Tag: Hybrids

Carmakers Withdraw from Trump Lawsuit Against California

Several automakers withdrew from the lawsuit by the Trump administration to revoke California’s ability to make its own emissions and fuel economy rules.

The ink was not even dry on Pete Buttigieg’s confirmation as Secretary of Transportation by the U.S. Senate when several automakers announced they were “withdrawing” from the lawsuit filed by the Trump administration to roll back the State of California’s right to set its own emission and fuel economy standards.

Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and Subaru joined General Motors, which pulled its support for the suit last November, in dumping the effort. Previously sided with Trump administration’s effort, encapsulated in federal lawsuit filed in the fall of 2019 to shut down California’s role in setting the nation’s automotive policy.

The automakers insisted they were not trying to punish California for its aggressive stance on climate change but to campaign for “one national standard” that could be applied across the United States.

However, the world has changed dramatically since the previous administration initially filed suit with the support of GM, FCA and Toyota as well as Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and the National Auto Dealers Association.

(GM throws support behind California in emissions court battle with Trump.)

GM pulled its support for the lawsuit against California in late November.

For one thing, after a boisterous campaign that led to record voter turnout, Trump is no longer president and California has expanded its fight against climate change by moving aggressively to foreclose the sale of new vehicles with internal combustion engines throughout the state by 2035.

California Governor Gavin Newsome tweeted his support for the move, offering his thanks for “dropping your climate-denying, air-polluting, Trump-era lawsuit against CA.”

He added, “Good start. Now it’s time to join forward-looking carmakers in the CA framework to protect our air and planet.” Other automakers, including Ford, BMW, Honda and more forged a new deal with the state on mandates that were tougher than the Trump standard, but less stringent than the Obama administration’s benchmarks.

Edmunds, the internet-based car buying service, is predicting sales of electric vehicles will set a record in 2021 and as of last week, General Motors is saying it plans to exit the business of selling cars with combustion engines by 2035 and become carbon neutral by 2040.

The Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation, which also sided with the Trump administration in its battle against California, reiterated its support for having just one nationwide emissions standard, but said it was leaving the litigation “in a gesture of good faith,” towards the Biden administration.

Toyota was joined by several automakers in the move to pull out of the legal battle with California.

In his first full day of office on Jan. 21, the Biden administration had asked to “pause” the litigation around the California standards.

“In a gesture of good faith and to find a constructive path forward, the CSAR has decided to withdraw from this lawsuit in order to unify the auto industry behind a single national program, with ambitious, achievable standards,” the CSAR said in a statement.

CSAR’s move follows the lead of General Motors, which was also initially on the side of the Trump administration but exited in November following Biden’s election victory, according to The Hill, an online publication that follows development on Capitol Hill.

(California moves to block Trump fuel efficiency standard.)

The list of CSAR members include Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Subaru, according to the organization’s website.

And it comes following the Biden administration’s decision ask the court to pause the litigation, after it identified the former Trump administration’s rule as one it would seek to review and potentially reverse course on.

“Abeyance will further the Court’s interests in avoiding unnecessary adjudication, support the integrity of the administrative process, and ensure due respect for the prerogative of the executive branch to reconsider the policy decisions of a prior Administration,” the administration said in court.

It is also seeking to hit pause on other rules including the prior administration’s methane regulations.

Meanwhile, Buttigieg, the former mayor South Bend, Indiana, who has been tapped by Biden to serve as Secretary of Transportation, and to help lead the new administration’s fight to curb climate change, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The automakers’ decision to withdraw from the lawsuit makes it easier for Buttigieg to discuss a new round of initiatives for the industry and bring California’s interests into the discussion. Relations between Washington and California had been strained during the Trump era.

California, however, has a well-established role in setting automotive policy on issues relating to air quality since the late 1940s and early 1950s when the collision between Southern California’s unique environment, vibrant automotive culture and explosive economic growth had led to the creation of a smog layer that threatened the health of young children and older residents.

The choking smog led to a series of laws, regulations and subsequently court decision that gave the state of California’s statement government, which is now in the hands of Democrats beholden to environmental groups rather than the oil industry, the right to control air quality.

