Wheels Blog: ‘Battery University’ Aims to Train a Work Force for Next-Generation Energy Storage

General Motors 2011 Chevrolet Volt 16-kWH lithium-ion battery cutaway rendering.

This summer, San Jose State University is offering the first classes in what it calls “battery university,” a series in its professional development program intended to train a work force for the next generation of battery makers. The curriculum is being developed by more than 100 experts from the emerging battery storage sector — mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area — and will focus not only on developing the technology, but also on ways to make it cost-effective and realistically usable in electric cars, renewable energy or smartphones and laptops.

California is home to about 40 battery companies, but they are struggling to find a work force.

“Start-up companies with new ideas are coming on board, but there is no work force to get those ideas to completion and to ultimately reach a point of success for the marketplace,” said Venkat Srinivasan, head of the Energy Storage and Distributed Resources group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a partner in the program.

The vast majority of lithium-ion batteries are produced in China, Japan and South Korea, and emerging lithium-ion battery manufacturing in the United States is off to a shaky start. The 2009 federal stimulus bill gave more than $2 billion to support new battery plants. One of those plants, LG Chem Michigan, which was to produce batteries for the Chevy Volt, has remained idle since construction, and another, A123 Systems – the company that made batteries for the beleaguered electric carmaker Fisker Automotive – went bankrupt and was acquired by a Chinese auto parts maker in December. Johnson Controls, a lead-acid battery manufacturer, has fared better with its lithium-ion battery plant in Holland, Mich.

Mr. Srinivasan notes that “the United States still leads the world in research in battery technologies.” The looming challenge facing lithium-ion battery manufacturers is the need to increase energy density without decreasing the battery’s life cycle, while at the same time keeping production costs down, he said. The cost of batteries has been a major obstacle to increased electric car sales.

“Batteries are about half the cost of an electric vehicle,” said Doug Davenport, a program manager at Berkeley Lab. “It pushes the price point of that car well beyond what a comparable gasoline engine car would be, and with a shorter range.”

As researchers develop new materials and energy storage technologies for the next generation of batteries, both Mr. Srinivasan and Mr. Davenport say, the United States could have the opportunity to take the lead in battery manufacturing — if a skilled work force is available to do the specialized work necessary.

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., is one of many research centers trying to find energy storage breakthroughs. In November the Energy Department announced that two new advanced battery research facilities, both affiliated with the Argonne National Lab, would be built in Michigan.

Jeffrey Anderson, the interim executive director of CalCharge, which promotes energy-storage innovation, said such labs “are focused on addressing the energy density and cost challenge. If they succeed in their goal, we’re going to have a huge opportunity to leapfrog the competition.

“One of the critical pieces to being able to do that is whether we have a work force that is trained to know how to take something from innovation to infrastructure,” Mr. Anderson said. “And that’s the reason for ‘battery university.’”

The first 10- to 12-week course will be offered in July or August, and online courses will be available in the future.

Wheels Blog: Fisker Automotive Lays Off Majority of Employees

Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A Fisker Karma electric car at the Geneva auto show in March.

Fisker Automotive, the maker of a $100,000-and-up plug-in hybrid luxury sedan, said on Friday that about three-quarters of its workers had been let go to “allow the company to work through its current financial challenges.”

The statement was issued on behalf of Fisker by Sitrick & Company, a Los Angeles public relations firm that Fisker, a start-up automaker, retained late last week.

Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The Fisker Karma emblem.

A former Fisker employee familiar with the cutbacks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of ties to the company, said about 150 employees had been fired while about 50 senior managers and executives had been retained. Fisker, which is based in Anaheim, Calif., declined to specify the exact number of affected employees.

According to the company statement, Fisker executives met in Southern California on Thursday with a group of employees who were asked to stay on to “address the challenges before us.”

The exact size and makeup of the work force  will probably not be known until the individual employees who were asked to stay either agree to the offer or decline it. But it is clear that the remaining managers face grim circumstances, not the least of which is an April 22 deadline to repay a portion of a $193 million low-interest loan from the United States Department of Energy. Although Fisker was granted a $528.7 million loan in late 2009, that money was frozen after Fisker fell short of its production targets.

The company and the Energy Department have declined to disclose the exact amount due on April 22, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Although Fisker successfully brought its stylish Karma sedan to market in late 2011, the company has had a spate of problems in recent months, including a recall of more than 2,000 cars to replace a cooling fan. Last October, 320 Karmas, awaiting delivery to customers, were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy at Port Newark in New Jersey, resulting in a $32 million loss for the automaker.

“Once Sandy hit, it seemed like that was it,” said John Gartner, research director for the Smart Transportation practice of Pike Research. “There has been no positive news from the company since that time, except for rumored discussions with potential new investors.”

The loss from Hurricane Sandy represented a significant amount of lost revenue for a start-up, Mr. Gartner said. “Forming a new automotive company is an extremely risky proposition, with little room for failure,” he said. “When you have an event like that, it’s not surprising they’re in the position they are in right now.”

The company has had further problems since the storm. It suspended Karma production in November 2012, one month after its battery supplier, A123 Systems, declared bankruptcy. Fisker, which has not produced a vehicle since that time, has sold about 1,800 units.

While Fisker planned to build a second vehicle, the Atlantic, at a former General Motors plant in Delaware, the Karma was assembled in Finland by a contract manufacturer.

In its Friday statement, Fisker said, “Our efforts to secure a strategic alliance or partnership are continuing in earnest.” This comment refers to efforts since production was halted to sell the company or find a partner to resurrect it. Fisker refused to provide specific information about suitors, but industry analysts and press reports speculated that Chinese auto companies, hoping to obtain electric vehicle technology, might buy Fisker.

On Feb. 18, the Reuters news agency reported that the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group of China had made a bid of $200 million to $300 million to acquire a majority stake. Geely is the owner of Volvo, the Swedish automaker, which it acquired in 2010 for $1.8 billion. But talks with Geely and other suitors ended without a deal. Fisker’s value is largely ascribed to the design of its sleek Karma vehicle, rather than any proprietary technology that could be leveraged by Chinese companies.

On March 13, Henrik Fisker, the company’s co-founder, executive chairman and namesake, left the company because of disagreements with management. Mr. Fisker, a celebrated automotive designer who left his stamp on Aston Martins and BMWs, unveiled the Karma as a concept car in 2008 at the Detroit auto show. After repeated delays, Fisker Automotive made its first sale of the Karma in October 2011.

Since August, Fisker’s chief executive has been Tony Posawatz, a former G.M. executive who led the engineering team that developed the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources, reported on March 28 that Fisker had hired the law firm Kirkland & Ellis to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing.

According to Automotive News, a trade publication, employees were seen leaving Fisker headquarters at about 8:30 Friday morning, some carrying boxes and many with large white envelopes. According to the account, former Fisker employees said they had been given no severance pay other than compensation for unused vacation days.

“The big question now is what is left to sell?” Mr. Gartner said. “It’s likely they’re now trying to sell any physical assets available to get some return for their investors.”

Renault : ce que l'accord de comp�titivit� va changer

L'accord de comp?titivit? chez Renault pourra ?tre sign? ? partir du 13 mars, deux des quatre syndicats ayant donn? leur feu vert de principe ? ce projet. Quelles en sont les grandes lignes ?

Le projet d'accord pr?voit aussi une r?forme des comptes ?pargne temps et ?pargne formation pour une ?conomie recherch?e de 75 millions d'euros : le compte ?pargne temps sera ainsi plafonn? ? dix jours.?

L'accord veut renforcer la mobilit? pour un "?quilibrage entre les sites", entre ceux en sous-activit? et ceux en forte activit?. Le pr?t de main d'?uvre entre sites existait d?j? entre les sites, mais faute de volontaires suffisants, la direction voulait le rendre obligatoire. Sous la pression de syndicats, elle a fait marche arri?re. Les compensations financi?res sont fix?es ? la moiti? d'un mois de salaire pour six mois de pr?t, un mois au-del? de six mois.

Par ailleurs, Renault va regrouper ses sites de fabrication et logistiques en deux p?les r?gionaux pour permettre "une plus grande fluidit? des mouvements de personnel" : le p?le Nord-Est (dont Douai et Sovab), le p?le Vall?e de la Seine (dont Andouville, Cl?on et Le Mans) et "mutualiser" les m?tiers non li?s ? la production.

Contrairement ? ce que voulait la direction, les salaires ne seront gel?s qu'en 2013, et leur augmentation ?ventuelle sera discut?e lors des n?gociations annuelles obligatoires en 2014 et 2015. L'accord met l'accent sur un renforcement de l'int?ressement et de l'actionnariat salarial.?

Aucune fermeture d'usine en France

C'est la contrepartie : tous les sites fran?ais sont sauv?s. L'accord pr?voit "une activit? minimum" de 710 000 v?hicules en France : 630 000 v?hicules Renault et 80 000 provenant de partenaires (qui pourraient ?tre Daimler et Nissan). Le ou les sites concern?s par ces affectations de partenaires, ainsi que les v?hicules, seront connus d'ici fin 2013. Renault s'est donn? comme cible un volume de 820 000 v?hicules par an fabriqu?s en France au-del? de 2020.

Le texte pr?voit le d?marrage du Trafic ? Sandouville d?s 2014 ainsi que de diff?rents mod?les de la gamme dite "15-40" (v?hicules dont le prix se situe dans la fourchette entre 15 000 et 40 000 euros) entre 2014 et 2016 ? Douai. L'usine de Flins se voit, elle, notamment affecter une version de la Clio IV, et celle de Maubeuge la phase 3 de Kangoo. Renault s'engage ? maintenir en France ses sites industriels et "les activit?s d'ing?nierie et tertiaire qui constituent son coeur de m?tier".

Les d?parts ne seront pas remplac?s

Les effectifs vont diminuer de plus de 15 % d'ici fin 2016 pour atteindre 37 142 ? en 2016 avec ? la cl? une ?conomie sur les frais fixes de l'ordre de 400 millions d'euros. Renault va s'appuyer sur la gestion pr?visionnelle des emplois et des comp?tences (GPEC, sign?e en 2011) qu'elle prolonge jusqu'en 2016.

Lire : Comment Renault utilise la GPEC pour ?viter le plan social

Outre les 5 700 d?parts naturels non renouvel?s pr?vus entre 2013 et 2016, la direction envisage 1 800 d?parts suppl?mentaires en prolongeant et ?largissant une dispense d'activit? qui accompagne certains salari?s en fin de carri?re ? quasiment tous les collaborateurs sans crit?re de p?nibilit?. Pendant ces trois ans avant la date l?gale de d?part ? la retraite, les salari?s restent dans les effectifs, et touchent 75 % de leur salaire.

