Balance sheets are documents that show how much money a company has, what it owes, and what it owns. They help people understand if the company is doing well financially.
Zero emission regulations are rules that require cars to not produce any harmful gases while driving. These laws help improve air quality and encourage the use of electric cars.
Tesla is a car company that makes electric vehicles, which are cars that run on batteries instead of gasoline. They are known for their advanced technology and unique features.
Lucid Motors is a company that makes luxury electric cars. Their main car, the Lucid Air, is known for being very high quality and having a long driving range on a single charge.
Rivian is a new car company that makes electric trucks and SUVs. They are designed for outdoor adventures and are part of the growing market for electric vehicles.
The Ford F-150 Lightning is an electric version of the popular Ford F-150 truck. It runs on electricity instead of gasoline, which means it's better for the environment and can save money on fuel.
The Volkswagen Microbus is a famous van that people loved for its spaciousness and quirky style. It was popular in the 60s and 70s and is often seen as a symbol of freedom and adventure.
The Toyota Prius is a type of car that uses both gasoline and electricity to help save fuel and reduce pollution. When it first came out, many people made fun of its unusual look, but it became very popular because it helps people drive more efficiently and is better for the environment.
The Dodge Charger is a big car that is known for being fast and having a strong engine. It's popular because it looks cool and can go really fast, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Battery structure means how the battery is built and organized in an electric car. It affects how long the car can drive before needing to be charged again.
A car show is an event where people bring their cars to show them off. There are often contests to see which car is the best, and it's a fun way for car fans to meet each other.
Check-in and staging is when cars arrive at a show, and the organizers make sure everything is ready for the event. They check in the cars and set them up for people to see.
Electric vehicles, or EVs, are cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. They are better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
Fleet sales happen when a company sells a lot of cars to one buyer, like a business that needs many vehicles for its workers. This helps car companies sell more cars at once.
Write-offs happen when a company decides that something they bought is now worth nothing. For car companies, this can be because they lost money on a project or investment.
The Toyota Highlander is a family-friendly SUV that has lots of room for passengers and cargo. It's a good choice for people who need a reliable car that can fit the whole family and their stuff.
Ceramic coating is a special liquid that is put on a car's surface to protect it and make it shine. It helps keep the car looking good for a longer time than regular wax does.
Paint protection film is a clear layer that goes over a car's paint to keep it safe from scratches and damage. It helps the car stay looking nice and new.
Nanoceramic window tint is a special film that is put on car windows to keep the inside cooler and protect against harmful UV rays. It helps you see clearly while also blocking heat.
LIVE
Welcome to another In-Wheel Time podcast.
And the chaos continues, ladies and gentlemen.
That's the award-winning In-Wheel Time car talk show.
Jeff will have the crews in and events calendars.
I'm going to have a special here on EVs.
And Mr. Mars is going to do his driving destinations,
all coming up in this portion of the In-Wheel Time car talk show.
Thanks for joining us in Howdy, along with Mike out of this World Mars
and Neaterville, Texas.
We always need more Jeff Zeek and Master Studio and transmitter engineer David Ainsley.
I'm Don Armstrong, so glad that you could join us on Valentine's Day.
If you're listening on a podcast, that's when we have recorded this for you.
If you're listening live, well, hugs and kisses.
Let's do the story this hour, if you don't mind,
because Mars needs some more time to get his act together over there.
We're going to give him that.
Automakers are unwinding their electric vehicle bets at a cost approaching,
are you sitting down?
$50B as in billion dollars, a stark measure of how much the industry
misjudged what buyers would embrace and how fast.
I think they said, oh, we got to build one.
And then they went, well, wait a minute, there's no infrastructure to support this.
That wasn't part of the thought process.
Write downs of investments in EV factory capacity.
Vehicle programs and battery manufacturing have stained the balance sheets
of General Motors, Ford, Stellantis and Honda Motor Company in recent months.
The charges ranged from expected $1.9 billion by the end of March for Honda
to roughly $26 billion for Stellantis,
which didn't specify how much of what it called a reset of its business was EV related.
