G. David Felt

^^^ +1 I totally agree

Very Cool Tech

VERY INTERESTING! A writer on Electrek web site created his own web site to gather info about what potential owners of the Tesla 3 want for options. https://electrek.co/2017/03/21/tesla-model-3-options-autopilot-battery-upgrade/ Interesting is that pretty much everyone wants the full self driving autopilot at $8,000 and a battery upgrade which the first option is $5,000. This makes every Tesla 3 not a $35,000 auto but a $48,000 auto to start. The web site the writer created: https://model3tracker.info/ His results todate:

I honestly could see VW do a rebadge job of Signature Auto's for Costco.

Already having these motors as parts bin material makes it easy to add in a gas guzzling V8 near the end of the product cycle before the next all new version. The world has changed and even in the wealthy circle, other than the brand snobs, I doubt we will see big engines continue much past 2020.

Word Games as they focus on seeing where to cut fat and how to focus the products to not step on each other. Expect closure and layoffs.

Great Post, Over all solid for all the trucks, I think they all did and got what they deserved based on old age. Surprised by the Bed on the Chevy. I have to think that something was still off as I have never seen a bed bend unless improper loading. But good for Ford as the winner. GM I am sure is looking to finally update this workhorse as the 6.0 is ready fro retirement and they have much better options now.

Have you tried sitting in a Volt? I cannot fit in a Volt but I can in a Bolt.

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Tesla Officially in Trouble, Business Insider Says! To quote Business Insider final comments on Tesla and the Chevy Bolt: "Clearly, Tesla would be in less trouble if the Chevy Bolt were a bad car. But it isn't. Teslas have always blown me away. The Bolt blew me away for different reasons. I just hope Tesla is prepared to take this into account." Matthew is a Business Insider senior correspondent who covers transportation and as a fan of Tesla was excited to check out a Chevy BOLT as comparison to the Tesla. On a recent trip to california he took time to visit the closet Chevrolet Dealer to his hotel and this is what he found. He states that to borrow Barkley's line, "Tesla is in trouble." You have one of the world's biggest auto companies that is known for killing the electric auto stepping off the sidelines and actually committing considerable resources to building a long range EV where it can afford to lose money on it long term till the market changes. Tesla has 400,000 plus pre-orders, but is burning through cash by the billions and while the launch of the Tesla 3 is near and Tesla still has Sexy much like Apple to an iPhone. Tesla does not have the depth of customer auto experience to pull from and as the author points out, Tesla balance sheet is precarious as it is based on raising funds on a growth story. The author goes onto say that no one will cross shop a Tesla S or X with the Chevy BOLT. They will due to limited options cross shop the Tesla 3 to the Bolt. To pull some interesting statements from the story, the author had the following to say: "I found it more fun to drive than both the Tesla Model S and the Model X, but not the original Roadster, a much smaller vehicle." "The Bolt is plenty fast for most people." "GM isn't going to overwhelm Tesla with Bolt sales. I actually think the Model 3 will greatly outsell the Bolt once Tesla's car arrives. However, it's also possible that if the Model 3 is delayed or is slow to ramp up, Chevy will be preparing a mid-cycle refresh of the Bolt before Model 3 sales start to achieve some major momentum. In other words, GM will always be ahead, and the company — barring another massive financial meltdown — will never stop putting the Bolt up against the Model 3." BI covered the BOLT in follow stories with the next one being more of an official review that starts off with covering the auto with the following statement: "A platform, not business as usual!" From ride-hailing to ride-sharing, self driving Chevy has delivered an auto for the future that gives GM options on how they build and expand their EV lineup. BI took delivery of their white Premier BOLT just before the blizzard that hit NY. Clearly a compact-crossover-hatchback look, design is what the magazine employees felt it was and is. Surprising the BI reviewers was the amount of cargo the auto can hold and how well it handled 4 people and grocery getting. BI states that GM has told them the next addition to the BOLT lineup will be a larger auto that can accommodate 5 or more people. An exceptionally well executed minimalist design that comes with an interior that feels more premium in comparison to auto's this size in the past from GM that felt clearly parts bin cheap. The review goes on to talk about how setting the front seat for a 6'4" tall driver and getting in the back with room ahead of the knees for the same size person is a nice welcome addition to such a compact auto. Heated steering wheel was welcomed by all. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto kept everyone happily connected to their phone while driving. The final statement to quote from the review is as follows: "We were impressed with the Bolt, as a car, as an electric car, and as a mobility concept. In many ways, it is GM's post-bankruptcy masterpiece, a real feather in the cap of CEO Mary Barra and her executive team, who took what the company had achieved with its ill-fated EV-1 back in the 1990s and turned it up to 11. I also flat-out loved driving it. I blasted in and out of New York City twice, rocketed around the streets of Gotham, darting through traffic, and cruised along the highways of New Jersey. I also enjoyed just driving it around the quiet streets of the suburb where I live. The steering is quick and responsive, and the handling is sharp enough to provide the confidence you need when surfing that sweet EV torque. The single-pedal mode is also very cool — I dug not using the brakes at all for extended excursions in my town. After a bit of practice, you get into a kind of Zen state with it. Not a single person asked me about the car, and that can be chalked up to the ho-hum design. But I didn't care. I was lovin' it. Plain and simple, the Bolt is fun." Here is where we have overlap between story #2 and Story #3 which covers the 7 Killer Features: Dual Screens- 10.2" touch screen infotainment center & an 8" drivers console display which are totally customizable. Auto's wireless charging console. BOLT App allowing you to be connected to your auto at all times. Five cameras: front, rear, side mirrors and their 360 camera. 9hr full charge time from a 240 volt charger. 25 miles per hour, faster with Level 3 DC charging. Lane Keep assist feature. Modern Seat design allowing for maximum space inside. Over all these writeups show that GM has delivered a superior auto to the Prius, Leaf, 500e, etc. The future will be bright for the BOLT as GM move the platform forward. BI Story #1 BI Story #2 BI Story #3

