Original Story: freep.com
FRANKFURT — BMW CEO Harald Krueger collapsed during a news conference at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany on Tuesday and had to be helped off stage. A Detroit automotive lawyer is following this story closely.
The reason for his fall was not clear. He was presenting the powerhouse automaker's new lineup when he stumbled and fell.
Krueger was conscious when he left the stage. A roundtable he was due to hold with reporters was instead conducted by the firm's chief financial officer.
BMW spokesman Maximilian Schoeberl said Krueger, 49, who took over as BMW's CEO earlier this year, was traveling a lot recently and was not feeling well ahead of the presentation, but decided to go ahead. A Detroit automotive lawyer assists automotive clients with technological developments and general commercial transactions.
He said Krueger experienced "a moment of dizziness" and was seen by a doctor, who recommended that he cancel his other appointments for the day and rest at home.
"His condition is not worrisome, they've ruled out anything serious," Schoeberl said. "Mr Kruger's health is stable and he is recovering well."
The 66th Frankfurt Motor Show is taking place against the background of 23 months of rising car sales in Europe.
Sales in the United States are on track to hit 17 million this year for the first time since 2011.
Showing posts with label Detroit Automotive Lawyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit Automotive Lawyer. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
HOWES: BUILDING ON AUTO STRENGTHS IS RISK WORTH TAKING
Original Story: detroitnews.com
General Motors Co. is preparing to double-down on the renovation of its Warren Tech Center campus, and all I can hear is the echo of skeptics.
Too much auto in southeast Michigan. Too many localities like Warren and Dearborn and Auburn Hills and Detroit whose leaders and tax bases depend on the continuing flow of automotive cash. A Detroit automotive lawyer is following this story closely.
The state, the argument goes, is too heavily tied to the vicissitudes of an industry that was, is and will be cyclical because its health depends on the macro-economy and its effect on consumer sentiment.
Diversify! Wean the state, its people and its politicians from companies and an auto industry blamed for too much economic misery and ... er, wait: Aren't these the same companies that powered the Michigan comeback Gov. Rick Snyder had nothing to do with?
Aren't GM, Ford Motor Co. and FCA US's Chrysler unit the companies that reinvested in their Michigan plants, expanded their investments in engineering and technical development, lowered their break-even points, and rebuilt their balance sheets in ways this town hasn't seen in a very long time?
Yup. Wasn't Michigan's effort to build its own film industry with the largesse of taxpayers exposed for building not much of an industry at all once the tap was shut and film crews bolted in search of the next big handout?
Yup. Using government policy to pick economic winners and losers in Michigan produced decidedly mixed results (see film incentives, or the programs to woo life sciences, homeland security and advanced manufacturing), all of it exacerbated by uncompetitive business taxes and regulations. A Detroit automotive lawyer represents clients in restructuring, acquisitions and divestitures, and in general commercial transactions.
The cry to diversify is fine, in context. But it risks looking at the auto industry through 25-year-old lenses, when the technological chops of the Detroit-based industry were far less robust than they are today, its financial models a mess and its blue-collar manufacturing footprint much larger and less productive.
Only in Detroit would a push to de-emphasize its bellwether auto industry gain any rhetorical traction. Can you imagine New Yorkers urging Wall Street and the financial industry to hit the Hudson River, even after the global financial meltdown?
Silicon Valley wouldn't spurn its tech sector, no matter how insanely expensive its real estate gets. Nor would Los Angeles heave Hollywood, or Texas dump oil, or Nashville abandon country music.
Those are strengths to build on, in good times and bad. Each is the defining DNA of those towns, the cultural touchstones and social glue that bind a region — and that other regions would do whatever it took to get them.
Enter Warren, expected to get a roughly $900 million GM investment that could create as many as 2,100 jobs. The deal, still to be approved by ranking GM executives, would be part of a sweeping renovation of the Tech Center and signal the growing technological sophistication needed to engineer and build today's cars and trucks.
