mackinaw

Reddy Kilowatt!

The big question is whether Nissan stays in business. Grim times for the boys from Yokohama.

Poor Stellantis. Because of prior infractions, they've committed to follow the California regs no matter what happens at the federal level. https://www.clubalfa.it/en/stellantis-bound-by-california-ev-targets-despite-federal-rollback-20993#google_vignette

You joke, but there's a very good chance that the new LFP battery plant in Michigan may not happen. I those batteries go away, I expect many changes to their EV product plans. See today's Autoline Daily. Go to the 4:30 mark. https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4080-is-gm-trying-to-torpedo-ford-battery-plant-u-s-tariffs-will-raise-car-prices-by-1760-zoox-starts-building-avs-in-california/

From today's Autoline Daily. Go to the 1:33 mark. https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4078-fewer-buyers-willing-to-go-electric-ferrari-delays-2nd-ev-model-honda-tests-new-electric-hot-hatch/

Toyota owns 20% of Subaru.

Autoline offered this point of view earlier today: D3 SHOULD SPIN OFF POWERTRAIN OPS Should GM, Ford and Stellantis spin off their powertrain operations? They may not want to, but they may not have a choice. Last year, GM, Ford and Stellantis spent over $23 billion developing new models. A chunk of that money went into new powertrains. And they have to spend that much every single year. Today, capital is much harder to come by. Interest rates are high and the investment community isn’t as interested in automotive as it was just a few years ago. The Detroit Three could save billions every year if they combined their engine and transmission business into a separate company. It’s not something they like to talk about and they really don’t want to do it. But the capital demands on the industry are getting to the point where they may not be able to afford to do it on their own.

Modern interpretation of Art Deco? First reaction of the exterior was negative. Maybe it will grow on me.

In the 80's you could get a BMW diesel six cylinder in a Lincoln Mark VII. And a Mazda 4-cylinder diesel in a Ranger.

Not bad. I kinda wish they called it "LX" just like the LX trim package many Fox Mustangs had back in the day.

Gross profits, yes, but not net profits. Big difference.

Rivian was going to be the next Tesla and everybody (Ford) wanted in. Then reality hit, its market cap crashed, and investors (Ford, and others) bailed. Even today it's no guarantee that Rivian will make it, especially in light of the generally poor EV market in the U.S. They've yet to make a net profit.

Give Chrysler all the credit in the world in making the hemi monicker theirs. Pure marketing genius. But, the hemi-head design dates back to 1905. A Belgium automaker called Pipe was the first to use a hemispherical combustion chamber on a four cylinder, Fiat followed suit in 1907. Chrysler brought out theirs in 1951.

More on this from today's Autoline Daily. Go to the 1:38 mark. https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4070-ford-could-outsource-engines-ram-revives-the-hemi-uk-production-hits-70-year-low/

Northern Michigan went through a devastating ice storm in late March and early April. We went without power for nine days and friends of mine had no power for 18 days. My small town (Gaylord) was literally shut down. The hospital had a generator and was the only place in town that had power. Two gas stations eventually got power, so at least you could gas up your vehicles and get gas for your generator. The EV charging stations in town were low priority and had no power for more than a week. And good luck charging your EV with your home charger. A friend of mine in a nearby town that owns a Kia EV was unable to charge it, so it sat in his garage while he drove his Tacoma until the power came back on. Yes, I realize this was an extreme weather event that I won't see again in my lifetime, but it further soured me on owning an EV. And thank god for a woodstove, that's the only reason we stayed here for those nine days.