Mazda has announced the brand new 2024 Mazda CX-90, a three-row SUV built on Mazda's all-new large platform. The CX-90 represents the company's new flagship vehicle with wider, longer, and more aggressive proportions. Mazda CX-90 is available with all-new electrified powertrains, including an inline 6 turbo and a plug-in hybrid, that offer drivers enhanced performance and efficiency.
2024-Mazda-CX-90-Reveal
"At Mazda, our focus is to deliver an ownership experience that enriches the lives of our customers. With each new vehicle launch, we challenge ourselves to progress through our human-centric approach of design and engineering," said Jeff Guyton, President and CEO of Mazda North American Operations. "CX-90 offers powerful and responsive performance, alluring design, and intuitive technology. We're very proud of our team's work on CX-90, which we know is a breakthrough vehicle in its segment."
As with all Mazda vehicles, CX-90 is designed with the driver in mind. With seating for up to eight passengers, CX-90 can accommodate families and friends in all three rows. Cabin space, cargo capacity, safety features, and many amenities are optimized for their needs.
As we prepare to celebrate International Women’s day on March 8th, it provides us the opportunity to assess how far women have come in various fields and professions.
In the world of engineering and fastener design, ARaymond is one global firm that recognizes the importance of female voices in their current and future endeavors. In addition to actively recruiting talented female team members, they also recognize the importance of listening to women’s voices at the highest levels of business development.
Laurence Fayand, who serves as President and Managing Director of ARaymond’s Business Incubator and Accelerator, leads a team that is responsible for developing technologies of the future at ARaymond — including the latest advances in fastening, fluid handling portfolios, and data & digital service. ARaymond is based in France but has a U.S. headquarters in Michigan and a presence throughout the globe in more than two dozen countries. Fayand’s background prior to ARaymond includes serving as CFO at multiple technology companies including Kayentis and Tronics Microsystems, and a lengthy stint in key management roles at HP.
Fayand recently answered several questions about her role at the ARaymond Incubator, and why it’s important to grow the number of women in STEM roles as well as business/leadership positions.
Cadillac has revealed the Project GTP Hypercar that previews the luxury brand’s third-generation prototype race car.
In 2023, Cadillac will contest the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“The Project GTP Hypercar is a unique convergence of form and function and showcases Cadillac’s future performance aesthetic,” said Chris Mikalauskas, lead exterior creative designer, Cadillac. “We have plenty more to come, from the upcoming race car to amazing production vehicles.”
Since 2017, Cadillac has been competing at the forefront of American sports car racing in the IMSA manufacturers championship achieving numerous wins, podiums and championships in the Cadillac DPi-V.R.
“Competing for the overall win at Le Mans with an iconic American brand like Cadillac is an honor,” said Laura Wontrop Klauser, GM sports car racing program manager. “The entire team is excited to continue building Cadillac’s racing legacy by competing against the very best internationally and in the world's toughest race.”
Bentley Motors has announced the luxury brand's financial results for 2021, complementing its record sales performance during the same 12-month period. Operating profits rose to €389 million, which was €369 million more than in 2020.
Turnover last year reached €2.845 billion, while an increased level of personalisation and a model mix dominated by Speed, Mulliner and Hybrid models resulted in the average revenue per luxury car rising by eight per cent over 2020. This contributed to an impressive return on sales of 13.7 per cent.
Bentley had already announced that it had delivered 14,659 extraordinary cars in 2021, a 31 per cent increase on the previous record year of 2020. Furthermore, there was a steady increase of customer interest in new models resulting in an order bank at record levels at the start of 2022.
The figures are also a vindication of customer appreciation of the freshest model line-up in the luxury segment and of Bentley’s ground-breaking Beyond100 strategy, to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030. The initiative has been underpinned by a ten-year investment programme at the Crewe factory, a €3 billion sum representing the biggest transformation and investment programme in Bentley’s history. The company plans to build one new electric model each year for five years from 2025 onwards, as the entire model range undergoes electrification.
Commenting on the figures, Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, said: “These results were achieved against a continued backdrop of economic uncertainty. They represent a major achievement for everybody involved at Bentley Motors, as we push forward with our Beyond100 programme to reinvent our entire product range in the build-up to carbon neutrality by 2030.”
