G. David Felt

Wow, based on what i see and read here, this CUV is gonna need major cash to sell and most will still not buy it I think.

One has to wonder what Germans pay for parts compared to here in the US. Do they pay the same $1,500 for a light housing replacement that we do in America or is it only $500 as the $1,000 covers shipping, export / import, handling? ?

We'll Posted, I would agree that while we need adult cool level head discussions, we seem to give more than we get in return. As one who is college educated in Japan, I can tell you they never say no to your face, but are very business hard negotiators. We need to take the same attitude with Japan, Korea, China, and India. But rather than throw away current trade agreements and this tariff war, we need to take an educated brain approach in pointing out the areas that are unfair and way we view it as unfair and what we feel needs to be done to BALANCE that unfair trade aspect. Communication using our educated knowledge is the great tool to balance our Multicultural society I believe. +1 Zillion! Well said, we need an educated adult with a proper balance of real business knowledge to take our trade agreements and negotiate those aspects that are out of balance with fair proper notification and set dates of when needed tariffs that make products from that place and here equal to each other. Perfect example of wasted billions is our defense spending on guarding the oil tankers from the arab countries that go to other countries with no benefit to us. Our cost of giving protection from pirates and hostile countries but nothing that actually covers that cost. Have them pay us to offer protection or supply it themselves. Thank you,

@GMCman007 Thank you, that is great to see.

Correct, we have always had countries that have added Tariffs to protect their local competitors. Yet a country has dropped Tariffs like India did once we had a signed trade agreement. Then Idiot in Office for no reason other than to complain about H1 visa's as too many workers coming here for jobs and with throwing away a signed agreement opens up a trade war with another country. The bully on the playground has never been a win long term for anyone. Unhappy with certain trade aspects, sit down like adults and discuss it rather than throw a tantrum. This tantrum administration has already destroyed America in the eyes of Billions around the world and not gained us anything.

@ocnblu So then this is fake news to you. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/trump-campaign-cutting-ties-pollsters-after-internal-numbers-leaked-n1017991 Yet incompetence in leading our country and trade has led other countries to now impose tariffs on us. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/16/trade-war-india-hits-u-s-more-tariffs/1471140001/ Apple Exports hit with 70% Tariff and now exports will die off on top of many other things we export out of the country. Get ready for Depression 2 coming and this is truly all Trump.

Bad News - Not everyone was happy. Good News - Some one won that had never won before.

Funny blast from the past photo. Me and my two sisters with my dads dad. The one time we met him before he died from alcholism. So 1970's as my middle sister has a green smiley face dress on. All the rage. Lol

Bad News - Some one is going to loose.

@oldshurst442 Please my friend do not take this wrong as I am not asking you or anyone to defend ones love of sports. I have played Basket Ball as I am 6'6" tall and found it boring to play. Played soccer and found it boring running around and kicking a ball to others. I found playing Football boring as is baseball which actually put me to sleep standing in the outfield. My parents were surprised by all this. The only sports I love to play is Bowling which I was part of the PBA for many years and body building. The strive to work out the various muscles and perfect them to a tight cut defined look. I find that most other team members do not put in the same effort and trying to find equal hard working team mates drove me nuts, so I went to an individual sport which was me being responsible for the whole performance and having to accept my failures. Coworkers have invited me to sporting events and I either fall asleep sitting there or go nuts being bored. I honestly have never figured out why watching sports bores me and I have no interest. I get that all sports are a form of chess as you plan and strategize your attacks and defensive positions. I am honestly interested in why some of the members here are so fanatical about loving sports and it seems especially hockey. Is it the blood, the violence as I see most sports seem to have gone from being a team sport to all about me with these huge ego over paid sport people and there is no I in team, so I am just honestly interested in trying to understand what others find so fascinating about them. I hope this helps you understand where I am coming from. Bad news - I wonder if I will aggravate him? ? Good news - I am talking with a respected friend to better understand him.

Remember what the Bene Gesserit's of the sisterhood say. "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Sadly some get caught up in their fear.

@oldshurst442 What is it about hockey that you find so exciting? I honestly like all the other professional sports I find boring to watch, so what do you find exciting about it to watch?

Usually you have trucks lined up to the freeway to come in for pickup and drop off and the yard is stacked 6 to 8 high everywhere, but the no lines and huge open spaces are a surprise to see.

I am thinking that with lower cost to manufacture, the added cost of shipping from the Asian rim heavy batteries to Germany will still make it more worthwhile to produce them locally. I also think this could be why LG is looking at Battery production sites in the US. Eventually tech economy of scale wins out and price goes down and a heavy item like a battery even with cheap labor will still cost more to ship than build locally I think.

My work in Seattle over looks the port and Wow is freight down big time since the trade war began.

