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Honda's first production jet takes off from North Carolina

Plenty of automakers have backgrounds in aircraft manufacturing. BMW, Bristol, Mitsubishi, Saab and Spyker all started out in the airplane business. But Honda is going the opposite direction, expanding its automotive (not to mention motorcycle, ATV, marine engine and power equipment) business with the launch of the HondaJet. And that project has just taken a big step forward.
After starting production a year and a half ago, the Japanese industrial giant recently completed its first customer HondaJet, and has now taken that initial production aircraft to the skies for its landmark first flight. The aircraft left the production facility in Greensboro and took off on Friday morning from Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina - the same state where the Wright Brothers undertook their first flight over a century ago.
The HondaJet undertook an 84-minute test flight, climbing to 15,500 feet and reaching a speed of 348 knots. That works out to 400 miles per hour - assuredly faster than any Honda (save for maybe a prototype for the same aircraft) has traveled before. The aircraft is designed to cruise at a maximum of 420 knots (483 mph) and reach a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet.

Defying Trump, major automakers finalize California emissions deal

WASHINGTON — The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and major automakers on Monday confirmed they had finalized binding agreements to cut vehicle emissions in the state, defying the Trump administration's push for weaker curbs on tailpipe pollution. The agreements with carmakers Ford Motor Co, Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co and BMW AG were first announced in July 2019 as voluntary measures prompting anger from U.S. President Donald Trump. A month later, the Justice Department opened an antitrust probe into the agreements. The government ended the investigation without action. The Trump administration in March finalized a rollback of U.S. vehicle emissions standards to require 1.5% annual increases in efficiency through 2026. That is far weaker than the 5% annual increases in the discarded rules adopted under President Barack Obama. The 50-page California agreements, which extend through 2026, are less onerous than the standards finalized by the Obama administration but tougher than the Trump administration standards. The automakers have also agreed to electric vehicle commitments. Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely Holdings, said in March it planned to join the automakers agreeing to the California requirements. It has also finalized its agreement. The settlement agreements say California and automakers agreed to resolve "potential legal disputes concerning the authority of CARB" and other states that have adopted California's standards. In May, a group of 23 U.S. states led by California and some major cities, challenged the Trump vehicle emissions rule. Other major automakers like General Motors Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Toyota Motor Corp did not join the California agreement. Those companies also sided with the Trump administration in a separate lawsuit over whether the federal government can strip California of the right to set zero emission vehicle requirements. Ford said the "final agreement will reduce emissions in our vehicles at a more stringent rate, support and incentivize the production of electrified products, and create regulatory certainty." BMW said "by setting these long-term, predictable, and achievable standards, we have the regulatory certainty that is necessary for long-term planning that will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but ultimately benefit consumers as well." 

Judge allows class-action lawsuits against Honda, automakers

Millions of plaintiffs in 2014 brought a class-action lawsuit in against Takata and Honda, and the airbag manufacturer and carmaker petitioned to have the case thrown out. A US District Judge in Miami ruled against the companies on December 3, allowing the case to proceed. The case in question, Craig Dunn et al vs. Takata Corporation et al, is thought to be the first class action filed in the ongoing airbag imbroglio. Other cases have been filed, but on behalf of individuals. Takata and Honda are named defendants in the case, but the 453-page suit is also aimed at BMW, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, and Subaru. The plaintiffs claim violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act specifically by Takata and Honda, alleging that those two companies conspired to hide information about airbag inflators that could rupture and spray shrapnel around a car's cockpit. Honda said Takata hid information from it and ceased doing business with the airbag company, while a recent Wall Street Journal review of documents indicated that Takata changed testing information to suppress actual results from Honda. The class-action suit charges violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, too. Meanwhile, Takata has strengthened its legal team with the addition of Lanny Breuer, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP. Breuer was a US assistant attorney general from 2009 to 2013, heading the criminal division. Honda has been dealing with individual cases out of court, with litigation in cases of five out of six US deaths settled for undisclosed sums.