G. David Felt

Tesla had decades of bait n switch and GM as well as Ford got their EVs up and running mass production in 2 short years. So yes it is expected that prices would be vaporware based when they first announced them. News and many other sites all stated they would be surprised if GM kept to the $30K price point. Also while inflation did start going up, specifically: Value of $1 from 2019 to 2023 $1 in 2019 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.20 today, an increase of $0.20 over 4 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.75% per year between 2019 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 20.39%. This means that today's prices are 1.20 times as high as average prices since 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 83.333% of what it could buy back then. The inflation rate in 2019 was 1.76%. The current inflation rate compared to last year is now 3.70%. If this number holds, $1 today will be equivalent in buying power to $1.04 next year. $1 in 2019 → 2023 | Inflation Calculator (in2013dollars.com) Just one of the many sites you can reference to see the difference between 2019 and now in 2023, our dollar only gets us 83.33% of what it used to be. Same with this situation, GM probably did as you stated threw out a price to grab attention, no different than everything Musk says about Tesla or SMK says about Mercedes and Tesla. As they say, where the rubber meets the road, the real prices are finally here and as such at least we now have firm pricing on the Equinox. Nothing gets cheaper, only more expensive and we have to push ourselves to keep up or we drop in our ability to buy and live the quality of life we wish.

This reminds me as I watched an old movie that I like, the original Hitman where the president of Russia is assassinated and they are driving him around in a stretch Lincoln. Made me crack up considering that is not what Russia would have allowed for their own president when they have their own auto company brand to use. Great Movie - Hitman (2007) - IMDb That is a stretch Lincoln MKT produced from 2010 to 2019.

This is to be expected and not bad when you consider the inflation we have gone through since 2019. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE could have predicted the idiot response our government did with Covid as well as the rest of the world and how the shortages would have affected both long-term and short-term prices. When you consider what everyone is asking for, we will never see autos that are priced below 20K ever again as a new auto unless you're in a third world area where safety devices are not required, and they still make the auto pretty much manual everything and even then, that is becoming a thing of the past. It is the electronics that have made thing more expensive and consumer demand for them. While I hate unions with a passion due to my own experience with them and the failure they have done to the workers due to corruption in the 70's and 80's and it is still there now, I cannot deny the workers getting a fair piece of the pie from the corporations. As such, cost of living, cost of manufacturing, cost of employment, etc. etc. etc. is all adding up to higher prices for autos. Yes, we can all be upset if we only look at things through a stagnation point of view, but the reality is it is up to each of us to grow our skill set and our worth by shopping ourselves around to find those companies that value our self-worth and pay us what we are worth. This allows us to afford buying what we want. This is why I do not see a $5K price increase as that bad for something that a company just starting to setup manufacturing of said product had to increase to cover costs of production. This was all estimates of what they said they could produce it for at the start and now with contracts in hand, manufacturing set up, the actual prices are now firmed up. This is CHEAP compared to what Tesla Promised and then actually delivered. Remember the Tesla 3 was promised to be a $35K car in 2016, actual starting prices were $47,240 for the long range model and $53,240 for the performance model. Today in 2023 the Model 3 starts at $40,240 before the tax credit. How Much Is a Tesla Model 3? Cost History, Price Drops, Fluctuations (businessinsider.com) So Tesla has FAILED to deliver ever on their own original prices and a $12,240 price difference is way bigger than a $5k price difference on the Equinox EV that goes into production right after the start of the new year. There is still a chance we will see some auto company deliver a cheaper version like GM has committed to for the Bolt, but that is subcompact compared to compact and already the compact are bigger than they used to be in size due to the required safety features. That is how I see it IMHO.

