G. David Felt

As always Old's appreciate your viewpoint. I would not call it Lazy as so much as ones perspective on the auto's. Or as @surreal1272 said one persons subjective viewpoint. In watching the video, I get the extensive focus on the RS which to me proves as you pointed out just how great a job Corvette Engineering did to get the E-Ray to be so close to the RS and yet pretty much trump the rest of the 911 lineup. We know that having a benchmark is important and as such, have a bigger performance auto equal or beat the 911 is great. I have no doubt that when GM does benchmark the C8 on the German race course it will set records. Records is the key piece as we always find companies leapfrogging the competition to only then loose the lead again the following year for some reason or another.

Todays Dodge Last Call is going on now.

Interesting review. Cannot complain about their negative being the only interior color is black or black and grey. Seems it the Georgia factory is where the GV70 EV is produced. Sadly only a 236 mile range. Genesis Electrified GV70 first drive review: a killer high-end EV with one flaw (msn.com)

So true, course for us tall guys we ski on 239's nothing would fit in the trunk, but they do look more like cross country skis. I can say that Dell clearly has multiple banks as it seems depending on which division you have you get paid out of that bank and of course our pay structure depending on if you are an Engineer, Marketing, Sales, Support, etc. is all different too. Even the Company Yearly Bonus based on performance comes out of another bank compared to my regular pay.

True Dat! It is a marketing term used to focus on the city to suburban person more than those actually living the lifestyle. Course where I live is considered Suburban, but most of my neighbors are gone on the weekends out in the mountains. We hate the city, but like our local mall here and REI on our way to the mountains that are less than an hour drive away for the day.

Very cool advertisement, never seen it before, reminds me of that one James Bond movie where he drives up into some swiss alps ski area. Love the side profile of this car, that is a sexy auto. Imagine if that was an EV, how big that Frunk would be. @oldshurst442 Totally agree with you, it is stupid to see people with ski tags on their jacket especially considering that most ski resorts have not had paper tags in over a decade. At least here in the PNW, I see these tags and that just tells me this person rarely skis as they have used RFID cards that you leave in the special pass pouch. Ski resorts next year here are all moving to their phone apps so you just leave your phone where ever on you and it will be read automatically so you can just jump in line and not get scanned. Those that do not have a smartphone will still be able to get an RFID day pass, but again this goes in a pocket on your ski jacket for scanning. Technology has so moved us to new ways of being Lifestyle without showing others what that lifestyle is. The Bike thing is exacerbating as I see so many luxury auto's with bike racks on the back folded up trying to be kept out of the way but not really being used and instead causing damage as the idiot drivers who bike 1 or 2 times a year try to say "Look at me, I am a road cyclist or Mountain bike Cyclist when it is winter." Idiots I will say that a real Lifestyle believer is one who has various hobbies, might even shop at REI and have the membership (Yup I do), has a whole family that goes up weekly, but when we come down, we take off the ski/snowboard rack and put it away. Yes, we drive AWD vehicles, but you could not tell what our sport interest are as we are not out to show off, but are living that lifestyle that makes us happy. Damn, that is a Sexy Toronado. I so could enjoy a car like that with AWD.

Seems a Price war is blooming in China and could come here. Ford and GM follow Tesla's lead and wade into China price war by offering big discounts to boost sales, report says (msn.com)

I know some will hate to see this, but the change is on as many top hot rodders are now converting classic autos to EVs. Meet some of the 'hot rodders' making classic gas-powered cars run on electric motors and batteries — see their coolest conversions (msn.com)

@oldshurst442 It is amazing how marketing grabs onto a term meant to represent ones lifestyle choices of what they do and then focuses on it for an auto. I have to say I like this TopGear response to Lifestyle vehicles. Here are nine alternatives to ‘lifestyle vehicles’ | Top Gear

So you do not see people using the Canoo in a active lifestyle way then, such as camping, skiing, etc.? Truck Life Van life I am amazed at how many GMC Safari AWD vans I see out and about and especially on the pass for skiing/Snowboarding. Like how VW is marketing their lifestyle EV van. I think there will be a segment that will want it for this. Right now, I think it is smart of them to sell first into the last mile delivery service as they should sell all they can produce.

@Drew Dowdell @Robert Hall @oldshurst442 @ccap41 @surreal1272 @trinacriabob @riviera74 Canoo is finally building and selling their LifeStyle auto. What do you all think?

