Why GM Failed In India
CNBC:
Over the last 20 years, the
Indian automotive market has grown from
about 500,000 new passenger cars,
hatchbacks, sedans and utilities to
about 3.5
million in 2018.
The market has an expected compound annual
growth rate of about 5 to
6 percent over the next 10 years.
But, some automakers have struggled
to make it work.
Among them is General
Motors, the largest U.S.
car company. GM stopped selling cars in
India in 2017 after years of
declining market share.
It's a striking move for GM, which
in recent years has also closed
shop in other regions around the
world, as leadership focuses on
maximizing profits and making investments
in new technologies such as
electric power trains
and mobility services.
With a population of more than
1 billion people, India is becoming
one of the world's
largest automotive markets.
The country is poised to surpass
Japan as the world's third biggest
new car market in 2021.
So while there is ample
opportunity for automakers, the Indian
landscape has been particularly difficult
to navigate, especially for
American firms. GM watched its share
of the Indian market erode
steadily over several years, bottoming out
at about one percent in
2016 just before the
automaker pulled out.
So if the Indian market is
growing, why did GM struggle, especially
when GM has been
so successful in China?
To be fair, quite a few automakers
tend to have difficulty in the
Indian market. First of all, India
is a massive country with a
diverse population of roughly 1.3
billion people.
India, I think, we are
definitely a complex market.
The income levels
are quite heterogeneous.
We are divided, actually into
urban India and rural India.
The consumer requirements are actually
different even the needs are
different in both these markets.
There are a few criteria a
mass market automaker ought to meet.
They are fuel efficiency, resale
value, proximity of service stations
and the affordability of parts
and low servicing costs.
I think first thing is price.
We are a country with a
very low per capita income.
Indians are very price sensitive.
But price is not the only factor.
So now the customer also needs
some more value, for example, with
styling elements. And then, I think,
the consumer also wants a global
brand. They want a
brand which is aspirational.
The consumer wants an overall combination of
all P's, you know it may
be product, it may be
price, it may be positioning.
Which makes the things
quite complicated for OEMs.
These might seem pretty attainable,
but many automakers have
struggled to meet these
in the country.
There are a couple of companies who
have managed to crack that code
and there are several more with shares
of the market ranging in size
from small to smaller.
By far, the most successful automaker
in India is the Japanese firm
Suzuki, which alone owns
half the Indian market.
Suzuki has enjoyed something of
a first mover advantage.
It was the first major automaker to
enter India, and it did so
through a joint venture
with Indian manufacturer Maruti.
Suzuki also specializes in highly
fuel efficient vehicles, which are
extremely important in
the Indian market.
After Suzuki, Korean maker Hyundai is
the second largest with 16
percent of the Indian market.
After that, Indian, Japanese and Korean
makers such as Honda, Tata,
Kia and Mahindra all more or less
have equal degrees of market share.
Kia in particular, is a relatively
late coming brand that has been
able to succeed in India.
I think an excellent example is
Kia Motors which recently entered, it
was a new brand and
they gave a great proposition.
They were in an SUV segment and
I think suddenly right from the month
one, we saw a great success
for this OEM, in India.
Then the remaining 10 percent of the
market is made up of others such
as Ford, Renault, BMW and Nissan.
Early on, GM entered the India market
with its Opel brand, a mass
market brand GM had
owned in Europe.
While Opel cars tended to be
affordable, they failed to resonate with
Indian buyers.
I think later on they realized that's
not a brand which is really
going to work well in India because
that was not a value proposition
which they were offering
to their customers.
But then GM introduced its Chevrolet
brand to the country, which
brought it more success.
It was a great success.
They launched a few great
products like Chevrolet Cruze Chevrolet
Beat. They had that start which
they were really looking forward.
Despite these efforts, the automaker had
trouble taking share in the
Indian market. It was the first
automaker to introduce a diesel fuel
powered car of its size.
At the time, the Chevrolet beat
was the smallest diesel powered car
customers could buy in India.
It was a strong proposition and
benefited from a government subsidy
on diesel engines.
But in the end, the
diesel Beat had few takers.
The company may also have made a
misstep by trying to introduce a
low-cost vehicle GM manufactured with
its Chinese partner SAIC called
the Chevrolet Sail.
Their plan got derailed with the
introduction of Sail because I think
they underestimated the consumer aspiration
and then, I think, the
decline started. GM also fell victim
to a kind of self-reinforcing
cycle. One challenge it struggled with
was the lack of an adequate
dealer and servicing network.
More premium brands such as Mercedes
and BMW often attract customers
with the means to travel
further for service and sales.
But, mass market brands such as
GM's Chevrolet are targeting middle
class buyers who value convenience.
Dealerships in India often sell a
single brand so GM's low sales
volumes meant a single dealer might sell
only a handful of cars in a
month and risk taking losses on
the costs of running the business.