Factorial loves to quote Thomas Edison who in 1883 said the following: "The storage battery is, in my opinion, a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for swindling the public by stock companies." Factorial states that this sentiment is true and has been held over the last 138 years till now. Investing in solid-state battery R&D over the last 6 years has allowed Factorial to create their proprietary FEST (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology). Factorial held their grand opening ceremony at their state-of-the-art solid-state battery production facility in Methuen, Mass. Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial stated the following: “We are thrilled to open our next-generation battery facility in Massachusetts as we scale our batteries for mass production,” said Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial. “This facility will enable us to manufacture cells to meet the needs of our automotive partners and progress our mission to commercialize solid-state batteries. As a U.S. company, we’re also proud to contribute to the onshoring of battery manufacturing for EVs and advancement of battery innovation for a differentiated supply chain.” This opening represented a $50 million investment and creation of over 150 local jobs. The current footprint of this facility will enable Factorial to ramp up Solid-State battery production to a maximum output of 200MWh annually, making this the largest solid-state battery assembly line in the U.S. Former Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America and current Executive Chairman of Factorial, Joe Taylor made the following statement: “Factorial continues to drive the battery industry forward and this milestone is no exception, automaker demand for American-made batteries is high to produce electric or hybrid vehicles that qualify for incentives. Our facility will manufacture automotive-sized solid-state batteries at pre-production speed and volume, illuminating a clear path to mass production and reaching economies of scale.” Factorial quasi-solid-state batteries are designed for higher energy density and safety compared to today's lithium-ion wet batteries. Factorial Energy Press Release At the start of October 2023, Factorial started to ship to EV auto companies' samples of their 100+Ah lithium-metal battery cells sized to meet the needs of the auto industry and certified passing the UN 38.3 safety tests. Stellantis, one of the few auto manufacturers to go on record has stated that Factorial Energy solid-state batteries are 30% denser than today's lithium-ion batteries. This allows Stellantis to deliver two ways, lighter vehicles and those that have a much longer driving range. Stellantis back at CES 2023 keynote stated that they are working with Factorial to deliver a second-generation version that will be 50% denser than today's lithium-ion batteries. The 100 Ah solid-state battery cells are delivering on the promises Factorial has made and looks that a second generation battery cell expected by 2030 could give Stellantis and other auto companies that have invested a future of where the auto industry will be going in this decade as Factorial has stated that their solid-state cells will provide a 20 to 50 percent higher energy density based on use case and that it directly translates to a 20 to 50 percent greater range. Could this be a potential jump on finally moving society to EVs? View full article

This is very cool to read, GM has a press call today and it was very informative. Chevy Equinox EV priced at $34,995—with an estimated 319 miles (greencarreports.com)

My son did all his maintenance and followed their schedule to ensure long life. The fact that the motor has blown heads due to a leaking water pump that leaks internally into the motor and possibly the dropped valve steams make him never want to buy another Jeep again. I have since run into multiple coworkers that have had Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler products with the 3.6 and have all ended up dumping the autos due to motor issues. They said they would never go back to Stellantis as even right out of warranty, and they deny that any of it is their cheap engineering of the 3.6 motor. If you buy it, good luck and yes get long term warranty as I keep finding more and more reported issues. Right now Mopar is not making any of the parts or 3.6 crate motors. Yes the strike has caused some issues, but from what I have learned trying to find a new motor for my son to buy and put into the Jeep is that the problems are real and not even 3rd party companies like Jasper motors is building them now until all the issues are resolved by Stellantis. I can see a class action lawsuit coming due to the terrible 3.6L V6 motor from Stellantis.\ Speak of the Devil and look what I found. Hearing a Ticking Noise? FCA Hit with Class Action Over Alleged 3.6L Pentastar V6 Engine Problems Chrysler Pentastar 3.6L Problems Cause Class Action Lawsuit | CarComplaints.com Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Engine Lawsuit | US Auto Law FCA Defective 3.6L Pentastar V6 Engines Class Action (classactionsreporter.com) Ticking, Knocking Noise in Engine? | Chrysler, Dodge Jeep Lawsuit (classaction.org) Last one is the most current and it is expanded beyond the 3.6L V6 to include all Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram autos from 2008 to 2021 that had V6 or Hemi V8 engines. No wonder Stellantis is wanting to dump the Hemi and 3.6L V6 engine for newer engines, as it would appear they are looking at major lawsuits here in the U.S.

Would love this car built with todays quality of a CT Blackwing and an AWD electric powertrain.

Sounds like the PNW as you have to go to the mountains to find snow usually. If we get two weeks a year of below freezing temps around greater Seattle that is a longer than normal winter.

Found the Press release: bp boosts EV charging network with $100 million order of Tesla ultra-fast chargers | News and insights | Home Deal with bp pulse marks first time Tesla’s ultra-fast chargers will be purchased for deployment on an independent EV charging network. Agreement forms part of bp’s plans to invest up to $1 billion in EV charging across the US by 2030. As early as 2024, Tesla chargers will be installed across the bp pulse network, including at key bp, Amoco, ampm; and Thorntons-branded sites, TravelCenters of America locations and at bp pulse’s large-scale Gigahub™ charging sites, near airports and in major metropolitan areas across the US.

