The Rolex 24 is a famous car race that lasts for 24 hours. Teams race their cars around a track in Daytona, Florida, and it's known for being very challenging and exciting.
IMSA is an organization that runs car racing events in North America. They organize races where different types of sports cars compete against each other.
IndyCar is another form of racing where cars have open wheels and are built for speed. They race on different types of tracks, including circular ones and road courses.
NASCAR is a type of car racing that's very popular in the U.S. They race cars that look like regular cars but are built to go really fast on special tracks.
Formula One is a very popular car racing series where fast cars compete in different races around the world. It's known for its exciting races and skilled drivers.
Car
Porsche 963
The Porsche 963 is a high-performance race car built for endurance races. It's designed to be fast and handle well on the track, making it a favorite among racing teams.
GTD stands for GT Daytona, which is a category of racing that includes sports cars. This class allows both professional and amateur drivers to compete together.
Car
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is a brand that makes fancy sports cars. They are known for being stylish and fast, and they often race in competitions.
The Mazda MX-5, or Miata, is a small sports car that is really fun to drive. It's known for being light and quick, which makes it a favorite among people who love racing and driving for pleasure.
The Mazda MX-5, often called the Miata, is a small sports car that's very popular for its fun driving experience. It's known for being light and easy to handle, making it great for racing.
The Daytona 500 is a famous car race in the United States, part of NASCAR. It's known for having many cars racing closely together at high speeds, making it very exciting to watch.
Martinsville Speedway is a race track in Virginia where many car races are held. It's known for being small and having tight turns, which makes the races very exciting and close.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a famous racetrack in North Carolina where many NASCAR races take place. It's known for its exciting races and large crowds.
The Chrysler Daytona is a sporty car from the 1980s that was known for its fast engines and cool design. It's remembered by car fans for its unique look and performance.
Super speedways are really big racetracks where cars go super fast. They usually have curved edges to help cars stay on track while going at high speeds.
Drafting is when one car drives closely behind another to go faster. It helps reduce wind resistance, making it easier to speed up, especially on big tracks like Daytona.
In restrictor plate racing, a special plate is placed in the engine to limit how much air can get in. This helps keep cars from going too fast, making races more competitive and safer for drivers.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous sports car from America that is known for being fast and stylish. It's been around for a long time and is often talked about because of its powerful engine and unique look.
The Ford Model T is an old car that changed how cars were made, making them cheaper and easier to buy for regular people. It was made a long time ago and is important in the history of cars.
The Dodge Challenger is a powerful car that looks like the classic muscle cars from the past. It's known for its strong engines and cool design, making it a favorite for people who love fast cars.
The Tesla Model X is an electric SUV that has unique doors that open upwards. It's known for being high-tech and environmentally friendly, making it a popular choice for families who want a spacious car.
The Tesla Model 3 is a smaller electric car that is more affordable than other Tesla models. It's popular because it can go a long distance on a single charge and has lots of modern technology features.
The Ford Falcon is an older car that was made in different styles for many years. It's remembered for its unique look and is often talked about by car enthusiasts who appreciate its history.
The Nissan Leaf is an electric car that was one of the first to be sold widely. It's known for being easy to drive and good for the environment, making it a popular choice for people looking to save on gas.
The Chevrolet Volt is a car that can run on both electricity and gasoline. It was designed to save on gas and be more environmentally friendly, but it didn't sell as well as expected and is no longer being made.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a smaller pickup truck that is comfortable like an SUV. It's popular because it can be used for work and also for fun activities.
The Toyota Tacoma is a tough pickup truck that is great for both work and play. People like it because it lasts a long time and can handle rough terrain, making it perfect for outdoor activities.
The Chevrolet El Camino is a car that has a truck bed in the back, making it useful for carrying things. It's a unique design that people remember fondly from the past.
The Honda Ridgeline is a pickup truck that drives more like a car, making it comfortable to ride in. It has some clever features, like a hidden storage space under the truck bed.
