Wall Street Journal (April 13)
“The great car-chip shortage is bad for the auto industry, but only temporarily. The real losers are consumers who need wheels to get back to work.” Investors remain unfazed. “Investors can afford to remain relaxed about the chip shortage… there is an offset for manufacturers: Those cars they do ship this year could carry unusually high margins.”
Tags: Auto industry, Cars, Chip shortage, Consumers, Investors, Losers, Manufacturers, Relaxed, Work
The Oregonian (April 22)
Lawmakers in Oregon may pass “a bill that would require owners of new, fuel-efficient cars and trucks to pay a fee for every mile they drive beginning in 2026. The legislation is intended to help address what transportation officials say is a grim financial reality facing Oregon and other states: Gas taxes are not a sustainable way to pay for highway and street maintenance projects.”
Tags: Cars, Fee, Fuel-efficient, Gas taxes, Highway, Lawmakers, Legislation, Oregon, Street, Sustainable, Transportation, Trucks
Bloomberg (April 28)
“For years, technologists have been talking about smarter cars packed with sensors, chips and supercomputers that can replace human drivers.That was enough to get investors excited about the future of automotive semiconductors.” As earnings reports are revealing, however, there is “one slight flaw in the plan: People need to actually buy cars.”
Tags: Automotive, Cars, Chips, Drivers, Earnings, Investors, Semiconductors, Sensors, Supercomputers, Technologists
Bloomberg (February 4)
“Fears that the coronavirus will ravage global supply chains rooted in China are spreading fast.” For some industries this could be a blessing. “A hiatus from production in the world’s largest car market may force” automakers “to take some needed rebalancing.” Overcapacity and production are running rife. “China’s factories have the capacity to make over 60 million vehicles a year. Only a third of that number are sold. Yet carmakers seem unable to, well, stop making cars.”
Tags: Automakers, Cars, China, Coronavirus, Fears, Overcapacity, Production, Ravage, Supply chains
Economist (January 11)
“The industries that will suffer most from new regulatory barriers to frictionless trade are those like aerospace, cars, chemicals, food and drink, and pharmaceuticals that rely on uninterrupted supply chains across Europe. They are concentrated in the midlands and north—exactly where Mr Johnson won his new Tory majority. If his weakness in the negotiations causes him to lose favour in those areas, his new domestic strength will be at risk.”
Tags: Aerospace, Brexit, Cars, Chemicals, Drink, Europe, Food, Frictionless trade, Johnson, Pharmaceuticals, Regulatory barriers, Supply chains, Tory, Weakness
The Economist (September 14)
The internet of things (IoT) “is a slow revolution that has been gathering pace for years, as computers have found their way into cars, telephones and televisions. But the transformation is about to go into overdrive. One forecast is that by 2035 the world will have a trillion connected computers, built into everything from food packaging to bridges and clothes.”
Tags: Bridges, Cars, Clothes, Computers, Food packaging, IoT, Overdrive, Revolution, Telephones, Televisions, Transformation
INC. (July/August Issue)
“Fully autonomous–that is, self-driving–cars remain years away. But we may soon inhabit a world where 80 percent of all parcels are delivered by other autonomous vehicles. Pharmacy and cannabis orders, groceries, and on-demand entertainment could come to you not in full-size cars and trucks, but rather in robots, high-tech carriages, wagons (yep, just like the one you had as a kid), and drones.”
Tags: Autonomous, Cars, Delivery, Groceries, Parcels, Pharmacy, Robots, Self-driving
Inc. (November Issue)
“Sure, self-driving cars are smart. But can they learn ethics?” Not everyone is concerned. “Academics worry how A.I. will be programmed to navigate ethical dilemmas. Founders of A.I.-driven companies don’t.” But many tricky decisions experienced by drivers “as a one-off” will need examination because ultimately “driverless cars must grapple with it at scale.”
South China Morning Post (July 6)
As the U.S. and China begin to “spar over trade, Japan may avoid a direct hit – for now.” While the first round of tariffs is “expected to have limited impact,” the dispute “could lead to further appreciation of yen and punitive duties on Japanese cars” if it continues to spiral out of control.
The Drive (May 20)
Germany “is turning its back on traditionally powered cars and looking towards electric for its future. Data provided by Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority…shows a surprisingly sharp upwards trend in EV purchases compared to 2017.” The data also shows diesel sales are “withering” and reveals an unexpected surprise: “Kia’s Soul EV topped the charts by selling 721 units in April, followed by the BMW i3 with 491 cars.”