Here we are opposite, my perfect year: 1 month of spring 2 months of summer - Gotta keep the wife happy. 1 month of Fall 8 months of Winter - Ski season baby!!!!!! Have to say I am excited by this. BP Buying $100M Worth of Tesla EV Chargers: What's the Big Deal? - CNET

Course Tesla will survive as companies buy their Supercharger stations and install them such as BP buying $100,000,000 million of them. BP Buying $100M Worth of Tesla EV Chargers: What's the Big Deal? - CNET

I took the time to add up all the quarters, I did look at all the financials and yes the last few years were profitable, but I did this fast so if messing up on 2021 is all that I missed then my bad, but over all the counter point to SMK BS is that Tesla has BLEED money for over a decade before making a profit and here we have Legacy auto companies that have done what Tesla took 2 decades to do in a couple of years, so yes losses are going to be high at the start for anyone.

Tesla never got the cost out at first, they made sure to recover as much R&D as they could. Startup costs are always high and has been high as Ford & GM even Hyundai/Kia/Genesis drove from nothing in a few years to what they have today, a far faster ramp up time that does require money compared to the decade plus ramp up Tesla did before as a publicly traded company they started to pay more attention to the cost of production. Let's also stop your LIES on costs, the costs are NOT 50% higher. Current ICE RS model off their own online build Off their Blazer EV info page as it is not in the builder yet. If we are to go with your HYPERBOL then the Blazer EV RS would be starting at $80K if we go off ICE MSRP or if we were to go off their current posted MSRP for an EV it should be $90K to start. This does not take into account the huge difference between the ICE and EV in HP, Torque, Interior standard items based on the Chevrolet web pages. Some companies I would agree with you that they are a horse with blinders on about Tesla, Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis it is very clear they do see Tesla as a threat and unlike Tesla that took decades to ramp up battery production as one example, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Tesla are ramping up production far faster than Ford has done and especially Tesla. They will be able to use economy of scale to drive down costs.

@smk4565 @ccap41 Tesla has been well covered about loosing money even in 2020 and them selling clean air credits since they do not produce ICE auto's is how they have made money as they have not made money on EVs until the last couple of years. Tesla Loses Money On Every Single Car: Here's Where The Profit Hides (motorbiscuit.com) Even in 2021 Tesla DID NOT really make money as it was the Automotive Regulatory Credits that saved their ass. 2022 and 2023 are the first years they are actually making money but even then the ARC's are still an important sales point especially to Stellantis and adds a noticeable profit to their bottom line. Even CNN covered this in 2021. Tesla's dirty little secret: Its net profit doesn't come from selling cars | CNN Business Tesla lost hand over fist money from 2003 when it started till end of 2021. 2010 is when it did their IPO and so while Tesla will not say how much money lost each year from 2003 to 2010, we do have their regulatory filings from the IPO moving forward to really show their profit and loss. Tesla Gross Profit 2010-2023 | TSLA | MacroTrends The green operating income is due totally from the ARC credit sales to other auto companies especially Dodge/RAM/JEEP Net Income shows a clear picture of how much money Tesla lost before becoming profitable. So I am only human and I could have mis-read a quarter report, but I wanted to know just how much money Tesla has lost till they started turning a profit that did not rely on the ARC credits which happened in Q2 of 2022. From the start of 2010 to the end of Q1 2022 Tesla has lost a total of $28.605 billion dollars. From Q2 2022 to Q3 2023 Tesla has generated $34.072 billions dollars. The financial reports show that Tesla has peaked in end of Q4 2022 @ $5.777 billion for the 4th quarter and since then we have Q1 2023 $ 4.511 Billion, Q2 2023 $4.533 Billion, Q3 2023 $4.178 Billion. I did not take out the on average of half a billion dollars per quarter for ARC sales that Tesla still makes but one can easily see that the profits then barely hit $4 billion per quarter. Based on this data one could say that Tesla's prime days are over and we will continue to see declines in profits even if sales continue to go up since they are cutting prices to drive sales which always affects profits and is a reason why their stock is tanking in price since they announced their dismal Q3 financials.

