Leading up to its opening to the general public on March 30, tractor trailers and car carriers filled with brand new automobiles of all makes, models, styles and colors made their way to the Jacob K. Javits Center at 37th street and eleventh avenue for the 118th edition of the New York International Auto Show. Being part of the media enabled me to view the auto show for two days prior to its opening to the general public.
As it has over the years, the show keeps on outdoing itself. The show floors have literally something for everyone. My particular interest was to see what the auto industry has come up with to satisfy the For-Hire industry. And they did not disappoint.
It appeared as though all of the manufacturers had the same thing in mind as to what the consumer was looking for, and that was technology. The show ran the gamut from conservative models (family cars) to state of the art technologically advanced vehicles to driverless cars.
The show named the Volvo XC60 as the 2018 World Car of the Year. The president and CEO of Volvo Cars, Hakan Samuelsson said, “I am pleased to see our company’s product investments paying off,” adding: “We are up against some tough competition, but this award for the XC60 shows that Volvo has the right combination of design, connectivity and safety that appeals to customers across the world.”
The auto show also announced a number of other awards, some of which I have highlighted here, and some of which are suitable for use in the Black Car industry. The Nissan Leaf was the recipient of the 2018 World Green Car. The Audi A8 was the recipient of the 2018 World Luxury Car award. The Rover Velar came away with the award for the 2018 World Car Design of the Year. The BMW M5 was honored with the award for the 2018 World Performance Car. And the Volkswagen Polo received the 2018 World Urban Car award.
Among the other cars on the show floor that appeared to be suitable for use in, or are being used in, the Black Car industry are: the Nissan Altima, Cadillac XT4, Acura RDX, Hyundai Kona Electric, Toyota RAV4, Lincoln Aviator, Kia K900, Lexus UX, Subaru Forester, Volvo V60 Wagon, Volvo XC40 Inscription, Kia Sedona, Hyundai Santa Fe, and the Acura MDX A-Spec.
The 2018 New York International Automobile Show really outdid itself in having many interactive events at the show for participation by the attendees. The show closed on April 8, 2018 and will come again next year April 19-28, 2019.
Let’s Talk a Little About Uber & Lyft
Even with a change in management Uber keeps on racking up violations upon violations from coast to coast and around the world.
An interesting event happened when the European Union’s (EU’s) highest court ruled that France can bring criminal charges against Uber managers for running an illegal taxi service. The case concerns a French law that deems it a crime to organize a taxi service without governmental approval. And France does not need the EU’s approval. In a class action lawsuit Uber is being charged with a scheme in which it manipulates navigation data to determine “upfront” rider fare prices, while secretly short-changing drivers.
It appears that more and more regulators are getting the word with regard to securing background checks by Uber.
The Arizona fatal self-driving accident by an Uber vehicle has also taken a toll on the company. It is another major issue that Uber’s new management has to deal with.
Spring is finally in the air and baseball is on the field!
