Latest news with #SUVs
ABC News
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- ABC News
Australia resisted America's gun culture — but couldn't help importing its obsession with oversized cars - ABC Religion & Ethics
Australia is rightly proud of having stood firm against one of America's deadliest exports — gun culture. After the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, our leaders acted with moral clarity and urgency. It was a bipartisan moment that has saved countless lives. While the United States doubled down on its right to bear arms, we said no. But there's another American export which we couldn't resist. In fact, we embraced it. It didn't come with bullets. It came with torque. Today, the vehicles dominating Australian roads are those dreamed up in Detroit and built to American scale. America has long held individual freedom as its highest virtue — often, it's placed above collective safety and social cohesion. Their idea of freedom is shaped less by care for others, and more by the logic of competition: survival of the fittest, the richest, and now, the biggest. Why Australia? The rise of oversized SUVs and utes in Australia is no accident. It's the result of a decades-long campaign by American car manufacturers to sell not just vehicles, but a story and a culture: that bigger is better; that personal dominance matters more than collective comfort; and that power is something to display. American car makers have exported more than vehicles — they've exported a value system. They've invested heavily in the Australian market and spent billions on advertising over the past decade to reshape what it means to 'drive'. They're turning it from an act of mobility into an assertion of identity. Their ads drip with masculinity, entitlement and conquest. Cars are no longer tools; they're statements. This American culture is embedded in the physical form of these cars: long, unapologetically flat hoods; lifted bodies; oversized ground clearance. And we bought it — not just the vehicles, but the idea behind them too. Australia resisted the guns; but we bought the trucks. When resistance to US-style excess emerged in Europe or Japan where space is tight and fuel expensive, car makers adapted. In Australia, with its car-loving culture and softer emissions rules, the American model found fertile ground. The marketing blitz followed — touting their 'utility' or 'sport' appeal (whatever that means), even though most people never tow a trailer or leave the suburbs. Ford spends over USD $2.5 billion annually on global advertising. RAM has flooded YouTube and sports broadcasts with testosterone-drenched imagery. Their campaigns lean heavily on rural imagery, regardless of whether the vehicle is driven by a tradie or an urban dad doing the school drop-off. Who bears the cost? The rise of massive vehicles on Australian roads is often framed as consumer preference. But that framing ignores the external costs borne not by the driver, but by everyone else, especially vulnerable road users: pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. The evidence is unambiguous: large SUVs and utes are more likely to kill vulnerable road users. The pedestrian fatality crisis in the United States is the biggest testament to this. Pedestrian deaths were steadily declining for over two decades until 2009, when large vehicles began to dominate US roads. By 2022, annual pedestrian deaths had surged from around 4,100 to over 7,500 — a jump of nearly 80 per cent. This surge in pedestrian deaths has been directly linked to the growing popularity of these giant cars. And Australia is now on a similar path. We're trailing this trend. Pedestrians and motorcyclists are the only road users in Australia showing a consistent rise in fatalities for four years straight. No such pattern exists for drivers or passengers. And most vulnerable of all are children. In the United States, around 110 children are hit by vehicles each week in parking lots and driveways. The numbers have been climbing for years. Car hoods were once designed to slope downwards, giving drivers a clearer field of view. But today's boxy SUVs jut straight out before dropping off, creating large blind zones where small children simply disappear. You could line up a dozen children sitting in front of some of these vehicles, and the driver wouldn't see the first eight or nine. With certain models, you'd need more than twelve children in a row before one even appears in your view. Why car size is a moral issue We barely talk about car size as a moral issue. But maybe we should. The thing is, for many of us this is a subconscious choice. Nobody walks into a dealership and says, 'I'd like to endanger others.' But when you see enough of the same vehicle on the road it stops feeling like a choice. It starts feeling like self-defence. Especially when you're told that you need one of these to protect your family from all the other giant cars already out there. This imposes real — if marginal — risk on those who can't, or choose not to, participate in the vehicle size race: children walking to school or pedestrians crossing the road. And let's not forget all of us are pedestrians, at least some of the time. Driving tank-sized vehicles through residential streets, with bonnets at eye-level for most adults and towering above children, is a cultural export. And it's unmistakably American in posture — in-your-face, unapologetic, and indifferent to who gets left out. And this means, we're caught in a cycle of reactive consumerism: we buy big because others are big. We tell ourselves it's a personal choice, but how much of it was ever really ours to begin with? Milad Haghani is an Associate Professor of Urban Mobility at the University of Melbourne.
