A sway bar is a part of a car's suspension system that helps keep the vehicle stable when turning. It connects the left and right sides of the car to prevent it from leaning too much in corners.
Shocks are parts of a car that help smooth out the ride by absorbing bumps and vibrations from the road. They keep the tires in contact with the ground for better control.
The Rebel Rally is a challenging off-road race for women where they use maps instead of GPS to find their way. It's a test of driving and navigation skills across rough terrain.
Car
Toyota Sentry
The Toyota Sentry is a big luxury car that's usually only available in Japan. It's known for being used by important people, like the emperor, and has powerful engines.
The Chrysler 300 is a large car that looks stylish and is often considered a luxury vehicle. It has a lot of space inside and can have a powerful engine.
The Hyundai Genesis is a fancy car that feels really nice inside and has lots of cool features. It's a great option for people who want a luxury car without spending too much money.
The G80 is a luxury car made by Genesis. It is designed to be very comfortable and has many high-tech features, making it a good choice for people looking for a premium sedan.
The BMW M3 is a fast and sporty car that is designed for people who love to drive. It's known for being powerful and fun to handle, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
The Volkswagen GTI is a fun and sporty car that is popular for its speed and versatility. It's a great option for those who want a practical car that can also be exciting to drive.
The Ford Expedition Tremor is a version of the Ford Expedition that is built for off-road driving. It has special features that help it handle rough terrain better.
An iPod style control is a round control that you can turn or swipe, similar to how you would use an old iPod to select music. It's a way to control features in the car without many buttons.
The Lincoln Navigator is a large luxury SUV that is very comfortable and has many high-tech features. It's made for people who want a lot of space and luxury in their vehicle.
The Ford Explorer is a big family car that can carry a lot of people and their stuff. It's designed to be comfortable and practical for everyday use, especially for families.
Towing capacity is how much weight a vehicle can pull behind it, like a trailer or boat. It's important to know if you plan to use your vehicle for towing things.
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that is easy to drive and great for city life. It’s known for being reliable and having a good amount of space inside for passengers and luggage.
The Volkswagen Golf R is a more powerful version of the regular Golf. It has all-wheel drive, which helps it handle better in different weather conditions, making it a great choice for those who want a sporty car that can be used every day.
An infotainment screen is a touchscreen in the car that lets you control music, navigation, and other features. A bigger screen usually means more options.
An automatic transmission is a system in a car that changes gears for you, so you don't have to do it manually. It's easier to drive, especially in traffic.
Auto stop-start is a feature that turns off the car's engine when it's not moving, like when you're stopped at a red light. This helps save gas and is better for the environment.
A stop-start system helps save gas by turning off the engine when you're not moving, like at traffic lights. When you press the gas pedal, the engine starts again so you can drive.
The EPA is a government group that makes sure cars are safe for the environment. They also check how much gas cars use, helping people understand fuel efficiency.
Car
Ram pickup trucks
Ram pickup trucks are strong vehicles used for carrying heavy loads. They often have powerful engines, making them good for work or personal use.
Stellantis is a big car company that makes many different brands of vehicles, like Chrysler and Jeep. It was created when two companies, Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group, combined.
The Jeep Compass is a small SUV that looks cool and can handle some rough roads. It’s a good choice for people who want a mix of city driving and outdoor fun.
The Chrysler Voyager is a family van that has lots of room for kids and their stuff. It’s designed to be comfortable for long trips and easy to get in and out of.
The Jeep Wrangler is a tough car that can go off-road and handle rough trails. It's popular among people who like adventure and outdoor activities because it can drive over rocks and through mud.
The Jeep Gladiator is a truck that can also go off-road, just like the Jeep Wrangler. It has a pickup bed in the back for carrying things, making it useful for both work and play.
The Dodge Ram is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and tow trailers. It’s built tough for work but also has a comfortable interior for everyday driving.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a fancy SUV that is great for both city driving and off-road adventures. It has a nice interior and lots of features, making it comfortable for families.
The Toyota RAV4 is a small SUV that is very popular because it’s reliable and good on gas. It has plenty of room for people and their things, making it a great family car.
The Jeep Renegade is a small SUV that looks different and can go off-road. It’s perfect for people who want a fun car that can also handle some rough paths.
The Dodge Nitro is a small SUV that looks tough and can handle some rough roads. It was made for a few years and is known for its unique style.
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All right, this is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.
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All right, apparently she didn't lose a limb on the phone with us remote because she claims
she doesn't have a car.
Jill Seminello, how are you?
I'm doing all right and no, I did not lose a limb.
You know what?
I didn't even really get, I've got some odd bruises on my arms and things like that.
But other than that, I am perfectly intact.
I am not injured and I had a really good rally.
So you were home from the rebel rally, no injuries, any damage to the vehicle?
Yes-ish.
So not anything catastrophic.
My partner lives in Phoenix and she drove from Needles, California back to Phoenix,
no problem.
But we had a small sway bar issue and I think they took it out and then oddly she had just
bought new shocks for the vehicle and one of the shocks came apart while we were going
over some of the rough terrain.
But I have to give a huge shout out to the mechanics who are on the rebel rally.
They are just freaking amazing because they were able to put the shock back together and
take the sway bar out and we were able to complete the rally without any further issues.
And they work on trucks every day, all day, all night.
They are very often up until like 6am working on vehicles that get damaged during the rally
and they are just, they're amazing.
And I mean the terrain this year was really rough.
There's been some rain and very harsh winds and things like that out in California that
have just utterly wrought havoc upon the terrain and you know there's a really good photo
of us being stuck in a crevice because we thought we could go over it but we could not
and we had to get winched out.
So quick question about the sway bar, did it break or what happened to the sway bar?
I think it was one of the control arms to the sway bar that broke so I don't think they
took the full sway bar out, they just took out the control arm.
For people who don't know sway bar is a really important part of on-road control and it connects
the left with the right side of the wheels.
