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Hurricane Sandy cost automakers 15,000 vehicles, may have ruined up to 200k

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm in US history, and its total economic impact is just now coming into view. According to Automotive News, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda are set to scrap around 15,000 new vehicles ruined by the storm. Nissan alone accounts for about 40 percent of those, with 6,000 Nissan and Infiniti models deeded "un-saleable" due to damage. The company saw 56 dealerships shuttered due to the storm, but 51 of those have since reopened.
Toyota, meanwhile, had some 4,000 vehicles at its Newark port facility, and of those, 3,000 may be scrapped. An additional 825 were dealer inventory when they were ruined. Honda and Acura dealers are reportedly sending 3,440 vehicles to the salvage yard. By comparison, Chrysler weathered the storm fairly well with 825 units destroyed, while Hyundai suffered only 400 lost units and Kia scrapped around 200.
As you may recall, Fisker also suffered some losses, and Automotive News reports the manufacturer saw 320 Karma models damaged beyond repair. Ford and General Motors have yet to come up with estimates, and no automaker has commented on the full cost of replacing the vehicles.

Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

Honda renews trademark for Acura CDX compact crossover

Honda recently renewed its U.S. trademark for the name "CDX," which the Japanese carmaker first applied for in 2015. Back then, observers expected the name to apply to an Acura version of the Honda HR-V, and they were right — but no one expected the CDX would go on sale only in China, in 2016. For the past two years, the U.S. auto media has speculated on whether the CDX will ever make it here. "(We) have our R&D guys looking into the possibility," group VP of Acura U.S. Jon Ikeda told Wards Auto last April about the CDX. However, he went on to note that it's not as simple as just shipping it over due to regulation differences between China and the United States. The trademark application doesn't mean a green light, but it shows Honda's at least leaving the door open to the prospect. The Chinese-market CDX is a Honda HR-V after a wardrobe change. The only engine option is the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the Civic, CR-V, and Accord, with 179 horsepower and 177 pound-feet (our HR-V uses a 1.8-liter four-cylinder with 141 hp and 127 lb-ft). The only transmission offered is an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Drivetrains can be had in front- or all-wheel drive. We wonder how much longer Honda can sit on the sidelines. The CDX doubled Acura's sales in China in one year. Acura sells more crossovers than sedans in the United States, and in the past two years that the CDX has been on sale in China, the compact crossover segment here has got more crowded and more popular. The Cadillac XT4 is imminent, and we could see the new Lexus UX compact crossover at the Geneva Motor Show. Really, an American-market Acura CDX can't come soon enough. Related Video: News Source: Bozi Tatarevic via Autoevolution Auto News Government/Legal Rumormill Acura Honda Crossover Luxury honda hr-v