Automakers still plan to channel some profits from their gasoline vehicles into EVs
and battery development and continue pushing for lower costs.
We'll see if that happens.
The charges follow years of dialing up EV development
to keep up with increasingly stringent zero emission regulations in the U.S. and Europe.
Automakers also had to respond to competitive pressures from Tesla
in startup EV manufacturers, Rivian and Lucid Motors,
as well as the potential threat posed by up-and-coming Chinese automakers,
and they are coming in strong.
For a time, the market was definitely moving big time toward EVs,
according to David Whiston, a U.S. auto senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
Other CEOs, had they been in the shoes of GM's Mary Berra,
Ford's Jim Farley and former Stellantis chief Carlos Tveras,
would have made similar moves, according to him.
Mainstream U.S. buyers have proved reluctant to switch from combustion vehicles,
citing higher purchase prices and concerns about battery range, charging speeds,
and where to charge them.
President Trump also moved quickly in his second term to relax federal regulations
ending penalties for non-compliance with fuel economy standards
and scuttling the $7,500 federal tax credit that helped offset high EV sticker prices.
The result?
EV sales are slowing and automakers are reassessing how much production capacity
they need, converting some factory space back to combustion vehicles
and cancelling entire programs.
U.S. buyers registered 1.3 million EVs in 2025 for a 7.8% share of the new light vehicle market,
down slightly from 8% in 2024, according to S&P Global Mobility data.
GM disclosed more than 7 billion in EV related charges for 2025
and in January said it expects to take a lesser amount in such charges,
but they don't say how much.
The automaker canceled its Chevy Bright Drop electric commercial van
and repurposed a planned electric pickup plant near Detroit to instead build gasoline trucks.
Thank you.
Ford's EV Pivot will cost about $20.9 billion through 2027,
slightly higher than it originally projected,
though it took the bulk of the charges in late 2025.
It canceled the F-150 lightning electric pickup in December
and instead plans to make an extended range model with a gasoline engine that acts as a generator.
Ford previously canceled a pair of three-row electric crossovers.
The company will record about $7 billion in charges this year.
Some of the cash-related charges are settlements with suppliers
that invested to add capacity based on automakers' projections
that would build a certain number of EVs,
according to Mike Ward, a U.S. auto analyst at Citigroup.
Stellantis previewed $26 billion in charges February 6,
the head of releasing its full 2025 financial results later in the month.
On a call with analysts,
Stellantis said substantially reduced EV volume and profit projections are anticipated.
Automakers revising their EV strategies to better fit the market.
They're all trying, but boy, I'll tell you what, they got some catching up today.
One thing I didn't hear in that Volkswagen is part of that, too.
I read in that same similar story that Volkswagen has taken,
that bus may not be around very much longer.
Yeah, the VW, mini-microbus or whatever they call it.
What a disappointment.
It's hard for me to understand,
even though they swore up and down that the EV thing was going to go big,
if you're going to design something and you've got two forms of power powering the vehicles,
you've got gasoline over here and you've got electric over here,
why not build a platform that accepts both?
And that way, you've kind of hedged the bet, I think,
because if the EV isn't selling this year because it's priced too high,
then put a gasoline engine in it.
But I don't think that they can do that with everything.
Some of them have designed strictly for electric power.
I think that's true,
and they're also trying to look three, four years out.
They used to plan five years out.
So if you've got the regulators sitting here on top of you saying,
you've got to meet this criteria by these dates,
come hell or high water, we're not giving you any slack,
then you're kind of forced,
they got forced to go on into a certain direction and putting those resources in there in a hurry.
They didn't really have time to think about it and be logical like you're talking about, I think.
Well, did you see some of the size of these battery factories that they're currently building?
Huge, huge.
It's like these ginormous Amazon warehouses that we see around Houston, all over the place.
These things are like ten times the size.
It's like the size of a factory that would turn out a car.
And what are they going to do with them if the EV market shrinks enough
that they don't need all that capacity?
Well, one of them, and I can't say for all of them,
but one of them has already said, hey, we've got deals,
this battery factory, manufacturer,
we've got deals with several automobile manufacturers.