Was this the front axle?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But a sway bar can compromise articulation in off-road situations limiting how far up
and down a wheel can go.
So some vehicles will actually have automatic sway bars that you can disconnect from the
cab to allow that to happen.
Alright so you're back, does your partner have all her limbs?
She does in fact have all of her limbs and we still like each other after eight days
of spending I guess I should say after 80 hours in a car together.
That's crazy because I'm like done with you after an hour of the podcast.
No you're not, you're stuck with me and you like me.
Yeah.
Yeah but no I mean it was a lot of fun, it was challenging this year was I think probably
it was the 10th anniversary, it was the most difficult year ever and you know we had anywhere
between 20 and I would say 25 checkpoints every day so longitude and latitude checkpoints
that we had to plot on a map and then go find using a map.
So no cell phones, no GPS, no anything in the car to help you find where you're going
and you know you're using magnifying glasses and I often would use a magnifying glass on
top of a magnifying glass to try and see where the paths were going on a topographical
map but it's really cool, it's a lot of fun, you meet some amazing people, you get to see
some stunning scenery, I just posted so I carry with me what I call my magical unicorn
camera and it's like a crappy kid's camera that has no zoom because you can't have zoom
on cameras for the rally because they don't want you to cheat and yeah so I take the magical
unicorn camera and I just posted like 60 or 70 photos to my personal Facebook page that
kind of show some of the conditions and the beauty of the terrain that we were covering,
we got sheaped one day, literally surrounded by hundreds of sheep so that photo is on me.
That's never happened to me. It's an experience, I'll be honest with you and we're just like
oh what do we do here? I guess we don't move, we wait until the sheep pass. There's another
rainbow day in the morning as we were getting started and I managed to capture a photo of
the truck with the rainbow ending in the bed of the truck so yeah I mean they're not the
greatest quality photos but I think they capture the moment so it was a lot of fun, it was really
challenging and I learned a lot of things about myself and I learned a lot of things like new
skills so it was all around successful. Well there you go, welcome back glad you have all
your limbs, Randy and I had different limbs in the pool, he had left leg, I had nostril.
Oh well you know, I went off the board. I did blow my nose a lot because my allergies were in
high gear but I did keep my nose, I kept my nose. Well welcome back. Thank you. So much news while
you were gone, so much news. An interesting story now we're going to talk later in the show to
Stephanie Brinley, she's the Associate Director of Research and Analysis, S&P Global and like our
good friend, Sam Fiorani, she gets quoted a lot but very respected analyst in the industry. We'll
be talking about big news from Stellantis, Stellantis talking about a 13 billion with a
B dollar investment in North American manufacturing. Whenever you hear those numbers, you know, lots
of grains of salt because a lot of that stuff may have been announced already, they were going to
do it but they package it for news but still 13 billion is 13 billion and there's this crazy,
crazy factory shuffle happening which is going to make people in the Chicago area very happy
and people in Canada very unhappy. So we will talk about that with Stephanie. Interesting news from
Toyota, it's a little bit scattered and not very detailed but Toyota has been building a car in
Japan called the Sentry. This is a large luxury sedan only sold in Japan usually for the emperor
to ride around in but it's a big sedan sometimes powered by a V8, sometimes by a V12 but a cool
looking thing kind of coveted by Americans and I think a couple have been gray marketed to the US
over the years. In fact, I know that I've seen some but Sentry is about to become a Toyota luxury
brand positioned above Lexus. Now we don't know a lot about this but Lexus quite successful,
especially successful in the US and if you're thinking about like where this would fit,
would Lexus, would Toyota want to position this between Lexus and Bentley for example?
Bentley being kind of high-endy but not as high-end as Rolls Royce or do they want to go full on
Bentley? The thing about Bentley is Bentley is kind of sporty so the positioning of this is
interesting. There's nothing sporty about the Sentry right? It's like the world's finest Buick
is kind of where that thing is positioned so we'll see where that goes. Interesting story but
a couple years ago Toyota did add an SUV to the Sentry brand so they did expand that a little bit
but again they were only selling them in Japan. Yeah, I've been looking at pictures and I'm just
it's a cross between to me like a Chrysler 300 and Rolls Royce. Yeah, it's a little old school
and there's some sort of classic 80s American look to it too and I really like the old school
composite headlights that aren't fully integrated. It's kind of a cool look. Yeah, I'm excited to
see what this is all about but we'll see. Toyota takes quality so seriously that they don't want
to roll out a new brand in any hurry so they may announce this now and we may not see squat for five
years. Fair point. You know what I find really interesting too is you know we have Hyundai who
launched their luxury brand Genesis and it's hard to believe that what that's been more than five
years at this point and like their vehicles are doing amazingly well and so and their rollout was
very fast so I'm curious to see if Toyota takes a page out of the Genesis book or how they how
they handle it. Yeah and Genesis' early launch at the first few years was badly botched by a
bunch of things. They just had two cars when the world was moving the crossovers the G80 and the
G90 neither of which was interesting. The G90 was based on the Hyundai Equus, the G80 was based on
the Hyundai Genesis so there's some naming confusion and then the G90 Genesis was only
available through dedicated Genesis stores whereas the G80 could be sold everywhere. It was super
confusing. Dealers were mad. Dealers were told they needed franchises or they didn't need franchises
and it took forever for them to get a crossover out but when they did, dang. Yeah, dang and I
drove here in a Genesis. I drove the the GV70 3.5T and I forgot what they call the top trim
level. Is it prestige but what would a delightful car and speaking of Bentley with a Bentley like
interior. Oh yeah. Yeah, Genesis is on fire. Do you have the one with the orange seatbelts? I do.
