Drew Dowdell

Yup, final model Bonneville.

Never saw it. I guess I should watch it.

I had a couple co-workers tell me today that I intimidated them. Another co-worker said they call me the Grim Reaper. I'm not sure how I feel about this. The Grim Reaper one I understand the reason for the nickname. In my old job, when someone got walked to HR it was my job to swoop in and seize their computer and phone for evidence. Some of the smaller offices I visit used to assume, if I showed up unannounced, that I was there to fire them all. I'm not sure why other people should be intimidated though.

Minor dings and scratches

make sure you run your windows updates

The industry model I foresee coming is that of building the vehicles on the continent were the most of that particular vehicle will be sold. Trucks, SUVS, large Crossovers, and large sedan (both in volume and size) are safe here in the US. Small vehicles will ship off shore. The exception to this will be compact cars that sell in such huge volumes that it makes it impractical to have long shipping routes. For example, Civic and Corolla, probably have too much volume to make it feasible to ship across the Pacific whereas Trax and Encore combined don't add up to even a fraction of Civic. Ford is majorly gambling with Focus. A sudden spike in oil prices could make a Chinese built Focus uneconomical to ship economy cars all the way from China to the US. All it takes is one mid-east skirmish to double or triple oil prices and Russia is already threatening to fire on US planes in Syria.

If I were a betting man, I would bet that once this version of the Regal is done, production is moved to China. The 2018 Regal goes back to its European roots by being built in Rüsselsheim again... making the Regal more German than a BMW X5. Envision has already shown that Americans don't care about a vehicle being assembled in China (and likewise, the Encore in Korea). The Regal is one of Buick's best sellers in China so it would make sense, once the Opel link is severed, for the Chinese to build it and the US gets the excess production. Buick sells more than 4 Regals in China for every 1 Regal sold in the US. If I were Mary Barra, that's what I would do.

Indeed! I just got a note from my doctor's office (I have an appointment tomorrow) that the global cyber attack has hit them and they are unable to pull up patient records.

The Buick has a better chance of surviving because China. It will continue for at least this generation in Europe as the Insignia too.

We're going to get one large crossover or SUV and one medium to large sedan. I'm listing one of my rental properties for sale and nothing will happen until after that is gone.

who cares how long it is.... seriously....

The Stinger is in a weird place in the market. It's not a Camaro/Mustang, too small to be a Charger, not premium enough to be an A7, substantially more powerful and sporty than a Regal Sportback. However, that also makes it rather unique and it might catch a small but solid following.

Seems like Albert has taken a liking to the Sportback as much as I might want the TourX. Neither is a bad choice though.

The situation has been resolved.

We're having an issue with the upstream network provider for the server. I just posted an announcement about it. I will post more information as I get it.

In other news, Pennsylvania approved the first pot growing and distribution license today. I take it you were waiting in line like it was a new iPhone?

It's a great minivan, but it's still a minivan. Im not making any lofty claims about it's Nurbürgring prowess... Only that it will handle better than a plumber van... RWD or not.

But it probably still has better handling.

$65,000 gets you a 4 cylinder in a German car the Stinger's size. You make a compelling case.

Have you seen one in person yet? The long, low hood will let you know this is no camcord competitor.

The K900 proves nothing. As a car, I like it, but it looks too much like an Optima for that price. It also has zero sporting intentions, it rides as soft as an LS460. The Stinger does not look like an Optima.

Yeah, pretty sweet. You get a Pacifica Touring L without an interior and with a 7-speed instead of a 9-speed.

C-Class sales have gone up since it is no longer terribly outdated. It has nothing to do with the CLA.

It doesn't have to be a high performance brand (AMG, M, V-series) to be higher performance than the Stinger.