LIVE
Welcome to the gas. I'm very jealous because my co-host Alex Nunez looks like he has a
little collar on his face because he spent a couple of days in Daytona at the Rolex 24
at Daytona. You got some sun down there, didn't you?
I did. I mean, I was in the media center a ton. I was there working, you know, as we've
said before, is a client of mine. But yeah, I did manage to get outside and the weather
was nice. And I am back here in the Ice Cube with you where it is just absolutely dreadful.
I am, of course, Gary Gastfelut. This is the gas, the Gary and Alex show, the official
podcast of American Cars and Racing, AmericanCarsandRacing.com. We're going to be talking about
the Rolex 24. We're going to be talking about the kickoff to the NASCAR season. And we've
got some car news this week from Tesla, Hyundai, and Dodge. And also some NASCAR news from
Dodge. But I do want to go back to the Rolex 24. They said it was the biggest crowd ever
for the race. They didn't say how many people they don't announce an actual figure. But
from your viewpoint, were the stands pretty crowded and was it all weekend or did they
show up for the end?
It was all weekend. The stands are crowded, but it's not. The thing with the Rolex and
IMSA in general is these are huge infield slash like camping races. So while, yes, there are,
you know, for the start and everything, there's a lot of there's plenty of people in the stands,
but it's not like it's not like the Daytona 500 where those grandstands are packed wall
to wall. The thing is, you have 100,000 plus people, most of whom are congregated in the
infield in the just the unbelievable like camping scene that unfolds over, you know,
multiple days there. As with every IMSA race, they open the grid, you know, pre-race. So
the fans, there's a grid walk. The aerial photos of the grid walk are totally crazy. It was
very difficult to move. I got down there. It was before they sort of opened it all the
way up for fans. Fans were staged, but not, you know, on the pit road and everything quite
yet. It was packed. A lot of action, a lot of activity. You know, it was a great crowd. I
mean, I've been now four years in a row to that race, and it feels like it continues to get bigger
and bigger.
You also get a lot more garage access than you do at other racing series. And the big difference
between IMSA and NASCAR and IndyCar is that along with the racing, it's even more about those
cars. If you're into cars, production cars, race cars, there's so many different ones to see,
and you actually can get up pretty close and check them out.
Keep in mind, a lot of people are there for, you know, two, three days. The only place fans
really can't go is literally inside the garages, you know, every and like behind, you know, in the
pit, like in the pits. Otherwise, you have a level of fan access that is, in my opinion, I've
never seen anything like it. The paddock access, all that stuff, it's incredible. And I mean, the
drivers are just out and around. You see drivers all the time. It's not just during like the
autograph session, you know, because guys are going back and forth to cars, especially during
the race, because you have all these driver changes happening.
And they're just looking to kill time in a 24 hour race, too. It's funny how often you just see
drivers like looking for something to do.
Well, and everybody got to kill a lot of time. This time, there was a six and a half hour
caution because of the fog. The fog was a huge story. There was some great photography that came
out because that atmosphere was amazing. But the photos don't even do justice and just how bad the
visibility was. And that's why the caution was was so long. Every year, for the Rolex 24, they do
the fireworks at Daytona 10 p.m. It's a locked in thing, right? And I happened to be on the roof of
the grandstand. We had taken some people up to the spotter area to, you know, see the fireworks,
and you couldn't really see the fireworks. Just anything that was low level, you could see, you
heard them, but you really couldn't see them. So it was the actual opposite of the fireworks
experience. If you saw the Formula One movie, that was a very dramatized version of the fireworks.
But this was about as far opposite of that as you could. But come morning, you know, they went
back to green and the sun came out and the racing was great. You had some incredible light battles
in the final minutes to decide the thing. You had the Philippe Benazzar in the Porsche, you
had a 9.63 winning his third Rolex 24 in a row. You had a huge battle in GTD. You know, it's a
YouTube site. Look at the there's a recap video. It's funny, the recap video, the highlight video
is an hour long, but you can skim through that. The battle in GTD between the AMG and the Aston
Martin with just like minutes left to go was crazy. You had car sideways on the banking
recovery and it was it was very thrilling. It's always a super fun race. So I've said this before,
it's absolutely a race worth going to if you're able to. It's a legit bucket list experience.