These type of people irritate me as this is all about him making money and now with prices going down he is not happy. Poor him, there are folks living a much worse life than that and yet he still thinks he is being informative and helpful when his whole focus is flipping autos for a profit. I do not hold it against him as it is his business, but the attitude from the beginning to the end sucks I feel. On cool notes, my friend check out this crazy wood working project. Love it. Awesome Staircase From an Old Beam — Blacktail Studio

Nice, you continue to show blind faith to Narcissistic Musk. Tesla lost 100,000's of thousands of dollars per EV in the early days due to all the R&D and especially the warranty claims they had. This is nothing new as your $76K figure is way off as you cannot push everything onto each EV when there are costs not associated with the building of EVs, but due to many other costs in building any business. I am sure your basing it on this story from a company that has made it very clear that EVs are the devil. Ford Loses Nearly $60,000 for Every Electric Vehicle Sold - TheStreet

Ford Mustang Mach-E - Wikipedia

Everyone is jumping on the bash EV band wagon and those that promise and then do not deliver. Even Toyota Chairman and prior CEO who hates EVs has said see, I told you so, public does not want EVs attitude. Such turds cannot see the future over their own greed of today and money. I get that GM is delaying the Equinox launch till next year. We are in very uncertain times and with the current interest rates, most are not willing to buy now unless they have too.

Ouch, glad it was not worse, it could have been so much worse. Yup, need to always be alert and follow better safety.

That is sexy, should have been built, I know folks that would have bought it then. Course now everyone wants raised SUVs and Trucks except for a minor portion of folks that still want cars. ? Wonder if @oldshurst442 would buy it and drive it?

Agree, she nails it for woman to not walk away from but run away from. I have a brother-in-law that had bought one of the Buick GS supercharged V6 cars new, it never made it past 77K miles and he blamed it on GM building shitty autos. Sadly, the reason the motor failed him was he never did any maintenance on it. No oil changes and especially the required 30K mile Supercharger maintenance. Yes, GM figured out how to make a supercharged motor go 100K tune up/maintenance a few years after the GS first came out with this motor, but he failed to read his auto manual and know the maintenance. I have zero respect for those that blame an auto maker when they do nothing to take care of their auto.

Glad you have not had issues, Jasper and Fraser have been very clear on the motor issues and the updates they did to correct them. JASPER Remanufactured Engines & Transmissions (jasperengines.com) This independent review hits the big 4 main issues with the Pentastar 3.6L V6. The 4 Most Common FCA Pentastar 3.6L Engine Problems (tuningpro.co) Some of the most common issues with the Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Chrysler 3.6 Pentastar engine include: Cylinder head (2011-2013) Rocker arms Cooling system Oil pump CHRYSLER 3.6L VVT MOPAR CRATE ENGINE | Fraser Engines and Transmissions (fraserengineco.com) I get it that due to the wide use of this motor, it comes across as reliable, but with Stellantis high Lease rate, I suspect the full picture is not known of the shortcuts Stellantis has taken in the past for the PentaStar 3.6L V6. At least it is good to be aware of the potential issue with this engine.

Seems like for North America, everyone except Lucid and Stellantis have joined the NACS pac! List: Every Automaker Adopting Tesla's NACS EV Charging Tech (businessinsider.com)

Lately I am seeing plenty of Fords along the freeway getting towed as well as Jeeps GCs. On the Jeep side, I am very pissed with Stellantis/Jeep as they have major poor quality issues on their 2011 to current 3.6L V6. Seems from dropped valves to full heads blowing up and leaking water pumps into the engines causing said engine to blow. My son's 2017 engine with only 120,000 miles needs a new engine as the water pump leaked into the engine and blew the heads. Both Jasper and Frazer motors highlights the poor problems with the 3.6 and how they both in newly built 3.6L V6 engines has corrected this but Jeep has not and as such, while you see plenty of stories on reliability on this motor, the motor is not as reliable as the marketing has stated as they put it into so many autos now under Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler. Seems Stellantis is using this as a way to have end of life on their auto's to force folks to buy a new auto. Sucks as I have never had a blown engine in my life and now my son is dealing with this. We are considering having one of the newly built Jasper or Frazer motors installed into his Jeep to get it going and in then unload it in a few years. Right now, if you have a Jeep with the 3.6L engine @Robert Hall I suggest you get rid of it before it hits 100,000 miles. Alex did all the maintenance on it and the dealership is now being very coy about why it did what it did. I can tell you my family will not be buying anymore Jeep products.