Chinese EVs North of the Border
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Car
Volkswagen Rabbit
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that's easy to drive and great for city life. It's known for being fun to drive and has been around for a long time, leading to the newer Volkswagen Golf.
Car
Land Rover Defender
The Land Rover Defender is a tough SUV that can handle rough roads and off-road conditions. It's known for its strong build and unique shape.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how strong an engine is. More horsepower usually means the car can go faster or do more work.
Term
4.4 liter twin turbo V8
A 4.4 liter twin turbo V8 is a powerful engine with eight cylinders that helps the car go fast. The 'twin turbo' part means it has two devices that boost the engine's power.
Term
MSRP
MSRP is the price that car manufacturers suggest you should pay for a new car. It's like a suggested price tag, but you might be able to negotiate for a better deal.
Term
SUV
An SUV is a larger vehicle that can carry more people and stuff. It's often good for driving on rough roads or in bad weather because it's higher off the ground.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is a car brand that makes fancy and expensive cars. They are known for being stylish and comfortable, but some people think they can be fragile inside.
Term
Apple CarPlay
Apple CarPlay lets you use your iPhone in the car, so you can listen to music, get directions, and use apps on the car's screen instead of your phone.
Term
Android Auto
Android Auto lets you connect your Android phone to your car, so you can use apps and get directions on the car's screen.
Term
paddle shifters
Paddle shifters are buttons or levers on the steering wheel that let you change gears without using a clutch. They make driving more fun and give you more control over the car's speed.
Car
Land Rover Defender 110
The Land Rover Defender 110 is a tough SUV that can handle off-road driving. It's bigger than the standard Defender, which means it has more space inside for passengers and gear.
Car
Land Rover Range Rover
The Range Rover is a fancy SUV made by Land Rover. It's great for both off-roading and driving in comfort, with lots of luxury features.
Car
Jeep Wrangler
Car
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is another SUV that is built for off-roading. It’s known for being tough and is good for outdoor adventures.
Car
Land Rover Trophy Edition
The Land Rover Trophy Edition is a special version of Land Rover cars that celebrates off-road adventures. It is named after events where people took Land Rovers on tough journeys in the past.
Car
Land Rover Discovery
The Land Rover Discovery is a family-friendly SUV that can handle rough terrain. It's known for being comfortable and packed with features.
Car
Kia K4
The Kia K4 is a small hatchback car that's designed to be practical and stylish. It's part of Kia's range of cars that are meant to be affordable and useful for everyday driving.
Car
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that drives like a sports car. It's important because it helped Porsche sell more cars by attracting people who want a stylish and powerful vehicle that can also carry passengers and cargo.
Term
zero to sixty
Zero to sixty is how fast a car can go from a stop to 60 miles per hour. It's a way to measure how quickly a car can speed up.
Term
torque
Torque is how strong an engine is when it tries to turn the wheels. More torque means better acceleration and the ability to pull heavier loads.
Term
frunk
A frunk is a trunk at the front of a car instead of the back. It's useful for storing things like bags or groceries, especially in electric cars that don't have engines taking up space in the front.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Mustang Mach-E is an electric SUV made by Ford. It has a lot of space inside and comes with modern technology, making it a popular choice for people looking for electric cars.
Term
frozen blue metallic
'Frozen blue metallic' is a special paint color for cars that looks matte instead of shiny. It gives the car a unique appearance that stands out.
Car
Porsche Macan
The Porsche Macan is a fancy small SUV that drives really well, like a sports car. It's important because it offers luxury and style while still being practical for daily use.
Term
radar sensor
A radar sensor is a part of the car that helps it 'see' what's around it by using radio waves. This helps the car know if there are other cars or obstacles nearby, making driving safer.
Part
Pirelli Scorpion winter two tires
These are special tires made by Pirelli that help cars drive better in winter weather, especially on snow and ice. They provide more grip than regular tires in cold conditions.
Term
winter wheel and tire package
This is a set of wheels and tires made for driving in winter. They help the car grip the road better when it's snowy or icy.
Part
21 inch Macon design wheels
The 21 inch Macon design wheels are a type of wheel made for some Porsche cars. They are larger and designed to look good while helping the car perform better.
Term
legends colors
'Legends colors' are special paint options for cars that are inspired by famous colors from the brand's past. They usually cost more because they are unique and have a special meaning.
Term
paint to sample
'Paint to sample' means you can pick any color you want for your car, even if it's not a standard color. You just show them a sample, and they'll paint your car that color.
Term
front fascia
The front fascia is the front part of a car that includes the bumper and grille. It's what you see when looking at the front of the vehicle.
Term
skid plate
A skid plate is a strong piece of metal that protects the bottom of a car from getting damaged when driving over rocks or rough ground.
Car
Audi E-tron GT
The Audi E-tron GT is a fancy electric car that looks great and drives really fast. It's designed for people who want a mix of style and performance.
Concept
multi energy platform
A multi energy platform is a type of car design that can use different kinds of engines, like electric or gasoline. It helps car makers build different models more easily.
Car
Kia EV6
The Kia EV6 is a new electric car that looks cool and can drive a long way on a single charge. It's important because it's part of the shift towards cars that are better for the environment.
Car
Ford Shelby Gt 500
Car
Ford Gt Model
The Ford Model T is one of the first cars that many people could actually afford. It's important because it changed how cars were made and helped everyone start driving.
Car
Ford Mustang GTD
The Ford Mustang GTD is a super-fast version of the classic Mustang sports car. It's special because it has a lot of advanced features and a really powerful engine, making it one of the best Mustangs ever.
Car
Audi S5
The Audi S5 is a sporty car that's part of the Audi lineup and is known for being fast and stylish. It's a popular choice for people who want a luxury car that also feels fun to drive.
Car
Ford Maverick
Car
Ford Lobo
The Ford Lobo is a big truck that's very similar to the Ford F-150, but it's mainly sold in Mexico. It's known for being tough and useful for carrying things or towing trailers.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast sports car that many people love for its cool looks and powerful engine. The ZR1 version is especially known for being super quick and fun to drive.
Car
Lucid Air
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that can go really far without needing to be charged often. It's important because it shows how electric cars can be luxurious and powerful at the same time.
Car
Subaru BRZ
The Subaru BRZ is a small sports car that's really fun to drive because it's light and handles well. It's popular among people who love driving and want a car that feels sporty without breaking the bank.
Car
Acura Rdx
The Acura RDX is a small luxury SUV that's known for being comfortable and having lots of tech features. It's popular among people who want a nice car that feels premium without being too big.
Car
Honda Crv
The Honda CR-V is a popular small SUV that's known for being reliable and having a lot of space inside for people and stuff. It's a good choice for families because it's easy to drive and gets good gas mileage.
Car
Honda Odyssey
The Honda Odyssey is a big family van that has lots of room for kids and their stuff. It's popular because it's easy to drive and has features that make traveling with a family more comfortable.
Car
Dodge Hornet
The Dodge Hornet is a small SUV that's designed to be fun to drive and useful for everyday life. It's part of Dodge's plan to offer more options for people looking for a stylish and practical vehicle.
Car
Hudson Hornet
Car
Chrysler Pacifica
The Chrysler Pacifica is a family van that has a lot of space and cool features to make traveling easier. It's special because it also comes in a version that uses less gas, which is good for the environment.
Car
Ram 1500
The Ram 1500 is a big truck that's great for carrying heavy loads and towing things. It's also known for being comfortable to drive, making it a popular choice for people who need a truck for work or play.
Car
Jeep Cherokee
Car
Jeep Compass
The Jeep Compass is a small SUV that can handle rough roads like a Jeep but is also good for everyday driving. It's a popular choice for people who want a stylish car that can go on adventures.
Car
Jeep Gladiator
The Jeep Gladiator is a truck that can go off-road like a Jeep but also has a truck bed for carrying stuff. It's special because it offers the best of both worlds for people who like outdoor adventures and need a truck.
Car
Jeep Recon
The Jeep Recon is a new electric Jeep that will be able to go off-road like other Jeeps. It's exciting because it shows that even tough vehicles can be made to be better for the environment.
LIVE
If you're a podcast host, listen up this once for you.
My name is Allie Jackson.
I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height,
a dating and relationship podcast
that I've been doing for four years now,
sharing my positive and practical approach to dating
that's built on my own life experience.
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That's redcircle.com for a free trial.
This is episode...
What episode is it?
436.
436.
436 of wheel bearings.
I am Sam of Wool Salmon from Telemetry.
And I am Nicole Wakelin from Top Speed.
And I am Roberto Baldwin from SAE International
and the SAE Automotive Podcast.
Give it a listen.
Outstanding. Is it really you?
Are you there?
Do we have you?
Your audio's here.
We're gonna have you the whole time this week.
I mean, I think so.
Well, I'm also recording locally.
So even if things go horribly wrong
within the system we use,
I still have my audio that I can send to Sam
when things go horribly wrong.
Also, it's probably my fault
because I have about 15 to 20 Chrome windows,
not just tabs.
Within those tabs, there's like billions of little tabs
that also windows open.
Because I'm one of those people who like,
I can't, I will have tabs open for articles
I've written like two weeks ago
because I have so many tabs open
and I haven't gone through and like,
oh wait, this is,
I don't need any of this information anymore.
This article's done.
You're just like me.
I have tabs that have been open for months and months.
I'm the reverse.
Everything, all the tabs are closed unless I need it.
It's not there.
I throw away as soon as I don't,
I have the cleanest, tidiest little desktop and everything.
See, not, I bet your physical desk
is also very clean and tidy.
You don't know me?
Yes, it is.
It's very, very tidy.
When Russ uses it, I get all distraught
because I'm like, I'm sorry,
you move my notepad a half an inch to the right,
dude, put it back where you found it.
Mine is chaos.
There's like note book,
there's all, tons and tons of notebooks
with articles that I'm working on.
There's a keyboard.
There's a MIDI keyboard.
There's an audio recorder,
like a high-end audio recorder.
There's a card for my wife that she made for me.
There's a little, there's an owl.
There's a four track tape recorder,
like cassette tape.
I haven't used this thing in like 20-something years.
It's sitting on my desk.
Oh my gosh.
It's just, it's just chaos.
None of that clutter on my desk.
I have my desk.
Go pros.
I have exactly one piece of clutter I have
that doesn't belong on my desk.
I have an Oswald stuffed animal that my daughter gave me
and he sits there and keeps me.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, that's it.
That's a what, Gen 4 iPod?
I got a 40 gigabyte.
What are you gonna do with that?
Do you ever use that, Ronald?
Yeah, I have the charger for it and everything
and I'll plug it in, I'll listen to it.
Cause you listen to music without a thousand,
like it's like a time machine of what I was listening to
when this iPod was out.
I got my, I have a couple of iPods in a drawer
in my office as well.
I got my 7-Eleven watch.
Where the heck did you get a 7-Eleven?
Did you actually buy that at 7-Eleven?
No, you have to order it.
7-Eleven has a whole like,
because they realized that people love 7-Eleven,
especially in Asia.
So they created a whole line of 7-Eleven stuff.
They have watches and clothes.
It's actually really cool stuff.
It's really cool.
But for those, since those of you,
you can't see the video, the 7-Eleven watch,
the only two numbers on the watch are 7 and 11.
And 11.
Well, the other ones are really, really faint.
But it has like, they are.
I can even see them in the picture.
I believe you.
And it glows, and when it glows,
you see the 7 in the background.
Ooh.
Ooh.
I don't know why.
I can't see.
This is a visual gag for an audio podcast.