Nasser went in third in a row, Penske went in third in a row as well. He's now just the third
driver to do that, joining Elio Castroneves and Peter Gregg. Tough one to pull off, gotta be on
the right team and you gotta be in the right car. But talk about close races. As much fun as the
Rolex 24 is, maybe even more fun is the Mazda MX5 Cup support race that takes place there. Folks,
if you're not familiar with this series, it's all Mazda Miata's. They're all exactly the same
performance. Picture the Daytona 500 pack racing, but on road courses. It's amazing to see these cars
run a nose to tail three, four, five wide the entire race. It never spreads out. It never
spreads out. Little contact, a couple of things, but when you there's no big one, you never have a
big one in this race. The driving skill is amazing. The swarm of bees sound the engines make are
incredible. Folks, check it out. It's on the MC YouTube channel as well. They've got the full races
posted there. But this is an incredible race. And I feel like more people need to know about
this series and they race at Martinsville Speedway now, which is also a blast. It is a cool series
because the racing is so tight on the top end. These drivers are hyper competitive and they're
all really good. And like you said, it's really something to see. These guys are going three
wide through the horseshoe in the infield in Daytona. And then it always comes down to a final
lap. It's always totally crazy coming off that final turn. Like you said, it's three wide, four
wide, five wide in some spots, totally fun, like thrilling racing. And like you said, you can watch
these online and they're super entertaining. And they do two MX five cup races. The one that ends
like sort of during sunset, sundown area is always like a super thriller. And in the media center
at Daytona, you know, anybody that's in there is like, there's always like everybody is either
upstanding around one of the big TVs or just everybody's head is pivoted to look at one of the,
you know, eight billion monitors in there that are carrying the race.
They raise at Martinsville in the fall during the NASCAR weekend NASCAR season is going to be
kicking off this weekend a little further south from that with the clash at Bowman Gray Stadium
in Winston Salem, assuming mother nature cooperates looks like they might get dumped
with some more snow that they just dug that quarter mile track out. Real season, of course,
starts in two weeks at the Daytona 500. I was on a press call this week with Wood Brothers racing
driver Josh Berry. And I got a chance to ask him what he thinks of the new chase post season. And
he of course was one of the drivers last year that made it into the playoffs as a win in your
end driver. He drives the 21 car finished the season 21st in points, but did have that win at
Phoenix that got him into the playoffs along with Jane Van Gizburg who had four wins, but was down
on the points and Austin Dillon who also had one win and wouldn't have pointed into the top 16
without that. That changes this year. No more winning your end. Top 16 drivers and points.
Get it. And here's what he thinks about the new system. It'll be interesting to see how, you know,
if things change with how people race and how they think and how it evolves throughout the season,
but obviously consistency is going to be more important, which I don't think is necessarily
bad thing. And you make each race mean that much more. And that's what they're trying to
accomplish. So it should be fun. Alex, the more this chase news is out there, the more it seems
like everybody is pretty happy with it. I haven't really heard anybody saying they need to go back
to the full points, which was one of the things they were pushing for a lot of people last year.
It seems like everybody's willing to give the chase another chance. I think so. I think everybody
eats with the chase. You know, like you said, it rewards consistency no matter what. Rewards
consistency leading up to the chase. And it rewards high performance leading up to the chase.
And then that carries through to the chase itself. So at least it's not when you get to the playoff,
you're still operating essentially under the same set of rules versus something totally
different than what the drivers have been doing for, you know, a few months leading up to it.
