G. David Felt

This makes far more sense for people who do not want to bother with getting insurance. Just lease from the OEM auto company with all service and insurance included. To me this has far more value than the subscription services.

Ford really should build this as I am sure like the GT they could sell a limited run of the truck Velociraptor.

Bet the Agnelli Family is more interested in getting cash out of their controlling stake and moving on in various directions. Just makes sense that usually next generation family is not always interested in past family investments.

Seems geely has bought them from Diamler as it was loosing 500 to 700 million a year. Mercedes To Sell Half Of Smart Car Subsidiary To Geely, Financial Times Says http://flip.it/8rqhkX

Market forecasts of the future is a fragile thing, yet LMC Automotive has a strong reputation as a consulting firm looking at the global markets. The daily announcements of electric-car churn, major production investments, battery supply, etc. is cause for people to want to take a reality check of the projections by various OEM producers to individual government pronouncements. US projection is that fossil fuel light-duty autos will still be 69% or 7 out of 10 autos on the road in 2030. According to the LMC Automotive research report, 2018 saw that globally light vehicles running on fossil fuels were 95%. This is expected to drop to 92% by the end of 2019 yet a slowing of the change over from ICE to BEV is expected over the next decade. LMC is expecting a contraction of just 3 to 4 percent annually. This respected report is showing that more than half of the global vehicle demand will still have tailpipes and fuel tanks. So let’s take a look at some of the facts starting with the country India where in 2017 it stated that they would be fully electric by 2030. Yet LMC own research points to India being only 3% electric by 2030. On the other end of the spectrum, we have China where LMC expects the country to have a majority of light autos be electric. LMC expects fossil fuel light autos to make up only 48% of the market by 2030 in China, BEV's will be 52%. This is backed up by many other analysts that point to the massive growth of EV's in the next decade that eventually will taper off as costs stop falling for battery production and EV charging infrastructure. Electric cars are expected to be 55% of the global market by 2040 according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance. One reason for slowing is the acknowledgment that not all markets will have the electrical infrastructure to support BEV auto's when many in countries like Africa do not even have electricity at their home. Looking at the three major automotive markets of China, India and the US, LMC points to the differences in how the change will happen. China will use the carrot and stick approach pushed by the political elite to ensure the New Energy Vehicles (NEV) come to market. Automakers are getting subsidies to manufacture these NEVs and receive strict penalties if they fail to meet the government goals. Here is where demand for ICE autos will fall off the fastest. In the US, demand is expected to be gradual with growth being slowed by the oil industry that has every reason to keep the price of gas low. This is also being tempered by the popular rise of the pickup truck and SUV sales that will keep BEVs in check till these full-size autos are offered in pure electric mode. Then we have India, per the LMC report where government ministers made global headlines in 2017 with their ambitious target to electrify the whole country by 2030 retiring all ICE autos. Including all types of transportation, 2, 3- and 4-wheel vehicles, the India government has since set a target of 30% BEVs by 2030 which LMC believes is unachievable. Despite having adjusted goals, the India government has approved a 3-year $100 billion program to promote electric vehicle adoption. Even with this big push, LMC sees India with a 97% ICE market share in 2030. Based on LMC's own 3-4% ICE decline annually, where ICE made 95% of global sales in 2018, expected to be 92% in 2030 ICE globally is still expected to make up 62% of global market if the 3% a year drop stays constant, yet numerous external factors will also affect this globally. Yet to make this change happen, one critical area is needed to grow. Batteries are the new OIL of the 21st century. Bloomberg expects $548 billion in investments by 2050 in the battery production industry as costs fall, homes and businesses push for a more reliable clean energy source. Battery prices per kilowatt-hour are expected to be below $70, down 67% from today’s cost. Annual batteries to be commissioned by 2050 is expected to exceed 1,288 gigawatts of power. To quote the Bloomberg story: “It’s a matter of ‘when and how’ and not ‘if’ wind, solar and battery technologies will disrupt electricity delivery all over the world,” Seb Henbest, lead author the report, said in an interview. View full article

That is so true of them here. They are more than willing to ******* tell you!

Tesla's Musk Pokes Fun At Ram Trucks "Puny" Towing Ability http://flip.it/1UnUug Too funny!

Very cool wind tunnel testing, they are making good progress on moving to production.

