Drew Dowdell

A lot of this hinges on a lawsuit in front of the Supreme Court right now over fishing rights.  A group of fisherman are trying to get the rights of these agencies (FTC, EPA, DOT) to set policy thrown out.  It will up end 40+ years of regulations.  If the fishermen win, the CARS act goes away entirely, along with so much else.

On 1/21/2024 at 3:20 PM, smk4565 said:

That's a good time for a crossover but some gas crossovers are faster, and the Model S Plaid and Taycn are like in the 7:20s I think.    But for a crossover like vehicle 7:49 is a strong time.

The Ioniq 5 is a hatchback no matter what Hyundai got it classified as by the EPA.  If the Ioniq 5 is a crossover, then so is the GTI.

I voted "No".  We're looking at the Honda Prologue over the Blazer EV for this exact reason.  For now, the EValanche seems to be grandfathered in under the old policy.

Buick's large crossover will get the sleek Buick Wildcat concept styling from the show car. The Enclave will sport the same slim "eyes" and large lower grille as seen on the Buick Envista, but scaled up for the Enclave's size.  We expect the Enclave to receive the same 328 horsepower / 326 lb-ft of torque 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder found in the recently refreshed Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia. While the Enclave has been fully redesigned, it will continue to use an updated version of the existing C1 platform and be roughly the same size as the outgoing model.

While the teaser sketches show a more rakish rear glass, the mules that have been spotted retain the more traditionally upright profile we are familiar with. Its a shame, however, as we can see a space in the Buick lineup for a more rakish and svelte Enclave following the concept art.

Buick also took the time to tout their growth. Buick sales for 2023 were up 61% with the Encore GX scoring a 92% increase year over year. It was also a great year for Buick's Avenir trim with more than 26% of all retail sales. Envista is bringing fresh customers to the Buick brand, nearly 70% of Envista buyers are new to Buick. Even the Enclave, in its final full year of production of the current model saw sales increase 29%.

The 2025 Buick Enclave will be unveiled later this year and likely hit dealerships in the fall of 2024. We expect a significant price increase as the 2024 Traverse jumped over $3,500 for the refreshed model.

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Gives you something to do when you're waiting for an extra long charge I guess.

On 1/12/2024 at 3:18 PM, daves87rs said:

Think they simply had to many, and too much costs for upkeep on the Teslas. Also curious to see how many are rented as well. I imagine there is a little bit of fear there too.

I think they would like a larger variety, preferably ones with less cost of upkeep. Renting these are the best way folks can see how they work. Slowly but surely there will be more…..

A lot of these were part of a program Hertz set up with Uber to provide cars to Uber drivers, that’s why there are 2022s with 85k miles.

I think the biggest issue was the repair costs caused by Tesla using gigapress coupled with the depreciation hit from Tesla dropping retail prices.

14 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Agreed. And keep it around 20k as well…..

I think a 4-door would be more, but if it ends up at $26k, I think that would still be more than fair for an EV. The Renegade starts at $28k.

4 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I'm surprised and not surprised.

I'm surprised because they had made a commitment and were making a statement.  I'm also surprised that they didn't buy them with any volume purchase incentives.

I'm not surprised because many renters did not like the Teslas.  They do not have a scan code with a "to do list" for you because it's not obvious what you should be doing to operate all the "necessary" aspects of the car.  Or a sheet they hand you with your rental leaflet. A person sometimes even has to hunt around to find how some things work on a newer ICE car.  We're no longer talking 1999 Cavaliers where you could hop in and go.

I'm open to EVs in a rental fleet.  I will plan and work around the charging and range issues. The dashboard and its interfaces basically need to be more user-friendly and intuitive.  That's what I ask.

I recently rented a Model-3 through Hertz for my visit to my parents for Thanksgiving. I loved the EV aspect of it and charging was easy and convenient.  I hated the interface.  Hertz sends multiple e-mails prior to your Tesla rental telling you how to operate them..... guess who didn't read them.

40 minutes ago, David said:

Curiosity gets the better of me, so looked for Washington state to the Oregon border. I found the following:

4 Tesla Model 3 of which only one I would consider as it has only almost 34K miles, rest are high mileage.

1 Tesla Y

1 Chevy Bolt

1 Chevy Bolt EUV.

In using auto trader website, I find 1,084 used EVs for sale. Those in the same price range as above are much lower in mileage. Course also plenty of near new EVs being sold as Certified by dealers. I honestly do not find Hertz sale prices for these EVs motivation for me to consider them for buying.