I love that. Yeah, it's insane. Yeah and then we're waiting for a performance car from Genesis
under the Magma sub-brand and a big crossover called GV90. Yep. So we'll see when we get those
soon. I want you to have a review to talk about. We're going to talk about the Volkswagen GTI
in a moment but I need to talk to you about something that confounded me and you're like
an interiors control person. Yes. I recently drove the Ford Expedition Tremor and Tremors
Tremors the new off-road sub-brand but that's not the thing here. The thing here. I know what the
thing is. The thing here and they really shouldn't do this to old people like me. The steering wheel
is remarkably clean and free of controls. Yes. And there's just. Except. Except. I'm both sides of
the spokes. It's just it's just like a two-spoke steering wheel more or less. I think there's a
bottom spoke but who cares. But on either side thumb access is is what appears to be an iPod style
control. If you remember the original Apple iPod no markings no words just a circle with a circle
in the middle of it like a concentric ring around the circle and you just had to stroke that move
it slide it or press it and all I wanted to do all I wanted to do was adjust the steering wheel.
There are no external steering wheel controls so you have to press this thing in and it turns
out it's the right controller and then move your hand around the ring and slowly the functions appear
and then you press there or the center to activate those functions and in this case you just get
four arrows and it is delightfully simple once you know how to do it. Maybe a couple more steps
than you would if there was actually a physical control but the lack of physical controls does
leave the interior very clean and the steering wheel looking very clean. So I guess I abide but
but it took me forever to figure this out and there was no way I was going online or checking
an owner's manual. I had to figure this out for myself. You were not going to RT FM. I was not.
So question for you. Yeah. You've seen these controls. Have you used these controls?
Yeah. Yeah. So have you driven the new Lincoln Navigator yet? I have. Fabulous vehicle. These
controls are very similar the ones you see on the Lincoln Navigator but the Lincoln Navigator has
steering wheel side mirror and the pedal controls all through that thumb wheel whereas the Ford
Explorer has the side mirror and steering wheel can or no not the side mirror the pedal and steering
wheel controls only through the thumb wheel and they retained the physical controls for the side
mirror adjustments and when I asked them why they did that the reason that they said was because Ford
expedition owners are going to tow more than the Lincoln Navigator owners and they will need to
adjust their side mirrors more frequently and so having the physical controls on the door just
made more sense for that vehicle specifically and interesting. So they do acknowledge that there's
an extra step there. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. And and I you know I will say in as we are moving
to a much more tech forward integration in vehicles you know there are some things that are not ideal
like adjusting I believe Polestar Rivian Tesla they all have you adjust your side mirrors and
your steering wheel through the center screen. Right. And if you're not fast enough the screen
disappears in the middle of your adjustments or whatever and you're just like I don't want to
go back and redo this again and so you know to me that is less than ideal and so I think this is an
interesting solution that makes it tech forward makes it the interior look clean but still gives you
a quote unquote physical control to be able to maneuver so it's kind of an in between thing and
I definitely think it's something an owner would get used to but you're right there are no markings
and if you don't know you don't know. Yeah and I think too if you're not a journalist who hops
around you know I get into a different car every week sometimes two cars and and I have to do this
stuff more often than anyone else would than most other people would. So for me it's an annoyance
but once you've set this thing you know and especially if you set it to memory you know in
case your your wife is dwarfish like mine then you never have to deal with it so it's not a big deal
anyway. You a dude will never have to deal with it again because you wear the same shoes with the
same sole every day but women might find it a little bit more annoying if they wear high heels,
tennis shoes, you know converse shoes, platform shoes that will get a little bit more annoying.
It's not a set it and forget it. Oh it's moccasins. Uh-huh. I wore um crocs slippers a lot during the
rally. Rope sole sandals. Yeah. All right. All right enough of that. Enough of my belly aching.
Volkswagen GTI. You recently drove the Volkswagen GTI. Was it the right car? Well the Golf R.
The Golf R. I'm sorry yes. Oh oh oh actually a different vehicle. I just drove the GTI. You drove
the Golf R. Okay. Yes. So explain the difference. Uh so the Golf R is more more more performance,
more expensive, more sinister looking. It's got more you know more stuff.
You know the new Golf R got a little bit of a refresh for this year. It has 200 or 328 horsepower,
295 pound feet of torque which is an increase of 13 horsepower over the 2024 model. So it's in 2025
um and you know you've got a bigger infotainment screen this year. I think 10.25 inches.
Ambient lighting. Digital cockpit. So behind the wheel gauges are all digital and I don't know.
So the Golf R is one of those vehicles. So my husband and I used to have a GTI. We love the GTI
and I really like the Golf R. I think it handles really well. You know I personally am not a fan
of any kind of an automatic transmission even though this one is is really good.
But there is no manual transmission for the 2025 model year which breaks my heart a little bit.
For the Golf R there is for the GTI. Is there? I didn't think there was. Oh I thought there
I stand corrected. The one I drove was an auto. Yeah so if you want a manual transmission in either
of these vehicles you're going to have to go back to the 2024 model year. There may be some
still available but they're new quote unquote new but probably not. Probably not. Yeah but overall
I thought this was a fun vehicle easy to drive in the city really fast and peppy on the highway.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I mean one thing I don't understand is you have a Golf R which is
in essence a performance vehicle and it always irks me when you have a performance vehicle and
they put auto stop start on it because that is for fuel economy savings and I'm like whoever
is buying this car doesn't necessarily they're not buying it for fuel economy. No the buyer
doesn't care but Volkswagen does. They've got to get their own numbers up and you just still end
up stuck in traffic where it actually ends up working and making a difference. I get it but I
don't know. It creates lag. So how often when you were driving it aggressively like having fun with
it did the stop start kick in? Well I mean it didn't kick in when you were driving aggressively
but like as soon as you're stuck in stopping go traffic on Chicago highways which is like every
time you drive the you know you stop the engine shuts off then you put your foot on the gas and
then it starts back up again and then and it's like you know and I'm just like come on and I mean
yeah you can turn it off. What was that noise? Yeah that noise. You can turn it off but it's just
annoying that there's no default to turn it off and keep it off. Yeah I mean I guess so I guess
it's out of character for the car but ultimately I don't know if it impacts the driving experience
that much and it's saving you some gas and it's saving Volkswagen some numbers.
