G. David Felt

G. David Felt
Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com

Michigan Blocks Tesla Sales in State, Yet State Invests in Tesla

According to the Detroit News, the state of Michigan who two years ago signed into law forcing any company that wants to sell auto's in state must have a franchise to do it, seems to not want to support their own thinking.

Detroit News - "Michigan Retirement Fund Boost Stake in Tesla Stock"

Seems Michigan just paid $48 million increasing it's stake in Tesla to a state retirement fund holding of 339,623 shares worth $72 million according to the SEC required filing. This represents a .12% of the state $60 Billion retirement fund.

What is interesting is this is their second largest holding of auto stocks. First is Delphi Automotive at $94 million, then Tesla at $72 million, Ford at $17 million and GM at $13.7 million. State of michigan owns no stock in FCA.

Interesting part of the story is that Tesla has applied for a state license for a dealership. State rep Aaron Miller has introduced legislation that would allow dealerships to be owned by manufactures. Seems a bit contradictory to say the least.

Read the full posting at the Detroit News.

Seems the Revero has the big outcoming yesterday.

http://www.karmaautomotive.com/revero/

The car is in production, has it's solar panel roof that Karma is saying can power the car. Also interesting is that Karma web site and releases say they are working on the Atlantic also to go into production in the future.

Fisker just posted their first video showing off the NEW Revero

Since they are targeting the NA market, I have to assume they will follow the Bolt with a CUV EV. But it would make sense to cover both fields with a Tesla 3 competitor and a Bolt competitor.

Checking in once more before I leave for the day.

 

 

I am finding little time after the daily grind and all the different fitness things I do every week.

 

 

Finally I can plant my heels down when I do a full squat. My belly has gone in 3 inches or so. I haven't been checking my weight since 2 weeks ago, but I've been sweating a lot for the last two weeks.

 

After workout's I don't get as completely tired either, and for the most part intensty is up across the board.

 

I can finally see my ribs again when I am standing upright. Am trying to get good abs and oblique excercises. It will be a quite a while though,

 

And my arm's aren't squishy all the way anymore. I poke thought like half to a centimeter of mush, but behind it there is a wall of denser material. I guess that should be then muscles right?

 

Anyhoos, I will prolly not post again for another while. I'll see you all on the far side.

Very cool Suav,

Remember, a tired work out is better than no work out. We all get tired, just need to push through the work out and get some sleep.

See ya on the other side!

They don't sound too enthused about the prospect.  I'm sure the Crosstrek Hybrid is a poor seller too.  This makes me like Subaru more, and their sales keep going up and up... clearly they don't need any ridic ninnie cars to succeed.

Crosstrek Hybrid sells very well with a low average on lot date last time I checked it. Many coworkers who are subaru fans have them here in Washington.

I personally was thinking along this line:

C300-ev

S550-ev

E63-ev

Keeping the family name as is, but tagging ev onto the end of it to define that the auto is pure electric.

• I like Eldorado, ElMiraj & Escalade. And by that, I'm NOT in favor of all 'E' names, BTW! But IMHO: the rest are definite 'NO's. I especially hate the *name* + *number* in a hundred variations. That's easily as poor as the mercedes' mess. And a towering 'NFW' to an 'Xt1' entry.

 

• I firmly believe that a big sedan can successfully be re-christened 'Fleetwood' or 'Brougham' again. Then keep the names for another 50 year run.

 

• Would strongly advocate returning to models names where displacement/drive wheels are REMOVED from the model's name. Too homogenized, too commonplace. You want to know what engine is in the car? Read the trunk badge & move the F on. The exception, sort of, to that is keeping the V-Sport and V suffixes. 

Respect the input SMK, Please provide your layout of a car naming for 4 door Sedans and 2 door coupes plus the SUV / Truck segment. 

Interesting as I had no Idea about the MB tag line when I came up with mine. MB problem is that their CLA is like all the others in the family and seems to be just a selfish I am better than all the rest of the MB product line. I was thinking of a slogan over all to be applied to the whole family.

I like I suspect many others am not a fan of the Piss Poor Dare Greatly tag line.

G. David Felt
Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com

Cadillac Naming Convention, Time to Show your Marketing Mastery!