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Auto recap, June 15: India may ease EV rule, BMW hydrogen SUV, Skoda to ramp up used car biz, Maserati MC25 in works
Here is your quick check on the biggest developments in the world of automobiles. (Getty Images via AFP) Check Offers The automotive industry is experiencing rapid changes, which make it difficult to stay informed about all the latest advancements. At HT Auto, we are dedicated to delivering the most relevant and current information as it becomes available. Below is a concise overview of the key highlights from Sunday, June 15. India may ease EV localisation rules as China's rare earth export curbs hit supply chain India is mulling easing its 50 per cent localisation requirement for electric vehicle (EV) makers and suppliers as the country is faced with global rare earth supply chain disruptions. The decision follows China's recent export curbs on rare earth elements—key materials employed in manufacturing magnets for electric motors. Although the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has yet to formally request a policy change, key stakeholders have raised concerns in closed-door discussions with government officials, a report by Bloomberg stated. Also Read : India may ease EV localisation rules as China's rare earth export curbs hit supply chain Skoda to bolster pre-owned car business, targets double sales volume in India Skoda is aiming to scale up its pre-owned car sales business. The affordable premium car manufacturer that has witnessed significant success with the Skoda Kylaq and Skoda Kushaq SUVs now aims to ramp up its revenue in the Indian passenger vehicle market. In an attempt to achieve that target, the Volkswagen AG-owned Czech car manufacturer is now targeting to increase its efforts in both the new and used car segments, as revealed by a top executive of the company. Also Read : Skoda to bolster pre-owned car business, targets double sales volume in India BMW plans hydrogen SUV for 2028 amid shifting EV market and regulatory changes Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) once held the promise of being the future of automotive mobility, but the worldwide situation is changing. Regulatory rollbacks, slowing consumer adoption, and renewed investment in internal combustion and hybrid technologies are forcing manufacturers to expand their strategies. And while most manufacturers are experiencing this stunning transition, many manufacturers are still designing BEVs as their primary offering, including BMW. But BMW is prioritising hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCEVs) and positioning that technology as a longer-term complement to its battery-electric portfolio. Also Read : BMW plans hydrogen SUV for 2028 amid shifting EV market and regulatory changes Maserati planning successor to MC20 supercar, files patent for MC25 Maserati MC20, the supercar from the Italian luxury car manufacturer, is already five years old. The Maserati MC20 made its official debut in September 2020, and the automaker seems to be working on the supercar's successor. Maserati has recently filed a new trademark for the nomenclature MC25 with the US Patent and Trademark Office. This sounds like a natural progression of the auto company's current nomenclature scheme for its supercars. Also Read : Maserati planning successor to MC20 supercar, files patent for MC25 Get insights into Upcoming Cars In India, Electric Vehicles, Upcoming Bikes in India and cutting-edge technology transforming the automotive landscape. First Published Date: 16 Jun 2025, 07:27 AM IST
The Intercept
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
ICE Agent Fled From Angry Residents Outside New York School — and Got in a Car Crash
Support Us © THE INTERCEPT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED A video still of an ICE agent frantically trying to get a colleague away from the scene of car crash in Westbury, N.Y., on June 10, 2025. Courtesy of Oscar Sorto A dozen or more masked men, some with long guns, tried to enter a men's homeless shelter without identifying themselves in a rural town with a long-standing immigrant community on eastern Long Island in New York. Officials from the local police department later admitted they didn't know where the masked men came from — only adding to local residents' concerns. At the same time, 50 miles to the west, six unmarked cars with masked agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, parked within hundreds of feet of an elementary school in a working-class town with a large Latino population. In response, a group of residents gathered to shame the agents, accusing the agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, of lying in wait to snatch the parents of students when school let out. The Long Island communities in New York City's suburbs are the latest to be wracked by chaos as the Trump administration ramps up large-scale deportation operations. ICE raids using a hodgepodge of masked federal agents and varying degrees of assistance from local law enforcement agencies are escalating as part of the raids — leaving local immigrants in fear and other residents enraged. On Long Island, the two federal raids on Tuesday saw emergency communiqués from schools to parents, incorrect information distributed to area media by local authorities, a confrontation with angry demonstrators, and a car accident. Last week, top ICE officials ordered officers to increase arrests and to get 'creative' in their methods, including trying to nab people the officers happen to encounter in what are known as 'collateral arrests.' The orders come in the wake of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller setting a quota of 3,000 immigration arrests per day, along with a sharp rise in protests against the crackdown. Late Tuesday morning in Westbury, in western Nassau County, parents and nearby residents noticed what they immediately recognized as unmarked federal agent vehicles parked within feet of Park Avenue Elementary School, two eyewitnesses told The Intercept. One of those residents, Allan Oscar Sorto, picked up his phone and began streaming live on Facebook. As he streamed, a dozen or so people began congregating near the cars, two Nissan Altimas and several Ford SUVs with flashers. People can be heard explaining that they've seen these cars around the neighborhood in recent weeks, part of immigration raids. Now the sight of the cars parked so close to the elementary school seemed to spark heightened outrage and fear that federal immigration agents were lurking to surprise parents going to pick up their children from school. Sorto, from nearby Hempstead, estimated that there were four cars near the school, some within 10 feet of the schoolyard fence, and two other cars on the next block. Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named out of fear of law enforcement retaliation, told The Intercept that he could see uniformed HSI agents sitting in all the cars, most masked. 'No son padres ustedes?' a woman in the video says to the closed window of one of the parked Nissans: 'Are you not parents?' People on the sidewalk yelled at the cars in Spanish and English. 'Show your face!' 'You feel proud?' 'None of us are criminals, we work, we pay taxes like you do.' 'Leave the school grounds!' The Westbury residents' fears seemed well-founded, considering reports from around the country. In California, ICE agents arrested and detained a fourth grader, separating the boy from his father; they were both deported to Honduras. Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said DHS agents lied to school principals that they had permission from children's parents to gain access to schools. In Westbury, the HSI agents didn't respond to the gathered crowd. After a few minutes, the agents drove away. A commotion erupted down the road, off-camera, and onlookers began rushing toward the corner. One of the Nissans, carrying two of the HSI agents, had crashed into a black pickup truck that happened to be passing through the intersection. Three eyewitnesses told The Intercept that the agents' car had sped away. Two of the witnesses believe the Nissan blew a stop sign, causing the crash. (Nassau County police referred questions about the accident to ICE, which did not respond to an inquiry.) After the accident, the crowd gathered around the scene, according to the video stream. The two agents got out of the crashed car, seemingly panicked and, witnesses told The Intercept, appearing to avoid eye contact with bystanders. The agents got into another HSI vehicle. A third agent, an unmasked man with a black polo shirt covering his tactical vest, stood near the crashed car, remaining stoic as people questioned him on the livestream. 'You're looking for criminals in the school?' one bystander asked, as the agent remained expressionless. Then Sorto, the man streaming, said, 'I'm a dad, I have a son waiting for me at home.' The agent gave a slight nod — what Sorto said was the only response to the crowd during the incident. 'You guys need to have feelings, man,' Sorto said. Nassau County police began arriving in short order, eventually swelling to at least two dozen officers, some on horseback, closing the street and barricading residents onto sidewalks. Nassau County Police Department, located in one of the country's safest countries, is one of the most well-funded departments in the nation, with a notoriously opaque transparency record. In March, the department signed a controversial agreement with ICE giving deputized county police officers the ability to interrogate people about their immigration status and make arrests without a warrant. During the Westbury incident, one of the HSI agents, wearing a mask, stood hidden behind several Nassau police officers as the residents appealed to them for information. Soon, the federal agents left, leaving the smashed Nissan with the passenger side airbag deployed behind, and many in the crowd dispersed. The driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident was placed in a stretcher and left in an ambulance. (Neither the police nor ICE offered information on the driver's identity or condition in response to inquiries from The Intercept.) 'Now you're clogging up the street and people have to work,' one of the remaining bystanders can be heard to say during the stream. 'How is this making America great again?' Late Tuesday night, Park Avenue Elementary School took an unprecedented step that reflected the fear in Westbury. 'We want to inform you that due to an incident that occurred near the school vicinity today, we will be providing transportation home for all students who are typically walkers,' the principal, Robert Chambers, wrote in a message to the school community relayed in English and Spanish. 'This is being done out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and well-being of all our students.' Sorto told The Intercept he had family members who were too afraid to send their children to school the next day. (Park Avenue Elementary did not respond to a request for comment.) The Long Island newspaper Newsday first reported the Westbury incident with a quote from Nassau County police that the action was not immigration-related and that the agents were not working for ICE on Tuesday afternoon. Late Tuesday, however, an ICE spokesperson issued a statement that contradicted the Nassau police. 'ICE Homeland Security Investigations Long Island personnel were conducting an operation associated to an ongoing federal investigation,' the statement said. 