China is the world's largest EV market with sales of electric auto's reaching 2.61 million up 70% in 2018 over 2017. This constitutes 4% of the total Chinese market today. China is requiring 10% of total sales to be EV in 2019 and raised to 12% for 2020. In comparison, the US saw EV sales jump 81% for 2018 to a total of 360,000 EVs sold out of a total of 17.2 million auto's sold. Yet the US has only 1 million EVs on the road and the auto industry is projected to spend a mind blowing $255 billion in R&D and Capital for electric models by 2023. Due to high-system cost and low volumes with intense competition EVs in the short run will be unprofitable as OEM's bring the 207 models offered to market. Automakers have hopefully factored these costs into their EV strategies. The most expensive part of an EV is the battery pack. Current technology held by Tesla has their packs at 250 watts per kilogram and the holy grail is 400 watts per kilogram which reduces the size of the battery by half. How is one to achieve this? To date, EV battery packs such as Tesla, Nissan or Chevrolet have relied on a production system that causes contamination of the battery surface inside due to auxiliary materials or lubricants that is used in manufacturing. Commercial production of high density low cost batteries has been hindered to date by the current wet process of battery production. Franhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, have created a process for creation of EV battery packs that uses a dry film coating process rather than liquids. The process does not use toxic solvents and is less energy -intensive ending in a cheaper to produce battery pack as much higher density. Quoting Dr. Benjamin Schumm, project manager for IWS, "Our dry transfer coating process aims to noticeably reduce the process costs in electrode coating." Why would this matter one might ask, currently EV battery production is mostly in the asian rim where cheap labor and cheap electricity allows a corner on the market. Trying to manufacture EV batteries in Germany where labor and electricity is some of the highest prices around make EVs expensive. Having a much cheaper, environmentally safer production allows the battery production to be done closer to the assembly line and reduces component costs in transportation also. With so many breakthroughs in battery technology in the last few years, it would make one think that batteries would be cheaper by now and yet it is the most expensive component of all EVs. So how would this tech be any different as the floor is littered with breakthrough after breakthrough that never made it into commercial production. IWS has been teamed up with a Finnish battery company "BroadBit Batteries" where they have a production line setup using this dry electrode material instead of a wet paste to coat electrodes for battery production. Currently IWS with BroadBits has proven they can coat several meters per minute of battery electrode foil at consistent production speed. BroadBit is currently using this technology to create and sell new Sodium Ion batteries. Currently an expensive wet complex and toxic paste is applied to the Lithium Ion foil which then requires expensive high energy costs to dry the foil before it can move to the next stage of battery production. IWS dry electrode coating allows foil creation without the ecologically damaging and expensive drying process steps. The result is a much quicker way to create the 100 micrometer thick film onto the aluminum foil creating the battery electrode in a much denser design. Dr. Benjamin Schumm states that this process allows new battery generations where the classic wet process failed and will allow faster and easier development of solid state batteries which uses ion-conducting solids over flammable liquid electrolytes. This breakthrough in battery production is expected to allow European and Americas manufactures to break the asian strangle hold on battery production for not just EVs but all electronic devices. View full article

Agree that you could if you know the shop well, one could do this themselves to a certain point, yet having a GM backed 3yr / 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty on a beast like this is cool. Wish GM would see that they need to do this on a bigger scale and include the Typhoon.

Yup, the cost is a factor. The original Syclone in 1991 was $25,500 which is equal to $47,880.73 according to this inflation calculator. https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=25500&year=1991 So having a $70K plus new Syclone is pricey, but I bet they will sell everyone they make.

Correct, only on the midsize Canyon. Though the web site does have a special performance package available for the Sierra which has two levels, an 825HP or 1000HP package for the Sierra / Silverado trucks.

Syclone package is a $39,990 package added to your choice of GMC Pickup truck. The truck in the color you choose then goes to SVE to have the package applied according to their web site. I do wonder if you could order a base V6 4WD pickup and get the Syclone package as that would make it very affordable.

Such a clean old bug!

I pretty much just wave at all SUV peeps or anyone that shows basic common sense of being nice on the road. No reason to not be polite. Love the Green that is on the Rivian R1S. That is lovely also, but then GM has that metallic Forest Green on the trucks that rocks!

This +1,000,000 Yup, @oldshurst442 ya got nothing to worry about, he was a douche bag in an awesome ride. I will say I can never see myself in a car again after driving a full size SUV. Started life driving a Chevy Luv Truck, went to cars and then Wrangler and then Suburban / Escalade and never anything smaller. They are just too comfy to go to small or midsize auto's.

I can totally respect and understand the feeling about the full size SUVs, yet once my wife was scared of them, but after driving one, she realized they turned and drove as easy as any mid size car. Now sitting up high and having all that space, she cannot see driving anything else. Have you ever taken one for a test drive? If not, you should it is a fun experience.