G. David Felt

Cheapness??????

Was invited to a show 5 years ago and yes, they should have retired 10 years ago plus. My friend who took me to the show said they still travel and perform to pay for the up keep on their castles in England.

Nutella For you Nutella fans: 9 ways to take Nutella on toast to the next level · The Daily Edge For you health nuts: Here’s the recipe: 3 Killer Health Risks of Nutella - Side Effects of Nutella (pillarsofindia.com)

I think like various transmissions with ICE, the BEVs will make CVT go to the grave. At least that is my hope.

Agree, it would seem to me that the NX is a rebadge of the Rav4 Hybrid and the UX is a rebadge of the CH-R Hybrid. @William Maley Can you do a compare and contrast of if other than the badge and cosmetic bits, is this not just a rebadge or is there more that Lexus gives you?

Yes, all about making money and who cares about the customer attitude is what I see from Tesla.

@balthazar @ccap41 @A Horse With No Name @oldshurst442 @riviera74 I know I am forgetting a few, We all have heard that GM will have electric crate motors just like ICE in the Same Connect and Cruise package via their GM Performance group. Ford at SEMA this year will also Launch their e-Crate Motors starting with using what is sold in the Mustang Mach-e. Ford e-Crate Motors will start with what Ford is calling the Eluminator e-Crate motor package. These will supposedly connect up to any existing Ford Transmission. Ford Performance Enters Crate EV Motor Fray With Eluminator (motortrend.com) Welcome to the Eluminator e-Crate motor solution from Ford. Mighty Hefty TORQUE in the Eluminator Motor!!!

Loved This Movie!!! Spirited Away

@William Maley Is this not just a rebadge of the Toyota Rav4 hybrid?

According to Reuters, strong demand has already made Ford increase production again ahead of the 2022 launch. Ford plans to increase spending an additional $850 million to meet the new targets according to people familiar with the plan inside Ford and at their suppliers. Ford initially had very simple easy goal of less than 5,000 trucks initially for the production launch in 2022, but by the approach of the truck reveal they had upped it to 7,500. Since then with the strong 150,000 customer reserves on top of production orders by Ford Dealers, Ford has again upped production. This time Ford has doubled production estimates all the way through 2025 when the generation two F-150 Lighting comes out. Ford production plans now stand as follows: 2022 - 15,000 2023 - 55,000 2025 - 160,000 Share of Ford rose 1.3% today on this news as investors are very positive about big growth for Ford as they move over to electric auto's. Ford officials have confirmed that they are pleasantly surprised by the early demand for the Ford Lighting electric truck. While various Industry observers have questioned if consumers will give up their gas-powered pickups for electric, commercial customers are looking to reduce their carbon footprint with trucks and vans and have been a huge source of interest and pre-purchases. Ford has not stated how many commercial reservations they have only focusing on retail customer reservations, but the constant increase in production numbers would imply a rather large push to change over from gas/diesel to electric. EXCLUSIVE Ford doubles Lightning production target on strong pre-launch demand -sources | Reuters View full article

Seems Ford is taking a page from Dodge in offering far more Performance options and now you can for those not needing AWD/4x4 with the 400 hp motor can get an ST only in RWD with the top of the line 400HP motor and other performance option packages. Keeping America’s All-Time Best-Selling SUV Hot, Ford Explorer ST Elevates Performance, New ST-Line Model Revs Up Athletic Style | Ford Media Center Seems Ford is wanting to have new special edition packages for the whole Mustang family. ICE White Cool As Ice: New Special Edition Appearance Package Brings Throwback Style to Mustang Family | Ford Media Center

I Expect Dodge to offer a Demon Electric version in 2024 to take back the fastest car crown. I really love these lists of who is offering what tool kits for what price. Amazon has an amazing assortment. Best mechanics' tool sets for 2021 - Roadshow (cnet.com)

Was not aware of this till I read this story, but it seems at the end of 2019, Tesla changed from their $1,000 deposit on auto orders/reservations which was fully refundable if you decided to cancel to a $100 non-refundable deposit with a 7 day less than 1,000 miles returnable policy if you did not like the auto. At the end of 2020, Tesla gave up on it's no questions asked return policy but kept in place that if you place an order and cancel it before taking delivery, you still loose your $100 deposit. Now Tesla has more than doubled it as a non-returnable deposit is now $250.00 for any vehicle you order. Tesla more than doubles its non-refundable order fee - Electrek

Seems Stellantis has given all 14 brands a 10 year prove you can move to electric and drive profitable volume or else. According to Green Car Reports which is a news article based on an Automotive News Premium subscriber article, Tim Kuniskis has provided Automotive News the following info on Dodge and Stellantis. Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler are currently working to outline a detailed electrification plan for release this Fall. Dodge will show off their "Tear up the Planet, Not the Earth" Concept car in 2022. Production and on sale will commence for Dodge's first battery electric muscle car in 2024. Kuniskis also admits that under FCA CEO they were directed to prioritize as many high-profit low mileage auto's for America as they could even if they had to pay an environmental penalties. Kuniskis also stated that the electric vehicle platforms will be around for many years and while the heart of the muscle car market is $40,000 to $50,000, to go fully electric the brand is going to have to embrace large scale production that covers prices from the low price high volume to the high price limited volume production to win. This is the hard part as Stellantis has committed to 40% of all global auto sales are to be BEV by 2030. Dodge electric concept car coming in 2022, on the way to EV muscle car in 2024 (greencarreports.com) What Do You Think About Dodge Going Electric? - The Truth About Cars

Interesting read on the lightest to heaviest BEV auto's today. You can read the extra few comments but I think the chart they built really sums it up on the weight of BEVs. Electric Cars From Heaviest To Lightest (insideevs.com) Interesting comparison. 5yrs out, a tie, but after that EV wins for lower cost.