One of the drivers I mentioned that benefited from it last year, the old system,
Shane Bank, is Bergen with the four wins, but not enough points to get into the playoffs. Otherwise,
he wins all the road course races. It sounds like there might be one fewer road course race this
year because the athletic is reporting that Charlotte is going to kill the Roval for the fall
race and switch back to the oval track for the race in the fall that's going to be part of the
chase post season. Everybody's been begging them to do this mostly because the Roval just hasn't
paid off. It's not filling the stands. And with the next gen car, the racing hasn't been great,
whereas it has been great on the intermediate tracks, especially at Charlotte. All the Charlotte
races with the next gen car have been fantastic. NASCAR hasn't confirmed this is going to happen
yet. The report is going to announce it in a couple of weeks. They also haven't denied it. So I would
expect this is going to be happening. They'll probably either announce it this weekend at the
clash or they'll announce it before the Daytona 500. I know a ton of fans are thrilled about it.
And what it does is that was the only road course in the playoff anyway. So now I think that theme
of consistency is supported even further with this conversion. And Charlotte Motor Speedway,
that is another awesome place to go watch racing on the oval. It's amazing. It's the iconic NASCAR
oval. The one you picture when you think about a NASCAR movie, they're up on the banking. It's
quick. They actually have to drive the cars on that thing. It's not a super speedway. They've got
to modify their speed going around those turns. If you've ever done it in a simulator, it's really
tricky. But the best part is every seat in the house is great. You could see the whole track,
1.5 miles excitement the whole time. They wanted to have a road course in the playoffs.
Looks like they finally realized they don't really need that. And then I would expect next year
maybe to move Watkins Glen back in there if they really feel like it's necessary for the chase.
I have a feeling you might see this just stick the way it is for a while. I think everybody's
going to be really happy once we get to the end of this, you know, return to the chase. And you
have consistently good racing throughout. NASCAR just keeps checking off boxes on its apology tour
basically. Making the fans happy. What are the fans want? We'll give it to them. Want to get rid
of the playoffs? Fine. Want the Charlotte oval back? You got it. One driver who's pretty happy
about the changes is Tony Stewart, who did not have the best relationship with NASCAR in recent
years. That's part of the reason Stuart Haas broke up. That's part of the reason he hasn't been in
a car since 2016. But he's going to be in a truck at Daytona as part of the Ram free agent program.
He's going to be the first driver to be driving the number 25 truck for colleague racing. He had a
news conference this week that I joined and it was interesting. He said he hasn't really done much
prep work yet. He's been on iRacing and working with a spotter just trying to get used to things.
He says he picked Daytona in part because it's a big deal and he wanted to help kick off
the Ram brand. He's been racing Dodges in the NHRA for the last couple of years.
So he already has a relationship with them. But he also said, quite frankly, it's easier to drive
on the super speedways. He doesn't have to relearn how to drive the truck in short order. It's more
about drafting. And as it turns out, he has the second most wins of all time at Daytona. 19 wins
second only to Dale Earnhardt, senior who has 34. So he's feeling pretty good about his chances.
We get qualified in the race. The first lap of drafting will be the first lap of the race. So
for us, that's going to be a big deal. Trying to figure out what the truck likes, what it dislikes,
what happens. If somebody tucks down to the door in the center of the corner, what happens when
you pull out to try to make a pass? How much does the air slow the truck down immediately?
And then it's variables like that are the things that I'm going to have to figure out. But for
these kids that are in the truck series, the majority of them are trying to figure out the
same thing. So I feel like making that decision to run Daytona was more out of the things that I
already know about restrictor plate racing and the variables that are the same variables that
these kids are going to have to learn. So I feel like it puts us more on an even playing field
as far as what they know versus what I know right now. So that was really ultimately the
decision for why depict it to the truck race at Daytona. Again, this is another very fan-friendly
thing that's happening. We talked a lot about this free agent program and how smart it is,
at least in your, in my opinion, another huge reason to tune in for the truck race. And it's
just more spotlight on the new manufacturer and trucks. So this is a win-win for everybody.