Jan-Henrik Lafrentz, Member of the Board for Finance and IT, Bentley Motors, added: “Brand strength has been key to Bentley’s financial performance in 2021, with new models such as Bentayga Hybrid helping to drive profit to a record €389 million. Increasing demand for our hybridised models, supported by €3 billion of sustainable investment in our Crewe factory, will ensure we remain the benchmark manufacturer in sustainable luxury mobility.”
Past 10-year performance:
|
Year |
Retails |
Turnover (€) |
Operating (€) |
|
2021 |
14,659 |
2,845 million |
389 million |
|
2020 |
11,206 |
2,049 million |
20 million |
|
2019 |
11,006 |
2,092 million |
65 million |
|
2018 |
10,494 |
1,548 million |
-288 million |
|
2017 |
11,089 |
1,843 million |
55 million |
|
2016 |
11,023 |
2,031.1 million |
112.1 million |
|
2015 |
10,100 |
1,935.9 million |
110.4 million |
|
2014 |
11,020 |
1,746.4 million |
170 million* |
|
2013 |
10,120 |
1,678.7 million |
167.7 million |
|
2012 |
8,510 |
1,453.2 million |
100.5 million |
*Previous record operating result.
— Press release courtesy of Bentley
In view of the increasing shortage of skilled workers, women are an important target group when recruiting for many manufacturing and engineering companies. We spoke to Franziska Gempp (32), HR Manager, at the international automotive supplier ARaymond in Lörrach, Germany, and the trained technical draftswoman Yvonne Maschat (34) about how the specialist for fastening and assembly solutions is doing at its German locations Lörrach and Weil am Rhein, what support the company needs from politicians, what perspectives women have, and what makes a technical profession so exciting.
Ms. Gempp, how are you affected by the shortage of skilled workers and what kind of support would you like from education policy?
Franziska Gempp: The shortage of skilled workers is of particular concern to us in the area of technical jobs. In many cases, we lack skilled workers here – such as a good electrician or a toolmaker. Against this background, the increasing academization worries us. For us, a good education is just as important as a good degree. We are currently noticing that a large number of young people immediately think in the direction of studying and that training is becoming less important. I wish that we would emphasize the value of our very good dual training system in Germany much more. One of our trainees told me that the career orientation at her high school was exclusively geared towards studying. I think schoolchildren should be aware that they can start an apprenticeship with a high school diploma and, based on that, develop further professionally. And they should be able to test whether they are more the type for scientific or practical work. For me, that would be important content that should be discussed in the career orientation phase.
What contribution does your company itself make to career orientation?
For example, we offer many internships, of course also for girls and young women. In view of the shortage of skilled workers, women are an important target group for us, as are career changers or somewhat older applicants. When it comes to women, I think the most important thing is to get them excited about technology at an early age. That's why we target girls at school and bring them into the company through campaigns such as Girls' Day or internships. We often get feedback like "Wow, I hadn't imagined it that way, that's really interesting." Or "I thought that was much more difficult." In addition to the exciting technique itself, this certainly has something to do with the fact that production conditions have changed significantly in recent years and the technical production jobs are no longer associated with heavy physical work. We have lifting aids, etc., so the jobs are suitable for everyone — men and women, but also older workers.
When the women are with you: How does, for example, a technical production job go together with the topic of children or caring for relatives — both topics in which women in particular continue to withdraw from their jobs?
We see to it that we get the best possible outcome for our employees and for us as an employer with flexible working time models – in other words, in production, for example, we talk about shift models that are suitable for childcare. In areas such as construction and development, mobile working is also possible for better compatibility. And then of course we have many part-time models, which are normal for us wherever they are feasible. We keep in touch during parental leave: Many employees come by regularly or, of course, are part of the team at events such as a Christmas party or a barbecue.
Ms. Maschat, as a trained technical draftswoman, you now work as a project manager assistant in the development of ARaymond. How did you get into this technical job?
Yvonne Maschat: I did my training as a technical draftswoman here at ARaymond (today that corresponds to the job profile of a technical product designer) and, with the support of the company, I went to evening classes to do further training to become a technical business administrator. As a result, I got my current job as a project manager assistant in construction. As a technical draftswoman, I was entrusted with developing fasteners for the automotive industry and deriving the drawings from them. As an assistant, I still design today, but I also do a lot of customer communication and know what customers want.
— Content provided by ARaymond
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