I don't know. I'm still unconvinced that it actually saves anybody gas in real world driving.
I think it saves gas in a vacuum like when you're stopped at a two-minute railroad crossing
but I'm unconvinced in stopping go traffic that it makes any kind of a difference.
The numbers are there. I mean the EPA believes that they do and I remember
of course they do. I remember a good friend Nick Kappa at Ram he's not with Ram anymore
he's further up the ladder at Stellantis fully explaining the impact on the Ram pickup trucks
including the Ram Hemi and the savings at a justice stoplight were actually relatively
significant according to him. Of course of course. I'm not suggesting I don't believe Nick I do.
I just have to say these things. Yes. He has to say these things. I'm inclined to believe it matters.
Yeah but no I mean overall I love this vehicle. I mean the infotainment system
is a lot and you know everything is through the infotainment screen. The one thing that
really irks me the most about the infotainment screen is there is no button or you know hot button
to turn your cameras on. Like you have to have your vehicle in reverse to put your cameras on so
there's no way to just turn the cameras on. I do appreciate that capability a great deal.
Yeah and sometimes I have to park cars. My driveway situation is complicated with my neighbors and
I don't pull cars in until late in the evening and I'm often backing up against a curb and I
really really really don't want to scratch the wheels so I have to go pass the curb and back up
to engage the camera in a lot of vehicles. Yeah and so I just I wish I wish and it was funny because
when I got the is the Taos same situation and I actually emailed Volkswagen they're like oh if you
have any questions let me know and I'm like oh I do have a question. I'm like is there a way to get
a hot button for the camera on the top nav for the infotainment system and they're like no and
they look you know I got the sensor like why would you want such a thing and I'm like I just
you know I want it. I want to be able to hit that. And especially if you know if you're in a vehicle
that is that has the around view camera I think the Golf R only had the backup camera but if you're
in a vehicle that has the around view camera being able to hit that button and just seeing
immediately what's going on around your vehicle without having to put it into gear
is super helpful like if there's toys in front of the vehicle behind the vehicle you know if there's
anything going on from the curb to you know another vehicle you don't have to put the gear you know
the vehicle in gear in order to see I want the hot button so that that's the end of that story but
I mean overall I think the infotainment system again it's something an owner would get used to as
you pointed out earlier you and I are in and out of these vehicles like all these vehicles different
brands different manufacturers different setups you know every week and so it just can get a little
bit much to to go from one vehicle to another and we don't always have time to read the manual.
No we got to take a break here but real quick people should know that the Golf R and the GTI
are the only Golfs available in the US for 2025 and I think that was true in 2024 the Golf is
basically gone from the US and then the Golf R is pricey what did yours cost? It was it had some
special packages on it so I believe it was more than 50 like $50,000 base prices 47. That's a bunch
of money yeah that's a bunch of money I love driving that car I think I like the GTI more
it just feels a little lighter and more flingable even though it's a lot slower but
yeah the really delightful vehicles to drive all right we're going to take a break when we come
back we speak to Stephanie Brinkley associate director of research and analysis at S&P Global
stick around questions or comments drop us a line at carstuff at consumerguide.com
that's carstuff at consumerguide.com
welcome back to the carstuff podcast and we're back this is the consumer guide carstuff podcast
I'm Tom she is Jill Jill is remote today Jill how you doing?
I'm tired I'm really tired that's how I'm doing you have a lot of news to catch up on
I know well you know what's really funny is I asked chat GPT for the important you know news
things that happened um since October 8th which is essentially when I went off when I went offline
and it like did a really bad job of giving me a summary I've been very disappointed lately with
grok I've been looking up stuff when I'm writing car reviews and and I see stuff that I know is
wrong and I'm like are you sure I actually type are you sure and he goes and then grok responds
let me check and it's like sorry and then it comes up with the right stuff I'm like what the hell
so much for AI AI is not making a difference it should but as we noted earlier uh Stalantis
made a big announcement investing 13 billion in US infrastructure they're calling it the largest
investment in Chrysler brand history and there's a lot there to unpack and it seems like new CEO
Antonio Filosa is anxious to make some news and this is part of that to make sense of this all on
the phone Stephanie Brinley associate director of research and analysis at s&p global Stephanie how
are you good how are you guys doing I'm not going to speak for Jill I'm dandy I'm tired yeah I get
imagine you're tired you've probably been covering the story we're talking about non-stop now for a
couple of days oh that was not too bad you know you get some terrorist stuff so you get off the
weekend oh good with the with Stalantis investing for money I know the Stalantis investment was a
pretty big announcement and moved around some production expectations that we had had before
yeah Stephanie real quick tell us about s&p global and what you do there
sure sb I'm with s&p global mobility our automotive arm and you know we look at the industry we look
at production and forecast and registration and sales all kinds of data and and try to help our
clients and help the world understand you know what's next what's happening and and how to make
better decisions within your business now this big announcement that came from Stalantis and
larger investment and and as people have noted probably a lot of this investment was known and
it's discussed before but it's being packaged for media consumption but 13 billion is 13 billion
that seems significant but attached to it is some really big factory news news that's going to make
people in Illinois very happy and people in Canada really upset yeah that's that's a good summary
right so we have the deep compass was expected to be produced in Brampton Canada and we'll now
be involved with here and that but again two point that was an investment that was known but it
shifts the plant and I think it shifted amounts a little bit and and at the end Stalantis is
you know says they still want another product to go into Blanton and they're looking into
figuring out what that's precisely going to be we have a high tariff situation that is affecting
the decision-making it is affecting the process and but we have to a little wait to see what's
coming into Brampton their intent is to have something go in there now Brampton most recently
was building the old LX cars right the Chrysler 300 the Dodge Charger the Dodge Challenger
and when those vehicles became electric they moved to production to my correct to Windsor