Tony Stewart is going to do just fine, you know, going around Daytona in this truck. And I think
it's going to be a lot of fun and probably be some, some good moments that come out of,
you know, speed weeks as a result of this. Ram CEO Tim Kaniscus was also on that call.
He's also the head of all the Stellanus brands, including Dodge. As he mentioned to us on the
show a couple of weeks ago, the intention of this program is to eventually get back to the cup series
with Dodge. There's no timeframe on that, but I still can't believe this. During the call,
he said they are still trying to get into the cup series as soon as 2027. Next year's Daytona 500.
Now, truck series, you just got to buy some chassis. It's a spec engine. You just got to design a body,
throw it on there, and you're good to go. Cup series, obviously the next gen car is more of
a spec car, but you still have to design a body. More important than that, you have to develop
your own engine. There is no spec engine. So Dodge is going to have to start building engines again.
The CEO of Colleague Racing, Chris Rice, had suggested that they might take on the engine
program themselves, but this is a huge commitment, tons of money, far more complexity to it than a
truck program. And yet Dodge is trying to make it happen. And John Propes, head of racing development
in NASCAR, he said a couple of weeks ago that he still thinks it could happen. But I was shocked
when Tim said just a year away from next year's Daytona 500 that they're still thinking they can
get onto the track next year. So far, every single person has told me that's absolutely impossible,
that I'm crazy and it's never going to happen. I don't know. I'm not giving up yet. We'll see.
I can see why they would want to do that. So the new charger is still going to be very fresh and new
a year from now. That is an important marketing platform. The automakers do not market their
performance vehicles. In particular, a lot of the marketing dollars go to the mass market stuff.
They go to the trucks, they go to the crossovers and whatever the lease deal is. You see all those
tier two ads that always end with some lease call to action on your local TV station. But for
something like Mustang for GM, there is no Camaro. So it's Chevy's sort of performance flag outside
of the sports car stuff that they do with Corvette. You don't see ads for those cars.
There's not a lot of marketing. I personally think it's crazy not to sort of advertise and
do marketing around your halo vehicles. But that's beside the point. This is the marketing
platform for that. I think this charger is going to do really well and we'll talk more about that
because I know you just drove it. I mean NASCAR is the platform where you get to stand on the
roof and scream about your performance vehicle. And so I'm not surprised that Dodge is looking to
get in there as quickly as possible. And I think that they'll figure out a way.
Tim said he'd rather spend money on racing than on commercials. And as you mentioned,
I did just get a chance finally to drive the six pack powered Dodge Charger. That's how they refer
to the internal combustion engine version of the charger. I drove the charger Daytona EV
a couple of months ago. Actually, two of those. I drove the two door and the four door.
This is the new one that has the turbocharged three liter straight six engine that they call the
six pack. I know why they don't just call the car the Charger six pack six pack powered Dodge Charger
is a little clumsy for me. Nevertheless, I got my hands on a charger scat pack with a 550 horsepower
version of that engine. Base price 56,990 bucks. It'll do zero to 63.9 seconds quarter mile in 12.2
that's quicker to 60 than the old V8 powered scat pack that a 485 horsepower 6.4 liter
V8. No plans to bring the V8 back yet. Caniscus has been saying maybe if we do that we'll do it
Hellcat hasn't suggested that they're going to bring right the 6.2 or the 5.7 liter. So it's
going to be the straight six for now at least. And there's also going to be a 420 horsepower
Charger RT model coming out later this year. $51,990. I got to tell you, I really liked the
charger Daytona. I think they did a good job with it really fast. And I love the car itself. It's
huge. It's a full size car 206 inches long. It's bigger in footprint than a three row Dodge Durango
SUV. Lots of room in the back for six footer. You've got a lift back. So plenty of room in the
trunk as well. But the EV did feel a little bit like an EV. You know they have those weird throttle
pedals sometimes a little jumpy and the steering kind of felt like a video game. The six pack
everything's ironed out. I love this engine. I love it in the Ram trucks as well. Really smooth.
