G. David Felt

Hi Drew, I know most of the smart head units now have theme that allows you to choose the background image. Reading the owners guide for my head unit which I have never changed the default theme, it would seem that you can do this. I will test it it on my system this week and let ya know. My habit is to remote start the auto, unlock, get in and plug in my phone and the first thing I see is the Android screen, so I honestly have not looked to see what it does when you manually start the auto. I will test this and let you know.

Listening to Black by Lee Hyori. Hard to believe she is 40 years old.

Audi has announced that the 2021 E-Tron will now start $8,800 lower in price at $66,995. This is not a price cut but an entry level trim level that Audi had previously said was on the way. You now have 3 Trim packages. Prestige Trim Starting Price - $80,195 Premium Plus Starting Price - $75,895 Premium Trim Starting Price - $66,995 Adding the Convenience Plus Package takes this price to $70,495. I believe they should have just made the Convenience plus package standard as anyone that uses electronics including their smartphone will demand this when you have ICE auto's with the features standard for half the price. I get that they can advertise the E-Tron starting at $66,995 but I doubt you will ever find a base bone auto like this on the dealer lots. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129140_2021-audi-e-tron-suv-gets-8-800-lower-base-price-plus-more-range

Listening to this, really enjoying the rhythm. The guy is an idiot for breaking up with this hottie. Gotta say love the subtitles to understand the song, funny the way K-Pop uses so much English in their songs.

Motor Trend posted a first drive / review of the Z71 Suburban. Have to say this is the first time the ugly front end does not look too bad. It actually would not be a bad looking EV SUV in this monochromatic look. https://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrolet/suburban/2021/2021-chevrolet-suburban-first-drive-review/

For the Metal Heads of all things ICE, here is your 21st Century Mad Max Auto of the Day!

Manipulation

Awesome EV conversion on making a true luxury auto even quieter. Seems the owner of Johnny Cash 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow had 130,000 miles on it and needed a full powertrain replacement. Many here will hate taking a classic and changing the powertrain, but in this case, I think it makes total sense since your not looking for a roar of a V8 Mustang or Corvette but a totally quiet smooth ride. As such, I think this conversion is awesome for making the auto even better. The owner purchased a new Tesla Model S as the Donor auto to be used to update this RR Silver Shadow. https://www.thedrive.com/news/35534/a-classic-rolls-royce-with-a-tesla-swap-makes-perfect-sense

Cracking up laughing as one of the most well known designers from BMW and the father of who designed the X5 for them, has not much kindness for the new Nostrils on the new BMW sedan.

I really like these. They have my Vote for the new headlights to get.

Seems Korea is now following Japan and China in protecting their starting EV industry as they push via regulations to stop Diesel sales and move the population to EV's. In the 2nd quarter of this year, $200 million in subsidies was paid out to people to purchase EV's and the bulk of that went to Tesla purchases where Tesla delivered 4,000 EVs with another 4 to 5,000 Model 3's on order. Tesla buyers got 43% of the available EV subsidies in the first half of this year. $176 million worth for both quarters. The ministry held a meeting with 11 automakers lead by Kia and Hyundai to discuss the issue. End result is that in October luxury auto's those priced above $50,000 will be removed from the approved list. This will be interesting to see how many of the backordered Tesla Model 3 cars are canceled. It also comes at a time that Hyundai has rebranded their Ioniq car as the Companies EV Brand moving forward. Having gone to College in Japan and studied the Asian rim in depth, this is a normal move by the business conglomerates or in Korea what is known as the Chaebol. These conglomerates are all about power and control of their local markets. https://electrek.co/2020/08/10/tesla-cut-out-korean-ev-incentive/#more-143716 https://www.hyundainews.com/en-us/releases/3106 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hyundai-motor-evs/hyundai-expects-new-family-of-ioniq-vehicles-to-drive-global-ev-sales-idUSKCN255103

The disco party thing is a reason I ended up with the following head unit in my SS. No party just a clean interface and works great with Android / Apple. https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/NEX/AVH-2500NEX#downloads

Numbers

being on the east coast, totally support doing that. I would also do the coating on the wheel well's which helps keep things quieter from rocks. I totally agree with what this site says about it. https://soundproofguide.com/vehicle-undercoating-for-noise-reduction/

Oldies

work week

Exercise

Relaxation

@balthazar What are your thoughts on the 1953 Chrysler Special Ghia https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/08/rare-rides-the-1953-chrysler-special-by-ghia/ Interesting looking 2door car. Interesting on FCA's production dates for 3 row Jeeps. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/08/production-dates-revealed-for-newest-biggest-jeeps/

It is good to see you back, since the last time you visited, this is the first in a while that SMK has tried to move a thread about a product into all about MB crap again. I hope to see you pop in and comment on other threads. Like what I am seeing for Hummer by GMC of the truck and SUV so far. Comment there please on what you think about those auto's. Glad to see you pop in here to comment on the LYRIQ.