Like anything you have to shop. Costco top of the line beef that usually you would only find in high end restaurants is a perfect example of a great deal on quality beef. I shop the Business Costco as they have bulk Items I use at a cheaper price than the regular Costco but you do have to buy bigger quantities. 8.4oz Red Bull, just bought 2 cases as they have their spring sale going on, Paid $1.05 per can. Many other energy drinks I drink I usually pay from .75 cents to no more than $1.25 per can. Costco has good stuff and crappy stuff. Kirkland Signature auto's at least here in Washington always has upper end Luxury auto's at their store, I have never seen mid or low end models, never seen a mazda. Let me sleep on this and I will post tomorrow.

Yea pretty much so, there are only 4 Mitsu dealers left in washington state and all 4 are located in lower income areas. Guess that is really all they can sell into now since they really have no relevant product.

@oldshurst442 GM New product flow Chevy - every persons auto from eco ultra sub compact to full size truck / SUV. GMC - Drops Buick name and everything is labeled GMC. Cadillac - Luxury Or were you also thinking maybe time to kill off GMC?

Yup I got me email about this and talk about being pushy. I was going to post it and Bill beat me to it. Just been a crazy busy week. Still I question their motive behind this. I doubt it will change much of anything.

@oldshurst442As much as I always felt GM should have gone this way, I suspect they will feel too much invested in Buick to name change. Realistically they should have done as follows: Chevy, GMC, Pontiac and Cadillac. GMC as a step up from Chevy for trucks / suv's Pontiac as the excitement brand Cadillac the Luxury brand

@oldshurst442 That my friend is going to be hard considering how conservative China is. They might have a coronary if they saw some hot marketing buzz about a Buick Allroad Station wagon. "Live YOUR life, explore the world and conquer it all in your New Regal Roadmaster" "Leave civilian roads behind and go where others do not dare!" Imagine if you wrap up some of the best marketing from various divisions into an awesome living life slogan!

