Volvo to debut self-driving feature in California using Luminar sensor - Reuters

Volvo to debut self-driving feature in California using Luminar sensor  Reuters

White House, California meet on vehicle emissions

California's air chief Mary Nichols told Reuters last month that she sees a “window” to make a deal this fall. Photo credit: Bloomberg

WASHINGTON -- Trump administration officials and California clean air regulators emerged from a meeting on Wednesday saying they would keep meeting to work toward resolving their sharp conflict over vehicle emissions and shared the goal of a single national standard.

The two sides discussed Trump's Safer and Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles rule that backs freezing national vehicle emissions standards at 2020 levels through 2026, and revokes California's power to set state emissions rules. The California Air Resources Board has proposed maintaining strict Obama-era rules mandating rising fuel efficiency requirements annually through 2025.

The officials said in a statement they agreed to hold future meetings aimed at achieving national fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards.

Automakers have urged California and the administration to reach agreement, rather than face years of uncertainty. Automakers want looser emissions standards because consumers now favor bigger cars that use more fuel.

And automakers are concerned that they will not be able to recover the cost of the fuel saving and emissions control technology required to meet the Obama administration’s 2025 targets.

California air regulators said after the White House proposal was published that they plan to keep tightening state vehicle emissions rules despite a Trump administration proposal at the beginning of August. California’s air chief Mary Nichols told Reuters last month that she sees a “window” to make a deal this fall.

California’s decision is nationally significant because the state is the largest U.S. auto market. Also, a dozen states and the District of Columbia have adopted California’s emissions rules, accounting for more than a third of all U.S. vehicle sales.

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Dealer franchise bill passes another hurdle in California

California Gov. Jerry Brown would have until Sept. 30 to veto or sign the bill into law if it is approved.

A wide-ranging California bill that would change the state's dealer franchise law is one step closer to passage after approval by the state Senate Wednesday night. The measure awaits a vote of the state Assembly.

Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, which is lobbying for the legislation, said he is "optimistic" the Assembly will pass the bill before the California Legislature recesses at midnight Friday.

A previous version of the bill had passed the Assembly in May.

"We're obviously not counting anything before it's achieved but we're optimistic that the Senate and the Assembly are going to approve the measure this week," Maas told Automotive News on Wednesday.

If approved, California Gov. Jerry Brown has until Sept. 30 to veto or sign the bill into law. If no action is taken, the bill becomes law.

If the bill is not approved by the full Legislature, the association, which represents 1,300 franchised new-car dealers, would have to push to have the bill reintroduced in 2019.

The bill contains a wide range of provisions that the dealer association says would enhance California's franchise laws, particularly regarding what it calls "inappropriate treatment of dealers by manufacturers." Topics addressed in the legislation include dealer-factory competition, manufacturer spinoffs and affiliates, warranty reimbursement, facilities mandates and performance standards and incentives.

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Why aren't California emissions dropping?

A new report shows California is failing to cut greenhouse gas pollution from automobiles just as the Trump administration is poised to revoke the state’s right to regulate its tailpipes in pursuit of a single, national standard.

Climate pollution from transportation hasn’t slowed since 2012 and now represents more than 40 percent of the state’s total, according to an annual assessment from Next 10, a San Francisco based non-profit. The figure represents a “worrisome trend” in a state that has achieved its overall 2020 climate change goal -- to push annual emissions below 1990 levels -- four years early.

The report could become part of an expected confrontation between the state and White House. The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed earlier this month new auto efficiency regulations, including a provision that would revoke California’s ability to issue tailpipe limits that are tougher than federal ones.

A combination of factors keeps pushing transportation emissions higher, according to Next 10’s 10th annual California Green Innovation Index. Californians have shown an increasing aversion to use public transit. Difficulty finding affordable housing near work means people have to drive more to their jobs. Lower gasoline prices are always greeted warmly -- but attract drivers to pickups and SUVs from more fuel-efficient smaller cars.

Emissions from cars and other light-duty vehicles in 2016 hovered near the 2008 level of 118 million metric tons of carbon dioxide or its equivalent. Truck emissions continued to decline at a rate insufficient to make up for the added tailpipe pollution.?

“It has become clear that the transportation sector is heading in the wrong direction,” according to the report. “A notable increase in GHG emissions in recent years means the sector is now California’s largest source of total emissions.”

The anomalous transportation numbers blemish Next 10’s otherwise upbeat story of long-term transformation in economic growth and energy use.

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Rates of change in per capita greenhouse gas emissions and California’s gross domestic product continue to part ways. Per capita GDP increased at 2.3 percent from 2015 to 2016. Emissions fell at 3.4 percent at the same time. California ranked third globally among nations investing venture capital in clean technologies last year buoyed by $1.4 billion -- behind China ($4.1 billion) and the U.S. ($2.5 billion).?

The slide in transportation emissions sullies the popular image of California as the clean-tech-savvy home to Tesla Inc. and 8 percent of the world’s on-road electric car fleet -- equal to the rest of the U.S.

