G. David Felt

Ignoring the other crud, Mercedes = GM End of debate. They both build cheap ass auto's to luxury auto's and Daimler current owner of MB also builds Vans like GM, Trucks and Buses. MB is NOT a Luxury brand only. It is a brand that builds some Luxury models. How does this relate to Tesla? It does not! End of debate.

NEWS ALERT: GM is dropping auto start/stop from full size pickups/SUVs to keep production going due to chip shortage. Auto Stop-Start Removed In 2021 Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra (gmauthority.com)

At my Bi-yearly dental cleaning and saw this Cherry Saturn Sky! Lovely day in the PNW.

Interesting read on Tesla and Competition. While they do not say that Tesla will go away any time soon, Tesla does need to pay attention to adding product and freshening up their portfolio faster as Companies like Rivian come to market, Ford and GM start producing their BEVs and other companies especially the Chinese enter the global market as they have shipped their first batch of 100 BEVs to Norway all pre-sold. I think we will see a very different landscape in the auto industry by 2025. Tesla Might Finally Have Some Competition. From Ford. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

I think you and I tend to shop the same, give me the facts, we set the stage, expectations by telling the sales person how what and when. Pretty much taking out all their game play. The Worst seem to be used auto sales people, then Ford, Ram and GM for people that smile to your face and lie knowing next to nothing about the auto. Yes Asian and European auto sales are just as bad, but I mostly just deal with used and American. At least with Marketing, they are doing their best to put a positive spin on the data they are provided. Sales People suck BIG TIME for the manipulation I see they try on people all the time from monthly payment focus rather than the true cost of the auto to stupid add on stuff. The reason so many family and friends have me help them buy an auto is that they hate dealing with the sales process.

But, But, But the scenery is so nice with woman and lifted trucks!

Ran an Errand to Business Costco and saw my first Racing Blue Mach-E go by in the opposite direction. Way better looking than the Tesla BEVs. Liking it more and more. Excited to start seeing the Rivian show up this summer on the roads.

Seems not all Promotions are cracked up to be what they are meant to be. After leading the global auto sales and manufacturing plant growth for the last two years and working in Executive positions since 2010 reporting to Musk, Jerome Guillen after only 3 months in the Heavy Trucking Division tasked with getting Tesla Semi into production and on the road this year has chosen to leave effective June 3rd. Guess Tesla Semi will not make it out this year then. Wonder where this guy will pop up next at? Paccar now has a better chance as does Daimler with getting their EV trucks on the market ahead of Tesla. Seems Tesla house of cards is starting to crumble a bit more. Tesla veteran Jerome Guillen departs (cnbc.com)

Hot Chick Trucks!

@surreal1272 Found the video of those woman above.

I remember something my wife told me, Seeing a Woman dressed like this in Stiletto's indicates they like their men Tall and Long! I will say that is one thing I love about my Escalade is the silky smooth shifting even under aggressive throttle. Like a hot knife through butter.

Some woman might disagree with you thinking this is for the Men and a Raptor is for the WoMan! Does make one wonder what the MPG difference was between using the 8 spd and if they had put in the 10 spd. ?

Have to say that I hope they revamp the front end of the Ranger to more closely align with the rest of the truck famliy. Overall a good lookin lineup. Looking at the press release, I have to say I am not impressed with some of the power figures: Hybrid - 2.5L Atikinson-cycle four-cylinder hybrid powertrain - 191HP / 155 lb-ft of torque with CVT. EPA-estimated 40 mpg city / 37 mpg combined. with 13.8 gallon tank, 500 miles per tank. 1,500lbs payload / 2,000 lbs towing. 2.0L EcoBoost, 250hp / 277 lb-ft of torque with 8sp transmission, FWD or AWD configuration. 4K towing package doubles the towing to 4,000 lbs Apple/Android system inside, FIT's system for those with 3D printers, Co-Pilot 360, etc. FlexBed with tie-downs, slots, etc for customization of bed use. Two 110 outlets in the bed to go along with USB and 110 outlets in the cab. Bed is 4.5 feet long. Maverick to be offered in 3 trim levels, XL, XLT and Lariat at launch. FX4 package can be added to the XLT or Lariat AWD versions only. Over all a decent little truck, only mistake I see is the CVT on the Hybrid.

