Leaderboard

That, my friend, is what's known as a 'hot mess'. - - - - - '16 Malibu 1.5T. Have to say, this car is a huge improvement over the '09 that preceded it. It does 90 on the highway like it's doing 40. The power is also very good as is the handling/ride/steering.

Toyota C-HR!! As described on Toyota's site as 'Your Eccentric Match'.

I imagine that S-class will go all electric on the next generation in 2028 and EQS will be absorbed into it. Daimler has said they will be carbon neutral by 2039, I can't imagine them going into the 2030s with a gas burning S-class, they will want it to be EV to be the innovation leader of the brand. They have to build dual lines now because there are too many people that won't buy an EV, but regulations force car companies to make EV's and Mercedes wants to convert to all EV by 2039, but you can't just do it overnight, you have to go slow at it to get that EV take rate up. And really the car companies that will be in good shape in the 2030s are the ones that can fund the dual lines now, because if you just stick with gas now, and the market goes 50% EV in 2030, you don't have any sales. This could really hurt companies like Mazda and Nissan for example. Just like companies that were slow to make SUVs got hurt by the changeover from sedan to SUV and had to scramble to catch up. And large product line has always been a Mercedes/Audi/BMW strength, by offering all that choice they don't lose customers when trends shift.

China saved Buick, China is saving Mercedes. As volume dwindles, profits dwindle. In another 5 years, s-class will probably be selling less than 6000 units, when it used to be around 32,000. Daimler will push for the eqs to replace the s, there's no sense in having dual lines (except the profit margin on the eqs may not be there). But the issue facing ALL OEMs is that consumers don't really want BE cars. There's no automatic assumption s-class buyers are all going to switch over to the eqs, not at all. Probably why Daimler has been so ass-draggingly slow to get BE's out.

Going to be mid to upper 80s here this week. Now, if it would come without the mandatory humidity, that would be great lol.

Man, I am hearing 80 degrees this week?

This is what I'm talking about. For some people - stupid people - someone's being an entertainment figure automatically has pull. They think it gives them credibility and competence. It shouldn't be automatic. If you're going to be a key elected official, let's see that law degree, which is usually preceded by a degree in political science or economics. This is how people who want to make policy and who know they may shift from law to being public servants prepare themselves for that treadmill from their late teens. It's not a cut and dried rule, but it's a starting point in putting them under the microscope to see if you want them as your elected official. If they're douchebags, then they don't deserve your vote. It was somewhat hard (and unhealthy) to grow up in an area where "everyone wants to be a star!" That they now want to be our governors and presidents is even more difficult to accept.

SpaceX launches 4 astronauts to space station, nails rocket landing. "It's the third crewed launch for Elon Musk's company in less than 12 months. Crew-2's launch was one for the history books. It marked several firsts, including the first time that people have flown on a used Crew Dragon and with a used Falcon 9 first stage, and the first time that two different international astronauts have ridden in the capsule. The Crew Dragon vehicle that launched this morning, known as Endeavour, also lifted off in May of 2020, carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS on the Demo-2 test flight, SpaceX's first-ever crewed mission. In a nice bit of additional symmetry, Behnken is McArthur's husband." SpaceX launches 4 astronauts to space station, nails rocket landing | Space

Truth for Thursday..... Back to cars....this Ford just has the look!

Calling the Model S an EQS competitor is like saying the CT5 is an S-class competitor. Sure all of them are sedans, but the EQS is a full size class bigger than the Model S, it is bigger than a Lexus LS500, bigger than a CT6, bigger than a 7-series. A Model S is roughly CLS size, even the AMG GT 4-door is bigger than a Model S, a Model 3 is roughly C-class size, and you can't compare any Tesla interior to a Mercedes. Also no one knows how long the EQE is, if it is E-class size which you'd think, and priced in the $70-130k range (roughly $10k more than an e-class) then it would line up directly in size and price against the Model S. Also we have seen the base EQS, (rumor that a 90 kWh battery might follow later) and suspicion is that it will be over $100k. A base 6-cylinder rear drive S-class is $109k for 2022, hard to believe EQS is cheaper than that and the $200k AMG and Maybach are coming later. This isn't like Lucid showing the $150k Air top of the line and then working backwards to a $80k version in 2 years, and Hummer is doing the same starting with the top model. EQS is starting with the cheapest model and going up.