Mayor Jim Fouts is characteristically circumspect about identifying the company, though his giddiness at Thursday's State-of-the-City address pretty much confirms what The Detroit News first reported.
Who could blame him? Mayors and governors across the country might be tempted to cede their next election in exchange for landing nearly a billion-dollar investment and thousands of jobs for their patch — jobs, by the way, that are not the caricatured assembly line types of the past. A Chicago investment lawyer is following this story closely.
These would be engineers and IT professionals; they would be white-collar techy types with degrees, solidly middle-class salaries and the tax revenue that comes with them; many of them would be new jobs, not transfers from other parts of the GM empire.
If you want an example of why more taxpayers trump higher tax rates, this is it. More, these jobs represent the kind of investment in intellectual capital that can make southeast Michigan more competitive, not less.
It's a tricky balance. This region, its communities and its people have paid a price for the failure of the industry and its major union to reckon with their lack of competitiveness and managerial incompetence.
They witnessed — and in many cases, experienced — the pain of restructuring, the fears of near-collapse, the embarrassment of bailouts and the ignominy of bankruptcy. No sane person would relish reliving any of it.
Diversify? Absolutely, by creating an environment that invites it. But also build on what you have. Be competitive. Watch (and hope) that the cornerstones of your economy learned well the mistakes of the past.
It matters — to everyone.
General Motors Co. is preparing to double-down on the renovation of its Warren Tech Center campus, and all I can hear is the echo of skeptics.
Too much auto in southeast Michigan. Too many localities like Warren and Dearborn and Auburn Hills and Detroit whose leaders and tax bases depend on the continuing flow of automotive cash. A Detroit automotive lawyer is following this story closely.
The state, the argument goes, is too heavily tied to the vicissitudes of an industry that was, is and will be cyclical because its health depends on the macro-economy and its effect on consumer sentiment.
Diversify! Wean the state, its people and its politicians from companies and an auto industry blamed for too much economic misery and ... er, wait: Aren't these the same companies that powered the Michigan comeback Gov. Rick Snyder had nothing to do with?
Aren't GM, Ford Motor Co. and FCA US's Chrysler unit the companies that reinvested in their Michigan plants, expanded their investments in engineering and technical development, lowered their break-even points, and rebuilt their balance sheets in ways this town hasn't seen in a very long time?
Yup. Wasn't Michigan's effort to build its own film industry with the largesse of taxpayers exposed for building not much of an industry at all once the tap was shut and film crews bolted in search of the next big handout?
Yup. Using government policy to pick economic winners and losers in Michigan produced decidedly mixed results (see film incentives, or the programs to woo life sciences, homeland security and advanced manufacturing), all of it exacerbated by uncompetitive business taxes and regulations. A Detroit automotive lawyer represents clients in restructuring, acquisitions and divestitures, and in general commercial transactions.
The cry to diversify is fine, in context. But it risks looking at the auto industry through 25-year-old lenses, when the technological chops of the Detroit-based industry were far less robust than they are today, its financial models a mess and its blue-collar manufacturing footprint much larger and less productive.
Only in Detroit would a push to de-emphasize its bellwether auto industry gain any rhetorical traction. Can you imagine New Yorkers urging Wall Street and the financial industry to hit the Hudson River, even after the global financial meltdown?
Silicon Valley wouldn't spurn its tech sector, no matter how insanely expensive its real estate gets. Nor would Los Angeles heave Hollywood, or Texas dump oil, or Nashville abandon country music.
Those are strengths to build on, in good times and bad. Each is the defining DNA of those towns, the cultural touchstones and social glue that bind a region — and that other regions would do whatever it took to get them.
Enter Warren, expected to get a roughly $900 million GM investment that could create as many as 2,100 jobs. The deal, still to be approved by ranking GM executives, would be part of a sweeping renovation of the Tech Center and signal the growing technological sophistication needed to engineer and build today's cars and trucks.