Thanks for the reminder, totally forgot about this as a crazy week for me. Ford's press release here: 40 MPG City. Standard Hybrid. Seats Five. Starts Under $20K. All-New 2022 Ford Maverick: Did We Mention It’s a Truck? | Ford Media Center Ford Complete Truck Lineup now with the Maverick. Ton's of documents and pictures at the press release posted above and below here: 40 MPG City. Standard Hybrid. Seats Five. Starts Under $20K. All-New 2022 Ford Maverick: Did We Mention It’s a Truck? | Ford Media Center

I give ya 1 (ONE) valid point, I zoned on the Euros versus Dollars. Yet with that said, STOP the BULLSHIT of saying everything is in one pot when Daimler breaks out the Truck/Bus business from the auto business. So Mercedes-Benz converted for US dollars had a Q1 of $4,678,683,690.00 Dollars. Daimler Truck & Buses converted for US Dollars had a Q1 of $630,970,620.00 Dollars. GM as I posted is $4.4 billion US dollars. How is GM not competing with Mercedes-Benz Especially when it is in less markets than Mercedes-Benz? PowerPoint Presentation (gm.com) As I STATED, POST LINKS TO THE DATA. Your ATP of MB means nothing as it is just a fictional figure from your mind. QUESTION: How do you explain the 2.0% market share Mercedes-Benz has in the US compared to GM's market share? Compared to GM market share of 17.3% for the USA. Looking at the detailed breakout, MB does not list an ATP. So Post the Link to where you are getting your ATP figure. Q1 retail unit sales Mercedes-Benz | Daimler I will say that UNLIKE MB that has been vague on their BEV roadmap with only a few items announced, GM seems to be willing to post their clear roadmap of 30 new EVs by 2025. This is what TESLA will fail at competing against as they take years to get a single new product out. GM is going to get 30 out in the next 4 years. PowerPoint Presentation (gm.com)

Being a Chevrolet German Brand that Mercedes is, lets take out that asian blip and you are only looking at 1,132,867 auto's sold around the rest of the world of which only 284,824 were sold in the US. Cadillac sold in the US only 129,495. So much closer than you state. Over all GM sold 6.83 Million Auto's Compared to MB. • General Motors - global vehicles sales in 2020 | Statista Now for some weird reason, I cannot find actual ATP for either company, but last I heard Cadillac was much higher than MB. Post a link to actual online info if you are going to respond saying MB has a higher ATP. Now lets poke at your Daimler Profit figure as that is NOT Mercedes-benz profit. Annual report & full year results 2020 | Daimler Daimler had a NET PROFIT of only $4 Billion Euro's for 2020 which included Mercedes-benz. Daimler Q1 results 2021 | Daimler Mercedes-benz DID NOT have a 5.7 Billion profit. The Net Profit for the company was 4.4 Billion for Daimler and 5.7 billion for EBIT. Actual report breaks it down as follows: $4.078 Billion EBIT is NOT $5.7 Billion Profit. Seems for Q1 2021 Mercedes-benz had a true profit of $3.841 billion. Hate to burst your bubble, but GM killed it in Q1 far out earning MB. Adjusted EBIT for GM in Q1 2021 was $4.4 Billion dollars compared to $3.841 billion for MB. PowerPoint Presentation (gm.com) I believe GM and Ford are going to crush long term Tesla and Daimler needs to figure out how to build and sell auto's here in the US as well as the rest of the world.

Cool History, Ford Motor Company is involved in an extensive restoration of the Michigan Central Station which will also become their BEV Building for future products. In the wall a couple workers wrote a note to the future and put it in a prohibition bottle of Stroh's beer. Bottle is stamped 7-19-13 as in 1913 the year the station was built. Lucky the two men working on the plaster in that section saved the bottle rather than just nocking it down with other trash and useless bits and gave it to Ford where their Archivist have been saving from any further decay the history of the station. Seems unknown rooms and other artifacts have been found from cloths to adding machine, tickets, etc. Read the story here: Message Mystery at Michigan Central Station: Ford’s Latest Reveal is Pre-Prohibition-Era Beer Bottle Found During Restoration | Ford Media Center Ford Ford Sales for the month of May 2021 shows a 184% increase in BEV sales. Seems since the frosty winter storm that took down Texas, the Ford F-150 Hybrid is now in high demand by people wanting the ability to have the generator and back up battery of the truck available. Ford May Sales

WOW, this is a crazy accident captured on the dashcam. Try explaining this to your boss.

Read this on Inside EVs, Europe has had the Mazda MX-30 for 6 months, Japan coming up on a Year and the US will get the MX-30 later this year as a 2022 model. For a Bev, it has good specifications, yet seems to be more of a compliance auto than a true global competition auto: Mazda MX-30 specs (Europe and U.S.): 200 km (124 miles) of WLTP range energy consumption of 19 kWh/100 km (62 miles) WLTP 35.5 kWh battery pack (prismatic cells, total nominal voltage of 355 V) 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.7 seconds top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) front-wheel drive (e-SKYACTIV powertrain) AC synchronous motor: 107 kW (145 PS) and 271 Nm AC charging using 6.6 kW on-board charger DC fast charging (CCS Combo) 20-80% in about 36 minutes (up to 50 kW) Overall length × overall width × overall height: 4,395mm × 1,795mm × 1,570mm Wheelbase 2,655mm curb weight of 1,720–1,750 kg out of total 2,119 kg permissible So this BEV will weigh in at 3,858 lbs, have 143 HP and 200 lb-ft of torque. No Mazda designed power train as they have turned to Hitachi and is using their Astemo Motor to power this auto as Hitachi is looking to become a primary BEV supplier. Limited battery range and not being very quick tends to push this into a Compliance auto with a starting price of $36,881.00. In this regards is Mazda taking a Toyota approach that they do not believe EV's are needed due to their heavy investment in SkyActiv engines or is it a lack of R&D money? Will be interesting to see what happens. Mazda MX-30 Is Powered By Hitachi Astemo (insideevs.com) Some interesting reviews on this CUV.