(Trump confirms mileage standards cut, elimination of California clean air waiver.)

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts vs EPA, gave states the authority to curb emissions of greenhouse gasses, which contribute to climate change.


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Stellantis Plans No Job or Brand Cuts, Expects to Have 39 “Electrified” Vehicles by End-2021

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Chairman John Elkann are all smiles during the official debut of the new company.

Despite aims of achieving about $6 billion in synergies through the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s Group PSA, there are no plans to drop brands or eliminate jobs, Carlos Tavares, the CEO of newly formed Stellantis, declared Tuesday.

If anything, the company expects to see opportunities to enhance the performance of its 14 brands and gain traction in markets and market segments where it is weak, Tavares said during a nearly two-hour media briefing. But the Portugese-born executive did warn that “headwinds” could force Stellantis to pull back in some places, notably Latin America, if it can’t maintain a profitable business strategy.

“Our commitment on this merger is that we will not shut down plants as a consequence of the merger,’’ Tavares said, later adding that there are no plans to eliminate any brands, either, though a formal strategy for rebuilding some of the weaker marques, such as U.S.-based Chrysler and Italy’s Fiat and Alfa Romeo, is still in the works.

(Stellantis enjoys warm welcome from European investors.)

The merger was formally announced in December 2019 but took more than a year to pull together as FCA and PSA not only negotiated terms but also had to deal with unions and regulators around the world. The final details fell in place last month and shareholders from the two companies each voted in favor of completing the deal by margins of more than 99%.

Workers take the covers off the new Stellantis sign at North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

The merger created what is now the world’s fourth-largest automotive manufacturer, behind Toyota, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. And its size, diverse brand, product and market portfolios will serve as “a shield” said Tavares. That “helps keep affordability, helps keep the customer base and helps prevent bad things from happening.”

Tuesday’s lengthy media session was aimed at providing a sense of the direction Tavares sees for Stellantis while also addressing some of the many questions that have popped up during the last 13 months.

There has been widespread speculation that brands such as Fiat and Chrysler could be eliminated considering the challenges of maintaining a portfolio of 14 separate marques. But Tavares insisted Stellantis is up to the job, pointing to how it has handled its acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors. Prior to that deal, the German-based unit had run up nearly two decades of losses. But it was profitable within a year of the purchase, Tavares noted.

One of the keys to the merger will be taking advantage of scale, the CEO said. That will allow more efficiency in product development and purchasing – which should yield 80% of the 5 billion euros in “synergies” Tavares has promised.

For one thing, weaker brands will benefit by being able to share product platforms and components developed for the broader enterprise – though Tavares stressed that it will be essential to make sure buyers can clearly differentiate between what he described as “sister cars,” say, Dodge, Fiat and Peugeot models that share the same underpinnings.

A mix of new and old with the new Stellantis sign in the foreground and the Chrysler Pentastar in the background.

“The importance is scale and the opportunity to purchase more effectively,” said Stephanie Brinley, principal analyst with IHS Markit, adding that Stellantis “also will benefit from having more cash that can be used to develop systems for more vehicles than (FCA and PSA) each could have done alone.”

(Chrysler is no more as Stellantis comes to life.)

That should prove particularly important when it comes to developing the electrified and autonomous vehicles that are expected to radically transform the globally transportation industry over the coming decade. While it’s unclear how soon self-driving technology will be ready for market, EVs are expected to gain significant traction over the next several years, Tavares expecting that they “will represent more than one-third of vehicle sales, possibly more in Europe,” by the end of the decade.

“Our company will have to be carbon neutral,” Tavares said, adding that he expects the new Biden administration will push for further reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. “This is going to be at the core of our long-term strategic plan.”

At the time of the merger – officially completed last weekend – Stellantis had 29 electrified vehicles, ranging from hybrids to plug-ins to pure battery-electric vehicles. Just by the end of 2021, Tavares revealed, that will grow to 39 models. And, by 2025, he said, “There will be electrified versions of all new models.”

What Tavares and Mike Manley, then CEO of FCA, started is now complete.

