Two years when car dealers were surveyed they said that “limited inventory” was holding back their business. That makes sense. The pandemic led to shortages, specifically in semiconductors, that slowed down sales. In 2024 that’s way less of an issue and, instead, both dealers and consumers are looking to November.
That’s right! Politics are impacting car sales. Specifically, a majority of consumers and dealers think the election will influence car buying decisions and, specifically, that the next president will impact interest rates one way or another (which is weird because, technically, the president can’t do that!).
The other big news yesterday was that Volkswagen took a huge stake in Rivian. How did the stock market respond? Rivian is up aaaaaaand… Volkswagen is down. In less big/still big news, CDK Global is saying systems might not be up fully before June 30th aaaaand… here come the lawsuits.
Oh, Cruise got a new boss from a kinda interesting place.
Let’s Dump.
82% Of Dealers Think The U.S. Presidential Election Will Impact Rates
I was delighted to be invited to Cox Automotive’s mid-year presentation, which is focused on the larger economy, dealerships, consumer sentiment, and how all of those fit together to make a forecast for the year.
In spite of everything, sales are recovering from their lows (when SAAR hit 12.3 million in September 2021) and we’re working our way back to a SAAR of 16.0 million in June.
What’s holding us back in the second half of the year?
Cox Automotive surveyed dealers and interest rates are up at the top with 59% of dealers thinking it’s an issue holding back their business, followed by the economy at 57%, and market conditions at 41%. Obviously, interest rates were way less of a concern a few years ago when they were basically zero.
The economy is pretty much always an issue, as are market conditions, and interest rates can be an issue when they go up. But “political climate” is an interesting one. More than one-third of dealers said it was an issue. Do people think that Joe Biden or Donald Trump will be better for car sales?
Not quite. This goes back to interest rates and uncertainty and it’s spread across parties.
“Consumers seem to believe the next U.S. election will impact the economy, interest rates and even inflation. With this level of uncertainty swirling about, many have adopted a wait-and-see mentality,” said Vanessa Ton, senior manager, Research and Market Intelligence, Cox Automotive
Drilling down into the numbers, nearly 66% of consumers and 82% of dealers think the U.S. presidential election will impact interest rates “in some way.”
I mean… maybe? Technically, the Federal Reserve Bank and Fed Chairperson are independent and can’t (or won’t) do something just because the President of the United States asks them. This independence is a key part of how the Fed functions.
So, in a vacuum, this is a bit strange. Getting a level deeper, there are many things a president can do to impact the economy. How did we get inflation? A lot of things had to happen, but federal spending in response to the COVID pandemic played a role. Of course, rates are just one larger part of the overall economic picture (and not the only thing the Fed does to help control the economy) and: I’m waiting for the election before buying cars because I expect a rate reduction is a weird take.
It’s a strange election. Stranger than normal, depending on what your definition of “normal” is. And, honestly, a 2nd term President Trump might try to impact rates. From Bloomberg:
Neither Trump nor his campaign has taken an official stand on that, although the Republican candidate has said he wouldn’t reappoint Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom he had discussed firing in 2018. Some informal Trump advisers have floated ideas about possible changes to the Fed that would give him more power over the central bank.
That’s convinced many people that Trump would take action on the subject in a second term—44% of respondents in a survey of Bloomberg readers in late May said they expected him to weaken the Fed’s independence or limit its power. By contrast, only 5% said that President Joe Biden would go beyond comments on monetary policy or calls for lower interest rates if reelected.
Maybe this illogical decision is, in a way, logical. Maybe a President Trump will take over the Fed somehow and force them to lower rates (or raise, who really knows).
Or maybe everyone is so weary from campaigning and so tired of the world they’re waiting to see what happens next and there’s an assumption, whether incorrect or not, that things will be a version of normal after November.
Volkswagen Group Puts $5 Billion Into Rivian
Without the backing of the Saudi government or some other play, it seemed sort of inevitable that Rivian might partner with a major automaker. I’m not sure I’d have guessed that automaker would end up being the Volkswagen Group, but that’s what happened.
The partnership is anticipated to accelerate the development of software for Rivian and Volkswagen Group. It is expected to allow both companies to combine their complementary strengths and lower cost per vehicle by increasing scale and speeding up innovation globally. Rivian’s proven in-market zonal hardware design and integrated technology platform are expected to serve as the foundation for future SDV development in the JV that will be applied to both companies’ vehicles. Rivian plans to contribute its electrical architecture expertise and is expected to license existing intellectual property rights to the joint venture.
