What a Happy Mother’s Day from Hyundai
On the lighter side of heroines Ellen DeGeneres highlighted Ray Nell Jones who as been giving to single moms in need during the pandemic. To help her deliver the food, clothes and home products, diapers and formula to single mom.
“I started because I remember being a homeless single mom, struggling in silence, not having that support system that I needed. I wanted to become the hero, that I didn’t have,” says, Jones, “So for me to do that I got o pay it forward.”
Ellen is donating goods to the organization for Mother’s Day and and an added surprise is a new Hyundai Santa Fe. Jones scream ans cheers with delight. Ellen announced that Hyundai now offers home delivery.
Ellen says “That’s your new car because you’re a really good human being. Thank you for everything you do.
Thanks to @TheEllenShow for helping us surprise an amazing woman who has spent the last 11 years helping to make lives better for so many single moms. #HappyMothersDay https://t.co/xuFYbBed8U
— Hyundai USA (@Hyundai) May 8, 2020
And if you want to buy your mom a Ferrari is back to work.
During this week, the Ferrari factories in Maranello and Modena gradually returned to full production, in line with the “Back on Track” program. The first car to come off the Special Series lines, after seven weeks in which the processing was suspended just a few hours before its completion, was a Ferrari Monza SP2 with a black and gray livery. In the following days, a 812 GTS spider in Grigio GTS and a F8 Tributo in Rosso Corsa were among the first cars completed in the 12 and 8 cylinder lines. The new Ferraris are ready to be delivered to their owners – in USA, Germany and Australia and respectively – and to finally hit the road.
Aston Martin is Begging to Plan its Return
Aston Martin Lagonda is this week beginning a carefully planned phased return to work for a number of its manufacturing staff as the business looks to prudently restart car making while adjusting to the new normal in the nation’s ongoing battle to protect the NHS and overcome the threat of COVID-19.
Working closely with the trade unions, Aston Martin Lagonda has developed detailed return-to-work protocols to be followed by employees returning to their jobs at the brand’s manufacturing facility in St Athan, Wales. Production workers at the company’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire will follow at a later date, as will office and support staff at Aston Martin Lagonda’s various other UK sites.
The meticulously planned Site Operating Procedures are aimed at protecting individual staff members, their colleagues, their families and the wider community. The social distancing, health and hygiene instructions cover every aspect of a staff member’s interaction with work from preparing to leave home to arriving on site; navigating the site; breaks and mealtimes; falling ill whilst at work; dealing with visitors and contractors; and leaving the site. There is also detailed guidance on PPE management; travel between Aston Martin Lagonda sites; and pool car arrangements.
Dozens of individual actions and instructions have been drawn up to support social distancing, with carefully calculated limits on employee numbers on site and working at any given time to support staff actions. Appropriate PPE is being provided to all returning staff, for example mandatory use of masks at all time while on site, temperature checks on arrival at work are also being introduced.
Wake Up Calls for COVID-19
For the latest episode of his podcast Transportation Matters Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum virtually met Madame Secretary Madeline K. Albright, who was the first female United States Secretary of State during the Clinton administration from 1997 to 2001. During their conversation the two business and political leaders discuss the challenges of global collaboration in times of a crisis like the current COVID-19 pandemic and what is essential to overcome the obstacles. In their discourse both Albright and Daum reflect on what the pandemic teaches us how to tackle other global tasks.
“Corona is one of the biggest challenges that we have ever seen – because it happened quickly and nobody was prepared. It’s a wakeup call to work together,” Madeleine Albright says and compares the pandemic to historic threats like nuclear proliferation in the 90s or the climate change as global task for human mankind. “The message we have to learn from this crisis is that what unites us as humans – love, fear and the ability to solve – is much more powerful than what separates us, like nationalities, gender or race,” expresses Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Truck AG and member of the board of management Daimler AG.
From Albrights’ perspective the current pandemic situation is a litmus test for institutionalized systems of international collaboration when it comes to solving other challenges like the climate change. The international system of working together has “some flaws and needs refurbishing,” the former US Secretary of State analyzes and adds: “The UN needs some fixing, regional organizations need some fixing and there is no way that this works without collaboration and cooperation. No country can deal with this alone.”
How to learn from the pandemic crisis
Reflecting on what to learn from the corona crisis for other global challenges Albright refers to the collaboration of the public and the private sector: “The private sector should be at the table much earlier, before important decisions are made. When we talk about the rules by which the world operates at any given time, the private sector has to be part of the rulemaking.”
Martin Daum adds his experiences about the learning process of the public private partnership in collaborating on climate change: “The point when we – the Transport Industry – advanced most in cooperating with policy makers was when we stopped just whining and defending the status quo, and when the politics side started understanding the difficulties that we have, and our customers have with this transformation.”
BMW is Prepared
BMW Group is well prepared to react swiftly and decisively at all times to new developments during the corona pandemic by systematically identifying potential scenarios. This approach is all the more important given that the BMW Group expects the consequences of the corona pandemic to constrain the operations of the entire automotive industry for quite some time to come. It is also becoming apparent that delivery volumes in key markets are not going to return to normal in the space of just a few weeks. The BMW Group is developing strategies for various scenarios and is prepared to take additional measures to safeguard its financial position and use its underlying strength to steer itself through this challenging phase.
“Quite clearly, the situation remains serious and market forecasts are subject to constraints under these circumstances. We are gradually ramping up our production again according to demand in each market. However, we are monitoring developments extremely closely to be able to respond with maximum flexibility,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, in Munich on Wednesday. “We are keeping a tight rein on inventory levels because liquidity has absolute priority in this situation.”
At the same time, the BMW Group is keenly aware of its responsibility as an employer and as an integral part of society. It promotes the protection and health of its employees and endeavours to strike the best possible balance to ensure the enduring success of the enterprise. The BMW Group is also helping public authorities to procure personal protective equipment, providing vehicles for aid organisations, and has even started producing respiratory masks. Zipse went on to say: “We are doing all we can to leverage our expertise to combat the virus. We are contributing towards protecting public health. At the same time, we are also doing our part to help kick-start the economy and revive public life in a number of countries. Both of these factors are highly relevant and they can only work in unison.”
Our IP is Your IP for Caronavirus Help
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. joins as one of the founders of ‘IP open access declaration against COVID-19″, a collective effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In an unprecedented move, this declaration brings together businesses, government and academia to promote the fastest possible development and manufacturing of therapeutic drugs, vaccines, medical devices and infection control products.
In accordance with this declaration, Nissan will not seek compensation, nor assert any patent, utility model, design or copyright against any activities whose purpose is to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including diagnosis, prevention, containment and treatment until the date the World Health Organization (WHO) declares that the COVID-19 outbreak no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
Nissan will continue efforts to support measures against the spread of COVID-19, leveraging expertise gained through vehicle engineering and production, using existing assets, and cooperating with governments and related parties in each country.