G. David Felt

Sucky Chevrolet Truck / SUV styling does not help as they drop in sales behind Ram and the leader Ford.

For all of 2019 Cadillac had a total sales of 156,246 auto sales. Have not had a chance to look at any other luxury line than the one report above for the top 3 luxury lines in the US. Seems Cadillac is half of what the two Germans sell and almost that for the single Japanese line. Cadillac really needs to buckle down and focus on the Luxury segment and add some damn good marketing.

Old muscle cars stashed in Semi Trailers

Batteries, Batteries, Batteries, that is the big news at CES this year. Seems Solid State is finally here to make a big difference. First is the company ProLogium from Taipei. They showed off their new Solid state batteries that are 56% denser power than traditional Lithium batteries without having the fire issues of current EV batteries. Some very cool videos of how strong these new batteries are even when cut up. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ces-2020-prologiums-solid-state-battery-for-two-wheeled-vehicle-favored-by-european-and-japanese-manufacturers-300980805.html http://www.prologium.com/ https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ces-2020-prologium-s-solid-state-battery-for-two-wheeled-vehicle-favored-by-european-and-japanese-manufacturers-1028792982 Fisker has also finally delivered their production Solid State Battery pack for EVs at the 2020 CES. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/01/09/fisker-emotion-ev-solid-state-battery-ces/

Seems the Sunnyvale California Ford location has over 100 reservations for the new Mach-e with 80% of them opting for the extended range battery, 300 miles range. https://electrek.co/2020/01/02/fords-dealership-claims-100-orders-for-mustang-mach-e-in-teslas-backyard/ Wish they would take the Mach-e on a tour of dealerships and let more people test fit in it and check it out. Story above says there is equal interests in the Tesla Y and Mach-e as consumers are wanting the CUVs over cars. Seems even Motorcycles are coming in all types of WELL ENDOWED flavors at CES. https://electrek.co/2020/01/03/curtiss-hades-electric-motorcycle-redesign/

CES is going into full swing and boy are there some very cool auto stuff being announced. Sony has shown off their first electric car concept at the show and to quote them: Sony claims the car is capable of delivering 400kW (536hp) of power through an all-wheel-drive system powered by two electric motors. This allows 0-100km/h (0-62mph) acceleration of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 240km/h (149mph). https://electrek.co/2020/01/06/okay-so-even-sony-is-showing-off-ev-concepts-now/ It gives me a rip off of Porsche in the style. Very cool new Vauxhall Electric Corsa and the digs at the US and especially big Oil is too funny. Should get @ocnblu goat

Agree, it will be interesting to see if Fisker can survive. They have much less money than Rivian, not really sure if anyone else other than Saudi Arabia will fund them once they burn through their initial Billion dollars of investments.

Seems Amazon is pushing big into the Auto Industry as they show off their eco system of Alexa with GM, Rivian and FCA making Alexa enabled standard in all the auto's for 2020 and moving forward. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/06/amazon-ces-alexa-rivian-gm-fca/ Pretty good read, seems you can pay for gas at exxon / mobile gas stations with saying Alexa pay for gas when in a gas station. Amazon will allow access to a next gen fire kindle in your auto for use in reading books. GM showed off a new build tool that will allow potential buyers to build the auto of their dreams, go to the dealer and then look at auto's that most closely match their dream auto. This is in use by Audi where Audi increased the average transaction price in 2019 by $1,200. Seems plenty of Amazon cool tech is coming to an auto near you soon.

Upon reading this story, I have to agree that the Mach-e will allow the Mustang name to live on as sales have been dropping on a rate of 10% a year. https://www.autonews.com/blogs/mach-e-ford-ensures-mustang-badge-will-live#adunit_path=opinion/blogs That kind of drop means that the hard core fans are not buying enough to keep the ICE Mustange alive as is and that active people who want performance but in more of a CUV form will be the buyers not just now but in the future. IMHO

Seems MB lost the Luxury Sales Crown for 2019 to BMW.

Appears that Ford is bringing out their own 4 wheel steering option for their full size pickups and I would not be surprised to see this go to the full size SUVs. https://www.autonews.com/video/autonews-now-ford-files-patent-4-wheel-steering-f-series If Ford is successful with this unlike the over priced option GM made it, will prove GM was not looking big enough or long term. Having driven a GM 4 Wheel Steering Pickup, they are amazing and it should have been a default standard option on all full size trucks/SUVs from GM. The video even states that GM packaged it as part of a $7,500 option package with leather, sun roof, etc. stuff that had nothing to do with the 4 wheel steering. Reporter believes if packaged right by Ford, it will be a huge success due to the very large increased size of the trucks today and the need to get the turning circle down below 3 1/2 lanes of room needed to turn.