Both companies aim to launch vehicles benefiting from the technology created within the joint venture in the second half of the decade. In the short term, the joint venture is expected to enable Volkswagen Group to utilize Rivian’s existing electrical architecture and software platform. The partnership’s ambition is to accelerate Volkswagen Group’s SDV plans and transition to a pure zonal architecture. Each company will continue to separately operate their respective vehicle businesses.
Rivian needs cash. It’s losing too much money and it needs to expand. Volkswagen’s Cariad software arm is a disaster and Rivian’s software works. Everyone wins and, eventually, the two companies can make cheaper cars. How does this fit in with VW’s Rivian competitor Scout? Simple, Scout will run Rivian software according to Reuters.
Since announcing the news Rivian’s stock price is way up and Volkswagen’s stock is slightly down.
Here Come The CDK Lawsuits
CDK Global, the biggest provider of all the software that helps run dealerships, got hit with a ransomware attack and is in the process of trying to get its ish working again after reportedly paying the hackers.
The company’s response has seemed pretty bad and the company might not get dealers fully up again before June 30th, which is a big deal because it’s the end of the month.
What’s the CEO Brian MacDonald gotta say about it? From Automotive News:
“Our executive leadership team is engaged with dealer group customers during daily small group discussions, emails and phone calls; and our sales and customer success teams are conducting one-to-one outreach with dealers in their territories to provide alternative ways to support their sales and service efforts in the interim,” MacDonald said.
That doesn’t seem to be staving off the lawsuits as two different ones were filed by people seeking class-action status:
The lawsuits filed June 24 by former dealership employee Eugene Buraga and June 22 by vehicle lessee Yuriy Loginov, both in the U.S. Northern District of Illinois, each seek class-action status.
[…]
Both men criticized CDK for allegedly failing to properly notify them and other class members about the issue. Loginov’s lawsuit said this meant he and other class members lost “the earliest ability to take appropriate measures to protect their Private Information and take other necessary steps to mitigate the harm caused by the Data Breach.”
Who else is excited about getting yet another year of credit monitoring!?!
Meet The New Cruise Boss
Founder and sometimes CEO Kyle Vogt resigned from GM’s robotaxi company Cruise after one of its taxis dragged a pedestrian and there’s been an interim CEO in place.
Now there’s a new boss, Marc Whitten, who was a founding engineer at Microsoft’s Xbox. You might recognize Whitten, who was at Xbox through three generations of the platform, as the guy who wrote the community letters.
“In a few years, transportation will be fundamentally safer and more accessible than it is today, creating much more value for individuals and communities around the world. It is an opportunity of a lifetime to be part of this transformation,” said Marc Whitten on his decision to join Cruise. “The team at Cruise has built world-class technology, and I look forward to working with them to help bring this critical mission to life.”
It’ll be nice to have someone at Cruise who is famously not afraid to talk to to the community.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
If you’re not watching the third season of “Shoresy” I don’t know what you’re doing. Give yer balls a tug.
The Big Question
Without letting on to your politics, are you holding back on making any purchases until after the election? Why?
I need a car and I’m more comfortable getting a new one despite knowing that a slightly used car is much more sound financially, I probably will get one regardless of the election results if I get a job, but I’ll more likely look for a very cheap EV lease than buy either an ICE or an EV, or go with a hybrid (preferably PHEV) if I buy. I don’t really drive enough for fuel costs to matter (I think EV charging is free on downtown garages, so that’s a plus for the pluggables if I work downtown), but I keep cars forever if I buy and hybrids seem more reliable than standard ICE cars, although that may be an incorrect assumption due only to the disproportionate number of Toyotas in the current hybrid market and existing fleet.
Depending on the brand, lightly used cars are sometimes looking like really good deals – not only has depreciation started again, but a 2023 model likely has a much lower MSRP than 2024 or 2025 – prices keep going up. It does seem like some brands are finally beginning to offer decent leases again – the Lexus and Audi, and even Mercedes ads are beginning to show leasing may be back as a decent option. Of course not on cars that I actually want…
This month my partner is looking for her next lease and is considering buying this time – although the local Mazda dealer’s lot is overbrimming with inventory, so maybe they will have a better deal than expected.
None of my purchases are/will be impacted by the election.
Polling of the general public reveals some, ahem, interesting thinking that doesn’t always make any logical sense. For example, 17% of respondents claimed that Biden was to blame for the Supreme Court’s decision to repeal Roe v. Wade in 2022. So I’m not at all surprised if a sizeable portion of the population think the election winner will just waive a magic wand over interest rates.
