The last few weeks have seen some great news and some bad news for the industry - on two and four wheels. Personal transportation is going through a difficult time yet there are some highlights. On two wheels, The Economist magazine reported that Harley-Davidson is going through a rough patch - not the first in their 116 year history. In the US they have seen sales figures … [Read more...]
FCA Revamps Factories
There has been a lot of speculation in the automotive industry about what the major groups are going to do with respect to production plans. We have seen both Ford and General Motors pull back from assembling passenger cars in the US in favour of higher profit margins on trucks and SUVs. There have also been reports about Toyota doing a similar thing where they have started to … [Read more...]
FCA Attempts To Stop Mahindra Selling in US
Some words start out as a product name (a noun) and end up as a verb - a word to describe a function or work process. This is known as "anthimeria", the act of using a word in a new grammatical form. In my youth, several stood out: you could Hoover the carpet or Xerox a document (I’m really showing my age). Today you Google something when you search online or you Photoshop an … [Read more...]
Update on FCA UAW Embezzlement Scandal
Back in 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection and quickly emerged from it with some new owners: the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) Pension Fund, FIAT (with 20%), the US Government and the Canadian Government. Gradually, over the next few years FIAT increased their stake by buying out all of the partners so that they owned the whole … [Read more...]
Technology Security
One of the big “new” problems surrounding cars is the ability for hackers or nefarious people to access and use the data collected. I say new because the issue has been growing for a while thanks to electronics. With the rise of consumer style technology and the ability to apply a sensor to many components in a vehicle, the volumes of data collected per journey is increasing … [Read more...]