1969 Ford Bronco on 2040-cars

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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." 

All eyes on Detroit as automakers prepare for slow, careful reopening of plants

DETROIT — The U.S. factories that make Fords, Chevys and Jeeps are coming back to life this week as workers install new safety equipment and wake up machines ahead of the high-stakes restart the Detroit automakers plan to launch on Monday. Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles all plan to reopen North American factories on May 18. The reopening of the U.S. auto sector will be a closely watched test of whether workers across a range of industries can return to factories in large numbers without a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. How well the automakers do will be significant for the U.S. economy, as nearly 1 million workers are employed in the sector. Executives at Ford and GM said separately this week the companies have not recorded any cases of COVID-19 transmission in plants outside the United States since adopting new safety protocols. Those procedures include mandatory face masks, separation of workers on assembly lines, frequent cleaning of work areas and requirements that workers pass through temperature monitors and report any symptoms before entering a plant. The Detroit Three have taken unprecedented steps to share information about coronavirus safety practices and develop a common set of workplace standards for their restarts, working with the United Auto Workers union, executives said. "We thought it was critical that we did it together," Ford manufacturing and labor chief Gary Johnson told Reuters. "We've never done this as an industry." The Detroit automakers will restart U.S. plants without regular testing of workers, because they do not have access to sufficient testing capacity, executives and UAW officials said. They will test workers who report COVID-19 symptoms or have fevers discovered by temperature scanners installed at factory entrances. "We have to continue to push for this testing," United Auto Workers union Vice President Cindy Estrada told Reuters on Wednesday. "Unless we have testing weekly to keep sick people out of the plant there is always a risk." Adopting new safety practices is just part of the work the companies must do to reopen after an extraordinary shutdown that has lasted two months.   Wave zero At Ford, workers going in to ready factories are part of what Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley calls "wave zero." The work of wave zero employees "is really important for success of the startup," he said in an interview.

Formula Drift kicks off 11th season on Streets of Long Beach

The 2014 Formula Drift series kicked off last weekend in Long Beach, and saw Chris Forsberg, who you'll recall went mad and drifted around a warehouse in an Infiniti M, take the title behind the wheel of his Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z (shown above).
Forsberg really ran away with the first round of competition, outscoring his closest opponent, second-place finisher Kenneth Moen and his Bridges Racing Nissan 240SX, by 20 points. Third place was 2013 championship winner Michael Essa and his Yokohama BMW M3, 30.5 points behind Forsberg.
In the manufacturers' title, Nissan took an early lead with 122 points, which isn't a huge surprise considering five of the top ten drifters were piloting either a Z or a product of the brand's S platform. Ford, which had two drivers (Justin Pawlak and Vaughn Gittin, Jr.) in the top ten, took home second place, while BMW is currently third in the manufacturers' standings.