Is our media really that bad that 17% think Biden had any say in overturning Roe v Wade, this was the seminal achievement of Mitch McConnell and the GOP president. This was pure GOP hate of women coming through the judiciary.
It’s really not so much the media’s fault as it is a segment of the population that just isn’t paying attention to current events. These people think the president has ultimate control over everything, so anything that happens while in office is the president’s fault.
People can’t afford new cars anymore, stuck buying used. Time to sign on to the international UNECE standards and eliminate the 25-year shit. Also eliminate the chicken tax, too.
Every fucking whiner about the so-called “Biden” economy shuts up when I ask them if they refused the covid payments… Everyone wants to complain AND take free handouts.
I think one of the biggest issues right now is the interest rates are just too damn high for most people. That is a normal thing that happens. Quite frankly most of the complainers are living far outside their means as it is.
Still not an attack. It’s an Extortion. Attack is a PR spin term in these circumstances.
The only purchase I’m holding back on is a solar system with battery back-up for my house. But that’s mostly due to interest rates. With batteries, there is no ROI on the complete system, it’s just a flex that gives me back-up power.
With the Chinese solar tariffs being a tool used by both parties, it’s anyone’s guess if the price of the system I want will go up or down next year.
How big a battery are you planning for? They costs really make no sense, but the solution is so elegant. If we can get battery pricing as a low-multiple of EV battery production costs, than I might get a system with just enough for a few hours of backup – my neighborhood is very near the electric company repair depot, so I cannot remember the last time power was out for more than 4 hours. Also highly recommend making sure you use Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries – look up the fire comparisons for LiFePO4 and you will not want a regular Lithium Battery in your house. Maybe in time the Zinc-Water battery technology will work well enough to not have more bankrupt companies in this space. I do keep hoping my electric company will put in a demand-response system or other incentive to get me to install a battery.
I was looking at ~40kwh of battery capacity. I want three Powerwall 3 batteries so I don’t need to load shed during a power outage. My highest power load would be in the winter when my cars are charging and my home’s heat pump is turning on the aux heat strips.
I’m hoping sodium ion batteries take off for home use. They have a lot of potential to be inexpensive.
I want Rivian to survive long enough to produce the R3. This should help.
Their CEO really reminds me of Steve-O.
Politics aren’t going to influence my car buying decisions. It’s more of the state of the fleet than the state of the union. If kid #2’s 2008 STS keeps running, it won’t get replaced. Kid #1 has about a year and a half left on a lease which will get him 6 months past graduation and then I’ll help him find something affordable. He had a lease because it was cheaper than a dependable AWD car during Covid pricing and he goes to school about 9 hours from us where they get 200+ inches of snow a year.
The wife and my cars are both 2021’s so I hope we are good for at least another 5-6 years.
That’s your minimum? Respectfully, damn.
8-9 years of age has seemed to be a good time for us to replace our daily drivers. We usually buy 2-3 year old used cars that are lease turn-ins drive them for 5-6 years and move on.
One is a PHEV. I don’t feel super comfortable keeping that much past the battery warranty yet, but we’ll see. The other is a truck and mostly tows our camper. It honestly might go earlier if I can find a used PHEV truck in 3 or 4 years that is a good deal and if my truck keeps holding it’s value well. It might also stick around longer if it doesn’t cause me trouble. I tend to just start looking at maintenence and dependable to decide when to replace.
That’s a big reason the STS is still around. It’s been just solidly reliable and even though it uses a ton of gas, my son only puts like 5,000 miles on it a year so it makes no sense to replace.
But when I’ve had cars near 10 years old that were worth $5,000 and needed struts/shocks and other suspension stuff, a new timing belt, and new tires, I’ve sold it rather than putting over the value of the car into it.
2-3 year old cars are the sweet spot for depreciation from my experience. My truck was half of what I would have paid new.
Makes sense! At a glance “5-6 years” sounds pessimistic to me, but obviously that depends on the car and if it financially makes sense. If it works out, who cares?
Is the PHEV an 11-state car? David’s article a few weeks ago says that you should have a mandated wicked-long warranty on the PHEV if it was originally sold in California or the states that have joined them. If I remember correctly he said something like 10 years and 150K for all the expensive stuff.
Nope, I’m in Michigan. I just get 8 year / 100,000 miles. Still a good deal though with the rapid depreciation of EV’s and PHEV’s. I had a 2014 Volt before that I bought at 3 year old and sold about 6 months before that warranty was up. Still the best deal ever. Bought for $18k, drove for 4.5 years, sold for $13k. My gas savings per month almost paid for the depreciation.
