Drew Dowdell

How would you know? Nissan is building their QX30 out of mostly Benz parts.

Solar and Wind are actually the fastest growing energy segments currently. Natural gas has the largest market share, but solar and wind are taking more and more of that each year. The key with residential solar installations is that they also do a household energy audit to try to reduce household usage. That reduces usage growth while adding the additional capacity to the grid. Residential/commercial solar tied to the grid really is the way to go rather than large scale solar installations. That's the reason you don't see generation companies moving towards it... because it makes more sense to put the panels on the roof where it will be used instead of in some farmer's field a hundred miles away. Wind is different, but if we were to blanket the mid-west with turbines, we could power the entire country. The mid-west is the Saudi Arabia of wind energy. Purely a regulatory thing rather than a technical one.

Also, since you seem keen to try and fact-check people... check your own facts. "Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan R. Mulally also asked Congress for a “credit line” of up to $9 billion in case the economy worsened." "the Congressional Research Service noted that Ford “is counting on $5 billion from the DOE loan program to support a $14 billion plan to reorient its lineup toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.” On June 23, 2009, the Department of Energy announced it would provide $5.9 billion to Ford “to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel efficient models.”" "In a business plan submitted to Congress in December 2008, Ford touted its $14 billion plan for fuel-efficient cars as a key part of its effort to turn the company around — noting that a big piece of the funding was coming from the DOE." "The company’s business plan also urged Congress to pass legislation to provide “incentives for consumers to trade in older vehicles and move to more fuel-efficient vehicles.”" "A Department of Transportation report (table 10) said more than 90,000 Fords were purchased under the cash-for-clunkers program — second only to Toyota — as of December 2009." "Ford was for government bailouts before it was against them." The idea that Ford didn't ask for the loan is absurd on its face... the D.O.E. doesn't just sprinkle magical loan fairy dust on a manufacturer. Companies have to apply for the loans, submit business plans, etc. The $5.9 billion that Ford got was by far the largest of the DOE loans at the time. The next largest was Nissan at $1.9 billion.

The real issue there is to get it to the people. Like us plug in's are not part of their infrastructure and it will take time to put them in. Also many of the people in metro areas live in apartments so where do you plug in? They have some things to work out just as we do. Now here our issue could be lack of power with the coal plants getting shut down and no Nukes being built along with increased demans. We already see brown outs in California in heat waves as it is now. The brown outs have nothing to do with coal generation capacity, it is hydro related. California is in severe drought can you can't generate electricity from water if there is no water. Natural gas is the biggest new generation capacity, however solar power in the US is growing fast. Solar was 32% of the growth in generation in 2014, and with the renewal of the tax credits from the budget deal, it's only going to grow faster.

Yes, we did. http://www.cheersandgears.com/_/news/cadillac/gm-plans-on-importing-ct6-plug-in-hybrid-from-china-r3292

Ford had 5 of the top 10 vehicle turn-ins. #1 Explorer 4wd, #2 F-150 2wd, #4 Explorer 2wd, #9 F-150 4wd, 10# Windstar

I can't quite follow or agree with you on most of that Reg. The Intrepid and Concord were packaged great yes. Mechanically, they were fine as long as you didn't get the 2.7 V6. The Sebring and Stratus weren't tweeners in size, they were cheap, but they were right there in size with the Camry/Accord of the day. The Malibu was the tweener at the time, being 4 inches shorter than the Stratus. (2006 stats used) As for the GM cars, the H-Body and G-Body cars that stacked up against the LH cars (except the LHS which got a trunk extension but is otherwise identical inside to the Intrepid) almost exactly. No interior dimension is off by more than an inch except hip-room where the GM cars are a little over an inch wider. If you're thinking W-body Impala/Lumina maybe... but back when the LH cars were first out, their main competition via price was the Bonneville, Eighty-Eight, LeSabre and Park Ave. While some low-end Dodge Intrepids were sold as loss leaders, the Concord, Vision, Bonneville, and 88 were less than $150 difference in price. New Yorker, Park Ave, and Ninety-Eight were all about $27k.