So at least they hedged their bet as opposed to GM saying,
well, we're going to build batteries just for us.
That's part of the money they're losing because they had to pay all these vendors off
for the contracts that they didn't abide by.
That's all about there too.
I wonder how many people lost their jobs over there.
Probably quite a few.
Not as many as going to.
Well, that's true.
And it's the money that's the large amount,
not the people that's the large amount that are going to lose their jobs.
So they're talking about all this inflated money,
no, no, no, there's the folks that work there.
I tell you what, I think that the silly thing that Toyota did
what, 25 years ago?
They came out with this ugly little car called a Toyota Prius,
and everybody laughed at it and made fun of it and all of that sort of thing.
And then here comes GM trying to copy it.
And now they're all doing it because it's a hybrid.
It's got a gasoline motor in it and it's got a battery in it,
and it gets like, you know, 50 miles per gallon.
Hello.
Listen, a lot of people, including us,
we're talking about that years ago,
that that seemed to be the way to go at least through the transition.
And if people would have went that away with a transition plan
to go from the hybrid to the plug-in, et cetera,
they wouldn't be so deep into it now and it might save them a lot.
Well, kind of.
So what has been is what will be.
The majority of the cars that I get to drive,
I get fortunate that I get to drive a new, different car every week
and people going, how do you get that deal?
You don't deserve that.
Well, probably don't deserve it.
But, you know, back in the day when I was doing this stuff,
when I started, it was in 1999, I think,
I got to drive the new Prius
and now most of the cars that I get are hybrids
and I absolutely love them.
I hate it when I get a pure EV
because I don't have the charging structure here at my house.
If I charge it at all here, it's on 110 volts.
And I guess I could stretch the extension cord
from the back of the wall in the garage
all the way out to the driveway,
but I haven't done that yet.
Maybe I will this summer.
It takes days to do that, though.
Well, it does.
And it's funny because as time goes by
and I get different vehicles,
I had one just recently, I can't remember the name of it,
that man, I used a Tesla charger,
but the battery structure itself
took a full charge in my eight-hour workday at the airport
and it used the Tesla charger.
I don't know whether it was the charger or the battery.
I don't know what it was, but boy, I'll tell you what,
I got a full charge out of that thing
and I never had to go and buy a fast charge,
which is a total and complete rip-off.
So as a PSA out there,
to all the automotive manufacturers,
if you need a decision-made and you're unsure,
contact Mike at info at in-wheel time.
We will help you with that decision.
You will guide you through it.
He's got a car on the lot.
It's sitting right behind him right now.
Any rash decisions about production,
just contact Mike.
We'll get you going in the right direction.
We'll fix you.
We'll fix you up.
That's our PSA for the day.
Mr. Mars?
Yes, sir.
We've kind of stretched this out just for you.
Well, I appreciate that.
So you can do the complete and full driving destinations.
Cool.
Well, I want to disclaimer here on this very first one.
Here we go.
We're not encouraging anybody to go road racing
or anything like that,
but a lot of people do enjoy driving
and they do enjoy the way their car handles
in some driving situations,
such as FM 170 River Road.
This is down in the Big Bend State Park.
Now, this is a 30-mile drive
that runs between Lajitas and Presidio.
But again, this is the Big Bend State Park,
not the Big Bend National Park,
which is across the highway.
This is the biggest park inside the state of Texas,
311,000 acres.
Got a lot of desert scenery,
long sight lines, which is important,
minimal traffic, so it's great for focused driving.
But be careful, there's not a lot of fuel,
and there's definitely no place
to charge your EV down in that part of the world.
Another place you might want to go to,
but it's a little further up north,
is the Polydural Canyon Loop.
Now, this is up in the Panhandle.
It's got sweeping canyon views
and red rock backdrops.
Now, what this does, though,
it actually drops you down into
what's considered the Grand Canyon of Texas.
A lot of smooth curves, elevation changes,
and you get up against the wall of the canyon.
Really nice, and it's perfect for a scenic drive.
It's only 16 miles long,
but it takes between 60 and 90 minutes
to actually make this drive.