I apologize, everyone.
All right.
Well, and I want to sincerely apologize
for last week's show when Robbie's audio
for reasons that are remain unknown,
Riverside just stopped recording his audio.
It was transmitting it to us.
We could hear him the entire time
as we were having the conversation.
And you guys could tell from the emails I got.
You know, trying to pick up what we were talking about.
Oh my gosh, we're so sorry.
Responding to Robbie.
Again, I'm 100% sure it was my fault.
And right now, Riverside's only uploaded 1%.
I don't know what's going on.
I've updated Chrome.
Well, but we have recordings now.
So, if Riverside fails us, we have backups for all of us now.
This is never going to happen again.
It seems like everybody record on.
Famous last words.
Yeah, right, famous last words.
Hopefully, never going to happen again.
All right, Nicole, what are you driving?
I am driving, and it's the perfect week
to have a vehicle like this.
I have the Land River Defender Octa,
which feels like I feel like think of Doc Ock
every time I see this, I feel like it should be his car.
I'm like, you call it Octa?
It belongs to Doc Ock.
So, this is, it's crazy, stupid, powerful,
more powerful than a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8, 626 horsepower.
That's not very powerful.
Well, but I mean, it's a big,
it's more power than you need in this thing.
553 pounds.
Wait till we get to some of the stuff
we have later in this rundown.
I know.
So, it's got some oomph.
So, the Octa is also really expensive.
Let's start right off there.
Price is $158,300.
Oh, I felt that in my gut.
I know, you felt that, right?
Like, bam.
Well, what do you guys think the destination is?
$1,200.
$1,100.
Sam wins, but he's way low.
It's $1,850.
Oh, we thought it'd be high.
This is unusual for premium brands,
because premium brands usually don't hide
their price increases in the destination charge.
They just put it right up front,
and here's how much you're going to pay us.
And the funny part of that is, too,
this is $158,300.
Just make it like $1,000 more.
Nobody's spending money at that level,
cares about an extra $1,000 in the sticker.
You know what I mean?
So, this is great, big, fancy, expensive SUV.
We have had snow.
We've had so much snow here.
The snow keeps coming, and they keep saying
it's going to be a dusting of snow.
And last night, our dusting of snow
was enough that my husband was snow-blowing this morning.
There's probably three inches of snow,
and the rain that we're getting today
is going to be half a foot.
So, I have the perfect vehicle to have
when the roads are absolute garbage, which is what they are.
They're just covered in ice and snow and a mess.
You use your little drive mode thing.
You pick the one that has a little snowflake on it.
It just drove like a champ.
It's got plenty of power.
It's really comfortable.
It's a high step in.
So, the downside is if you just step up.
Like, if you have someone like kids,
you have a parent or somebody who has mobility issues.
It's a little tough to step up into.
Once you're in it, though, it's gorgeous.
It's beautiful. It's super comfy.
It has that cool mix of being a luxury car
with all these leather trims and everything,
and beautiful styling, but also being rugged.
It doesn't look like I always think I love Mercedes,
but they look very delicate to me inside.
Like, I'd be afraid to have a kid inside of a Mercedes
because everything is so pretty and fancy and delicate.
This is not a delicate car.
It's like, oh, I got a grr, arg.
And the color on this, what is it called?
Petra Copper.
Oh, God, the color is so cool.
It just looks so neat from the outside.
It's a metallic, but it somehow is sort of a matte kind of a,
like, it's really cool.
I love how this car looks.
You get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
You get a charging pad.
You get USB-C charging ports.
You can tow up to 8,200 pounds in there.
It's got great cargo room.
There's 34 cubic feet behind the second row
and 78.8 if you flip the second row down.
I love driving this.
It was super fun and it's very easy and very intuitive.
Oh, and this is really cool.
So on the steering wheel, the little paddle shifters,
the little up and down, they're sort of like clear plastic
with a plus and a minus on them.
At night, they glow.
So the little plus and the minus glow.
It's like the first time I sat in it, I'm like,
oh, that's kind of cool.
It's just completely unnecessary,
but a nice little touch.
Again, you spend $158,300 in a car.
You want it to look kind of nifty
and that makes it look kind of nifty.
I really enjoyed driving this.
I was happy that I got to drive it in the snow
because it proved so stable and handled so well
because the upside to having a heavy, big, great,
big, heavy SUV is that it gets through stuff,
but the downside is when it gets icy,
it's also, it's a lot of weight.
So if you have a lot of momentum,
you're gonna go and go and go.
Yeah, exactly.
So if it doesn't handle the roads well,
it's in some ways worse than driving something smaller,
but this actually was great.
It had no problem handling the snow.
It stayed very composed, didn't get stuck in it.
We'll see how I do in the next six inches of snow.
It looks like snow out there.
It looks scary.
So I thoroughly enjoyed driving this.
I've always been sort of a Land Rover fan.
I love this vehicle.
If I had $158,300, I don't,
but if I had $158,300, this would be on my list.
Even though, Land Rover doesn't have
the most fantabulous reputation
for not needing to be in the shop,
but as we all know, that doesn't matter to me.
They don't typically leave you
with a dead 12-volt battery repeatedly.
They do not.
So, you know, there's that.
It's usually something more expensive.
It's right. It's gonna be like,
this is $5,000 to fix this thing.
But so I really do like it.
And I, you know, this is the biggest burliest
of the defenders.
I think they're, if you go down the line
in the Defender 110, you can start at 63.5.
So I think that's sort of important to note.
Like the Octa's the fanciest.
It's very fancy.
It's very upscale.
It's got all the stuff.
If you want that, and it makes a heck of an impression
as you're driving, but if you want a Defender,
you can get it all the way down to 63.5.
So there's some room in there, depending on what you want.
So it's not like you can't afford a Defender
because they're all over six figures.
You can get one for under six figures.
You don't get some of the bling that you get on this,
but you're still gonna get a fabulous car.
You can still say you're driving a Land Rover,
Range Rover, Defender, like it's the longest title.
Yeah, so overall, I really liked it.
And I'm super psyched that I got this during a snowy week
because I normally get things like this.
And it's like, oh, it's the January thaw.
You don't eat it.
The next week I get a compact hatchback
and we get a nor'easter.
So I'm glad the timing worked out this time
to actually give it a go.
Well, the Defender X that I had in December
when I was out on the West Coast,
you know, that one, you know, that was 96,000,
which still is not cheap, but you know,
that was with the, I think, supercharged V6.
And that was also, you know, really nice.
I liked that one a lot, you know.
So, and I think even if you go with one of the, you know,
like the Defender S, you know, or even, you know,
the X Dynamic SE, you know, which is 75,
that's, you know, for a premium,
really off-road capable SUV.
You know, so I think, you know, Wrangler Bronco,
but, you know, with a lot more luxury than you get in those.
And if you put the right tires on it, you know,
you can basically do pretty much anything
you can do with those vehicles.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, it's, I've, you know,
I've long been a fan of the Defender.
This makes me more of a fan and wish me,
makes me wish I had 158,300 dollars to spend on one
because it's super fun.
Yeah.
But it's a versatile car.
It's, it's, I, you know, I think it's something worth looking at.
I wouldn't, you know, I just think it's important to think,
to realize that you have a range on this, you know.
It's, it's definitely a vehicle that you've got cheap ones
and you've got stupidly expensive ones.
So she's like, I can't afford one of those, we can.
I mean, you need to have some kind of budget at 63,
but maybe not as out of reach as you think it is.
Well, actually, I think probably the one I,
I might go for if I was buying a Defender
would be the Trophy Edition.
Oh, that's cool.
Sand glow yellow.
How much is the, how much is the Trophy Edition?
That's 87.4.
87.
Okay. So still.
So it's almost half of what the Octa costs.
Right. You could buy two of those.
Yeah. You know, but if, you know, if you,
if you remember the, the Land Rover Trophy
thing that they did back in the 1980s and 90s, you know,
those, you know, they had this yellow, you know,
they were all painted in this yellow finish.
And they, they did these annual adventures, you know,
they got, you know, serious off-road people
and went to all kinds of crazy places
for the Land Rover Trophy.
And so, you know, they've now got the Trophy Edition,
you know, which is basically that concept, you know,
in those days they were doing it not with Defenders,
but with the first generation discoveries.
And so, and actually, I think originally with,
even with Range Rovers, the first years were with Range Rovers
before they got, you know, crazy luxury
and then went to discoveries.
And they have the Defender Trophy Edition,
which is inspired by those Land Rover Trophy vehicles
from the, the 80s and 90s.
Yep. So there we go.
All right.
Cool. Well, it's a, definitely sounds like a good time
to have, have a Land Rover this week.
Yes. It's the perfect, it's a perfect week.
Yeah. I saw in my newsfeed this morning for some,
I don't know why it brought up a weather story about Boston,
but you know, I guess they're expecting like nine inches
in Boston today.
I'm a little nervous because when they say it's like,
this one, they said it was a dusting,
we were probably about three inches of snow.
This other one like, well, it's, it's not going to be anything.
Oh, you guys, it's probably going to be an inch to,
oh, you know what, you might get four,
oh, we're at a half a foot.
So I feel like every time I walk away and I look again,
the forecast goes up, which either means we're going to get
nothing or we're going to get absolutely clobbered.
So I don't know, we'll see what it is tomorrow.
Well, this week, you know, on Wednesday,
you were here in Detroit, Nicole.
My Lord. For the Detroit Auto Show.
I was.
And there wasn't really any snow in the forecast for that day.
And by the time we left Huntington Place,
there was several inches of snow on the ground.
I mean, it came in, you know, it was overcast,
but it wasn't, it wasn't looking like it was going to be a snowstorm.
It was, I was actually flying back after that out of Detroit,
back to LA to drive the Kia K4 hatchback.
And my flight got, I changed flight.
So I still get out the same night because my original flight coming
in was diverted to Columbus, Ohio, which is chilling in Columbus.
I'm like, that's concerning.
So I switched to another flight.
My original flight, they quote,
delayed it to the following morning at 9 a.m.
That's when it took off.
That's that's when it got from Columbus to Detroit.
When it got, I guess, from finally got from Columbus to Detroit
and then took everybody who remained on that flight, poor people to LA the next morning.
So I was very glad that I that I decided to change flights.
Otherwise, I would have missed the the Kia drive altogether.
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Well, well, the the vehicle that I had that I drove to the auto show
into some several other events this past week was the Porsche McCann Electric 4S.
So it's the first time I've had a portion in my driveway in many, many years.
And I really enjoyed it.
So the the McCann is is Porsche's entry level SUV.
This fits in down below the below the the Cayenne.
And it's relatively compact, not too small, but more more on the compact size.
And the, you know, as as is the, you know, typical of Porsche,
they have, you know, about sixty three thousand variations of it,
including five, five different electric variants from the base
McCann Electric that starts at eighty thousand three hundred dollars.
The McCann four and that's a rear wheel drive version.
Then they've got the McCann four electric than the four S the GTS and the turbo.
And those go from three hundred and fifty five horsepower with that
rear drive single motor version up to six hundred and thirty horsepower with the turbo.
The four S is in the middle of the range.
So with the over boost power with launch control,
you have about five hundred and nine horsepower,
which for a vehicle this size is more than horsepower.
Yeah, it'll do it'll do zero to sixty and under four seconds, which is which is quite good.
The the base power set up, you know, that you get all the time is four hundred and forty two horsepower.
And like I said, there's the over boost mode that will briefly pump it up to five hundred
and nine horsepower and six hundred and four foot pounds of torque when you use the over boost.