We have had many threads in many auto lines that always hit upon if the Alpha Numeric naming is the best it can be or not. Some love the german branding of the names, while others hate it. Many have stated it is time to bring back the names to Cadillac.

With this, I am bringing to the Cadillac forum this naming thread so that you can lay out YOUR CHOICE of names, how they would be used in the auto line up and for fun add in YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE, or TAG Line!

I will start this off with my own listing of how I feel Cadillac should cover their auto family line of names. To me a Sedan is a 4 door auto, Coupe is a 2 door auto, time to clearly show which is which and bring back the proper room and space into the luxury line. No more blindly and dumbly following the germans or anyone else. Show what America Luxury is and tune it based on proper marketing clinics with feedback from the public.

CARS

ATS/CT3 - Sedan - Ciel-4, Ciel-4 EV, Ciel-4 Sport, Ciel-4 V & Coupe - Ciel-2, Ciel-2 EV, Ciel-2 Sport, Ciel-2 V

CTS/CT5 - Sedan - Converj-4, Converj-4 EV, Converj-4 Sport, Converj-4 V & Coupe - Converj-2, Converj-2 EV, Converj-2 Sport, Converj-2 V

CT6 - Sedan - Eldorado-4, Eldorado-4 EV, Eldorado-4 Sport, Eldorado-4 V, & Coupe Eldorado-2, Eldorado-2 EV, Eldorado-2 Sport, Eldorado-2 V

CT7 - Sedan - Elmiraj-4, Elmiraj-4 EV, Elmiraj-4 Sport, Elmiraj-4 V & Coupe - Elmiraj-2, Elmiraj-2 EV, Elmiraj-2 Sport, Elmiraj-2 V

CT8 - Sedan - Imaj-4, Imaj-4 EV, Imaj-4 Sport, Imaj-4 V & Coupe - Imaj-2, Imaj-2 EV, Imaj-2 Sport, Imaj-2 V

SUVS / TRUCKS

Escalade - Stays Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade EXT (Well Established, no need to change)

XT7 - Provoq, Provoq EV, Provoq Sport, Provoq V

XT5 - Mahir, Mahir EV, Mahir Sport, Mahir V

SRX/XT3 - Enejik, Enejik EV, Enejik Sport, Enejik V

XT1 - Ajil, Ajil EV, Ajil Sport, Ajil V

Marketing Tagline

Like No Other, Cadillac!

 

 

Totally agree, I have talked to many coworkers who put their $1K down and all have stated they will be adding the 2nd motor for AWD and the biggest battery pack option. I DO NOT expect the Tesla 3 to sell anywhere below $50K. I expect the average transaction price to be in the mid to upper 50's and that makes the fully loaded Bolt MSRP at $37,500 a bargain with a 225 mile range based on charging info.

 

It isn't fully loaded at 37,500. Cloth seating.

But, "Chevy Bolt hatchback pricing was announced at $37,500 back in January, though pricing could still fluctuate closer to the car’s winter launch. Standard features include a big 10.2-inch MyLink infotainment system with an EV-specific navigation function, 360-degree cameras, and Wi-Fi. Based on how Chevy positioned the Spark EV, there will likely be another higher-spec trim level priced in the low $40,000 range that will come with safety features like forward collision alert and blind spot assistance, as well as leather."

http://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-model-3-vs-chevrolet-bolt-know-comparison/

 

If so, I hope I can get the leather and other luxury features I want without the nanny stupid idiot devices like the waste of money forward collision alert and blind spot. The blind spot I have come to see as a big distraction constantly blinking in the side mirror on the freeways.

This makes sense and I expect every auto maker to have at least one 200+ mile range EV in their portfolio by 2020.

Might as well just do EV-E, EV-S, etc.

Totally agree with you on this, best common sense and ease of communication and marketing, use the EV and the existing letter to clearly define the auto level and that this is an electric.

+1 ^^^^^^^ I am with bathazar on this in bringing back the names to Cadillac.

Really MB, that is the best naming series you can come up with.  

I am so over this minimalist labeling of auto's.

Chevy BOLT far Superior name to the i3, i8, and now EQA, EQE.........