Le patron fera un effort particulier

L'un des dirigeants les mieux pay?s au monde va faire l'impasse sur 30 % de la part variable de son salaire en 2013. Soit tout de m?me 430 000 euros (son fixe est ?tabli ? 1,23 million d'euros par an chez Renault... et 10 millions chez Nissan). Une d?cision qui pourrait ?clipser le scandale provoqu? par le financement par Renault de la communication de l'entreprise de sa fille, Caroline, lors du dernier Women's Forum.

Lire :? Renault : l'accord qui pr?serve les sites fran?ais (lien abonn?s)

Wheels Blog: A New Electric Car With an Old Name

Detroit Electric, via Associated Press Detroit Electric’s SP:01, a limited-edition electric sports car.

The fledgling Detroit Electric car company introduced its first product, the fully electric SP:01 two-seat roadster, on Wednesday. Like the Tesla Roadster, the SP:01 will be built on a Lotus Elise chassis. Detroit Electric will handle only final assembly of an initial production run of 999 vehicles.

The Detroit Electric name is familiar to automotive historians. The early 20th century electric-vehicle manufacturer produced about 13,000 cars in its nearly 30-year history. This new venture, which has its headquarters in Detroit’s Fisher Building, bought the brand name.

Detroit Electric is assembling SP:01 prototypes in Europe. The car’s top speed is 155 miles per hour and its time from zero to 62 m.p.h. is 3.7 seconds, the company said.

The SP:01 is powered by a 201 horsepower (150 kW) electric motor mounted behind the passenger cabin. The Lotus Elise donor car’s manual gearbox delivers the power to the rear wheels. In the Lotus, the manual gearbox has six forward speeds, but in the torque-rich electric car only four are used, with fifth and sixth gears blocked off. However, to achieve that 155 m.p.h. top speed, fifth gear must be reinstated. That fifth ratio can be added as an option at the time of purchase. A two-speed automatic will also be available. Steering and suspension components are similar to those of the Lotus, but have been modified to better suit the SP:01’s weight distribution.

Two lithium-polymer batteries provide electricity. According to a Detroit Electric media release, the SP:01 achieved a range of 180 miles on the European driving cycle. The company said a 7.7 kWh home charging unit could fully charge the car in about four hours.

The car’s body is carbon fiber, which sits on Lotus’s aluminum tub-style chassis. The company said the car weighed 2,400 pounds.

Detroit Electric said the SP:01 would go on sale in several markets in the United States by the end of August. Pricing will start at $135,000, but will vary depending on vehicle specifications and local taxes.

Wheels Blog: Kia and Hyundai Are Recalling 1.9 Million Vehicles in Three Actions

Hyundai Motor America 2010 Hyundai Elantra.

Kia and its parent company Hyundai are recalling almost 1.9 million vehicles in three actions, according to reports posted on Wednesday on the Web site of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

About 1.7 million of those vehicles – Hyundais and Kias – are involved in separate recalls for the same problem: a malfunctioning stop lamp switch.

The automaker said the malfunction could set off a variety of faults, including the failure of the cruise control to disengage, failure of the brake light to illuminate, the ability to move the gear-shift lever out of Park without applying the brake and “the intermittent operation of the push-button start feature.”

The third recall covers about 186,000 2011-13 Hyundai Elantras because an air curtain air bag, if deployed in a crash, could propel a support bracket from the headliner into an occupant.

The largest stop-lamp recall covers just over one million Hyundai models, according to a report the automaker provided to the safety agency. They are the 2007-9 Accent and Tucson; 2007-10 Elantra; 2010-11 Genesis Coupe; 2007-11 Santa Fe; 2011 Sonata and the 2008-9 Veracruz.

The Kia recall covers almost 624,000 vehicles, according to the report filed with N.H.T.S.A. They are the 2011 Optima; 2007-10 Rondo; 2007 Sedona; 2007-11 Sorento; 2010-11 Soul and 2007-10 Sportage.

Some other Hyundai models had already been recalled once for a similar problem.

Hyundai in 2009  recalled almost 532,000 2005-8 models after the agency began investigating consumer complaints.

Hyundai decided the new recall was needed after Transport Canada, a counterpart to N.H.T.S.A., began investigating customer complaints of stop-lamp problems on models built after the 2009 recall. That prompted N.H.T.S.A. to get involved.

The Elantra air-bag recall was prompted by an investigation the agency began last year following the complaint from an owner who said his ear was cut when the air bag deployed.

In Hyundai’s report to the safety agency, the automaker said it had discovered the supporting bracket on some vehicles was apparently dislodged when optional auto-dimming rearview mirrors were installed after the vehicles left the assembly plant.

Hyundai described the recalls as voluntary, but once a manufacturer is aware of a safety problem the law requires it to inform the agency within five business days of plans for a recall or face a civil penalty.

Motoring: Guide Revisions Provoke Uproar

Proposed changes to the used-car Buyers Guide required by the Federal Trade Commission have been criticized by consumer groups and the attorneys general of 22 states, who say the revisions would be a setback in consumer protection.

The critics are urging the F.T.C. not to adopt the changes — the first since 1995 — which they say could result in consumers’ being misled about their legal rights or not learning the full history of a car damaged in a flood or a crash.

The National Automobile Dealers Association, a trade group, took a different view. It told the agency that over all, the proposed revisions “represent an improvement for dealers and consumers.”

Since 1985, dealers have been required to post the Buyers Guide on the window of used vehicles. Its intent was to tell buyers whether the vehicle was covered by a warranty and to provide details of who would pay for repairs. The regulation does not apply to private sales.

In a news release, the F.T.C. said the changes were made to “empower consumers without adding burdens to businesses.”

But in a letter last month, 14 consumer groups warned the F.T.C. that the changes would make “an antiquated, bad rule even worse.” The groups included the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumer Law Center, the United States Public Interest Research Group and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

“We are extremely disappointed with where this rule-making stands,” the Center for Auto Safety, another of the dissenters, noted in its letter.

The group of state attorneys general, including those from New York and Connecticut, was more direct, stating that one proposed change, involving vehicles being sold “as is” without any warranty coverage, was so poorly worded that they would prefer to scrap the entire revised Buyers Guide.

In its current form, that section says: “The dealer assumes no responsibility for any repairs regardless of any oral statements about the vehicle.” The proposed wording reads: “The dealer won’t pay for any repairs. The dealer is not responsible for any repairs, regardless of what anybody tells you.”

The phrase that is drawing protests is “regardless of what anybody tells you.”

The attorneys general are concerned that a dishonest or ill-informed dealer could more easily mislead consumers by saying “what anybody tells you” is an indisputable statement of the law by the federal government.

However, the attorneys general group said, a dealer can be held responsible “for repairs to a vehicle if the dealer makes false statements to a consumer about the vehicle’s condition or title/damage history.”

The F.T.C. tried to make it easier to understand, but it got the law wrong, said William Brauch, a special assistant attorney general and director of the Consumer Protection Division in Iowa, one of the states protesting the change.

Charles Harwood, the acting director of the F.T.C.’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a telephone interview that the comments from the consumer groups and attorneys general were “very useful” and would be considered.

“If it is not the right approach, fortunately the process would allow for us and allow for the commission to revisit the approach and think about a better way to do it,” he said.

One thing consumer advocates and the attorneys general wanted, but didn’t get, was a requirement that dealers give consumers vehicle-history information to help check for incidents like theft or damage in a flood or crash.

California requires dealers to check the new federally backed National Motor Vehicle Title Information System and use a red warning sticker if there is a serious problem.

In comments filed with the F.T.C., many dealers objected, saying they worried about the accuracy of history reports and potential legal liability for providing incomplete information to buyers.

Instead of requiring dealers to provide vehicle histories, the F.T.C. is proposing a statement encouraging buyers to consider buying such vehicle histories. It would create an F.T.C. Web site for details.

Bucks Blog: Running Into Problems at the Car Rental Counter

If you’ve ever rented a car, you know the questions that you need to be prepared to answer at the rental counter: Do you want insurance? Do you need it?

This week’s Your Money column looks at the tale of Sandra McKinnon and other customers of Dollar Rent a Car, all of whom said that they declined the extra insurance coverage but ended up paying for it anyway. And because the customers said they signed an electronic tablet accepting the coverage — even though they didn’t realize at the time that that’s what they were doing — they have not been able to get their money back from the rental company. Ms. McKinnon and three other consumers are at the center of two separate suits, originally filed last year, seeking class-action status.

Have you ever run into trouble at the rental counter? We’d love to hear from sales clerks at the rental agencies, too. What’s happening behind the counter? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.

Opel annonce l'arr�t de la production automobile � Bochum d�s la fin de 2014

Les adh?rents du syndicat IG-Metall ont en effet jug? jeudi, ? plus de 76 %, "trop vague" le projet d'Opel de continuer ? fabriquer le monospace Zafira ? Bochum "selon toutes pr?visions, jusqu'? la fin de 2016". Opel proposait ?galement de conserver sur le site un centre de logistique et d'y installer une usine de composants, permettant de conserver environ quatre cents postes et d'en cr?er huit cents autres. Mais les syndicats ont estim? que ces engagements en termes de reconversion, d'emplois, d'?ventuels d?dommagements n'?taient pas satisfaisants.

"NOUS NE MENONS PLUS DE DISCUSSIONS"

A la suite du rejet de ce plan pour le site, qui compte plus de trois mille salari?s, "la production automobile de l'usine de Bochum prendra fin ? la fin de l'ann?e 2014", a indiqu? dans un communiqu? la filiale, en difficult?, de General Motors. Les n?gociations portaient sur l'exclusion jusqu'? la fin de 2016 – contre 2014 aujourd'hui – de tout licenciement ?conomique et de toute fermeture d'usine en Allemagne, en ?change du report d'une hausse des salaires.

"Il est clair pour nous aujourd'hui que nous ne menons plus de discussions sur cette convention collective", et donc "nous partons du principe que la production s'arr?tera plus t?t, soit 2014", a indiqu? un porte-parole d'Opel. Le constructeur annonce d'ores et d?j? la suppression du troisi?me poste sur les lignes de production.

Les autres sites du groupe, dont le si?ge, R?sselsheim (Ouest), ont vot? pour ce plan d'avenir, ? l'exception d'Eisenach (Centre), o? le vote est toujours en cours.