Plenty of power. The steering feels better in this. The ride comfort is excellent. And best of
all come standard with all wheel drive. But it's got a mode where you can lock it in rear wheel drive
and turn off the traction control. So you could do donuts with it. Burnouts. It has a line lock
mode. The electric charger Daytona does not have a line lock mode. That's always in all wheel drive
setting. So this really is the best of both worlds. You know when your storm fern came through here
dumped a bunch of snow in New York. I took this out to my favorite big parking lot the other day.
Spent a couple of hours whipping around. Not just foolishly I drove it normally as well.
And even with all season tires the thing was unflabbable. So it actually is a great
all wheel drive car. But it's also an absolute riot. This is going to be a huge hit. Price
points a little high. Would be nice to see another model in the forties for Dodge to get back that
volume it used to have. But I know they've added a shift to the factory that's building this
expecting to sell a lot of these. And after spending a week with it I'm pretty sure they're
going to sell more than they even think they're going to sell. It's that good. It's really
encouraging to hear. I think the car is great looking. I'm starting to see them out and about.
They're really cool. It sort of does the same thing that the sort of previous generation
charger and Challenger did especially the later ones when you had the wide bodies and stuff where
these things they go out and they sort of sell themselves. The four door is going to outsell
the two door. I'm sure it's a little more functional. It's easier to get in the backseat.
It's as simple as that. I drove the four door electric version. This six pack was a two door.
One other thing when I tested this I know Ford Jim Farley over for the CEO Ford has been talking
about coming up with a four door Mustang. Some people think that's an abomination. It is not
abomination. I would love a four door Mustang sedan that could compete with this much cooler than the
Mustang Mach-E SUV which is an all right vehicle anyway. But I have no issues with Ford making
a four door Mustang as long as they also keep the Cooper out. I think that that's a natural
progression that you'll get a four door Mustang and a four door Mustang will also I would imagine
become the platform for a Mustang Raptor. Yes which they've also been talking about shockingly
because everything's got to be an off-roader these days which still kind of blows my mind.
I don't think Dodge is working on a charge your off-roader anytime soon. We'll see it's got the
all wheel drive but man what a what an absolute pleasure this thing was to drive. You go into
a tentatively especially because the last one was from the Daimler Chrysler days. It had Mercedes
engineering in it. They kept it around for decades and why not because it was a really good car but
they did a nice job on this one all on their own and I'm very excited to see very interested to see
how many of these they do end up selling. I'm expecting to see them all over the place once
they start rolling in to dealers. A couple of cars that are going to be leaving dealers pretty soon
not dealers showrooms because Tesla does not have dealers it has its own direct sales but Elon Musk
during the company's earnings call this week announced that they are finally discontinuing the
Model S and the Model X. The Model S was its first volume product the Roadster came out and then
Model S followed it in 2012 that's really the one that kicked the company off. The Model X was
first launched in 2017. They've been updated along the way not fully redesigned at all
and sales were only 20,000 combined in the US last year with the X making up most of those but
they're finally moving along from them and they're going to replace them in the factory with Tesla's
new humanoid Optimus robot. We'll see how that thing works out but as far as canceling these
vehicles I mean it seems overdue for years they've been saying they just kept them around
for sentimental reasons but it is interesting that they are not going to replace them.