'During the operation special agents were confronted by multiple anti-law enforcement agitators, which prohibited the enforcement action. ICE HSI personnel departed the location and, shortly thereafter, a member of the law enforcement team was involved in a motor-vehicle collision.' News 12, a local TV station, went back to local authorities for clarification, and police replied that 'the agents on scene identified themselves to Nassau police as Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, agents and not as ICE.' Homeland Security Investigations is one of two divisions at ICE. While Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, enforces civil immigration matters, HSI is tasked with investigating transitional crimes. HSI's enforcement is not limited to undocumented immigrants, but its investigations and operations, including workplace raids, frequently touch upon immigration matters. In responses to ICE's allegation that residents were the ones creating chaos, Sorto denied that the residents on hand were agitators. 'We just are people that got together as community because we saw the cars outside the school,' he told The Intercept. 'But we don't belong to any group or anything. We just are good and hard-working people that want to have a regular life like anybody else.' Read Our Complete Coverage As the chaos erupted in Westbury, another alarming scene was unfolding an hour to the east, in Riverhead, on the outskirts of the New York City suburbs. A group of suspected ICE agents could be seen staging their vehicles in the Riverhead Fire Department parking lot, according to video and photographs shared with The Intercept by a community advocacy group. A week earlier, ICE raids using another Long Island fire department sparked outrage in the community. The fire department subsequently issued a statement that fire officials were not previously informed that ICE would be using their parking lot. Several hours after the men were seen at the Riverhead Fire Department, they were spotted again. Twelve to 14 of the masked men, some reportedly carrying long guns, were trying to get into a Riverhead men's homeless shelter, according to a video shared by several immigrant advocates in the area. They would not identify themselves, a shelter employee told local news outlet RiverheadLOCAL. A shelter resident told RiverheadLOCAL that one of the men, wearing a black U.S. Marshals vest, came to the front door seeking entry but would neither show credentials or a warrant, nor give his name. (A representative for the shelter did not respond to inquiries.) A representative for the Riverhead Fire Department told The Intercept, 'We had no idea who they were.' In the East End towns of Long Island, where the rich enclaves of the Hamptons coexist alongside working agricultural communities, authorities have largely opposed helping ICE operations. Riverhead Town Supervisor Tom Hubbard, for example, said in January that town police would not get involved in immigration enforcement, and the majority-Hispanic Riverhead School District also sent a strong message that it would resist unlawful actions by immigration authorities at schools. The president of an Eastern Suffolk BIPOC advocacy group told The Intercept that a network of immigrants' advocates have been closely monitoring the activities of ICE in the area. She believes the Riverhead police were mistaken that the agents at the shelter were not affiliated with ICE. 'I have received information indicating that ICE's New York City Field Office is actively investigating immigration-related offenses across Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley,' Marylin Winter, of the group the African American Educational Cultural Festival, said. (Neither the Riverhead town supervisor nor Riverhead police returned requests for comment.) Winter said her group plans to disseminate 'know your rights' material for immigrants. 'We are resolute in our opposition to the illegal enforcement of immigration without a judicial warrant, asserting that no arrest should occur under such circumstances,' she said. 'Our commitment extends to ensuring that the innocent, particularly children and their families, are fully aware of their legal rights.' Meanwhile, the confusion around ICE actions on Long Island continued. One Wednesday morning, Glen Cove city police, a small local force in Nassau County, responded to a call from a business owner about a possible assault, according to local media reports. When the police arrived, however, they found ICE officers holding a group of men on the ground. Following the outburst of opposition to ICE's presence in Nassau County, the county executive and police chief said that their forces would not be assisting ICE in operations inside schools or houses of worship. 'Raids on schools are not something we do unless there's an emergency or a threat, and if there's an emergency or threat, we're coming in regardless of the situation,' Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told reporters. 'So the bottom line is, there is no program to raid schools here in Nassau County.' Blakeman had been at the forefront of the effort in Nassau County to deputize local police to carry out immigration enforcement and work with ICE. Join The Conversation
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GM to invest $4 billion in three US facilities as it ramps up gas-powered vehicles
