G. David Felt

http://www.wardsauto.com/dealers/auto-dealership-mystery-shopping-indicates-which-brands-rock Great read on the brands success by Mystery Shoppers. Loved the statement that Tesla salespeople are like museum curators, answering questions but doing nothing to really sell the brand and build rapport and satisfaction. What are your thoughts?

Auto Dealership Websites, Winning your Purchase According to a Cox Automotive survey, 83% of auto consumers prefer at least one online function from a dealerships website and 85% are more likely to buy from a dealership that allows website users to digitally buy a vehicle even if they do not currently opt to complete the whole purchase online. The importance of the website today compared to the early 90's when people might be more likely to balk at spending money on a website with features like this is making a drastic change in how consumers shop. How do you feel about shopping for an auto via the dealerships website? Wards Story

We are in the Golden Age of Auto's with a revolution that will see the gentle passing of ICE Auto's as they are replaced by the EV Auto. With today's small 2% plus market share, the EV auto is having a major impact on auto suppliers. According to the director of product development, filtration and engine peripherals J.D. Kehoe of Mahle Filter Systems of North America, the ICE downsizing, 48V Hybridization and electric traction motors are affecting the development of future powertrains. Mahle's corporate strategy is to keep on top of all trends supporting the wide variety of options and yet that also comes with the added danger that if you make the wrong call, a company could be on the hook for millions of dollars in parts cost if they build and support the wrong tech version of any given powertrain. You have the success of the Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf and Tesla making up the 2-3% of global deliveries today and by 2023 the auto industry expects to have 205 EV models on the market replacing many ICE models. Manufactures have a wide range that specify from 200V to 400V based on the battery packs with each electric motor up to 134HP depending on vehicle design. Mahle has grown their EV portfolio to off EV-oriented technology to OEM customers from high-voltage liquid cooled electric traction motors that operate in the 400V to 800V range with power output up to 240HP with unlimited lifetimes as they are brushless designs that require little to no maintenance and they are working to increase their motors power density to have offerings up to supercar level. Mahle offers 48V IPM synchronous electric motors that can operate in a range of 42V to 52V to meet the needs of various designs for mild hybrid applications. Areas of instant growth that Mahle and other auto suppliers are hiring for is in needs of electric AC and heater systems that are low voltage demanding along with leak detection devices as all the new closed system EV systems have a new wave of monitoring to optimize performance / efficiency. Example of this is the need to monitor battery-cell electrolytes that must not come in contact with water or humidity from the cooling system. While powertrains are expected to reduce as much as 75% in complexity and parts compared to ICE powertrains, electronics are expected to expand greatly in the various uses from monitoring subsystems to safety and occupant comfort. As auto companies look to reduce weight, use new technology material like carbon fiber and high strength plastics the needs to adjust and change quickly means the nimble suppliers will win the evolving change in consumer / commercial auto's. Wards Auto Story Mahle web site

Many will not acknowledge that we are already in a downturn of an economy, yet the numbers do not lie. Lucky is that the auto industry is better prepared than ever for a downturn and thinning the rank n file workers to adjust to minimize loss is now very doable. According to the story listed below, middle of next year if we stay even with what we are doing now we will then have the longest ever prosperity time surpassing the one in the 90's. We clearly have a tradeware and the auto industry is already reduced parts / supplies 8% and are continuing to reduce to adjust for the onhand inventory of finished auto's. Rebates are up at an all time high for many models. Adaptation and workforce flexibility is the key to surviving the next depression. http://www.wardsauto.com/industry-voices/industry-better-prepared-adapt-downturn

Yes, both Apple and Windows have done well for consistency and simplicity. I also hate the various distros and weird one off things that tend to break the Linux world. Hadoop is a nightmare due to this.

Musk turn on the charm and get them to back date the 100% foreign ownership to now so you do not have to share internal technology with pirates.

So true, but then working in a heavy area of English as a second language, I tend to not bother with the whole grammar / writing style thing. For me it was the points of what makes a coupe a coupe or not a coupe. Agree TOTALLY with you that what is small to me, My Trailblazer SS is probably huge to you.

I can totally understand having the CLI, that is what I love about Windows 10 in Developer mode, I have a pure clean Ubuntu system, makes it so easy to access our Isilon OneFS storage systems that we build and do anything I want from a development side and yet still have the windows side that works seamlessly with corp email, internal websites, etc. Best of both worlds for enterprise storage work. Before Dell bought us, Isilon allowed people to use whatever platform they were comfortable working on so we always had a huge mix of Windows, Apple and Linux laptops / desktop. Dell refuses to support rightly so any company other than Dell, so you have your choice of a corporate laptop / desktop with Windows or your flavor of Linux on it. Just a few Apple holdouts left and as those system die, they will be forced into the windows / Linux world and I suspect most will end up back on windows as the apple users are no Linux / Unix capable people. Mostly marketing types.