That is an amazingly good experience on the Volt. Good luck with your next car.
From within the industry it seems like the entire company is in a holding pattern waiting on the election results. Not much news/decisions in terms of products in the pipeline and kinda just waiting to see how the regulations are going to pan out. I’m sure it will be fine.
LOL. I’m full up on cars and just bought another one I didn’t need on a whim…but it was a fully functional plug-in hybrid for <$2K, so hard to say no. It’s already one of my favorite cars to drive!
A fully functional PHEV for less than $2K is exactly what I am in the market for right now, but I’ve definitely come to the understanding that it will take a miracle for that to happen.
Yeah, it was a right place / right time accident for sure. After bank hours, but I already had the cash from a previous vehicle I recently sold. Just got extremely lucky.
Started watching season 3 today. Great intro and outro music selections for Shorsey. I especially liked The Mates of State outro in season 2.
I had to revisit Death From Above the other day after hearing them on an episode in season 1
I’m personally not waiting until the election for anything. But, it would be a disservice to yourself to think that things will be the same afterward if the election goes a particular way. Civil war and WWIII are more of a concern to me than what happens to the price of cars.
Hopefully all those people that talked shit about moving to Canada actually do it this time.
Heck, If I find the right car on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist, I’ll rarely hold off until the end of the week to buy if I’ve got the budget. That only goes for cheap, fun cars, as for my daily, I’ve only had my CX-30 for a year and a half and ~14k miles, so selling it isn’t even in my 5-year plan, much less the 5ish months until the election.
HUH?
The fact that the average voter thinks either Biden or Trump can just pull a magic interest rate switch is simultaneously appalling and very unsurprising
I wouldn’t get all worked up about that part. The “average” voter has little to no idea what an interest rate is, let alone the difference between APR and APY. They tend to not like reading tiny fonts.
There are easily ways to “adjust” this “magically” through policy and executive orders. But, you are right, not directly.
The interest rate switch is right next to the gas price lever, duh!
Those stupid DEMOCRAPS always pull that one! Thanks a lot Brandon!
DUMMY-RAT is my personal favorite I’ve overheard.
That pales compared to what you can do with the last syllable of “Republican”.
Trump replaced the interest rate button with a Diet Coke button.
Or a hamberder button
My concern is that one party in particular has a playbook already in hand that involves a massive change in how “independent” departments of the government are managed to allow the executive branch to more directly influence things like this that are supposed to be non-partisan.
Of course, that candidate previously showed a complete inability to execute on past country-wrecking plans, but the fact that a concerted effort has been made and that party is not being laughed out of the country is concerning.
Exactly. One candidate is a milquetoast moderate Dem who seems to at least vaguely care about making the world a better place and the other wants to destroy democracy as we know it. Does it suck that it’s come down to this? Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s a difficult decision.
Oh, please. You can’t “destroy” democracy.
Besides, The US is a Constitutional Republic
You can absolutely destroy democracy. I have no idea where you are going with that one.
It’s impossible to destroy the concept of democracy. The way the catchphrase “He’s going to destroy democracy” is used, as if it some tangible system that we are governed by, is not accurate because we are a Republic. Even destroying a Democratic system that isn’t even in use is not possible here. Has our government had a direct hand in it happening in other countries? You bet. Not here, though.
When people use that phrase, it’s often tied to the idea that suddenly (and magically) the US is going to go “poof” and turn into a dictatorship. That’s never going to happen. Not only won’t the citizens of our Republic allow it, the rest of the World won’t allow it because the US is too valuable a global commodity as it is run today for anything like that to occur.
That catchphrase is pure histrionics.
“I’m only going to be a dictator on day 1”
Words absolutely matter, regardless of the action behind them. We are emotional beings, and words steer us. This is the whole philosophy behind this website, that cars are an emotional purchase. We are easily swayed by words when choosing them, and those words absolutely matter. When you dealer tells you one thing, then sells you another, one should absolutely get pissed.
I’ve been written up for insubordination in the past month, and it was over my words, not my actions.
You are 100% correct that words matter. This was pointed out last night by “The Autopian’s Own” JT regarding the media using hyperbole when covering the ISS situation. Many of the comments mocked the media coverage as outlandish-ish.
And yet, some of the same people parrot the same hyperbolic terms when it comes to politics. It’s pretty hypocritical. We all wonder how the Country has become so divided. Well, that’s what happens when the shit put on our plate gets ingested, then regurgitated. Except now the bile is somehow true.
