August 2010 Archives

Hawthorne-based spaceX just keeps moving forward on its historic effort to reshape space travel and the commercial sector's role in it.

SpaceX Asks For Oct. 23 Dragon Launch Slot

(AviationWeek.com) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has requested Oct. 23 on the 45th Space Wing's calendar for launch of its second Falcon 9 rocket, which will aim to place a Dragon cargo capsule into orbit.

The flight is the first of up to three launches planned under SpaceX's $278-million Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract with NASA, which is intended to help pay for the rocket and capsule's design, development and flight testing.

Read more on SpaceX's launch plans.

It's not cheap to lobby the government. And virtually every large company in America engages in some type of lobbying, whether directly or through a trade association.

Toyota spends $1.6M lobbying Congress in 2Q

Toyota Motor North America spent $1.6 million lobbying both houses of Congress on automotive safety, tort and other issues during the second quarter, the automaker disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Read more on Toyota's lobbying.

Toyota has come under a lot of criticism for its vehicles recalls in the past years. Our Congress members have scolded the Toyota president and our regulators have fined the company.
But could the main culprit behind the recall of about 10 millions Toyota vehicles worldwide in the past year actually be our federal government? That's what a consumer advocate told me.
I explain her argument in my Business Casual column.

Here's a paragraph from the column:

But what if Toyota isn't the main culprit? What if another party got the recall ball rolling at the world's largest automaker?

Read the whole Business Casual column.

Toyota is pushing ahead with its altnernative-fuel business despite the bloody nose the comany has suffered from the recalls this year and last.

Even the fact that the top-selling Prius hybrid was caught up in Toyota's recall mess hasn't stopped the Japanese carmaker from dominating the hybrid market.

Toyota plans 5 million cumulative hybrid sales by 2015

(Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it wants to reach cumulative sales of 5 million hybrid vehicles in the early part of this decade.

Toyota, the pioneer in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, said earlier this month it had sold more than 2.68 million hybrid vehicles globally since it launched the first model in 1997.

The best-selling Prius and other models have received a boost in Japan especially in the last year thanks to government subsidies that favor hybrids over other fuel-efficient cars.

Read more on Toyota's Prius plans.

It's counterintuitive to want too make a Prius sound louder since the whole idea of this "green" car is to reduce pollution. That includes sound pollution. But Priuses can be dangerous if you can't hear them coming as you cross the street. It's especially dangerous for the blind.

Prius Gets Sound Option to Protect Pedestrians

(AP) Toyota's Prius hybrid is becoming a little less quiet with a new electronic humming device that is the automaker's answer to complaints that pedestrians can't hear the top-selling car approaching.

The 12,600 yen ($148) speaker system that goes under the hood of the third-generation Prius sets off a whirring sound designed to be about the same noise level as a regular car engine so that it isn't annoying, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday.

Read more on the Toyota Prius noise option.

Does this mean that part of Toyota's recall-related quality control problems was due to not enough authority for its executives in regional markets?
Perhaps leveling the management structure with less top-down control will allow complaints by engineers and motorists to move up the corporate flag pole quicker.

Toyota shifts more authority to U.S. units

(The Detroit News) San Antonio -- Years before Toyota Motor Corp.'s quality problems raised doubts about its centralized management style, the automaker already was planning to shift more authority to its U.S. operations to allow them to react faster to changing market conditions.

Now Toyota is pursuing that strategy with renewed vigor, after reviewing the missteps that led to record recalls in its most lucrative market, a top executive said. Since June, Toyota has promoted several U.S. and Canadian executives to build the ranks of future managers for North America.

Read more on Toyota's US shift.

This is an interesting twist for El Segundo-based Mattel. MGA may be upping the ante in its legal battle with Mattel over Bratz. By accusing Mattel of spying, MGA has gained some negotiating leverage in a possible settlement.

Mattel Accused in Bratz Battle of Spying on Rivals

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mattel Inc was accused by rival MGA Entertainment Inc of spying on rival toy companies for at least 15 years and defrauding it out of secret details on more than 50 products, in an escalation of the battle over the popular Bratz dolls.

In a filing in Los Angeles federal court late Monday, MGA said Mattel workers, with the approval of executives, infiltrated rivals' private showrooms to steal product ideas, price lists and advertising strategies.

Read the whole Mattel spying story.

Boeing's satellite division in El Segundo and its C-17 line in Long Beach fall under the company's defense business. Yet, Boeing treats the two very differently.
One local operation could disappear in a few years. The other is recovering from years of downsizing.
In my Business Casual column, I look at those differences. Here's how I started the column:

Last week's news that Boeing Co. won a $600 million contract to build three satellites at its El Segundo factory certainly came as a relief to the facility's workers.

It's also good news for the South Bay, which benefits when 5,000 engineers, welders and other staff have secure jobs.

Read the whole Business Casual column.

South Bay Rep. Maxine Waters is accused of violating House ethics rules for helping a minority-owned bank receive federal bailout money.

However, former LA Times writer and editor Bill Boyarsky wrote a defense of Waters.

Here's how Boyarsky starts his piece for Truthdig.com:

Broadway and Central Avenue in the Watts area of South Los Angeles are lined with dozens of small, marginal businesses, but hardly any banks. In a capitalist economy, these are streets without capital, losers in the race to the top. That helps explain -- although perhaps not excuse -- Rep. Maxine Waters' current troubles in her relationship with minority-owned banks.

Elon Musk, whose SpaceX rocket company is based in Hawthorne, started the business because he wanted to ultimately create rockets that could send humans to Mars, making us an interplanetary species. He told me and other reporters this several years ago. Pretty neat, huh.

Here's the new Aviation Week story on the latest plans for rockets that can reach Mars.

SpaceX Unveils Ambitious Exploration Goals

(Aviation Week) While NASA deliberates over its heavy-lift launch options, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is revealing ambitious concepts for a family of Falcon X and XX super-heavy-lift vehicles that it says could provide the foundation for the first commercially based road map to Mars.

Read the whole story on SpaceX's plans for Mars.