Yeah, because taking "Payday Loans" and maxing out a 3rd Mortgage on everything including Ford name is not the ghetto way out? The only thing Ford did differently than GM and Chrysler was get to the payday lender before it closed.... sitting in there with Laquisha waiting for her post-dated check to be processed. Ford got more than just the DOE loans. Just because they didn't take any of the stuff that was bad PR, doesn't mean they didn't get some sweetheart deals from the government. One of the deals they got was that the government "suddenly" needed to replace it's aging fleet of cars. The Feds suddenly started buying fleets of Focuses and Fusions to replace their aging Crown Vics for non-police/security duty, they bought a smaller number of F-150s and E-150s.... all at nearly list prices. In 2008, getting anyone to pay near list on a Focus was almost impossible... but Ford got it from the Feds.... it was a huge influx of cash for cars that would have otherwise been rotting on dealer lots until they got marked down many thousands of dollars. GM and Chrysler got similar deals selling Pontiac G6es and Dodge Avengers respectively, but not nearly at the volume that Ford got. Laquisha got to sell all of her old out of style weave inventory for nearly full retail price. Ford was also one of the biggest domestic beneficiaries of the Cash-For-Clunkers program being the ONLY domestic auto manufacturer with a model in the top 10 sales. The Ford Focus was number 4 and the Ford Escape FWD was number 10. Overall, Ford got 14.4% of sales generated from C4C. Laquisha's weave store now accepts SNAP/EBT cards and will cash tax refund checks. You can try and spin it any way you like, Ford certainly has... but no, Ford's process was no less ghetto than the other two.

yeah, I've driven the rental grade 200, and it's nothing special... but neither is the rental grade anything from any brand. The 200 does do better in S or C trims, and particularly with the 3.6 V6. It's like a whole different car.

Thank you! I'm regaining my sea legs. Plenty of new features and forum categories. I intend to stick around. I'm tired of my sabbatical. :-) Great! Wait till you see what we've got in store for this year! In August we'll be 15 years old and I've got some big changes in the works for it.

The reason that Ford has so much debt (aside from the new platforms, which is just a cost of doing business), is that Ford was heading for trouble pre-Crash AND because some financial wizard at Ford saw the writing on the wall on the overall economy before it happened. A number of people out there saw the crash coming (including me, I have posts in the now defunct politics section warning about it) and it was good on Ford to take note. It is very likely that Ford would have been right there along side GM and Chrysler going through bankruptcy and getting (additional) bailouts had they not taken the actions they did. Before the crash they mortgaged everything... even the name on the building... to free up cash heading into the storm. This proved crucial and it was for this reason that Ford avoided bailouts while GM didn't. Once the crash hit, there were no banks large enough and healthy enough to finance the GM Bankruptcy. Credit availability on that scale had completely dried up. Even healthy companies were affected.... Target, which uses lines of credit to purchase inventory suddenly had a large portion of that credit withdrawn. That is the primary reason the government had to step in..... even healthy companies were getting hit. In a way, Ford bailed themselves out ahead of time. Ford avoided it by getting their credit lines in position before all the crap hit the fan. And while it is great that Ford managed to avoid BK and (most) bailouts, they are still living with a large portion of that debt today. The sooner they address it, the better.

Because Americans are too accustom to Walmart prices on everything.