This is a major reason why civil discussions about disagreements are neigh impossible anymore.
(i award my self 3 points for using three different variations of “hy” words in one response)
Yeah, but you didn’t use Matt’s neologism “hybris” which he coined here but apparently tried to edit away like a disfavored former Soviet official in a photo. Fortunately, it was memorialized in this comment.
Did you see what happened in Nazi Germany or did you skip that day in school, because they went from a democracy to a dictatorship quite easily.
That 90 year-old shit ain’t happening here and you know it.
Those who don’t know history…
…Might be worse than those who fail to recognize the present.
If you (I say this with all respect) think that what happened some 90+ years ago, with all the advantages of technology (like this place right here) among many other factors is in any way the same…yikes.
The state of the World today is not even comparable to that time. Equivocating that some dopey old man is the next coming of Hitler, is akin to saying that Genghis Khan is coming ’round the mountain.
It’s an asinine proposition, and you (apparently) fell for it. Think about just the way life works now, or hell, even how the demographics in ANY country are now. Do you honestly think that ONE dude and his “Movement” are gonna overtake the America? Or the World?
You are seriously underestimating your own power and self-worth in the ability to not follow the herd, if that is the case.
Again, with all respect, your argument that we are “that close” to Nazi Germany is fucking bananas. Stop believing the advertising revenue police.
It’s possible to be better. 🙂
January 6 2021 may have simply been the beer hall putch.
The US may not embrace full-on Führerprinzip, but government can be much more authoritarian while maintaining the trappings and forms of constitutional and limited government. That’s how a lot of essentially dictatorial governments have worked, and if a working majority of the population consents, even grudgingly, it certainly can happen here. Think about the kind of civil conflict that I think would be more likely if political order broke down – not so much about territory under the control of opposing forces but a low-grade conflict resembling the Troubles in Northern Ireland or Argentina in the early 1970s, which led to the dirty war and the National Reorganization Process. Or. the extrajudicial death squads of the 1960s Deep South , whose activities were unofficially condoned by the government and most of the local power structure, and who were fed information by the state sovereignty commissions (propagandists and intelligence apparatuses aimed at supporters of civil rights – the Mississippi commission had records on 87,000 people it investigated and surveilled) and the White Citizens Councils that they often funded. A breakdown in order that led to significant terrorist threats such as bombings, routine shootouts between factions (which would be a pretty high bar to set given our tolerance for what goes on now, but it can get worse) and attacks on government institutions could very well persuade that working majority to trade some liberty for more security. It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be the Right that instituted more control, as an organized campaign of frequent attacks on disfavored racial, ethnic and social minorities could disturb enough of the suburban middle class for them to support some serious threats to civil liberties enacted by a government in ideological opposition to the attacking forces.
I like your comments, I really do. I think you add some great stuff to the board.
It’s 2024. Not The Troubles, Not Argentina (although…), not “The Deep South”.
It is today. Not some shit that happened in the past when power was so segregated. Shit, morons crash Lambos for clicks.
We do not live in the era of the Potato Famine or anything like that. In fact, for you to posit that an “attack on government institutions” would be a bad thing? It’s not.
The SCOTUS decision on the Chevron Deference might be the best news we’ve had in a decade, if only people would take a deep breath from the hype and understand the importance.
The CD stripped unrequited power from the nameless, and we should all be happy.
There is no actual reality that should be acceptable when the government gets to tell us what to do, think, or feel. Grudgingly or not.
Nobody thinks it’s magic, Stoney. It’s not “magic” when a group of people storms the US capitol looking to murder members of our representative government. It’s not “magic” when one of our presidential candidates has expressed his desire to be a “dictator” on his first day of office, and his entire party seems fine with it.
You are using semantics (“it’s not a democracy, it’s a republic”) and obfuscation (“you can’t destroy the concept of democracy therefore the US system of government is safe”). It’s bad faith and it’s lame, dude.
If you think it’s lame, that’s for you to decide. As far as the two eye rolling examples you offer…
Those dumbfucks that went around looking for Pelosi or whatever other nonsense they were blabbering were a group of lunatics desperate for attention and “belonging”, and took it waaaaay too far. Way farther than what is/should be legal. No doubt, there. But, to think those somehow represent any sane American, regardless of political leaning, is in itself insane. It was a miniscule fringe that wouldn’t even fill one Texas high school stadium for a Friday night football game for a shitty team. Tiny fringe groups like that exist all over this Country doing dumb shit on just about any topic. It was a shame anyone died that day during all that. What a waste.
