in the Dark), who is a character more bizarre than any drafted for the screen – at one point he invited his severest critics to fight him in the boxing ring. While the poor quality of his work, especially his computer game adaptations, is perhaps overhyped – are they that bad? – there's less dispute that his films are largely not financially successful, and his output has slowed after a now-abandoned retirement. (Like Steven Soderbergh, it seems Boll just can't quit.) One of his weirder re-emergences recently was playing himself in Radu Jude's acclaimed Romanian art film Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World from 2023 – after which he made this lukewarm mess. As the title might suggest, the idea is that this follows the first shift worked by two detectives on their first day together in New York City; not unlike, say, Training Day, except without the sharp script (by David Ayer), the fluent direction (by Antoine Fuqua) or a knockout cast (Training Day's killer combo of Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington). Instead, First Shift supplies us with C-lister Gino Anthony Pesi in the lead as Deo, a gruff loner whose isolation is underscored by an unfeasibly long opening sequence showing him getting up in the morning and doing the most mundane of activities for long minutes of empty screen time. Clearly, Boll's ineptitude for pacing has not waned. Eventually, Deo gets to the station where he finds he's to work with a new partner, sunny Angela (Kristen Renton, serviceable) who's only just moved to the Big Apple from Florida. Of course, the two very different personalities clash, with Deo sneering at Angela's chirpy disposition while she bridles mildly at his sexist digs. Boll's self-penned script and the machete-like editing throw some almost avant garde shapes as it contrives to abruptly intercut between the lead cops' banter in their car and some gangsters bopping around town sadistically killing people – though these plotlines barely intersect at all in the course of the film. Presumably things are being set up for a future shift in which the duo – bonded at the end by mutual appreciation of a cute dog and a murder-suicide crime scene, storylines given roughly equal emotional weight here – bring the gangsters to heel. The clumsiness of the storytelling, presumably unintentional, is almost entertaining in itself but only if basically inept film-making is your idea of fun. First Shift is on digital platforms from 19 May.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
BMW tells U.S. dealers it will ‘postpone' EV production, hold prices on most imports built through June
BMW, in an April 29 memo, told U.S. retailers that it will 'postpone' electric vehicle production in May. The memo did not provide a reason for the decision, and a BMW spokesperson declined to comment on the company's communications with its dealers. BMW also said in the memo that it will not raise prices on most imported vehicles built through June. However, the 2 Series and M2 performance coupe made in Mexico will get a 4 percent price hike starting in May. The decisions come as the industry navigates the Trump administration's 25 percent tariff on vehicle imports. AutoForecast Solutions Vice President Sam Fiorani said new tariffs have made importing vehicles more expensive. 'Add in that the EV market is saturated, and it doesn't make sense to add increasingly costly EVs to a crowded market,' Fiorani said. Sign up for our daily First Shift morning newscast email for a quick video to start your day. BMW has had sales success in the U.S. with its four electric models, all built in Germany. The luxury automaker sold 13,538 battery-electric vehicles from January through March, a 26 percent uptick from the first quarter last year. Sales of the i4 sedan surged 57 percent, while iX crossover sales jumped 23 percent. Increased tariffs on autos and uncertainty around the future of EV incentives threaten to ice the EV market. The Trump administration has signaled it will end the $7,500 federal clean vehicle tax credit, which fueled the technology's market adoption. J.D. Power predicts EV retail share will hold steady from 2024 at 9.1 percent in 2025, with sales of 1.2 million. Longer term, J.D. Power predicts EVs will represent 26 percent of the retail market by 2030, roughly half of former President Joe Biden's 50 percent target. J.D. Power in November found that 64 percent of premium brand EV owners said tax credits and other incentives were a primary driver of their decision to buy. Nearly half of mass-market EV owners said they selected their vehicle based on tax credits and incentives. Have an opinion about this story? Tell us about it and we may publish it in print. Click here to submit a letter to the editor.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Lucid recalls more than 4,000 vehicles for floor mats that may interfere with accelerator
Lucid Motors is recalling 4,294 vehicles over floor mats that could move and interfere with the accelerator returning to idle, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a March 24 report. The recall covers the company's All-Weather Floor Mats in the Lucid Air. Lucid is not aware of any crashes or accidents resulting from the defect, the report said. Sign up for our daily First Shift morning newscast email for a quick video to start your day. If the mats on the driver's side of the vehicle move out of position, they could interfere with the accelerator, increasing the risk of a crash, the report said. The mats can shift because they are secured to the floor by nibs, rather than anchors. Visscher Caravelle, based in the Netherlands, manufactures the mats, according to the NHTSA documents. The issue was noticed in August 2024 when a Lucid employee reported that the accelerator pedal had been momentarily stuck while driving. Lucid will refund the cost of the floor mats to those affected. Those under the recall can remove the mats from their vehicle. For those with vehicle models that have mat anchors, they can purchase a version of the mats with holes to fit around the anchors. 'The safety of our customers and their families is the highest priority,' a Lucid spokesperson said in an email to Automotive News. 'Lucid has begun contacting the owners of vehicles for which these mats were originally designed to notify them of the recalls and to provide further information.' Lucid has not sold this version of the floor mats since February. Dealers were notified of the recall March 24. Owners will be notified May 23. Have an opinion about this story? Tell us about it and we may publish it in print. Click here to submit a letter to the editor.
