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Major automakers urge Trump not to freeze fuel economy targets

WASHINGTON — Major automakers are telling the Trump administration they want to reach an agreement with California to avoid a legal battle over fuel efficiency standards, and they support continued increases in mileage standards through 2025. "We support standards that increase year over year that also are consistent with marketplace realities," Mitch Bainwol, chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing major automakers, will tell a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Tuesday, according to written testimony released on Monday. The Trump administration is weighing how to revise fuel economy standards through at least the 2025 model year, and one option is to propose freezing the standards through 2026, effectively allowing automakers to delay investments in technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions from burning petroleum. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not formally submitted its joint proposal with the Environmental Protection Agency to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. Even so, last week, California and 16 other states sued to challenge the Trump administration's decision to revise U.S. vehicle rules. Auto industry executives have held meetings with the Trump administration for months and have urged the administration to try to reach a deal with California even as they support slowing the pace of reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that the Obama administration rules outlined. One automaker official said part of the message to President Donald Trump at a meeting on Friday will be to consider California like a foreign trade deal that needs to be renegotiated. Automakers want to urge him to get automakers a "better deal" — as opposed to potentially years of litigation between major states and federal regulators. On Friday, Trump is set to meet with the chief executives of General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and the top U.S. executives of at least five other major automakers, including Toyota, Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG, to talk about revisions to the vehicle rules. Senior EPA and Transportation Department officials will also attend. Environmental groups are eager to keep the rules in place, saying they will save consumers billions in fuel costs. A coalition of groups plans to stage a protest outside Ford's headquarters in Michigan.

VW bringing fuel cell concept to LA Auto Show

Amid the flurry of hydrogen announcements from Toyota and Honda last night, Volkwagen has something to add: a new hydrogen fuel cell concept vehicle. This will be the first VW hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in many years – remember the Tiguan Hy-Motion back in 2008? – and it comes as a bit of a surprise. First written up by the German publication Wirtschaft Woche, VW is going to have the prototype car (not pictured) available at the ride and drive at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this week. We don't yet know what kind of vehicle will sport the hydrogen powertrain, but our money's on a Golf variant. We'll see soon enough when we get to Los Angeles. What's interesting is that there have been a number of not-so-mixed messages out of the VW executive ranks when it comes to hydrogen vehicles. VW's Japanese president, Shigeru Shoji, said in September that, hydrogen fuel cells, "may fly within Japan, but not globally." Last year, VW's electrification head Rudolf Krebs said that "hydrogen mobility only makes sense if you use green energy." Also last year, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn said it's basically impossible to build hydrogen vehicles at a "reasonable cost." Nonetheless, we're going to see a new VW H2 concept soon. Thoughts?

Volkswagen showcasing latest emergency vehicles at RETTmobil

RETTmobil may not be the top show on our calendars, but it's the top destination for police and emergency vehicles in Europe. The show opens this week in Fulda, Germany, and Volkswagen has revealed some of the vehicles it'll be presenting to first responders there this year. Leading the charge will be the new Golf Alltrack that has been set up specially as a command car, with special lighting, graphics and equipment like an accident data recorder and unique control panel. It'll be joined as well by specially equipped versions of the Passat, Tiguan and Touareg. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will also be on hand to showcase an Amarok pickup set up as a beach patrol car (you know, just in case Hasselhoff happens to be in town for the show), as well as a Transporter T6 van set up as an armored personnel carrier and a Crafter ambulance. Volkswagen prasentiert sich auf der RETTmobil 2015 - Golf Alltrack erstmals als Kommandowagen vorgestellt - Transporter T6 feiert Premiere als Mannschaftstransportwagen Hannover / Fulda, 4. Mai 2015 – Mit einer vielfaltigen Produktpalette prasentiert sich Volkswagen ab dem 6. Mai auf der RETTmobil 2015. Messehighlights sind der neue Volkswagen Transporter, der seine Premiere als Mannschaftstransportwagen feiert und der neue Golf Alltrack, der dort erstmals als Kommandowagen zu sehen ist. Bis zum 8. Mai konnen sich Besucher auf der internationalen Leitmesse fur Rettung und Mobilitat in Fulda uber Sonderfahrzeuge fur Rettungseinsatz und Krankentransport informieren. Am Volkswagen Messestand (Halle 3, Stand 303) prasentieren ein speziell ausgestatteter Golf Alltrack und ein Passat Variant 4Motion, das vielfaltige Leistungsspektrum der Marke Volkswagen Pkw fur den Rettungseinsatz. Beide Modelle sind als Kommandowagen aufgebaut und verfugen uber eine umfangreiche Sonderausstattung fur den Einsatz-betrieb wie etwa Digitalfunkvorbereitung, ein Sondertastenbedienfeld und eine Sondersignalanlage mit Blaulichtleuchte. Die Fahrzeuge sind ausserdem mit dem Unfalldatenspeicher UDS ausgestattet, der den Ablauf eines Ereignisses gerichtsverwertbar dokumentiert. Ein besonderes Messehighlight ist der neue Transporter T6 als Mannschaftstransportwagen. Das beliebte Einsatzfahrzeug von Feuerwehr und Rettung wird farblich passend in Rot-Weiss vorgestellt und bietet mit bis zu funf Einzelsitzen viel Platz fur das Einsatzpersonal und die notwendige Ausrustung.