Congress

U.S. to monitor cybersecurity risks as car connectivity grows

3:04 pm U.S. ET | May 15, 2013
Rising cybersecurity risks to drivers as their cars become increasingly powered by and connected to computers have prompted federal auto safety regulators to start a new office focusing on the threat.... Read More »

 

GABE NELSON

Why Wednesday hearing could be connected cars' moment of truth

4:12 pm U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
In the software industry, people talk about vaporware -- products that are heavily promoted but never seem to go on sale. Automakers are at the point that they must prove that connected cars, which talk to each other over Wi-Fi to stay out of fender-benders, are more than just vaporware.... Read More »

 

Fisker, Energy Department blasted over loan to struggling firm

4:07 pm U.S. ET | April 24, 2013
Struggling Fisker Automotive took a bludgeoning today on Capitol Hill from top congressional Republicans who compared Fisker to failed automotive startups of the past and lambasted the Department of Energy for allowing the electric car producer to draw down nearly $200 million in taxpayer-funded loans.... Read More »

 

Henrik Fisker: 'Confluence of events' led to company's downfall

April 24, 2013 06:01 CET
Henrik Fisker's testimony before the U.S. Congress today will paint the automaker he founded as a victim of "a confluence of events" and as an enterprise that is capable of being saved.... Read More »

 

Henrik Fisker: 'Confluence of events' led to company's downfall

3:29 pm U.S. ET | April 23, 2013
Henrik Fisker's congressional testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will paint the automaker he founded as a victim of "a confluence of events" and as a still-salvageable enterprise.... Read More »

 

MARK RECHTIN

Get ready for Fisker's public flagellation

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 19, 2013
Top executives from Fisker Automotive are going to be called before Congress on April 24 for a public flagellation. The reason: Alleged profligacy with $193 million of taxpayer money from Department of Energy loans that are unlikely to be repaid.... Read More »

 

U.S. lawmakers urge Obama to keep auto tariffs on Japan

3:33 pm U.S. ET | March 14, 2013
Four dozen Democratic lawmakers on Thursday expressed concern about Japan joining free trade talks with the United States and urged President Barack Obama to maintain U.S. tariffs on Japanese autos and trucks.... Read More »

 

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, auto industry ally, won't seek 7th term

6:07 pm U.S. ET | March 7, 2013
Carl Levin, the six-term Democratic senator from Michigan known for his steadfast backing of the U.S. auto industry, won't run for re-election in 2014, his office said.... Read More »

 

Auto execs to speak on U.S. manufacturing in House hearing

2:59 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 28, 2013
Top executives from Ford, Honda, and Toyota are scheduled to testify next week at a Capitol Hill hearing on the outlook for U.S. auto manufacturing.... Read More »

 

Executive pay at bailed-out companies subject of D.C. hearing

6:22 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 22, 2013
A congressional subcommittee plans to hold a hearing Tuesday on executive pay at companies, including General Motors and Ally Financial, that the federal government bailed out about four years ago.... Read More »

 

Dealers seek to roll back '80s-era emissions control paperwork

12:47 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 15, 2013
Under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives, dealers no longer would have to fill out paperwork assuring buyers that the emissions control systems of the cars they purchase have not been modified.... Read More »

 

2013 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS WORLD CONGRESS

Mercedes-Benz addresses its culture in bid to improve buyers' experience

6:02 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 16, 2013
Thank or blame the digital world and social media, but there's no hiding a bad dealership experience today. Marketers used to believe people shared good experiences with three others and bad ones with 10 other people, Steve Cannon, 51, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, told the Automotive News World Congress.... Read More »

 

2013 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS WORLD CONGRESS

More production means more cooperation with suppliers

4:09 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 16, 2013
Rising production in North America has forced automakers to collaborate more closely with their suppliers. And suppliers, in turn, are reaching outside the auto industry to get help.... Read More »

 

2013 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS WORLD CONGRESS

Chrysler's Bigland: Dealers' 'methodical' response to online leads is boosting sales

10:56 am U.S. ET | Jan. 16, 2013
A sharp focus on responding to Internet leads has allowed Chrysler Group to dramatically decrease both the number of lost leads as well as the time the average customer waits for a response, the automaker's head of United States and Canadian sales said.... Read More »

 

