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Japanese automakers welcome North American trade deal, fear what's next

TOKYO — Toyota, Nissan and Mazda welcomed on Tuesday the revised North America trade deal that left Japanese automakers unscathed, but they may face a bumpy ride when Washington and Tokyo hold new talks on over $40 billion of annual U.S. auto imports from Japan. The United States and Canada reached an agreement on Sunday to update the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement after Washington had forged a separate trade deal with Mexico in August. The updated deal effectively maintains the auto industry's current footprint in North America, and spares Canada and Mexico from the prospect of U.S. national security tariffs on their vehicles. Mazda, which ships cars to the United States from Mexico and Japan, called the deal a "big step forward". Nissan, which makes the cars it sells in the United States locally as well as in Mexico, Japan and other countries, said it was "encouraged" by the agreement. Toyota, Japan's biggest automaker, said it was "pleased" that a basic deal was reached. Other automakers were not immediately available for comment. While the deal has removed the risk that the disintegration of the pact would have posed to automakers, bigger risks loom large for Japanese firms as a chunk of the roughly 7 million cars they sold in the U.S. last year were shipped from Japan, and a trade deal between Washington and Tokyo has yet to be agreed. The United States and Japan last week agreed to begin fresh trade talks, with U.S. President Donald Trump seeking to address Japan's $69 billion trade surplus, of which nearly two-thirds comes from auto exports. Washington is also investigating the possibility of slapping 25 percent tariffs on auto imports on national security grounds, although it has agreed with Japan to put any new tariffs on hold during the talks. Analysts say the United States may take a tougher stance on auto imports from Japan than from its neighbors. "If Japan requests an exemption from the 25 percent tariffs under consideration, Washington could propose a more strict cap on imports than it agreed to with Mexico and Canada," said Koji Endo, senior analyst at SBI Securities. "That would be a risk." This could be a big blow to Japan, as the United States is a key source of revenue for Japanese automakers including Toyota, Nissan and Honda. The U.S. market accounts for a quarter or more of their annual global vehicle sales, and of their total U.S.

Online Find Of The Day: 1998 Honda Accord Dually shows a melange of influences

The vehicles that we choose to drive make a statement about who we are, and this insanely styled, custom 1998 Honda Accord is certainly going to say something about the next owner. The seller in this Craigslist ad claims this "is something that you will never see again," and there's no arguing about that. If you're looking for attention and notoriety, then this Honda is more effective than driving around in any Ferrari or Porsche. First, everyone can see you coming in this thing. With two banks of LEDs on the hood, a 44-inch light bar on the roof and cab lights, this Accord must look like a meteorite burning up in the atmosphere with all of its illumination on at night. In addition, the boat air horns, PA speaker, backup beeper and the unholy noise from the Bosozoku-influenced exhaust stack should make stealth an impossibility. Making friends isn't a problem, either, because with eight CB whip antennas positioned around the car, you're sure to hear every trucker in a tri-state area. Despite the Accord being front-wheel drive, the builder finished this masterpiece off with a dually rear end and fender flares. Don't worry about seeing the utter shock on people's faces when they notice, because the Dodge tow mirrors should provide plenty of rear visibility. The seller claims there's nothing wrong with the car, and he's accepting trades or reasonable offers. Autoblog has called to see how much the owner wants for it and to see what inspired them to go to such extremes. We'll update this story if we hear back.

Struggling McLaren-Honda F1 partners near 'fork in the road'

WOKING, England - McLaren's partnership with Honda has not worked so far, and the team is now approaching a "fork in the road," executive director Zak Brown said on Wednesday. Speaking to Reuters in his office at the Formula One team's headquarters, Brown (pictured above) indicated clearly that a parting of the ways was a real option under consideration by management. The American said engine upgrades promised for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix were not ready, and the Japanese manufacturer could not say when they might be. And while McLaren still wanted to win championships with Honda, there were serious concerns as to whether that was achievable. "Honda's working very hard, but they seem a bit lost," said Brown, who replaced Ron Dennis at the helm late last year. "We were only told recently that we wouldn't have the upgrade coming (for Montreal) ... and we don't have a definitive timeline, which is concerning because the pain is great and we can't sit around forever. "We were eagerly awaiting this upgrade as were our drivers, and it's a big disappointment that it's not coming. It's not lack of effort, but they are struggling to get it to come together."FAILURE AND EMBARRASSMENT McLaren, the second oldest and most successful team in Formula One after Ferrari in terms of race wins, are the only ones yet to score a point this season. They have not won a race since 2012. The renewed partnership with Honda in 2015 was billed as a return to the glory days, when French great Alain Prost and the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead it has brought failure and embarrassment to the former world champions, whose cars have failed to finish races -- and sometimes even start them -- due to engine failures. Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, a double world champion whose future is uncertain, said in March that "we have only one problem, and that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power." Honda's engine troubles even plagued Alonso at the Indy 500, where a failure took him out of the race. McLaren were ninth in 2015, sixth last year and this season could become their worst ever. MARCHING ORDERS "The executive committee have now given us our marching orders," said Brown, who is also chairman of the fast-growing Motorsport Network media group. "We're not going to go into another year like this, in hope." "I don't want to get into what our options are.