G. David Felt

But initially, cars never replaced horses- they were discretionary toys or farm vehicles for the most part.

They weren't depended on, people very seldom did long distances, therefore range anxiety was never a wide-spread concern.

 

Tangential factoids : Ford Model T had a range of 200-250 miles. And a Packard made the 1st cross-country trip, in 1903.

 

EVs - in general- have yet to shake the range anxiety reputation (Tesla, perhaps, excluded).

Balthazar, do you not think EVs will catch on much faster due to state, county and city GOVs going to EV fleets which will introduce more people to driving them and helping to change peoples perception? Tesla I think more than the Prius has changed peoples attitude about EV auto's and I think the BOLT will only increase the notion that I can go electric and ditch the dirty pump for many people. Ease of recharging at home is very appealing to people rather than having to plan to run out and fill up auto's for the week.

This is a cheesy write up but i checked out an Envision in the flesh.  (By the way, huge Verano incentives now).

 

Was not fortunate enough to get into it, but I can comment on how it looks.  Looks pretty good.  Front end is a little bland and dated.  Was parked next to a Terrain and it's noticeably shorter, less wide, and not as tall.  But the size of it yes pretty much falls into line with the compact CUV competition, like the MKC.

 

A look through the window, the interior looks good, particularly the seats, leather, soft surfaces, the center armrest / console / stack.  Gazing in the window, it looks like there is good use of space, it looks efficient.  Rear leg space looked big and the trunk looked like it might be the equal of the Terrain or maybe wider.  Interior alone should be the reason it sells well.

 

Some of the lower interior plastics are the generic spec less expensive stuff by the looks of it.  Dash cover is interesting but might have to touch it and see if its soft or not. The big fake wood swatch looks like a lot of fake wood.

 

All crossovers sell now so it will probably sell quite well.  44k sticker......i dunno, 4 popper tiny ute for 44k, i guess that is the market.

Reg where are you located in North America, I am only asking as I searched all of washington and oregon hoping to find a dealer with an Envision to check it out and no one has received any. I would think the west coast would get them first coming from China but then I could be wrong.

I think a lot of police departments spend more than they need to on police cars. I see tons of Explorer police cars, those have to be $40k easily, when an Escape for $28k would do the same thing.

Totally agree with you smk, I see so many wasted auto's in comparison to what the police really use it for plus the waste of gas by letting the officers drive them home and back. Must be nice to be able to not have to drive your own auto and let the commute come out of the tax payers pockets.

Be interesting to see how long it takes before some engineer figures out how to hack the S sedan and allow you to get that full battery pack for free.

 

 

 

 

Yes and for a far cheaper cost they could have had VOLTS. THis is just more of the same BS Stupidity of the politicians. Here in washington state, the WSP (Washington State Patrol) said they were up against a deadline and so got an exemption from going out for competitive bid and spent millions buying BMW motorcycles for their patrol men who are only on the highways and in a state where most of the time with rain makes no sense to have a motorcycle. As it is, they replaced bikes that were fine and still had years left in service and most of these bikes sat due to weather.

 

This stinks of stupid deal making and no allot of common sense. Just trying to say they are greener. Also, why $387 when you can lease them 3 years here in washington with the same full service for $199. Seems the idiots got taken to the cleaners.

 

I assume the LAPD will be putting a lot more miles on them than allowed for $199 a month. 

 

Gonna be interesting to see how they chase the bag guys with the limited range. I figure they will bring in the petro powered to take over.

 

 

These aren't going to be for chases.

 

 

The i3s will be part of LAPD's non-emergency vehicle fleet, meaning they'll be used for "transportation vehicles for officers and in community outreach initiatives," according to BMW in a press release. I'm betting the i3 is slightly more practical than a Volt.

 

Also, I don't think LAPD is being taken to the cleaners. Buying a group of vehicles for a fleet is a much different and expensive than you or I going into a dealership. I doubt that someone is offering $199 lease to fleet customers. 

