California's 3-year-old hands-free cell phone law prohibiting distracted driving has room for interpretation. GPS, cameras, music, voice recorders and email have all become part of a cellphone. California permits typing in a phone number for a brief conversation but not texting at a stop light. Fines of $159 may increase to $300 under new legislation.
Conventional consumer wisdom wonders why gas prices don't fall as fast as they go up. Analysts also are perplexed, but one thinks that as prices fall, consumers aren't as selective. That reduces competition and allows stations to squeeze a few cents of profit.
Responding to the European Union's CO2 emission reduction legislation and U.S. CAFE fuel economy targets, major automakers around the world are aggressively implementing "stop-start" idle elimination systems across their main product lines. Industry sources forecast that within five years stop-start will be standard on 20 million internal combustion engine cars per year.
Sonic Automotive reported 1st quarter net income of $14.9 million, up from $4.1 million last year. Officials cited strong used-vehicle sales for the jump and also acknowledged parts and service revenue was up.
When assembly of the C-Max Hybrid crossover begins at the Michigan Assembly Plant outside Detroit next year, Ford expects that the cost of the vehicle's hybrid system will be 30 percent lower than that of the previous-generation hybrid system, introduced on the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Ford's goal is to cut the cost of the next-generation Ford hybrid system another 30 percent but hasn't said when the next-generation hybrid system will be launched.