And you may have heard of this Polydural Canyon,
because that's where you're going to also find
the Texas Outdoor Musical amphitheater.
I know a lot of people have gone up there
to see that musical,
and they've never taken this road
to drive down into the canyon stuff,
where I think you might enjoy that as well.
Then you get a little bit closer home.
We can go to the Devil's Backbone Run,
which is rural route 32.
Now, this goes between Wimberley and Blanco,
and it runs a scenic ridge line down through the hill country.
I've been on part of this through the rolling hills and the curves.
Got some nice tight bends
to go along with the big views on it.
And so it's got a lot of flowers during the spring,
and it's got an elevated driving experience
because of the way the road is laid out.
And this is also considered the most haunted road in Texas
if you want to go hunting for ghosts.
Then we get a little bit even closer.
Inks Lake. This is near Burnett,
and it goes through a lot of the granite
that's up there in that part of the world
alongside Inks Lake,
and it actually was created as a shortcut, basically,
to go from one highway to another
and to get to the lake once they did that.
And it's short. It's only 15.5 miles,
but there is 400-foot elevation changes
inside this little parkway run.
The next one would be on Park Road 37.
Now, this is Medina Lake.
Now, this is up north of San Antonio,
been up there several times,
and this is considered the Nuremberg of Texas.
So it's short, but it's got very sharp curves,
quick elevation shifts, and there's not much shoulders.
You're actually on a highway 16
coming out of San Antonio, headed up towards Bandera
whenever you can cut across on this.
Then we get to the one that we are closest to
and the one that we're most...
you hear the most about.
And this is Twisted Sisters in the Texas Hill Country.
Now, this place is legendary,
and it was originally called Three Sisters,
but because of the curves and the motorcycles
and things that go up there on the switchbacks,
the blind crest, they've changed it to the Twisted Sisters,
is what it's more commonly called now.
Long sweepers through the ranch land, limestone cliffs.
Now, I will say that between 2010 and 2024,
there were 259 reported accidents on this road.
249 were listed as driver cause.
191 left the roadway.
167 involved speeding.
Now, this is very popular.
Motorcycles out there on the weekend,
they tell me that there's a lot of them if you're in your car
and you want to experience this roadway,
you ought to go during the week if possible.
But those are a few of the places in Texas
that you can go around and have a little more
driver experience in your car if you would like to.
Where is Twisted Sisters?
It's north of Wimberley.
I'm trying to, and my mind went blank,
I'm flipping back around here to it.
And you can go up through there in green.
You go up through green and you can find it up through that way.
So it's north of Austin.
Yeah, kind of north.
Yeah, north and west.
Yeah, it's west of Austin in Wimberley and stuff.
So it's a 100 mile loop.
So it's one of the bigger ones.
You're probably on some of it, not the actual road,
but that type of road when you go up to Wimberley,
because there's a lot of that switchback
and up in the mountains.
Yes, get up into the hill country.
There's a lot of places that you can do it.
And blue bonnets are coming out.
I'm hearing that West Texas has got some blue bonnets already blooming.
Yeah, they've got a lot of water, a lot of rain this year.
So we've got a lot of moisture in the ground.
So that helps the blue bonnet crop among other things.
Yeah, unfortunately, we had a freeze around these parts
and I don't know, it may delay the blooming of the blue bonnets out here.
But I will tell you that they're close by the Houston area.
And within an hour's drive, you can have a whole fields of blue bonnets
and that's something else.
Maybe that would be an idea for your next driving destination.
The blue bonnet run.
Don't pick them.
Yeah, it's getting a lot of pick them.
Yeah, get a lot of places to lay down on them or anything.
Yeah, people will go out in the park on the side of the shoulder
where they can and they'll go out in the hill and take pictures of the kids and stuff.
And if it's private property, you better ask permission.
Exactly.
And there's a lot of, there's a lot of.
We're car guys, we're gonna ask permission.
You ask for forgiveness.
Well, I'm so sorry, I didn't know.
Get out of here.
Well, you have the fence and the bulls riding.
Yeah, that's the problem.