So that's that's a lot.
It's it's a very quick vehicle.
I like the size, you know, it's like I say, it's fairly compact,
but it will still hold four adults reasonably comfortably.
The back seat isn't huge, but you know, I could sit behind myself, you know, five, ten, five, eleven.
And I can sit behind myself.
It's got about nineteen cubic feet of cargo space in the back, which again,
not the hugest for a vehicle of this type.
But it also has, even with the dual motor all wheel drive version,
it still has a two and a half foot, two and a half cubic foot frunk as well.
That is you can you can use the but you don't have to go inside the vehicle like you do on, say, a Mustang Mach-E.
To pop the front, you can do it from the key fob.
And it's a it's a power lid on there.
And so that's big enough to hold, you know, a couple of decent sized duffel bags, a couple of backpacks.
You can put your charging cables in there and assorted other stuff.
You know, a couple of bags of groceries will fit in there.
So it's you know, you get some decent sized storage up front.
And one of the events that I went to, they had Valley Parking there.
And so instead of leaving my backpack inside the vehicle, I just, you know, I put it in the frunk.
So it was out of sight and out of mind.
The the one that I had was finished in the frozen blue metallic, which is kind of a pale
little bit maybe a little bit lighter than a typical Robin's egg blue, but you know, kind of a more pale blue color,
which when it was clean, which was not for very long, it was for like the first day or two that I had it.
And that's, you know, as soon as it as soon as it arrived, I took it out and got it photographed before the weather turned nasty.
And we were in one of our brief warm spells that we've had this month here in here in Michigan when when I got it.
And so the, you know, when I photographed it, there was no snow on the ground.
And then within a couple of days, we started getting some snow.
And then on Wednesday for the auto show, it was a heavy snow day.
And so the Macan, you know, was equipped with the usual array of driver assist features.
And as I was driving from Detroit back to Ypsilanti, within about 10 miles or so, I got
the alert coming up on the cluster screen, you know, assist features unavailable, please clean your sensors.
And it wasn't the camera behind the windshield that was the problem.
It was all the stuff in the front.
And when I got home and got out, you could just there was this like caked probably almost half inch thick layer of ice
across the the radar sensor and the other sensors in the front in the front fascia
and the you know, covering the headlamps and everything.
So fortunately, it was still daylight hours when I was driving it, because otherwise I would have had basically no light from the from the lights.
No problem. No big deal. It's OK.
Yeah. Fortunately, they did deliver the car on a set of snow tires.
It was on Pirelli Scorpion winter two tires.
They have several available when you when you go to configure a Macon, they have wheels and wheel and tire combinations ranging from
including 20, 21 and 22 inches in diameter.
This Macon had twenty ones on it.
So the midsize and you can actually when you order the car, you can order it with a winter wheel and tire package.
So you can actually get the same wheels, you know, so you can you can get two sets of the same wheels.
And, you know, if you are someone that switches out tires a couple times a year, it's handy to have an extra set of wheels.
So the the winter wheel and tire package were to go here.
Let's see the 21 inch set with the same wheels.
These are the 21 inch Macon design wheels.
So a set of four wheels and four winter tires.
Seven thousand twenty two dollars.
Oh, yeah, that's Porsche money, though.
Exactly. Yes, you will.
When you buy a Porsche, you will you will pay.
And it's funny, you know, for this is one of the rare instances where I did not get a
car with the car, but going through and going through the configurator and building it up.
You know, so they've got lots of colors available on this.
You know, so there's the basic white and black that you can get for free.
And then everything else costs extra.
The frozen blue metallic is thirteen hundred dollars.
They've got the legends colors, which includes the oak green metallic neo, which looks fabulous for twenty six hundred dollars.
And then they have paint to sample.
So you can bring a sample of literally anything to your dealer.
And they will match the color and paint the car to that exact same color.
That is a thirteen thousand eight hundred and seventy dollar option.
Wow. Yeah.
I mean, you have to make the paint and the paint is only going to be used once and blah, blah, blah.
So yeah, you know, you're talking, you know, maybe three or four gallons of paint.
You know, when you go to Lowe's and you take a color sample, you know, they'll do the color matching.
It's, you know, they don't charge you anything extra to do the color match.
But fourteen thousand dollars.
But, you know, again, it's not so much because they have to make the paint, but because they have, you know, it's they're basically going to be hand painting this thing.
They're going to hand paint the body shell rather than going through the regular paint process at the factory.
Let's see. What other crazy option prices we got here?
Oh, yeah, you can also get your wheels painted in various colors.
There's there's front fascia accessories.
So you can you can get there's an off road design package for the front fascia.
And keep in mind, this is not an off road vehicle.
This is very much a street SUV.
But you can get an off road, you know, the exclusive manufacturer off road design package, which gives you a lower bumper area.
That's kind of ridges.
It looks kind of like a skid plate, but it's very much not a skid plate.
So do not take this off road.
Do not get confused.
That's sixteen hundred bucks.
Do not get confused about this.
There's the sport design fascia package, which is forty three hundred dollars and it goes on and on.
If there, you know, if there is one thing that Porsche has become, you know, absolute experts in,
it's figuring out how to separate customers from their money.
As much money as you are willing to spend,
Porsche will happily sell you something to take that money from your from your bank account.
They will.
Let's see what else.
So the the Macan is built on the new PPE platform, which is the performance platform
electric. So this is after they did the the Tycon.
That was a platform called J1, which was used for the Tycon and for the Audi E-tron GT.
And then Audi and Porsche collaborated on a next generation platform,
which they used for for this for the Macan.
It's going on the new Cayenne.
It's being used by Audi for the Q6 E-tron, the new A6 and a bunch of others.
And it's a multi energy platform, but the electric version of it, it's an 800 volt architecture.
It has the capability of charging close to 300 kilowatts.
When when I did take it to the Electrify America Station,
I was when I stopped there on my way back from driving back from Detroit.
They I when you there's no in the in the settings, there is nowhere to manually
enable battery preconditioning.
Like as you do look, for example, on our EV6, you can go into the settings and you can turn on preconditioning manually.
There's nowhere to do that manually, but it does it automatically.
So if you use the built in navigation and you select a DC fast charger as your destination,
it will automatically do the preconditioning based on how far away you are from from the thing.
And in the cluster, it actually shows you the battery temperature.
Oh, mine just has a little thing to put over the battery.
It looks like a little coil. Yeah, it doesn't show you a coil.
It just shows you a battery icon and shows you the battery temperature.
So by the time I got to the to the charging station, it was around
even though it was about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, 15 or 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the battery was at about
70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is you know, getting into its optimal range.
I plugged it in
at at about
15% state of charge and it jumped up and started charging at about 250 255 kilowatts, which is pretty good
especially, you know, at that temperature
and charged it up to about 50%
and then had to run over to discount tire to pick up the
new tire for my wife's car because the day before she picked up something and got a puncture and of course
instead of being right in the middle of the tread where they could just plug in it for $5 sidewall, it was it was well
it was on the shoulder and
So not repairable. So that was a couple hundred bucks for me
But I don't think I've had I think I've had one puncture in a tire that was a repairable and the last like eight punctures
It's just like always right in the sidewall. I'm like son of a
Yeah
But the cargo area of the Macan is big enough to hold the 19 inch wheel and tire combination from a key EV6
So, you know, again nice good size cargo area
and
You know the before we started getting the snow I took it out on Saturday morning last week took it out for a nice
long drive
Out near out near pink knee, you know on some nice curving roads and even on the the winter tires
It was a lot of fun to drive
this this was great and
it the the one I had had the
Variable it's got airspring. I think it's airspring suspension, but it's variable height suspension system
So highway speeds it drops down a little bit when you put it in it has an off-road mode
But like I said, this is not an off-road vehicle
You know in this off-road basically means that it's an unpaved dirt road is about the limits of what this can do
But when you put it in off-road mode, it lifts up a couple inches
And it was it was fantastic. I really enjoyed driving this car
The again the temperatures during most of the time I had it were quite cold
So I was using the heat using the heated seats using the heat using the window defrosters
and everything
There is no
There's no standard rear wiper on the Macan you there is it is available as an option
But also kind of how much is that?
To be honest, I'm not sure I don't I didn't see it in here. It's probably here somewhere
But it's you know, it's a Porsche, so it's not gonna be cheap
Oh, here we go rear wiper trim in high glow. No, that's the trim
See where's the wiper itself?
Oh rear wiper. Oh, it's only three hundred and ninety dollars. Oh, it's shocking. Okay. So seems less
Yeah
So, you know, if you if you live somewhere that gets winter weather
I would strongly recommend that you spring for the 400 bucks for the white rear wiper
Because otherwise, you know, they
When you get, you know, a lot of snow coming down the airflow across the rear window not gonna cut it
It's not gonna keep that window clear
You know the the the default the defroster, you know, it'll it'll heat it and you'll have stripes of ice
It'll be sagging across your rear window, but it's you're you're still gonna have obscured visibility
So definitely get the rear wiper
So all in as configured
So I'm gonna give you two prices
There's as configured it would
Without the wheel winter wheel entire package 103,540 dollars
and
With the with the the same wheel and tire winter wheel and tire package, so if you order this extra
It that jumps to a hundred and ten thousand five hundred and sixty-two dollars
We said base price of the McCann electric is just over eighty thousand
so you're looking at
an extra almost thirty thousand dollars for the one that I had and
See where oh delivery
Take a guess at delivery charges
$900
1295
Nicole gets it, but she was not close
$2,350
Yeah, so the four the four s starts at eighty nine nine
11,290 dollars worth of options plus another seven thousand dollars for the winter wheel and tire package and
22,350 for the delivery processing and handling fee that's so much money
It is but you know, hey, it's a Porsche
Here's the thing when you get into a Porsche and you drive it for like a block you realize
Oh, that's where all the money went. Yeah, it really does totally solid
It always feels like oh, yeah, okay. I understand
It's definitely not a car that you get it and you think like I don't get it. Why is this so much money?