Dodge Demon demolished by Tesla S Plaid Yea, I can see why Dodge is going electric, time to take back the crown with an electric Demon Challenger.

Roger Rabbit

Thank you, This is a Bummer as the McIntosh implies a different story and yet this clearly is saying that it is no different than GM or MB in being a speaker system. I am bummed! Thank you again, No, No, His Trolling was pointed at me as a McIntosh Fanboy versus you being a music consurer.

The west coast green highway has served millions and the website has been a well used source to ensure all trip planning allowed for proper charging options to those using BEVs to go on a road trip. Level 1 & 2 chargers with the occasional Level 3 fast DC charger has been the norm over the 10 year life for the WCEH. Now Washington and Oregon is moving forward to enhance this by contracting with EVCS who also purchased a series of charging sites in both states and will work with local state and county agencies to upgrade the 50kW DC chargers with CHAdeMO ports used by Nissan leafs to current high speed DC chargers with both CHAdeMO and CCS connectors. These stations are spread out among I5, I90 and Highway 101 on the coast. The benefits of this will be the following: Fast chargers every 25 to 50 miles along select routes Close proximity to freeway ramps Convenient parking Located in areas with secondary activities like restaurants and grocery stores. Easy access to picturesque locations like Oregon's Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls, Painted Hills, Washington's Snoqualmie Falls and Skagit Valley. 44 stations in Oregon and 12 stations in Washington have the following venues when it comes to charging needs: Ten (10) city properties (convention centers, visitor centers, parks, etc.) Nine (9) grocery stores Eight (8) restaurants Eight (8) miscellaneous properties ( Country stores, transit centers, office buildings, etc.) Seven (7) hotels and or motels Six (6) gas stations Five (5) Casinos Three (3) shopping malls. The WCEH is the largest contiguous network of DC fast chargers in the North America giving confidence to travel up and down the west coast. This is a welcome upgrade to the PNW and one of the largest expanding electric highway systems currently in North America. West Coast Green Highway: Home West Coast Electric Highway (evcs.com) Oregon Department of Transportation : Electric Vehicles and EV Infrastructure : Programs : State of Oregon Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Partnerships | WSDOT (wa.gov) View full article

Yes Noise Canceling have saved me on more than a few long flights when I used to travel for work. Now they just sit on the shelve in my office since I work from home for ever now as long as I have my current job.

Cadillac has chosen to let Social Media and their blogs on their web site push their story for the LYRIQ BEV. Latest Blog was about the interior. Cadillac Creator Series: Learn about the LYRIQ Electric SUV Over all impressive for a luxury ride, but I do have to wonder as I am seeing the same grey tone as they have on the launch edition 1 of the GMC Hummer twins. GM needs more than Black and Grey interiors to win in the luxury space.

@ccap41 @surreal1272 @oldshurst442 @A Horse With No Name Yes Bose is not all that and a bag a chips especially when you hear their home theater systems which are a disappointment to me. Yet as stated the Bose system is better than general GM stereos and with GM speakers since you are upgrading the speakers to Bose but the head units are still the same. McIntosh according to their website developed the head units and speakers using their technology from their Luxury Home Systems. As such, I am making an ASSumption, yup if could come back to bite me in the ass that this should be a much better system than most and especially on systems that have just speaker upgrades only like GM did in the past with Bose. Even today, my beef with Cadillac is that at $121, 490 for the Cadillac Escalade ESV Sport Platinum you still are only getting the AKG 3D Stereo Speaker upgrade with a traditional GM head unit built into the 38" OLED screen on the dash. Upon thinking on this, I went back to re-read the link @ccap41 posted above and realized that unlike McIntosh, Burmester has done the same thing Cadillac has done. Using a Mercedes Head unit with a Burmester speaker system. S-Class (burmester.de) This system while offering in seat vibrator's to make sure you can feel the music and works with a 3D mapping software but is just a speaker upgrade system. I am expecting McIntosh to have done a much better job since their head unit with their speaker design should allow a superior Luxury level of audio enjoyment. Point I was just pointing out is that the Mercedes S-Class with the Burmester system is also just a speaker upgrade option as it uses Mercedes head unit with software to allow mapping of sound. Jeep at least had McIntosh develop the head unit to work with the vast speaker system and so I do have high expectations as even Cadillac while having the optional AKG 3D sound speaker system is also just a speaker system upgrade and no real head unit.

Never Ignorant, just informed. McIntosh was founded in NY USA in 1949 and is a global recognized symbol of global Audio products. McIntosh Heritage (mcintoshlabs.com) Compared to Burmester that was founded in 1978 and only recently in 7 very high end audio stores has entered the US market. I take nothing away from the push by this company to improve audio, but they in comparison to various intellectual rights are behind McIntosh who continues to lead the Luxury world in audio components. Dieter Burmester Germans tend to stick to Germans so it is not a surprise that MB would say such things about Burmester or Burmester would state what they believe about their audio system in a S-Class. It will always boil down to personal choice and I have spent many a day in the high end audio stores here listening to McIntosh and their lovely speakers and how it moves the air and electrifies what one hears in sending goose bumps, another electrical impulse throughout the body. I admit, I have not heard a complete Burmester system to see if it does that too me. The Amplifiers which Burmester is built on sound amazing. Yet as I said, I have not heard their home audio equipment to say it is better than McIntosh. I have heard plenty of S-class audio systems and they do not impress me. Who knows, McIntosh in the Jeep might also disappoint, but right now just like Bose, I expect McIntosh to deliver on their high expectations to compliment their home audio systems.