They're moving forward with the Model Y the Model 3 and the new cyber cab. Obviously Elon's just
talking about autonomy and the future people aren't going to actually own cars we're going to be
using the autonomous Tesla robot taxis we'll see how that all pans out but it's interesting that
they shifted away I mean honestly before they almost went out of business launching the Model 3
I always thought they should have stayed a premium brand and just sold the S and the X and other
fancy models and would have had a nice business like that obviously I was wrong the company's
worth 1.5 trillion dollars now for reasons beyond even the cars. Elon Musk said he's
giving them an honorable discharge from service. You think about it history is going to be very
kind to the Model S that is a watershed vehicle if there ever was one I mean really normalized
for everybody the idea of owning an EV which was like this like weird thing that eccentric people
did and then all of a sudden that car was so good and every person who bought these early
Teslas became like a fanatical advocate for it so like it became this sort of self-sustaining
engine where you not only made sense from a technology standpoint you know this is a
very viable vehicle for going EV but it was like it also created the social permission
to make the move to EVs you know obviously Model X followed and that's you know has some
unorthodox styling I feel like the Falcon doors were just done because it looked cool and Elon
liked it and that's kind of how he goes about doing things but it's all everything has worked
so far so not surprised that they're going away a great run for both of those cars but Model S
especially Model S is like I said one of the most important passenger vehicles to ever be
introduced period so it did its thing and it really established the modern EV market none
of these other EVs are around if not for Tesla being successful with the Model S. Well a lot of
more aren't going to be around the companies are getting rid of them but Tesla is still
moving forward with EVs and when you go back to the Model S launch back then you basically
had three things going on you had the Model S you had the Nissan Leaf which was supposed to be
the one that started the EV industry and was going to sell hundreds of thousands and then you
had the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid the Leaf and the Volt didn't pan out the S did not just
because it was a good car but people also must remember the whole supercharger concept that
went with it was what made it possible to own an electric car back in 2012. Yeah that vertical
integration was key you know so every again supercharger the whole supercharger network
seemed nuts on its face right oh my god you're gonna spend all this money building out this thing
well that got people to buy the cars and now everybody is using that exact same network to
charge their cars and then the other thing you know that Tesla did is like the over the air
updates that we all take for granted now you know that you get over the air updates in non EVs
you know also because every car is internet connected but that was part of the the ownership
experience that was so rad like that really radicalized some people into the pro EV camp where
problems were solved via a phone call and then a few minutes later you know something would get
pushed to the car and their issue was solved totally unprecedented at the time and now
effectively a sort of standard operating procedure and basic expectation with the modern
sort of software defined uh connected vehicle not everything Tesla does is a hit of course
the cyber truck has turned into a pretty big flop 20 000 sold last year 38 000 the year before that
one of the analysts on the earnings call asked what the plans are at one point musket said if
it's a flop maybe we'll redesign it to look like a normal pickup and start selling those instead
but he didn't say that this time he said what the plan probably is going to be is that they're
going to transition the cyber truck from being a normal vehicle into a fully autonomous cargo
vehicle and marketed that way as the full self-driving the robotex the technology develops
interesting sort of to me i would have expected them to try to give this another shot with a
maybe more conventional truck that also didn't have a lot of the build problems this one does
it's still sort of a work in progress as teslas usually are but uh they're really moving toward
the whole autonomy is the future thing and i guess the cyber truck and that robo van that they
unveiled with the robo taxi with the cyber cab uh is kind of what they have as far as their vision
of the future is concerned yeah i would be surprised to see it redesigned i think the styling for
the cyber truck is it's it's one of the things that helps sell it to the customers that want it
but it also is a little weird um well i wouldn't bet against anything that elan musk says he's
going to do at this rate even the cyber truck as a quote unquote flop is probably loaded with
key learnings that are going to be applied to all kinds of other things that will benefit tesla
owners one way or the other one other pickup that's on its last legs we're hearing automotive news
reporting that hunday is going to be discontinuing the santa cruz compact pickup earlier than expected
sources are telling the newspaper this the company has not confirmed it said that the
