2011 Toyota Venza Base Wagon 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Illinois’ pro-union stance kills bid for Toyota-Mazda plant, report says

Mazda and Toyota are fielding bids from states eager to land its new prize: an all-new $1.6 billion U.S. plant where the Japanese automakers would jointly build electric vehicles and employ around 4,000 workers. Now we can apparently scratch Illinois off the list of contenders. According to Automotive News, the Land of Lincoln has been disqualified due to a lack of shovel-ready sites and the state's lack of a right-to-work law curtailing union membership. Mark Peterson, the president and CEO of economic development agency Intersect Illinois, told the publication he's been informed Illinois is not among the three or four finalists for the facility. It's believed those finalists are all in the South. Peterson said that "many national site consultants charged with making recommendations for corporate relocations and expansions will not even consider a state that is not a right-to-work state. In this case, the three states I am told are still in the running are all right-to-work states." The Midwest may be the ancestral home of U.S. automotive manufacturing, but the South has made major inroads in recent decades, with the likes of Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota all opening plants there, among others, thanks to lucrative tax incentives and the absence of labor unions. Recent years have also seen so-called right-to-work laws, which prohibit union dues and membership as a condition of employment in organized workplaces, spread to traditional labor strongholds such as Michigan and Wisconsin. The new joint venture plant, which would start operating in 2021, would be capable of producing 300,000 vehicles a year, with production divided between the two automakers. Mazda and Toyota would also take small stakes in one another as part of the deal. It's expected that at least 15 states have submitted proposals to attract the plant. Expect the Illinois news to trigger a new round of debate over the role of organized labor in the modern economy.Related Video: Image Credit: Reuters Green Plants/Manufacturing Mazda Toyota

Honda and Chrysler EV news, and talking with GM's charging ecosystem boss | Autoblog Podcast #781

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. They're excited about the news of the possibility of an electric sports car being revealed for Honda's 75th anniversary, as well as the completely revamped — redesigned and renamed — Chrysler Airflow. They've been driving the Bentley Bentayga EWB, Range Rover, Toyota GR Corolla and the refreshed Buick Encore GX. We listen to a interview Greg conducted with GM's EV charging boss, Hoss Hassani. Finally, a reader is looking to help his in-laws choose an SUV, possibly a hybrid or EV, to replace a BMX X3. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast # 781 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown News Honda electric sports car could be unveiled this year Chrysler Airflow being redesigned and renamed for production Cars we're driving 2023 Bentley Bentayga EWB Azure First Edition 2023 Land Rover Range Rover SE LWB 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Morizo 2024 Buick Encore GX Avenir Interview with Hoss Hassani, General Motors Vice President and EV Charging Ecosystem Spend my Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related video: Green Podcasts Bentley Buick Chrysler GM Honda Land Rover Toyota Green Automakers Crossover Hatchback SUV Electric Future Vehicles Luxury Performance Sedan

2015 will be the biggest year ever for cars at CES

Like the SEMA Show, major automakers are paying increasing attention to the CES, with 2015 expected to be one of the most auto focused yet. Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai, Mazda, Audi, BMW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will all be in attendance when CES 2015 kicks off next week, taking up a record-breaking 165,000 square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center. "We've come a long way from a single car on a carpet," Ford's Alan Hall told Bloomberg. Unlike SEMA, or a more traditional auto show, like the upcoming festivities in Detroit, CES doesn't necessarily focus on entire cars or the way they perform, but on the way our technology will interact with vehicles, and in how those vehicles will deliver information to drivers. "CES has become a major launch point for a lot of the big automakers," IHS tech analyst Mark Boyadjis told Bloomberg. "CES is a way for them to get on a global stage for technology." As for what kind of wares automakers will trot out in Las Vegas, we already know that BMW will show off an autonomous i3 electric car that can navigate its way through a multistory car park and can be hailed via a smartwatch app. According to Bloomberg, Hyundai will show off its own smartwatch app for the Genesis sedan, while Audi and Mercedes-Benz will show off autonomous vehicles next week. Automakers won't be the only companies looking to capitalize on CES. Tech firms, like chipmaker Nvidia, are becoming increasingly involved in the automotive game and will be in town showing their wares off to OEMs. "Two years ago, our booth would have been filled with PCs and people playing video games," Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's senior director for automotive business, told Bloomberg. "This year we made a strategic decision to shift the focus of the booth on automotive and de-prioritize some of the other things." Needless to say, you can expect to see a lot of news out of Las Vegas come next week. Stay tuned. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Julie Jacobson / AP CES Audi BMW Chrysler Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Mazda Toyota Volkswagen Technology CES 2015