Cool Read from the LMC Automotive group on BEV Development. https://lmc-auto.com/bev-development-lowering-cost-progress/ Also interesting to see their take on global Hybrid & EV here: https://lmc-auto.com/what-we-do/our-services/global-hybrid-and-electric-vehicle-forecast/

Maybe on low end auto's but on all of mine, I get 1 turn out of the rotors. Not everyone has a big enough caliper to clamp down and compress the brakes to then release the pads out of the front rotors. Rear drums you can use a standard screwdriver to release the tension on the drum if a lip has built up. If you have to rebuild them, then using a drill with a proper stone attachment to smooth out the inner cylinder before rebuilding it and adjusting it to spec can require having the tool to release the loaded springs. For most people having these tools is not common as to why you have various options of where to have it done. Like I said we forum members are a rare group of do it yourselfers.

I understand the point you making, but the engineer in me says attention to detail that there should never have been a noise to begin with. I understand there is no problem here other than a noise that will bother some, be ignored by many others.

Gotta love it when you can get details on why RED WINE is good for you! ??? https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/the-definitive-truth-about-red-wine-health-benefits/ar-BBUaK20?li=BBnb7Kz

That is awesome, way to Rock it GM!

You are the exception as are most of us on this forum. I would not trust most people to have the tools let alone the knowledge of how to change the brake pads. Yet with that, do you have the tools to check and make sure the rotors or drums are not warped? If so can you then have them turned to be true again? Plus are you properly disposing of the toxic waste or just dumping it in the trash. All this comes into play and for the most part, you should, but I understand not always be able to trust the dealership to put it to OEM spec and have it covered by them if they mess up easier than a small 3rd party mechanic. Not always will the dealership be right for everyone and there is plenty I do myself over a dealer, but for bigger jobs, a dealer over a 3rd party mechanic is how I will choose.

In Seattle for some weird reason, woman in their 40's usually Vegan are the most common buyers. The Vegan group here at work all own them. It is a very interesting group of people.

Interesting read on GM's 9 speed and the clicking sound they make. https://gm-techlink.com/?p=11283 Weird, but I see no reason in this day and age for a transmission to make a clicking sound.

This is very cool read on how JEEP is planning to make the Gladiator stand out in the crowd starting with the removable doors. https://www.autonews.com/future-product/jeep-gladiators-conquest-plan-stand-out-crowd I had no idea that in the US, 1,400 trucks are sold a day here. WOW are we Truck Crazy!

Seems he is back in the News and the Security Exchange is investigating as Nissan paid $601,000 for his kids to go to Stanford. This is the same school at the front of college bribes for admission scandal that is hitting the news. https://www.autonews.com/executives/nissan-said-have-paid-stanford-tuition-ghosns-children Seems allot of unusual perks were given to Ghosn that are now coming to light. From Luxury homes to a Nissan paid wedding at Versailles which was a Marie Antoinette themed wedding for his kid. These perks make one really wonder about the abuse by CEO's of a companies money for their own personal family gain.

This brings up one of my biggest concerns I have noticed in the overall auto industry on the ASE certification. That is how does one troubleshoot a problem versus just being a certified parts replacement person. Growing up with a father that had an Auto repair business, my dad pounded into me that you need to always think about what caused the issue and if it is a sign of something bigger going on. Just do not take the easy way out to replace a part and the customer is back a month later or 6 months. As such, I tend to troubleshoot my auto issues first and investigate it before I take it to the dealership to do the grunt work of repairing it. That in and of itself could also be a reason I have not really ever had a problem with the dealership. I tend to spend some time on what I believe the problem is and still ask them to do a complete check to try and insure I have not missed anything. Specialty tools being what they are, it has become more and more that it is not worth my time to do the repairs compared to a competent dealership / repair shop.

I just look for the positive side of life all the time, no need to waste emotion and energy on human error that can be easily corrected. Now if the repair was say a brake job and the whole assembly came off causing big damage to my auto, then hell ya I would be pissed and probably explode if they did not fix it. GM has always been good about taking care of the part failures and making it right to me. Just how I look at life, my Wine Glass is always half full with Chocolates on the side!

SMART Cars were a joke, premium fuel required for subpar fuel economy. Does not matter that they built a cage that could stay together when hitting a cement wall at 70mph, the human was still hamburger. Yea, time for Smart to Die and go to the history books in the Sky. Same place Fiat needs to go and Alfa should have remained.

Yup, the temp service guy put my auto down for a regular oil change not looking at my history that Randy always makes sure I get my Mobile 1. Even then they changed it out and all was good. So Human error on the Temp person, not the regular service. Human error / mistakes does happen. I still say this was a good experience as the dealership took care of me. Some could dwell on the dealer making a mistake, but if they did not take care of you, then that is an even bigger evil. My dealership took care of me as it was their mistake. All is good.

I remember coding on my Pet and saving it all to cassette. I do have to admit, while I never dealt with punch cards and the nightmare if you dropped them of getting them back in order. My first coding was on an HP server that used a Ribbon punch programming methode. It was crazy how big a reel one could get depending on how you coded your program.