In the end, such low market share
made it difficult for GM to justify
maintaining a presence
in the country.
The automaker officially stopped selling
cars in India on December
31, 2017.
GM told CNBC it explored many
options for its India business, but
ultimately withdrew after it
determined the increased investment
originally planned for the country would
not deliver the returns of
other global opportunities.
It continues to operate services
for existing Chevrolet customers in
the country. In September, the
automaker entered a long-term
partnership with Tata Consultancy Services,
which will do engineering
design for GM vehicles meant
for markets around the world.
The move out of India was part
of a larger pullback GM has been
making around the world as
it restructures its business.
We're seeing other automakers follow
suit as they're pruning.
They're pruning the dead branches and
focusing on where they can be
strong. For GM, this is a huge shift
because GM of old used to be all
things to everyone everywhere.
And, it has now decided that
is not the proper strategy.
The automaker told CNBC if it doesn't
see a clear path to leadership
and long term sustained profits in
a particular market, it will look
at opportunities to focus its resources
on areas that will lead to
the greatest results. It added that this
is the same approach it has
taken elsewhere.
The automaker also sold its
European operations to French carmaker
PSA in 2017.
At the time it pulled out of India
GM had two factories there, one in
the Gujarati city of Halol
and another in Talegaon.
The Halol plant was acquired by
MG Motor, the once famed British
brand now owned by Chinese
automaker SAIC Motor Corporation.
GM has a joint venture with
SAIC to produce cars in China.
Reports surfaced in November 2019 that
SAIC is also in talks to
acquire GM's Talegaon plant, along
with fellow Chinese automaker
Great Wall. GM told CNBC it
is exploring strategic options for the
plant. The move out of India was
a retreat for GM and for American
auto industry. Ford is starting
to do the same.
It's trimming some
of its offerings.
Global economy and global auto
market is slowing some.
Certainly true here in the
US, it's true in China.
There's just not enough money to
go around to every single market,
too every single vehicle line.
Look at Daimler and BMW,
they've announced major employee cuts.
But in some ways it might
have been a shrewd move.
The other thing that is happening
in the market that has never
happened before is we are on the
verge of massive disruption of the
industry. You know, we're going to
have a future of electric
vehicles, autonomous vehicles and new
ways to acquire personal
transportation and now
mobility service.
There's all kinds of things.
Nobody knows when that's going to happen
or how it's going to happen,
but it's requiring a
lot of investment.
Companies like GM just can't keep putting
a ton of money into the
future as well as a ton
of money in today's stuff.
While analysts do expect the
Indian automotive market to continue
growing in the foreseeable future, it
did hit a slump in 2019.
Maruti Suzuki sales were growing
until February 2019, but have
slipped every month, year
over year, until October.
Suzuki said in November that the slowing
Indian market was one of the
factors behind the company's falling overall
sales and net income in
its second fiscal quarter.
So I think right now the
market is going through turmoil.
Our economy is struggling and if
we only talk about the automotive
market we are talking about a decline
of minus 14 percent in 2019
calendar year light vehicles.
So obviously this year is the
kind of degrowth happening, which has
not happened in last
two decades, in India.
2020, we are just talking about a
kind of a flat growth but then
going forward, in 2021, '22, '23,
the assumption that our economy
should be back, you know, the
GDP growth rate will start growing
above seven percent. Indian
automotive analysts note the country's
auto industry has to contend
with the relatively recent rise of
mobility services such as ride
hailing. The potential of these
competing technologies is still
unknown, but could affect how
interested in car ownership Indians
remain in the future.
In the end, GM did make some of
the right choices when trying to go
into India. GM was right in
terms of localizing their products
typically for the Indian market, making
it, in line with the taxation
because they were able to save tax.
But, at the end of their day, were
really not able to match with what
the competitors were offering.
If the Indian economy picks back up,
GM may find itself trying to
profitably re-enter the country.
GM's rival Ford, which has been in
India since 1995, said in October
2019 it will create a new
joint venture with Indian manufacturer
Mahindra, which Ford said will help
it develop new products faster
and drive profitable growth.
How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5 Billion Company
Success Secrets TV:
How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5
Billion Company
The name Chevrolet originated from a Swiss-born
American racer Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, who
founded his company with William Durant in
1911, stayed for four years and then left
his own company to Durant in 1915.
The Chevrolet Company previously called the
Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company
and simply called the Chevy is the automobile
department of General Motors, a manufacturing
company in the United States.
How Chevrolet Began
Twenty years before Chevrolet, Durant was
the founder of a successful Durant-Dort Carriage
Company which manufactured horse-drawn vehicles.
And so Durant wouldn't even touch a car with
a ten-foot pole, let alone allow his daughter
to ride in what he called, "loud and dangerous
horseless carriages."
But as time passed he realized that there
were more cars than carriages on the American
streets; an experience that did not settle
well with the relatively tentative public.