Toyota worries more about bad winter than fiscal cliff

12:00 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 29, 2012
LOS ANGELES -- Toyota Motor Sales is bullish on U.S. industry sales for 2013, despite the fiscal cliff prospect of tax hikes and deep government spending cuts. Toyota predicts November sales will end with a 14.9 million seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales, with the calendar year ending slightly above 14.3 million units. Such a strong November, when the month is typically weak, shows signs of strong consumer demand, Carter said.... Read More »

 

U.S. says A123 sale requires its consent

10:28 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 28, 2012
The U.S. government said bankrupt A123 Systems Inc. cannot be sold without its consent because the battery maker received a $249 million grant from the Energy Department, according to court documents.... Read More »

 

Detroit unnerved by looming fiscal cliff

2:04 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 28, 2012
Ford is making contingency plans, including possible production cuts, should the nation's economy falter if President Barack Obama and Congress go over the fiscal cliff during budget deficit and tax talks.... Read More »

 

DAVID PHILLIPS

Sales outlook hangs on whether fiscal cliff is avoided

2:57 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 7, 2012
One big question down. One very big one on the near horizon. To what extent can a re-elected President Obama work with a sharply divided Congress and resolve a fiscal crisis while keeping the feeble economy humming? The answer will play a major role in how strong the recovery in auto sales continues.... Read More »

 

7 current and former auto dealers elected to Congress

11:19 am U.S. ET | Nov. 7, 2012
All seven current and former auto dealers running for seats in the House of Representatives won on Election Day, mostly by comfortable margins. Winners include Roger Williams, R-Texas, a former Texas secretary of state who runs a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store in suburban Fort Worth, and Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, the co-owner of a Chevrolet dealership that was rejected as General Motors went through bankruptcy.... Read More »

 

Ford would have shut without GM, Chrysler aid, Rattner says

11:20 am U.S. ET | Oct. 9, 2012
Ford, the only large U.S. automaker that didn’t receive a U.S. government bailout, would’ve failed along with General Motors and Chrysler if President Barack Obama’s administration hadn’t rescued the industry, said Steven Rattner, who headed Obama’s auto task force.... Read More »

 

U.S. policies promoting electric cars to cost $7.5 billion by 2019

6:16 pm U.S. ET | Sept. 20, 2012
U.S. federal policies to promote electric vehicles will cost $7.5 billion through 2019 and have "little to no impact" on overall national gasoline consumption over the next several years, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report issued on Thursday. Consumer tax credits for buying electric vehicles, which can run as high as $7,500 per vehicle, will account for about 25 percent of the $7.5 billion cost, the CBO said.... Read More »

 

Bill would restore salaried Delphi retirees' pensions

12:19 pm U.S. ET | Sept. 12, 2012
An Ohio senator wants to give $1 billion from a General Motors stock sale to salaried Delphi Automotive retirees who lost much of their pension coverage during the supplier's bankruptcy proceedings, but the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association says it prefers another solution.... Read More »

 

Ryan, unlike Romney, supported 2008 loans to automakers

4:13 pm U.S. ET | Aug. 13, 2012
Congressman Paul Ryan, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, voted in December 2008 to support the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors, which most Republicans -- including Mitt Romney -- didn't support. Ryan, of Wisconsin, was one of 32 House Republicans to break with their party and vote to support a bill that would have approved a $14 billion loan to Chrysler and GM from a previously approved Department of Energy loan to keep the troubled automakers out of bankruptcy.... Read More »

 

White House fuel-economy rules favor bailed-out automakers, House report finds

6:04 am U.S. ET | Aug. 10, 2012
A proposed rule requiring automakers to double their average fuel economy by 2025 is unrealistic and stemmed from a secret deal favoring companies receiving U.S. government bailouts, according to a report released today by House Republicans.... Read More »

 

A123 says funding from China's Wanxiang will preserve U.S. jobs

5:49 pm U.S. ET | Aug. 9, 2012
A123 Systems' CEO said the company's financial rescue by China's largest auto-parts maker will preserve U.S. jobs, after the agreement drew criticism from a member of Congress. A123, a maker of lithium ion batteries for electric cars, may get financing worth as much as $450 million from Wanxiang Group. The possibility of A123 being bought by a Chinese company may fuel further political debate over government financing of alternative-energy and transportation businesses.... Read More »