No, the fact is YOU do not like the reality. You bitched about their engines, their new 4s will be out this year, then it was hybrid tech, oops, look at that a hybrid Pacifica and Plug-in with 80MPHe in a MINIVAN, oops, and again, they are not stopping production of the 200, the statement is simply that the next one will be based on a platform from another manufacturer. It is dollars and cents (sense.....). Use your brain. With Alfa going all RWD and Dodge basically doing the same, Chrysler is left with only Chrysler needing FWD. Without the sharing it becomes an expensive proposition that would price the car out of it's competitive set. Use your brain, basically every midsize car from the Fusion, to the Malibu, to the Camry has platform mates under their mothership umbrella to share amortization costs and manufacturing costs with. It becomes much more of an issue if you have only 1 or 2 vehicles under the same umbrella to try to spread all of the development costs, tooling, and manufacturing costs with. The do need a lighter platform for their midsize/compacts and in this case that is simply the most cost-effective way to go. It is the same reason Ford used he Mazda 6 platform for the Fusion and GM and Ford teamed up fr the new 10 speed auto. Seriously, if you actually think about it,it makes sense. You are just too busy singing Chysler death knell sto see that. Chrsler is putting out their first hybrid in 2017, right? How far have GM and Ford come in that same time? I know Ford's had a few hybrids and obviously GM has had some, and they have a full EV next year as well. Ford's Fusion was 09 and Escape in 2004! The Volt came out in 2010 and a Silverado/Sierra with a hybrid system in 2005 as well. So yes, Chrysler will finally have a hybrid in 2017 a mere 20 years after Toyota, 13 years after Ford, 12 after Chevy. Good job. The Dart's engines weren't tops in their class when it came out, or top 3. That is a fail when you introduce a BRAND NEW vehicle to a class and you aren't class leading in mpg, or any performance metric(be it efficiency or 1/4 mile - doesn't matter, it wasn't very good). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wait, Chrysler? Screw that, let's get back to talking about the sweet and sexy CT6! Any ideas if the new ttV8 will be a V Series? or VSport? or just a badass engine before a V Series..? 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid Muahaha. That was the hybrid system they developed with GM and it was also in the GM fullsize trucks and SUVs I think? The system was part of the global hybrid alliance. GM, Chrysler, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz all participated.

No, the fact is YOU do not like the reality. You bitched about their engines, their new 4s will be out this year, then it was hybrid tech, oops, look at that a hybrid Pacifica and Plug-in with 80MPHe in a MINIVAN, oops, and again, they are not stopping production of the 200, the statement is simply that the next one will be based on a platform from another manufacturer. It is dollars and cents (sense.....). Use your brain. With Alfa going all RWD and Dodge basically doing the same, Chrysler is left with only Chrysler needing FWD. Without the sharing it becomes an expensive proposition that would price the car out of it's competitive set. Use your brain, basically every midsize car from the Fusion, to the Malibu, to the Camry has platform mates under their mothership umbrella to share amortization costs and manufacturing costs with. It becomes much more of an issue if you have only 1 or 2 vehicles under the same umbrella to try to spread all of the development costs, tooling, and manufacturing costs with. The do need a lighter platform for their midsize/compacts and in this case that is simply the most cost-effective way to go. It is the same reason Ford used he Mazda 6 platform for the Fusion and GM and Ford teamed up fr the new 10 speed auto. Seriously, if you actually think about it,it makes sense. You are just too busy singing Chysler death knell sto see that. Chrsler is putting out their first hybrid in 2017, right? How far have GM and Ford come in that same time? I know Ford's had a few hybrids and obviously GM has had some, and they have a full EV next year as well. Ford's Fusion was 09 and Escape in 2004! The Volt came out in 2010 and a Silverado/Sierra with a hybrid system in 2005 as well. So yes, Chrysler will finally have a hybrid in 2017 a mere 20 years after Toyota, 13 years after Ford, 12 after Chevy. Good job. The Dart's engines weren't tops in their class when it came out, or top 3. That is a fail when you introduce a BRAND NEW vehicle to a class and you aren't class leading in mpg, or any performance metric(be it efficiency or 1/4 mile - doesn't matter, it wasn't very good). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wait, Chrysler? Screw that, let's get back to talking about the sweet and sexy CT6! Any ideas if the new ttV8 will be a V Series? or VSport? or just a badass engine before a V Series..? 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid

Nope, the Impala was 3400 and 3900 by then. The last year of the 3800 was the 2008 Lucerne... that was the last North American vehicle to carry it. Impala dropped the 3800 after 2005. Nope, the Impala was 3400 and 3900 by then. The last year of the 3800 was the 2008 Lucerne... that was the last North American vehicle to carry it. Impala dropped the 3800 after 2005. That's the first thing I thought of. The 3800 has been out of production for years. It was also never offered in China AFAIK. Welcome back Ven!