Lire aussi : Chez Opel, direction et syndicat s'accordent sur la fermeture de Bochum?(lien abonn?s)

Bucks Blog: A Debt-Free Older Car Needs a Good Mechanic

Edmunds.com The 1996 Lexus bought as a “debt free” car.

When buying an older, high-mileage car, it’s best if you have a bit of automotive savvy — or at least, a trusted mechanic. And a dollop of patience.

That’s the takeaway from Edmunds.com’s “Debt-Free Car” project, which I wrote about here on Bucks nearly a year ago.

Edmunds, an automotive site, set out to see if, say, a new college graduate who wanted to avoid adding a car loan to his or her student loan debt could do better by buying a reliable older vehicle and paying cash. (The other potential buyer was someone with poor credit who couldn’t qualify for a car loan.) The idea was to put the amount that would have been paid for a monthly car payment into a savings account to cover maintenance and possible repairs, and save anything left over. The staff ended up buying a 1996 Lexus ES300 with 135,000 miles for $3,800.

Over the course of the last year, the staff drove the car more than 18,000 miles — about 3,000 miles more than the typical driver would travel. The trips included a cross-country drive and a tour through Death Valley.

The result? The car came in about $100 a month under the repair and maintenance goal of $365. But it did leave drivers stranded in parking lots twice, when it wouldn’t start. The breakdowns didn’t put the driver in an unsafe situation — the car didn’t stop while on the road — but they were inconvenient.

One incident convinced me that the “older but cheaper” route isn’t for me, at least not anymore. The Lexus wouldn’t start after the driver parked it one afternoon and went into his child’s school to pick her up. I have no patience for waiting around for rides, especially with a cranky child who wants a snack. (So it’s probably about time for me to trade in my minivan, which is pushing 80,000 miles.)

Other repairs were minor but annoying, like a driver-side door that refused to open. (That cost $100, to replace a plastic clip.) Some were a bit costlier: a bad oxygen sensor replaced at a cost of $272.

“You have to be confident with shopping around for parts and talking to mechanics,” said Ron Montoya, consumer advice editor with Edmunds. “Or you have to have a trusted mechanic who you can keep on your speed dial.”

If you’ll worry excessively about breakdowns, or you get overwhelmed dealing with repair shops — or, like me, you simply lack much patience — you may want to find a newer, more expensive car. But then, as Edmunds pointed out, “There’s no guarantee that a newer car won’t break down either.”

The Lexus, by the way, is still going strong, having found a new home with an Edmunds employee, who bought it for just under $2,700.

What do you think of the debt-free car idea? Have you held onto an old car and performed some repairs yourself?

Wheels: Fuel Economy: Small Decline in 2011 and a Probable Improvement in 2012, E.P.A. Says

Stan Honda/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Ford’s president and chief executive, Alan Mulally, highlighting the mileage numbers of the 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid at its introduction in September.

An Environmental Protection Agency report issued on Friday offers a mixed picture of fleetwide fuel economy in the United States. It documents a minor decline in the 2011 model year to 22.4 miles per gallon, but projects “significant gains” to 23.8 m.p.g. for 2012, a 1.4 m.p.g. improvement over one year. The report said that the 2012 numbers, if confirmed, “would be all-time records and amongst the largest annual improvements since 1975.”

The fuel economy and emissions numbers for 2012 are preliminary, and based on sales estimates provided to the agency by automakers. The actual fuel economy decline from the 2010 to 2011 model years was just 0.2 mpg, the E.P.A. said. Also in 2011, fleetwide average carbon dioxide emissions for personal vehicles increased to 398 grams per mile, up from 394 grams per mile in 2010. Carbon emissions are expected to decline to 374 grams per mile in 2012, based on projections.

The E.P.A. said that one factor leading to the fuel economy decline in 2011 was the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency in Japan, which interrupted the flow of both new cars and parts to the American market. According to the report, the E.P.A. estimates that fleetwide fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions in model year 2011 would have been the same or “slightly better” than 2010 if Japanese manufacturers had not been constrained. Under those assumptions, the projected 2012 fuel economy improvement would also be “somewhat smaller.”

Some critics seized on the 2011 fuel economy decline, not the projected increase for 2012. Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, said in an e-mailed statement: “After improving for six years, average gas mileage of all cars and trucks sold here faltered in 2011. We went into reverse because General Motors and Chrysler failed to improve fuel mileage. That had an impact when sales of more efficient Toyota and Honda vehicles dropped due to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.”

The E.P.A. report says that 2011 Toyota and Honda production fell by more than 500,000 vehicles compared to 2010. “Yet in 2011 those two automakers still delivered vehicles that averaged 3.4 m.p.g. better than those of General Motors, the U.S. sales leader,” Mr. Becker said. According to the report, G.M.’s overall 2011 fuel economy was 20.7 m.p.g., and that of Honda and Toyota both 24.1 m.p.g.

The industry sees an overall positive picture. Gloria Bergquist, a vice president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents 12 carmakers, said in a telephone interview: “All of our members are working very hard to improve fuel economy, and the good news is that it’s continuing to increase. We have challenging new fuel economy standards we need to meet. There’s no technology left on the shelf — it’s already on dealership lots.”

The report says that the widespread adoption of new technologies is helping improve fuel economy. These include variable valve timing, gasoline direct injection, the use of turbochargers and superchargers, and cylinder deactivation. Direct injection, the report said, has grown from “essentially zero” in model year 2007 to a projected 24 percent of the market in model year 2012.

David Friedman, deputy director of the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, sees both sides. “Today’s report shows the great strides automakers have made to deliver a better kind of car for the American people in 2012,” he said in a statement. “But it also shows just how far they have to go. The decline of average fuel economy in model year 2011 highlights how much consumers had relied upon only a few automakers for many fuel-efficient vehicles.”

The E.P.A. said that consumers have twice as many diesel and hybrid choices as they did five years ago. The number of available cars with 30 m.p.g. combined or higher grew sixfold in the same period, the agency said.

Wheels: No Silver Bullet for Reaching Fuel and Emissions Goals, Study Says

Rebecca Cook/Reuters “Limited range and long recharge times are likely to limit the use of all-electric vehicles mainly to local driving,” a report from the National Research Council says.

The United States could possibly achieve the goal of an 80 percent reduction in oil use and greenhouse gas emissions from cars and small trucks by 2050, but it will not be easy, a National Research Council report said.

Simply making conventional vehicles more fuel efficient cannot by itself bring the target within reach, the report, which was released on Monday, says. Average fleet fuel economy “would have to exceed 180 m.p.g.,” which “is extremely unlikely, at least with current identifiable technologies,” says the report from the council, which is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

The committee preparing the report focused on vehicles running on electricity, biofuels or hydrogen, as well as conventional cars and trucks with high-efficiency gasoline technology. The committee concluded that the wide deployment of at least two of them would have to be combined with strong federal policy if the goal were to be met. Natural gas vehicles were given credit for their ability to reduce oil consumption, but were faulted for their limited impact on carbon dioxide emissions.

“There’s no single pathway, no silver bullet adequate by itself to meet the goals,” Douglas M. Chapin, chairman of the committee, said in a conference call. “The goals are difficult but not impossible to meet if supported by strong national policies.” He added that even partial success “will yield valuable benefits.”

Government initiatives, the report says, could include fuel economy standards tougher than the federal goal for 2025 of 54.5 miles per gallon; support for research and development; rebate incentives for buyers of efficient cars and surcharges for inefficient purchases; and campaigns to familiarize consumers with the new options.

The report is somewhat pessimistic about electric car progress. Although battery costs may drop, the report said that “limited range and long recharge times are likely to limit the use of all-electric vehicles mainly to local driving.” Advanced battery technologies are being developed, it said, “but all face serious technical challenges.”

John M. German, senior fellow at the International Council on Clean Transportation, said in the conference call that the committee projected that the energy density of lithium-ion batteries could be two to three times greater than it was today and that the cost of a battery pack a quarter as much.

By 2050, vehicles with 100-mile-range batteries and hydrogen power could become cheaper than cars and trucks with advanced internal-combustion drivetrains, the report says. But there are other challenges. Fuel-cell vehicles avoid the range and recharging limitations of electric vehicles, the report says, but building a network of expensive hydrogen stations will be “difficult and expensive.”

Cellulosic biofuels show some promise and could lead to big reductions in oil use and greenhouse gas emissions, but “achievable production levels are uncertain,” the report says. It also envisions a possible future for biofuels that can be refined into a product that is chemically similar to gasoline.

The report also looked beyond the tailpipe. “To really impact automotive greenhouse emissions, you have to control energy sector emissions, starting with the oil and gas sector today and from power plants as electric cars enter the market,” John DeCicco, a committee member and research professor at the University of Michigan Energy Institute, said in a telephone interview.

Volkswagen pr�voit une hausse de son b�n�fice en 2014

Ses coentreprises en Chine ainsi que ses nouvelles usines en Chine, en Inde, en Russie et aux Etats-Unis devraient contribuer ? la hausse de ses ventes dans les deux ann?es qui viennent.

EN 2014, UNE CROISSANCE DANS TOUTES LES R?GIONS

Le groupe s'attend pour 2013 ? une croissance du march? automobile en Asie-Pacifique et aux Etats-Unis mais ? une poursuite du repli du march? europ?en. En 2014, le groupe pr?voit une croissance du march? dans toutes les r?gions et escompte une hausse du chiffre d'affaires de sa division automobile cette ann?e-l?.

Volkswagen ambitionne toujours de devenir num?ro un mondial d'ici 2018, en vendant plus de 10 millions de v?hicules par an. En 2012, il a livr? environ 9,3?millions d'unit?s (+ 12 % sur un an) et enregistr? des r?sultats records.

Lire en ?dition abonn?s : Joyau de Volkswagen, Audi acc?l?re son d?veloppement

PSA Aulnay : le plan social en passe d'�tre valid�, manifestation devant le si�ge du groupe

Le face-?-face entre salari?s en gr?ve (CGT, CFDT, SUD) du site d'Aulnay (Seine-Saint-Denis) et les forces de l'ordre, qui ont encercl? les manifestants, ?tait tendu en d?but d'apr?s-midi. Des pneus ont ?t? br?l?s ? proximit? du si?ge du constructeur automobile, provoquant une ?paisse fum?e noire avenue de la Grande-Arm?e (XVIe arrondissement). "On est des ouvriers, pas des casseurs, les casseurs, ce sont les patrons", scandaient les manifestants, alors que s'ouvrait un nouveau comit? central d'entreprise (CCE).