How many of those will be BEVs, however, he did not reveal, raising his concerns about the higher cost of producing all-electric vehicles and how that could price some traditional buyers out of the new vehicle market.

The reality is that many key strategic decisions have yet to be formalized, Tavares indicated during the Tuesday briefing. That includes how to prop up weaker brands and improve the presence of Stellantis in weaker markets. That notably includes China, where neither FCA nor PSA were strong players. Latin America is another challenging region — as was underscored by Ford’s announcement last week that it will end manufacturing operations in Brazil.

While analyst Brinley said she believes Stellantis can largely hold to its early goals, especially finding ways to maintain its current brand portfolio, she said the company ultimately might wind up cutting some jobs. But she doesn’t think factory workers are the ones who should be concerned.

(Fiat Chrysler and PSA not exactly a “merger of equals.”)

“There will be some areas where there will be job redundancies,” though not in plants, said Brinley. More likely this could occur in places like marketing and purchasing, and even some in engineering, “operational areas where they just won’t need as many employees” as they did when FCA and PSA operated independently.


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A Week With: 2021 Toyota Sienna Limited AWD

The 2021 Toyota Sienna Limited AWD comes with a new hybrid powerplant.

Are you secure enough – make that brave enough – to drive a minivan? For many, the answer is no.

Its image tarnished long ago by the sneeringly chauvinistic and emasculating epithet “soccer mom,” the segment continues to wither under the assault of crossovers, which are little more than cross-dressing minivans.

No, seriously, they are. Consider this: they have seating for up to eight, lots of cupholders and rear-seat entertainment systems. Just like a minivan. Except their perceived wardrobe’s faint nod to off-roading gives them an alleged image boost. But let’s face it, they’re a minivan, with a less practical shape that limits their utility compared to a minivan.

But this bit of common sense eludes buyers, and so the minivan’s U.S. market share continues to crater, plunging 86% during the past decade from 7.1% of U.S. light vehicle sales in 2010 to 2.4% in 2019, before falling to mere 1% last year.

(Toyota goes “all-hybrid” with new Venza, Sienna models.)

The Sienna offers seating for seven passengers while still getting more than 35 mpg in combined driving.

Part of the segment’s plunge is no doubt due to Dodge’s decision to discontinue the long-in-the-tooth Dodge Grand Caravan, a darling of rental fleets and those who needed the cheapest minivan available – and what wallet-challenged parent doesn’t? Despite the overall drop in volume in 2020, Fiat Chrysler remained the leader in the segment, followed by Honda, Toyota and Kia.

Overview: And yet dollar for dollar, nothing beats the value provided by a minivan. And for 2021, Toyota is distinguishing its rugrat hauler by offering it solely as a gas-electric hybrid in LE, XLE, XSE, Limited and Platinum trim levels.

Exterior: A decade ago, Toyota tried marketing the third-generation Sienna as the “Swagger Wagon” with little luck, as it was a definitely wagon, but lacking in any swagger. But you could be forgiven for using the term on the fourth-generation Sienna, which was designed by Toyota’s styling studios in Newport Beach, California, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, its appearance was allegedly inspired by the Shinkansen Japanese Bullet Train. Boasting an outrageously oversized jaw capped by aggressively slanted LED headlamps, it’s best described as expressive.

”’… Aggressively sculpted side panels and muscular wheel arches suggest it’s got some SUV DNA in it, but it doesn’t. It’s certainly distinctive, something that couldn’t be said of the previous Sienna …”

Interior: Surprisingly, the cabin is a welcome counterpoint to the over-caffeinated exterior. The cleanly styled instrument

The Sienna’s interior is clean and crisp, offering the driver easy access to all controls.

panel features cupholders and a flat shelf on which to place smaller items and includes a wireless charging pad. It’s augmented by what Toyota calls its “Bridge Console,” a very tall center console that puts the major controls within easy reach with a massive center console bin that doubles as a small refrigerator. There’s also an opening underneath for front seat occupants to place a purse or manbag.