You're like, oh, this is why this is so much money
Yeah, I mean beautiful materials, you know, really solidly put together
You know, it's got manual vents
So you don't have to go into the touchscreen to adjust the vents where the air is flowing. Look at that
heated front rear seats
the only
Slight downside really on the center console where it's got some some touch controls for a few things
the
There there's like it's like one panel if you're old enough to remember the Blackberry storm
Smartphone Blackberry's first attempt at a touchscreen phone
It
They they wanted to give it the clickiness of a keyboard. So the the panel actually pivots a little bit
So when you press the the touch buttons
It clicks and you can you can feel it
Pip don't feel that whole panel pivot a little bit
Which is a little off-putting, but it's you know, it's not a big deal and the other thing that's
Not not so much a functional problem, but a little odd
It's just the position of the shift selector for the transmission
So it's it's on the dashboard to the right of the
instrument cluster
And it's kind of hidden behind the steering wheel and so there's just a little lever there
That's it instead of being a stock on the steering column
It's actually mounted on the dashboard. So you push it down for drive up for reverse and then there's a button for park
and
It took me a couple days to get you to remember get used to that's where it was
And once I got used to that it was fine
There's all of course, you know different drive modes. There's sport sport plus
the comfort mode which is what I
Ended up leaving it in most of the time once the weather got worse
But I did use one on my Saturday morning drive
I did use the sport support plus mode which gives you some more a little more noise and stuff like that
But overall really nice car to drive
cool
So that is the Porsche Macan 4s electric
Or electric 4s or I don't know whatever whatever whatever order of operations. They want you to use
Macan 4s has electric motors. That's what it is. You know what you're getting when you get when you leave. Yeah
All right, so
The
Let's start off with some stuff some news that came out ahead of the auto show
Ford you know as as has become their tradition
Does not show their stuff off at the auto show itself
They they do separate events before the show
And so
Excuse me Monday morning
In Dearborn at their new product development center in world headquarters
First time I've been in the building looks really nice
They showed us a couple of new models that are coming out
Starting with the Ford Mustang dark horse SC
So
this this is
This is effectively a replacement for the old Shelby GT 500
so
You know for this current generation for the s650 Mustangs Ford has
Ended their licensing relationship with Shelby American
So they're no longer paying a Shelby for every one of these cars that they sell paying them a license fee
And you know, that's why they brought out the dark horse branding
For the previous, you know above the GT model and now they have the dark horse SC
Which is as the supercharged 5.2 liter v8
That Ford was very
Ford basically wouldn't give us any specs on this car
Other than here's the displacement. You know here they told us some of the features it has but no no
Specific details on performance
But for reference the previous generation GT 500 that ended production like two years ago now
That one had
760 horsepower from its 5.2 liter supercharged v8
the current Mustang GTD which costs
$400,000 has
815 horsepower
So this one
Likely going to be somewhere in between those two probably closer to 800
But somewhere in that range because it's almost
Let's put it this way. If I was a GTD buyer
I would be really really angry at Ford if this had more than 815 horsepower
If it had an 800 horsepower
I mean also if you're buying the GTD, I don't know what you're doing with your money to be honest
You're having fun with it. You're just loving in love life
If you got $400,000 to spend on a Mustang
Yeah, whatever if it's like you bought a burger and then you like oh
I would like bacon on that burger and the burger itself costs 10 bucks, but the bacon costs $400
That's what the GTD is
To me fair the GTD is barely a Mustang. So the GTD is shaped like a Mustang. It's $400 bacon
Okay, okay
the
They you know, there's the base dark horse sc
Which again, we have no pricing information. This is going to go on sale
Um, you know start taking orders in the spring start deliveries in the summer
But the the current dark horse the naturally aspirated 5 liter dark horse with 500 horsepower
that
Starts at about
60 ish
$65,000 I think goes up to if you load it up with all of the options you can get it up to about $90,000
So this dark horse sc probably going to start somewhere in that $90,000 range
And then you can get the dark horse sc track pack
Which throws away the rear seat
Gives you carbon fiber wheels
with michelin pilot sport cup
four tires
And brembo carbon ceramic brakes
forged
control arms for the suspension
With the track pack they say they took out about
About 120 pounds of unsprung mass from the car and 150 pounds total
So between the four corners with the carbon wheels carbon brakes forged
control arms
They took off about roughly about
About 30 pounds from each corner of the car
Which will help with with handling and ride
And acceleration and then they also threw out the the the rear seat and and some other stuff
Um, and then it's got a big carbon fiber wing on the back the the front fascia of all the sc's
Like the last gt 500 a lot more open area for breathing so you can cool that engine down
Um, there's a big carbon fiber vent in the uh in the hood of the car
um, the the sc
Is the is about an inch wider
So it's got unique fenders different from other mustangs
Because it's got more wider track
There if you get the track pack the trunk lid is also different
Uh, it has a little duct tail spoiler on it
And then there's a carbon fiber wing that stands above that and the reason why they put the duct tail on there
is
They found that during their their wind tunnel testing they got a lot more downforce with that in there
While while they were able to keep the the carbon fiber wing at a reasonable angle
So it didn't completely obscure your view to the rear
And they say at 180 miles an hour it generates 620 pounds of downforce
So, you know, this is going to be a quick car and then there's also going to be a
limited edition
version of the
the sc that has
uh painted stripes
Uh on the hood and and the deck lid
Um, so not vinyl but actually painted. So that means they got to take it off the take it off the main paint line
Mask it they spray those stripes and then put it back in and do the clear coat
um, and on the uh on the last gt 500
You had the option of either vinyl stripes or painted stripes the the painted stripes
It's a $10,000 option
Yeah, um, so
Most likely i'm guessing that the um the the limited edition dark horse sc is probably going to be somewhere around 130 grand
With all that stuff on there
um
So it'll it'll be a fast Mustang but
It'll be a pricey Mustang and it'll be expensive Mustang
But you know, you know people are having problems paying for food, but we have a really expensive cars coming out
So i'm really excited about that. You know, the horse looks very it looks more like a horse of the apocalypse
It looks more like it's bringing pestilence or plague
Yeah, it's it does not look like a fun horse. It is not. Yeah. Well, it is the dark horse
I guess. Yeah. Yeah
One one interesting detail on the dark horse badging on the the rear
um, you know, they have some color options some accent color options
including one that has
That's teal. So you get teal painted brake calipers and seat belts
and accent stitching on the seats on the recaro seats and then
On the the perimeter of the dark horse badge and the eyes
It's painted in teal and then, you know, there's also a red package and there's a couple of others
um, so they they actually did some some cool stuff with the
with the colors um on the on the sc that won't be available on other Mustangs
um, and I had a had a chance to chat with uh, sarah watson
Who is the colored materials design manager for the Mustang?
Um, and so I'm gonna drop that in here and she explains, you know, some of the color choices. So
I'll have that right now
I mean, I have become I'm a I'm a big fan of bold colors on cars
You know, I think the the world has gone way too far towards monochromatic cars. Yeah, I don't I don't want any more black
White or silver or gray. I want interesting colors and I love seeing, you know, you know, especially, you know
Adding accents like the teal so
Tell me what what is the, um, you know, kind of what was what was the the driving force behind adopting the teal?
What what uh, what brought that up? Yeah, so actually we had a lot of um research and inspiration from our liveries
On the track. So your gt3's the way our drivers drive their cars in bold colors
You see the teal accent actually all the time
And as we have our standards like with the reds, we put those two together and it came out this way
So the teal tonic was like to be the loud aspect and then the race was to be tried true
Yeah, because oftentimes on on a race team, you know, the cars might have the same livery
But you'll have different accents on the car so you can distinguish them quickly on the track
Yeah, when I was looking at pictures the teal just stood out
Yeah, it stood out and then you dig deeper and then like I mentioned earlier first gen mustang had the um
I can't remember the the name of it, but had a teal on there on the boss 149
And so we took that and then
Used the inspiration there put it on the seatbelts put it on the calipers our accent stitching in the center line
Down in the car and I noticed on the the dark horse badge on the yeah on the back as well
To signal that it's the track car right and then on the limited edition one. It's red instead of the exactly
Exactly. So it was like you you had the best of both worlds
We talked to a variety of customers one who loved the standard love the traditional
But then we even got like a little bit louder and bolder on those keys
But then with the track we introduced like that next gen look and this is what we're going to be building off of even even more
So this was just the interest so you see more of that throughout the Mustang lineup
Like people want to be loud and bold. They want to be unapologetic
And you know, this was one of those packages that delivered on that
so um for the
For the the limited edition, um, the are the painted stripes standard on the limited edition
And what what color combinations are you going to have on the limited edition?
You get the black obviously with the red stripe the red with the red stripes and then the Oxford white
So it comes in with two colors only. Um, again to kind of have that symbolism of the other checker black on the racetrack
So we did it in white and in black. Um on the white you get
Also a standard black painted roof
You can't see that on shadow black car. Yeah, but that's been standard as well
So you have that whole sporty motif on the exterior that falls to the interior
And so on the Oxford white, this is still the same red and gray painted stripe there. Okay. Yeah
And then what what other color combinations you've got this blue? What is there a name for this blue?
Uh, this is argon blue argon blue is the unique exterior color to dark
to dark horse
Uh, sd. Okay. Um, our other colors will have the race red black white
There's also adiatic teal that we pulled from
Adriatic blue green. Sorry that we pulled from the effects. Okay. Um, so that's going to be on here
We have orange fury
dark matter gray
It's a total of nine colors. Okay. Um, that we pulled from again our effects our special cars
And then our base must say, um, you know, significantly coming from frat. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you. It was nice to meet you
Uh-huh
Okay, and we're back and I also spoke with uh, ari groanveld
Who is the chief program engineer for the dark horse sc
Uh at ford racing and I talked to ari a couple of years ago when they launched the raptor the bronco raptor
Uh, because he was the chief engineer on bronco raptor and then after he finished that you went over to work on dark horse sc
Um, and so we'll drop that in here now
All right talking with ari groanveld, uh, the
Chief product chief platform engineer program engineer
chief program engineer for uh, for all of ford racing or for the dark horse
Variants of mustang, right? Yeah the specifically i'm the chief program engineer on the dark horse sc. Okay. Yeah, so
The sc is the latest edition of the mustang lineup kind of completes
You know kind of the the type of lineup we've had in mustang for
Probably since the late 90s, you know going from a base to gt
Uh and then having something in the middle there and and then they're uh since at least the mid 2000s
We've had a supercharged one in there and then of course now you've got the gtd way up the top of the lamp
So tell us about kind of how you see this dark horse sc fitting in into that lineup and
um
Why uh, I guess why the move away from the the shelby branding that you had on the s5 50 and yeah
So let me address your first question the um
Between a base dark horse and a gtd
There's quite a bit of white space from a performance standpoint
And we took that as an opportunity
To really address the success that dark horse has been having on the base program and how it's attracting
more diverse younger customers
Um, and it's really resonating with them. So this is placed right in that white space
And obviously we pushed the team and the team pushes themselves quite frankly
To deliver as much as we could out of this car
in that white space
So that's that was your first question. Yeah, so, uh, you know shifted on the last couple generations away from the shelby branding to
The dark horse dark horse r dark horse sc
Yeah, um, and does does that
kind of
Change does that does that use that contribute? Do you think to some of that?
Change in the customer base for this car or for the for this lineup cars? Um
Your your question is about whether or not
Having having a new new branding this dark horse brand. Yeah, does that helped with maybe changing the perception a little bit of these
Higher performance mustangs and bringing in a new type of buyer. I I do think that's the case. Yes. Okay
So so with the sc
um, you know, what what were your main targets, uh, in terms of you know evolving
You know moving to a new generation compared to what you had gt 500 a few years ago
You know, what what were you trying to achieve and and prove on this generation?
Yeah, so I think it it's really about as we become forward racing
You could see the the lineage as we had on the screen showing that we've got the race car
variants of a dark horse
And then we have the production car side of dark horse and really we're trying to well what we're doing is we're sharing
technology between the two and there's that crossover between the two products
so
Love Shelby, but that was not
Didn't make sense in that crossover between what we're doing on the race car side and the production car side and that transfer of technology
So what were some of the things you've done on on this car?
on the dark horse sc
to
To really bring it in line with the forward racing ethos of the mid 2020s
Yeah, so I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that we're tapping into all our motorsports experience
We went through like some of the exterior styling changes that were made and how well how the how the design of the exterior was
Really formed by the function we needed
Um, yeah, because you got quite a bit more downforce now, right?