You've got to kind of look and see what's on the other side of that fence first.
All right.
Be careful.
Coming up, let's see, we run short of time.
It's okay.
Coming up, Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars and I'll have the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
We invite you to stay with us here on the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
We'll be back after this quick break.
Here we have three loopy breakfast tacos with any donation to Shirley's kids.
Enjoy a coffee or an adult beverage.
Every cruise and vehicle is automatically entered to win one of the beautiful chili pepper trophies for best hot rod, classic and modern classic.
Tell Pipes and Tacos, Beaumont happens Saturday morning, March 21st, 8 to 11 a.m.
If you're a car geek like we are, this is the event you'll want to attend.
The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show will be online live and you may be interviewed about your ride.
Tell Pipes and Tacos Beaumont edition Saturday, March 21st, 8 to 11 a.m.
at the Loopy Tortilla 2050 I-10 South in Beaumont.
The Katie Tell Pipes and Tacos happens Easter Saturday, April 4th, 8 to 11.
The free Tale Pipes and Tacos cruise in is a production of Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex Beaumont and Katie.
It's pretty good.
Honest new car reviews, fun informative interviews with real car people,
weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's Car Culture and Mike's Driving Destinations all on In-Wheel Time.
Check us out on Sirius XM Podcasts, iHeart Radio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music.
InWheelTime.com has a list and we know you love lists.
Talk Show, we really appreciate you joining us today on this Valentine's Day.
We got some storms going to be rolling through here later on tonight, so if you're going to be out and about,
be sure and take an umbrella or this morning I heard Kevin Roth, the Channel 13 weather guy, say,
take a poncho.
Remember ponchos? Plastic ponchos? You probably got a whole closet full of them over there, Mars.
I do. I catch them every once in a while and sell for a dollar a piece.
Trash bag will work just as good.
Time for the cruise in and events calendars.
Here we go. Next Saturday, February 21st, 8 to noon. It's Tint World Automotive Styling Centers.
Wait, wait. What did you say?
What did you say?
Tint World Automotive Styling Tint World, T-I-N-T.
Yeah, there's an Andy in there that I think that he kind of skipped over.
I've got a list.
I thought you all had a new place over there, something I missed.
Well, we do and it's a 553 South Business I-35 in New Bromfield.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody's going to be rushing up there now.
This Tint World Automotive Styling Center hosts cars and coffee on the third Saturday of every month.
Look at me.
Tint. Tint. Tint.
Tint World.
There's an Andy in there.
It's a world.
Okay.
Anyways, go on out there. They support Toys for Tots.
The next one next Saturday, we've got Porsche.
Car show. I promise that right. Porsche.
Car show.
405 Second Street in Kima down there on the coast.
Porsche.
Car shows a schedule of Saturday, February 21st at the classics in Kima, Texas.
It'll feature selections of vehicles, include check-in and staging from eight to nine.
They'll close the check-in at nine.
The car show goes on and they'll be judging about one o'clock.
It concludes then.
Oh, so they can listen to our show then?
Absolutely.
Then you got top notch Austin Vintage VW night next Saturday.
That's at 7525 Burnett Road in Austin.
Hot Rod Nights is a recurring event.
Classic cars, live music from 530 to nine.
Food offerings include charcoal, hamburgers, fried chicken and dining room hamburgers.
And they've even got curb service.
Now this kind of relates that on the first Saturday, it's in Burnett.
Second Saturday, it's in Hutto.
So check your local listings and there's different areas to meet up.
Then next Sunday, you've got Danny's show and shine.
Good for Danny.
3232 Briar Crest Drive in Bryan, Texas.
It's the 22nd of February, which is next Sunday.
It's at the Brazos Center Pavilion in Bryan, Texas.
The event will feature free show, music awards,
include Best of Show and Best Hot Rod.
And lastly, we have Jeep Days.
This is in Navasota.
It's at 1863 County Road 306.
Get out there.
It goes from 11 to 330 p.m.
So they've got foods and all kinds of stuff going on out there.
Take a trip in your Jeep.
Go out and check them out.
And I just got a text from my good friend of mine, Candace Thackery Snead,
who we discussed on this show before.
