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Chevy Bolt meets 2016 Nissan Leaf at LA NEDW event [UPDATE]

The 2015 National Drive Electric Week kicked off this past weekend with events happening all around the world. Our friends from Plug In America (PIA) send us some notes and pictures from one of the larger events in Los Angeles, CA. This event was special because it saw the debut of the 2016 Nissan Leaf and the west coast debut of the Chevy Bolt concept. The two electric vehicles were in the same place at the same time for the first time ever. Besides that little bit of electric vehicle history, the organizers helped facilitate 800 test drives, PIA co-founder Zan Dubin Scott told AutoblogGreen. The city of Los Angeles also gave proclamations to movie director Chris Paine (Who Killed The Electric Car? and Revenge Of The Electric Car) and the three national organizers of Drive Electric Week: PIA, the Sierra Club and the Electric Auto Association. Speakers at the event included names that should be familiar to AutoblogGreen readers: California state senator Kevin de Leon, race car driver Leilani Munter, and Dave Barthmuss of General Motors, among others. Joel Levin, the executive director of Plug In America, said during his speech that, "Electric cars are changing the world. Every time one of these vehicles gets sold, our air gets a little cleaner. We will take a big bite out of climate change. Our economy will not be subject to wild swings in gas prices. And we will not be involved in foreign wars over oil." Tell us about your own NEDW events (that happened already or are about to happen) in the Comments below. UPDATE: We received the text of Andrew Speaker's comments at the event. Speaker is Nissan's director of Electric Vehicle (EV) Sales & Marketing. We've included them below. Thank you, and good afternoon! On behalf of Nissan, we are proud to sponsor National Drive Electric Week, and we're excited to be able to celebrate it here in Los Angeles with all of you. This is actually my first National Drive Electric Week event, and I am inspired by the level of enthusiasm here today, and seeing everyone's passion for electric vehicles first hand. Nissan has had some big news in the last few days with the introduction of the 2016 Nissan LEAF, which is the world's first affordable electric car to get more than 100 miles of range on a single charge. The 2016 LEAF offers a new 30 kWh battery with an EPA-rated 107 miles of range... and its making its global debut here in Los Angeles.

GM and Ford quarterly sales continue to slump in China

BEIJING — General Motors and Ford announced their quarterly sales in China fell, albeit at a slower pace sequentially, as the U.S. automakers were hit by a slowing economy amid the Sino-U.S. trade war. GM's vehicle sales in China for the quarter ended June 30 dropped 12.2%, while Ford's sales slumped by 21.7%. While GM also suffered from heightened competition in its key mid-priced SUV segment, Ford was hurt by the limited new models for customers to choose from. For the first quarter of this year, Ford's sales in China tumbled 35.8 percent while GM's skid 17.5 percent. Still, the numbers from GM, the second biggest international automaker in China by sales, and Ford portend more uncertainty for the industry which is trying to rebound from a downward spiral that led to its first annual sales decline last year in more than two decades. GM delivered 1.57 million vehicles in China in the January-June period this year, while Ford delivered 290,321 vehicles. China's factory activity shrank more than expected in June, highlighting the need for more economic stimulus amid higher U.S. tariffs and weaker domestic demand. Annual car sales in China fell last year for the first time since the 1990s, and they are expected to fall this year too. Sales tumbled 16.4% in May from the same month a year prior, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said. That marked the 11th consecutive month of decline and followed falls of 14.6% in April and 5.2% in March. U.S. car companies' share of total China passenger vehicles sales fell to 9.6% in the first five months of this year from 10.9% in the year-ago period, according to CAAM. Over the same period, German car makers' share has risen to 23.3% from 20.9% and Japanese auto makers' to 21.3% from 17.3%. CAAM is set to announce June sales next week, which industry analysts forecast will be negative.   New models In China, GM has a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp, in which the Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac are made. It also has another venture, with SAIC and GuangxiAutomobile Group, in which they make no-frills minivans and have started to make higher-end cars. Sales of GM's affordable brand Baojun dropped 31.8% for the latest quarter. But luxury brand Cadillac's sales jumped 36.6%. GM sold 3.64 million units in China last year, down from 4.04 units in 2017. Ford makes cars in China through its joint venture with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Jiangling Motors Corp (JMC).

Texas cops pull armed suspect from burning car

A high-speed chase through Fort Worth, Texas ended in dramatic fashion earlier this month when FWPD pulled armed burglary suspects from the burning wreckage of their escape vehicle. According to NBC DFW, Fort Worth police were dispatched to Avington Way on the evening of July 16 to investigate reports of a burglary. The burglary victim told police he had arrived home to find three individuals hauling his property out of his house. When he approached them, one of the suspects pointed a handgun at him and told him to stay back. Then all three suspects climbed into a silver Dodge Avenger and sped away. FWPD officers spotted the Avenger a short time later on Sycamore School Road and, after the car refused to pull over, the chase was on. Police chased the burglary suspects through the city at speeds approaching 100 mph until the Avenger blew a red light and was t-boned by an oncoming pickup at the intersection of California Parkway and James Avenue. As the pursuing officers closed in on the disabled car, it suddenly caught fire. One suspect bailed out and ran for it, but the remaining two were trapped inside with the flames quickly mounting. Despite the spreading fire and the threat of armed suspects in the vehicle, police officers rushed to pull the men from the wreck. The driver was removed easily, but the passenger was unconscious and trapped behind a crushed passenger door. The scene was caught on the officers' body cameras as they pried the door open with their bare hands. Eventually the officers got the semi-conscious man out of the passenger seat just as the car was completely engulfed in flames. "It was pretty dramatic. We recruit people that can think on the fly, think quickly, and perform under pressure," FWPD Sergeant Marc Povero told WFAA. All three suspects are facing charges for burglary, and the driver was charged with evading arrest. News Source: WFAA, NBC DFW Auto News Chevrolet Dodge Driving Safety Truck Police/Emergency Sedan fire car fire burglary