Free Republic

We have been strong supporters of this Congressional Review Act effort because the automobile market is clearly interstate commerce. And Biden let Calfiornia take the lead to eventually ban internal combustion vehicles nationally.Banning gas cars is wildly unpopular. This may explain why every House Republican and 35 House Democrats – the biggest bipartisan vote on a green issue in recent memory – voted to let Americans drive the car of their choice.These are the 35 Democrats who voted yes, including two from California and six from New York:Next up is the Senate. Maybe.The Senate Parliamentarian is reportedly taking the puzzling...

A Jeep Wrangler EV parked at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View burst into flames Thursday before spreading to three other nearby vehicles, according to the Mountain View Fire Department. Firefighters responded at 4:53 p.m. to the report of smoke coming from a parking lot charging station in the 1300 block of Shorebird Way. Arriving crews found an active fire involving the Jeep EV along with two Teslas and a Honda. Using a preconnected hose line, firefighters got the flames under control and prevented the spread to additional vehicles in the area, MVFD said. No injuries were reported in the fire....

GM is recalling nearly 600,000 SUVs and trucks in the United States due to engine issues, it announced Tuesday. The Detroit automaker is recalling 2021 through 2024 model year Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Suburban, and Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles with 6.2L V8 gas engines. It said the connecting rod and crankshaft engine components may have manufacturing defects that can lead to engine damage or failure. GM said it identified 12 crashes and 12 injuries in the United States that may be related to the recall issue. Dealers will inspect the engine...

Carroll Shelby is gone – thank God. He is thus spared the indignity of knowing his name has been affixed to a device that’s neither a Shelby nor a Mustang. It is a device that pretends to be both. More finely, a device that trades on both those names in what is arguably the most embarrassing-ever attempt to do just that. ELVIS impersonator VIDEO AT LINK................. Let’s begin by talking about the device in question. It is not a bad device – as devices go. But it is as much a “Mustang” as an Elvis impersonator is Elvis. It’s worse,...

Slate Auto’s new vehicle is designed to make EVs more accessible by making most features optional add-ons. The company says it will start delivering vehicles in 2026. *************************************************************** A new auto startup is launching with a made-in-America EV that with federal tax credits will cost just $20,000. Backed by Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, Slate Auto says that affordable price is possible because of its pared-down, basic model that can then be customized—and even transformed from a truck into an SUV. Slate Auto has been in stealth for almost three years, says CEO Chris Barman, who worked as a Chrysler...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is spending $500 million to put an additional 1,000 electric school buses on the road as federal cuts and freezes paused efforts in other states to replace aging diesel-fueled fleets that are more polluting. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Wednesday that 1,000 zero-emission school buses and related charging infrastructure will be provided to over 130 rural, low-income and disadvantaged school districts. The state grants add about 500 more charging stations for school buses to more than 200 stations already in operation in districts. The expansion contrasts efforts in other states that were hampered by the...

Airport car rental return lines are about to get a giant tech upgrade — and its bad news if you're a careless driver. Hertz, the third-largest car rental company in the US, just announced a partnership with UVeye, an AI startup that runs vehicle inspection systems. The upgrade — which uses cameras paired to powerful computers — promises to better detect damage incurred during a rental period. That means dings, scratches, and divots on the car’s exterior are more likely to show up on reports. Hertz said cars will be scanned twice: once before drivers leave rental lots to ensure...

These days, there’s an app for just about anything. But if you ask anybody who has tried to use a smartphone to measure something accurately, they’ll tell you it’s often a fool’s errand. When it comes to precision, it’s hard to beat an old-fashioned, easily verifiable physical implement such as a tape measure, a yardstick, or a 2026 Subaru Outback. What, you don’t measure things with your car? What are you even doing here? Believe it or not, this convenience comes in the form of a taillight. For 2026, the design of the Subaru Outback’s rear lighting signature incorporates a...

Most Americans have no idea what’s happening on their highways. While we’re all stuck debating the border, our roads have also been totally overrun — not just with bad policies, but with foreign truck drivers who don’t belong behind the wheel or on our streets.. Shannon Everett from American Truckers joined Steve Bannon’s WarRoom to blow the lid off this growing and dangerous trend. According to Everett, what’s happening right now should terrify anyone who drives. That’s scary and disturbing, but it gets even worse… An American trucker says illegals — possibly Jamaican or Haitian—are being given commercial driver’s licenses,...

Honda is reportedly preparing to significantly expand its US manufacturing footprint in response to the Trump administration’s sweeping new tariffs on foreign imports. The Japanese automaker is considering shifting production of several key models from Mexico and Canada to the US with the goal of ensuring that 90% of the cars it sells in the states are built domestically, according to a report in the Nikkei newspaper. Honda plans to boost its production in the US by up to 30% over the next two-to-three years, the outlet reported. The move would be a direct response to President Donald Trump’s recently...