LA CGT CONTRE LE PROJET D'ACCORD SUR LES MESURES D'ACCOMPAGNEMENT

Les ?lus du CCE sont consult?s sur le projet d'accord concernant les mesures d'accompagnement pour les salari?s de l'usine d'Aulnay – vou?e ? la fermeture en 2014, entra?nant la disparition de 2 800 emplois – et pour les quatorze cents suppressions de poste ? Rennes. En d?cembre, les syndicats avaient donn? un avis d?favorable (CGT et CFDT s'?taient abstenus). Lundi, ils devraient tous donner un avis favorable, ? l'exception de la CGT.

Les salari?s d'Aulnay-sous-Bois sont en gr?ve depuis le 16 f?vrier, ils s'opposent au projet d'accord et revendiquent toujours "un CDI pour tous et une pr?-retraite d?s 55 ans". Au total 11 214 suppressions de poste sont envisag?es entre mai 2012 et mi-2014. A la fin de mai 2012, les effectifs dans l'activit? automobile du groupe s'?levaient ? 67 112 postes. Ils devraient fondre ? 55 989 d'ici ? la mi-2014.

Lire : PSA : la direction d?taille les projets pour Rennes et Aulnay

App City: Apps to Ease Parking

The company, Pango, recently introduced a smartphone application to manage the parking process. After setting up an account, you can drop your car off with an attendant and keep track of what it is costing you on your phone. When it is time to get your car back, you can tell the garage up to an hour ahead of time so the attendant can retrieve it. Pango also talks with the garage’s computers, so users do not have to use cash or physical credit cards. Tipping still happens the old-fashioned way.

This is all very exciting, but it comes with one big caveat: you have to park in the Imperial parking garage on East 77th Street, just off Lexington Avenue. Pango plans to have two more garages up and running next month, and all of Imperial’s lots functional within a year. The company says it is pursuing partnerships with other garage companies as well.

For now, it is still working out the bugs. When Pango showed me the app the other day, it took almost an hour for the system to recognize that the car we were trying to retrieve was actually parked in the garage.

Pango built its business doing pay-by-phone street parking in Israel, and is in the process of setting up that service in several small cities in the United States. A competitor, Parkmobile, offers pay-by-phone street parking in several cities in the area.

Pango is also eyeing New York’s Muni-Meters, with some pretty ambitious plans. By collecting data about street parking in real time, the company says, it could do things like shift pricing in response to demand, or notify users when spots open up. “We don’t know your name, but we know three people left spaces on 77th Street,” said Roy Arad, Pango’s vice president of operations.

Or at least they will know. New York’s Transportation Department is not ready. The city put out a request for proposals for pay-by-phone parking in 2011 but let it expire without taking action.

Already, though, parking New Yorkers can get some use out of their smartphones. One powerful tool is Best Parking, which has been around in various forms for seven years. Its app’s interface is a map with information on about 1,300 garages in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. You enter where and when you want to park, and it shows rates, with discounts available with coupons it has negotiated. Redeem these coupons with a special code, and Best Parking gets a commission.

The app also offers information on street parking, with color-coded indicators for free, metered and no parking zones.

Keeping all this information up-to-date is a big task, said Ben Sann, a 24-year-old Manhattan native who founded Best Parking before he even had a car. Some information is provided by garages, and the company offers Starbucks gift cards to users who report incorrect information. The company also sends out an employee to pound the pavement four times a year.

How did Mr. Sann learn that parking was a local obsession? “Seinfeld.”

Have a favorite New York City app? Send tips by e-mail to appcity@nytimes.com or by Twitter to @joshuabrustein.

Le march� mondial de l'automobile devrait cro�tre de 3 % en 2013

Cette derni?re, qui a tenu une conf?rence de presse sur le salon automobile de Gen?ve, s'appuie sur les chiffres des trois quarts de ses membres, dont les plus grandes f?d?rations automobiles. Dans le d?tail, la Chine, premier march? mondial, devrait voir ses ventes progresser de 7 % ? 20,6 millions d'unit?s. Le second plus grand acheteur de v?hicules, les Etats-Unis, conna?tra une hausse de 6 % ? 15,7 millions d'unit?s, d'apr?s les estimations.

REPLI AU JAPON, EN ALLEMAGNE, AU ROYAUME-UNI, EN FRANCE

Le Japon devrait en revanche enregistrer une chute de 12 % ? 4,7 millions d'unit?s, subissant le contrecoup d'un programme de soutien ? l'?conomie apr?s le tsunami qui lui a permis d'enregistrer une forte hausse des ventes en 2012. Le march? allemand est attendu en repli de 2 % ? 3,3 millions de v?hicules ?coul?s, le Royaume-Uni en recul de 1 % (? 2,3 millions) et la France de 5 % (? 2,2 millions).

Entre 2011 et 2012, toutes les grandes r?gions du monde ont progress? ou sont rest?es stables ? part l'Europe, dont la part dans les ventes mondiales est pass?e de 20 % ? 18 %, et l'Am?rique centrale et du Sud. "Je ne pense pas que quiconque soit optimiste sur une ?volution positive de l'Europe avant quelques ann?es", ? savoir un ? trois ans, a comment? le pr?sident de l'organisation, M. Blain. "L'Europe est visiblement en train de ralentir en termes de volumes vendus", a-t-il ajout?.

FORTE POUSS?E DE L'ASIE DEPUIS 2000

En 2012, les ventes de v?hicules dans le monde ont cr? de 5 % ? 81,7 millions d'unit?s, selon l'OICA. L'an pass?, la production mondiale de v?hicules a suivi celle des ventes, progressant de 5 % ? 84,1 millions d'unit?s. Elle est caract?ris?e depuis 2000 par une forte pouss?e de l'Asie, qui repr?sente d?sormais 51 % de la production automobile mondiale.

L? encore, l'Europe s'illustre par un recul des v?hicules fabriqu?s sur son sol (- 8 % en 2012), quand l'Am?rique centrale et du Sud a connu une baisse de 2 % et alors que les autres r?gions ont progress?, en particulier l'Am?rique du Nord (+ 17 %), l'Asie-Oc?anie-Moyen-Orient (+ 6 %) et le Japon-Cor?e du Sud (+ 11 %).

Premier client de l'industrie automobile, la Chine est ?galement le premier fabricant mondial, avec 22,8 % de la production totale, largement devant les Etats-Unis (12,2 %), le Japon (11,8 %) et l'Allemagne (6,7 %).

L'industrie automobile mise sur le luxe

De m?me, General Motors s'est dit pr?t ? partir ? l'assaut de l'Europe avec Cadillac et son mod?le ?lectrique ELR, tandis qu'une nouvelle marque a fait ses premiers pas : Qoros. Cr??e par le chinois Chery et Israel Corporation, une soci?t? isra?lienne d'investissement, elle a attir? l'attention. Michael Macht, directeur de la production de Volkswagen, s'est ainsi longuement attard? sur son stand.

C'est que le march? premium europ?en est en pleine forme. En douze ans, sa part de march? est pass?e de 17 % ? 20 %, selon le cabinet Jato. Plus de 2,6 millions de voitures de ce segment se vendent chaque ann?e sur le Vieux Continent, plus que les march?s am?ricain et chinois regroup?s ! "Et cela va continuer de cro?tre", pr?dit Mark Wright, directeur ex?cutif de Jaguar Land Rover. "C'est l'endroit o? il faut absolument ?tre !", confirme Bernard Loire, vice-pr?sident d'Infiniti pour l'Europe.

Pourtant, cette zone est la chasse gard?e des trois marques allemandes, Audi, BMW et Mercedes. R?unies, celles-ci ont commercialis? pr?s de deux millions de v?hicules l'an dernier ! Mais leurs acheteurs vieillissent vite, un filon que souhaite exploiter Infiniti. "L'?ge moyen d'un acheteur d'une premium va de 55 ? 75 ans ! Nous devons s?duire des g?n?rations plus jeunes, qui veulent se diff?rencier de leurs parents. R?ussir ce qu'Audi a fait il y a dix ans en d?tournant les plus jeunes de Mercedes...", r?sume Fran?ois Bancon, directeur de la recherche exploratoire d'Infiniti et de Nissan.

"LE LUXE, C'EST L'EUROPE"

Le chemin sera long. Arriv?e en 2008 sur le Vieux Continent, la marque japonaise Infiniti n'arrive pas ? y faire son trou, contrairement ? Lexus, la griffe haut de gamme de Toyota. "La crise ne nous a pas aid?s, plaide M. Loire. Mais nous avons retravaill? notre offre pour lancer en 2015 notre premier v?hicule compact, le coeur du march? premium ici, qui sera produit dans l'usine britannique de Nissan."

Mais pourquoi tant vouloir s'installer en Europe ? "Les clients chinois aiment beaucoup les marques europ?ennes, avoir un succ?s sur le march? europ?en est donc important en termes de cr?dibilit?", confie ? l'AFP Christiano Carlutti, directeur des ventes de Qoros sur le Vieux Continent. "Pour eux, le luxe, c'est l'Europe, confirme Susan Docherty, pr?sidente de Cadillac Europe. Pour marquer des points en Chine, il faut s'installer et ?tre cr?dible en Europe."

Mais cela co?te cher. "Le public europ?en est tr?s fin et exigeant, reprend Mme Docherty. Et sans motorisation diesel, ni de moteurs ? faibles ?missions de CO2, c'est quasiment impossible de jouer dans la cour des grands... Je me donne dix ans pour ?tablir la marque de Cadillac ici !"

Dix ans, c'est ce que les observateurs donnent ? Qoros pour r?ussir ou ce que pr?voit Johan de Nysschen, le patron d'Infiniti, pour installer sa marque dans le paysage. "Construire une r?putation dans le luxe demande du temps, de l'attention au moindre d?tail et, surtout, de la constance", explique cet ancien d'Audi, une marque devenue premium en... quarante ans.

"Nissan n'a pas le projet de produire en France pour l'instant", a annonc?, mardi 5 mars, son vice-pr?sident ex?cutif pour l'Europe, Trevor Mann. Carlos Ghosn, le PDG de Renault-Nissan, s'?tait pourtant engag? ? ce qu'un des partenaires de la marque au losange fasse produire 80 000 v?hicules dans ses usines fran?aises d'ici ? 2016.
Les sp?cialistes estimaient que Nissan avait une forte probabilit? d'?tre ce partenaire.
Cependant, explique-t-on chez Renault-Nissan, tant qu'aucun accord de comp?titivit? n'est sign? en France entre la direction et les syndicats de l'ex-r?gie, le constructeur japonais ne s'engagera pas ? y faire fabriquer de v?hicules. "Il s'agit d'une question de respect des formes, tant du c?t? de Renault que de Nissan", explique-t-on au sein du groupe fran?ais.