Yeah, we've got we've got a lot of downforce on here. So
Whether it was gt3 and learning that we could take the lower grill further down
And increase the open area which we did and compared to a base dark horse at 60 percent larger
We also opened up the outboard coolers. That's a hundred percent larger than a base dark horse
Those were some learnings from track time
We've also learned from an efficiency standpoint that some of the tricks that our NASCAR teams were using
To modify and optimize the exterior surface
Of the race cars
They were using 3d printed tiles and being able to go into the wind tunnel and quickly shop or
Swap out those so they're printing out sections of the that's right a front quarter front section of the car
Really, yeah a pillar forward
They were able to print that out and we thought that is a fantastic trick
So you can go through a lot more iterations in a session
Yeah, you start off with like computational fluid dynamics and that gets you to a point
That's a good starting point
But ultimately you have to go into a wind tunnel to dial it in and make sure you're there
And that that trick allowed us to say, okay, we're gonna change
We're gonna try this we're gonna try this try this all in one session in the the wind tunnel and provide that feedback to design
To say this is what works best for us
And then have the conversation about what the tradeoff is for the function
So obviously very focused on the function on this and in recent years forward has built a new rolling road wind tunnels full-scale wind tunnels
um, you've got um
Really some really interesting driver in the loop simulation capability. Yes
I assume all of that has been utilized in creating this and that gets you closer
Have better fidelity in your simulation. Yeah, we we utilize
um
All the simulation tools that we can so and and as we tap into the motorsports side as we're now one one family of
forward racing
We're able to to bring that to bear in the
The fact that the way we're structured
For example, like if I choose the power train chief engineer like my counterpart from a functional standpoint
He's managing both the race cars as well as the production cars
So there's nothing lost between having
The organization's not working so closely together
So we have accessed all those tools and we're finding just like that nascar example
Some some tricks that we hadn't thought to do previously
Are there things that you were learned from the gtt program that we're also brought into this?
I mean, obviously we saw some some visual elements in in the cabin. Yeah, so um, we would we would take this out
Testing with some of the race cars as well as gtt would be on the track at some on some occasions with us as well
so
As we're learning
For example, actually our duct tail spoiler. For example, we were out on the track. We realized that hey, this is really contributing to
Increased downforce. It's effective. I said it's more than 10 percent increased downforce as a result
And that translated into that's a different rear deck than you have on the standard mustangs, right?
Correct. Is that on the regular dark horse or is that unique to the this is unique to the sc
It's actually unique to the sc track pack. Okay
Yeah, so we found that that was very effective and gtt ultimately took that same concept and put it on their vehicles
Okay, so it's worth both ways. Yes. So and that's the intent. It's that sharing between
Hey, if there's something that we can learn from a production car side and translate that over to race
Fantastic, it's a two-way street
And uh, one of the things you talked about was weight reductions and particularly unsprung weight reductions
You talk a little bit about what what's been done there. Yeah, so on the uh, the track pack version of sc like specifically in the corners
We've made carbon ceramic brakes available right from gtd
So between that the michelin cup to our tires and the carbon fiber wheels
We're removing quite a bit of unsprung and rotational mass
From the vehicle. So from a total vehicle perspective, we're removing 120 pounds of rotational
Unsprung mass which is huge. Yeah translates in the ride control precision and the track pack also doesn't have
A rear seat. There's no no rear seat as well. It's it has more of like a shelf. Yeah. Yes, okay
Any any other highlights of the the sc that listeners the podcast should be thinking about sure. Yeah, um
I like the feature of the variable traction control. Yeah, so that's a lift from gtd
Obviously calibrated separately for our vehicles sure because you get different tires
Because in the past you've been able to say all right. I'm gonna go on or off
Right, but when you have a car this capable and you want to push it or if the environment is just a little
Maybe a little bit
Difficult to drive on maybe a little slipperier or then what depends what track different tracks have different services
Some have more grip some of love. Yeah, exactly
So you can go through a multitude of settings to control the the traction control that you want
So it's not just environment, but it's also the customer's capability and that's just within track mode, right? That's correct. Okay
Yeah
Corner to corner as you as you went out of the track and lost a different for one corner versus right
So so can you control that from the steering wheel? I guess?
Uh, no, it'd be through the center stack button and then I've got bring up a pop up and you can select
I can see you probably don't want to be messing around with that. Well, I should go in corner to corner
Correct. I thought uh, is the changing the levels of the vcc different on this versus gtd
uh the
The pop-up comes up from the center stack
Right, and then and then you could talk you could toggle through the steering wheel selections
Yeah, so you'd have to hit center stack and then it'd pop up and okay, so probably not not quite as uh
Advanced is what you've got a gtd, but then again, you know, it's a very it's very it's very simple
Well, I mean in terms of the interface. I think it's probably the same. It's the same. Yeah, okay. Sorry. Yeah, that was on me
Okay, all right. Um, well, thanks. Thanks. Sorry. You bet. It's good to talk to you. Thank you
And I just realized we did talk before um in chicago when the um, I think it was when the everybody's
Raptor was it the raptor? Yeah, it was. Yeah, okay. Raptor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we spoke to her so
All right, we're back and um, so that's the dark horse sc
Um, they's probably second most expensive Mustang ever
Save up your save up them quarters people. Yeah, you're gonna need a lot of them
So many quarters you're gonna need a lot
And then after we were done looking at the Mustang
They took us over into another part of the building where we got to see the new bronco rtr
Um, so rtr is von gitton juniors company
And uh, they last fall they introduced a Mustang rtr
That uh, his his crew helped develop
And now they have a bronco rtr. There's actually there's actually been a bronco rtr available for a while now
But those the way they did those was those were purchased by um, rtr
Pre title from ford. So they got shipped from ford's factory to rtr's facilities
Where they got a bunch of upgrades
Um, including different wheels and tires and suspension upgrades and assortment of other stuff
Um, and you can still buy that one and that one's called the rtr spec
uh addition, but um
Now they're actually going to also do these in the factory here in michigan where they build broncos
And it's you know, slightly different spec with the the the spec version that you get from rtr
You can customize it more. So there'll be a little bit less customization available
With this one, but it's uh, it's got the the graphics the 35 inch, uh wheels and tires
Um, the lime green beadlock
Rings on the the wheels
That is you know, that's kind of rtr's signature color
And a bunch of other stuff. It's uh, these are all powered by the 2.3 liter four-cylinder eco boost
And it has the anti lag system that ford developed for this which basically means that
When you are off-roading and anti lag only comes into play when you're when you're driving off-road
Uh, what it does is it when you take your foot off the accelerator
It actually keeps the throttle open slightly so it allows air to keep flowing through just cuts off fuel
To the cylinders allows the air to keep flowing through so it keeps the the turbo spinning
So as soon as you get back on the accelerator, it's generating boost
More almost immediately instead of waiting so you don't have that lag
Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Does it say how much this is in here? I'm scrolling
Um, or is it a mystery? I don't think they give you pricing on this yet, right?
Uh, they did talk about pricing and uh, give me a second and I will find out
Okay, because I'm looking through the release and I don't see it. It looks awesome
I think it's funny that ford's going with all these like neon things like the blue on the the um,
Mustang we were just looking at and the green here and then they do the same thing on the the maverick lobo has like lime
Accents in it and stuff. We're like channeling our inner 80s child with some of these colors. Yeah, it looks cool
But it is very 80s. Everything new is old again. Everything old is new again. Is that the saying pretty much? Yeah
So the the the rtr spec that rtr themselves build
Runs close to a hundred thousand dollars
And this is going to be
Significantly less than that. Uh, it's gonna it's going to be cheaper than um, the bronco raptor
Which they actually recently reduced the price on the bronco raptor
Uh, and it now starts at about uh, only about 90 000 I think
um
Yeah, they didn't they didn't tell us the specific price for the rtr
Uh, but I think it's going to be somewhere around 70
I
Mean I mean it's a lot, but that'd be really cool for that
I bet people be excited about that the hardcore off-road
The thing is I think what's fun about these is you know that someone's going to buy it who's like
Yeah, I do this on the weekends. I'm going to use every single
Feature they've gotten this and then you know the other 99 percent is like never going to use any of this
But look how cool my thing looks like
Like most people don't use it all and if you know what you don't have to if you like how something looks
But I want to like I think it's it's neat that there's going to be somebody out there
Who's going to do that when we're going to get pictures on the internet of them blasting through the desert
That one guy so the the the the bronco raptor is now now starts at 79 99 95 plus destination
So about 81 uh or 82 2000 um, so I think this is going to the rtr is going to start uh just under 70 I think
Hmm
That's cool. That'll be fun. People will love it
All right, so let's get back to uh stupidly fast cars
The uh the chevy corvette zr1x
Um, it's you know, it's a little bit quicker than that defender octa. You were you were driving
Uh, it has 1250 horsepower. That's slightly more horsepower too. So just a skosh
Yeah, it's a thousand. I think a thousand and 64 horsepower from the um twin turbo 5.5 liter v8
And then it's also got a couple hundred horsepower from uh, the electric front the electric motor driving the front wheels
So it's all wheel drive
So last fall a couple of months ago
Um, the corvette engineering team took a zr1x
Uh production spec zr1x to the uh, 130 us 131 raceway. It's a drag strip here in michigan
Um to do some performance testing
um
This thing is insanely fast
Zero to six or sorry quarter mile time
They're they're
By by the end of the day they did two days of testing by the by the end of the second day
They were down to a quarter mile time of 8.675 seconds
That's insane. Yeah
And the trap speed was I think 159 159.6 miles an hour
That's a and they do have the zero to 60 on there. It's 1.68 seconds. Yes
Not even two seconds 1.68 seconds zero to 60. That's madness. It's wonderful madness, but it's absolutely madness
Oh, yeah, no one needs that on the
But remember this is this is on a on a prep track like you know, right?