As you might expect, there are three rows of seats, with second row Captain’s chairs, with Platinum and Limited grades getting “Super Long Slide” seats that slide back and forth a whopping 25 inches. The test vehicle’s second-row thrones doubled as recliners, although they work best for those far less than six feet tall. And they fold, but not flat into the floor like Chrysler’s Stow ‘n Go seats. But legroom is impressively spacious in the first two rows, and acceptable in the third. With all of the seats in use, there’s 33.5 cubic feet of schlepping space, growing to 101 cubic feet when they’re not.

(Can minivans regain their cool factor?)

The Sienna is powered by a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder paired with electric motors that put out a combined 245 horsepower.

Powertrain: The biggest change comes under the hood, where a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder and dual electric motor hybrid powertrain replaces last year’s V-6. Generating 245 horsepower, the Sienna loses 51 horsepower to the V-6, but it gains at the gas pump.

For 2021, the EPA rates the front-wheel-drive Sienna at 36 mpg in combined city/highway driving, and 35 mpg with all-wheel drive. Both figures are 15 mpg better than their respective 2020 counterparts, reducing annual fuel costs by an estimated $750 annually. By comparison, Chrysler new Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid runs 32 miles on electricity, returning 82 MPGe in combined driving, and 30 mpg running purely on petrol. Toyota rates the Sienna’s towing capacity at 3,500 pounds.

Technology and Safety: Being a family hauler, you’d expect a full slate of standard safety systems, and you’d be correct. Toyota’s second-generation Toyota Safety Sense is standard, and includes pre-collision system with pedestrian detection/lowlight detection, blind spot monitor, rear cross traffic alert, dynamic radar cruise control, lane departure alert with steering assist, lane trace assist, automatic high beams, and road sign assist.

Toyota also includes its Star Safety System, which adds stability control, traction control, electronic brake-force distribution, brake assist, and anti-lock brakes with smart stop technology. There’s also a 10-inch color head-up display that can be controlled through voice recognition or steering wheel switchgear.

There’s also an available digital rear-view mirror that eliminates obstructions in the cabin from blocking your rear view as well as an optional 360-degree view camera, and Curb View, which helps prevent scuffing tires when parallel parking.

But most occupants will be more concerned about the tech package. A nine-inch touchscreen is standard, and is flanked by shortcut buttons, as well as a volume and tuning knob for the audio system. Speaking of tunes, a six-speaker AM/FM/XM audio system with, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa compatibility is standard, and includes seven USB ports, voice recognition and Bluetooth. It can be upgraded to a JBL Premium audio system with 12 speakers, a subwoofer and 1,200-watt amplification.

Driving impressions: Being a hybrid, it’s little surprise that this van is exceptionally quick, quiet and tranquil at lower speeds, as it’s running purely on electric and your children are behaving. This changes when you need extra grunt, as the gas engine comes on with a mighty roar, although it proves powerful enough to move this minivan with moxie.

The new Sienna offers plenty of cargo space whether full up with passengers or empty.

Thanks to Toyota banishing the 2020 Sienna’s rear twist-beam axle, handling is far more precise and far less floaty. Credit the new multilink rear suspension. Overall, it makes for a very serene, controllable yet somewhat engaging driving experience.

(Kia replacing Sedona minivan with new Carnival line.)

Wrap Up: No matter what its looks, the 2021 Toyota Sienna is still a minivan. It proudly proclaims what you’ve accomplished: You’ve gone forth, you’ve multiplied, and now you need space for the whole family. It’s not hip or trendy — but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Kudos to Toyota for a truly impressive update that injects some flavor into a vehicle that has always been blandly practical at best. The 2021 Sienna delivers the amenities, practicality and driving experience that’s every bit as good as its archrivals, and fuel economy that beats them all.


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Japan Joins Growing List of Countries Set to Ban Sales of Gas-Powered Vehicles

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga supports the move to ban the sale of non-electric new vehicles staring in 2035.

Despite strong pushback from the country’s largest automaker, Japan has announced plans to halt the sale of vehicles relying solely on internal combustion engines after 2035.

The move means the Asian nation will join a growing list of countries planning to phase out vehicles powered by gas or diesel, including both the United Kingdom and Norway. A number of other countries, including France and Germany, are considering similar bans.