This is an interesting read on why the LYRIQ is NOT for the US market. We might never actually get it since there is no confirmed production in the US, only China. The US seems destined to get the Hummer by GMC brand for sure which is not slated for China. This brings up an Interesting thought, if LYRIQ is not for the US, but really only China where Cadillac has a strong growth and GMC does not exist, Could GMC become the big luxury brand in the US as Cadillac goes away to China only? Could we see a Chevrolet / Buick / GMC future of the US? One would hope that Cadillac would become the true Luxury only brand it once was and that anything below the $60 to $70 K level is left to Buick/GMC dealerships. https://www.thedrive.com/tech/35466/the-cadillac-lyriq-leads-gms-electric-luxury-future-but-its-not-really-for-you

cartoons

That might be true here in the US, but in Korea where diesel cars make up the bulk of the actual pedestrian auto's, that is being changed by mandate. Diesel cars starting Dec 1st 2019 were banned from Seoul streets from 6am to 9pm to help clean up the air with this to expand into Gangnam and Yeouido by 2021. This will then expand to include grade 4 vehicles by 2030. Now that is updated based on the original story I posted above on a total ban. Diesel in Korea will go down as the country embraces a required change to EV and Hydrogen. This is the gov mandate. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20191125000881

Why should they cut models when you have always stated they are the most profitable auto company around and will always have the most diverse portfolio. That would imply they should have no problem continuing to sell non-profitable cars.

Wrong, reviewing multiple auto news sites, they all seem to have one consistent thing in common. S-Class sedan is set to make an appearance in September 2020 with on sale date as a 2021 starting Jan 2021 due to the Pandemic. This is the real clear NOTE to pay attention too: Christoph Starzynski, the EQS chief engineer, says it already feels like an S-Class and that the team is hitting its targets. When will the EQS go into production? Starzynski said it will probably be "two more years", which means that it may only arrive as a 2023 model and give the all-new S-Class plenty of time to lay the foundation for the next generation of Mercedes flagship luxury sedans. That means at the Earliest we will see this out in the 2022 calendar year here in the US. Considering how much both Mercedes-Benz and BMW have launched their EV's as a Global auto to then state it will be China First, Europe and then the US. Battery production delays, now teaming up with CATL so that they have Production close to MB manufacturing, yet that plant is only in construction phase now with production to start at the end of 2021. The EQ has been delayed multiple times due to two main reasons, they state demand in China and Europe have outstripped production, but then came back and said now that battery supply is not allowing them to start production and sales in the US. They cannot make the EQ a Global on sale auto, how will they make the EQS when they do not have production up and running yet. Clearly the EQS is a 2022 as a 2023 at the earliest production EV here in the US if they even ever get the EQ here. MB EV's are Vapor products on the Global stage right now. Cadillac LYRIQ will be a China first product, then brought to the US. From there maybe the rest of the world, but GM has only Committed to China / Asian rim and the US for their EV products. On top of this, Daimler has stated in 2020 the only all electric product in production is the SmartCar, first company to go all pure EV from ICE. https://www.daimler.com/innovation/case/electric/eq-production-hambach.html They state they plan to have 10 to 15 EV's in production by 2022. 1st have to get battery production going 2nd actually have to get the presales of their EQ EV produced and delivered in China and Europe, forget the US, no on sale date per their own MBUSA web site. 3rd have to actually have product here, they have stated they are investing in the US with battery production here, but that is not slated to be completed till Q1 2022. So the earliest would be Q1 2022 for EV production and sales here. Reminder, May 7th 2019 MB had their news release that Sales would start as would production soon, yet still nothing available for reviews in Europe or China of the EQC yet. https://www.daimler.com/investors/reports-news/financial-news/20190507-eqc.html MB announced in 2017 a $1 billion investment in their Tuscaloosa facilities with the bulk being for EV production that would start early next Decade. Being after 2020 and yet to date they have only increased for production of CUVs, electric investment has only recently started with some expansion of their buildings but nothing to date stated as production of battery packs or actual auto's yet. With their only head of Engineering stating 2 years at the earliest to come to market behind the new S-Class again this goes inline with having a 2022 year release at the earliest. https://www.daimler.com/company/locations/tuscaloosa/