Yeah, this is a real drag strip. Yeah, and that's this is with the roll out and everything
Yeah, so I mean this is this is totally optimal conditions, but you know, even still still
Yeah, even you know just on regular pavement, you know this car
Yeah, because because it's all-wheel drive and you've got you know, a couple hundred horsepower driving the front wheels
So you're gonna get
Even as the turbos are spooling up and everything you're gonna get
Instant response from the front, you know and by you know by the time you've used that up
The engine's gonna be kicking in and and you're just gonna be flying down the the quarter mile
You're probably still gonna easily on regular pavement. You'll probably be able to get you know, 10 second quarter mile times
Yeah, which is just ridiculous
Ridiculous
Yeah, now that is
That's one of the fastest quarter miles ever recorded
for a
road legal production car
In fact, I think it might be the fastest that's been published for
You know for a stock
Internal combustion vehicle they show they show a table on the the press release page
There's only two cars that went faster than that and they're both EV's the rematch and the vera are and the pinafore in a batista
The the rematch went 7.9 seconds at 186 miles an hour and the batista went 8.55 seconds at 155 miles an hour
Uh, so you know and those are cars that cost a couple of million dollars
Yeah
For these are
Price wise the only thing that's like close is is and it's they're almost
They're pretty yeah, they're so close. You wouldn't know the difference if you were sitting in the stands ever
You would never like it'd be a photo finishes the lucid air sapphire, which is an EV. Yeah
Um, you know the the z1x base price
Is for 2026 212195 dollars
So this is half the price of a mustang gtd
And it is way way faster
And it has a it has a trunk that you can fit a paddle board into
There you go, which you can't do on a mustang gtd
The gtd has no trunk
So that's a major detraction
So you can't take your paddle board with you in the gtd. You can the zr1x
Because that's totally what i'd use my zr1x for is to you know to go to the lake
Uh, definitely. It's kind of a lake adventure some car forget a Subaru. Let's get this. It's all wheel drive
You know what more to ask for it's essentially just a Subaru if it's all wheel drive. It's a Subaru
basically
Take your dogs to the vat, you know take your dogs to the lake
I
I took bowie
He's the german shepherd
In the brz to the to the vet and he didn't want to sit in the back because those seats are horrible
And so he sat in the front, but he's just a little bit too big
So he kept trying to put his paws like on both his paws on the seat
He looked really weird
So he had to put like his paws in the ground and so when we came out of the vet
He got in a car and I was texting my wife and some guy was walking by and he's just sitting there in this front seat
And the guy was just like looking at
So, you know, Nicole, you know, you could you could still get a zero one x
I mean, I could that. I mean, you know 209 700 dollars
Is only slightly higher than what I had in my just I'd have to stretch just the the tiniest of bits just
And and just you know, I mean, of course, you know, you want to get some winter tires for it
Yeah, you've got all wheel drive. I mean just get some winter tires
It's unfortunate. I don't have that to drive tomorrow
When we get half a foot of snow because that's going to be better than the defender I have sitting here
Fosha
Absolutely. Yeah, there's some blizzaks on there. Right and it'll be totally fine
All right, um, let's see
Honda did a business update this week and one of the things that they announced
Is that they are ending production of the current generation rd acura rdx
um, and
That because they've got the new rsx coming this year, uh, which
For at least temporarily is going to take the rdx's place. You know, it's a similar sized vehicle, but it's electric
It's going to kind of take the place of the rdx in the lineup for for now
um, but they do have a new rdx coming at some
Uh future date that they did not specify
uh, but
The uh, the next gen rdx will be a hybrid
Um, and uh, it's going to be the the hybrid system that we got to try out when we were in
Uh, in japan in october, uh, so it's their new their new platform
Uh, which I talked about back, you know in
Early november after after I came back from japan, uh, which you know is
Interesting new platform for their larger utilities and and trucks and vans and so on
That has some has a little bit of flex built into it
To allow for they claim better road grip certainly seem to work on the prototype that we drove
and it's it's a
a new version of their hybrid system that has
Two sets of final drive gears so that at higher speeds
They can pick from the the two different ratios
And that will um, they'll be they'll have a broader range of
Where they can run the engine at higher speed at speeds to get better overall
energy efficiency
So that's coming probably
We'll probably see it, you know sometime in 2027 as a 2028 model
Cool, that's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah
Um, and then honda also announced
that um
they've got
They've developed a new lightweight camper a camper trailer called the base station
Okay, I think this looks cool. I love how this looks
I want one
I want one you can fill it with moto compactos and have a gang
Look how cute it is
Like it's like it looks like it's a little just it's just the cutest looking thing and then the way it opens up
Where I get you know, so you can stand it and has this huge
It's got a pop top. Yeah, it's like an old uh vw van and it has like a lift gate like the door opening isn't just a door
It's this huge lift gate
So it'll be super easy to get in and out of you won't have to be slamming a door all the time
I love it. I love how this looks if you're camping and it's like raining
Yeah, get under there. You can be under that lift gate and like take off your muddy shoes or whatever
And then get into the vehicle
Without getting rained on which is nice. I kind of think this is cool
Yeah, you know that they kept the interior this thing only weighs 1500 pounds
So they say a crv could tow this which is incredible. It doesn't have to like you don't have to have like a great big three row
Or truck or something the crv
And you know the the photo the images they released, you know have it behind the the new zero suv
Um and with the you know with the top down
Uh, you know, it's just barely taller than the zero suv
So, you know, you're not you know, you're not going to have nearly as much aerodynamic drag as you would with a larger trailer
Um, so you could it's gonna have a lot less impact on the range of an ev
But yeah, I mean the ability to tow this thing with something like a crv or rdx
Yeah, would be really cool. And then I don't like something like this. This is this is cool
The the interior, uh, you know is is deliberately kept kind of wide open
there's
sort of a bed that
That normally can be a bench, but it can fold down as well
To be a bed for two
And then you can they've got it set up so you can add a second bunk
Up in the pop-top area
So it can it can sleep up to four people
It's got a nice low loading floor. It's modular so you can put all kinds of different things into it
It's it's and it's a slick design. I like the design of it. It really it has this very futuristic
Curvy cool design. I think it looks great. I really do think it looks good
So I it doesn't look like a typical camper. It makes me think of what was it lost in space with their little their little vehicle
They had I think it was lost in space. That's what it makes me think
So there's no word on pricing on this yet
Or even, you know, when it's gonna come out my guess is, you know, probably not certainly not before next year
You know 2027 at the earliest
But uh
Yeah, it'll be curious to see how they price it because there are some other small lightweight trailers
Um, some of which are pretty expensive like friends some friends of ours have one from a company called happier camper
That you know, it's kind of similarly sized to this actually probably smaller than this
And that thing was like $55,000. They're very expensive. They're not a cheap buy. Yeah. Yeah
So hopefully uh, honda makes this a little more affordable
I don't know
I feel like that would make sense if you're making a small little camper and you wanted to be something that
You know, people are going to be able to
All around with the crv. It's it should not be something that's outrageously expensive. You know, that's not the price point of the crv owner
Well, our our friends with their happier camper. They tow it with an odyssey honda odyssey. Okay
There you go
All right, uh, let's talk stilantis
Hey, the website's working
Is it working again? All right
So first first up for stilantis, um, you know after they paused
Importation of the tonali for a while last year. It's back again. The alpha male tonali
Um, but it's no longer available with the plug-in hybrid system. So they that's another one that they've dropped the plug-in hybrid from
So it's just the two liter turbo four cylinder
Uh, you know, it got a refresh this year styling refresh. Uh, so new front end
Um, but the uh, the the tonali's
Sibling the dodge hornet
Is dead. It is no more
Womp womp
You could probably still get one for quite a while
I think there's still quite a few of them sitting on dealer lots because it uh, it was not a great seller
No
It wasn't unfortunately it was in
It was an interesting idea, but it was not the uh target market for ye olde dodge owners
Yeah
Didn't didn't quite fit the uh, the dodge um muscle aesthetic
No brotherhood of muscle thing did not
Did not quite fit that not big enough to squeeze a hemi into so it's out of there
Exactly, um, but nicole you and I sat down at the auto show with tim caniscus
Um, we did what what did you think?
I mean, it's always fun interviewing tim because I feel like you could just
Put your microphone in front of him and say so how's it going and not ask a single other question
If you didn't feel like it and you'd have a straight half hour of tim just riffing on everything
Um, I thought it was interesting talking to him. He's he's probably one of the most
Blunt executives. I don't know how many times did you have to beep him?
Don't we had do we have actually when I went back and looked at it, uh, there
There were there were none. I guess warned there were some bombs in there. I have to listen to it again
I would listen to it again because I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything in there. He has f-bomb energy
That's what he always has f-bomb energy, which is not a bad thing
um, and it was it was interesting talking to him and hearing what he thinks the strategy is for
the
The different brands in the u.s for jeep for christler for dodge
Who am I for ram? Sorry? I suddenly forgot what brands were talking about. Um, I thought it was an interesting conversation
and I think he's you know, he did a very good job of
Being confident that they have the right strategy and that you don't need to have
More that what was he he hasn't come talking there where he talks about the number of trucks
He has and the number of vehicles that are in chrisler's lineup. So chrisler is
The pacifica. Yes, that's chrisler and he's like well arguably
We really don't have you know, the trucks, you know, I'm like, well, no
You have a lot of different kinds of trucks. Truly. They're not it's not and it's not like they have 18 flavors of the pacifica
They go like one, you know
So he he has some
He's he's going hard on they have the right mix. They've done the right things. They've done the right stuff with pricing
Um, so I thought it was interesting. What did you think sam? Yeah, you know
He's you know because stilantis sells all four brands in the same showrooms
You know, it's not like with gm for example, where you've got chevrolet dealerships and gmc dealerships and
Buick dealerships and catalac dealerships where you can have
A little bit of overlap because they're in different stores. They're not in the same physical location
Stilantis you've got all four brands in one location. And so, you know, one of the things he talked about was
Not necessarily having to have
every
Body style every type of vehicle in each
Brand, you know, because you don't you don't necessarily want, you know
This the same crossover as a chrysler and as a dodge, you know or a jeep, you know
There needs to be some distinction between them
So it sounds like he'd be still at least for the time being committed to all four brands
We'll we'll see, you know, how that evolves particularly with chrysler over the next couple of years
Um, but you know, the other thing that they're focused on right now
Is ramping up the hammy production?
Uh, especially in the trucks, you know, I think he talked about last year they built
They got 30,000 ramp 1500 hammy is built
About 10,000 of them delivered to customers this year. They're targeting a hundred thousand
Um, and you know between the the five seven hammy and the hellcat in the trx
You know, that's their priority for for ram for the moment
Uh, and so, you know between the talk conversation with tim and talking to some other folks
Um, you know the ram rev the e rev version is not going to be coming till sometime in the second half of the year
After they launch the trx
Um, and then there's also the the the wagon or the grand wagon year e rev that's that's going to be coming
Um, that's also going to be sometime in the second half of the year
Basically, they're trying not to launch too many things simultaneously. They're staggering things so that they can
You know, and he's talked about this before, you know, they want to focus on the quality and getting getting these things built right
You know instead of trying to do too many things at once
Um, so interesting conversation. Um, and of course, you know, you know, we only had ultimately about 17 minutes
With with tim, you know, he had 20 minute time slots
Um, because everybody wanted to talk to tim, uh, because he was one of the only he and antonio filoso were the only
Among the only executives available at the show
Uh, and um, you know and and tim is uh, unlike most executives, you know, I was having
You know conversation with somebody from gm, uh, you know, who had asked, you know, would would would help to have more conversations with
Mary Barra said to be honest with you. No, not really
Um, you know, because I was at a fireside chat with her on monday afternoon
that she did with kailey hall from reuters, uh for automotive press association event
and you know, it was about 40 minutes conversation and
Really didn't get much new out of it. Uh, you know, and and the thing I told, you know, the the gm pr persons
You know got a lot of respect for mary
But you know, she has been at this a while. She's very well trained media trained
She is very much on message all the time
You, you know, you are almost never going to get surprises from talking to mary barra
Uh in public
Well, I think, you know, there's a point to a point. That's good, right because you don't want your executive team
Going off the handle and and saying crazy things and they need to they need to still be professional
But it also could make for really boring interviews when you get in it. Like there's there's a line between
I'm
Making sure I'm towing the party line and I'm not saying anything completely
Untoward or that's going to make people angry
And still being more human and having a little fun with things and being a little bit more and mary's so on message
She really is and she's great, but there it's it's the message. It's exactly it's so in a box
That it's hard to have a really unique or interesting conversation with her sometimes
Well, let's start with a big question
Tim, what what's your vision for stilantis in north america besides how many is in health gas? Um
So that's probably a question you should be asking antonio. Okay, there's the co of north america. Okay
I work on the brands. I could tell you what my vision is for the brands
So what would we're doing on the brand? So what do you want to see from the brands?
Well, your question was very high level very like what are you going to do to change the company?