By Kalea Hall and David Shepardson DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -General Motors said on Tuesday it is planning to invest about $4 billion over the next two years at three U.S. facilities in Michigan, Kansas, and Tennessee as it moves to boost production of gas-powered vehicles amid slowing electric vehicle demand. The company said it will begin production of gas-powered full-size SUVs and light-duty pickup trucks at its Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan, in early 2027. Orion Assembly was previously slated to build electric trucks starting next year. The move calls into question GM's plan to end the production of gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035. It was welcomed by the White House, which has imposed significant tariffs on imported vehicles to pressure automakers to move more production to the United States. In March, GM CEO Mary Barra met with U.S. President Donald Trump to talk about investment plans and told the president GM needed relief from California emissions and federal fuel economy requirements in order to expand U.S. production, sources told Reuters. Trump is set to sign legislation on Thursday to rescind California's 2035 zero-emission vehicle rules. "No president has taken a stronger interest in reviving America's once-great auto industry than President Trump, and GM's investment announcement builds on trillions of dollars in other historic investment commitments to Make in America," White House spokesman Kush Desai said. GM's Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas is set to start building the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt by the end of this year, and GM says it will now also build the gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox starting in mid-2027. In a statement, the largest U.S. automaker said it expects to make "new future investments in Fairfax for GM's next generation of affordable EVs." GM last month said it is also investing $888 million at a New York propulsion plant to increase gas engine production. At its Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant, GM will add production of the gas-powered Chevy Blazer beginning in 2027. It will be built alongside the electric Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq SUVs as well as the gas-powered Cadillac XT5. The gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer are both currently produced in Mexico. The Equinox will continue to be built in Mexico once production starts at U.S. facilities in order to supply markets outside of North America. Mexico's economy minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a social media post he talked with GM and said there is no expectation of any plant closure or layoffs at the automaker's Mexican plants. GM said it expects annual capital spending will be between $10 billion and $12 billion through 2027, reflecting increased U.S. investment, prioritization of key programs, and efficiency offsets. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
The Independent
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Independent
Land Rovers and Jeeps growing bonnet heights ‘a clear threat to children'
A height limit on car bonnets is necessary due to the increasing danger posed by SUVs, a new report has found, noting the increased risk to children. Transport & Environment (T&E) revealed that UK drivers purchase a disproportionately high number of new cars with elevated bonnets compared to the European Union (EU). The study, encompassing the UK, EU, and Norway, advocates for a ban on new vehicles with bonnet heights exceeding 85cm, to be implemented in 2035, allowing manufacturers time to adapt. The research indicated that the average bonnet height of new cars sold in the UK, EU, and Norway has risen from 76.9cm in 2010 to 83.8cm in 2024, an average increase of half a centimetre annually. This trend aligns with the surge in SUV sales, which accounted for a third of all new car registrations in the UK last year, compared to approximately 12 per cent a decade prior. SUVs are typically taller, wider, and heavier than traditional cars, and less fuel-efficient. Many drivers prefer their elevated seating position. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Jeep account for all sales of vehicles in the UK, EU and Norway with bonnets exceeding one metre. The UK accounted for 39 per cent of these transactions, despite just 15 per cent of sales of all vehicles being made in the country. T&E accused JLR and Jeep of 'trading on the intimidation that comes with high-fronted vehicles (and) ignoring their related dangers'. Researchers found that in crashes, vehicles with high bonnets were more likely to strike the heads of children and adults' vital organs. Hitting pedestrians above their centre of gravity meant the person was more likely to be knocked under the car rather than pushed to the side, the report noted. Tests by Loughborough University School of Design found that drivers in the highest fronted vehicles could not see children as old as nine standing in front. The report stated: 'The rise in high-fronted SUVs poses a clear and growing threat to public safety, especially for children. 'With no benefit to society and mounting evidence of harm, it's time for lawmakers at all levels to act. 'Capping bonnet height is a simple, effective step to protect all road users and curb the spread of oversized vehicles. 'It is neither safe nor credible to let bonnet height continue rising.' Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: 'Over the past decade the number of pedestrians hurt or killed on the roads has fallen, but only at around half the rate of car occupants. 'It is incumbent on carmakers to ensure they pay enough attention to those around a vehicle as to those within it, and that will include making assessments about car heights and weights.' Mike Hawes, chief executive of industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: 'Modern cars are designed with the safety of pedestrians and other road users front of mind, packed with advanced safety features from vehicle shape and crumple zones to intelligent emergency braking and proximity warning systems. 'Such innovation helps ensure the very latest models are increasingly safe for everyone on the road and indeed, while manufacturers respond to market tastes and preferences, they ensure that all cars – irrespective of size and body type – meet all relevant regulations.' A JLR spokesperson said: 'JLR is committed to the highest safety standards and our vehicles are made with the strictest adherence to safety requirements. 'We continually invest in safety and advanced technology features, which, among other things, include pedestrian detection, 3D surround camera systems and autonomous emergency braking.' Jeep was approached for a comment.
