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Crushing 1984 Ford Ranger to make a point about clean cars

Being a professional politician is often about more than just getting legislation passed, and a little showmanship can go a long way towards getting a point across. California State Senate leader Kevin de Leon recently staged just such a flashy stunt when he crushed a 1984 Ford Ranger at a rally kicking off an EV incentives pilot program. De Leon sponsored a bill last year that, in part, tried to give greater support to low-income buyers who wanted to trade in their old clunker for a zero-emissions vehicle. He hoped to improve the state's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, which has been accused of especially helping the wealthy. After watching their Ranger get destroyed at this event, the Mendoza family that owned the truck drove away in a 2013 Toyota Prius, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. Under the pilot program, buyers in two air districts in the Golden State can take advantage of these incentives. Depending on their income and the vehicle they are purchasing, people can get a rebate of between $1,500 and $9,500, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. For now, the California Air Resources Board has set aside $5 million from the state's cap-and-trade program to fund things in these areas. Later, it will vote whether to adopt the initiative statewide. Not to be outdone, Arnold Schwarzenegger has thrown his prodigious muscle behind this program, and he put out an even more explosive video showing how to get rid of these old vehicles. You can watch a clip of the Ranger's destruction from the Sacramento Business Journal above and the Governator's response, below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Sacramento Business Journal, Arnold Schwarzenegger via YouTube Government/Legal Green Ford Toyota Car Buying Green Culture Electric Hybrid Videos California cvrp kevin de leon

Driving the Lincoln Aviator and flogging Abarths at Laguna Seca | Autoblog Podcast #593

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. To begin, Greg takes a moment to remember the fastest woman on four wheels and former host of Autoblog's "The List," Jessi Combs, who died this week. Then our editors turn their attention to the cars they've been driving, including the Lincoln Aviator, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier, as well as Joel's recent stint in the Fiat 500 Abarth and Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, including track time at Laguna Seca. Finally, they turn their attention to a listener in Germany who is looking to replace an aging Volkswagen Eos with a newer convertible in this week's "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #593 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Remembering Jessi Combs 2020 Lincoln Aviator and Aviator Grand Touring 2019 Ford Ranger 2019 Nissan Frontier 2019 Fiat 500 Abarth and 124 Spider Abarth at Laguna Seca Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.  

Detroit 3 and UAW set for showdown over tiered wages

This week, thousands of United Auto Workers will converge on Cobo Center in Detroit for the Special Convention on Collective Bargaining, an every-four-year event that lets members tell UAW leaders what the negotiating priorities should be during contract negotiations. This is where a lot of sand and a lot of lines start coming together in preparation for contract negotiations between the UAW and the Detroit 3 automakers, which will happen later this year. Number one on the UAW agenda is the end of the two-tier wage system created in 2007 to help the automakers get through bankruptcy; veteran workers are paid the Tier 1 rate of around $29.00 per hour, new hires are paid the Tier 2 rate of between $15 and $20 and get about half the benefits of Tier 1. Tier 2 hiring has been an undoubted success for the automakers, allowing them to keep factories in the US and hire more workers. By agreement, it is capped at a certain percentage of each automaker's workforce, and while the union's ultimate position is to get rid of the dual-scale system entirely; one leader said Ford could easily afford the $335 million it would take to convert all its workers to Tier 1 out of its $6.9 billion in 2014 North American profit, and General Motors could do the same out of the $5 billion it is handing to investors through the (admittedly forced) share buyback. Other delegates say that at the very least they'd be happy with enforcement of the current caps in the new contract. The automakers, conversely, would welcome expansion of the Tier 2 ranks. Including benefits, import automakers pay workers "in the high $40 range" per hour, according to an analyst, while Ford and GM pay about $59 in wages and benefits per hour. More Tier 2 workers on the rolls would let those two companies get labor cost parity with the competition. Fiat-Chrysler pays wages closer to the imports because of special exceptions in its UAW contract that allow unlimited Tier 2 hiring; those exceptions will end on September 14 and bring FCA into line with the other domestics, unless the new contract maintains them. FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne is opposed to the two-tier system, having called it "almost offensive." One analyst says the UAW might win a sizable pay raise for Tier 2 and a small increase for Tier 1, but the keystone issue will be how the hiring matrix can help the automakers keep overall wages in line with the imports.