current lifecycle will be completed but didn't go in any details with that sounds like it was
originally expected to be discontinued in mid 2027 but they might do it a little earlier than that
as they get ready to introduce a body on frame mid-sized truck that'll compete with the forward
ranger toyota takoma in 2029 or so uh the santa cruz not a big seller 25 000 last year ford maverick
had 155 000 deliveries last year four puts a lot more effort into the maverick and marketing though
the santa cruz is basically a hunday Tucson pickup think of it as the el camino of hunday
the Tucson is hunday's best seller in the united states and they've basically been winding down
santa cruz production and adding Tucson production because they're built alongside each other at the
same factory look hunday was the third biggest automaker in the world last year in sales behind
volkswagen and toyota i don't think they're sweating this at all but i did just spend a week with the
santa cruz xrt the cool little off roady rugged model and i gotta tell you ever since the santa
cruz launched in 2022 i've been a big fan it is basically a Tucson pickup a lot more refined than
the maverick maybe not a lot more but it's definitely a step above the maverick in refinement but
it doesn't look like a truck the bed's a little smaller the back seat not as roomy as the mavericks
so i understand why people would buy that instead but they're similarly priced big differences you
get the maverick with the hybrid powertrains 37 38 miles per gallon santa cruz you can only get a
normally aspirated four cylinder and then the turbocharged four cylinder with 281 horsepower
that the xrt has but i think they're a blast and they drive really well and if you don't have big
people to put in the back seat they're pretty good also the xrt comes with a rolling locking
tonneau cover for the bed not entirely waterproof but it turns it into a secure storage area and
it has an independent suspension and a trunk under the bed floor like the honda ridge line has
which is something you don't get any other pickups and is very useful kind of a bummer to see this
go but i'm interested to see what they've got planned for that mid-sized truck i remember how
much enthusiasm there was for that i mean you you have to go back a ways but uh remember that
original santa cruz concept took everybody's by surprise including hunday and it took a long time
for them to get there because they needed to get to a platform that they could share to
build it on which is the current generation two son listen the new two son drives great too i like
that uh i like that thing so everything that's good about that you get in the santa cruz but like
you said santa cruz configuration is a little weird and it's not that it's bad it's just that
if you're trying to get someone to buy a truck a traditional configuration like the maverick is
going to win that argument i think pretty much every time and hunday's not going to sweat this
because that capacity is going to go to building two sons and they're going to sell all of them
because they sell those things as as quickly as they can and make them pretty much also the two
son is due for an update so this clears that capacity though they'll invariably introduce the
an all new two son and it'll use up all that capacity anyway as for the replacement very
interesting let's see what happens they're gonna have to market it people here are very
willing to buy trucks but you need to really push it and get the word out whenever that thing comes
around sure it'll be a lot more conventional looking than the santa cruz which i have to
note that when you go to the hunday website they refer to it as a sport adventure vehicle
and it's listed under the suvs they don't even really push yeah as bag that it is a pickup and
it's certainly not a truck by any truck definition well hunday hasn't confirmed the early cancellation
but we'll see how that plays out in the coming months i would expect it to happen i will also
see how this nascar kickoff goes at bowman gray stadium hopefully they get that race in at some
point next week if they really get dumped on down there it just might not happen and we might have
to look forward to daytona alex enjoy the cold like me like i've been for the last couple of weeks
i hope everybody listening is much warmer and we will talk to you next time
the gas is a production of acar media and american cars and recent dot com
About this episode
The episode dives into the excitement surrounding the Rolex 24 at Daytona, highlighting record crowds and thrilling races, including a six and a half hour fog delay. Co-hosts Gary and Alex discuss the upcoming NASCAR season, including changes to the playoff system and the potential return of Dodge to the Cup series. They also touch on the discontinuation of Tesla's Model S and X, and Hyundai's plans for the Santa Cruz pickup. The hosts share their experiences with the new Dodge Charger and the Mazda MX5 Cup, emphasizing the unique aspects of each.
Gary and Alex discuss the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the kick-off to the NASCAR season at the Clash with thoughts from Wood Brother's Racing's Josh Berry, Tony Stewart's entry in the NASCAR Truck Series and Dodge's potential return to the Cup Series in 2027. Gary also got behind the wheels of the gas-powered Dodge Charger and Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT, while Tesla announced it is discontinuing the Model S, one of the most significant cars in history.