Mayor Jim Fouts is characteristically circumspect about identifying the company, though his giddiness at Thursday's State-of-the-City address pretty much confirms what The Detroit News first reported.
Who could blame him? Mayors and governors across the country might be tempted to cede their next election in exchange for landing nearly a billion-dollar investment and thousands of jobs for their patch — jobs, by the way, that are not the caricatured assembly line types of the past. A Chicago investment lawyer is following this story closely.
These would be engineers and IT professionals; they would be white-collar techy types with degrees, solidly middle-class salaries and the tax revenue that comes with them; many of them would be new jobs, not transfers from other parts of the GM empire.
If you want an example of why more taxpayers trump higher tax rates, this is it. More, these jobs represent the kind of investment in intellectual capital that can make southeast Michigan more competitive, not less.
It's a tricky balance. This region, its communities and its people have paid a price for the failure of the industry and its major union to reckon with their lack of competitiveness and managerial incompetence.
They witnessed — and in many cases, experienced — the pain of restructuring, the fears of near-collapse, the embarrassment of bailouts and the ignominy of bankruptcy. No sane person would relish reliving any of it.
Diversify? Absolutely, by creating an environment that invites it. But also build on what you have. Be competitive. Watch (and hope) that the cornerstones of your economy learned well the mistakes of the past.
It matters — to everyone.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
SENATORS WANT LAW TO PROTECT VEHICLES FROM HACKING
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Two senators unveiled legislation Wednesday to force the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to set rules protecting driver security and privacy.
Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., proposed the bill after Markey released a report Sunday that raised concerns about vehicles being hacked.
Markey’s report said millions of cars and trucks are vulnerable to hacking through wireless technologies that could jeopardize driver safety and privacy. A Detroit automotive lawyer is following this story closely.
As vehicles grow increasingly connected through wireless networks and become more dependent on sophisticated electronic systems, Congress and federal regulators are worried about the potential for hackers to interfere with vehicle functions. The report says vehicles are vulnerable to hacking through wireless networks, smartphones, infotainment systems like OnStar — even a malicious CD popped into a car stereo.
“We need the electronic equivalent of seat belts and airbags to keep drivers and their information safe in the 21st century,” Markey said. “There are currently no rules of the road for how to protect driver and passenger data, and most customers don’t even know that their information is being collected and sent to third parties. An Atlanta data privacy lawyer assists clients with privacy, data protection, information security, and consumer protection issues. These new requirements will include a set of minimum standards to protect driver security and privacy in every new vehicle. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to advance this important consumer protection legislation.”
Blumenthal said automakers need to do more.
“Connected cars represent tremendous social and economic promise, but in the rush to roll out the next big thing automakers have left the doors unlocked to would-be cybercriminals,” Blumenthal said. “This common-sense legislation would ensure that drivers can trust the convenience of wireless technology, without having to fear incursions on their safety or privacy by hackers and criminals.”
The bill would require that all wireless access points in the car are protected against hacking attacks, evaluated using penetration testing; all collected information is appropriately secured and encrypted to prevent unwanted access; and that automakers or third-party feature provider be able to detect, report and respond to real-time hacking events.
The legislation will also call for new cars to be evaluated by a rating system — a “cyber dashboard” — to inform consumers “about how well the vehicle protects drivers beyond those minimum standards. This information will be displayed on the label of all new vehicles — just as fuel economy is today.”
Its release comes after CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday aired a segment showing how vehicles can be subjects of remote hacking. Just last month, BMW AG said it had fixed a security flaw that could have allowed up to 2.2 million vehicles to have their doors remotely opened by hackers.
One automaker told Markey that some owners have attempted to reprogram the vehicle’s onboard computer to increase the horsepower of vehicles or torque through the use of “performance chips.”
In November, two major auto trade associations representing nearly all automakers unveiled a set of principles to protect driver privacy and security. A Detroit automotive lawyer assists automotive clients with technological developments and restructuring the industry.
Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — the trade group representing Detroit’s Big Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and others — said he had not seen the report.