Bucks Blog: The States With the Highest Car Insurance Rates

Associated Press Traffic headed out of New Orleans ahead of Hurricane Isaac last August.

If you want cheap car insurance rates, it’s best not to live in Louisiana. Or Michigan.

That’s according to a new analysis from Insure.com, an insurance rate comparison site.
The average annual premium in Louisiana is $2,700. Michigan is next with $2,500, followed by Georgia at $2,200. In the New York metropolitan region, Connecticut has the nation’s 11th highest average annual premium at $1,723, New Jersey is 12th at $1,697 and New York is 33rd at $1,369.

The report is based on additional analysis of data provided for Insure.com by Quadrant Information Services, which this year obtained rates for more than 750 models from six big insurers (Allstate, Farmers, Geico, Nationwide, Progressive and State Farm) in 10 ZIP codes per state. That analysis allowed Insure.com to report on the most and least expensive cars to insure, which Bucks reported on this year. Insure.com then averaged the rates for all vehicles in each state to create the state rankings. (The cars were all 2013 models.)

Rates are for a single, 40-year-old man with a clean driving record and good credit who commutes 12 miles to work daily. Policy limits were $100,000 for injury liability for one person, $300,000 for all injuries and $50,000 for property damage in an accident, and a $500 deductible on both collision and comprehensive coverage. The rate includes uninsured motorist coverage.

Ultimately, your own rates will vary based on your driving record, the type of car you drive and other factors, including those that have little to do with your driving history. But the comparative state rankings give an idea of how policies at the state level can affect rates over all, said Amy Danise, Insure.com’s editorial director.

In Louisiana, several factors help to drive up rates, she said. For instance, drivers injured in accidents there tend to file more bodily injury claims than do those in other states. Medical costs have been increasing, so insurers have to pay more for those claims. The state also has significant claims filed under “comprehensive” coverage, which covers damage from natural disasters, like hurricanes.

Michigan, meanwhile, is an “oddball” state when it comes to car insurance, she said, in that auto policies are required to offer unlimited medical coverage for injuries sustained in an accident. Insurers pay the first $500,000 in medical claims, and the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association pays the rest. All policyholders pay a fee for the association. The fee is $175 per car.

“All of these costs get passed on, in one way or another,” Ms. Danise said.

Meanwhile, less urban states may benefit from overall lower rates because of less traffic congestion and lower accident rates. Maine ranks as the cheapest state, with an average premium of just over $900, followed closely by Iowa at about $1,000. “You don’t have all these cars next to each other crashing into each other,” she said.

So what if you don’t live in a state with lower premiums? You can strive to keep your own driving record as clean as possible, avoiding tickets and accidents that can raise your rates. And you can shop around. Quotes for the same driver can differ by company, she said. You can also choose a car that’s less expensive to insure. In Louisiana, for instance, the cheapest choice would be a Jeep Patriot Sport , while the most expensive would be a Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG sedan.

Do you live in a high-premium state? Do you take any special steps to help keep your premium affordable?

Les ventes de voitures neuves dans l'UE continuent leur chute

La Grande-Bretagne est le seul pays ? avoir vu progresser ses ventes de voitures neuves au cours de cette p?riode (de 7,9 %), tous les autres grands march?s, de l'Allemagne ? la France en passant par l'Italie et l'Espagne ont ?t? en recul, souligne l'ACEA. Sur les deux premiers mois de l'ann?e, le recul est de 9,5 %.

AUCUNE EMBELLIE AVANT 2014

Apr?s une ann?e 2012 noire pour le march? de l'automobile europ?en, au cours de laquelle il ne s'est jamais vendu aussi peu de voitures depuis plus de quinze ans, avec 12 millions de v?hicules, aucune embellie n'est attendue avant l'an prochain.

Tous les constructeurs automobiles pr?sents sur le march? europ?en ont vu leurs immatriculations reculer, hormis la marque sud-cor?enne Hyundai (+ 2 %), qui avait d?j? bien r?sist? en 2012, et les japonais Mazda (+ 6,1 %) et Honda (+?20,7?%), mais qui sont de petits acteurs, avec des parts de march? tournant autour de 1 %.

A l'inverse les principaux constructeurs, l'allemand Volkswagen, les fran?ais PSA Peugeot Citro?n et Renault, l'am?ricain General Motors et l'italien Fiat ont connu des baisses comprises entre 7 % et 21 %.

Wheels: Settlement of Class Action Against Audi Gets Preliminary Approval

Volkswagen of America 2005 Audi A6.

A federal judge has given preliminary approval to settling a class-action suit over transmission problems on about 64,000 of Audi’s most popular models.

The settlement covers anyone in the United States who leased or bought from Audi a 2002-6 A4 or A6 model with a continuously variable automatic transmission.

The preliminary approval was given March 11 by Judge A. Howard Matz of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He scheduled a hearing for September when any complaints about the settlement would be considered and final approval could be given.

The suit – Anna Sadowska and Yanick Godbout v. Volkswagen Group of America – was filed in January 2011.

It contends that the continuously variable transmissions had manufacturing and design flaws that caused them to fail, leaving owners facing thousands of dollars in repair bills.

It further asserts that Audi knew about these problems and concealed them from consumers.

In the settlement, Audi denied the transmissions were defective and said it “acted properly and in compliance with applicable laws and rules.” The automaker also said it was “also mindful of the fact that future protracted litigation, with the burdens and uncertainties it creates, may not be in the best interests of their customers.” So, the automaker agreed to the settlement.

Among the basic elements of the settlement:

• Reimbursement “for certain C.V.T. transmission repairs” that occurred or will occur within 10 years or 100,000 miles of the original sale or lease of the vehicle. The original powertrain coverage was four years or 50,000 miles. The parts for which the owner will be reimbursed vary depending on model year.

The transmission control module is covered for 2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006 model year A4s and A6s. The valve body is covered for 2003-4 model A4 and A6. Replacement of the transmission without the valve body and transmission control module “is covered for the 2002, 2003 or 2004 model year Audi A4 or Audi A6.

The settlement does not indicate whether the owner would be reimbursed if another transmission part failed or if the entire transmission needed to be replaced.

Some of the 2002 and 2003 models are probably beyond that extended warranty, but the owners can still be reimbursed for the specified repair if it occurred within 100,000 miles or 10 years, according to the settlement.

• There is also a “trade-in reimbursement cost” for lost value of a 2002, 2003 or 2004 A4 or A6 that needed “a complete replacement of a C.V.T. transmission” after the normal warranty expired but the vehicle was sold or traded without the repair.

The settlement does not say whether owners who had only a major component fail instead of a complete replacement are eligible for reimbursement.

It was also not clear why the 2005-6 model years were not covered in this part of the settlement.

• Under the settlement the plaintiff’s lawyers will receive $2.375 million for fees and expenses.

Those lawyers, Payam Shahian of Los Angeles and Robert Starr of Woodland Hills, Calif., did not respond to a request for clarifications of the basic elements of the settlement.

Well: The Distracted American Driver

Toby Talbot/Associated Press

Despite increasing media attention and laws forbidding the practice, more Americans than ever are using their cellphones to talk and send text messages while driving, a new study shows.

According to the research, nearly 70 percent of Americans ages 18 to 64 said they had chatted on their phones while driving in the past 30 days, and about 30 percent said they had sent text messages while behind the wheel. Drivers in seven European countries were also included in the study, and the numbers showed that the practice appears to be far more common in the United States than overseas.

In Britain, where laws against cellphone use while driving are strict, drivers were the least likely to use their phones on the road. Only 21 percent admitted to having talked on a cellphone while driving. The figure was below 50 percent in every other European country included in the study except Portugal, where it was around 60 percent.

The findings, published in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, showed that for many Americans, using cellphones on the road is a matter of habit. While 69 percent of people said they had done it at least once in the past month, about 30 percent reported that they did it regularly or fairly often.

At least 10 states have laws that forbid drivers to use hand-held cellphones, and 39 states prohibit texting while driving. But despite widespread publicity and a growing number of laws targeting distracted drivers, the new study shows a rate of cellphone use on the road that is higher than the rates found in several reports published in previous years, said Ileana Arias, the principal deputy director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The problem is unfortunately not improving over time,” she said. “If anything, it seems to be getting worse.”

Dr. Arias said it was unclear why there appears to be so little progress. One possibility is that people are becoming more reliant on and attached to their cellphones and hand-held devices, making them less likely to shut them off or ignore them when they get behind the wheel. The numbers may also reflect a need to create stricter policies that are implemented more widely and vigilantly enforced, like drunken-driving laws, Dr. Arias said.

That may also explain the disparities among countries. In the United States, laws restricting cellphones on the road vary widely from one state and municipality to the next, whereas many European countries have adopted nationwide laws.

“Our numbers are significantly higher than in the seven countries,” Dr. Arias said. “It’s not clear whether that’s because of a difference in policy and enforcement or whether it’s just a cultural issue where people think very differently about their safety and their behavior behind the wheel.”

Either way, the new numbers paint a sobering picture, and the C.D.C. is taking the issue seriously, Dr. Arias said.

“We’re very adamant that people make their cars a no-cellphone zone,” she said. “If you’re in the car, turn it off, don’t answer it, don’t read it, and if you have to, pull over. It only takes a split second for people to encounter a life-changing or even fatal event on the road.”

Crime Scene: The Storm Took Their Cars, Then Thieves Disabled the New Ones

Hurricane Sandy wiped out nearly all of the thousands of cars in the Queens neighborhood of Howard Beach when waves of brackish seawater rolled up the streets. Residents who remembered past floods had moved their cars to the higher ground near Public School 146, but even those were not spared. The morning after the storm, people stepped outside to find their vehicles — many homes had at least two — on their neighbors’ lawns or bumped up against a tree half a block way. Ignitions were cranked. The engines that turned over that day were dead soon after, done in by the saltwater.

That’s when the checks arrived. “Everyone went out and got brand new cars,” Officer Kenneth T. Zorn of the Police Department said.

One of those new cars belonged to Jonathan Rubin, 23, who lost an Infiniti in the storm and splurged on an expensive replacement. He outfitted his new Infiniti G37 sedan with expensive, gunmetal-gray rims. He put not one, but four wheel locks on the car, one for each tire.