I like this bike as it reminds me of the only motorcycle that I really ever desired, but was married with kids, so bikes have been a no go now as the responsible father I am. But I love the Yamaha Stryker. The Stryker which is gone for the 2022 model year, RIP will be missed I believe as they have given up on the cruiser market, but has that fatty backside you talk about. I get the sleek European racer design which this bike has, and maybe it is designed that way for ease of holding multiple people as well as weight. Either way, in Green it is lovely!

I would agree that I doubt they could get the power and range in a single auto. Eventually someone will but it will not be Tesla this year.

Zaiser Motors of Colorado has shown off their Cruiser version of an electric motorcycle in AWD/RWD form. The basic design is a 300 mile range motorcycle that can reach 60mph in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 120 mph. Looking at the history of motorcycle startups as well as established companies like Harley Davidson with their livewire bike that only has 90 miles of range, the obvious question is how do they get such a long range on a bike? The answer is in-wheel hub motors. Yes, there has been much written about the pro's and cons of in-wheel hub motors. Pro, you no longer have the drive chains/belts and other consumable parts that require maintenance, nice. Con side is the unsprung weight which requires the suspension to have to work harder in giving a smooth ride. Zaiser Electrocycle answer is a removable, easily rechargeable battery pack that allows a much more flexible ride with a long range solution that riders are expecting based on ICE Motorcycles. Based on the Wefunder page, Quote: "A 300-mile range is quite a claim, but we are ready to back that up. By moving the powerplant out to the wheels and shedding weight, we are confident that we will have the flexibility to achieve a 300-mile range on our model 1 Electrocycle. Freeing up space in the center of the Electrocycle will allow us to fit our 17.5 KWH battery unit and more without compromising aesthetics or aerodynamics. Additional improvements consist of efficiency gains thanks to our new twin-hub cooling system and ultra light-weight composite material implemented during manufacturing. These benefits alone give us the '50-mile-edge' over current over the ~250-mile industry average, however, we anticipate rapid advancements in battery technology in the near future, making this goal very attainable for Zaiser." True Sustainability comes via ease of routine servicing, empowering the customer base and extending the lifespan of the Electrocycle. Part of this will come via building in compatibility with all levels of charging including fast DC charging, Home charging with interchangeable battery packs and recycling of battery packs allowing for a complete circle of life. This will come about via supporting the cycle industry modularity of battery packs with replaceability within the industry. Solid state batteries and using organic composite materials will be the other. The initial Electrocycle is to be the AWD model, but they have in their business plan a much cheaper model that would imply RWD only. Safety is also right up there with their battery range, true traction control and auto stabilization are to be standard, unobtrusive to the rider and yet present when it counts. Zaiser says they are not stopping there as they have planned for a tech package that is a cohesive implementation of Lidar sensors, haptic feedback via the handlebars allowing for accident avoidance and much more that has never been present in motorcycles. Their Safety tech package they believe will play a crucial role in reducing accidents by 20%. To succeed in todays market, Zaiser Motor company believes in three main principles for success, Culture, Community, and Events. Today's dealerships are not cutting it and Zaiser wants their stores to be a gathering hub for the community they are in. These places will be more than sales and service, but also a place for training, certifications and for hosting events to connect the Zaiser brand and it's customers and community. Motorsports also falls in the three categories helping to drive innovation in the electric motorsport space with electric cycle advancements and innovations. Zaiser initial go-to-market strategy is to focus on urbanites that want to escape the city pod life cleanly taking them out and back safely in their adventure. The Electrocycle is scheduled to launch by early 2022 at the latest according to their website and will come in a range of colors. For your next bike, consider a Zaiser Electrocycle and go green! Zaiser Motors • The Electric Motorcycle With A Soul Invest in Zaiser Motors: The First Twin-Hub Electric Motorcycle! | Wefunder View full article

Boeing looked to compete with the Concord jet and had developed mock ups of the Boing 2707 supersonic jet with the mock ups built in Everett Washington. Why Did Boeing Never Produce Its Supersonic 2707? - Simple Flying Boeing launch customer for the 2707 was PanAm and they had this conceptual art that Boeing did: United Airlines was the second launch customer. If you ever get a chance to visit Seattle, you can actually check out the Mock Model in the Airplane Museum Boeing has. If you really want to see lots of cool stuff on planes and Auto's, this guys Flickr account is amazing. Clearly he has a deep passion about Planes and Auto's. Reminds me of @balthazar passion for old auto's. ausdew’s albums | Flickr

This quirky plane helps build a lovely one. Dreamliner Beauty