G. David Felt

Reviews say the hybrid and plug-in hybrid actually drive better than the lower end Rav4's. Better than the Lexus predator mouth grill.

Been reading the reviews as I have family members that want a Hybrid CUV and I have to say the Rav4 has earned it's leadership place. The latest reviews just starting to come out on the Rav4 Prime Plug-in Hybrid is it is even better. Wish they would get them into the rental lots for testing.

SmartPhone

Of course it is boring to you, Ya live in the Dino age. Plenty of warm green house gas just before they get wiped out.

What Buffet did you go to? Agree no matter which way you take, Leavenworth is awesome. I love the local made Root beer made with local Honey. Awesome especially when put over the Local made Vanilla bean ice-cream.

Computers

Your talking about this story where they say it is between a Toyota Tacoma single and double cab. The interior is sized to be full size. The CEO RJ is 6'2" and his son's are tall like him and fit, so I have to believe it is far more roomy than a Tacoma. This is also why I will wait till I can physical sit in the product myself. https://www.motortrend.com/news/2020-rivian-r1t-ev-first-look-electric-pickup-truck/ They say the R1T is 215.5 inches long in the story from 2yrs ago. Today on the actual web site, it is 217.1 inches, so it grew a couple inches. 79.3 inches wide. https://rivian.com/r1t/

Mustang Mach-e Updates per electrek.com Charges 30% faster than stated earlier at the reveal Across the board all models have 11 lb-ft of more torque and from 8 to 14 more hp. Order books are now open starting today, so reservation holders are now being booked as orders. Seems some Ford dealers across America think they have a right to 5 to 15 thousand above MSRP for a Mach-e Sale. Buyers are shopping around as you can choose what dealership you want to receive your Mach-e at once you agree to a price. As such a growing list of dealers who have committed to not doing ADM on the Mach-e or other Ford products. https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/official-list-no-adm-mach-e-ford-dealers.95/ https://electrek.co/2020/06/30/ford-mustang-mach-e-specs-opens-order-book/

Gonna re-chrome it?

Other times Zen tranquility is nice just like an EV.

Awesome read @William Maley I totally agree with your thinking. I have been home since February when Dell Technology choose to have the company world wide Shelter in place (164,000). The company has since informed us that they expect 50% of the employees to become work from home permanently. Since then, I have now received my date of going to the office to clear out my cubicle. July 8th from 8am to 10 am. I will pack up and take home everything. My gut tells me this is the start of a commercial property downturn as companies that can have employees work from home will and reduce the cost of commercial property rent. Our Seattle office is a 7 story building that we had subleased out the 7th and 1st floor. The lease is up this fall. As such, I suspect we will reduce down to Floors 4 to 6 as our Datacenter is on Floor 4 and we have steps between floor 5 and 6 cut through the cement so no way to isolate the floors. As such, I suspect a much smaller sales center with most being focused on support and engineering onsite that is critical, rest will be at home. There are 1,200 of us in the office. I suspect only a few hundred will return to the office. Days of driving into work are over for me, as such, taking the road trip drive will be more important than ever now. To be safe it is more than just mask and a set of disposable gloves. We need to insure we have our sanitizer, think about where we stop and have the ability to use the restroom. Plan to have your TravelJohn with you. As an auto enthusiast, it is more important to keep us connected to the passion that drives our interests. Anyone up for an Auto enthusiast skype/zoom get together?

Here in Washington state all the Octoberfest festivities have been canceled since no large outdoor or indoor gatherings are being allowed. While sad at first as there is a German Town here Leavenworth that is awesome to visit in the mountains had one of the best Octoberfest with so much beer to try. Yet now the focus will be to do mini Oktoberfest's with family in the home. A refocus is what will be needed and a change in marketing to keep folks interested and buying. Airbus is saying huge employment cuts are coming. Boeing has done it here, we are entering a new era of employment and a change in how we do business to stay safe. I am thinking virtual visits to auto museums will have to suffice till we can get back out physically. Stay physical at home to stay in shape all.

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I respect your choice in Music, to me it is Music of a different variety.

That there shows that they are worth trying to turn around as that is allot of jobs to loose and the 3rd party companies working with Nissan, lots of hardship if the company fails. Thank you for posting that info Robert. Good to know.

OUCH Rueters is reporting that auto companies are going to have to cut labor as governments and fleets have stopped buying. 62% of the 2.8 million auto's sold in 2019 to fleets went to rental car companies and Hertz is now bankrupt with an uncertain future as it dumps it global fleet of auto's on the used auto market. On the other hand those in the market for a low mileage used auto might find some tasty deals as Hertz unloads. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-fleet-sales-analysis/slumping-fleet-sales-weigh-on-u-s-auto-market-idUSKBN2411NH GM, Ford, Nissan and FCA account for the bulk of the 16.4% of US auto sales in 2019 to the fleets. This worked out to 22% of GM's 2019 sales were to Fleets, 28% of Nissan 2019 sales were to fleets. Neither Ford or FCA were willing to divulge their fleet sales details for 2019. With continued Auto Sales Blues, Automakers are ramping up Coronavirus Size discounts. As an example, a sales executive in Manhattan bought a new Jeep Gladiator for $48,000 after Jeep discounted it $5,000 off the Employee price and gave a 7yr no interest loan. Discounts across the auto industry are averaging $4,441 per auto right now. This is on top of 0% financing for 84 months. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-incentives/automakers-rev-up-discounts-to-beat-coronavirus-sales-blues-idUSKBN2402EP

I think your only allowed so many free stories per week. I was able to read them just fine.

