GM, Toyota, and Chrysler Side with White House in Fight Over California Fuel Standards
A coalition of international automakers, including General Motors, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler, on Monday announced an effort to intervene on behalf of the Trump administration in its ongoing fight with California over how fuel-efficient the nation’s auto fleet must be in coming years. According to The Washington Post, the move could pit the powerful auto manufacturers against other industry giants such as Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen, which this summer struck a deal with California regulators to produce more fuel-efficient cars and trucks through 2025. It underscores carmakers’ desire to achieve some sort of regulatory certainty, at a time when the Trump administration and the nation’s most populous state remain at a standoff. The administration is challenging California’s long-held authority to set tailpipe emissions under the Clean Air Act, effectively giving it substantial power over fuel mileage. Read more here.
Porsche to Try Out Online Sales
Porsche is launching online car sales in the U.S. in a nod to shifting consumer shopping preferences. The pilot project with 25 dealers allows customers to shop vehicle inventory and complete paperwork online, reports Automotive News. Once an online order is submitted, customers must visit the dealership for final signatures and to collect their vehicle, Porsche said. The online sales program could roll out across Porsche's 191 U.S. dealers, depending on the results of the pilot. "Porsche is always looking for new ways to meet customer expectations," Porsche Cars North American CEO Klaus Zellmer said in a statement. "For our dealerships … we think this blend of digital and physical interaction with customers will only strengthen their business." Read more here.
AutoNation Expands Waymo Partnership; Q3 Profit Dips on Severance Cost
Auto retail giant AutoNation Inc. is expanding its service agreement with Waymo in a two-year extension that now also will include delivering parts using autonomous vehicles in the Phoenix area, reports Automotive News. AutoNation, which made the announcement Tuesday as it released third-quarter results that dipped from a year ago, said the parts delivery initiative will begin in the coming months at its AutoNation Toyota Tempe dealership in Arizona. "AutoNation Toyota Tempe delivers a lot of Toyota parts to other businesses, right, so independents and other repair shops in Phoenix," AutoNation CEO Cheryl Miller told Automotive News. "And so now we will be delivering those Toyota parts in these [autonomous Waymo] vehicles instead of sending a person to deliver them in another vehicle." The nation's largest new-vehicle retailer and Waymo initially announced their partnership in November 2017. Read more here.
Ford, UAW Negotiators Meet in Dearborn for 'Final Stretch' of Contract Talks
Negotiating teams for Ford Motor Co. and the UAW gathered Monday at the company's world headquarters in Dearborn to focus on economic issues in the next four-year labor contract for hourly workers, reports The Detroit Free Press. "They started in earnest this morning," said UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg. Officially, union leaders and Ford opened discussions July 15 and have been talking behind the scenes about "non-economic issues" while the UAW hammered out key economic terms with General Motors during a strike lasting nearly six weeks. With "pattern" deal points now established with GM, the UAW-Ford team will seek to shape a contract for 55,000 factory workers. Ford is the largest employer of American hourly employees in the auto industry. Read more here.
These Are the Most Unsafe Cars on the Road, According to NHTSA
Thanks to improvements in both vehicle and highway safety standards, driving deaths in the United States remain close to their lowest point in decades. Vehicles sold today are, on the whole, relatively safe, thanks in part to increasingly strict federal regulations as well as technological improvements such as collision avoidance, anti-lock brakes, smart airbags, and adaptive headlights, reports USA Today. Still, there have been a few rare cars sold in the United States in the last decade that have received subpar scores on major safety tests. 24/7 Wall St. listed all 35 examples of models the NHTSA gave an overall safety rating of two or three stars from 2011 or later model years. These cars are grouped by model year but are otherwise in no specific order. The cars pictured represent the model and model year but not necessarily the precise model variation with the lowest NHTSA rating. Read more here.
Flooded Vehicles Expected to Resurface After Recent Storms
New data from CARFAX shows flood-damaged vehicles are resurfacing across the country, and increasingly in states where flooding may not be top of mind. CARFAX estimates there are 408,280 flood damaged vehicles on the roads nationwide. These ten states have the most:
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Texas: 87,400
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Florida: 28,900
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Kentucky: 24,900
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Pennsylvania: 19,800
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North Carolina: 18,700
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Illinois: 15,600
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New Jersey: 12,600
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Louisiana: 11,500
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California: 11,300
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New York: 11,000
The numbers will likely rise following Hurricane Dorian and Tropical Depression Imelda last month. CARFAX estimates at least 48,500 vehicles were flooded during Imelda. Historically, about half the vehicles damaged by floods end up back on the market. Identifying those vehicles can make an important difference in your business, and that’s a key benefit for CARFAX Advantage® dealers who can quickly check for a waterlogged past with a Vehicle History Report. We also offer dealers and consumers a free flood check tool at carfax.com/flood. The goal is to provide information to help consumers make confident decisions while shopping for a pre-owned car.
For more information on CARFAX Advantage, call 833-807-8899 or visit the CARFAX for Dealers website.
Around the Web
2020 Hyundai Sonata Leverages Both Beauty and Brains [Car and Driver]
Fisker's Luxury Crossover to Get a Name This Week [Autoblog]
Detroit Plant Now Producing Self-Driving Vehicles with Waymo [The Detroit News]
VW and Dealers Support Literacy Education in Puerto Rico [Auto Remarketing]
