Detroit’s Inductive EV Charging Roads: Boon or Boondoggle?

Detroit now has a quarter-mile length of roadway with the ability to charge properly equipped electric vehicles as they drive. While similar programs have been pioneered in Europe, Detroit is the first and only city to do so in the United States. Governor Gretchen Whitmer offered her support when the plan was announced in 2021

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Stellantis/UAW Deal Spills Tea on Future Product

One of the most common refrains from automaker PR departments is “we cannot comment on future product.” Fortunately, the recent agreement between Stellantis and the UAW blew the doors wide open on that particular topic – at least for the Auburn Hills company.

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97 Percent of UAW Members Approve Strike Action

In news that surprises no one, members of the UAW have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike should their contracts expire in mid-September.

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Smell Ya Later: Detroit Council Urges Stellantis to Buy Area Homes

In the latest development of what’s been a long-running saga involving strange odors from the Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack facility, city council members in Detroit are calling on Stellantis to relocate some residents who have been impacted by the issue.

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Mary Barra Named to Top 5 of Forbes’ Most Powerful Women List

This annual list prepared by Forbes magazine, called The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, has placed a CEO from the automotive sphere squarely near the top of their rankings – right behind VP Kamala Harris but well ahead of newsmakers like Oprah Winfrey.

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Jeep Seats: 30th Anniversary Grand Cherokee, Willys 4xe Shown in Motown

This year’s Auto Show in Detroit is notably light on introductions compared to its heyday in the ‘90s and 2000s when Cobo Hall was packed with announcements and bombastic reveals. Still, some hometown players are showing off new wares – including Ford with the Mustang later tonight – and Jeep with the pair of machines shown here.

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All About the Benjamins, Baby: Cadillaq Celestiq Electriq Fastbacq

We’ve known for some time that the top rung of General Motors is all in on electrification, a decision that has elated some and caused others to flee. Set to serve as the brand’s flagship is the Celestiq, a slinky fastback with an expected price tag north of a quarter million dollars.

What’s your take on the specter of a $300,000 Cadillac?

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Ford Cleaves EV From ICE, Suggests Major Changes for Dealers

Remember just a few days ago when Ford CEO Jim Farley said they had “no plans to spin off our electric business or our ICE business,” during a finance call with investors?

Yeah. Forget all that. The company announced this morning they are creating distinct electric vehicle and internal combustion businesses, one which is poised to “compete and win” against both new EV competitors and established automakers.

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New Ducting Could Stem Stinky Stellantis

Michigan residents living near the Stellantis Warren Truck Assembly Plant have been complaining for some time now about a fetid odor emanating from the facility, a stink that seems to have started after the place was outfitted for production of the new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Investigations pointed fingers at the facility’s paint shop and the state hit Stellantis with an air quality violation.

Now, the company says it has completed the installation of missing ductwork and has done so a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.

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Reading the Riot Act: GM Pens Memo to Dealers About Markups

It has been a seller’s market over the last few months (more than that, if we’re honest) in the car industry, with demand far outstripping supply for most vehicles. Images of dealer lots bereft of vehicles to sell have become familiar. This has led to some stores slapping so-called market adjustments on hot-selling inventory, sure in the knowledge that someone will pay the inflated asking price.

Manufacturers are noticing. Ford chirped about the practice earlier this year, and now GM has seen fit to send its dealers a sternly worded letter as well.

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Detroit Auto Show Allegedly Happening This Year

The North American International Auto Show is reportedly back on schedule, with NAIAS organizers announcing that the Detroit-based event will be returning on September 14th, 2022.

But we’ve been burned before. A central theme of the last two years has been the announcement of trade events before their subsequent cancellation or transition into a virtual approximation of the real thing where out-of-touch CEOs read things in front of poorly rendered backdrops.

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This, Not That: Consumer Reports Releases Its List

Compilations and lists purporting to tout the ‘best and worst’ of any consumer product – from cars to computers to toasters – are always given side glances in this office, if for no other reason than our own skeptical nature. Still, the crew at Consumer Reports have been releasing exactly this type of list for longer than some of us have been alive, so there’s reason to mention their findings.

In this year’s brand ranking on reliability, there were the usual suspects at the fore – and only one ‘domestic’ brand in the top ten.

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Media Confuses Pro-Saturn Lemons Gag as Earnest Protest

Over the weekend a gaggle of sign-toting individuals assembled at the Detroit Renaissance Center to demand General Motors restore the long-defunct Saturn brand. While we would wager that there were a few earnest individuals keen to see the return of “ A Different Kind of Company,” the event was actually a last-minute goof put on by attendees of the Michigan Concours d’Lemons ⁠— America’s favored auto show for bizarre or impressively awful vehicle designs.

Someone forgot to tell the media, however.

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Rare Rides: The Spectacular Original Ford Taurus From 1987

Rare Rides has covered earlier variants of the Taurus twice in prior entries, with a sparkling SHO from 1990 and the one-off Sable cabriolet from 1989.

Today we go further back in history, and look at an excellently preserved 1987 Taurus LX.

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GM Shares Dystopian Safety Tech, Ford Says Remote Work May Continue Into 2021

General Motors said it plans to share some of the safety technology it developed as a countermeasure to the coronavirus pandemic this week. These include a thermal scanning kiosk that uses infrared imaging to take temperatures of people as they stream into facilities, as well as a touchless printer app designed to keep staff from repeatedly touching the control panel. However, it’s the third item, GM’s contact-tracing software, that’s the most novel and controversial.

Practically every company in the world is working on ways to better track people, and their efforts have only accelerated during the pandemic. The presumption here is that by knowing every person someone has come into contact with, you can effectively track the progress of a virus. Despite sounding terrifyingly dystopian just a few years earlier, the notion has become a favorite among tech giants — most of whom are working on their own version.

GM’s involves a wristband, integrated into iOS and Android devices, that keeps tabs on how close employees are to each other. The company has since added support for Bluetooth beacons.

“We believe our application advances the state of the art when it comes to mobile apps for contact tracing, which is the subject of massive software development efforts across multiple industries today,” Tony Bolton, GM’s chief information officer of Global Telecommunications and End-User Services, said in a release.

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  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.