Germany's diesel uncertainty leaves 300,000 cars unsold

Dealerships in Germany are unable to sell 300,000 used cars equipped with Euro 5 diesel engines  because of fears that high NOx emissions may lead to older diesels being banned from cities such as Stuttgart and Munich.

"These vehicles can only be sold with great difficulty at the moment because customers are uncertain," said Thomas Peckruhn, head of the ZDK association of German dealerships in a statement on Thursday.

ZDK said it surveyed of 718 franchise retailers across all brands on Aug. 22. It said the survey was the first it has directly conducted among dealers, and as such there were no comparison figures.

Three-quarters of dealers responding to the survey said they have had to write down the value of some of their inventory. Nearly 85 percent claimed automakers were not providing enough assistance to help reduce the stock. As a result of slow sales, 77 percent of dealers said they had cut prices, the dealer association said.

News from: http://europe.autonews.com

Top German Automakers Sued in U.S. Over Two-Decade 'Cartel'

German’s major automakers were accused in a U.S. lawsuit of acting as a cartel, colluding for nearly two decades to limit the pace of technological advances in their vehicles and stifle competition -- allegations that widen the scope of the latest scandal to hit the nation’s auto industry.

BMW AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and its Audi and Porsche brands shared competitive information about vehicle technologies with one another from 1996 through at least 2015 in violation of antitrust laws, according to a complaint filed Friday in San Francisco federal court.

The supplier of VW’s cheat software, Robert Bosch Gmbh, was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

“We consider this class action suit to lack merit,” Han Tjan, a spokesman for Daimler, said in an emailed statement. “We will defend ourselves by all legal means.”

BMW spokesman Kenn Sparks and VW’s Jeannine Ginivan said their companies had no comment on Friday. The other companies didn’t respond to messages and emails seeking comment after normal business hours.

The suit filed Friday is the second in the U.S. to allege the anti-competitive actions by the companies. Drivers filed a similar class-action suit in New Jersey federal court on Tuesday alleging German automakers created an anti-competitive culture in the U.S. and conspired over 20 years to increase prices of luxury vehicles while sharing technology to skirt emissions norms.

News from: https://washpost.bloomberg.com

Intelligent safety systems to minimise risk of traffic accidents

More vehicles on the roads, a faster traffic flow  and a distracting stream of information all impose considerable demands on both commercial vehicle drivers and car drivers. On the other hand, there has never been  more opportunities for the person behind the wheel to drive more safely than there is today. The active safety systems found in many modern cars and trucks make it far easier to avoid incidents and accidents.

Volvo Trucks has developed a system that goes well beyond both current and future legal requirements. The system, which was introduced in 2012, focuses primarily on alerting the driver to the risk of a collision.

The emergency brake is only used if it is absolutely necessary, and it is deployed extremely quickly. The braking speed – or retardation to use the correct technical term – is about 7 m/sec2 , which is on par with what many passenger cars can manage. In practice this means that the truck’s speed can be cut from 80 to 0 km/h in about 40 metres.

When the emergency brake is deployed, the brake lights start flashing to warn vehicles to the rear, and when the truck’s speed drops to 5 km/h the flashing emergency warning lights are also activated.

Examples of Volvo Trucks’ intelligent safety systems

• Adaptive Cruise Control , active cruise control that helps the driver maintain a set time gap to the vehicle in front.
• Collision Warning with Emergency Brake , alerts the driver if there is a risk of collision with a vehicle in front, activating the brakes if necessary.
• Driver Alert Support , notifies the driver to take a break if it detects any sign of driver inattentiveness or drowsiness.

News from:http://news.cision.com