SACRAMENTO, California — A progressive Democratic lawmaker is seeking a simple but jarring remedy of last resort for California’s college students navigating the state’s housing crisis: Let them sleep in their cars. While roughly half a dozen state legislative proposals this year seek to fund student or faculty housing or loosen building regulations, the benefits would come far too late for current students struggling to stay afloat. With one in four California community college students experiencing homelessness in the past year, Democrats — who have a supermajority in the statehouse — face increasing pressure to deliver on affordability issues. Assemblymember...

Tesla’s sales in the United States fell almost 9 percent in the first three months of the year even as the overall market for electric vehicles grew, according to data compiled by a research firm. Car buyers are moving away from Teslas and toward models like General Motors’ Chevrolet Equinox electric vehicle, which starts at around $35,000 and can travel more than 300 miles on a charge, Cox Automotive, the research firm, said in a report. Sales of all-electric vehicles in the United States rose 11 percent during the first quarter to about 300,000 cars and light trucks, Cox said,...

Ferdinand Porsche became widely known as the brilliant engineer behind the bestselling Volkswagen Beetle and some of Porsche’s first sports cars. But like his creations, the German industrialist had a dark side that is impossible to separate from his technical achievements. During the Second World War, Porsche’s manufacturing business, along with many others, became a key pillar of the Third Reich – helping to sustain Adolf Hitler’s war effort by churning out tens of thousands of militarized versions of what would later be renamed the Beetle. […] Yet amid a new era of European instability, the Porsche clan has revealed...

Tucker Carlson caused a stir in a recent interview that may cause some Americans to do a double take on the vehicles they are driving. During an interview with automotive designer and internet personality Casey Putsch last week, Tucker mentioned that he is a lifelong fan of Chevrolet trucks but felt he had to “immediately” sell his latest one after spotting a disturbing message on the car’s dashboard. “I bought a truck last year…A Chevy truck, which I’ve always had, and I was at a gas station, he said. “And all of a sudden at a gas station, it says,...

General Motors (GM) plans to expand production at one of its plants in Indiana thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made cars. On Wednesday evening, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made cars to protect the nation’s auto industry from unfair trade competition. GM executives said they will be increasing production of light-duty trucks at the automaker’s Fort Wayne Assembly Plant in Indiana, according to an exclusive report by Reuters on Thursday.

Stellantis is halting production at two manufacturing plants, one in Canada and another in Mexico, just a day after President Donald Trump announced 25-percent tariffs on all foreign-made cars.During a speech in the Rose Garden on Wednesday evening, Trump announced the auto tariff and the United States reciprocal tariffs, marking an end to the nation’s decades-long free trade policy that has eliminated millions of American manufacturing jobs.Stellantis, whose former CEO Carlos Tavares was the highest paid auto executive — raking in nearly $40 million annually before his resignation in December of last year — has announced that its Windsor Assembly...

Ford Motor Company on Wednesday announced its “handshake deal for America,” offering every American employee pricing on most of their automobiles. “In times like these, talk is cheap. At Ford, we believe in action. For 121 years, we’ve put our money where our mouth is, assembling vehicles that Americans rely on and supporting American jobs. Today, I’m proud to announce a new U.S. initiative that’s more than just a promotion – it’s a handshake deal with every American,” Rob Kaffl, the general manager for marketing, sales, and service at Ford, announced. “We call it Ford Motor Company: From America, For...

"How many deaths are we prepared to accept in order to rush through an EV transition that nobody wants?"

Michigan union workers are hailing President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made cars, telling a crowd in the Rose Garden on Wednesday evening that the president’s economic nationalist agenda will revitalize communities gutted from decades of free trade policies.During the speech, Trump brought up a man named Brian — a leader in the United Auto Workers (UAW) — who said the 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made cars will drive an economic boom in areas like Macomb County, Michigan, and save American industry.“I grew up just north of Detroit, Michigan in Macomb County — known as the home of the Reagan...

A year and a half after a local tow truck operator was caught charging as much as $11,000 per tow, he's now entering into a plea deal to avoid going to jail. Facing 151 counts of fraud and theft by deception, Vince Fannick headed into District Judge James Hanley's courtroom, waiving his hearing and agreeing to make some restitution to victims while also pleading guilty to some charges. "I feel like they stole my car," one victim said. "I just want my car back." The plea bargain comes a year and a half after prosecutors deemed Fannick's practices as predatory,...