Seems Jeep Hybrid SUV/CUVs will be called 4xe https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/02/jeep-hybrid-4xe-plug-in-compass-renegade-wrangler/

Fisker shows off their new CUV EV, $29,999 including the Federal Tax credit. AWESOME DEAL https://ww.electrek.co/2020/01/05/fisker-ocean-unveiled-29999-base-w-credits-performance-0-60-in-2-9/ Like the Looks of this! ? The story above seems to miss the point that Fisker is already saying you can reserve one for Lease @ $379.00 per month. This is for the 200 mile range EV version. Not bad. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/fisker-ocean-pricing-ces-2020/

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1126602_why-the-toyota-rav4-is-the-best-hybrid-for-the-us-market Great read and I have to say that many will find the Hybrid superior over a traditional ICE CUV. Smoother and riding better, why bother with ICE only CUVs, might as well make all CUVs Hybrid or Pure EV.

Disagree, no need for a luxury brand to enter the Toyota / Chevrolet realm much like MB has done. Cheapens the status of the brand.

OUCH, the blood is gonna flow I think for a good while longer.

Yes, I could not get the auto numbering to go in reverse order. #34 is actually #1 for the least reliable auto they expect of the 2020 model years. A score of 100 is perfect and means you will probably not have any problems with the auto. This was CR's top 34 least reliable auto's, they have not released their top 34 most reliable auto's yet.

Consumers Reports of the 2020 Models likely to have the highest potential to break down posted by MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/these-new-cars-are-most-likely-to-break-down/ss-AAK4SZK?li=BBnb7Kz#image=1 Audi A8 – CR score = 67 Audi A6 – CR score = 65 Chevrolet Traverse – CR score = 65 BMW 3 Series – CR score = 63 Lincoln Nautilus – CR score = 63 Acura RDX – CR score = 61 Toyota C-HR – CR score = 61 Volkswagen Atlas – CR score = 61 Volkswagen Tiguan – CR score = 61 Chrysler Pacifica – CR score = 59 Honda Passport – CR score = 59 Acura MDX – CR score = 58 Ram 1500 – CR score = 58 Ford F-150 – CR score = 57 Tesla Model X – CR score = 57 Cadillac XT6 - – CR score = 56 Chevrolet Silverado – CR score = 54 GMC Sierra 1500 – CR score = 54 Land Rover Range Rover – CR score = 54 Land Rover Range Rover Sport – CR score = 54 Land Rover Range Rover Velar – CR score = 54 Chevrolet Camaro – CR score = 53 Cadillac XT4 – CR score = 52 Lexus LS – CR score = 52 Alfa Romeo Giulia – CR score = 51 Land Rover Discovery – CR score = 51 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque – CR score = 45 Land Rover Discovery Sport – CR score = 44 Cadillac Escalade – CR score = 41 Chevrolet Colorado – CR score = 37 GMC Canyon – CR score = 37 Fiat 500X – CR score = 35 Fiat 500L – CR score = 29 Jeep Wrangler – CR score = 28 Consumers Report is surprised by the popular sales of Wranglers with such a poor reliability as the #1 auto to avoid in the US.

Be interesting to see how fast the auto industry changes over to PHEV as a standard auto with EV as the normal auto choices as ICE gets reduced more and more.

Weird, way too small for the US market, reminds me of the 1996 Golf Harlequin Edition

Interior is interesting and not bad the exterior leaves much to be desired, just not pushing the design edge enough to stand out as Special / Luxury.

I like what I see, very stylish and clean both exterior and interior. Take this over anything the Germans are building right now based on the pictures.

Last 20 years blurred into 10

Or just being more specific in the names / terms used to find what you want.

Happy New Years all! Celebration of the day with our traditional Korean New Years day soup. This is a one month love affair that my wife and I do. Over the course of the month of December, hand made mundo aka pot stickers, hand made rice cakes, home made beef broth made with 3 types of beef and beef bones. Seasonings as it cooks, strained to be a clear rich flavorful broth that has rice cakes, mundo, egg, near fat free well seasoned shredded flank steak, sesame seeds on top. Love this soup.