SoftBank Invests $2 Billion Into GM’s Cruise
On Thursday, SoftBank invested $2 billion into Cruise, GM’s self-driving subsidiary, bringing about many questions involving the Silicon Valley self-driving vehicle technology race.
The deal, on its face, is simple: SoftBank’s Vision Fund will eventually acquire about a 20 percent equity position in Cruise, which GM bought in 2016, for $2.25 billion over two payments. GM is also putting about another $1 billion into the division.
“This whole space, as you well know, is a complex set of relationships,” GM president Dan Ammann told Recode. ”As we navigate through that, we have taken a lot of precautions.”
Read the article at Recode.
Gov. Jerry Brown Says Paris Accord Pullout ‘Far More Serious Than Anyone is Saying’
A year after President Trump pulled out of the landmark Paris accord on climate change, Governor Jerry Brown said the world is only just beginning to feel the environmental harm inflicted by the Trump administration.
Some activists are optimistic that they can wait this administration out and are preparing reports to unveil at the global climate summit Brown is hosting in California in September, when new benchmarks will be proposed for getting the nation back on track for meeting its Paris commitments.
“He has set in motion initiatives that will cause damage,” Governor Jerry Brown said, comparing the planet under Trump’s climate policies to a person who has just fallen from the top of the Empire State Building. “You are falling down four stories, but have 80 to go,” he said. “Maybe you are not damaged yet, but it is certain you will die.”
Read the article at Los Angeles Times.
California Ready for Fight Over Rollback of Fuel Efficiency Standards
The Trump administration's rollback of the Obama administration’s fuel efficiency standards for automobiles took another step when the Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget.
The draft of the overhauled standard would eliminate automakers’ obligation to boost fuel efficiency after 2021 and would set up a clash with California by challenging its ability to set its own stricter standards, a power granted to the state by the Clean Air Act.
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, said that once the OMB begins the comment period and makes the proposal public, “then let the lawsuits begin.”
Read the article at The Washington Post.
New Bonding Between NAFA and the NAFA Foundation
Recent changes to bylaws and more have bonded NAFA and the NAFA Foundation closer together - and that has benefits for the fleet industry overall.
Ford’s New Vehicles Must Look and Feel Significantly Different
Detroit Free Press As the auto market moves toward SUVs, Ford has allowed its car lineup to become the oldest in the industry at the same time buyers’ interest in sedans flagged. Ford’s immediate challenge is creating new SUV-type vehicles that will outperform the Taurus, Fusion, Focus and Fiesta in sales, profits and production. “This […]