Used Electric Cars for Sale Near Me in Seattle, WA - Autotrader

This was only announced yesterday, so you're not seeing any of the 20k destined to be sold off on the site yet. The regional offices haven't had time to react.

Also, they still need to acquire ICE vehicles to replace the fleet, so it will depend on how soon they can get those ordered and delivered too.

I wonder if the order with Polestar is getting cut also or if this is just Telsa without them saying its just Tesla. 65,000 Polestars is a lot for them.

26 minutes ago, David said:

Very interesting, guess the resale on other OEM EVs is doing much better with real CEOs at the helm rather than a drug using erratic Musk.

Ford is all over the place with the lightning but everybody else seems fairly consistent

Hertz has announced that it will sell off roughly 30%, or 20,000 vehicles, of its EV fleet.  The move came after it announced a scale-back from its original goal of electrifying 25% of the rental fleet. Hertz's original goal was to acquire 100,000 Tesla and 65,000 from Polestar over five years. Teslas make up roughly 80% of the Hertz EV fleet. At the time of this writing, there are 631 Teslas for sale on Hertz's website and only 40 EVs from other brands.

In a statement, Hertz cited substantially higher than average repair costs "for EVs" with extended wait times for parts availability. Additionally, Hertz reported that manufacturers' new lower retail prices hurt the resale values of the existing fleet, leading to substantial depreciation losses. Hertz is expecting to take a $245 million write-down on the vehicles, or an average loss of $12,250 per vehicle. Unlike other brands, Teslas purchased by Hertz were purchased at the same retail price the general public pays without any volume discount.

Our take

While many in the anti-EV crowd see this as an indictment against EVs, it is really more of an indictment against Tesla.  Tesla's use of the Gigapress, while revolutionary technology, means that even minor collisions can be catastrophic to the vehicle. But this technology is coming to other brands as well. General Motors has purchased a Gigapress manufacturer and Volkswagen is planning on using Gigapress in their future vehicles. Additionally, Tesla does not have a deep reserve of spare parts, leading to long wait times for repairs. Tesla's erratic pricing moves have also made it difficult to accurately predict resale value of their vehicles.  For an individual, it is an annoyance but for a corporation that buys 100,000 vehicles, it can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Hertz's loss could be your gain.  If you have been looking at purchasing an EV but don't want to pay the high prices of a new one, a wave of Tesla Model-3 and Model-Y are about to hit the market. Couple that with a $4,000 tax credit for pre-owned EVs and there will be good deals to be had.  Even if you do not buy one of the Teslas from Hertz, this move will likely drop the price of used EVs on the market, so keep your eyes open for a deal.

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4 hours ago, David said:

Currently I see it in the current form as a Fiat 500 competitor which is NOT selling here as the few that wanted a 2 door micro auto has them and sales are terrible.

Totally agree with Drew that if they go 4 door to be in the Renegade/Compass size it will sell well especially if they keep it in the mid $20,000's for pricing.

The 500 hasn't been on sale in the US for a couple years now, so... yeah.. it's not selling.

I think they are bringing it back as an EV though.

I don't think it will fly as a 2-door, but stretch it to a 4-door and make it about the size of the Renegade or Compass and this will print money and put VinFast on the map.

.... but I just wanted a volume knob.

This crap is going to be all the rage for the next few years, and then it will be as passe as "Hey Mercedes...".

Furthermore, I don't use ChatGPT because I have to fact-check it too much.  ChatGPT is only as good as the data on the internet. If the internet data is inaccurate, ChatGPT will be inaccurate.  How many times have you looked up a store on Google Maps or whatever you use and found the store hours to be inaccurate?  Those hours are updated manually... by people... when they get around to it.

Fixed it.

But I don't think there is an issue with Ram doing this. People complain about the price of trucks all the time and this is a solution if you really need a pickup but you don't need the latest wiz-bang gadgetry or expensive to work on turbo engines.  There is still a market out there for a utilitarian truck at a reasonable price.

I guess when the whole industry is having to change at once, it should be expected.  There's a lot of lag in the building of components too.

Thank as always @bobo Great write up!

11 hours ago, bobo said:

There has also been a lot of wailing about GM dropping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto going forward on EVs.

I add this one to the Jeers list all on its own.

It’s a bit of a Clickbait headline on Edmunds part.  There’s an energy fault and it’s making all the sensors go on the fritz.  The same thing happened to my Chrysler when the battery was going bad. New battery and cleared the codes and it was all fine. 

