All posts tagged "Automobile"

New York (AFP) - The US transition to electric cars has hit a speed bump, with concerns about vehicle range and limited charging capacity adding to core affordability issues. Automakers in recent weeks have pushed back EV sales targets and delayed capital projects as they seek to reduce inventories of unsold EVs at dealerships. "The slowdown in EV sales is much more pronounced than it is for other categories of vehicles and that isn't related to the economy," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. "The EV has a problem attached to it," he said. "It's a much more difficult and com......

Center Line (United States) (AFP) - The US auto workers union expanded a strike against two of Detroit's "Big Three" on Friday, while President Joe Biden announced plans to join the picket line in solidarity with employees. Some 5,600 members of the United Auto Workers union walked out of 38 US parts and distribution centers at General Motors and Stellantis at noon Friday, adding to last week's dramatic worker walkout. The UAW has described its campaign as an effort to level the economic playing field for the working class, but Friday's events also underscored the lofty political stakes, with ......

San Francisco (AFP) - Elon Musk was at the news epicenter Thursday, from stripping Pope Francis of Twitter verification to Tesla's drag on stocks and the explosion of the world’s largest rocket. Three utterly disparate stories dominated global news in a way that underlined the extraordinary influence of the one person who connects them all –- Musk. "Elon Musk has outsized capability to sway the news cycle," University of Florida assistant media professor Andrew Selepak told AFP. Musk has quickly gone from being an innovator few knew of to a "tech billionaire playboy who has almost taken the pl......

San Francisco (AFP) - A San Francisco jury on Monday ordered Tesla to pay a Black former employee nearly $3.2 million for turning a blind eye to racism at the electric car maker's Silicon Valley plant. The verdict in the retrial was a victory of sorts for Tesla, which had been ordered to pay Owen Diaz $137 million by a jury when the original trial ended in October 2021. A judge later reduced the amount in keeping with legal standards, but Diaz rejected the judge's proffered damages amount in favor of a new trial. Diaz was an elevator operator at the electric vehicle-maker's Fremont, California......

Arlington (United States) (AFP) - The used car market in the United States is seeing an unprecedented phenomenon: owners selling vehicles for as much or more than they paid for them. The strange twist comes as a global shortage of computer chips amid the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled auto manufacturing, fueling a price increase for used vehicles, which in turn helped drive record US inflation last year. It "100 percent is a new trend," which is unlikely to end soon, said Aurelien Guillaud, owner of Arlington Auto Group (AAG), a car dealership based in Arlington, Virginia, just outside the nati......

New York (AFP) - The US highway safety watchdog has pushed Tesla for details about its driver-assistance systems, specifically whether it has barred some people testing the features from reporting possible safety concerns.  As part of a preliminary probe opened after a series of accidents with emergency vehicles, the regulator on Tuesday ordered Elon Musk's electric car company to provide information about confidentiality agreements with drivers who have been testing a new feature since October 2020. The feature, called Full Self-Driving (FSD), is designed to allow the cars to detect stop sign......