auto

As hostilities about the impeachment process continued, a moment of bipartisanship came together in Washington Tuesday. Democrats announced their support for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – or USMCA. The new trade deal could have significant implications for U.S. auto manufacturers.

President Trump says he has reached a trade deal with Mexico to replace NAFTA, even though the agreement announced on Monday does not include Canada.

The Trump administration today made it official: it wants to freeze an Obama-era program called the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards — or CAFE. The program was intended to improve fuel efficiency and cut pollution. 

The White House's proposal would lower fuel efficiency targets, and get rid of California's special exemption under the Clean Air Act, which lets the state set its own limits on air pollution.

The Trump administration continues rolling back regulations set under the Obama administration. This time, it’s looking like it could be fuel-efficiency and pollution standards for the auto industry. These guidelines were one of President Obama's signature moves to fight climate change.

Is the Trump administration rolling back standards to a greater degree than auto companies expected? Michelle Krebs, a Detroit-based executive analyst for Autotrader, joined Stateside to discuss what this weakening of the federal targets could mean to the Michigan economy.

In the early days of making cars, many companies quickly appeared and then disappeared just as fast. 

In an article in Michigan History Magazine, Steve Ostrander noted there were 34 automakers in the 1920s. One of them was named after a World War I flying ace — Eddie Rickenbacker. 

The big story at the North American International Auto Show is big vehicles. The spotlight is on the trucks: SUVs and crossovers that American buyers want. And that demand leads to questions about fuel economy standards, and whether automakers are pressuring the Trump administration to backtrack on strict rules set in the final days of the Obama administration.

Top environmental groups say Ford is part of that effort. Bill Ford, Ford’s chairman, says that’s not true. He says Ford is committing to spend $11 billion by 2022 to develop partially or fully electrified vehicles. Those fuel economy standards could be weakened by the EPA and by bills introduced in the House and Senate.

There’s good news to talk about in the re-invention of Detroit and the push to wean Michigan’s economy away from big manufacturing.

Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes thinks Michigan is “open for business, again.”

He has headed up the world's biggest office furniture company and hired Jim Harbaugh as head football coach at the University of Michigan.

Now, Jim Hackett is replacing outgoing CEO Mark Fields as the new head of Ford Motor Company.

Another week in the Motor City and you get buyouts at Ford Motor and news of General Motors bolting yet two more foreign markets. What’s going on here?

Simple: this ain’t your father’s auto industry anymore.

These are pillars of the American industrial economy. They're companies worth rescuing with taxpayer money and the biggest home improvement loan ever. And they're vying for relevance.

As we move through the early 21st century, technology continues to grow by leaps and bounds. That got Stateside producer Mike Blank to wonder: Just when does formerly cutting edge technology become obsolete?

Unless you’ve been blessed enough to never have had to ride in or drive a car, you know the sound of the tried and true blinker.

Fiat Chrysler Automotive's UAW members vote this week on whether to ratify the second contract put before them. The first tentative contract agreement went down to resounding defeat, forcing the union and FCA to try again.

Much of the opposition to the first deal was fired up on social media. At the same time, the union was widely viewed as having stumbled badly on its social media presence defending the deal.

They're not letting that happen this time.

Brent Snavely of the Detroit Free Press joined Stateside to talk about the negotiations. 

Robert "Steve" Miller is back in town.

The former Chrysler exec known as "The Turnaround Kid" is running International Automotive Components. 

It's been nearly 10 years since Miller and the Delphi directors decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - making Delphi an American company in name only. 

The reaction at the time was instantaneous and loud. 

"MCity" is the 32-acre replica suburb designed to let researchers test self-driving cars in real-world conditions, safely away from pedestrians and other vehicles.

Its recent opening in Ann Arbor is a clear sign that Michigan intends to be a leader in developing self-driving cars.

There have been at least eight people killed in accidents related to defective airbags made by Takata. The potential number of vehicles affected by these Takata air bags has been boosted to more than 32 million, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

But the watchdogs at NHTSA are keeping a wary eye on another safety issue brewing with airbags. What happens when airbags age?

The average age of vehicles on the road is more than 11 years old, and according to auto journalist and publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com Paul Eisenstein that's the oldest average age we've ever experienced.  

Lawmakers are still discussing how to manage the $9.4 billion in tax credits Michigan owes automakers.

The incentives started under Gov. John Engler and were mainly used during Gov. Jennifer Granholm's era. Their purpose was to keep automakers in Detroit, and Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes says this plan was largely successful.

"The problem is the bills are becoming due and you've got folks in the Legislature who are arguing about what they're going to do about it," Howes says.

There's no way around paying them, and Howes says, "The debate now is what do they do going forward and what does that do to Michigan's competitiveness."

Toyota is making changes to its top staff, with more North Americans rising in the ranks.

"For the first time they are elevating some Americans to some very key positions," says Daniel Howes, who recently wrote an article about the changes for the Detroit News.

As we talk about the auto industry, the "Detroit Three," it's all too easy to forget that these enormous companies began as scrappy little start-ups, birthed by innovators who were not afraid to set the status quo on its ear.

It could have been a story of a company's ruin following a bankruptcy in 2005.

Instead, Delphi Automotive is "a Wall Street love story" -- but at what cost to its American workforce?

After U.S. bankruptcy, the automotive parts manufacturing company moved its headquarters from Troy to the U.K.

When you hear the term "midlife crisis" most people imagine a fifty-something guy driving off in a new sports car, but it turns out women are casting their eyes on midlife crisis cars too.

A new survey from CarMax decided to determine just what a midlife crisis car actually is. Publisher of thedetroitbureau.com Paul Eisenstein says the survey found a little less than a third of people give into these urges and purchase the car of their dreams.

It has become crystal clear: Michigan's budget will have some mighty big holes this year and into the future. That's because billions of dollars of state tax credits awarded largely to Detroit's three automakers are coming due. The credits were aimed at keeping plants and jobs in Michigan during the Great Recession.

Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes believes before we get caught up in finger-pointing, grandstanding and wailing, a history lesson is in order.

Many of the most memorable commercials during past Super Bowls have come from automakers, but fewer will be participating in the expensive marketing during the event this year.