G. David Felt

As some members have stated about EVs, price, price, price. They following Fiat EV concept could do them very well if it came in at the right price for a subcompact auto.

Those shows rock along with CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, etc.

Yet where you live and the support and messaging directly relates to the sales and common use of EVs. For me living on the West Coast, specifically Washington state, EVs are a common thing every day and with the Electric super highway that was built from Vancover BC to Baja California, getting around in an EV is very easy. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1114242_these-six-states-have-the-highest-electric-car-adoption-rates-in-the-country As you can see being one of the top 6 states that does support and have an extensive EV charging infrastructure, you end up with many people buying EVs. Once Rivian is truly producing and Ford / GM has their full size SUV/Trucks out in EV form, I expect sales to really take off over the small cracker jack box EVs we currently have. https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/these-states-are-buying-the-most-green-cars-in-america.html/ This story clearly supports the one above even though they are independant researched articles. https://evadoption.com/ev-market-share/ev-market-share-california/ This puts the current state into perspective since many are visual people.

True my friend but then what do I fit in that is not full size. Awaiting my chance to sit in the Rivian Sept 27th if I can get into the Seattle event.

I get the point your making but Prius did not inspire the bulk of the public and so a tight, ugly little hybrid like their product line was not going to change things fast. Yet with all OEMs bringing out EVs to their standard lineup, I see a change over happening much faster for the EVs than Hybrids, etc. As stated here by you, me, and many others, most buyers do not care what is under the hood. If they have a 300 to 400 mile range, like the interior and the over all price is in their budget, they will buy and change habits to plugging in at home and having a full battery pack every morning.

External is not bad looking but I have to say HELL NO to them getting a pass on this sterile black Blah interior. This is as bad as all the bloody black interior blah dashes GM and Ford is building. Where is the PASSION for the interior, customer comfort and what should be a relaxing ride.

Maybe pulling from storage they have already as I agree with you, truth from them is nothing but a grey lie to the world.

I will state that I disagree with you and the flip to EV will happen faster than the flip from horse and buggy to ICE. With the introduction of various fast charging solid state batteries and tech such as the story below that removes the heat and explosion issue along with the early death of current Li Ion batteries, we will see the move faster than people are expecting. Yes some categories such as long haul trucking will be ICE for the next 25 to 50 years, but inner city to suburban will flip much faster once an assortment of auto's are out. This tech also is in beta testing with auto companies and I expect this will be a big game changer along with the solid state dry material info I posted above.

The outline of the headlights reminds me of the same thing that Ford has done. I wonder how much they took inspiration from the number 1 selling truck? ?

It is a starting point and compared to the life of a diesel bus at 10 years compared to the life of an ev bus at 20 years. It does get closer with Version 1.0 of EV school buses and cleaner air for the kids who ride the bus daily. Cost is cost for first gen any product, but I do agree with you that it is insulting to the public to only focus on fuel costs and not cover the wider range of benefits with EV buses, noise pollution reduction, cleaner air being breathed by the youth on the bus, long service life, etc. I think it would help them if they were honest in admitting that the initial costs up front are going to be higher, but over the long run as they convert to an all EV bus fleet, costs will come down and the other benefits will be achieved for the kids.

The Normal IL plant at it's highest capacity produced 200,000 plus auto's a year on two assembly lines with two shifts, had a total capacity for over 300,000 auto's. Yes Rivian will produce the Ford F150 along with their R1T and R1S and now on the second assembly line the R1V which makes sense that Drew pointed out in the article above. I see no need for them to go anywhere else at this time. CJ is not following Crazy Musk play book of inventing everything from scratch and is using what the current auto companies have proven works in producing Pickup Trucks every 37 seconds according to info supplied by Ford and GM. I actually expect Rivian once they are in full production mode to build a superior product than Tesla and move quickly. Excited to see these vans on the streets quietly making deliveries. Yet we can look to the past and with the stated fact that CJ is on record of stating he is going to use what the current auto industry OEMs have proven works for assembly work. So with a plant that if at full capacity, 3 shifts can produce 300,000 or more auto's, then they should have no problem with their commitment to the van, their own auto's and the Ford F150 EV.