She says, Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet elementary school friend.
You.
Me.
Yeah, to me.
And of course, George Skelton.
He also is my elementary school friend.
And you know, it's...
And had you and Candace and George all hang out together?
Or was it different schools?
No.
No, we were at the same school, but the...
You know, in my era, the classes were packed.
We had 30 kids at least.
Well, it was a one-room schoolhouse.
Yeah.
It was not a one-room schoolhouse.
Thank you very much.
No, there were lots of kids there.
And they brought in shacks.
And the shacks were basically World War II bunk houses that they put in place.
And they put two classrooms in each one of those.
So dealt with a lot of that.
But, well, I did hear from George this week.
He is doing better.
Good.
And his cancer is in remission.
He said, I still have two more chemo treatments to take.
And he wasn't looking forward to them.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I'll take them.
You got to hang in there, though.
Yeah, I got to hang in there.
Yeah.
So we love you guys.
And thanks for reaching out.
Happy Valentine's Day.
I just had a little surgery, too.
So we're all getting there.
Okay.
Well, you know, this is happening here.
I had mine years ago.
I'm done.
A Honda called for a fundamental review of the automobile strategy after mounting losses
on electric vehicles, drove the company's beleaguered auto business deeper into the
red and forced executives to warn of increased incentives and a shift to more fleet sales.
Automakers write-offs and expenses for its premature wager on EVs balloon to $1.71 billion
in the nine months ended December 31st.
Moody's ratings downgraded Stellantis.
Their credit rating citing the car makers warning that a recovery and profitability will take
longer than expected due to the costs of scaling back its electric vehicle plans.
We went over all of this earlier.
But to remind you that Stellantis electric vehicle registrations fell last year for the
first time in at least a decade following the repeal of the federal EV tax credit, although
the drop was modest.
EV registrations declined 0.4% compared with a year earlier to 1.3 million vehicles according
to S&P Global Mobility.
EV share of the light vehicle market fell to 7.8% from 8% a year earlier.
Holding up the opening of the Gordy Howe International Bridge as President Trump threatened to do
February 10th would hurt businesses of various industries on each side of the U.S.
Canada border including the auto industry experts say.
Ongoing battle between the U.S. and Canada and Canada has gotten away with a lot of stuff
over the years and so they raised the tariffs on a lot of different things.
But there's also the overriding USMCA agreement and that's U.S. Mexico and Canada.
So that kind of rules the car thing.
With the bridge, each country paid for their side of the bridge.
I don't know why I just hit it.
I don't know either.
Gordy Howe is an icon.
We love Gordy Howe.
I met Gordy Howe when I was a little kid.
Do you remember Gordy Howe when he played for the Houston Arrows in the WHA?
And then they brought his sons, Mark and Marty Howe, and they all skated together in what
was the compact center.
And I will never forget the whole team protected Gordy because he was old.
And somebody got in a tiff with him from the other team not realizing that the entire team
would come out on the ice and pummel this idiot who got into it with Gordy Howe.
Now let me tell you something.
Gordy Howe at 50 years of age could still take care of himself very well.
See that's what we do.
When we go on remorse we kind of get around you to protect you that much too.
That's right.
For people wanting to kill me, Mars.
You hear that?
Yeah.
So there's that.
Robotaxi operators are preparing to scale across the U.S.
as Waymo, Tesla and others battle for early market share but recent injury crashes and traffic
violations are testing public acceptance despite robust safety claims.
The industry has seen how quickly public trust can unravel.
Uber shuttered its self-driving program after a 2018 fatal crash while testing in Arizona.
The crews did the same thing after a pedestrian was dragged under one of its cars in San Francisco.
So be on the lookout for any of those Robotaxi's around.
Zooks Robotaxi in San Francisco hit a parked car after the driver opened the door into its path
on January 17th.
Robotaxi identified the opening door and tried to avoid it but contact was unavoidable and
the list goes on and on.
Oh, I didn't want to mention that the fact of talking about Robotaxi's.
New cities for Robotaxi's will include Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Nashville, Baltimore, Pittsburgh
and the list goes on and on.