Vehicles with internal combustion engines won’t be banned entirely. Automakers will still be able to market hybrids in Japan, regulators ruled. Even so, the plan released on Christmas Day was a significant victory for Japanese environmentalists considering it was strongly opposed by key industry leaders, including Toyota President Akio Toyoda who warned earlier this month that a broad shift to electric vehicles could cause the auto industry’s traditional business model “to collapse.”

(Toyota boss Akio Toyoda remains EV skeptic.)

Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s top officer, is against the ban.

As the head of Japan’s largest and most powerful company – and in his role as the head of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association – Toyoda hoped to convince regulators to back off on the proposed ban. But it had widespread backing from other quarters, including Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

In October, shortly after assuming his post, Suga had pledged to cut Japan’s carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050 while indicating he supported a shift to battery-powered vehicles.

Global sales of electrified vehicles remain modest, running in single digits in all but a handful of markets, even when including hybrids, PHEVs and fuel-cell vehicles, as well as pure battery-electric vehicles. But demand is expected to increase sharply as key obstacles, such as range, cost and public charging, are addressed. It also will help that scores of new BEVs are scheduled to go into production in the coming years, proponents say.

While Japanese automakers were pioneers with their early push to bring hybrids to market, “Japan is very far behind” in terms of developing more advanced products relying solely on battery power, Masayoshi Arai, an official with the country’s

Nissan is one of a few Japanese automakers dedicating resources to a move to EVs.

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said last week.

Toyota only recently introduced a BEV model in Europe, though it has announced plans to add two more – one through the flagship Toyota division, a second under the Lexus badge. It also this month revealed an all-electric microcar targeting the Japanese home market. Only the Nissan and Mitsubishi brands, among Japanese automakers, have committed significant resources to the development of pure battery-electric vehicles and, even then, they have fallen behind key foreign rivals in terms of bringing new products to market.

(Toyota hopes to boost interest in hydrogen tech with second-generation Mirai.)

Toyota officials have, throughout the years, pointed to numerous concerns about BEVs, including their cost, limited range and other obstacles to widespread consumer acceptance. For his part, company chief Toyoda said this month that he feared a switch to all-electric models would seriously disrupt the classic automotive industry business model. He also raised questions about whether Japan’s electric grid could supply the needed energy — and, if it did add the generating capacity, he warned, that could actually increase the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.

With the debut of the 2021 Mirai fuel-cell vehicle, Toyota’s hoping to spur interest in the tech again.

For his part, Japan’s new prime minister is downplaying such concerns and said that efforts to address greenhouse gas production “should be tackled as a strategy for growth, not as a limitation on growth.”

Downplaying the need for new coal or natural gas plants, the plan released by the Japanese government would add up to 45 gigawatts of new offshore wind generating capacity by 2040.

With the Christmas Day announcement, Japan becomes the second member of the Group of Seven, or G7, to lay out specific plans to ban non-electrified vehicles.

The UK originally had planned to do so by 2040 but now has pushed that target date up to 2030. Like Japan, its ban will continue to permit the sale of hybrids – but only through 2035, at which point only pure, zero-emissions vehicles will be able to be sold in Great Britain. That will include both BEVs and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

Despite its reticence about EVs, Toyota rolled out a new battery-electric car Dec. 25: the C+pod.

A handful of other countries, including Norway, have also laid out ZEV transition plans. So have some states and regions – including California and the Canadian province of British Columbia. A number of cities, such as London, Paris, Berlin and Mexico City, plan to bar vehicles not running in zero-emissions mode, meanwhile. China, meanwhile, has laid out plans to have “New Energy Vehicles,” plug-based models, reach 20% of the market by 2025. It is considering a total ban at a later date.

(Britain to ban sale of all new gas and diesel cars by 2030.)

With most of the country’s automakers reluctant to bring plug-based models to market, demand has grown far more slowly than in many other major regions. The Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade noted that consumers purchased only 6,000 PHEVs and BEVs during the third quarter of 2020. By comparison, demand tripled in Europe to 270,000 – all-electric models accounting for roughly three-quarters of Norwegian sales. China, meanwhile, is expected to again top 1 million plug-based models for all of 2020.