As far as Trump saying he was going to be a dictator for a day? That dumb-dumb has been talking shit for, what, 30 years? 40 years? Most people aren’t “fine” with it, because there is nothing to be “fine” about. Trump was talking shit like he always does. Whoopdeedo.
Again, you think what I said was lame and in bad faith. That’s fine. What I think is that a dose of common sense when looking at those two examples might be helpful for you. Neither of them are representative of what “is gonna happen” if Trump wins. I think if you remove your emotions from those examples and look at them objectively using your critical thinking skills, you’ll find that neither one of them are any more than some morons doing some moronic shit, and that’s about all there is to it.
Have a nice night.
A constitutional republic is a specific form of representative democracy.
Sort of, but not really.
This link has a nice breakdown of the differences.
https://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic
From your source. A constitutional republic is more specific, but it’s still a democracy. Saying “we don’t live in a democracy, but a republic” is akin to saying that you don’t drive a car, but a coupe.
Which is why I said “sort of”, but there are differences in how it is applied in the US. Notice the word “usually” used in your quote. They aren’t completely interchangeable.
Three things:
First, the US is absolutely a representative democracy. The usually statement there goes on to describe the US pretty thoroughly. “usually a republic is a type of representational democracy with some checks and balances enshrined in the constitution that safeguard the rights of minorities.”
Second, even if it weren’t, people understand what is meant when someone says that our democracy is endangered by [X]. The “gotcha” of being more precise isn’t changing anyone’s understanding of anything. Almost everyone who uses the broader term “democracy” understands that we are in a (democratic) constitutional republic.
Third, I have a degree in political science and one thing I never heard a professor do was correct someone for calling the US a democracy. Again, we live in a democracy, more specifically a constitutional republic.
Those are fair points. A few of which I’d like to take further, but I gotta go bartend the sunset. Maybe I’ll pick this back up later. Either way, thanks for the discussion.
Yes, we know (I even have the polisci degree to prove it), however you must also know that when people say “democratic/democracy” they mean a general form of government with open and free elections regardless of if it’s a constitutional republic or a parliamentary monarchy and arguing about that detail every time it’s brought up is pedantic.
As far as democracy not being able to be destroyed why can’t you? All it takes is someone elected that removes those parts of the government, If the next President refuses to acknowledge the results of an election and has congress refuse and reinstall them what would happen?
Oh?
The Weimar Republic,[d] officially known as the German Reich, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclaimed itself, as the German Republic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic
Same thing with a gas prices switch. It makes me want to face palm every time.
It would be appalling if it were merely false. It is beyond appalling that there is some truth to that statement; Trump wants low interest rates if he gets to be big-boy President again, because it will juice the Wall Street numbers, real-estate markets and economic growth. He has said so – he will fire Jerome Powell and replace him with someone carefully vetted to be closely aligned with Trump’s wishes. The rest of the Republicans will be too chickenshit to oppose Trump on anything he wants outside of a sternly worded virtue signal.
Don’t you know, it’s right next to the gas price dial.
What’s the point of having nuclear launch codes if the man who holds them can’t snap his fingers and pull a magic interest rate switch?
There’s nothing about new cars that appeals to me right now. My wife and I both work from home and we barely drive the cars we have. I did buy a new to me car, but it’s 20 years old.
Not sure about the election, but I’m holding off until President’s Day to get a new Sealy mattress. Even The Points Guy will tell you that is the Acme of days to get an adjustable bed.
Already doing my doodie, sir.
I’m waiting to have the extra time and money before I even think about another car. I’ve got broken crapcans at home. That being said, if I had the cash right now, hell yeah, I’d get another parsh. I just don’t want to Leeroy Jenkins my way into a gigantic car payment after many years of enjoying not having one at all, so a sizeable down payment (if not the full price of whatever poor life choice I’m looking at) needs to get saved up first.
I’d buy a car if Toyota had one to sell me. Hybrid Grand Highlanders and the TX are now under recall, so it seems like that won’t happen any time soon. There really isn’t a good alternative though, so I may be consigned to waiting no matter how bad the buying process is.
And I considered using the local dealer for service, only to see their service scheduling page is broken. I imagine this hack/ransomware thing is costing them money.
no idea what toyota is doing other than getting people to buy cars other than toyota.
Idk man. I didn’t watch any Shoresy before I cancelled my Hulu, but I always enjoyed the wink and nod that Shoresy was being played by Jared Keeso but never clearly showing his face. It seemed like saying it loud spoiled the joke to me, or does Shoresy really stand on its own?