Canada because they did yes they did so Brampton is idle Brampton is idle and like I said the
intention was to have it idle for a while and put the compass in there and and that's been changed
to to Belvedere and we just don't know what product is going into into Brampton instead
and then the Belvedere story is interesting because for a long time it seemed as if Stalantis had
promised the UAW they were going to build a truck there probably a mid-sized truck and
at some point it was going to be electric I think or something like that but now it's building the
compass which came from Mexico if I'm correct and and the all-new Cherokee which could be an exciting
new vehicle is is how many jobs is that and is this does this meet the promise that the
that Stalantis made the UAW yes it should meet what they they expected to give UAW the thing
around 3300 jobs for Belvedere and compass is interesting because it's moving up from Toluca
to some degree but the new compass is already in production in Europe and that's actually what we'll
get the new generation of compass okay so we're getting compasses now or we'll be getting them
from from Italy no no no no we're not getting them from Europe we're we're still getting them from
Mexico but the version of compass that we see will be the all-new compass not that not the same vehicle
that's produced in Toluca okay exactly the same so there's no update or anything like that no not
exactly the same we're getting the new compass we're not getting the old compass and if I read the
tea leaves right the pickup truck is the Stalantis is going ahead with a new midsize pickup truck
under the Ram brand and they're moving that production from theoretically from Belvedere
that never happened to um Toledo is that correct that is correct so there's some shifting around
of where they want to where they want to build things but at least for the UAW agreement they
are fulfilling their contract that's that's another element with Brampton though because there was a
commitment to Unifor um to build a new product in Brampton so they do still have they do sell
the commitment to Canada to work through when we say commitment what does that mean and how much of
that is enforceable that's a good question um it's it's enforceable to a degree but most
contracts will also have you know sort of market conditions clauses in there um and it's enforceable
to a degree but to the point that it's completely not profitable there's there's ways to move around
it um and and you do have new contract negotiations coming up I think at the end of this year or next
year next year we have new contract negotiations so um they're they're pretty solid for the most
part but there are occasions when sometimes things have to change and when these contracts were
negotiated no one was expecting that you would have a 25 percent tariff right non-USA MTA compliant
vehicles out of Canada yeah that's the craziness so um moving over to Windsor Windsor now builds
the minivans the the pacifica and the um um Voyager and the electric versions of the old um
muscle cars that plant's still kind of underutilized right it is um we would expect to see another
Chrysler product in there down the road and also the um the internal combustion engine versions
of the charger have started production so we should see a little bit of a pickup and volume
with with the ice versions of those cars as well and then back to Brampton for just a second
what are the odds that Brampton ends up shuttered I don't put those odds
I'll let them tell us when that's going to happen now I I really I really can't tell you all right
and then what do we know then if they're moving the pickup truck that was originally going to go
to Windsor I'm not Windsor I'm sorry I'm getting very confused now Belvedere uh to Toledo what does
that tell us about that truck that's a good question I'm not sure what how much we can read into
this is one of the things that I was asking now I'm like okay so does that mean it's going to be
you know on the next gen Wrangler um and there could be some more similarities there um but it's
not it's not clear yet um that was a product that was sort of earmarked for Belvedere but it's very
well what possible that the what they thought the platform might be three or four years ago
is might be different so we might see a little bit of a product expectation an evolution as to
what that would be I'm building a mid-sized pickup truck truck profitably is not a simple
process yeah it's really it really is not um especially when they don't really have one
uh if you look at if you look at um if you look at Nissan if you look at at General Motors and
for their leveraging an international pickup truck that they have and Insalantus currently
does not have a body on frame international mid-sized pickup truck to be able to start to work
from yeah my my thinking Stephanie and let me know what you think is is that if in fact they're
moving the pickup to Toledo then it's probably going to be very similar to the Jeep Gladiator
and that puts them at a serious price disadvantage I think with the rest of the field Gladiator is
pretty expensive almost too expensive for that segment and I don't know how much less expensive
they can build a ram that will we'll wait and see kind of how that evolves and whether or not it's
I wouldn't it wouldn't be exactly the current Gladiator because we are talking about 2028 and
we are talking about product platform changes and they know they know what pricing issues they
have to deal with and they know that they're not likely Jeep does get a little bit of a premium
for being a Jeep right and that ram may not be able to live up to right so ram pricing is not
going to be the same as deep pricing they're not going to have a mid-sized truck from ram from
Jeep that are identical pricing interesting interesting too they'll have to compete with
each other so what other stories are you following this week oh we've been well looking at it again
you know I said some more tariff news is happening there's a medium heavy duty commercial vehicle
tariff has got a little bit more information on that this weekend there's the opportunity for a
little bit of a reduction in steel and aluminum tariff depending on when you build it where you
build and how much commitment there is to u.s. increasing u.s. steel and aluminum production
and an offset that that automakers can use has been extended so a little bit of news on that front
I was surprised to learn that the big truck market the medium duty and big truck market
was as big as it is but I heard a number correct me if I'm wrong with 25 billion dollars annually
I would have to double check that particular number I usually think about units yeah well
what kind of unit volume do we see there yeah I know right you're going to say that
like wait a minute that's the number I should have but it's not my it's not my head right now
I'll put that one up that's fine oh but but one of the interesting things I learned about this
and I don't know a lot about big trucks but I didn't realize that Volvo for instance owned
Mac I guess I knew that at some point but I forgot but that those vehicles are built almost entirely
in America yeah Volvo is interesting it is not the Volvo but that you know is a passenger car
right company it is a completely separate company I'm a completely independent of the