The Debt issue at Ford is a valid concern.. .and yes, they should use their profits now to pay it down.

the 200 is a pretty decent car, it's one of my favorites in the segment. People like Reg don't like it because they are shopping for the most cubic feet of interior room per dollar. If you just need a sedan to get you to work and back with little concern for the back seat passengers, there are definitely worse choices out there. The 200 is also unique in that it is the only V6 with AWD mid-size family car that I can think of outside of a top end Subaru Legacy. I also happen to like the interior better than most of its direct competition. Actually, the Fusion Sport is AWD and V-6... a Twin turbo V-6 Not currently on sale... and when it does transition from future product to current product, it will be $5k more expensive v. a 200S AWD. I don't deny that the Fusion Sport is a compelling package to us enthusiasts, but for a mainstream buyer just looking for an AWD sedan with something more than a 4-cylinder, it may be a bit over the top. As the Fusion Sport's interior is not significantly changed over the current model, I can still safely say that I like the 200S/C interior better.

Would be an interesting little sports car!

the 200 is a pretty decent car, it's one of my favorites in the segment. People like Reg don't like it because they are shopping for the most cubic feet of interior room per dollar. If you just need a sedan to get you to work and back with little concern for the back seat passengers, there are definitely worse choices out there. The 200 is also unique in that it is the only V6 with AWD mid-size family car that I can think of outside of a top end Subaru Legacy. I also happen to like the interior better than most of its direct competition.

That would seal the fate of Alfa too though... the way they pay for that new platform is by sharing it with Dodge and Chrysler to get as much volume out of it as possible. Basically, that would be Serg throwing the baby out with the bathwater if he killed the Charger. (not that that scenarios is impossible in Serg's world) How many times was the launch of the Giulia pushed back? Alfa won't complete the debut of its new lineup until the middle of the next decade, and that FCA will be scaling back the brand's research and development, manufacturing, and product investments through 2018. " This new product strategy differs from the original Marchionne strategy in a few key ways. First, all of these vehicles were supposed to have been launched between May 2014 and sometime in 2018. Since it's 2016 and we can't even buy a Giulia yet, it's pretty clear that plan isn't going to happen. Instead, the six vehicles that will follow the Giulia and midsize CUV won't start arriving until 2017, with debuts continuing until at least 2020. " http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/27/alfa-romeo-realigns-product-onslaught-again/ Well that's just Alfa. The Giulia is supposed to be platform sharing with the replacements for the LX cars.

I see the new blinders from Amazon Prime arrived today! The Theta Premium platform SRX vastly outsold its same priced german rivals.... sometimes it even outsold them combined. The Epsilon chassis sells far far more copies than the Fusion. Globally, Regal/Insignia alone sells about 40% of the volume of Fusion/Mondeo globally. Then add in the Malibu, Impala, XTS, and Lacrosse and the Fusion gets left behind. I have my doubts about this new crossover being Epsilon... if it is, it is Epsilon in name only or a completely new generation of it.

Why does it look old? Because basically it's a Buick Verano convertible. The Verano has been out since model year 2012 (on sale in 2011) and is due to be replaced, though I'm getting hints there is going to be a delay there.

I think he was just "off". He makes a lot of verbal mistakes in the video..... the drive was a 3 day trip to Key West, he was probably out drinking the night before. As for the controls, It has the same control stack as my Encore, and while yes there are a lot of buttons, it is still very simple to operate.

That would seal the fate of Alfa too though... the way they pay for that new platform is by sharing it with Dodge and Chrysler to get as much volume out of it as possible. Basically, that would be Serg throwing the baby out with the bathwater if he killed the Charger. (not that that scenarios is impossible in Serg's world)

Eh... all hat and no cattle. ... and with no mid-gate, no sale.