Cool, EVs make up 7% market share in January 2023 compared to 5% in January 2022. https://insideevs.com/news/657660/us-electric-car-sales-january2023/

Intersting read on a Tesla fire that is not battery related but would appear to be from the work of the auto shop that rebuilt the Tesla after an accident. Tesla Model 3 Bursts Into Flames From Inside While Driving On The Road | Carscoops Does make one wonder about how having multiple wires under the carpet and feet of the occupants is not the best engineering. I would say the legacy auto makers will have a better time of routing electrical wiring for better built EVs. Tesla Model 3 Bursts Into Flames From Inside While Driving On The Road | Carscoops

Seems 7-Eleven is planning big changes. Globally 7-Eleven is wanting to be the premier stopping point for EV charging and has rolled out their 7Charge EV charging network. Thursday, March 16, 2023 PR: 7‑Eleven, Inc. Launches New Electric Vehicle Charging Network, 7Charge (7-eleven.com) Just download the app for Apple or Android from the proper stores and setup your 7Charge account. 7-Charge | 7-Eleven 7Charge is growing in the U.S. and will start expanding internationally with Canada this year as well as other markets. 7Eleven has stated that all 7Eleven stores and their sister stores from Speedway and Stripes are included in the EV 7Charge system. According to the press release when 7Eleven bought Speedway in 2021, 7Eleven has a world wide chain of 77,000 stores in 16 countries with a customer loyalty program with more than 40 Million members. North America has 14,000 stores with a presence in 47 of the top 50 most populated metro areas. 7-Eleven, Inc. Completes Acquisition of 3,800 Speedway Stores (prnewswire.com)

Some pretty cool patents being filed by GM. GM Files Patent For LiDAR System (gmauthority.com) While cool tech, not sure I am interested in this type. GM Files Patent For Remote Autonomous Vehicle Towing (gmauthority.com) Seems you can either have Performance or Off-Road Package but not both, seems both the GMC Hummer truck and SUV get a stabilizer bar underneath if performance is the focus, opt for the optional off-road package and you no longer get the stabilizer bar for the sake of better off-road handling. Some GMC Hummer EVs Have This One Big Chassis Difference (gmauthority.com) Here is something I believe @oldshurst442 @ccap41 will enjoy and even I have to say it makes the Cadillac sedan look amazing. Cadillac CT5 Body Kit From Robot Craftsman Brings Aggression (gmauthority.com) Have to say the images GM Authority caught of the mid year refresh of the Cadillac CT5 is nice, love the new headlights.

While I TOTALLY agree with the more recalls by one vendor over another gets the most news. That seems to not be the case in the Auto Industry. These car manufacturers issued the most recalls in 2022 - Autoblog Ford: 67 recalls (8,636,265 vehicles) Volkswagen Group: 45 recalls (1,040,885 vehicles) FCA/Stellantis: 38 recalls (3,041,431 vehicles) Mercedes-Benz: 33 recalls (969,993 vehicles) General Motors: 32 recalls (3,371,302 vehicles) Kia: 24 recalls (1,458,962 vehicles) Hyundai: 22 recalls (1,452,101 vehicles) Tesla: 20 recalls (3,769,581 vehicles) BMW: 19 recalls (1,000,455 vehicles) Nissan: 15 recalls (1,568,385 vehicles) Based on this, yes Ford has earned the news, but where is the VW and MB news? Heard very little about their recalls.

@surreal1272 You both have valid points and we do find crap against all auto makers. Yet if you focus on the big Media, it would appear that they attack American auto companies far more than Asian or European. It also does not help that some of the biggest conservative companies have executives that love their European autos over anything American and yet they push the maga flag while still doing the bulk of their business out of this country for jobs. I honestly wish all big media would push home the lies that clean diesel of Europe pushed for so long before they were all found criminal. Clearly not enough being done as even CR still pushes a heavy Asian agenda on their best autos when that is a lie too. At this point, if GM can truly beat Tesla and keep the quality going up, then the best thing ever is to make society eat mud over the deceptive nature of all this.

@oldshurst442 Not a blind fan boy either of the corvetter but I did feel the writeup was a fair assessment since GM is very open about bench marking the Corvette against the 911 series. In this regards corvette e-ray does surpass Porsche and you are right, it will be interesting to see what the Hybrid is. In regards to the 911 GT3 RS (Racing Edition) here we can compare apples to apples. Porsche 911 GT3 RS - Porsche USA 2023 911 GT3 RS MSRP starting price $223,800, 518 hp / 342 ft-lbs of torque And I find lots of stories on the C8.R edition but no specifications/cost, but I would think this is what would be put up against the 911 GT3 RS or am I missing something.

Have to LAUGH at this one, especially the white guy that is trying to bring the attention to Tesla CEO Musk as saying China is Tesla Territory. LOL Cadillac goes after Tesla by setting up test drives at Supercharger station | Electrek Smart Marketing by Cadillac of China.

Very interesting reading on Oil. Combustion-vehicle sales peaked in 2017, peak oil due in 2027 (greencarreports.com) Originally peak consumer sales were expected around 2022 and commercial around 2036. Now we see consumer ice sales peaked in 2017 and commercial is now expected in 2027. Days of OIL are over, welcome to the electrical revolution.