Volvo passenger car that is part of Chile completely different companies and yes they
they own Mac and and several other brands and then the big volume player there I think is Freight
Liner right who does that Daimler trucks north America and Freight Liner is one and Picard is
also a significant player in this room and they've got some some exposure to the tariffs
they do especially Freight Liner international has some exposure to the tariffs as well
with Mexico's production and some of the vehicles that they produce in Mexico they
have the ability to produce them in the US but some of the product lines right now are currently
all Mexico and so we might see some shifting around in that and looking to figure out how that
plays out and of course with with medium heavy trucks similar to light duty vehicles that the
tariff applies to if it's a USMCA compliant vehicle which we think most of these are it applies
25 percent to the nine US content of the vehicle so it gets it gets pretty messy pretty quickly
now I don't know the answer to this question at all just popped into my head so forgive me
but the engine in these vehicles very very very expensive are those built domestically or are
those coming from Canada or Mexico there's a mix there's a mix of those some are from Mexico and
some are from Canada some are from the US mix everywhere Ford has Canadian engine production
I believe for one and so yeah we do have a mix of you know that even for medium heavy duty
the North American supply chain has evolved over between 30 and 50 years and and I say that we had
30 years of NAFTA and we had another 20 years before that of Canada and a US agreement so this
ecosystem was built over an incredibly long period of time and and everyone is exposed
well now that you've mentioned the ecosystem I have a really theoretical question for you
but right now we're in the middle of one administration or early in one administration
assuming that the administration changes in three and a half years three years how easy would it be
to rebuild and go back to what we had and would we want to do that it depends on how much has
really changed I there's been a lot of careful movement and I'm trying to understand what the
tariffs are going to be and how long they're going to be and it depends on how much change
happens and right now we've seen relatively small amounts of change in terms of actual
production announcements like the the Sri Lankan conversation we were just having
they still expect to build something from from Brampton but they did move composite from
from Toluca or from intending to bring it from Canada back to the back to the US
and we've looked at Toyota I think is moving around some RAP4 production or they have RAP4
production in Canada and the US so they'll look at where they source from for US market
versus Canadian market we've seen we've seen elements like that shift but we we haven't seen
a wholesale shift yet it's interesting you say that it takes it takes a few years to do that
even if you look at GM moving some laser and Equinox ice production up to US that's not going
to happen until late 27th just because it takes time it's interesting you say that just because
it feels like so much is changing and this is still from the I'm kind of outside the production
I don't know much about manufacturing it just feels like this announcement from Stalantis is
huge but you're saying it's not that big a deal no uh no I'm saying there isn't that much change
necessarily I mean you look at the plan for Cherokee was always Cherokee to come from from
Belvedere that was that was the plan when they announced they're bringing the Cherokee back
and they're moving the truck to Ohio yeah moving the truck to Ohio so that isn't moving either
Cherokee or the truck outside of of Mexico or Canada just follow the only the only sourcing
change from one country to another really is the compass going to Belvedere instead of
being in Brampton but Cherokee when they said they were bringing it back was coming up to
Belvedere and the truck got moved within the United States that outside of the United States.
I got you Stephanie I'm so glad you have an important investment but it yeah it's a little
bit more it's a little bit more fluid well I'm glad we spoke to you because you brought a lot of
clarity to all this thank you. Stephanie how can we keep track of what you're doing and what's
going on at S&P Global Mobility? scglobal.com and we have a section on that website that has
our automotive insights and and we always have constant constant flow of new information there.
Awesome Stephanie thank you so much for your time today. Thank you. All right that was Stephanie
Brindley with uh she's the associate director of research and analysis at S&P Global Mobility
we're going to take a break and come back and
jump. Yeah I never know when that's at because I'm remote I don't know when to cut in it's quiz time.
It's quiz time stick around. Questions or comments? Drop us a line at carstuff at consumerguide.com.
That's carstuff at consumerguide.com.
Hi it's Brendan from Sons of Speed. You've heard me and my colleague Paul on the carstuff podcast
whenever Jill's out of town but now you can hear us every week on the We Are Motor Driven podcast
along with Jennifer from Auto Exotica and Harvey from Rides and Drives. We talk about
everything from sports cars to trucks to EVs and our favorite speed so join us each week by
searching We Are Motor Driven wherever you get your favorite podcast.
Welcome back to the carstuff podcast and we're back this is the consumer guide carstuff podcast
I'm Tom and she's Jill Jill how are you? I'm still tired and I do have to say I should point out like
because I'm remote it is really hard to like interrupt. Yeah sorry about that yeah we should
screen or something because yeah I couldn't I couldn't see or raise a finger or anything my bad.
You've got a lot of say and a lot of questions and I thought they were all good. No I love this
and Stephanie knows all this stuff so it was great and I mentioned I was just talking to
producer Randy during the break. Stephanie is quoted nearly as much as Sam our good friend Sam
Fiorani in the industry publications so she knows her stuff. Yeah she does well you know I feel
like while I was gone on Rebels she was actually in Chicago and did a presentation during the
the mama spring or fall rally or something but she was here giving a presentation to media about
automotive stuff. Oh yeah was she at Chicago Drives Electric? Maybe that was it. Yeah yeah
I was like oh sorry to miss. I've met Stephanie it's been a long time though but yeah she's sharp.
All right it's quiz time but first why don't we talk a little bit about your social media.
Okay yes you can find me at Jill Siminello so first and last name mushed together
and I have the hashtag Cartageur so on any social medium that you're on if you're looking for me
and you can't smell my name because it is a lot of eyes and L's you just type in Cartageur like
and you should be able to find me that way but TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
all the things I'm there. You know what's crazy just a crazy coincidence first and last name mushed
together is my Charles Swab password. Good good to know where are your capitals.
See I don't want to give that away. All right you haven't had a quiz in two weeks three weeks.
