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The summer might be a time to slow down and enjoy a bit of sunshine and relaxation, but the major automotive manufacturers are busier than ever with plenty of updates, new releases, and anticipated announcements in the coming weeks. Here's a roundup of the latest info we're hearing about.
Volvo Partners With Tesla on Charging: The EV market is heating up! Swedish carmaker Volvo just inked a deal with powerhouse EV brand Tesla to gain access to its 12,000 fast charging stations across the US. As per the announcement, future Volvo cars, starting from 2025, will be equipped with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging port in the region. Volvo currently offers several electric models, including the newly released EX90, its largest electric SUV. Volvo has committed to offering a fully electric platform across its lineup by 2030. Read the full release here.
Derek Jeter Approves: The newly relaunched and completely redesigned large luxury peoplemover, the Grand Wagoneer, continues its alliance with the baseball legend and model (respectively) Derek and Hannah Jeter for a lineup of new advertising. The power couple were first featured in a Grand Wagoneer ad this past October. The upcoming campaign will lean heavily on the summer vibes, evoking the feels with the classic “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” amid a bevy of relaxing sunny day activities and even a stop on the red carpet—with the premium full-size SUV, of course. Expect the 30-second spots to start hitting soon. Read the full release here.
Mercedes Embraces ChatGPT: The luxury German automaker is tapping into the power of AI’s newest darling, ChatGPT, for the latest update to its voice-activated control center, MBUX Voice Assistant. This new collab is part of a beta testing program and customers can opt in by accessing through the Mercedes me app or by using the prompt “Hey Mercedes” and asking to join the program. Mercedes says that it’s working with the AI to make its voice control even more intuitive for its users. As for privacy: “Through Azure OpenAI Service, Mercedes-Benz is tapping OpenAI's large-scale generative AI models combined with the enterprise-grade security, privacy, and reliability capabilities of Azure. Mercedes-Benz retains complete control over the IT processes in the background. The voice command data collected is stored in the Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Cloud, where it is anonymized and analyzed.” Read the full release here.
ABC Unveils Bus Charging Station: ABC Companies and Proterra will debut its largest private motorcoach facility in North America this July 19. The facility, located in Newark, Calif., is part of ABC’s multiyear project to achieve zero emissions for passenger transportation via bus. All in all, the facility is capable of fast charging up to 40 motorcoaches at a time. Attendees will also be able to see in person the fully electric TDX25E, Van Hool’s 45-foot double-deck motorcoach. The coach, which uses Proterra battery power, has a range of up to 260 miles and can seat up to 69 passengers. More information will be available at abc-companies.com.
Cadillac Escalade IQ EV Debuts Next Month: Excitement is building as one of the industry’s most popular full-size SUVs, the Escalade, goes electric in 2025. This is part of the brand’s extremely aggressive move to offer an all-electric lineup by 2030 (Also, GM announced that its goal was to sell 1 million EVs across all its brands by 2025). The OEM is keeping the vehicle under wraps for now, but you can be sure that we’ll have all the details once it’s revealed in New York next month. You can peek at the silhouette of the vehicle for now in its teaser video here.
[06.30.23]
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Valera Global Founders David and Naomi Eckstein celebrate Lucky to Be Here Friends Giving with business associates
With close to 20 guests, Valera Global Founders David and Naomi Eckstein held their “Lucky to be Here Friends Giving” on Saturday, June 24. They celebrated 37 years of business among business associates and friends from the Northeast, namely Long Island, Westchester, and even Boston.
“Naomi and I love to party with business affiliates who’ve become close friends over the years from the black car and limousine industry where we’ve been very unsuccessfully going out of business for the last 37 years,” jokes David. “What an incredible trip that has been.”
The event was commemorated with T-shirts for each of the guests printed by Roberta Pike and partner Paul Danzinger of Stich This Print That in North Bellmore, N.Y. Pike previously served as Valera’s corporate lawyer for more than 30 years, and was a columnist for Chauffeur Driven.
Visit valeraglobal.com for more information.
[06.30.23]
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Sustainability in global corporate travel is a priority for the industry, according to a new report released by the GBTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). The Foundation’s report, The State of Climate Action in Business Travel—Global Industry Barometer 2023, found that 92 percent of respondents are making sustainability a top concern in their business, up from 89 percent in the 2022 report.
The report was unveiled as part of GBTA’s 2nd Sustainability Summit, which was held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Notably, respondents from Asia Pacific and Latin America unanimously claim it’s a top priority, with Europe at 98 percent; North America was slightly lower than its global counterparts at 86 percent.
Moreover, travel partners are looking toward those who can offer solutions. And while a corporate green footprint is important for their reputation (84 percent), they are equally concerned about the impact on the environment (82 percent)—meaning it’s not just lip service. As such, GBTA sees sustainable practices as part of their long-term initiative to be leader for their global members.
Report Highlights: Sustainability
Additional key findings:
- Combining trips is seen as a tactic to maximize travel’s return on emissions: 74 percent of travel managers are encouraging (55 percent) or mandating (19 percent) their employees to combine multiple business trips into one.
- Travel managers are not always directly acting on the purpose of travel in their policies: 38 percent report they currently ask for justification for same-day business trips based on return on investment (ROI) and available alternatives.
- Developing consistent industry-wide standards is a priority for travel buyers.Asked to pick five ways in which the industry should accelerate sustainable change (out of 10 possible), a large majority of buyers point to harmonized standards on emissions measurement, accounting, and reporting (requested by 65 percent of buyers). Meanwhile, 60 percent of buyers requested that GBTA develop harmonized sustainability questions to be used in procurement.
- Financing the green transition continues to present the biggest challenge for both travel buyers and suppliers in decarbonizing their programs and operations, with “higher costs” ranking as the number one barrier two years in a row.
- Travel managers are being tasked with reducing emissions for their programs: More than half (54 percent) of respondents say their company has set either internal or public targets to reduce Scope 3 emissions, which include those from business travel. Another 23 percent are planning to set such reduction targets.
“Any kind of meaningful impact begins with the knowledge that change is necessary,” said GBTA Foundation Managing Director Delphine Millot. “Engaging business travelers and activating the point of sale to empower them to select more sustainable options will be critical—with corporate travel managers playing a leading role in driving that needed change. But to get there, as an industry we must unify standards and make the investments needed to decarbonize business travel.”
The full report is available for download here.
Visit gbtafoundation.org for more information.
[06.27.23]