“I work hard for what I get,” he said, calling the car his pride and joy. His father, Saul David Rubin, 53, shook his head and said, “He loves that car more than, I would say, people.”

The son said: “After Sandy, everything started pointing upward. Everything started getting better.”

On March 5, he woke up early for his job selling Red Bull to restaurants and bodegas and stepped outside his family’s home on 79th Street to find his beloved sedan sitting on concrete blocks. The four wheels were gone. He retreated back to the house, and — in old-school storybook fashion — he reached for a baseball bat first, in case the thieves were lurking. Then the phone, to call the police.

There have been at least eight cases of brand-new tires being stolen in the neighborhood this year. The police at the 106th Precinct called a community meeting in February, seeking to publicize the pattern. The local paper, The Forum, covered the meeting, with the publisher, Patricia Adams, writing the article herself.

So she was well aware of what had happened when on March 5 she, too, stepped outside her home and found her post-storm Infiniti up on blocks.

“It’s a problem that’s really epic,” she said.

Surveillance videos from a nearby house showed how the thieves stole Mr. Rubin’s tires, though they did not deliver clear images of their faces.

“Between five and seven guys,” Mr. Rubin said, in two cars, could be seen parking near his house. One man acted as a lookout. The thieves stole blocks from his neighbor’s yard, and wedged them beneath the Infiniti’s body about midway between the front and rear tires. They disabled the wheel locks quickly enough, let the air out of the tires and pulled off the wheels. They tossed them into one of the cars and drove away, leaving the car balancing there like a seesaw. It took about half an hour.

Deputy Inspector Tom Pascale said auto-related thefts had long been an issue in Howard Beach, with its proximity to getaway routes like the Belt Parkway. The thieves work in the rain, which tempers whatever noise they make, striking around 1 a.m. The spike in tire thefts is not isolated to Howard Beach; similar crimes have been reported throughout Queens. The 2013 Honda Accord is a popular target, Inspector Pascale said.

Ms. Adams said her house’s motion-detector spotlights — “My house lights up like a runway as soon as you step on my property” — had been disabled. A friend who installs alarms said a device like a laser pointer aimed at the light’s sensor would disarm it. Ms. Adams said the lookout communicated with the other thieves by walkie-talkie.

A friend of Mr. Rubin’s called him recently and said he had seen rims like his for sale on Craigslist. “I texted the kid,” he said. He said he and the police separately contacted the seller, who sent pictures of rims that were not his.

He is waiting for his car to come back from the shop, with new rims, the same expensive kind. And a better alarm. “When you touch it with your pinkie, it goes off,” he said.

The police have taken to watching for new cars, especially Accords, and knocking on their owners’ doors to preach caution.

“It’s known,” Mr. Rubin’s father, Saul, said, “that if you get a new car, you’re going to get hit.”

E-mail: crimescene@nytimes.com Twitter: @mwilsonnyt

Wheels Blog: Indian Motorcycles Revs Up a New App

Can you sell a nostalgic brand using a high-tech phone?

Polaris Industries thinks so. It is using an iPhone app to lead its introduction of the new Indian Motorcycles, a brand name that conjures classic cruisers with swooping fenders. The original company began in 1901, and its most memorable machines arrived before Elvis had his first hit.

The app, Indian Rides, is part of a teaser campaign to whet the appetites of potential buyers by revealing the details of the bike one by one over time.

The first thing the app unveiled was the sound of the new engine. A virtual throttle and the iPhone’s motion sensors let you twist the phone to achieve a faux rev, which goes from the po-ta-toe, po-ta-toe, po-ta-toe idle characteristic of a big narrow-angle V-twin to the kind of throaty roar that annoys the neighbors.

That engine, the Thunder Stroke 111, is named for its 111-cubic-inch displacement (the company declined to reveal horsepower). It has design cues from classic Indians, like parallel push-rod tubes and down-firing exhausts, all dressed in chrome covers. The design is modernized with drive-by-wire electronics, so there is no throttle cable.

The company, which also makes Victory motorcycles, has declined to say what component will next be highlighted by the app. “There will be a bit of a pause while people digest the engine,” said Gary Gray, product director for the Polaris motorcycle division. “We don’t want to show too much too soon.”

But the app isn’t all novelty and sales pitch. The company borrowed lessons from Polaris’s snowmobile app, whose users said they wanted an app with utility. “It’s not just a fun widget. It’s something that enhances your experience when you are out on the ride,” said Kim Weckert, director of interactive customer experience at Polaris.

To that end, the app has a map with tabs that you click to show where to find food, gas, lodging and the 14 Indian dealers in the United States. There is also a tab for weather and the My Routes feature, which lets you track and save where you ride. You can then send the route information to other riders by e-mail or through links on Facebook or Twitter. Unless you are taking a short ride, you’ll need to have a power source for the phone — as with all GPS mapping apps, Indian Rides empties the battery quickly.

The Indian brand might seem an odd candidate for high-tech marketing. The bulk of riders weren’t even born when the original factory cranked out its vaunted Chiefs and Scouts. The company last dominated the market in the early 1900s, but it continued to produce eye-catching bikes with its trademark ostentatious fenders until it filed for bankruptcy in 1953.

It didn’t begin production again until 1999, when the brand began its move through a number of hands before it was bought by Polaris in 2011.

Although reaching potential Indian buyers through the iPhone may seem counterintuitive, David Nour, a consultant whose clients include the Motorcycle Industry Council and several bike brands, said it might work. Instead of just butting heads with its main competitor, Harley-Davidson, he said, the company might reach a new audience with a new channel for advertising.

“They are trying to grow the size of the market,” he said. “The industry desperately needs to net new riders.”

Motorsports: Off-Track Intrigue as Season Opens

By the time New Yorkers have gulped their first cup of Starbucks on Sunday morning, the first of 19 races in the 2013 Formula One world drivers and constructors championships will have finished in Melbourne, Australia.

Whatever the outcome, the race will have earned minor landmark status: in a championship that is supposed to advance automotive technology, the series will have intentionally taken a backward step.

In the real world, the goal of a tire manufacturer is to deliver products that offer the ideal balance of adhesion and wear. Yet Pirelli, the exclusive supplier to the series, has been directed to reformulate its tire compounds to wear more rapidly.

The motive is to add the excitement of pit stops. At least two tire changes will be needed during the races, which are roughly 190 miles in length. That means a set of four on a 1,400-pound car will last about 65 miles.

Not changing for 2013 are the contenders for the driver’s crown. The favorites include Red Bull’s three-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Jenson Button at McLaren. Lewis Hamilton, who moved from McLaren to Mercedes, has shown promise in preseason testing as the German team attempts to recover from a poor showing in 2012.

As always, much of the drama of Formula One takes place off the track. In a series where a two-car team can spend upward of $300 million a year and still come up empty, a shortage of willing investors has left only 11 two-car teams participating in 2013, although the regulations allow for 13.

The breadth of the financial gap separating the teams that have and the teams that don’t made news last week. Bloomberg News reported that the power broker behind every Formula One action, Bernie Ecclestone, raised the possibility that an initial public offering that had been delayed until 2014 might instead happen this year.

Last year’s prospectus for the offering indicated that the biggest shareholder, CVC Capital Partners, sold its original 63.4 percent share down to 35.5 percent, with the customers being three investment houses. CVC has now made about $4 billion on its original investment of $1.25 billion and should earn another $3 billion after the offering.

Litigation is a looming problem. Most of this is directed at Ecclestone, 82, the Englishman who brought the series out of fiscal darkness in the 1970s and became a billionaire in the process. He has also made fortunes for many others, and as a result he meets with little or no opposition from the teams.

The legal questions are another story, and as a result grand prix racing faces its first major tipping point since Ecclestone bought the Brabham team in 1971 and gained a seat at the owners’ table. By the time he sold the team in 1987, Ecclestone was head of the Formula One Constructor’s Association, or FOCA. He was in charge, among other things, of negotiating for the worldwide television rights — retaining 23 percent for himself.

He is being sued, along with CVC Capital Partners, for $650 million by a failed suitor for the empire. In addition, German government agencies are still investigating a payment of $44 million that Ecclestone made to a German banker in connection with the 2005 sale to CVC for $1.25 billion. The banker, incidentally, is in jail.

In addition, the series is having difficulty finding teams to fill the two available slots, which only goes to show the basic imbalance of the F1 situation.

When viewed with dispassionate eyes and after its veneer of glamour is rubbed away, Formula One presents a picture unlike that of any other series. While this year’s championship will almost certainly go to one of the previous winners — Alonso has won it twice — the chase for the constructor’s title, which doesn’t receive the media attention devoted to the driver’s competition, presents an almost comical picture: the defending champion (and three-time winner) is an energy-drink company, Red Bull, that races largely to promote its product.

Red Bull has the engineer widely considered to be the sport’s best, Adrian Newey, and the top-ranked driver in 25-year-old Vettel. So world-famous names like Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz are, in effect, chasing a soda can.

In addition to hiring Hamilton, Mercedes fired its longtime racing director, Norbert Haug, and replaced him with Toto Wolff and a former world champion driver, Niki Lauda, forming a triumvirate with the chief racing engineer, Ross Brawn.

One of the more positive events in the Formula One saga was the return last fall of a race in the United States. The Grand Prix of the Americas, held on a new track near Austin, Tex., proved an exciting race, won by Hamilton when he ran down Vettel in the closing stages.

A hoped-for 2013 championship event in New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan, ran into financial problems and has retained its “hoped for” status for 2014.

"Pas de d�cision en 2013" sur une prime de conversion du diesel

Lire : Au PS, le d?bat empoisonn? du diesel

Interrog?, lors d'une visite du Salon automobile de Gen?ve, sur la possibilit? d'instaurer une telle prime, M. Montebourg a r?pondu qu'il n'y aurait "pas de d?cision en 2013". "Le probl?me de sant? publique li? au diesel est derri?re nous et non pas devant nous, c'est un probl?me li? au parc ancien de v?hicules diesel", a argument? le ministre, qui a aussi r?fut? l'id?e d'augmenter la taxe sur le carburant diesel en France, plus avantageuse que celle sur l'essence. "Ce n'est pas ? l'ordre du jour", a-t-il assur?.

LE GOUVERNEMENT EN ORDRE DISPERS?

Dimanche, le gouvernement avait d?j? indiqu? qu'une ?ventuelle hausse de la fiscalit? du diesel ne pourrait ?tre mise en place au plus t?t que dans la loi de finances 2014, d?battue ? l'automne, mais qui ne serait effective qu'apr?s le 1er janvier 2014.

