G. David Felt

NEW FLASH - Honda just signed with GM to use their Ultium Propulsion system and BEV 3 platform for their upcoming two new EVs. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127688_future-honda-electric-vehicles-will-be-co-developed-with-gm-could-have-super-cruise According to the news release, Honda EV's will be built at GM North America Plants for the Americas Market. To Quote GM: For GM, it means more production volume, and the chance that the company will reach economies of scale on its Ultium investments sooner. GM president Mark Reuss recently said that about 60% of the company's product development work is now toward EVs, versus 20% just a few years ago. To Quote Honda:"As EV volume increases, both companies will be able to more rapidly achieve economies of scale, reduce cost and provide value for both our companies and our respective customers," said Jeffrey Smith, Honda North America VP for corporate communications. Seems this should allow both companies to make a profit and have low cost entry level auto's on top of mid and luxury version EVs.

Thanks for that update, crazy, just crazy.

I am all about keeping everything safe and functional, but the years I have worked on the east coast and been in the various states, seems to be allot of enforced state checks / inspections rather than common sense, repair and maintain your auto. Emissions testing is just stupid now as most auto's are so clean and you can see when an auto is burning oil so then the police should pull over and a hefty fine given. Same with people driving around with broken up auto's, do not need an inspection but I understand what you say and appreciate your thoughts on this.

Got it, forgot you guys are on the east coast where static Government oversight of having to tell auto owners that this or that is broken and has to be replaced and excessive auto inspections to create low paying jobs are a requirement. I have yet to see a government group that uses dealerships for the Police, medical or fire auto's that are used as they usually have their own mechanic shops. I give this to you as I constantly am surprised by how much government oversight and running of the average persons life there is on the east coast. Crazy.

Oops, meant DOT, but then you did know what I meant by that. Now the electronics is another things all together and those are sold separate from the headlight assembly unit which is mostly plastic and are very complex. You know that those are separate items when getting replacement parts from an accident. Silly Boy, who is still stuck in the past with ICE auto's not wanting to change to modern cleaner running EVs. LOLWUT!!! Right back at ya! EXACTLY how MB and BMW were in the 70's and 80's before finally catching on with the badge snobs. As such, I expect Genesis to reduce from a almost 30 year barely making it to a much smaller time line before they equal the German brands. Yes, one needs to watch what they say as the market can change on a dime and boom out goes the Europeans for who knows what next. Maybe EVs? ?

I agree not all after market suppliers are quality, but some are and worth it. I disagree with you on more complicated than that. If it meets DOT requirements, then there really should not be a difference between the OEM and the 3rd party company selling direct while also supplying the OEM. I have not seen complex headlights now that they are all pretty much formed plastic with reflective chrome lining on the inside and then the front clear lens attached.

Metric

I have gone from fueling every 4 days to about every 7 to 8 days on the SS. So yea, spending less money which is good on fuel. How is Auto Accident repair essential to the commonwealth? With everyone supposedly staying home, much less traffic on the roads, auto repairs are reduced and I do not see how an auto repair from an accident is considered essential unlike food or medical? I am honestly surprised that your state has that listed as essential. Repair shops here are all shut down.

Searching online, I see prices for the Corolla HID headlight assembly from $367 to $645 on Amazon and a crazy $941 on ebay, but who uses crapy ebay any more. I am surprised they are still in business. Interesting to see that depending on the Toyota dealership web site you use, prices for the HID headlight assembly run from $799 to $971 from the Miami Toyo dealership. Crazy for that auto to have that expensive a headlight assembly for a 2020 corolla. $1,100 I can see as an MSRP price but that is just stupid for a chunk of plastic and LED bulbs.

One to rule them all!

We clearly have European, Asian and Americas auto fans. I feel this is a good place to discuss the sales of segments, models, etc. here. I have pulled the latest Statista data that can be gotten for free to show here and discuss. As such, there is clearly a leadership perceived image that BMW and Mercedes-Benz have carried the last few years. Yet with that, you look at over all sales and both these companies have flipped and flopped leadership of the year in specific luxury segments but lack over all auto sales in the US. Based on the reports that @Drew Dowdell posted in January 2020 on 2019 auto sales: Ford - 2,422,698 GM - 2,887,046 FCA - 2,203,663 Tesla - 367,500 Audi - 224,111 BMW - 360,918 Genesis - 21,233 Honda - 1,608,170 Hyundai - 688,771 Infiniti - 117,708 Jaguar Land Rover - 125,787 Kia - 615,338 Mazda - 278,552 Mercedes-Benz - 357,729 Mitsubishi - 121,046 Nissan - 1,227,973 Porsche - 61,568 Subaru - 700,117 Toyota - 2,383,349 Volkswagen - 363,322 Volvo - 108,234 2019 Auto Sales Luxury Brand Sales in 2019 Large Luxury Auto sales 2019 Mid size luxury auto sales 2019 Small Auto Luxury auto sales 2019 Best Selling Trucks ranking in the US 2019 Car Sales over the last 30 years in the US. Over all Auto Sales from 1978 to now.