It absolutely stands on its own.
IDK, the earlier seasons I’d seen were kinda rough and a bit too much of one gag for me, so hopefully it’s found its own pace now. Sounds like I need to give it a second chance.
I actually found Shoresy really funny if not more so then Letterkenny maybe because I binged all of Letterkenny and went onto Shoresy but I am also Blackhawks and like watching playoff hockey. But I would give Shoresy a shot if you ever pick up Hulu again it is a bit different then Letterkenny as it is much more serialized with a plot that overlaps all the seasons.
It’s honestly a better show than Letterkenny. I didn’t know what to expect going in but it started off strong and has just gotten better with each season. I think Keeso’s heart is in this one even more than it was in Letterkenny, especially the last few seasons.
Whoa, let’s take about 20% off the top there. It’s a great show that absolutely stands on its own, but better than Letterkenny? I’m not sure I’d go that far.
Well to be fair…
Letterkenny was my favorite show, now it’s Shoresy…
Now Salman is my best friend…
“It’s honestly a better show than Letterkenny.”
Don’t be a Dyck.
Shoresy is basically the same “throw scripted insults fast and pretend that’s humor” that the Shoresy character was in Letterkenny. Which is also sort of what Letterkenny was, too, except instead of insults, they used scripted “clever” banter delivered back and forth at rap artist speed.
I think that not showing the Shoresy character excused the crudeness of what he was always saying, and giving the character a show ruined that more than a little bit.
Both shows are very different than pretty much everything else, which makes them interesting, but I didn’t find either show to be particularly good.
I love letterkenny but will readily admit it’s not super consistent, even from moment to moment. The early season hockey team banter… Oof. Not great. Fartbook, and a lot of the interactions with the skids are not great.
The opening to Relationships is some of my favorite television ever, and the simple, strength and honor-based moral code is delightfully, refreshingly dumb.
My biggest issue with Letterkenny is that they started with a cast of stereotypes, then, instead of fleshing them out and developing them into real characters, they leaned in and made them even more stereotypical as the series went on.
I didn’t see Shoresy straying very far from that template at all.
There are good moments in both, that’s for sure. Even in the scripted banter pieces.
What I’m looking at are EVs and PHEVs, so I’d like to purchase before the election (fear of tax credit changes and fear of a demand spike right before those changes). But I’d also like to get something I really want instead of settling. So I might end up waiting anyway.
This is how I feel I don’t want to settle when I get in the car market and the only EV being released in the US that stuck out to me (that is affordable that is) has been the R3(X) and that is a few years down the road. And well maybe the polestar 2 but I still have mixed feelings with it being a a Chinese company.
The two EVs I’ve liked (both with caveats) have been the EV6 and the Chevy Equinox/Blazer (they’re pretty close to the same in most ways that matter). But I’ve had bad luck with Kia warranty work and the Chevy pair don’t have Android Auto (and put ventilated/heated seats on the damn screen).
I like the styling of the Rivian R3, but the Rivians are too screen-reliant for me.
Yeah true on the screen reliance I am not sure that is something I could get over not having button as I love having physical buttons or at least have normal controls always there and not have to scroll through settings and make it dangerous. I also like the blazer EV but really don’t care for having a bigger vehicle as a DD already do that with my FJ and cummins would like to downsize.
I get it. I love old analog SLRs, where the focus, shutter, and aperture are all separate physical rings, each with a different texture, and you can control everything by feel and muscle memory. Then there is my digital point and shoot, where to set the shutter release timer I need to scroll past the picture aspect ratio menu option every single time.
Not all screen interfaces are that dumb. On a Tesla, the climate, defroster, defogger, seat heaters, and audio controls are always present, and always in the same location at the bottom edge of the screen. Audio volume, fast forward, reverse, cruise control speed, follow distance, and voice assistance are all physical buttons (thumbwheels) on the steering wheel. Windshield wipe and wash are on a stalk (though wiper speed is on the screen, in a window that pops up when you activate the wipers via the stalk).
I don’t understand the wiper speed on a screen like you have the stalk why was it that hard to add a knob/dial? I know money and all but yeesh hah
The problem with screen controls isn’t that they’re buried in menus. Almost every screen-based system keeps those controls available all the time (maybe they all do, but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone has a counterexample). It’s the lack of tactile feedback that makes the screen inferior to buttons and knobs. In my car, if I grab the climate knob, I know I’ve grabbed it. If I press a button, I feel the button and I feel it click when I press it. I don’t have to look. I don’t have to wonder whether I actually hit the right part of the screen or look over at the controls.
