President Trump is exasperated by the fact that automakers are unaware of his emission reduction

President Trump is furious with Ford for taking the side of California, Care by Volvo is boiling, German automakers team up to create autonomous cars, increase Tesla's revenue and more in The Morning Shift of Thursday, August 22, 2019.

1st speed: President Trump is exasperated by the fact that automakers are unaware of his emission reduction

A war is going on between the state of California and the Trump government, which has been declaring for some time its desire to return to the fuel economy standards of the Obama era and to revoke the California's ability Air Resources Board to continue to set the most stringent exhaust emission standards in the United States

The administration claimed that the goal of easing the fuel economy requirements is to significantly reduce the overall costs of vehicles and to ensure that more people get on board. newer and safer cars – the veracity of these claims has been challenged by several media outlets.

The automakers have spoken out against the proposed dismantling of EPA standards, fearing that the standards of emissions differ between California (and states that meet its standards) and the rest of the country, which is a logistical and technical nightmare . . A number of automakers have reached an agreement with the state of California on emission requirements in early summer, deciding to continue to build vehicles that meet stringent emission standards, though these standards are not as strict as the original standards of the Obama era.

Nevertheless, the builders' willingness to work with California and effectively ignore the drastic lowering of Trump's standards has not thrilled the president, as this tweet shows – in which he calls the builders "politically correct" and says their decision will spawn more expensive cars – shows this Wednesday:

Oh, you did not think that was all he had tweeted, and you? No, it gets odder when he chooses Ford:

"Henry Ford would be very disappointed when he saw his modern-day descendants want to build a much more expensive car, much less safe and less efficient, because the leaders do not want to fight against Californian regulators," he said. he declares. wrote before claiming that its dismantling is better for consumers and that California will lead to the financial collapse of automakers.

This is what FoMoCo had to say about it:

Ford said in a statement that it focused on protecting the environment while maintaining the affordability of the vehicles. "This agreement with California brings regulatory stability while reducing CO2 emissions, but is more in line with two different standards," he said.

All this comes after a recent convocation of car manufacturers at the White House, according to the New York Times:

The White House, blinded by a pact between California and four automakers to oppose President Trump's auto emission cuts, has made efforts to prevent other companies from joining California.

A senior Trump advisor convened representatives from Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors last month during a meeting at the White House. He urged them to stand at the initiative of the president, according to four people close to the talks.

Yuck, things are get stay weird.

2nd gear: Care By Volvo is in hot water

Dealers are not satisfied with Volvo's Care By Volvo subscription service because they believe they are missing out on a business opportunity and violate franchise laws, as described by Automotive News Europe:

the [New Motor Vehicle Board] voted unanimously on August 15 to lead the [California Department of Motor Vehicles] to investigate Care by Volvo and four allegations that the program would contravene the provisions of the state vehicles code, according to the dealers' association. If violated, this could be a disciplinary action against Volvo's DMV license, according to the dealer group.

[…]

The DMV will examine whether Care by Volvo diverts dealer customers to Volvo, if Volvo fails to properly warn franchisees and the program's board of directors, if Care by Volvo best allocates vehicles and sales to dealers, and if the program "hinders the packaging of payments", according to the dealer group, which represents nearly 1,200 new vehicle dealers, including nearly two dozen Volvo dealers .

For its part, Volvo told Automotive News that it was making improvements:

"Volvo Car USA is committed to developing Care by Volvo in collaboration with its resellers to offer subscription flexibility alongside traditional leasing and financing," said a Volvo Car USA spokesman in a statement. communicated. "We are continuing to improve the program, which will soon allow retailers to supplement their subscription purchases and provide instant vehicle delivery. Volvo Car USA believes that adding a subscription option on the sales floor will benefit both customers and retailers. "

This is not the first time we write about it. In January, we referred to an Auto News article on the initial petition that the dealer association had just filed. From this story:

The California New Car Dealers Association, which represents 23 Volvo dealers, filed a petition on January 15 with the New Motor Vehicle Board of California, claiming that the Care By Volvo subscription program violated the law in force in the country to prohibit builders to compete with their franchisees.

The association also claims that Volvo has unlawfully changed its franchise agreements with dealers by changing the way vehicles are sold by subscription. The group wants the motor vehicle department to study Volvo's subscription program and stop it.

The Volvo Care By Volvo subscription service promised participants a Volvo XC40 with insurance and maintenance included, all for $ 600 per month. It looked like a lot, but then he encountered a number of problems. Namely, cars did not show up on time and customers were not happy with Volvo's communication. The cause was apparently related to paperwork problems, as we wrote in a previous article:

Most of the cars that customers ordered several months ago are in Baltimore harbor while a "paperwork" problem has been solved, said a Volvo spokeswoman in Jalopnik, where they sit for weeks after being shipped from the Volvo factory in Belgium.