But he said automakers believe strong consumer data privacy protections and strong vehicle security are essential.
“Auto engineers incorporate security solutions into vehicles from the very first stages of design and production — and security testing never stops.
“The industry is in the early stages of establishing a voluntary automobile industry sector information sharing and analysis center — or other comparable program — for collecting and sharing information about existing or potential cyber-related threats.”
Automakers noted that the Society of Automotive Engineers has created a Vehicle Electrical System Security Committee to draft standards that help ensure electronic control system safety.
NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said Sunday the agency is “engaged in an intensive effort to determine potential security vulnerabilities related to new technologies and will work to ensure that manufacturers cooperate and address issues in order to keep motorists safe.”
Two senators unveiled legislation Wednesday to force the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to set rules protecting driver security and privacy.
Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., proposed the bill after Markey released a report Sunday that raised concerns about vehicles being hacked.
Markey’s report said millions of cars and trucks are vulnerable to hacking through wireless technologies that could jeopardize driver safety and privacy. A Detroit automotive lawyer is following this story closely.
As vehicles grow increasingly connected through wireless networks and become more dependent on sophisticated electronic systems, Congress and federal regulators are worried about the potential for hackers to interfere with vehicle functions. The report says vehicles are vulnerable to hacking through wireless networks, smartphones, infotainment systems like OnStar — even a malicious CD popped into a car stereo.
“We need the electronic equivalent of seat belts and airbags to keep drivers and their information safe in the 21st century,” Markey said. “There are currently no rules of the road for how to protect driver and passenger data, and most customers don’t even know that their information is being collected and sent to third parties. An Atlanta data privacy lawyer assists clients with privacy, data protection, information security, and consumer protection issues. These new requirements will include a set of minimum standards to protect driver security and privacy in every new vehicle. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to advance this important consumer protection legislation.”
Blumenthal said automakers need to do more.
“Connected cars represent tremendous social and economic promise, but in the rush to roll out the next big thing automakers have left the doors unlocked to would-be cybercriminals,” Blumenthal said. “This common-sense legislation would ensure that drivers can trust the convenience of wireless technology, without having to fear incursions on their safety or privacy by hackers and criminals.”
The bill would require that all wireless access points in the car are protected against hacking attacks, evaluated using penetration testing; all collected information is appropriately secured and encrypted to prevent unwanted access; and that automakers or third-party feature provider be able to detect, report and respond to real-time hacking events.
The legislation will also call for new cars to be evaluated by a rating system — a “cyber dashboard” — to inform consumers “about how well the vehicle protects drivers beyond those minimum standards. This information will be displayed on the label of all new vehicles — just as fuel economy is today.”
Its release comes after CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday aired a segment showing how vehicles can be subjects of remote hacking. Just last month, BMW AG said it had fixed a security flaw that could have allowed up to 2.2 million vehicles to have their doors remotely opened by hackers.
One automaker told Markey that some owners have attempted to reprogram the vehicle’s onboard computer to increase the horsepower of vehicles or torque through the use of “performance chips.”
In November, two major auto trade associations representing nearly all automakers unveiled a set of principles to protect driver privacy and security. A Detroit automotive lawyer assists automotive clients with technological developments and restructuring the industry.
Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — the trade group representing Detroit’s Big Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and others — said he had not seen the report.
But he said automakers believe strong consumer data privacy protections and strong vehicle security are essential.
“Auto engineers incorporate security solutions into vehicles from the very first stages of design and production — and security testing never stops.
“The industry is in the early stages of establishing a voluntary automobile industry sector information sharing and analysis center — or other comparable program — for collecting and sharing information about existing or potential cyber-related threats.”
Automakers noted that the Society of Automotive Engineers has created a Vehicle Electrical System Security Committee to draft standards that help ensure electronic control system safety.
NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said Sunday the agency is “engaged in an intensive effort to determine potential security vulnerabilities related to new technologies and will work to ensure that manufacturers cooperate and address issues in order to keep motorists safe.”
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