GM Flips to California’s Side in Pollution Fight with Trump
CEO Mary Barra said in a letter Monday to environmental groups that GM will no longer support the Trump administration in its defense against a lawsuit over its efforts against California's standards. And GM is urging other automakers to do the same.
The move is a sign that GM and other automakers are anticipating big changes when President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January. Already at least one other large automaker, Toyota, said it may join GM in switching to California's team.
In her letter, Barra wrote that the company agrees with Biden's plan to expand electric vehicle use. Last week, GM said it is testing a new battery chemistry that will bring down electric vehicle costs to those of gas-powered vehicles within five years.
Read the article at MSN News.
Think You Can’t Access the Equity in Your Fleet? Think Again!
Here’s how you can use the power of your fleet to inject more cash back into your business
It’s been quite a year with you and your business getting waffled by dozens of motivational, logistical, and financial challenges – one after another. With everything you’re facing, having capital at the ready is a must – to either fix a problem or invest in an unforeseen growth opportunity.
If you're wondering where you could scrounge up cash at the moment, your liquidity sources may be parked right in front of you! And you don't even have to sell them. Remarketing your fleet vehicles is always an option, but that isn’t necessarily the best choice if your volume decrease is temporary. Downsizing can hurt your performance and agility if you'll need to quickly acquire replacement vehicles when your business is ready for them.
Who Makes the Most Reliable New Cars?
Mazda, Toyota, and Lexus continue to build vehicles that place the automakers at the top of our annual auto reliability brand rankings year in and year out. This year they're joined in the top 5 by Buick and Honda, brands that saw a significant improvement in their ranking.
Buick’s 14-position jump, the largest gain this year compared with last year, comes in large part because of not many problems in its small product lineup. Honda’s gain comes from steady improvements and some outstanding models in its lineup, which offset the ongoing reliability problems of its Odyssey minivan and Passport SUV.
Manufacturers ranking in the bottom-third saw big improvement this year. Chevrolet and GMC moved up partly because of the above-average reliability of the Bolt EV and the 2500 heavy-duty pickup trucks.
Read the article at Consumer Reports.
High-Tech Ways to Spy on Your Teen Driver
Many parents of newly licensed teenagers worry about their children’s safety, and with good reason. According to the most recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen drivers are almost three times more likely to get into a fatal crash than drivers ages 20 and older.
Parents can’t ride shotgun forever to keep their kids from speeding or texting while behind the wheel. What they can do, though, is use technology to monitor young drivers.
Telematics features, which employ wireless devices and “black box” technologies to transmit data in real time, and GPS monitoring can provide a stream of information about your teen driver’s whereabouts and on-road performance. Some of this technology is free, and some might even result in discounts on the sky-high cost of insuring young drivers.
Read the article at HuffPost.
Giving Thanks During a Pandemic
Celebrating Thanksgiving during a pandemic is weird. It’s more stress, more risk calculations, more staying away from people you’d normally draw close to. There’s a lot of people who are going to be so grateful for 2020 to be over. But as much as this year has been the worst, it’s also shown us how we humans can be a lot better when we actually try.
Thank you to the exhausted healthcare workers in the US, who are doing their best to tread water, even though they know a wave of illness and death is headed their way. Thank you to the researchers who have worked carefully and swiftly to develop vaccines. Thank you to the volunteers who were willing to enroll in clinical trials to help figure out if the vaccines work.
Thank you to the people who are working to keep their neighbors fed, housed and healthy. Thank you to the people who have kept wearing a mask, even when it's annoying and they would rather not. Thank you to the people who are keeping their distance from others, as painful as it might be.
We have much to be thankful for.
Read the article at The Verge.