My friend I am the opposite, I avoid at all cost anything apple. The weirdest interface to me that makes no sense to me. Good thing we have windows and Linux. I always have options.

Please define slightly comfortable? To me in washington is upper 60's, lower 70's with 50% humidity no more. Just trying to figure out the meaning of this.

As a Premium subscriber I saw the same few quirks you see now. Yet over the weekend, I did a clean install of 64bit Win 10 and with this clean install all the formatting issues went away. My work laptop still shows the weird formatting quirks and I think that is because it was a win 7 upgraded to win 10. My gut tells me the software was probably never tested for QA on upgraded systems or older systems with lots of updates. Sucks on the weird quirks but then Drew rocks at how he has kept this site going and at a low cost to the members.

As far as I know and could find, the Envoy never got the SS motor. It would have been cool if Cady and Pontiac had gotten an version of the TB SS V8 6.0.

RIP Phoenix Postal worker who dies in truck delivering mail as morning temp hits 120 degrees. Thought those trucks would have AC. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-postal-worker-found-dead-in-california-after-delivering-mail-in-extreme-heat-family-says/ar-AAzQEMI?OCID=ansmsnnews11

The history on them is that they had the inline 6 and the 5.3L V8, but they built 117 special versions for 2008 before closing the assembly line and I think this is one of those special ones that got the TB SS 6.0 V8 as the TB SS finished out in 2009.

Very true, while coal burns hot and most goes up the flew with the heat / smoke, you do get a residue of black build up over time. My family in the 70's used to get coal from a little town here called Black Diamond that had the only working coal mine. Now shut down, but by the 80's Natural gas was a superior way to heat.

Cool, wish them all the best and hope they keep the quality up too as they grow.

Found this story on Jalopnik and thought we should have a lively debate on if this is accurate or not. https://jalopnik.com/screw-you-carmakers-you-dont-get-to-ruin-the-word-co-1827480939 To quote the story: The word “coupe” comes from the French word “couper,” which means “to cut” because a coupe was a sort of “cut down” version of a car: smaller, leaner, lighter, sportier, shorter, and, significantly, less doors. As in two where the non-coupe version of the car would have had four. Do you go with the change in definition of what a Coupe is or do you still agree that this is a true coupe?

Ug, More proof that Pruitt should be charged as a criminal for his clear disregard of health for American people. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117628_pruitt-leaves-poison-pill-at-epa-for-glider-truck-emissions-rule This whole glider emissions rule stinks as for $225,000 a truck company bought the ability to spew toxic diesel substance into our air, water and land for pure profit of a select few. Pathetic. I hope somehow Pruitt is brought to justice for his crimes. When you have all modern Diesel truck makers saying NO to the gilder rule as well as so many other groups both inside the gov and outside the gov, how does a criminal leader push through allowing this polluting of trucks to happen.

Saw this at the local Red Robin, Thought someone was playing a joke on me and put a Buick front end on a Trailblazer. But upon closer look, it is a real Buick CXL that I had totally forgotten about. Sham that the owner is not taking care of it. Yet then it is from Ohio and a senior that clearly is having challenges driving. Wonder if due to the 6.0L tags if they added it or if this is a 2008 one of the 117 special editions they did before they stopped production. I cannot seem to find much info on the 117 2008 builds in regards to the engine choice. Weird.

@Zane Wylder Nice Talent, wish I could draw. You have a great skill, reminds me of my son who does this for a living. Outstanding Talent Zane!

@ccap41 Check out this if your interested in just how much CNG powered Locomotives, Mining, Shipping, and more are being done with CNG / LNG. https://www.hhpsummit.com/market-segments/rail The Natural Gas for High Horsepower summit is really cool. One solution that has been shown off recently is using small MicroTurbines as generators in Hybrids. Very efficient, clean and less weight and room required than using traditional ICE generators.

Current Detroit Autoshow:

Today's modern trains that use CNG generators with electric motors are the most efficient economical form of transportation. My comment is on the outdated use of Coal.

I like what i am reading and would have to say that this could really reboot the show into one of the premier shows to attend along with all the other stuff in the area to go and do.

Cough Cough Cough, the smoke clogging killing the kids old America!