Le gouvernement r?fl?chit aux moyens de limiter la part du diesel dans le parc automobile fran?ais au nom de la sant? publique (les pouvoirs publics mettent en avant le chiffre de 42 000 "morts pr?matur?es" par an imputables aux particules fines d?gag?es par les moteurs diesel) et des finances publiques (le diesel, moins tax?, rapporte moins que l'essence). Le parc automobile de l'Hexagone a connu depuis une vingtaine d'ann?es une tr?s forte "dies?lisation", et la part des voitures roulant au gazole atteint aujourd'hui 59,8 %, mais a repr?sent? plus de 72 % des ventes en 2012.

Les points de vue divergent?entre, d'un c?t?, les ministres de l'?cologie Delphine Batho, et celle du logement, la Verte C?cile Duflot, qui mettent en avant les quelque 40 000 d?c?s annuels dus aux particules fines, et, de l'autre, leur coll?gue du redressement productif, soucieux d'?viter des mesures qui privil?gieraient les voitures construites ? l'?tranger.

CARLOS GHOSN R?TICENT ? L'ID?E DE TOUCHER ? LA FISCALIT? SUR LE DIESEL

Au Salon automobile de Gen?ve, le constructeur PSA Peugeot Citro?n, qui se pr?sente comme le leader mondial du diesel, a d?fendu cette carburation comme une "motorisation d'avenir", car elle est moins gourmande que l'essence. "Depuis 2011, les normes font que tous les diesels ont un filtre ? particule, ce qui fait que le sujet sant? est derri?re nous", a affirm? Fr?d?ric Saint-Geours, directeur des marques de PSA.

Le PDG de Renault, Carlos Ghosn, a jug? que le fait d'encourager "la vente d'anciens diesels pour acheter de nouveaux diesels" serait "une tr?s bonne initiative". "Il faut peut-?tre sortir les tr?s anciens diesels qui n'ont pas eu d'?volution technologique et qui peuvent cr?er des probl?mes de sant?", a-t-il dit. M. Ghosn s'est montr?, en revanche, r?ticent ? l'id?e de toucher ? la fiscalit? sur le diesel. "La taxation est de la d?cision du gouvernement, mais notre opinion c'est qu'il n'y a pas de probl?me aujourd'hui de sant? autour des diesels actuels", a-t-il affirm?.

Les ministres ne suivent pas les m�mes routes pour sortir du diesel

Les points de vue divergent notamment entre la ministre de l'?cologie Delphine Batho qui met en avant une question de "sant? publique" et les 40 000 d?c?s annuels dus aux particules fines, et celui du redressement productif Arnaud Montebourg, chantre du made in France, soucieux d'?viter des mesures qui privil?gieraient les voitures construites ? l'?tranger. Le parc automobile fran?ais est compos? ? 60 % de v?hicules diesel, en raison des incitations pass?es en faveur de ce type de moteur, notamment fiscales.

Comment changer de mod?le ??Dimanche, M. Montebourg a exclu toute prime ? la casse "qui garnisse les carnets de commande de constructeurs qui ne sont pas fran?ais: Il faut trouver une formule qui n'attaque pas le made in France car nous sommes les meilleurs en diesel", a-t-il expliqu?.

La mesure pr?conis?e par Arnaud Montebourg comme par Mme Batho serait une "prime de conversion" que les ministres et leurs services ont bien du mal ? expliquer en l'?tat. Concernerait-elle uniquement les moteurs diesel ou tous les moteurs thermiques, afin d'encourager l'acquisition de v?hicules hybrides et ?lectriques ? Ne s'appliquerait-elle qu'aux "vieux diesel", ceux d'avant 2000 comme le laisse entendre le ministre du redressement productif ? soit 7 millions de v?hicules (27 % du parc en circulation).

Mais Delphine Batho fait aussi valoir "un probl?me avec les nouveaux moteurs qui ?mettent des particules encore plus fines et du NOX (oxyde d'azote), qui pose probl?me aux enfants asthmatiques", a-t-elle relev? sur France 3.

URGENT D'AGIR, MAIS PLUS AVANT DE SE CONCERTER

Avan?ant l'argument sanitaire, la ministre de l'?cologie avait d?j? jug? qu'un alignement des fiscalit?s de l'essence et du diesel ?tait "incontournable", d'autant que la Cour des comptes estime qu'il rapporterait 7 milliards d'euros au budget de l'Etat. Bien s?r, a-t-elle pr?cis? dimanche, "il y aura une progressivit?" pour ?viter de "causer une difficult? suppl?mentaire" aux Fran?ais, a-t-elle dit en promettant des "compensations et des mesures de justice sociale".

M. Montebourg a ?galement ?cart? l'id?e d'une fiscalit? "p?nalisante pour le pouvoir d'achat des classes moyennes et populaires" qui risquerait aussi de "d?valoriser le parc de ceux qui ne pourront pas bien vendre". Bref, les deux ministres s'accordent sur le fait que "rien n'est d?cid?". Qu'il est urgent d'agir, dans la concertation et le consensus. "Nous travaillons sur comment aider", a l?ch? M. Montebourg. "Et ?a va ?tre difficile" .

Mais Delphine Batho veut aller vite et a d?gain? dimanche un argument suppl?mentaire sur le plateau de France 3 pour "convaincre" son coll?gue du gouvernement: l'importation du gasoil co?te chaque ann?e "13 milliards d'euros de d?ficit ? la balance commerciale car les raffineries fran?aises n'en produisent pas", affirme-t-elle en rappelant qu'il reviendra "au premier ministre de trancher". Car en d?pit des comit?s de r?flexion mis en place, dont celui sur la fiscalit? ?cologique cr?? fin 2012, "la d?cision est politique" pr?vient Montebourg.

BATHO RE?OIT LE SOUTIEN DE DUFLOT

Delphine Batho a re?u le soutien de la ministre du logement C?cile Duflot qui a appel? dimanche ? la fin des avantages fiscaux pour le diesel, qu'elle a qualifi?s d'"anachronisme". "Cet anachronisme dangereux pour la sant? doit ?tre supprim?", a indiqu? la ministre invit?e de "Tous politiques", l'?mission conjointe France Inter/Le Monde/AFP.

"Est-ce que oui ou non il y a un probl?me de sant? publique ? La r?ponse est oui et les principales victimes sont les petits enfants avec l'aggravation des maladies respiratoires et les personnes ?g?es", a attaqu? la ministre. "Est-ce qu'on peut tol?rer cette situation ? la r?ponse est clairement non", a-t-elle poursuivi en appelant ? ?tre "lucide, clair et courageux pour s'attaquer ? ce probl?me de sant? publique : on n'a plus le droit de cacher la r?alit?".

Pour Mme Duflot, "il faut se donner les moyens de sortir de cette situation donc trouver les moyens et d'autres solutions pour ceux qui sont otages de leur voiture pour aller travailler". Elle a jug? que Delphine Batho, qui a r?clam? la premi?re des mesures fiscales, "a pris courageusement position sur ce dossier".

Les skieurs, cible privil�gi�e des constructeurs automobiles

Doser la pression du pied, se positionner pour accélérer, virer au meilleur moment, anticiper les mouvements des autres usagers, maîtriser sa vitesse. A bien des égards, la pratique du ski alpin s’apparente à la conduite sportive d’une automobile. C’est en tous cas le pari des annonceurs publicitaires. Malgré les difficultés du secteur, les constructeurs automobiles multiplient les placards aux abords des pistes de ski, au bas des télésièges, dans les rues des stations voire sur les panonceaux indiquant le nom et la "couleur" (noire, rouge, bleue) des pistes.

Dextérité et puissance. A Verbier, dans le Valais suisse, un constructeur avait loué l’hiver dernier l’énorme façade du bâtiment de Médran, d’où partent les principaux téléphériques. Dans les Dolomites, en Italie, Audi s’impose sur les panonceaux des pistes tandis que les portillons d’entrée de la plupart des télésièges s’ornent d’un slogan qui claque, estampillé BMW : "plaisir de conduire". Le constructeur allemand sponsorise également skiline.cc, qui suit les skieurs à la trace, comme raconté ici. Pour séduire les amateurs de schuss, les annonceurs mettent en avant la vitesse, mais aussi la puissance ou la dextérité. Dans les Alpes françaises, la plupart des communes abritant des grandes stations ont conclu un marché avec un constructeur, tandis que Peugeot, Volvo ou Jeep prêtent des modèles pour les circuits sur glace organisés à Val Thorens (Savoie) ou sur le plateau du Vercors (Isère).

Circuit publicitaire. Cet intérêt de l’industrie automobile pour les amateurs de sports d’hiver n’étonne qu’à moitié. Même s’il est censé vénérer les grands espaces vierges, le silence assourdissant des cimes et les odeurs de sapins, le skieur constitue une cible idéale : il affiche des revenus plus élevés que la moyenne, ne regarde pas à l’achat d’un bien matériel et apprécie effectivement les pointes de vitesse. "A la montagne, on lit peu les journaux, on regarde peu la télévision, sauf lorsqu’il neige. Le skieur sort pour une semaine du circuit publicitaire. On essaie de le rattraper sur les pistes", lâche sans ciller Gerhard Lorenz, directeur de la branche française de Sitour, une agence de communication à l’origine des panonceaux siglés "Audi" sur les pistes italiennes et autrichiennes.

Moins d'affiches en France. En France, en revanche, le vacancier d’hiver serait quelque peu négligé par les annonceurs, regrettent les publicitaires. Sylvie Burger, fondatrice de l’agence SBCMedia, spécialisée dans la communication en montagne, constate que "la plupart des achats d’espaces publicitaires se font à Paris, loin des massifs. En outre, les campagnes publicitaires d’hiver, à cheval sur deux années civiles, doivent se décider plus d'un an à l’avance. Enfin, les lois sur l’environnement empêchent arbitrairement l’affichage sur les pylônes de téléphériques".

Cerveau disponible. M. Lorenz le déplore, lui aussi. "Si seulement on pouvait installer des panneaux aux endroits où passent des milliers de skieurs chaque jour ! Méribel (Savoie), c’est comme Chatelet-Les Halles à l’heure de pointe", s’exclame-t-il. Le publicitaire dispose d’une flopée d’arguments afin de convaincre le secteur automobile de s’intéresser au cerveau disponible des skieurs. "La population fréquentant les stations est principalement citadine, française et CSP + et se renouvèle chaque semaine, alors qu’en ville c'est la pub qui change tous les 7 jours", affirme-t-il. Ultime estocade : "La publicité est installée au départ et à l'arrivée des remontées mécaniques équipées de compteurs", qui permettent à l’annonceur de connaître la rentabilité de son affiche.