Not my favorite is go talk to him. Uh, but but on the brands
I think we're doing some some fun stuff most of which
We honestly haven't materialized in the marketplace yet. If I look back at last year
Most of the stuff that I said we were going to do and announce we were going to do looks like unfulfilled promises
I call last year kind of the dog year. It was almost like seven years and one because we did
So much shit, but it doesn't look like most of that has materialized. We launched four new jeeps in four months
It's crazy. I don't think in the 33 years of adunas. I don't think we've ever done that kind of a cadence of launched
Four new products in four months. They're literally just arriving at dealerships right now
So even though we talked about it for six freaking months
Just now starting to get to him. He's a great exam. We lost hemi
I don't even know how the headline of 10,000 orders in one day became this like
Huge thing. I mean he you saw half a million trucks 10,000. It's not it's not a crazy number
I mean, it's a great number, but it's not like game change. It took on a life of its own
Um, but the reality is we launched hemi never super excited me too. Everybody's excited
You know to bring back that choice for the customer, but the reality is we shut down the hemi line
Even though we announced that we brought it back. We had to bring the hemi line back up to speed
We had a deep priority as his production. Yeah, the production line
We had to de prioritize the g6 to bring the hemi back up and and all these things
But the reality is the reason I'm telling you that story is
We eat in that whole time period. We took 50 000 orders
We only built 30 000 and by the time they got to dealerships. We only sold 10 000
So ram sales were up last year retail to customers 50 000 units increase up 17
percent only 10 000 more henries
They only tell you that not to say hey, we could have done better
I tell you that to say we only built 30 000 last year
We're gonna build over 100 000 this year 3x what we did last year
So all that work that we did is just started to come to fruition
We made all this noise with nascar. We haven't even raced yet
We're gonna race at daytona for the first time. So we haven't been there yet
We talked about the tv show the tv show hasn't launched it
If we talk about free agent free agent hasn't launched it
TRX we launched TRX you're not gonna be able to buy it to the server
So what I'm saying is last year we built the foundation
Tons of work
Just starting to see it come now and one of the things that we're doing
Your question specifically what are you gonna do on the brands is we're trying to widen the scope of the brands and you see
The announcement will be the 13 billion
13 billion highs back
Perfectly to your question because it helps us expand the scope of our brands within the 13 billion
We're gonna increase the capacity of
Cherokee and compass one of the things that we've been constrained on is production capacity
The reason that we didn't sell a lot of units to fleet last year for truck
We didn't have the fast
Sterling hypes was really strangled. Hemi was not helping t6 had to come down while we were ramping up
So we didn't have the production that's going to get fixed. We're bringing mt4 to kokomo
That's going to give us more engine availability
Within the 13 billion we are now so we're going into Toledo to build the mid-sized truck which
Could we desperately need a mid-sized truck?
Because we used to have the most successful mid-sized truck of all time
In 2019 when we were killing it was ramp, but we didn't have a dakota in 19
We had the ds classic trucks the ds classic truck sold for 40 000 dollars
Which is the price of a mid-sized truck, but with a full-size truck. It was an absolute game changer
I need to get back to that with the dakota and then we're going to bring in
But I think is going to be another big enabler for us is a ram full-size utility vehicle in warren
We were the only ones in the industry trying to go into that very lucrative segment
With only one offering and we were trying to spread a gap of 50 000 dollars with one brand
No one's ever learned that lagonaire. It was too big of a gap for no one's ever done that successfully crossed 50 000 dollars with
Okay, we call it a wagon your grand regular. Let's be honest. It was the same car, right?
So you don't have enough woods, leathers and sunroofs to
Justify a value walk of 50 000 dollars. So now we're going to do it like everybody else
You know gm's got three a shabby a gmc and a catalac forge got forward and link it
We're going to come with a ram version and our jeep version and then your next question is going to be oh
So ram's going to be the cheap one and jeep's going to be the expensive one
No, it's going to be two different customers
It's one of the value of our company is we have one showroom with four different brands with four different positionings
And we can appeal to different customers within those positions
It's no different than what we did and now it sounds like that's corporate bullshit
But just look back at history. We did this successfully with the mastercars
I shouldn't say we did this immensely with brampton. You had a charger four door and you had a 300 four door
They were the same crop. They appealed to two completely different customers. It wasn't cheap and expensive
It was two different customers
They didn't cross up and they successfully existed in the marketplace in the same showroom
We can do that in the very lucrative uv market as well
so
That's a couple of the things that we're doing to expand the scope of the brands
Which I think is going to be our growth potential because right now we're competing in 55 percent of the industry
When you look at all of our sales across all of our brands
Yeah, we sold one just the american brands pressure jeep dodger and we sold 1.8 billion units last year 1.8
Freaking a lot of cars 55 percent of the industry
When I bring on all those other product lines, I'm going to go to 75 percent of the industry
My long-range plan is going to go beyond 75 percent of the industry. That's where the growth is going to
I think it's going to take you to get to that 75. The 75 is going to be within the next two years
Union equit. Yeah. Yeah
How much gold is the dakota the new truck to the solar assayants and your numbers for ramp? It will be
Very important to us because if you look at the the light duty truck
Light duty truck is about a million and a half units
And it is the battleground in the industry
Not only is it, you know the most lucrative and all the domestics have to live and die in that segment
It's 1.5 million units the the midsize
Is you know, everybody talks about affordability and the cost of vehicles and everything
Well, a midsize truck today is the same size as the bullseye truck was 15 years ago
Well, the shooter carrier on hasn't got you know significantly larger
So a midsize truck can appeal to a lot of people the industry by the time we bring the dakota in the market
We'll be a half a million units and it will grow to 700,000 units from there
So it'll be half the size of what we consider the battleground today
Well, I mean, you know to come alone last year with 278,000 units amazing. No, amazing
So now I put that one in a little bit of a different space than I put the domestic midsize trucks
Why?
It's it's been there longer. It's got kind of a cult following
Um, it's just a little bit of a different these getting your dakota to have the same cult
We're gonna do we're gonna do
A very unique positioning of dakota number one. It's going to be a real credible
A lot of capability vehicles going to be body on framed, uh, which it needs to be to transition to leg beauty truck
um
I don't I don't want to
Tell you any more about it. But I think I think our positioning of it is this
Pretty cool. The people that have seen it
We're pretty shocked. They're like, oh, that's just like it's up, right?
Technically you've had a midsize truck with gladiator. Does gladiator stick around with dakota?
I mean, obviously that's that's a very that's a very different. It's in this segment a lot
Uh, in hindsight, should we have cold gladiator or wrangler?
Probably way frankly if we did we sold 200 and kicked 2 000 if you had gladiator and wrangler together
And nobody would be sending out a press release
Yesterday on the rtr, which is a sticker package saying that they'd be wrangler because they did
If you include my one that has a bet on it, we kicked their ass. Uh, but whatever it is what it is
um
The reality is though does that compete with colorado canyon in tecoma. Yeah, it's not really cross-up with it
It's it's more of a wrangler
Um, it has all the functionality of a midsize truck. It can cross-shop through the midsize truck. It absolutely can
Um, but it's different
It's you know with the solid axle in the prong it attracts more of a wrangler buyer when it does a midsize truck buyer
And we it won't do that by the way. Okay. We'll absolutely keep it because I think it's gonna
It's gonna be like krescher and they feel like the funeral circuit
It's gonna be two completely right customers. We're gonna execute it completely different. Okay, uh, so
He's mentioned chrysler. Um, yeah, what's uh, what's going on with chrysler?
What's the future of that brand? You know
I've heard a lot of different things over the last several years
I I think it's been since like 2011 or something like that that I was working. I think it was 2011 actually that was working that course
um
And that question has been the exact same question forever
Ever since the days when chrysler had fiji cruiser and seabring and you know, I had like the bigger lineup
That question has come up over and over and over there
What's gonna have a little chrysler? What are you doing chrysler? Are you gonna shut down chrysler's dv chrysler?
the reality is
If I looked at each of these brands and tried to treat them as
a showroom
Yeah, you can make that. Hell you can make that case outrank because if you call a light duty truck and heavy duty truck a truck
Okay
One vehicle. Okay. I've pro master in it. I got one vehicle and a commercial vehicle, right?
So you can make the same case the reason you don't make the cases because you go. Oh, wait a minute
You saw 550,000 with those so I'm not gonna ask you that of course that makes sense
But chrysler you go. Oh, this one's 125,000 close
You need that brand you need that brand because you're in a showroom. That's a house of brands
I have pulled it from brands in the same show. I don't need to have a pickup first
I don't need to have a pickup truck per person
That could I expand chrysler? Yes. The reason I could expand chrysler is each of these brands has a very unique position
There are a large number of people in the industry
17 million unit industry and we sell, you know, 1.8 million of the north america brands this
That 1.8 billion by the way was was uh was global. So 1.4 in north america
So 1.4 out of the 14 million 17 million unit total in north america. It's still quite small
But within that population that we don't get there is a huge population of people that don't need to go off-road
Whether they go off-road or just think that they will someday maybe have the capability to guard us
There's a huge number of people that could care less about that
There's a huge number of people that could care less about doing a burnout and want a muscle car
And there's a huge population of people that I don't know how to tow a boat. I don't care
I don't need to put anything in the bed of my truck. I know I don't need that
They need transportation. They need cool reliable transportation and within our house of brands
This brand is never going to be for that customer. This brand if we do it, right?
This brand is never going to be for that customer. This brand's never I think so. What do I do?
Do I ignore them? No, so can I girl? Yeah, sure. I can do a car suit
But is it my number one priority today? No
That's what we get there probably
Huh, what is your number one? No a number one priority is where the money is brand
Brand and cheap. This is my volume. This is my money. This is my fun
And this is going to be something that we have capability to grow in the future. Absolutely
Okay, so
You know, we we put a call to our listeners or
What what they would want to hear from you? Yeah, and one of the questions was about affordability
Um, yeah, and and somebody also asked, you know back when the other guy was still in charge
He talked about bringing a new $25,000 deep on a new ramp hit or braggate through the lineup
Is that still part of the plan? So affordability affordability is tough subject because
Um, you can have this conversation
With every industry, you know, ever since COVID changed every
Ever since COVID the price of everything's gone up from a cold cold of cars, right?
The challenge is
Our is is the entire industry
I mean, you're seeing it right now the industry is taking huge write-offs and thinking huge write-offs because everybody is
De-prioritizing a web location, but yet we invested a half a trillion dollars in this
So everybody's thinking these huge write-offs. So at the same time you're taking huge write-offs
So you get to see everybody announcing. Oh, we're going to cut prices $10,000. That's impossible
It can't you can't take billions and billions and billions of dollars of write-offs and they go
Oh, by the way, I'm going to cut the price
But what you can do and you see us doing it and we literally just did it on jeep
So we did a plan called the jeep reset. What we did is we didn't say, hey, we're going to cut the price of jeeps
We said we're going to make jeep more jeep. We're going to give you more value if you look across the jeep lineup
We just added about $4,000 of customer value to all of our jeeps on average
That's a similar thing to add or to cutting the price because we took features that people wanted and we lower the price
35 inch reels are now $3,000 instead of $5,500. Is that a $2,500 price cut? No
But everybody wanted in any way. So it kind of is a price cut
So I can give you more value without cutting the price and give you more jeep
At the same time. So that is adding value. I think that is something we need to do a better job in the industry
We did it on TRX. Nobody talks about it at TRX because you go, oh, it's $99,000. Yeah, it's a freaking ton of money
But a lot cheaper than a raptor arc is $15,000 cheaper than raptor arc
And it's $25,000 cheaper than the outgoing model and it's on the new platform
So it adds more technology and more features. So now you get more value more features and a lower price
But okay, it's still a hundred grand. So I mean, it's not like it's an affordability issue
But the more that we can do that the better. Look at the notch. It releases dots. Oh my god, that's
Well, is it?
