Automotive

If you’re stuck in traffic in Los Angeles, you can at least tell yourself that it’s worse in Thailand, overall. Colombia and Indonesia tied for second-worst traffic, while the U.S. and Russia tied for fourth.

LA has been ranked the world’s most gridlocked city, topping Moscow and New York, but Thailand has been rated the most congested country. The rankings were released Monday by Inrix, a transportation analytics company.

But traffic data firm Inrix reports that it has a fresh way of measuring the worst traffic across the globe and that Los Angeles is not only America’s No. 1 but the world’s as well. Greater L.A.’s rank on the all-new Global Traffic Scorecard is based on the estimated time the average local motorist spent stuck in traffic during peak commuter hours in 2016.

Ferrari remains the world’s strongest automotive brand and is among the top 10 strongest brands across any industry, according to valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance.

The Maranello-based company has extended its brand strength advantage over second-placed Porsche. Its brand value is also up, increasing 40% to $6.15 billion. Toyota remains the most valuable auto brand, with a value of $46.3 billion

Ferrari’s brand strength has improved by three points this year to 92, leading to an upgrading of its brand rating to the maximum AAA+ designation. Porsche is the second most powerful auto brand with a score of 86. Coming in second is Porsche with a score of 86, while Volkswagen and Seat tie for third place scores of 84.9. Following those four automakers are BMW (84.5), Renault (84.2), Ford (83.8), Toyota (83.1), Rolls-Royce (83.0) and Lamborghini (82.3).

PSA Group is discussing a potential acquisition of rival European carmaker Opel from General Motors, a spokesman for the French automaker said on Tuesday.

"PSA confirms that it is exploring a number of strategic initiatives with GM with the aim of increasing its profitability and operating efficiency, including a potential acquisition of Opel," company spokesman Bertrand Blaise said.

The Volkswagen Group has become the world’s top-selling car company for 2016, despite making headlines for all the wrong reasons – chiefly its dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.

VW has reported global annual sales of 10.31 million vehicles for 2016, overtaking Toyota’s annual total of 10.17 million, ending the Japanese company’s global sales hegemony of recent years.

A spokesman for VW said: "2016 was a very challenging year for us." The company "made strides in resolving and overcoming the diesel crisis" and initiated fundamental change in the company’s long-term strategy, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pushed the heads of GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler to build more of their cars in the United States and boost American employment in the process.

After weeks of taunting the automotive industry over Twitter, Trump made a point to meet with the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler just days into his term. He has pressured the companies to build more vehicles in the U.S. and hire more Americans into manufacturing jobs.

"I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!" Trump said in a tweet ahead of the breakfast meeting with automakers, saying he would discuss U.S. jobs with the chief executives.

Cities are growing worldwide and traffic as we know it will only get worse. Airbus Group’s urban air mobility division predicts that by 2030, 60% of the population will live in cities, up from 50% today.

The company hopes to have a working prototype of a self-driving flying car by the year’s end, CEO Tom Enders said at the DLD conference in Munich on Monday, reports Reuters.

The sale of new cars in Switzerland fell by 2% last year compared to 2015, a total of 317’318.

The industry’s association Auto Switzerland indicates that Volkswagen remains the best-selling brand, with 42’142 cars (-0.2%) and a market share of 13.3%, followed by BMW (24’708 registered vehicles; +2.8 %) and Mercedes (23’842; + 4.2%).

Dacia (Renault group), is the brand that recorded the highest growth, 37.5%, followed by Alfa Romeo (+ 20.8%) and Jaguar (+ 82.8%).

Ford is canceling plans to build a new $1.6 billion factory in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and will instead invest some of that money in a U.S. factory that will build new electric and autonomous vehicles.

Ford is investing $700 million to expand its Flat Rock assembly plant and hire 700 new workers to build self-driving and electric vehicles along with the Mustang and Lincoln Continental already produced at the Downriver site.

Fields said Ford will invest $700 million in the Flat Rock plant to make hybrid, electric and autonomous vehicles. It will also hire around 700 workers starting in 2018. In announcing the Michigan expansion, Fields noted Trump’s promise to make the U.S. more competitive by lowering taxes and easing regulations.