Et les skieurs, ils en pensent quoi ? Que du bien, si l'on se fie à cette étude réalisée en Suisse... par des publicitaires. Pour l’air pur, les paysages sauvages et le silence de la nature, il va falloir se mettre au ski de randonnée, loin des stations sponsorisées.

Chute des immatriculations en f�vrier

Il a ?t? immatricul? le mois dernier dans l'Hexagone 143 366 v?hicules particuliers, a annonc? vendredi le Comit? des constructeurs fran?ais d'automobiles (CCFA).

Sur les deux premiers mois de 2013, le march? se contracte de 13,5 % en donn?es brutes, et de 11,5 % en donn?es CJO, ce qui conduit le CCFA ? revoir ? la baisse sa pr?vision pour l'ann?e.

Un porte-parole du comit? a dit attendre d?sormais le march? fran?ais en repli de 5 % au mieux, alors qu'il l'esp?rait jusqu'ici stable d'une ann?e sur l'autre.

Les marques fran?aises sont ? la peine avec un repli moyen de plus de 12,5 %. Peugeot recule d'un peu moins de 10 %, Renault de 10,7 % et Citro?n de 18 %. Mais la plupart des marques chutent aussi, y compris Volkswagen, BMW ou Mercedes.

Les cor?ens Hyundai et Kia tirent leur ?pingle du jeu, comme le japonais Toyota (+ 8,75 %).

Fates of 2 Factories Show Social Schisms in France

Legally separate from the Goodyear factory since 2008, the Dunlop plant continues to make high-quality passenger tires for the upper segment of the market. But at Dunlop, the unions agreed to changes in their work schedules while the unions at Goodyear have refused.

The new system preserves the 35-hour week, but it puts workers on a cycle of six-day and four-day weeks, with shifts that can include weekends and nights. It puts new strains on the workers, but it saves the company money and, of course, preserves jobs.

In return for the new labor agreement, said the general manager of Goodyear Dunlop Tires France, Henry Dumortier, the company invested in newer machinery to make higher-value tires, while the Goodyear plant, whose workers rejected the new work rules, is losing about $78 million a year.

Dunlop is producing fewer tires than before, trying to match its output to the general European slowdown in car sales, now at a 20-year low. But its 940 jobs seem safe, for now, since it is producing tires that Mr. Dumortier says fit the needs of the market.

The story of these two factories might have emerged from Ohio in the 1980s. But it is emblematic for a France that today is itself at a kind of crossroads, trying to preserve both its industrial base and its traditional economic and social model — generous social welfare and health benefits and strong job protections — while coping with a stagnant economy, rising competition and an aging population.

The fight over Goodyear also highlights the troubles faced by France’s Socialist president, François Hollande.

In last year’s campaign, he promised to create jobs, restore growth and reduce the budget deficit. But with national unemployment at record levels, the economy near recession and the government faced with finally making spending cuts to try to reduce its budget deficit to 3 percent next year — having failed in its vow to do so this year — Mr. Hollande is facing what Le Monde last week called “the hour of doubt.” The magazine Marianne asked simply: “Has Hollande already failed?”

“Under a government of the left it’s no different,” said Michael Mallet, 35, a 13-year veteran worker at the Goodyear plant and an official of the dominant union CGT, the most militant in France. “They don’t help us more than before, and it’s more complicated. Under the right we felt freer to demonstrate. The riot police are still protecting our bosses.”

Goodyear, he said, just wants to shut the plant and blame it on the unions, a charge the company denies. His colleague, Franck Jurek, 44, has worked at the plant for 18 years. “We’re considered rebellious,” he said. “We’re called ‘the Gaulois village,’ ” resisting the Romans to the end, as in the famous Astérix story.

In a way, said Claude Dimoff, a former union leader, “their struggle is folkloric.” But it is not expected to end well, he said, throwing another 1,200 people out of work in a depressed area, 75 miles north of Paris, that had a small riot last August and has an unemployment rate of 12 percent.

Goodyear announced in January that it would close the 53-year-old plant, arguing that it could no longer make passenger tires at a competitive price and that the refusal of the unions to alter work schedules was making its production of tires for agricultural machines unprofitable as well.

With no union deal to phase out passenger tire production, negotiations to sell the plant to Titan International had fallen apart, and new efforts by the Socialist government to entice Titan to return produced an extraordinary polemic that reflected badly on the image of France.

“How stupid do you think we are?” Maurice M. Taylor Jr., the head of Titan, wrote to Arnaud Montebourg, the minister of industrial renewal.

Maïa de la Baume contributed reporting.

Not Just a Car. A Storm Victim, Too.

Cause of death: inundation by salt water.

 The car was flooded in our driveway on the night of Oct. 29, when four feet of ocean breached the dune that had long served as our flood barrier and surged down our street.

It lingered for nearly four months. The first week after the storm, the Cabrio drove fine. I thought I’d dodged a bullet, and then one thing after another stopped working — the radio, the pump that lowered and raised the top, the heater fan ...

Not long after, the insurance company told me they were going to total it, and I decided to follow the car each step of the way to its end, wherever that took me.

I wanted to answer a question as old as the gas engine: Exactly where do flooded cars go to die?

There had been news reports of cars being taken to the Midwest for resale or turning up on eBay, and I wanted to see if mine would be given a proper send-off. That was why on Nov. 30 I rode with John Cohen, owner of Countywide Towing Enforcement, who was contracted by State Farm to tow the Cabrio from our driveway to an impound yard in Medford, on Long Island, an hour’s ride away. There it joined thousands of flooded cars — total losses as far as the eye could see, all waiting to be auctioned.

Usually, cars in these wrecking yards arrive smashed up. After Sandy, things had changed: Mr. Cohen, 49, has been towing most of his adult life and was struck by how normal the flooded cars looked.

Salt water is a hidden killer.

With the help of State Farm, I tracked the Cabrio when it was sold to the highest bidder, Sal Ingardia, general manager of Alliance. And I was there on Feb. 21, when Wilson Mora, one of Alliance’s dismantlers, removed the battery and gas tank.

“Once the battery’s out, no electrical,” Mr. Ingardia said. “Once the gas tank’s out, no gas. The car is dead.”

At 1:09 p.m., after a considerable struggle, Mr. Mora yanked out the battery and then, using a crowbar the size of Mario Andretti, pried the gas tank loose. “That’s it,” Mr. Ingardia said, and peering into the dislodged gas tank, he noted, “It was full.”

Exact time of death: 1:23 p.m.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that 250,500 cars were lost in Sandy, and this is the story of one of no particular importance — except that it was mine. The Cabrio was a bitty thing, born with just 4 cylinders and weighing but 2,838 pounds, assembled at a factory in Puebla, Mexico, according to its window sticker, with a transmission that had been shipped from Germany. It entered this country through the Port of Boston, known only by its vehicle identification number, 3VWDC21VX2M807914, (or 807914 for short).

 The sticker price was $23,825. I bought it three years ago, with 137,526 miles, for $3,300.

It was the family’s happy times car. The best thing by far: it was a convertible. I drove it mostly around town, top down, radio up. It didn’t use a lot of gas. Even food shopping was more enjoyable in a convertible — so easy to toss grocery bags in the back seat.

I can’t say that it made me feel young, but I did feel better about being old.

I never washed it, and it still looked black.

At first my three teenage sons made fun of me. They said it was a girl’s car, but before long, they were asking to borrow it. “Please Dad, come on Dad, we love you Dad, we promise, we’ll keep it good, Dad, we swear Dad, next time we won’t throw our empty Busch Lights in the back, not a drop will be spilled Dad, we won’t even leave the surfboard wax on the hood, Dad, never again, no way.”

I figured if it survived my sons, it would live forever.

The night of the storm, it did not occur to me to park it on high ground. We’d lived on the beach for 30 years, through several hurricanes, and never had trouble.

Wheels Blog: John Dillinger’s Terraplane Revisits His Childhood Home

Janine Vaccarello/Crime Museum John Dillinger’s Terraplane on display at the Indianapolis International Airport.

An eight-cylinder 1933 Essex Terraplane briefly used by the notorious bank robber and jail escapee John Dillinger is on display at the Indianapolis International Airport, where, according to airport representatives, it is attracting crowds of visitors.

Associated Press John Dillinger

The car is owned by the Crime Museum in Washington, but has been shown at various other locations for the past four years. It was a guest at Baltimore-Washington Airport for two years, spent two more at the Richmond Convention Center and has now arrived in Indianapolis, where it appears roped off near the ticket counters. The Essex will be at the airport until March 2015.

“I saw people taking pictures of each other in front of it this morning,” the airport’s spokesman, Carlo Bertolini, said in a telephone interview. “They appreciate the chance to see an historic car. This one has a notorious past, but it’s one that’s linked to local history.”

Dillinger was born in Indianapolis in 1903, committed many of his early crimes there, and also served his first prison term in the state — at the Indiana State Reformatory in Pendleton, according to Biography.com. The Essex didn’t enter the picture until much later in Dillinger’s career, after many robberies and a number of jailbreaks.

In March 1934, Dillinger escaped from Crown Point Prison in Indiana, reportedly stole the sheriff’s car, and drove to Chicago. That same month, according to the Crime Museum, he acquired the Essex and used it briefly.

“The car is so representative of John Dillinger,” Janine Vaccarello, chief operating officer of the Crime Museum, said in a telephone interview. “He loved fast cars, which is how he was able to escape from law enforcement so often.”

On March 31, 1934 in St. Paul, Dillinger used the Essex to escape a shootout with the police — he took one bullet in the left leg and the car took two, which can still be seen in the front cowl panel.

In early April, Dillinger and his brother, Hubert, crashed the Essex in an Indiana farm field, and the car’s crime spree was over. Dillinger’s life on the lam was almost over, too — he was shot to death at the Biograph Theater in Chicago on July 22, 1934.

Ownership of the Essex was transferred to Dillinger’s brother, who repaired it, Ms. Vaccarello said. The car remained in the Indianapolis area for many years. The Crime Museum acquired it around 2007 from a Colorado-based collector of Dillinger artifacts. The car, originally black, is said to be drivable, though it has been drained of fluids for display.

The next stop for this much-traveled car may be Chicago, Ms. Vaccarello said. “We’re hoping to take it from John Dillinger’s birth place to his death site,” she said.