I will say I listened to last week's episode and I got all of the grand versus grand
but I did not I did not I would have thought pumpkin was not the deodorant like who wants pumpkin
deodorant. I don't know I don't know I am super interested in the revitalization and rebirth of
Old Spice. They took a dead brand right they just took a dead brand and like this brand's dead why
don't we run with it yeah yeah I mean the commercials are hilarious they are and that's
I mean that's something you do it's a name that people recognize but they don't take seriously
so you've got free reign to do whatever you want to with it and their marketers have they went goofy
all right speaking of goofy you know who was goofy you David Dunbar Buick okay he wasn't goofy at
but he's the founder of Buick Buick was funded in 1899 became a part of General Motors in 1908
and this is all leading up to something are you ready okay was it a Buick
okay I'm going to give you a real model name you have to tell me if that was ever a Buick
okay super easy in super super easy are you ready yeah all right number one we've got the music
we're ready to go uh no long pauses um wildcat yes that's it no conversation no headscratching
no no yeah it was yeah it was a concept car in 1953 and it was an actual model between 62 and 70
and it was kind of like the big car version of the Riviera it was just a big coupe with a
good looking thing it came back as a concept recently as well oh I forgot about that yeah
and that's actually that was yeah there was an electric coupe concept really interesting looking
and I thought that they were going to run with that in China but they never did Buick of course is
big in China essentially what they called that is a design concept and so what they did is they
pulled pieces of it like pieces of the grille that you see in current vehicles the new emblem
that is like 3d was debuted on the wildcat and so like you'll see pieces of the vehicle that
show up in actual production vehicles but not the vehicle itself I blame the demise of coups
and sedans for the lack of concept cars we see now concept crossovers aren't that interesting
yeah you know there's just there are design limitations there all right you have one you're
on the board nice job five questions total plus the bonus question you need three total for a win
number two centurion is there a Buick centurion there was something that was called a centurion
but the question is was it a Buick all of these are real model names
long pause I know but the music I mean the music helps the music helps yeah it's not dead
air the rhythm um you know what I'm gonna say yes yes correct you've got two you're in a good way
uh it uh it's slanted between the uh the labyrinth and the electro between 1971 and 73
and it was I read that it replaced the wildcat I'm not entirely sure that's true but anyway yes
you're on the board with two number three are you ready I am ready Lacell
Lacell was there a Buick Lacell
there was a Lacell Sabre Darn tootin there was
I was like my dad's company car forever that was the volume for a lot of years
I'm gonna say no nope Lacell was a Cadillac not actually Cadillac I don't know how much you
know about the General Motors companion brands but during different periods in those like the
30s and 40s um General Motors each General Motors division had a companion brand
oh that was sold alongside Oldsmobile had Viking um Buick had Marquette Cadillac had Lacell
Chevy didn't have one and I'm trying to remember what Pontiac's was it's not coming to me right
now but Pontiac was actually the replacement the the companion brand that replaced the original
brand so anyway yeah Lacell between 1929 and 1940 beautiful sporty cars always based on the
smaller Cadillacs available at the time and kind of helped Cadillac get through the depression
okay yeah good stuff all right you have uh three oh my gosh you're going to sweep all right so we
should you know just end now yes we should all right that's the end of the show I got nothing
else anyway so yeah we're done well you know uh satellite was there a Buick satellite
I'm gonna say no nope there was a Plymouth satellite and uh I can bring up Adam 12 now
but for a couple years uh the lads on Adam 12 were driving a Plymouth satellite uh 1965 to 1974
member of the Plymouth line usually is a mid-sized car all right you've got four uh okay real tough
one for you now you're ready all right Riviera yes yeah yeah yeah I feel like you even mentioned
it already on the show you had to get that one what's that yeah I feel like you already mentioned
the Buick Riviera already on the show today today yeah today oh yeah I the Riviera and more or
less its marketing companion the Oldsville Tordato I love those cars but they were there they were
kind of the founders of the personal luxury movement now that was very premium in those days
these were very expensive cars but cars like the Monte Carlo the Grand Prix the Cordoba kind of
own their heritage to that uh the Riviera was available between 1963 and 1999 I think there
were no breaks in that uh personal luxury car so there you go you've got five out of five
all right uh you've been talking non-stop about wanting to go to Bahrain
uh totally totally non-stop and you know what they have in Bahrain
what do they have in Bahrain McDonald's okay I'd be surprised if they didn't but all right
all right I need you to tell me how many McDonald's there are in the world
you should know this by now I I don't 100,000 uh not you're not terribly wrong 41,800 how many in the
U.S. 20,000 close 137 and then finally how many in Bahrain how many McDonald's outlets do you
think there are in Bahrain here's a clue they're all owned by the same franchisee five 34 okay
but Deming your ballpark right here you're there
I'm totally ballpark well it's not like there's 7,000 all right I need you to tell me I think
you know the drill here which of the following is not which of the following menu items not
found in Bahrain McDonald's are you ready I am so ready yeah you've been waiting for this the big
tasty the big tasty the chicken mac the chicken make
the chicken macarabia or the crunchy cheddar dog
okay you were giggling over the the fourth one or the third one what was that again
chicken macarabia yeah I think it's gotta be that that's the fake yeah I don't want you to
read too much into my giggling I know are you sticking with that I'm sticking with it yeah
that's real oh it made me laugh just because it's it's a pita the macarabia they talk about
Arabic bread in the menu like I'm reading this like what and uh yeah it's just pita it's a chicken
okay yeah chicken garlic sauce pita the crunchy cheddar dog that's fake the chicken mac is what
you think it is and the big tasty is like a quarter pounder with something called tasty sauce
oh it's probably the super secret spy sauce from McDonald's I don't know which is like
Thousand Island dressing yeah they just call it tasty sauce I'm reminded now that I haven't had lunch
I had Chipotle for lunch today yeah so um it's just really interesting I wanted to talk a little
bit about the Belvedere because that plant's been idle for a long time and the Cherokee
right the old version of the Cherokee the Jeep Cherokee sold well for a while like over
a hundred thousand units it was pretty popular but it was kind of disappointing and just stopped me
when you think when you disagree but but it was supposed to be mid-size but it always looks small
