Photo: Honda
Honda wants to sell more cars, automakers are down with stricter fuel economy standards and Faraday Future. All that and more in The Morning Shift for March 31, 2022.
1st gear: CPO
Honda said Thursday it will be selling certified used cars that are 10 years old with no mileage limits, which they say sounds like a marketing gimmick. The problem is that “certified used” in most buyers’ minds usually indicates a certain quality/warranty/mileage baseline, regardless of manufacturer. That’s not what Honda does, but to be fair they don’t pretend it’s really a certified used car, they call the cars ‘used’ directly.
About Automotive News:
The expanded programs, called HondaTrue Used and Acura Precision Used, are designed to draw younger, budget-conscious buyers to dealer lots.
“We wanted to make it easy for new buyers to experience our brand,” Dan Rodriguez, American Honda’s manager of auto remarketing, told Automotive News. “We really see this expansion as a crucial way to attract new customers to our brand – a kind of gateway product,”
The older Honda vehicles that do not have a mileage limit only have a 100 day or 5,000 mile manufacturer warranty. That’s significantly less than the seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain coverage provided for HondaTrue Certified + and Certified vehicles, which together cover lightly used current model year vehicles and 2- to 5-year-old Hondas.
On Acura’s side, precision used vehicles come with a six-month/7,500-mile warranty.
Acura Precision Certified vehicles up to six years or 80,000 miles old receive the same 7-year/100,000-mile powertrain coverage.
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A 100 day guarantee is pretty much useless unless you have an actual Lemon, so I don’t think this is much different than the status quo of just going to a dealer and buying an old car, though Honda PR it has my email and is free to correct me if I’m wrong. Now here are Honda’s CPO programs, explained by Honda:
Screenshot: Honda
Note: HondaTrue Certified also includes the 3 day/300 mile exchange thing but my screen couldn’t capture it in the screenshot.
In any case, this seems like an attempt to better compete with the Carvanas and CarMaxes of the world, or to give old stock a new lease of life in a very tight US auto market
There’s nothing wrong with buying an old Honda with a crappy warranty from a dealer, of course. Just get a pre-order inspection from an independent mechanic first, whether it has Honda’s silly new designation or not.
2nd gear: Automakers are moving towards stricter fuel efficiency standards
A trade group representing most major automakers said in court filings that according to The Wall Street Journal, tougher fuel efficiency standards are okay because automakers fight these things tooth and nail until they don’t and give up. The court filing came as part of a lawsuit filed by Texas and a dozen other states angry at the stricter rules.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the leading lobby group for automakers and suppliers, petitioned the US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, to join the US Environmental Protection Agency in defending the tougher standards against legal challenge.
These rules, finalized by the agency in December, set stricter tailpipe emissions and fuel efficiency standards for automakers beginning in the 2023 model year.
[…]
Advocates from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation will argue for the standards.
“The rule is challenging and aggressive,” John Bozzella, the group’s president, said in a statement. “The country needs a set of supporting policies and other tools to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and improve American competitiveness.”
Group members include General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV.
An easy win here would be for automakers to say they’re trying to save the world, but instead they say it’s about American competitiveness. Sad.
3rd gear: The The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says seat belt reminders in cars are bad
IIHS says only some Subarus have “good” seatbelt reminders, as part of a new test it’s conducting. The rest is bad. Per Automotive News:
IIHS examined the effectiveness of seat belt warnings and awarded grades of “good,” “acceptable,” “minor,” or “poor,” the organization said Thursday. It assessed the volume, duration and timing of the alerts.
To receive a “Good” rating, a vehicle must produce a loud signal and visual alarm lasting at least 90 seconds when someone in the first row is unbuckled and at least 30 seconds when a previously fastened seat belt is in the second row is solved.
According to IIHS, only the Subaru Ascent and Subaru Forester received a “good” rating.
According to the report, 12 of the 26 vehicles received a “poor” rating: Audi Q3, Buick Encore, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Traverse, Ford Escape, Ford Explorer, Honda CR-V, Honda HR-V, Honda Pilot, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, Volkswagen Atlas and Volvo XC40.
Almost all of those vehicles failed to meet duration or noise level requirements, with warnings that were shorter than eight seconds or as loud as 1 decibel than ambient noise inside the vehicle, IIHS said.
The use of seat belts is one of the true sea change I have witnessed in my 37 years on this planet. When I was a kid, not wearing a seat belt was a sign that you were kind of a badass. Since then, we’ve all decided that not doing so is the height of stupidity.
4th gear: The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena future Faraday executives
Faraday Future is a car company on paper, although they never actually made a car for production and it has been unclear for years why it still exists, although news organizations still write about it because it still exists. Anyhow, Reuters said Thursday that some Faraday executives were of course subpoenaed by the SEC.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed some members of Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc (FFIE.O)’s management team as part of an investigation into inaccurate statements made to its investors, the EV startup said on Thursday.
An internal review in February uncovered certain inaccurate statements, and the company cut the base salaries of its CEO Carsten Breitfield and founder Jia Yueting and asked them to report to newly appointed CEO Susan Swenson.
However, the review by a special committee formed in November dismissed claims by a short seller that the startup was “a new EV scam in town,” saying they were not supported by the evidence reviewed.
The startup said Thursday it will miss the deadline for filing its 2021 annual report due to delays stemming from the internal investigation. It had previously postponed the filing of its quarterly report in November.
There was a PR guy I met once at a major manufacturer, who will remain unnamed, who told me he was leaving his nice, simple, permanent PR job for a PR job at Faraday, and then did he did and that gig lasted less than a year and that was about the least surprising thing in the world.
5th Gear: Joe Biden will likely invoke the Korean War-era law on battery production
There’s not much more to add to this Bloomberg report other than if you’re a shareholder of MP Materials Corp, have a good day.
From Bloomberg:
The White House is discussing adding battery materials to the list of items covered by the Defense Production Act of 1950 – the same authority Harry Truman exercised to make steel for the Korean War and Donald Trump to control mask production to fight the coronavirus -Stimulate the pandemic – called the people. They asked not to be identified as the details are not yet public.
Shares in MP Materials Corp., the only US company producing rare earth metals needed for electric vehicles, and Lithium Americas Corp., which operates a project in Nevada, rose on news of the government’s plans. Piedmont Lithium Inc., which operates a project in North Carolina, erased losses and rose as much as 6 percent.
The addition of minerals such as lithium, nickel, graphite, cobalt and manganese to the list could help mining companies access $750 million under the Defense Production Act’s Title III fund, the people said. The move could also support the recycling of battery materials, one of the people said.
Instead of loans or outright purchases for minerals, the policy would fund production on the fly, productivity and safety improvements, and feasibility studies, the person said. In addition to batteries for electric vehicles, the directive would also apply to large capacity batteries.
The decision to call the DPA, which could come as early as Thursday, is not final and the timing could be delayed, according to one of the people.
Reverse: Decommissioned USS Missouri
The Missouri was the scene of the Japanese surrender in 1945. It was shut down on this day in 1992.
Neutral: How are you?
A friend told me that she recently had a crack in her windshield fixed and that the store also suggested replacing her wipers for $60 to “protect her investment,” and I had to laugh.