The problem lay in the diversity of legal requirements, ownership and insurance between the 50 states, told us the head of Volvo. As such, Care by Volvo took months longer than what the company originally planned to launch.

Who would have thought that a subscription service would pose problem?

3rd gear: the Tesla business figure continues

According to a blog post from his new company, the former head of Tesla's Autopilot software has gone to work in a venture capital firm called Greylock, Bloomberg reported. From the news site:

Former Software Manager at Tesla Inc.
Autopilot joins Greylock Partners as a manager
residence, according to a blog post from Silicon Valley
venture capital company.

Stuart Bowers, who joined Tesla in May 2018 as Vice President
president of engineering, spoke to the manufacturer of electric cars
investor day in April, focused on self-help development projects
Vehicles. The Electrek blog reported weeks later that Chief
The leader Elon Musk took control of the autopilot
software team, and that Bowers had been stripped of
responsibilities.

According to the Electrek website, which specializes in electric cars, this is a restructuring of Tesla's autopilot team, and the website suggests one possible reason for Bowers to leave:

While it's unclear whether Bowers was fired or resigned, the recent changes in the autopilot team appear to be Elon getting rid of people who do not agree with his timeline fully autonomous vehicles by the end of next year.

This is an extremely aggressive schedule that the entire industry is doubtful about, but the CEO has been very insistent in recent years.

We contacted Tesla to find out more. In any case, it looks a bit like a trend. Earlier this month, Bloomberg referred to a study by research and investment management firm Bernstein, which described a high turnover rate of Tesla executives compared to a handful of other companies. The study showed that the turnover was apparently significantly higher among those who reported to Elon Musk.

Here is the essence of this Bloomberg story:

The maker of electric cars has changed each year about 27% of its key leaders, said Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Bernstein, who estimates that Tesla shares the equivalent of a takeover. This is the highest rate among seven companies Sacconaghi compared Tesla, although Snap Inc. and Lyft Inc. had similar revenue levels, he wrote in a report released on Wednesday.

According to Mr. Sacconaghi, about 44% of the leaders reporting to Musk have changed from year to year, compared to about 9% on average in other companies, which also include Amazon.com Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Facebook Inc.

4th speed: Audi, Mercedes and BMW team up to develop autonomous cars

Automakers have recently joined forces to tackle some of the most costly technological challenges, namely electromobility, autonomous cars, transportation services and other "mobility" services. We have already heard that Daimler and BMW have joined forces in the race for autonomous cars, but the German economic magazine Wirtschafts Woche describes a new partnership including Audi which should be announced at the beginning of next month.

Translated from German:

In mid-September, Audi announced its intention to cooperate with BMW and Daimler at the IAA car show. According to WirtschaftsWoche, the three high-end car manufacturers will jointly develop autonomous cars.

5th gear: talking about autonomous cars, Waymo wants the rain in Florida

Many people are concerned about the ability of autonomous automotive technology to function in the rain, perhaps more than the worry that arises from the work of the eyes in the rain. These people can be reassured by the fact that Waymo, a Google spinoff company, goes to Florida to see how the sensors handle all this precipitation. From the Detroit News:

Google's stand-alone spin-off, Waymo, says it will begin testing on Florida's public roads to better withstand heavy rains.

Mountain View, California, has announced that testing will begin this month in the Miami area. They will include the roads leading to Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers. Florida test vehicles will be driven by humans. They will collect data with laser and radar sensors. Heavy rains can affect the quality of the image.

Reverse: Charles De Gaulle escapes an assassination attempt in a Citroen DS

The story as written in History really gives the DS a lot of credit:

On August 22, 1962, French President Charles De Gaulle survives one of his many assassination attempts thanks to the outstanding performance of the presidential automobile: the Citroen DS 19, sleek and aerodynamic, known as the name of "The Deesse".

[…]

While his black Citroën DS was spinning at 70 km / h on Liberation Avenue in Paris, 12 armed men of the OAS fired on the car. A hail of 140 bullets, mostly from behind, killed two of the President's motorcycle bodyguards, broke the rear window of the car and punched the four tires. Although the Citroën had a skid to the front wheels, De Gaulle's driver was able to accelerate and get safe thanks to the car's upper suspension system. A flawless stay

Neutral: what needs to change?

What do you think of the overall emissions reduction / war with California?