For those interested in seeing Drag Coefficient numbers on models since this is up for debate here about the BOLT and other EV numbers.

Love this chart! Proves most auto's are far higher than the BOLT CD #.

http://ecomodder.com/wiki/index.php/Vehicle_Coefficient_of_Drag_List

Love this Size does matter and yet with that, the Brick, H2 Hummer was a 25.6 versus the Honda Insight 5.1 and yet you look at history before computers and we see auto's with numbers much lower which proves we really have not improved that much.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-aerodynamics-drag-area-size-matters/

Crouse always good read was the Drag Queen story by C&D

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/drag-queens-aerodynamics-compared-comparison-test

On topic : I wouldn't hold my breath RE seeing any amount of Model 3s stickered at $35K….

Totally agree, I have talked to many coworkers who put their $1K down and all have stated they will be adding the 2nd motor for AWD and the biggest battery pack option. I DO NOT expect the Tesla 3 to sell anywhere below $50K. I expect the average transaction price to be in the mid to upper 50's and that makes the fully loaded Bolt MSRP at $37,500 a bargain with a 225 mile range based on charging info.

 

 

 

 

Sorry but this whole argument is overblown. 200 miles is still far more than any other EV is this price range.

You're right. Who would want a longer range?    

Oh good grief drama queen. Of course people want longer ranges but here's the thing that you clearly don't get. At $35k(37,500), they are getting longer range than anything else in that price range by long shot. What is so hard to understand about that?

Except the Model 3 and it's starting price is $2,500 cheaper.

Allegedly and it will be out after the Bolt at this point. It also has a whole fifteen miles more range while being so "slippery". Like I said, it is overblown.

 

Keep in mind, GM said 200+ and then have stated on record that it take 9hrs for a full charge giving you 25 miles per hr of charging, so that would equal 225 miles, 10 miles more than the stated 215 from Tesla. Also since LG has said the battery pack depending on motor configuration can cover 200 to 250 miles, means this is all up in the air till the final EPA testing and certified number.

Tesla has also never delivered on schedule or on Spec till a year or two after officially starting production. After all the Tesla S did start out with a much lower range than originally stated and then through software updates got to being able to have 300 mile range again depending on how you drive.

I remember that video, the wife is smoken hot and the race is cool, nothing wrong here.

Cool to see what they build off these platforms.

 

 

 

 

Should have a way better aero number than .32. The Bolt isn't really a great looking car, tall hatchbacks tend not to look that good, so it isn't like they had to sacrifice aero in terms of great looks. Part of keeping EV range up is also cutting down drag.

Way better looking than the butt ugly i3 car from BMW. that is truly ugly just like the Prius. I take this bolt over the BMW i3 or the prius any day.

 

The Prius' drag coefficient is only 0.24 though. Huge difference.

Tesla Model X is also 0.24!

 

Who cares, in daily driving that little tiny bit does not make that big of a difference and the looks of the Bolt are way better than the Prius or Tesla IMHO.

 

Efficiency is noticed daily. Every time you commute somewhere the vehicle's efficiency matters. Bolt looks terrible compared to the Tesla but better than the Prius, but that doesn't really matter as that isn't really the topic and it's opinion based anyway... If the 200 mile range Bolt could claim 220miles, wouldn't that be better? 0.08 isn't a "tiny" amount. If you keep the Bolt within city limits, it won't batter as your speeds will rarely see north of 40mph. Beyond that is where the benefits multiply for an efficient aero package on a vehicle.

 

In thinking about this more, I bet Efficiency matters to about 25-35% of the population in an extreme manner and then another 25-35% will think about it but it will not be that big of an issue when they make a final decision on the auto they drive and the rest will not care at all. 

I fall into the last category, I do not care about efficiency as long as I get from point A to B comfortable and rested. If efficiency is there, BONUS. This comes from a guy that owns only full size SUVs with a suburban built out with a performance focused 402 V8 getting 9mpg loaded with people and pulling a trailer or empty just me driving.I love my space, comfort and high seating position. So Efficiency does not matter as to why I could care less about the .08 you are saying is so important.

