Eight of the world’s top 25 corporate investors in research and development are automakers. The industry ranks third overall, ahead of software, aerospace and electronics manufacturers.
In fact, Ford and GM each invested more in R&D last year than Boeing, Amgen and Google. And 80 cents of every dollar AAPC’s members invest in R&D is spent here in the U.S. That’s one reason why a recent study by the National Science Foundation found that nearly one in 10 engineers and scientists employed in the private sector works for an automaker or an auto supplier.
All this investment in R&D has translated into unprecedented improvements in passenger safety, air quality, fuel efficiency and new products and features. Last year was the safest year on our highways ever recorded, despite the fact that Americans drove nearly 3 trillion miles. Auto emissions are 99 percent cleaner than they were in the 1970s, and our members’ vehicles will be 30 percent more fuel efficient in 2016 than they were just last year.
Today, American car buyers can choose from more than 150 hybrid, all-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and Chrysler, Ford and GM alone are putting millions of flex fuel vehicles on the road each year.
At a speech in Boston Thursday General Motors chief executive Dan Akerson said the American car company is stepping up its efforts to woo younger drivers, including opening an app store to bring new technologies to its vehicles.
DETROIT – When the all-new 2014 Cadillac CTS sedan arrives in dealerships this fall, it will offer more interior space, power and technology with more than 20 new standard features compared with the current model.
Inside and out, the third-generation CTS sedan grows, ascending into the heart of the midsize luxury market, with an all-new design that is longer, lower and leaner. The new CTS is five inches longer, expanding interior space, but also 244 pounds lighter than the previous model. It is expected to be the lightest car in its segment.
SAARLOUIS, Germany, June 12, 2013 – Ford Motor Company today began a new chapter in its vehicle manufacturing history with the start of production of the all-new Focus Electric – the first full-electric vehicle to be built by Ford in Europe – in Saarlouis, Germany.
The zero-emission Focus Electric is spearheading Ford’s line-up of electrified and highly fuel-efficient vehicles, and will be joined in Europe by the C MAX Energi plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) next year, followed by the all-new Mondeo Hybrid soon after.