This Friday is a Gorillaz day for me.

It dawned on me that the Stealth Mode can help the single guys or gals sneak away from a 1 night stand if they so choose. ? Saw this write up on the SVB bank failure and have to say it is very illuminating. Silicon Valley Bank It’s hard to miss the news this week that sparked major disruptions in the banking industry. A sequence of events rapidly unfolded, resulting in the second largest bank failure in US history last week. Subsequent reports from other banks experiencing problems followed. The trigger started with an increased volume of withdrawals from venture-backed start-ups. This segment has struggled to obtain incremental investments in this conservative fiscal environment, so drawing more funds without incremental investments caused a strain on the banking reserves. Bad decisions on long-dated bond investments by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) that resulted in a $1.8 billion loss inflated the problem. Management of SVB failed to hold enough liquidity to meet the increasing demands. SVC’s announcement that they were looking to raise more capital via additional share sales to cover their shortfall on March 8th was quickly amplified on social media and caused a rapid bank run by customers. The whole collapse took a mere 48 hours to unfold. The SVB financial concentration on technology companies did not just affect small, early-stage start-ups. Some of the well-established technology companies affected included Roku, Etsy, and Cloudian. Here’s a more complete list that spans the US, Europe, and Asia. The impact felt by customers, employees, and other businesses serving the businesses affected by this collapse affects secondary and tertiary levels. Unlike the 2008 financial collapse triggered by over-leveraged lending, this event was not due to the fundamental integrity of customers, but rather to the fact that management failed to satisfy its fiduciary responsibility to preserve liquidity. More fuel was added to the fire by increasing interest rates, decreased VC investments, and fewer acquisition exits – a combination predictable in this more conservative fiscal phase we’re now in. In Europe, HSBC took over the U.K. division of SVB over the weekend. Accepting all of their assets and liabilities in exchange for £1, HSBC came to rescue of many customers and businesses worried about their livelihoods. 451 Research explains: The deal will considerably boost HSBC's exposure to startups and high-growth companies — a segment of the market that risk-averse incumbent banks in the U.K. have typically shied away from. As of March 10, SVB (U.K.) had loans of £5.5 billion and deposits of in the region of £6.7 billion, and about 3,300 clients. SVB (U.K.) turned a pre-tax profit of £88 million in the 2022 financial year. Although SVB (U.K.) does not make its fintech client list public, previous press releases suggest that it has lent money to the likes of well-known payments and remittance company Wise PLC (formerly TransferWise) and Liberis, a U.K.-based embedded finance specialist. Although HSBC's appearance as a white knight came as a surprise to many, the multinational bank has been bolstering its U.K. small and medium-sized business lending proposition in recent years, which suggests that the deal is strategic as well as opportunistic. HSBC launched its digital small-business banking product, Kinetic, in 2021, and its customer base stood at 53,000 as of year-end 2022. It also launched a global SMB platform, Business Go, whose signups totaled 95,000 at the end of 2022. There’s still a lot more to come as the situation continues to unfold. 451 Research reminded its readers this week that it will take years for technology deal making and trust to recover. As other banking institutions come into the mix, the challenges will extend well beyond the technology industry. Here’s a write up from Fidelity if you have interest in their point of view.

Have to say that I agree with this story about how Chevrolet has beaten Porsche. 10 Things That Make The Chevy Corvette E-Ray Better Than The Porsche 911 (topspeed.com) #10 - Corvette is more powerful, 495 base horsepower compared to 911 GTS 473 horsepower. #9 - Corvette E-Ray is faster than the Porsche, Corvette is 2.5 seconds 0-60 where Porsche is 2.8 seconds 0-60 automatic, 3.2 seconds if manual. #8 - Utility and space management, Corvette is better than Porsche for interior room and cargo space. #7 - Affordability, Corvette E-Ray starts at $102,900 compard to Porsche 911 starts at $107,000 and if you go 911 Carrera S that is more equal to the E-Ray, starting price is $124,000 making the Corvette E-Ray the best value for performance cars. #6 - Fuel-efficient - E-Ray is more fuel efficient than the Porsche. #5 - Hybrid, Corvette Hybrid is here today, Porsche says they will have a Hybrid in the future. #4 - Stealth Mode - Corvette has this that allows you to drive away in pure electric mode staying very quiet where Porsche does not have this so the loud exhaust will be there to wake everyone up. #3 - Magnetic Ride Control 4.0, faster auto adjusting suspension than the Porsche PASM auto adjusting suspension. #2 - Fuel tank size, Corvette E-Ray has a 18.5 gallon gas tank compared to Porsche 16.9 gallon gas tank. #1 - PowerTrain Warranty - Corvette E-Ray has a 5 year / 60,000 mile warranty, Porsche gives you a 4 year / 50,000 mile warranty.