and it to me it never looked bigger than the Compass which is a compact car and it didn't
really fill the gap in my opinion between the Compass and the Grand Cherokee the Grand Cherokee
has always had sort of a luxury thing going on it's been much more expensive also it's usually
been pretty nice so the Cherokee I think lost its way they discontinued it and now they've got a new
one coming back that's a little bit bigger I think it looks good um and and I'm interested in this
for a bunch of reasons the Compass doesn't sell especially well so the Cherokee needs to sell
well to make this Belvedere thing work that's a big factory and I think it had like an annual
capacity of like 350 thousand units maybe more with three shifts so big high volume factory
and they've got two vehicles that are middle volume unless you think the Cherokee's gonna
sell well and I'm throwing it to you is the Cherokee gonna sell well well I mean I think
it's gonna depend on a lot of factors you know how how are they gonna price it and hopefully
they'll be able to price it better and competitively since they've brought production you know into
the United States and you know what features and how you know what engine what powertrain what you
know I think there's just so many factors that it's gonna depend on I think it has the potential
to sell well um you know that segment is doing really well you know it's not compact and it's
not you know full on mid-size and and so I think I think that it has the potential to do well I
mean that by virtue of the the segment that it's in but you know the other thing that people are
going to be looking for is reliability and in some ways you know Stellantis has had a real
problem with some reliability though they haven't had near the number of recalls that Ford has had
this year but I think pricing reliability and features are going to make a big difference on
whether or not it will sell you said something interesting I wanted to get back to and you
said it's not quite compact it's not quite mid-size I actually think that's the problem with the vehicle
okay I mean I don't know like the RAV4 the most popular vehicle like you know in God's green
earth um certainly and it is the most popular vehicle in the US is a compact crossover that
I think presents is a little bit large so clearly there's some market for that because
RAV4 is super hot right and it's about to get super hotter because there's a new one coming
what a couple weeks right a couple months but I don't know if that's the segment I mean one of
the interesting things they've done with this we'll have to get a picture and post it on the our
Facebook page it is more boxy now it's a little more squared off and I think it has a sense of mass
to it and maybe a sense of Jeep to it too and I don't know that the compass does
and they got rid of the renegade a little renegade that I never thought looked that much like a Jeep
and and I thought it looked like a Jeep did you yeah because the renegade the compass
and and the Cherokee come from an era when I think Jeep thought they could sell anything they
put the Jeep badge on and that stuff was even kind of premium priced which is a little ridiculous
and they went through some price adjustments at some point which is a certain amount of
market capitulation I don't know how customers read that but ultimately now they've got the
compass and compass is pretty nice and it's got more power now and then we got the Cherokee
coming in and that's going to be a hybrid first so that's good right yeah people love the hybrids
these days but we'll see I don't know I think it's a big deal but I think that plant's going to need
a little bit more stuff to keep that thing running they want to bring 3,300 workers back
I think at its max capacity about 5,000 people work there but still 3,300 that's good news for
for Illinois yeah it definitely is and I I'll be curious to see I mean I could see them bringing
a third product into that plant and I think that shuffling the mid-sized truck over to the same
plant that builds a gladiator makes sense from a product standpoint because you're building
similar vehicle which perhaps a similar platform in the same plant and so dividing mid-sized trucks
wasn't going to make sense to me and I feel like cheap or not cheap but Ram has really missed out
by not having a mid-sized truck because the mid-sized truck segment has in the last couple
of years exploded so I think they're a little bit behind the game hopefully hopefully the mid-sized
truck segment will still be strong in 2028 when this vehicle is supposed to be coming out but
yeah I agree with you this needs to sell well there needs to be more production coming and
I wouldn't be surprised if they don't somehow put a third product in there whatever that may be
I don't want to be the doomsday guy but I am reminded of the fact that the Dodge Nitro
which was a compact crossover it wasn't a crossover it was an SUV it was based on the
Jeep Liberty and that was kind of a disaster turbo mileage odd use of space really high
step in for a vehicle that wasn't good off-road nothing about the Nitro was good we don't want
to see that again but that vehicle was really cynical that was yeah that was some nastiness
all right guess what we did we had really good conversations we did yeah we were here an hour
yeah that was good all right big thanks to Stephanie Brinley associate director of
research and analysis at S&P Global thank you Jill for phoning this one in thank you to producer
Randy uh I have an idea let's talk more about cars again next week next week
remember to check us out at consumerguide.com the carstuff podcast is produced by jay turn
media to advertise on the show please drop us a line at carstuff at consumerguide.com
About this episode
Jill and Tom dive into the latest automotive news, including Jill's experiences at the Rebel Rally and a discussion about Ford's innovative steering wheel design. They also explore Stellantis' significant $13 billion investment in North American manufacturing, the future of the Toyota Sentry luxury brand, and a review of the Volkswagen Golf R. The episode features insights from Stephanie Brinley of S&P Global, shedding light on production shifts and market trends affecting the automotive industry.
Jill returns this week after a two-show absence to participate in the 2025 edition of the Rebelle Rally. After Jill wraps up her thoughts on the event, Tom shares news regarding Toyota launching a new premium brand to be positioned above Lexus in the maker’s corporate portfolio.
Tom goes onto complain about/fawn over the new steering wheel controls in the 2025 Ford Expedition. Tom describes the new interface as “i-Pod-like,” and appreciates the aesthetic appeal of the simple design. Listen in for details.
Still in the first segment, Jill reviews the sporty Volkswagen Golf R. The car is pricey for a Golf, but is it worth the money?
In the second segment, the hosts welcome Stephanie Brinley of S&P Global Mobility to the show. Stephanie breaks down recent news from Stellantis regarding significant investment in U.S. manufacturing. The news is both extensive and nuanced. Listen in for details.
In the last segment, Jill is subjected to Tom’s “Is it a Buick?” quiz. Stay tuned for a bonus question about the McDonald’s menu in Bahrain. The hosts wrap up the show by talking about the new Jeep Cherokee—to be built in Belvidere, Illinois—and its potential in the market place.
