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Filed under: Etc. , Videos , Earnings/Financials Nicole Pentis is a high school junior in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan who has been making videos for five years. When C-SPAN sent out a call for students to make a video address to President Obama and tell him what they thought were the most pressing issues facing the U.S., Pentis grabbed her camera. Her subject: the turmoil in her own home - the imploding auto industry. In her eight-minute vid entitled "Auto Industry for America's Past, Present, and Future," Pentis lists the numbers and makes her case for what the auto industry means for America, and uses a history lesson and interviews with several industry workers to back it up. Admittedly, the numbers she uses are debatable, but it can't be argued that the vid is heartfelt. Click the link to have a watch. [Source: Detroit Free Press ] So Cold in the D: Motown student pleads for auto aid in documentary originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:58:00 EST. Please...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Trends , Etc. , Earnings/Financials With today's dire economic climate, it should come at no surprise that delinquencies on automotive loans climbed last year. But what's perhaps counter-intuitive is, despite a particularly acute financial crunch, Michigan's residents owe less on their car and truck loans than their counterparts in any other state. In fact, 35 states have a higher delinquency rate than Michigan, according to the latest findings of TransUnion, one of the country's largest consumer credit agencies. In a news blurb in the Detroit Free Press , TransUnion president Peter Turek reasons that the reality behind the perception disparity is likely the result of many Wolverine state residents having access to special discounts afforded to auto company employees and their friends and families. According to the Freep, Nevada residents have the highest balance owed on its vehicles ($15,225), while Michigan owners carry the smallest balance (at...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Government/Legal , Green , Plants/Manufacturing , Tech , Daimler , Mercedes-Benz In an all-too-rare win for Detroit's automaker base, the state of Michigan and Daimler have reportedly reached a deal to see a new Mercedes-Benz hybrid and electric car research and development facility built in neighboring Ann Arbor. Among other things, the facility will develop hybrid transmissions, electric motors, and powertrain management software. The German automaker is reportedly seeking a 65,000 square-foot facility to house the R&D works, and the development will also see the relocation of an existing facility currently located in Troy. Over the course of the next decade, the new operation is expected to represent a $9.9 million investment and generate 454 jobs - 223 of them directly. However, in order to secure the facility in Michigan (California and South Carolina were reportedly also considered), the state has had to cough up a tax break package worth...
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Filed under: Spy Photos , Crossovers/CUVs , Mazda Please To our eyes, Mazda's CX-7 crossover still manages to look fresh despite having been on the market since mid-2006. While it has aged gracefully, the Japanese automaker is readying a facelift for 2010, and some early mules have just been caught by spy shooters roaming in wintery Michigan. While the prototypes have been quite heavily disguised, it is still possible to see that beneath their anti-spy cloaks, changes are taking shape. Significantly upsized air intakes have taken up residence up front, and tape around the rear lenses could indicate that the taillamp clusters may be altered as well. Click on the link below for the full monty. [Source: EVO ] Spy Shots: Mazda CX-7 nip/tuck spotted originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Etc. , Government/Legal Michigan is a state of contradictions. The authorities there are so worried about your focus on the road in front of you that it's illegal to hang anything on your rear-view mirror . Yet if you want to triple tow - that's pulling two trailers at one time, like an RV camper and a boat - you can do it after you pay $10 and take a 15-question test. And you just need to get 12 answers right. The only caveat worth mentioning is that the total length of the tow vehicle and two trailers can't exceed 65 feet. That's about the length of a semi-trailer combo, the differences being that a semi-trailer has only one articulated point and the folks who drive them need expensive specialized training and commercial driver's licenses. Incredibly, Michigan is not only not alone with this, it is not the most permissive : Wisconsin and other states allow 65-foot triple-towing combinations, South Dakota allows 75 feet, and Wyoming gives drivers a whopping...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Government/Legal , Safety , Tech Michigan International Speedway (MIS) plays host to two NASCAR races: the 3M Performance 400 Presented by Bondo in the Sprint Cup Series, and the Carfax 250 in the Nationwide Series. Both races are likely to involve a fair number of cars crashing into each other, so it's ronic, then, that the MIS has been selected by the Michigan Department of Transportation as a neutral testing facility for car-to-car and car-to-road technology that are expected to one day prevent cars from crashing. The testing is a part of Michigan's "Connected Vehicles" program, which is examining the practical use of technologies that allow cars to communicate with one another. The $100 million state program is four years into its five-year term, and needed a site where it could test a variety of makes and a range of components without giving anyone home-field advantage. The Speedway is now that site. Between automakers and technology suppliers...
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Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Plants/Manufacturing The U.S. is not exactly a leader in battery production at the moment. Most of the copper tops that power our hybrid cars come from other countries, mostly in Asia. That may soon change. Hot on the heels of General Motors' announcement this week that battery packs for the 2011 Chevy Volt would be built in Michigan with LG Chem , Jennifer Granholm, the state's governor, signed a bill into a law that provides $335 million in refundable tax credits to companies willing to develop and build batteries in the state. As the U.S. auto market shrinks, no state is hurt worse than Michigan, and Governor Granholm has been doing whatever it takes to keep her state relevant as consumer tastes, the market and the entire industry evolves. She's betting batteries will play a big part in the years to come, and she's probably right. It will be some time, however, before we know if the $335 million bill will be a large enough carrot...
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Filed under: Etc. , Government/Legal A man named Lonnie Ray Davis was pulled over by Michigan police. When they searched his car, they found an open alcohol container, crack, a wad of cash, a stun gun, and a .38 caliber handgun. He was, of course, arrested. But the reason they pulled him over has become a constitutional law issue: Davis had a Tweety Bird ornament dangling from his rear view mirror, and Michigan law forbids dangling things that "obstruct the vision of the driver of the vehicle." Davis' argument was that the Tweety Bird didn't obstruct his vision, so the cops had no right to pull him over, and therefore the items they found should be suppressed. The 6th Court of Appeals initially struck down the Michigan law since it does not define "to what degree the driver's vision must be obstructed or for how long." Noting that a great many cars have objects dangling from their mirrors, and so may be in unwitting violation of the law, "the statute...
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