Space does play a role as well as style and features customers want. My family has had plenty of station wagons and we stopped after they downsized them and went to suburbans and never looked back. I remember many fond road trips in the olds, 98 station wagon and the Roadmaster. They were awesome. For most, an active life style will still take a CUV / SUV over a station wagon. Yet for others, a station wagon can do the trick if it has the right feature set with proper space.

I understand the common platform across multiple product lines, but this blows and will hurt them in the US market. Way too long between model refresh let alone new updated versions.

Here is a story on Ultracapacitors from 2013 were they do talk about the benefits of them with EV's and Hybrids.. http://evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=30444 2016 MIT Story where they finally admit that Ultracapacitors did not take off in EVs due to limitations especially around carbon in in the capacitor. MIT now has a carbon free capacitor that has far greater storage and power capacity and should help to fulfill the dreams of fast charging and boosted power needs with carbon free capacitors. http://www.autoblog.com/2016/10/12/mit-adds-new-material-to-supercapacitor-for-better-evs-maybe/ Future is looking Green!

I get what you are saying. Cadillac has a cool station wagon, but they forgot to make sure the back seat actually had usable room when a big person is in front. I liked the look and checked one out, but passed on it cause it failed my David Test. David has to sit in the front comfy, then I get out and get in the back seat. If I am comfy without having to change the seat in the front, it passes my test. Cadillac station wagon failed as I could not even get into the back seat as there was only about 2-3 inches from the back of the seat to the rear seat. The room in any auto is a major driving factor as to if it will possibly succeed or fail. Many that fail are due to piss poor seat space.

Audi 2016 Audi Allroad Sales USA - 2300 2015 Audi Allroad Sales USA - 2818 2016 Audi Q3 Sales USA - 20,048 2015 Audi Q3 Sales USA - 13,229 2016 Audi Q5 Sales USA - 49,550 2015 Audi Q5 Sales USA - 52,006 Subaru 2016 Subaru Outback Sales USA - 182,898 2015 Subaru Outback Sales USA - 152,294 2016 Subaru Forester Sales USA - 178,593 2015 Subaru Forester Sales USA - 175,192 2016 Subaru Crosstrek Sales USA - 95,677 2015 Subaru Crosstrek Sales USA - 88,927 Seems Subaru has continued to grow their sales while Audi slipped on the Allroad and Q5 but grew on the Q3.

But But But America Loves Tupperware, it is part of the Make America Great focus! JK, But that is a sad state that today we still have auto's that are using such piss poor quality of materials. Surprised a vendor has not just sprayed the whole interior with LineX and called it a day.

Life can be so complicated at times!

Yet MB uses many of the same parts in their Commercial line, SmartCarp line and their Eco cheap products to ubber expensive products. So how is this any different than GM using the bones across all their product lines with various levels of quality of end materials and looks. Oh, Right it is not, but for MB it is OK to move the goal post and not accept this fact. If GM killed the names of Chevy, Buick, GMC and Cadillac and just went global as GM and had everything from the subcompacts to the 100K auto's, SUV's and Trucks no different than what MB has done, what would your response be then SMK?

Wine 2007 Syrah actually what I had tonight. Excellent Bottle! with dark chocolate!

@smk4565 Yet MB has pretty much done the Same thing. Searching online for 2017 Mercedesx-benz GL# where number equals letter, you can see that pretty much they use the same seat with tweaks across the whole product line. How is this any different than GM using the same bones across Chevy, GMC & Cadillac. Clearly people seem to not notice since Escalade Sales still are strong regardless of what is sold as a Chevy or GMC. C-Class E-Class S-Class Now for Seats, Let's see how MB has pretty much used the same seats across all models. GLA GLC GLE GLK