 

But as I posted here, other states have negotiated deals with the auto companies including GM so WSP here is getting Volts Dirt cheap and supporting an american company over a german one.

http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/86754-ev-group-buying-is-it-the-right-thing-to-do-from-a-state-federal-level/

I realize that this is a $13,932 cost per i3 for 3 years compared to the $33,859 purchase price before rebate on the VOLT, but still I see the VOLT as a far better option for the purpose you have stated than the i3.

 

Yes and for a far cheaper cost they could have had VOLTS. THis is just more of the same BS Stupidity of the politicians. Here in washington state, the WSP (Washington State Patrol) said they were up against a deadline and so got an exemption from going out for competitive bid and spent millions buying BMW motorcycles for their patrol men who are only on the highways and in a state where most of the time with rain makes no sense to have a motorcycle. As it is, they replaced bikes that were fine and still had years left in service and most of these bikes sat due to weather.

 

This stinks of stupid deal making and no allot of common sense. Just trying to say they are greener. Also, why $387 when you can lease them 3 years here in washington with the same full service for $199. Seems the idiots got taken to the cleaners.

 

I assume the LAPD will be putting a lot more miles on them than allowed for $199 a month. 

 

Gonna be interesting to see how they chase the bag guys with the limited range. I figure they will bring in the petro powered to take over.

Awesome to understand, Thank you for all you do Drew!  You Rock!

 

Studebaker GT Hawk :

 

 

Balth, perhaps a history lesson on these in another thread.  What kept them from saving Studebaker?

 

+! Yes I agree, I would love to learn more. Plus I would also love to hear more about this story from Road and Track:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/news/a29169/bobby-darins-dream-car-was-an-outrageous-vision-of-the-future/

These concepts are feakin awesome, talk about how they influenced various OEM builders. That would be cool to I think to hear from you.

Very cool to read Drew.  Question you say 3 days to rebuild everything and bring it up. Does that mean the site will be down during this change over or will we still have access?

This is why I think the Chevy BOLT will be a huge success for GM.

Interesting, like the name but not a fan of the styling.

Yes and for a far cheaper cost they could have had VOLTS. THis is just more of the same BS Stupidity of the politicians. Here in washington state, the WSP (Washington State Patrol) said they were up against a deadline and so got an exemption from going out for competitive bid and spent millions buying BMW motorcycles for their patrol men who are only on the highways and in a state where most of the time with rain makes no sense to have a motorcycle. As it is, they replaced bikes that were fine and still had years left in service and most of these bikes sat due to weather.

This stinks of stupid deal making and no allot of common sense. Just trying to say they are greener. Also, why $387 when you can lease them 3 years here in washington with the same full service for $199. Seems the idiots got taken to the cleaners.

That rocks and is very exciting.

Im wanna talk about the commercial itself...

 

The visuals in this commercial are just plain awesome...

 

The old city in the backround is just stunning.

Grand, with a sense of historic presence. Chic and rich also play a visit.

With throwbacks to past Porsche glory in one way or other...

 

FANTASTIC!

 

 

GM brand's could benefoit from this style.

From Cadillac...especially Cadillac, to Buick and Chevrolet.

 

Instead, we got an almost same vibe with "Dare Greatly" with Cadillac, only to let that image flounder.

 

Buick's message is that they are not your father's Oldsmobile.

And Chevrolet is doing focus group shyte!

 

GM has got a lot to learn...yet ironically, 'twas GM that introduced the world to dream a little dream of grandeur in the 50s with their Motorama shows...

 

PORSHE has got it going on...all Johan and Ellinhaus has to do is just COPY Porsche's handbook of how to sell dreams!!!

WOW, Guess I just do not get it then as I found the commercial boring, non-inspiring and pretty much Yawned all through it with the bland Jelly Bean cars they have built for the last 30+ years. Porsche peaked in the 60's and have not done anything to get my passion for their auto's going.