Awesome Not a bad start to the on coming EV options. Much better than the Bolt I think. I totally agree with Bill that having this auto close to the ICE versions will help sales and spur folks to move over to the EV especially in places like the west coast where charging is everywhere for fast charging and it is now standard to find homes, condos and apartments with 240V charging which is required here by the state. Excited to see this EV in person.

Interesting read on the comparison of this to the Rav4 and Escape. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2020-honda-cr-v-hybrid-toyota-rav4-ford-escape-comparison/

Have not looked at the Ford lineup of Hybrids, thought they had more than the one and clearly the others are dead as you pointed out. Guess they need to kick themselves in the pants too.

Today on the way to the bus stop, saw a mint condition Ford Excursion V10 edition. So rare to see.

Yes, first link is the Baby Bronco, second link is the full size bronco. Truly global auto's

Over all nice but plain CUV, fits the Honda customer profile and should serve them well. The wood trim looks real and not that plastic fake look but that could just be the pictures. Two things: This is going to make it harder for GM to do their package overprice as so much is now included in the base units. GM and FCA need to get their act together to have a Hybrid CUV or EV CUV ASAP as Ford has Hybrids that folks like and now Honda. This will help push more towards the Hybrid / EV world as these options come out hopefully reasonably priced.

This one is a weird looking Canyon what is speculated to be Bronco test mule. https://www.motor1.com/news/360657/weird-colorado-test-mule-ford/ Seems Hertz has decided to start renting 480 and 720 hp Camaro's from Hendrick Motorsports. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a29103703/hertz-chevy-camaro-rentals-hendrick-motorsports/

? 6x6 USA builds these trucks and I guess they were never designed to go up a small hill. Seems pictures of it in camo and an oops uncovered shell hit the news. https://www.motor1.com/news/371560/ford-baby-bronco-spy-shots/ Seems Ford Bronco is testing in Australia https://www.motor1.com/news/368204/ford-bronco-test-mule-australia/

Frozen Pizza Anyone, DiGorno and Tombstone truck hits overpass and send pizza flying everywhere for a 4hr clean up. https://twitter.com/myARDOT/status/895357793007534080 https://t.co/9hVsA3y897

Charged EV is stating in their story covering all the EV's coming from VW that the company has hit the below magic $100 per kWh battery pack cost. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/as-vw-shows-2-new-evs-in-frankfurt-has-it-brought-battery-costs-under-100-kwh/ If this is true, then the ID4 Cross that is slated to hit the US dealerships next year could be the game changer that VW is touting and that industry analyst say will bring EVs below Legacy ICE auto costs. To quote the story posted above: Ralf Brandstätter, COO of the Volkswagen brand, wouldn’t be drawn – when the New York Times recently asked him whether the automaker had reached the magic number, he just grinned and said, “We are the company that will provide electromobility for all.” However, another exec, who declined to be identified, said that the company was paying “less than $100/kWh for batteries.” Good Follow up to the Charged EVs story as this one has VW execs on record that EVs will be an apple to apple price comparison. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1125078_vw-s-us-electric-car-pricing-apples-to-apples-vs-internal-combustion If this holds true, this will be a game changer that many will take home charging EVs at the same price of an ICE with less maintenance and fueling costs. Quoting this story: “Our goal is to make the comparison to a comparable internal combustion car—for example, versus a Tiguan,” said Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh to Green Car Reports, last week at the Frankfurt auto show. “When I can put these two apples to apples. I think that is positioning it for the masses.”

School districts are looking to retire Diesel buses fast and looking to states to help pay for the change over to EV buses. Michigan state has agreed to help cover 70% of the cost for multiple school districts that have moved forward with purchasing EV school buses. 17 Proterra EV buses to start. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/michigan-school-districts-to-buy-17-electric-buses/

Agree that the Glossy wood accents in GM or for that matter any auto companies product looks fake and cheap to me too. Yes various members are nitpicking to attempt to justify MB doing the same thing as GM.

While a small investment compared to Detroit investments, any is always good.

Very cool that these will be around for those that want them. Interesting observation is the number of Fiat's based off the Miata that are on the used market around here. Seems people are dumping them.