2012 Fiat 500 Abarth Hatchback. Nero With Nero on 2040-cars

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Carmakers ask Trump to revisit fuel efficiency rules

Car companies operating in the US are required to meet stringent fuel efficiency standards (a fleet average of 54.5MPG) through 2025, but they're hoping to loosen things now that President Trump is in town. Leaders from Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and VW have sent a letter to Trump asking him to rethink the Obama administration's choice to lock in efficiency guidelines for the next several years. The car makers want to revisit the midterm review for the 2025 commitment in hopes of loosening the demands. They claim that the tougher requirements raise costs, don't match public buying habits and will supposedly put "as many a million" jobs up in the air. The Trump administration hasn't specifically responded to the letter, although Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt had said he would return to the Obama-era decision. The automakers' argument doesn't entirely hold up. While the EPA did estimate that the US would fall short of efficiency goals due to a shift toward SUVs and trucks, the job claims are questionable. Why would making more fuel efficient vehicles necessarily cost jobs instead of pushing companies to do better? As it is, even a successful attempt to loosen guidelines may only have a limited effect. All of the brands mentioned here are pushing for greater mainstream adoption of electric vehicles within the next few years -- they may meet the Obama administration's expectations just by shifting more drivers away from gas power. This article by Jon Fingas originally appeared on Engadget, your guide to this connected life. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Government/Legal Green Chrysler Fiat GM Honda Hyundai Nissan Toyota Volkswagen Fuel Efficiency CAFE standards Trump

Fiat Chrysler dumped 40,000 unordered vehicles on dealers

In a move that echoes recent history, Fiat Chrysler has been making more cars and trucks than dealers in the U.S. are willing to accept, with Bloomberg reporting that at one point the automaker had built up a glut of around 40,000 unordered vehicles. That’s led some dealers to accuse FCA of reviving the dreaded “sales bank” accounting practice of obscuring inventory to improve the balance sheet. The company reportedly began building up its inventory of unordered cars this summer despite an industrywide slowdown in sales and an eagerness by some dealers to thin their inventories because rising interest rates are making it more expensive to hold unsold cars. The inventory build-up also coincided with Fiat ChryslerÂ’s efforts to find a merger partner, first with Renault, which fell through, then last monthÂ’s announcement that it will merge with FranceÂ’s PSA Group. FCA denies any such scheme and tells Bloomberg the rising inventory is down to a new predictive analytics system designed to better square supply with demand from dealers that is helping the company save money and narrow the numbers of unsold vehicles. The company recently agreed to pay a $40 million civil penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a complaint that it paid dealers to report fake sales figures over a span of five years. While no one is suggesting that FCA is in dire financial straits — the company saw higher than expected earnings in the third quarter and record profits in North America — the practice has strong historical precedent by Chrysler, which built up bloated inventories in the run-up to its two federal bailouts, in 1980 and 2009. It was also common at GM and Ford during the 2000s, when all three Detroit automakers struggled with excess manufacturing capacity and plummeting sales in the lead-up to the Great Recession. Back in 2012, CFO Magazine wrote about a report that explained automakersÂ’ rationale for the practice and how it works: Say fixed costs for a given factory are $100, and that the factory can make 50 cars. Consumers, however, demand only 10. Under absorption costing, if the company makes all 50 cars, its cost-per-car is $2. If it makes only up to demand, or 10 cars, the cost-per-car is $10. Although each car adds variable costs for steel and other parts, if those costs are low, the company still has an incentive to make more cars to keep the cost-per-car down.

Junkyard Gem: 1978 Fiat 124 Sport Spider

Before the Fiat 124 Spider was a Mazda, it was the 124 Sport Spider, the two-seat convertible version of the huge-selling (in Europe) 124 sedan. Sold in the United States from the 1968 through 1985 model years (with the final few years sporting Pininfarina badges, courtesy of Malcolm Bricklin), these fan and affordable cars were once everywhere on our roads and owners have tried to hang onto them even after they break down. As a result, I see about as many 124 Sport Spiders in junkyards these days as I did 40 years ago, when you could still buy them new. Here's a little red devil of a '78 Sport Spider, found in a San Francisco Bay Area car graveyard a few years back. This car's main sales rival in the United States was the similarly fun and affordable MGB, and I still find plenty of those in the boneyards to this day. The MGB was sturdier but a bit more primitive than the Sport Spider, and both suffered from maddeningly unpredictable electrical systems. The price tag on this car was $6,495, or about $30,780 in 2022 dollars. The 1978 MGB cost $5,649 ($26,770 now) that year. If you wanted the much quicker Alfa Romeo Spider in 1978, you had to shell out $9,195 ($43,570 today). While the MGB's antiquated pushrod straight-four made just 62.5 horsepower in 1978 (yes, British Leyland claimed that half-horse), the '78 Sport Spider put out 86 horsepower from its DOHC engine. The curb weight of the Spider was lower, too (2,180 pounds versus the Brit's 2,338 pounds). This one has a much-faded 1990 San Francisco residential parking permit, for Zone C. That's the upscale Nob Hill neighborhood, where this car must have seemed a little too much on the proletariat side. These cars tend to spend decades sitting in a driveway or yard, awaiting repairs that may never come. Eventually, reality comes calling and they take that final tow-truck ride to a place like this. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Motorcars in the great European tradition.