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G. David Felt

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Everything posted by G. David Felt

  1. G. David Felt
    G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Carbon Fibre Production to Triple SGL an American Company and BMW of Germany have announced a $200 million dollar investment to expand Carbon Fibre production at their Moses Lake Washington state production plant. This comes on top of their commitment last year to double capacity in 2013. Soaring demand from the auto industry and airplane industry for carbon fibre caused the joint venture production plant to double capacity from the current 3000 tones a year to 6000 tones by the end of this year with the addition of production line 3 and 4. This expansion announced last year was due to the perceived larger than expected sales of the BMW i cars. Now the joint venture between SGL and BMW will bring online a 5th and 6th production line by the end of 2015 at the Moses Lake Washington plant. This $200 million additional investment will make this carbon fiber production plant the largest in the world producing 9000 tones of Carbon fiber. Currently the plants productions is a 100% for the BMW i auto's. Quoting the SGL / BMW companies say "that applications involving carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) are projected to grow in future vehicle concepts and believe the material offers new opportunities in lightweight construction for an eco-friendly mobility." The spools of carbon fibre material is then shipped and processed at the second joint venture site in Germany. Here they are then turned into textile carbon fiber layers, the starting point for the production of CFRP body parts at the BMW plants.
  2. G. David Felt
    LMAO, Yee! At least it is one of the best toothpastes out there!
  3. G. David Felt
    Saw a newly sold TDI Jetta Wagon that was spouting smoke from the tailpipe. Made me think the rings were bad on the engine. Sad to see a new car already smoking.
  4. G. David Felt
    What once made Cadillac tick no longer applies in the luxury segment. It's no longer about huge space, cloud smooth ride, and the most glitz... it's about aggressive looks and driving acumen that makes the most mundane morning commute a trip around the Nürburgring. Agreed, we are past the Baby Boomers desires for a Laz-e-boy chair ride. The buyers are wanting what you stated, a driving experience to make their commute fun.
  5. G. David Felt
    Based on what I can find searching the internet, MB has only 2 SUV platforms. Their military version mad consumer overpriced dino G-Class and the 4 model family GLA, GLK, GL and M-class suv. How is this any different than Cadillac with their 2 SUV platforms? They have their Escalade, Escalade ESV and SRX. I expect a second model off the SRX line but with Buick, Cadillac does not need to have a model in compact, Mid class and Full size. More then enough with what they have.
  6. G. David Felt
    My Trailblazer SS AWD I would put up against anything the germans put out. My SUV it tight, handles amazing and blows most sports cars away. American LS V8 power with Driving Dynamics that eats up a curvy road!
  7. G. David Felt
    Audi has built a marketing buzz around a very expensive Ala cart style of car purchasing with proprietary technology that is just stupid in today's day and age. You should NOT have to buy a special cable to plug in your ipod or mp3 player. You should not have to upgrade the sound system to just use what is already common place in the market. Crazy Nickel and diming the consumer to death. Seems this would be a short term gain but at long term loss of customer satisfaction equaling long term loss of customers.
  8. G. David Felt
    Sorry to see such a beauty go, but I do understand the reasoning. Good-luck, we look forward to what ends up in your coral in the future.
  9. G. David Felt
    Saw this morning a metallic brown Olds 442. The work the old man had put into the car was a thing of Beauty. Sparkled in the morning sunshine and was just awesome. Nice deep growl from the exhaust but not annoying loud like Harley Davidson. Just deep, v8 muscle.
  10. G. David Felt
    I will have to disagree with you about depreciates, at least here in Seattle, BMW and MB 2yrs old or older are side by side with Cadillacs at the same cheap rates. Maybe it is the affluent High Tech Industry that keeps turning cars here over quickly, but I do not see a premium for the German auto's on the used lots. I see much higher prices for all CUV/SUV's. American, Asian or German. The cars not so much unless it is the M series or AMG or V series.
  11. G. David Felt
    So then the Germans and Asians are doing what American auto companies have done in the past. Have weaker product, throw ton of money on the hood to keep the poor quality auto's selling.
  12. G. David Felt
    Nice write up, I love the current Durango and that they went back to mid size like the first generation. This CUV is a perfect auto for most people.
  13. G. David Felt
    Looking at the sales reports, Audi only had a huge surge as they did not have the A3 a year ago so it seems huge for their sales increase and Lexus shows very small gain year over year so I do not see the surge you talk about in their auto's competing with the ats.
  14. G. David Felt
    You can always try to live in the future but you will fail. Right now ATS eats most of the Germans lunch's just accept that Cadillac does have a superior auto both inside and out. Soon it will be replaced by something better from another auto company. The leap frog always happens so just accept that every auto company does have it's day.
  15. G. David Felt
    PASS on both, A3 and CLA are garbage auto's with much superior options out there. These auto's are selling to badge snobs who really only care about their superficial face than a real quality auto.
  16. G. David Felt
    Wang Chung
  17. G. David Felt
    Love both Projects. Soo cool to see their current state and what they can end up being. Thanks for the update pictures.
  18. G. David Felt
    Me Like BIG TIME these improvements! AWESOME
  19. G. David Felt
    Funniest are those people plugged in listening to their music and forgetting that they can still be heard from others when they fart. Yes the music covered it up for you but the rest of us heard it and smelt it.
  20. G. David Felt
    Saw an old Izuzu Pup Today belching black smoke as those old oil burners do when not maintained but amazed to still see it on the road 30+ years later.
  21. G. David Felt
    Very interested in learning more about the T8 powertrain.
  22. G. David Felt
    Also, I think GM's sales goal for the SS (which is 3,000 per year I think) doesn't make any sense to that stuff at the moment. Which is a shame, because I really think an eight-speed could do some wonderful things. Is 3,000 per annum a capacity restriction in the Victoria plant or GM's reluctance to build more? More of the latter That is what I figured. Then GM is to blame for not giving this car a chance to be what it wanted the car to be. If executives make excuse that people didn't buy it, even though we offered a "great car", then they need to be "shown the light". AKA Show them the DOOR! We need young people who are willing to think long term on building quality auto's that people can love. They can be older people also as long as they are still willing to learn and change and not set in their way.
  23. G. David Felt
    GM Also needs to realize that the Baby Boomers are NOT buying Blinging Chrome Auto's that they used to. Most are into their last or 2nd to last auto. Those of us with cash to spend on new auto's are in the 30-50 age range and most of us like luxury that is subdued. I love all my GM auto's including my 2006 Escalade ESV Platinum. If it had more chrome than the door handles, grill, tips on roof rack and running boards along with the very nice 20" chrome wheels, I would have passed. The thing I hate about the last generation was that ugly big brick of Chrome on the back tail gate. Yes I understand some love a chromed out blinged out auto, but I believe their are more of us that love monochromatic auto's. GM should explore doing a Escalade in the Plum Color with BLACK Chrome for wheels, grill and door handles. That is the perfect accent and no more.
  24. G. David Felt
    That is really weird, In looking at charger forums, it seems the 2010 and 2011 chargers seem to have the recirc box break or motor break and this keeps the recirc from working. Requires pulling the dash apart to get to the motor and box. Have them check all your bi-level flaps to see if any are cracked and get those fixed also so you can address all the AC issues at one time. Good Luck, sorry you will have to take this back in. Let me know as I am interested if this is the actual problem or not but like I said it seems to be a common issue on Charger and dodge forums in searching.
  25. G. David Felt
    Stupid question but did you make sure you did not have it in Defrost mode or foot / Defrost mode. I know my auto's all being GM work with face blowing or Face and feet blowing only for recirc. My daughters Durango works the same way.
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