We'll have to get back to Wallet Hub after we've had it for a while and see where the worst problems are.
They might be working on it now, yeah.
The newest version of the venerable and top-selling Toyota nameplate will be short.
One thing that all of its predecessors for the last 25 years have had an engine.
The 2027 Toyota Highlander will have a far more spacious interior than the outgoing model
because it will transition to be an electric only vehicle.
We just had an hour and a half discussion on that.
Yeah, but see, I think that's another one of those things. They're in too deep to stop now.
I agree.
Will they sell it? Who knows? Time will tell.
Eventually you've got to cut your losses.
Yeah, but they can't cut their losses and ride it off if they don't try and sell it and prove that it's a loss.
We're going to wrap up today's show after this. Quick break. Stay with us.
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and heading to GCAutoShield.com.
Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway,
just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
Call them today 832-930-5655 or GCAutoShield.com.
If you have an idea, anything like that, road trip, tall tail, let us know.
Our email addresses info at inwheeltime.com.
Truth or Dare? Truth or Dare. Yeah.
Here's that. Hey, when you're looking for award-winning car talks,
you can find the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show 24-7 on In Wheel Time.
The app, the website, grab a podcast from your favorite podcast store.
We video stream our live show every Saturday,
10 to 9 on Facebook, YouTube, and InRealtime.com.
The In Wheel Time Video Coordinator is, we always need more Jeff Seaton,
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Mike, out of this world Mars,
and Chief Engineer David Ainsley.
I'm Don Armstrong.
Thanks to our weekly show contributors, Jeff Heitzman and George Skelton.
Happy Valentine's Day,
which I found out there was a pre-K student that Katie had back in the day,
and she was taught that because that's the way that women pronounced Valentine's.
Have a great weekend. Stay safe. So long for now.
And our In Wheel Time.com website.
About this episode
Automakers are facing significant financial setbacks as they reassess their electric vehicle strategies, with losses nearing $50 billion due to overestimating market demand and infrastructure challenges. Major companies like GM, Ford, and Stellantis are canceling EV programs and shifting back to combustion vehicles. The discussion highlights the reluctance of mainstream buyers to adopt EVs, driven by high costs and charging concerns. The hosts also touch on the implications of regulatory changes and the need for a more flexible approach to vehicle platforms that can accommodate both electric and gasoline powertrains.
The EV boom was supposed to be a straight shot. Instead, Detroit is eating billions in write-downs, canceling high-profile electric models, and quietly steering profits back toward gas and hybrid vehicles. We pull the curtain on the strategy shifts behind the headlines, from GM’s van retreat and Ford’s Lightning pivot to Stellantis’ sobering projections, and talk through what buyers have been saying all along: price, range, charging speed, and convenience still rule the decision.
We connect the policy dots too. When fuel economy penalties relax and federal tax credits wobble, the spreadsheets change—fast. That’s why platform choices matter so much right now. Dedicated EV architectures promise efficiency but trap capital if adoption slows, while flexible platforms and smart hybrid lineups offer a safer mix. We share first-hand charging experiences that show how infrastructure and real costs shape daily life: a Tesla plug that fills a workday gap feels great; a pricey fast charge on a road trip does not.
Autonomy has its own turbulence. As robotaxi pilots expand to cities like Dallas and Houston, each incident stresses public trust. We lay out the safety narrative, why transparency beats hype, and how autonomy could still reshape mobility with patience and proof. Then we shift gears to something every enthusiast can use this weekend: a curated guide to Texas’ most rewarding drives, from FM 170’s river-carved sweep to the Twisted Sisters’ blind crests and switchbacks. Expect clear cautions on traffic, limited fuel, scarce charging, and the best times to go.
Along the way, we spotlight community: cruise-ins, cars and coffee, and local meetups that keep car culture vibrant even as the industry recalibrates. Our takeaways are simple: hybrids are the right-now value play, EVs need frictionless charging and honest pricing, and flexible manufacturing beats wishful thinking. If you care about where mobility is headed—and want a great road to enjoy today—this one’s for you.
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