Ford Won’t be Rolling Out Aluminum Passenger Cars
Though Ford Motor Co. has ballyhooed the benefits of the aluminum used to build its 2015 F-150 pickup, don’t expect to see the automaker start building passenger cars out of the lightweight metal, cautioned a top executive.
The benefits just aren’t as competitive when used on lighter vehicles, stressed Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of the Americas, during an appearance at an annual industry confab in Detroit.
Detroit Auto Show: Dude, Where’s My Pickup Truck?
For decades, the American truck has been untouchable—as much a quirk of international tax law as anything the automakers did right. In 1962, frustrated by a glut of U.S. poultry, the European Economic Community began taxing chicken imports.
The U.S., in turn, levied a 25 percent tariff on a wide range of European imports, including potato starch, brandy, and—you guessed it—light trucks. The "chicken tax," as it's called, persists to this day, and it has kept foreign car companies largely out of the truck market.
The Unwritten Rules Of Business
Rick Reilly, a sportswriter for ESPN, penned a great column in 1995 entitled, Unwritten Rules. The piece laid out many of the great “known” rules of sports –things that athletes know to be true, but which cannot be found in any rulebook.
There are also “unwritten rules” for business. Those who manage these rules well can be substantively more effective in their interactions with others, and can often achieve their goals by using common sense in appropriate situations.
Here are the Unwritten Rules of Business:
- Sending prep materials before a meeting
KEEP READING for 16 more unwritten rules
NAFA Releases New Financial Management Guide
“At the heart of almost every enterprise is a need to know where and how expenditures are flowing,” said NAFA Chief Executive Officer Phillip Russo, CAE. “The people who succeed are those who have a firm grasp of what their costs are and are continually making sure those costs fall comfortably within budgeted expenses. That's not always an easy task to accomplish, but NAFA's Financial Management Guide is a tremendous resource for making this aspect of fleet work for fleet professionals.”
Two Ways We’ll Interact with Tomorrow’s Self-Driving Cars
At the 2015 International CES, automotive tech provider Valeo is demonstrating two new ways that we'll interact with the self-driving cars of the future: with its Mobius adaptive information display and InBlue smartphone and smartwatch virtual-key tech.
Valeo's InBlue tech is the virtual key system that will allow drivers to ditch their car keys and bulky key fobs and use a smartphone or smartwatch to unlock and start the vehicle.