24 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Thanks. I had no clue. I never tried to "build" one.

That's a lot of horses in that 2.0 T.  What's even funnier is that it makes more than 3 times the horsepower that the old 2.5 (151 c.i.) "Iron Duke" made (90 hp) in so equipped Camaros and Firebirds of the early to mid '80s!

I'd say that one could start getting into trouble with about 170 horses, which is what smogged and carbureted 350 V8s made in the venerable colonnades.

By today’s standards, the 275 is probably bare minimum, but with a manual, its relatively light weight, and tremendously good balance, a base Camaro could be very fun. It just won’t win drag races.

but if you’re shopping in the FR-S/BR-Z segment, the base Camaro would be a good competitor that has a back seat you might have a chance of putting someone in 

On 12/21/2023 at 4:06 PM, trinacriabob said:

I remember that from auto shows. It was easier to get into and out of the Corvettes on the exhibition floors.

Since I couldn't see out the C pillar too well, I never pushed getting to know the car, such as renting one. If they had put me in one as a free upgrade, I would have taken it.

When they first released the last generation Camaro, it looked too scrunchy to me.  As with the Charger's evolution, they did do make some nice modifications to the front and back fascias that definitely improved it.

I couldn't see owning a convertible, but if I had to drive a Camaro, I'd probably opt for it over the hardtop that felt too confining.

I thought that this last gen started with a 6 cyl. and had several V8 options.  Was there ever a 4 cyl. in this last gen ... or was that in a previous generation such as the "Iron Duke" days?

Yeah, they ran the 2.0T for a few years, 2017 - 2022, it had 275hp instead of the 335 of the V6

3 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

I think it is more like 10 years.  BYD will probably be the largest car company in the world by 2030, I'd be worried about them if I were any legacy OEM that operated in Asia.

Not in the US they won't when the average new car is older than 10 years.  Vehicles simply don't cycle through that quickly and most people are slow to trust a new brand. 

BYD's current total of dealers in the US:  0

13 hours ago, smk4565 said:

A 9 month or even a year delay isn't a problem if they can get the cost of their EV's down.  That is the real issue that a Blazer EV is like $60,000, the Equinox EV is launching over $50k.  They need to suck cost and weight out of Ultium.

And Hyundai isn't the threat, BYD and the Chinese are, because they already have cheap EV's in China, they are entering Europe now and they'll be in the USA by 2030.  And for the "people won't buy a Chinese car" argument, they said that about Japanese and Korean cars too, and they will buy a Chinese EV when you can get a 7-seat SUV with a 350 mile range for $40k like the BYD Tang delivers now, and the BYD has a better interior than the Blazer.  

Not that Chevy-level materials are fantastic, but they're a complete league better than what BYD is doing.

I've noticing a lot of this recently where the press pictures look great, but when you sit in the car, it looks and feels cheap even if there's lots of gee-wiz lights and pageantry to distract you.  The Ioniq 6 is worse in person than its pictures (particularly the center console), the EQ-Benzes don't live up to anywhere close to their brand name,  Tesla is abysmal,  the Cadillac Lyriq is meh in person but their pictures aren't great either, Escalade EQ meets expectations. Toyota interior materials are a letdown across the board.  Jaguar/Land Rover have mid-range VW interiors unless you're spending money for Autobiography models. Genesis, Telluride/Palisade, and most Buicks are better than you might expect. 

As for your argument that people will buy Chinese cars because they bought Japanese and Korean cars... I think you are correct on this, but it will be 25 years before they're where the Koreans are today.

Getting in and out of the Camaro was an issue, and I’m fairly limber. But once inside, it fit me so perfectly. It was one of the best ergonomic cars I’ve ever driven. The balance of the platform is fantastic and even in V6 form is more than enough to get you in trouble. 
 

great car and sad to see it go

Cadillac showed the first images of the coming 2026 Cadillac Vistiq EV today. This vehicle slots above the Lyriq and below the Escalade IQ in Cadillac's EV lineup, effectively taking the ICE-powered Cadillac XT6's spot on the electric side of the lineup. Though they did not provide any technical details, we can assume it will ride on the Ultium platform and come in single-motor rear-wheel and dual-motor front-wheel drive configurations with 340+ horsepower to 500+ horsepower, respectively.  GM's modular Ultium battery packs will likely be configured for between 300 miles to 320 miles of range.

The Vistiq joins the smaller Optiq to fill out the small, medium, large, extra-large EV-SUV lineup at Cadillac.

Click to enlarge

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