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Honda's Passport midsize crossover roadtested in California

Checking Honda's Passport

Honda's revived Passport midsize crossover, which may be unveiled in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show, has been spotted road testing in California. The Passport will slot between the CR-V and Pilot. It is expected to be about six inches shorter than the Pilot and compete with the Ford Edge and Nissan Murano.

ATTENTION COMMENTERS: Automotive News has monitored a significant increase in the number of personal attacks and abusive comments on our site. We encourage our readers to voice their opinions and argue their points. We expect disagreement. We do not expect our readers to turn on each other. We will be aggressively deleting all comments that personally attack another poster, or an article author, even if the comment is otherwise a well-argued observation. If we see repeated behavior, we will ban the commenter. Please help us maintain a civil level of discourse.

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GM loses California retail sales index case with Folsom Chevrolet

General Motors may have to reconsider the way it measures and enforces dealership sales effectiveness in the nation's largest vehicle market after a ruling that the company's system violates a state law.

California's New Motor Vehicle Board ruled Aug. 13 against GM's use of a benchmark called the retail sales index as grounds to terminate the franchise agreement of Folsom Chevrolet, a Sacramento-area dealership owned by Marshal Crossan.

The decision capped a long-running battle between Folsom and GM, which had concluded that Folsom failed to meet sales expectations and sought to revoke its franchise in late 2016.

Attorneys representing Folsom Chevrolet argued that GM's reliance on RSI was a violation because it failed to account for various market conditions, including brand preference, geography and demographics.

The decision follows a similar case in New York, where the state's highest court ruled in 2016, on similar grounds, that GM violated state law by trying to cancel a Chevy dealer's franchise for subpar RSI.

The California ruling could have implications for franchised dealerships across the country, according to California law firm Scali Rasmussen, which represented Folsom.

"This outcome provides not only a shield as used in this case, but potentially a sword for recovery of damages caused by GM's application of the faulty metric," said Christian Scali, managing partner of the firm, in a statement.

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No plans for change

The board's decision doesn't order GM to change its process, as its rulings are handled case by case. But Halbert Rasmussen, a partner of the Scali firm, noted that the board's decision cited GM's use of RSI as a violation of California law "not only in this case, but generally."

"That is going to cause GM to have to ask themselves, 'What are we going to do in California?' And I don't know the answer to that," he told Automotive News. "They may decide that they'll roll out some sort of modification. They might decide to appeal."

Jim Cain, a GM spokesman, said the company "strongly disagrees" with the board's decision and that it has no plans to revise its RSI calculation for California dealers.

"The Retail Sales Index as currently calculated in California and elsewhere is one of multiple metrics and other sources of information considered by GM in evaluating its dealers' compliance with their obligations," he said in an emailed statement.

Cain said a decision on whether to appeal would come later.

The 2016 New York case, involving Beck Chevrolet in Yonkers, prompted GM to review its policies in the state. While it continued to use RSI to measure dealer performance, it said at the time that it wouldn't use it to assess compliance with franchise agreements, a change that the regional dealer association called "a pivotal moment for New York dealers."

The New York case was cited in the California board's decision. Rasmussen said the case was "not critical but helpful in shaping the board's understanding."

Rasmussen said California's statute is more detailed than New York's, specifying the criteria for evaluating whether a performance standard is reasonable under the law.

Widely used metric

RSI measures dealers' retail sales performance against a statewide average. Other automakers use essentially the same metric to determine whether dealerships are in compliance with their franchise agreements.

GM sets the sales target for individual Chevy dealerships by applying the brand's market share in the state for each vehicle segment against competing brands registered in each dealership's territory.

A store's RSI is its retail sales as a percentage of that target. If GM expects a dealer to sell 100 vehicles, but it sells only 50, its RSI score is 50.

Folsom Chevrolet, according to the ruling, ranked near the bottom of the state's Chevrolet dealers in RSI before GM gave notice to terminate the franchise in November 2016.

In 2013, its RSI was 40.9 — ranking 129th of 133 Chevy dealers in California; in 2014, it was 44.4, No. 124 of 128. The store raised its RSI to 57.1 in 2015, and its rank climbed to 115th of 131. But the rating fell again during the first half of 2016 to 56.55.

Folsom argued that its retail sales were hurt by construction at the store during some of the period and that GM's RSI calculation didn't account for Folsom's successful fleet business, of which the state took note.

The fleet sales were "a big, big bone of contention," Rasmussen said.

GM also cited the dealership's customer satisfaction index scores as cause for termination. But the board said the below-par CSI score didn't constitute a violation of the dealership's contractual obligations.

ATTENTION COMMENTERS: Automotive News has monitored a significant increase in the number of personal attacks and abusive comments on our site. We encourage our readers to voice their opinions and argue their points. We expect disagreement. We do not expect our readers to turn on each other. We will be aggressively deleting all comments that personally attack another poster, or an article author, even if the comment is otherwise a well-argued observation. If we see repeated behavior, we will ban the commenter. Please help us maintain a civil level of discourse.

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