420 horsepower all-wheel drive now with the new hatchback design. I've got more functionality
I've got 420 horsepower standard and I've got all-wheel drive
And I'm 49,985 go back in time and look at what you got at that performance of what the price is
It's less expensive than it was previously
Faster than it was previously at the first
Sack absolutely a fact
The all-wheel drive in that car gives you the capability of having it all other everywhere in the midwest
It doesn't have to be a toy. You can drive it as an everyday car. So I got that. I also have performance
Now a 550 horsepower t sick lower drive will be the hell cat
So I'm giving you I'm giving me more and more value
So you should nick his poke me and tell me I have one more question
So I want to ask questions. So when we were talking about the, you know
The electrification strategy is completely changing for every automaker out there who's got rid of the key has
And that you're introducing a new
Vehicle with a recon and jeep. Do you think that's what people want?
The jeep? Yeah, um
Like the real like is that the the pull off the doors and go off-road? The question is
The definition of people was very vague
Uh a percentage of people that the use case works
Electrification is amazing. You guys have driven tons of electric cars
So she's the only one you you have a perspective that the average customer does not end
Those customers that are opposed to electrification never driven 11
but
The sub case in a lot of cases they don't need to because they know that it doesn't fit their use case. They know that
They live in an apartment. They don't have access to a charge at night
Or they know where they live. There is no infrastructure for charging or they know quite frankly, it's too expensive
Or they know I need to tow my boat and I've read the stats and it won't tow my boat and when the pull but and on and on and on all the six
promise um
The industry wanted to go to
50 60 plus percent electrification adoption
Customer pull for electrification
There's probably more in the sub 10% range now. Will that 10% grow as we get better? Yeah
But the cost of batteries got to come down the weights got to come down
Uh the overall price the cars got to come down the infrastructure got to come down
The question is when's that going to happen? We were trying to make it happen in one year
Is that going to happen in two years three years five years ten years?
I don't know but eventually it will happen and we will get to that 50 60 percent
I just don't know if it's going to be three years or 10 years and that way it's not going to be 2030
That's for sure. That's why you see everybody writing down these huge investments because they they have they have warehouses full of batteries and they're like
I'm not going to be able to use those in the next 24 months. It's not going to happen. Um, but we will get there
Okay, I I fully believe that we will get one last quick one. Are you going to bring back? Is going to bring back a rampage?
ah
It's a good car looks good drives good. I like it
Okay
Thank you, Jim
Yeah, well, you know as I said, we weren't dealing once to talk to Tim. There's also, uh, elissa prittle from
Motor Trend also sat down with him
Uh, and I've got I'll have a link in the show notes to her to her story
one of the things that she talked about talked to him about was
Um putting a hammy in the new charger
Um, you know, and of course the chargers, you know available as an electric now or with the the three liter hurricane six cylinder
and
basically tim told her that
Yeah, probably not going to get the five seven in the charger
um, because
You know, first of all compared, you know, you got 550 horsepower with the hurricane the the hemi is only 395 horsepower
And the chargers standard all-wheel drive
So it makes it hard to package that engine in there with the all-wheel drive system in the front
Um, and it's just not really worth it
You know, if they're going to do anything with a v8 in there, it's probably going to be a hellcat
Rather than the standard hemi
And even that he remained somewhat noncommittal on
So I'll have that link in the show notes as well
Uh, but you know as far as our conversation goes, yeah, I mean, you know covered fair amount of stuff in in 17 minutes
But uh, he did confirm, you know, um, you know dakota
Built in in Toledo, which was previously announced, but he also confirmed that the gladiators not going away
There is going to be a next-generation gladiator that is built
Uh on the same platform in Toledo
but that you know, they you know the the customer base for
The ram dakota and the jeep gladiator even though they're similar size and nominally both midsize pickup trucks
Totally different customer base. Yeah, and so, you know, the the gladiator is going to be, you know
Very different vehicle from the from the dakota
Yeah, too. So it makes sense to have both vehicles because small trucks, but entirely different
Small trucks, so it makes a lot of sense
Yeah
Um, all right. So that is everything I think we have for Stalantis. Um, so
there was um
Also some big news the other day
um from
Actually from from beijing
Mark Carney the uh, relatively still relatively new prime minister of canada
Um went to beijing this week
to talk to uh, the chinese leader zhijing ping
Um, and came back with a signed trade deal
that we'll see, um
tariffs on canadian products going into china
substantially reduced
So they get to sell their canola oil and uh, all kinds of other products at, uh, almost no tariff in china
Uh, and in return
Canada is dropping the the tariffs on chinese built EVs from a hundred percent to just six percent
for
At least 49 000 units a year
and so
Lower cost chinese EVs are going to start turning up in canada
In the not too distant future probably
And then and then it was a follow-up story, you know, again
Not not really a surprise to those of us, you know follow the industry
But canada wants to have chinese companies building their EVs in canada
And I I think it's only a matter of time
probably within the next six to 12 months that we hear the first announcements of
Probably byd, but you know, maybe Geely or somebody else
building a factory or taking over a factory in canada because you know, there's there's some stuff that is available
Like stilantis is brampton ontario plant near toronto, which was supposed to build the new compass
And that's going to be built in illinois now. And so
You know, they got there's a factory there. That's not likely to be used anytime in the foreseeable future the
The gm cami plant near ingersall that was building the bright drop electric fans
That's not being used
Um, I think it you know, I think it's only a matter of time before there's a deal for somebody some chinese company to build EVs in canada
Yeah, it's the first big foothold for china here and that's in north america and that's
It's a big deal. I don't think I wouldn't be surprised either to hear an announcement about a factory
following very quickly after
Oh, yeah
Yeah, canadians canadians, you know, canadian automakers, you know, people working those factories are like, oh
Okay, well, we can't do that now because these, you know, the u.s. companies pulled out and so they're like, oh, well
china's like, yeah, we'll build some cars there. All right, cool. Yeah
If you guys want to buy them, we'll build them
Yeah, and you know, mexico doesn't have any chinese factories yet chinese assembly plants yet
um, but
20 of uh, chinese sales or 20 of uh, vehicle sales in mexico last year in 2025
Were from chinese brands
So they've already got a significant chunk of the jet of the mexican market
And so, you know, this is i wrote a a blog uh, a post on the telemetry blog the other day
Um, you know, this could be an existential threat for the destroyed auto industry
um, you know, if they
If they continue to just, you know, to keep building stuff like
big v8 pickups and suvs
Um, they are going to be increasingly irrelevant
everywhere outside of the united states borders
Um, and between that and the antagonism that's being built up against the united states because of certain policies here
Um, you know, people in other countries don't want to buy us products regardless of what they are
And so that's going to make it really tough
You know, if if the ua, you know, if ford gm stilantis
Don't continue to invest and develop
You know competitive, you know competitive products including electrified vehicles, but you know also, you know smaller more affordable vehicles
Um, you know, they've got it. They've got to have stuff that is competitive in the rest of the world
And if they don't
They're going to be stuck with just the us market and nothing else
Yeah, I mean, it's a big market, but also maybe greenland. Well, maybe greenland. It's a big market, but also it's, you know, you
They have they have, you know facilities and they have cars and they have people who work in all these other countries and if you
If you don't keep up if you continue to sort of like, well, let's just keep throwing himmies and everything
That does not look well and the rest, you know, that's not going to help you in other in other countries
and yeah
Yeah, essentially sad trombone. Yeah
All right, and then finally, um, there was, uh
A story, um
That was on uh, see I found it
Turned up in my search that has your byline on it and call along with the miles
about, uh
The cars being up to 64 hundred dollars more expensive than before
Yeah, I'm doing some work with uh nick and with test miles and um, this was actually the first story I wrote
Um, yeah, woohoo
So it's it and basically it's talking about the the prices of new cars and and the impacts of what's made it
Pricier and is it your imagination that you're walking into the dealership and
You think man, these all seem more expensive and it's not like there was this, um independent analysis by this
company and they found that
Between tariffs and all these different things that are happening average price of new vehicles up about 13.5 percent
Which is about 64 hundred dollars
Uh price pump, you know that and it's it's 64 hundred dollars that shows up in your monthly payment and and does make your new car
A little bit more expensive, you know, it's not just the ev tax credit, you know that that was part of it for evs
But it it's sort of an impact to both
The use cars and the new cars everything is just is a little bit more expensive and because use car
New car prices are so high
Use cars are a bit more desirable
So even those tend to be skewing a little bit higher because people can get a more of a premium for those and they could have
Say two or three years ago
So it was about the the impact of the things that are making use and new cars more expensive to not your imagination about 64 hundred dollars
Yeah, real reels
You know, this was primarily increases on imported cars and parts, right?
Right, so it affects imports more than it does exactly if you're a u.s. Manufacturers
So that's why it's an average because it's looking at, you know, overall what it's, you know
Some imported cars are way more than 6400. It's more expensive. So that's what it comes out to on average is 64
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's that's a big chunk of change, you know in just one year
Yeah, it's not right. It hasn't been like a slow creep like we're saying. Oh, you know
Since you know, you know 20 20 10 since 2015 it's on top of the slow creep we've had already anyway, right?
It's like no since last year like that's a very short amount of time for a 64 hundred dollar price increase
That's not that's not a small number. That's a significant number, especially if you're looking for more budget friendly vehicles
So that that increases is
You are going to see it and it's not your imagination and there's you know, it's the terrorist. It's a lack of
Incentives it's a lot of things that are impacting it, but it is genuinely that's how much more it is going to cost you
Yeah
All right
Well, thanks all for listening and hopefully you will hear all three of our voices all the way to the end this time
And we will be back next time. Bye. Bye everyone. Bye
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About this episode
Exploring the impact of Chinese EVs entering the Canadian market, this episode dives into the implications of a new trade deal that reduces tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The hosts discuss how this could reshape the automotive landscape in Canada, potentially leading to increased competition for domestic manufacturers. They also touch on the broader trends in the automotive industry, including the challenges faced by traditional automakers in adapting to a rapidly changing market. Insights from industry experts highlight the importance of innovation and strategic planning in response to these shifts.
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4.4 liter twin turbo V8
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Original notes
We're back and this week all voices were recorded all the way through the show. Sorry again about last week. Nicole lucked out and had the Land Rover Defender Octa during some serious New Hampshire winter weather and Sam had a Porsche Macan 4S Electric with winter tires during a Michigan snow storm.
Ahead of the Detroit Auto Show this week, Ford previewed the new Mustang Dark Horse SC taking the place of the former Shelby GT500 and the Bronco RTR that's been breathed on by Vaughn Gittin Jr. Sam spokee with Mustang color and materials manager Sarah Watson and Dark Horse SC chief engineer Arie Groeneveld. Chevrolet dropped some details on the acceleration capabilities of the Corvette ZR1X and it is insanely quick off the line. Honda is ending production of the current Acura RDX while it prepares a new hybrid replacement and it has also developed a lightweight camper that can be pulled by a CR-V.
Alfa Romeo brings the refreshed Tonale to America sans the plug-in hybrid and drops the Hornet. Nicole and Sam talked with Stellantis head of North American brands Tim Kuniskis and the Jeep Gladiator will live on for another generation. Canada has signed a trade deal with China will lower tariffs on Chinese EVs north of the border and imported vehicles have become significantly more expensive in the past year.
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Links
Ford’s GT500 Successor Arrives As The 2027 Mustang Dark Horse SC – Wheel Bearings
Born in the Desert, the Bronco RTR Is the Fun High-Speed Racer That Won’t Break the Bank
What's New for 2026: Alfa Romeo Tonale
America's Quickest Production Car: Corvette ZR1X Does 8.675-Second ¼-Mile, Sub 2 Second 0-60
Next-Generation Acura RDX Will Go Hybrid
That Dodge Charger Got a Hemi In It? Only If It’s a Hellcat.
That New Car Is About $6,400 More Expensive Than Before, Here’s Why
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