I found this story about trends and changes :http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/perspectives/2015-auto-trends

Very interesting reading, I wish they covered the average CD of the auto industry as I think it is much higher than what is being discussed in this thread which would reinforce my feeling that only a small group really care about the CD numbers on an auto.

 

 

 

 

Should have a way better aero number than .32. The Bolt isn't really a great looking car, tall hatchbacks tend not to look that good, so it isn't like they had to sacrifice aero in terms of great looks. Part of keeping EV range up is also cutting down drag.

Way better looking than the butt ugly i3 car from BMW. that is truly ugly just like the Prius. I take this bolt over the BMW i3 or the prius any day.

 

The Prius' drag coefficient is only 0.24 though. Huge difference.

Tesla Model X is also 0.24!

 

Who cares, in daily driving that little tiny bit does not make that big of a difference and the looks of the Bolt are way better than the Prius or Tesla IMHO.

 

Efficiency is noticed daily. Every time you commute somewhere the vehicle's efficiency matters. Bolt looks terrible compared to the Tesla but better than the Prius, but that doesn't really matter as that isn't really the topic and it's opinion based anyway... If the 200 mile range Bolt could claim 220miles, wouldn't that be better? 0.08 isn't a "tiny" amount. If you keep the Bolt within city limits, it won't batter as your speeds will rarely see north of 40mph. Beyond that is where the benefits multiply for an efficient aero package on a vehicle.

 

I understand what you are saying the the point being made. Yet GM is on Record that the battery in the BOLT is fully charged at 9rhs and you get 25 miles of range per hr charged so in essence they are saying the bolt has a 225 mile range and yet they are understandably saying 200+ till the EPA tests are done and certified and then we get the final number. LG also states that their battery packs have a range of 200 to 250 miles. So this makes me wonder just where the BOLT will end up at and at what speed is the final EPA number certified at. Might seem high to some folks and not the egg shape of Tesla or other experimental auto's but for a tall guy like me at 6'6" tall and wife that said it would be her next car so deposit down at Chevy, I am hoping that height of the BOLT equates to interior space that makes it a true 4 person car for tall people like me with a decent range.

shapes that don't have a good ratio for length to height really suffer.  The Bolt is short.  And it's tall proportion is rather tall.  Extra ground clearance don't help.  It's not a teardrop shape, the rear end is blunt......so .32 for being a barn door is still ok.

 

it ain't this,

 

http://theoldmotor.com/?p=91849

That is a Funky cool car!

No one promises you work or a job for life, and business should never do it. Reality is you keep your trade skills sharp and learn new things or become unemployed. I am so sick of unions thinking they are superior and have to have promises of lifelong employment. Welcome to the 21st century and if you are that ignorant to not see this coming you deserve what you get.

 

 

Should have a way better aero number than .32.  The Bolt isn't really a great looking car, tall hatchbacks tend not to look that good, so it isn't like they had to sacrifice aero in terms of great looks.  Part of keeping EV range up is also cutting down drag.

Way better looking than the butt ugly i3 car from BMW. that is truly ugly just like the Prius. I take this bolt over the BMW i3 or the prius any day.

 

The Prius' drag coefficient is only 0.24 though. Huge difference.

Tesla Model X is also 0.24!

 

Who cares, in daily driving that little tiny bit does not make that big of a difference and the looks of the Bolt are way better than the Prius or Tesla IMHO.

Posted 02 August 2016 - 12:08 PM

G. David Felt
Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com

 

Rip Off or Compliment?

 

Today MSN Auto asked and posted the following pictures on what people thought about one OEM auto company copying another OEM Auto company. This is very common in China where independent Chinese auto companies pretty much buy and clone every part in a established brand and sell it with no recourse or intellectual protection from the government for the name brands in comparison to markets like Europe and the US.

 

69 Mustang versus 73 Toyota Celica

 

 

Bentley versus Lincoln

 

Hummer Versus Dongfeng who still makes this Hummer rip off and sells to the Chinese military.

Land Rover Versus Landwind

Rolls Royce versus Geely

Mercedes-Benz versus Kia

Porsche versus Nissan

So what are your thoughts? Should China enforce protecting intellectual property rights, should these companies have to pay for ripping off designs from other companies?

How do you feel about it?