Based on personal experience with Mercedes-Benz I would still take the G80 over an E-Class knowing my ownership costs will be lower and reliability will be longer at a lower price.

After working all week in the house and not going much of anywhere, today is food run and pharmacy run to get the wife her meds. Will be nice to get out for a brief time.

I would take a Korean or Japanese auto every day over German built crap. Reliable and will not leave me stranded nor gouge me at $1,500 for a replacement head light. German Built Auto's, Over Priced, Over Rated!

Cool, but sad as it does not look like it was well cared for based on all the junk put in it and around it.

Sad that Cadillac has never really optimized taking their concepts to market and given much less than they could in the luxury segment. Yet still Genesis is way better, but not perfect than many out there and a side profile comparison shows that Genesis nailed it for the most part.

@balthazar Seems various universities are constantly creating new maps as are news outlets. Associated Press asked the University of Chicago if they could build a map that tracks Covid-19 infections and deaths by county across the whole US. Thought this was very good . https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus-data/2020/4/1/21203507/united-states-coronavirus-map-cases-by-county-live-updates The story points to AP chart by County of Infections / Deaths based on John Hopkins University data in association with the WHO. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/nRyaf/23/ Just move your mouse over each county and the data pops up. WOW ?

Just before shutting down all Rivian facilities they made this video to give an update on the whole business. They are still focused on production starting this fall.

Love these gif album covers: Where's Waldo Social Distancing version:

Stay Safe and distant my friend. Wishing you all the best as you move around in this crazy pandemic world. New Music albums taking social distancing into effect.

I disagree that GM felt Oldsmobile was an embarrassment. I grew up with this logo: and Yet I think the best Oldsmobile logo was the following: The one thing I hate about my SS is the stupid GM square logo on the door. Honestly you should be able to sell a model based on it's name without having to say Olds, Oldmobile, Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, etc. I honestly think GM marketing was onto something of using a logo with auto name to drive individual product line awareness. Sadly too much company politics and waste of money into far too many different sell Oldsmobile versus selling Aurora. Who cares about the brand name if they do not know the products. I honestly think Genesis could take their logo and just have a Giant G in the middle and that would be good enough.

Bet @ocnblu is in the far back seat causing a ruckus!

Weird the Tesla main blog area states 1 to 2% a month if not plugged in. In regards to the battery, Tesla you are right does have a deep cycle 12V battery, but originally with the Roadster it used the main battery and in 2010 according to this detailed blog changed to a 12V battery to keep things set for electronic settings. Very weird considering you could do it with the Lithium. Need to dig into this more to find out why as I am curious. https://teslatap.com/articles/12-volt-battery-compendium/ Good info here on the Tesla's and the various 12V batteries each version uses along with a detailed image of where this battery is located. Chevrolet Bolt when looking at the web site does not indicate any 12V battery, but I thought about it and dug up an owners manual and it does have a standard 12V battery for basic such as settings in the auto and access into the auto. Very weird as I would think they could use the auto main battery better for this. Page 22 of the owners manual states it does have a 12V battery in addition to the main power systems battery. https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2018/Chevrolet/Bolt/2018-chevrolet-bolt-ev-owners-manual.pdf @Robert Hall I am sorry, I am wrong both Tesla and the Bolt have 12V lead acid batteries for basic settings in the auto info saving and access into the auto. if something happens to the high power system, you can still get into the auto via the 12V battery. In regards to the discharge of the main high power battery pack, Chevrolet and Tesla official web sites are stating 1 to 2% reduction for just sitting. As @ykX has mentioned, looking around I do see Tesla owners who have posted up to 30% depletion upon sitting and it is clearly based on where one lives as the heavy drain seems to be common in cold weather areas.

There is a new Business for you, build quality unique replacement push button covers for the Mach e and what appears to be push button access on the up coming Cadillac. Very cool I think to go back to this type of access.