I do fully agree with you that they started off right with the Dare Greatly and have let it languish like Cadillac and all of GM seems to do as they just do not get Marketing or how to continue the drive to getpeople into the showroom.

Course this could also have something to do with the ancient crypt keeper like show rooms GM has here in the US compared to China.

Isn't this how the Lexus RX Hybrid works?

Yes, Lexus uses electric motors connected to the axel. I could not find the info on any US or Japan web site, but the Lexus of UK has a ton of great pictures and a detailed overview on how the Lexus Hybrid system works.

http://blog.lexus.co.uk/how-does-lexus-hybrid-drive-work/

Also found this on a dealers web site here.

http://mcgrathlexusdealers.com/lexus-hybrid-drive-how-does-it-work/

Pretty interesting to see the images from the UK site on the Lexus hybrid.

This was to be expected. They see what GM and MB are doing there and want a bigger piece of the action, aka $.

I know from coworkers who are chinease, they like the names of the old auto's, this goes for Cadillac as well. Since China is the biggest market in the world by population, one would think the companies would follow what the customer wants.

Guess, I just do not get what is so great about the Porsche. Yea they are solid great driving machines, but the overall look is nothing special and the panamera still while looks better than generation 1, looks weird to me.

Just like the once mighty IBM squashed tiny Microsoft in the 1980s and 1990s. If there is significant economic value here, even big oil can not stop it.

You must have drank the wrong kool aid as MSFT squashed IBM which sold the OS to MSFT that began the crazy computer revolution. Also in the 90's IBM had to be rescued as the stock was crashing and the current CEO had to be replaced by someone that could mentor and grow people.

Cadillac could have kept a station wagon going if they just had given it more room inside rather than giving it the shape of a station wagon but the room of a 4 door sedan.

End Result is that we are moving at breakneck speed and change is going to come much faster in the next 5 years than they did in the last 10 years.

Expect the unexpected and that would say that what seemed normal for 1970 to 2000 will be consolidated to half that time as we move forward with the EV world I believe.

Times are a changing whether you like it or not.

WOW, BMW has Learned NOTHING from the Stupid 70's, 80's and 90's of GM, FORD and Chrsyler. 

Self destructing by thinking they have to grow each model in size. WRONG!!!!!!!!

Nothing wrong with keeping the 3 series the same size it was, after all they already have the 4, 5,6,7,& 8 series. So what the current 8 will grow and become the 9 series and eventually the 10?

Where did this stupidity that they have to grow a specific model name from subcompact to compact to mid size to large to Extra Large BS come from?

What STUPID Executives they have.

This seems to be an even bigger Monkey See, Monkey Do failure of the german auto companies.

Kinda along the same stupid ideas of exchanging VW for Skoda. So they going to pay all their VW dealers to remodel to be SKODA dealers and just use a different badge on the auto?

The utter ignorance of stupid germans is amazing.

End story, The Euro market needs to REDUCE, not Grow the number of brands they have. There is still too many auto makers in this global market. I expect some to go away.

Station wagon it is, bland exterior design, agree with Sauv on the squashed pasted on butt from the GLC. Over all not an inspiration to own.

Love the big interior that is always found on station wagons. What the hell is the lines for in what looks like plastic but I guess will be stated as wood trim on the dash and doors. I also agree with the plastic on the center stack. In today's market, they need to do much better than equal to the competition.

This will sell to the MB badge faithful but to me is just been there before with a dated look of inside and outside. Nothing exciting and new.

I would agree with this CEO, Europe and select other markets are very Diesel heavy and will need time to change over to EVs, PHEVs, etc. I do believe the over all various hybrid systems will cause the overall cost to go down and with it people will change from Diesel to hybrids.

Let the markets decide while producing all 3 in those markets. For other places where Diesel has not taken hold that strongly such as America, I say time to just move forward and let the Hybrids do their job. I doubt Mazda needs to waste money on a diesel engine now for America.