I’ll give Tesla one thing: shifter on the screen isn’t as bad as it sounds. Though it’s not ideal, in my opinion, if you’re switching between forward, reverse, park, and neutral, you should be stopped anyway, so looking at a screen isn’t the end of the world. Good chance you’re looking over there for your rear camera anyway.
New cars today are too expensive to feel good about “settling”.
Absolutely. I used to be the sort of person who found a reasonable deal and lived with the result, but if I’m already spending way too much, I’ll take the time and spend a little more money to get the one I want.
It’s especially messy for Stellantis dealers. Stella has made it clear that the outcome of the election is going to shape the very vehicles they decide to move forward with and build for us to sell. Add to that the lackluster attitude towards EVs most Stellantis dealer employees have (Tough to be pro-EV when all your customer are pissed that the hemi is going away, and you have a lot of people hoping for the wrong guy.
“The other big news yesterday was that Volkswagen took a huge steak in Rivian.”
Mmmm…steak…aaaaauuuuuugghhh.
Kinda surprised you haven’t mentioned the S. Korea fire, Matt. Any reason why?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/24/world/asia/lithium-battery-fire-south-korea.html
I need to, probably tomorrow.
Not holding off on a car purchase for the election just waiting for VA house to sell.
With Rivian I wonder if this could be the beginning of them being bought out? VW has been bought a couple truck manufacturers companies to get more commercial space, Scania and Navistar which the ladder is why they have the rights to the scout now, so maybe they will do the same with Rivian as they have the contracts with Amazon for delivery vans currently and I think with ATT also.
What worries me is how VW will treat the smart people (i.e. engineers, developers, etc.) at Rivian. If VW drives them away, they have nothing but the name.
Yeah if they do buy Rivian will they just take the technology and get rid of all those smart people that work there or will they make the smart decision and keep those people around to keep advancing the technology?
They absolutely will drive the key Rivian people away – because they’re not Europeans. It’s a European corporation, it’s what they do when they buy a foreign company. It’s so deeply embedded in their corporate culture they can’t avoid it even if they want to. Having an American boss over EU employees is intolerable for them, so you get what you get…
I may work for one of those American companies VW has bought out management or engineers are not Germans….yet but it might not be the worst thing if they do change haha
yeah, this is bad for would be Rivian buyers down the road.
I think it’s the first step in buying Rivian also. The Navistar purchase started with a joint venture in 2017. VW/Traton is very serious about electrification. I think they plan on having capable product on the market before the market starts to shift in mass towards BEV. Anything that gives them the ability to catch Tesla is probably worth the money.
Rivian bought A Better Route Planner last year. The trip planning data from that website will help the Electrify America build out their charging network… unless they are committed to having a sub-par, sometimes operational network. It’s hard to tell with what I hear about EA.
I may have some knowledge on this but with Navistar/International the focus is actually getting Scania’s diesels to pass DEF in the US in the heavy duty trucks there is not a main focus on EV’s right now in that sector. The only thing that has some focus on electrics right now is school buses (makes sense) and medium duty.
I know the Scout has already been announced and “planned” but any chance the Rivian tech could be used to boost the new brand?
It could possibly but VW’s Scout website does say they are going to reveal it this summer. So unless there has been a lot of hush hush about VW and Rivian working together before I have a feeling the scout will be on some type of VW made platform.
That’s what I was thinking also, but looking at all the trademark applications for the brand to use as names I’m assuming their long term plan will be to offer multiple models on different platforms. Maybe Rivian will have something to offer there
Yeah it wouldn’t surprised me. The reveal this year might not even be close to the production vehicle (powertrain wise) and just a prototype that may change to being on a Rivian platform.
I would imagine that Lucid is looking for an angel to save them as well as their stock price popped overnight on the Rivian news. From what I understand, they build decent vehicles, but their CEO strikes me as a smarmy, douchebag, charlatan.
Lucid is fully backed by the Saudi funds. What bigger angel than that do you imagine they are looking for?
God, he meant to say God, as that is the only one who could save Lucid from the Saudi’s.
That’s great, but what do the Saudis know about building vehicles? So far, their investment hasn’t worked out so well.
Have you seen the PIF Fund portfolio? It’s $1Trillion massive. They don’t need to know all that much about cars or (literally) coffee to own huge stakes in the many, many sectors.
Do you really think venture capitalists know anything about most of the industries they invest in? In most cases their only talent is “having lots of money”, which is the Saudis in spades.
Yes. Otherwise, they will make a small fortune only by starting with a large fortune.