Very cool Old truck updated with modern electric motor hidden in a hollowed out V8. Very cool story on the 1936 electric truck here: https://www.thedrive.com/tech/33258/hot-rodders-hybrid-1936-pickup-hides-an-electric-motor-inside-a-chevy-small-block-v8

RIP - John Mooney, the man behind Catalytic converters dies at 90. https://www.autonews.com/executives/john-mooney-force-behind-catalytic-converters-dies-90 Interesting law suite by GM against FCA about corruption in the UAW. Seems FCA has some big problems ahead of themselves. GM is accusing FCA of bribing the UAW leadership putting GM at a disadvantage in labor negotiations. https://www.autonews.com/executives/us-appeals-court-stays-order-requiring-gm-fca-ceos-meet Seems if you have an Extra $420,000 you can be the owner of the Holy Trinity of Chargers 1969 style. https://www.thedrive.com/news/34492/the-holy-trinity-of-1969-dodge-chargers-is-up-for-sale-but-youll-have-to-buy-all-three Seems this week Dodge will show off their 2021 SRT Lineup with a total of 8,950 Horsepower. July 2nd https://www.thedrive.com/news/34472/dodge-will-unveil-the-new-2021-srt-lineup-this-week-with-8950-horsepower More fun comes in the upcoming 2021 Ram TRX Hellcat powered truck and the poke at the Ford Raptor with a storage compartment that has a T-Rex chasing a Raptor. LOL, very funny and cool. https://www.thedrive.com/news/33582/hellcat-powered-2021-ram-trx-easter-egg-pokes-fun-at-ford-raptor

Nissan seems to know their stockholders are pissed. So Monday the Nissan CEO at the annual shareholder meeting covered their turn around plan starting with their first all new auto. The Nissan Ariya Crossover EV. Nissan says this goes to where the buyers are, CUVs with Tesla fighting performance, battery range and Nissan ProPilot Hands-off automated driving system. Electrification and Autonomy at a reasonable price. What that price is, we do not know yet, but further details to come at the reveal of the auto set for July 15th online. Have to say that while 2,500 attended last years shareholder meeting, only a few hundred attended this year. Yet they had lots to say. Quotes: one shareholder criticized the board’s decision not to cut the compensation of outside, non-operational directors. Another shareholder slammed French partner Renault, which owns 43.4 percent of Nissan, as deadweight in the alliance because French people “excel at art” but are “weak” in technology. Another said that Nissan’s recovery from slumping sales and plunging profits has been too slow because the new management is fragmented, indecisive and uninspiring. One said Nissan still suffers from a credibility problem, more than a year after the arrest and ouster of Ghosn for alleged financial misconduct, because of the way the scandal was handled. Uchida insisted that the midterm plan he unveiled in May plots a path to achievable recovering within four years. The plan calls for restoring operating profit margin to 5 percent and increasing global sales about 9 percent to 5.38 million vehicles for a 6 percent world market share. https://www.autonews.com/automakers-suppliers/nissan-ariya-electric-crossover-debut-july-15 So a 4yr plan to turn the company around with new product, sales growth for a 6% share of the global market. I have to question if they can do that due to the Pandemic and the competition coming from various other new auto startups that plan to have new auto's out from 2020 to 2021. It would seem that Nissan is still not realizing how fast they need to move. Hopefully they have other new auto's to come out both EV and ICE over the next 12 months as I fear they could end up as Road Kill in the global market place.

Big Block Crate Motors now from Ford. Godzilla 7.3L V8 Crate 435hp / 475 lb-ft of torque. Some simple modes push it over 600HP https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6007-73

@trinacriabob @Robert Hall The English interpretation are always funny too.

@trinacriabob @Robert Hall So true about crazy English on Asians. Sometimes I just cracked up walking around back in college in Japan or as I traveled the Asian rim during college breaks and even in the last 10 years for work. So funny that they have no clue what is on their t-shirt, just cool as it is English.

So true, my concern was it would be a Ricer type that has been used by Cadillac in past versions while testing on the Nuremburg ring. This does look like it is better incorporated here. In the report, the strain has mutated to have stronger protein spikes that make it 10 times stronger on hooking in the lungs and to blood and causing problems. The hooks are what make this strain/variant even worse.

Agree, for a new company, while they have been grey with specifics on how many people have pre-ordered the Truck and SUV, at least they have Amazon and Ford production to get them into the black. He is a smart cookie that RJ, CEO of Rivian. So true about the different strokes for different folks. Also that V8 block is not name brand that is desired by badge fans. I am sure someone will buy the overpriced block from Jaguar. People like SMK who are all about the badge. Wonder if AMG is stamped on the blocks of the AMG auto's or is it just Mercedes-Benz?