As the government regulated cars for their
safety, Durant had other ideas.
Why not improve the security of these cars
instead?
In 1904, Durant approached a struggling Buick
Motor Company and became its controlling investor.
Within a span of four years, Durant demonstrated
his salesman attitude and transformed Buick
into a leading automobile name amongst the
likes of Ford, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac.
For Durant, however, it was only the start.
Durant figured he could further improve his
odds in the industry if he built a holding
company that would control several automobile
divisions, with each division manufacturing
their own car.
With the Buick's outstanding profits, Durant
had sufficient capital to found the General
Motors Company in 1908.
A year later, General Motors acquired several
car brands like Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac,
Elmore, and others.
Unfortunately,Durant got so carried away in
his "automobile acquisition crusade" that
GM suffered cash shortage with their sales
losing to Ford's.
And so, in 1910, General Motors showed Durant
the exit door.
But Durant did not give up.
Having regained his bearings, he reunited
with an old colleague from the days of the
Buick motor company, Louis-Joseph Chevrolet.
Durant knew the Swiss-born American as a man
whose competency for car mechanics matched
his passion for racing.
In 1909, Louis had participated in the Giant
Despair Hillclimb.
An oddly apt name, considering the Hillclimb
race was less about the racers themselves
and more about test-driving the competing
car brands they drove.
Therefore, when Durant offered a chance to
build more automobiles, Louis couldn't resist
signing his name on the dotted line alongside
Durant's.
In 1911, Louis co-founded the Chevrolet Motor
Company with Durant.
Durant used Louis’ racing status as a means
of building a motor company, and his way of
getting back at General Motors.
The first Chevrolet car, the Series C Classic
Six was designed by Etienne Planche with directions
by Louis.
The prototype was ready before the company
was incorporated even though the production
didn’t happen until 1913 where it was introduced
at an auto show in New York.
In 1914, Chevrolet redesigned its logo.
And so a "bowtie emblem" logo was used on
Chevrolet’s first produced cars in 1914:
the Chevrolet H series and L series models.
That same year, Durant and Louis argued about
their differing intentions for Chevrolet’s
future car designs.
Durant wanted simple and affordable cars that
would surpass those of Fords.
On the other hand, Louis preferred playing
it fast and loose, with luxury or racing cars.
These differences split these two associates
and Louis sold his shares of the company to
Durant.
Now alone at the helm, Durant was able to
focus on his next winning car design.
He achieved this in 1916 when the cheaper
Chevrolet Series 490 finally outpaced Ford
in sales and cemented Chevrolet’s place
among the big automobile names.
To say Chevrolet made huge profits during
this period would be a severe understatement.
Durant revisited General Motors as a controlling
investor, purchasing their stocks, which gave
him the leverage to launching himself into
leading General Motors once more.
By 1917, Durant had become the president of
General Motors.
All was right, now that Durant's "big automobile"
dream was back on track.
And of course, his first directive was merging
the highly successful Chevrolet into the parent
company General Motors as a separate division.
How Chevrolet Grew
In 1918, Chevrolet launched a new V8 powered
model, the Series D for open two-seat cars
and the touring cars that could seat 5 passengers.
These models didn't sell well though and they
were scrapped by the next year.
Given Chevrolet's successful track record
in the market, General Motors rebranded and
sold their commercial grade cars and trucks
as Chevrolet with similar appearances with
the Chevrolet’s vehicles in 1919 from Chevrolet
factories located in Flint, Michigan.
The automobile company built several branch
assembly plants in New York, Ohio, Missouri,
California, Texas, and Canada.
Somewhere between the 1920s and 1940s, Chevrolet
would see Durant's vision for "producing simple
and affordable cars" come true.
In fact, Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth were
known to Americans as "the low priced three".
During this period, one of Chevrolet's most
notable cars was the Stovebolt introduced
in 1929, which was tag-lined "a six for the
price of four".
This and several generations of the car model
blew away the competition of Ford and Plymouth.
In 1953, the Chevy Corvette, a sport’s car
with two seats and a fiberglass body debuted
to become the first mass-produced sports car
in the United States, championing the "America's
Sports Car" appeal.
The appeal of the Corvette and other Chevrolet
passenger cars would be enhanced with the
first-time introduction of Rochester Ramjet
fuel-injection engine as a high-performance
option for the price of $484.
The Chevrolet small block V8 car design made
its debut in 1955 and remained in circulation
longer than other mass produced engines around
the world.
Modifications to the V8 engine including the
aluminum block and heads, the electronic engine
management and the port fuel injection gave
birth to the designs in production today.
In 1958, Chevrolet introduced the Impala series,
which went on to become one of the best-selling
American cars in history experiencing popularity
during the 60s and 70s.
The parent company General Motors introduced
Chevrolet to Europe in 2005.
With rebranded cars manufactured from the
General Motors branch in Korea acquired Daewoo
Motors.
The economic depression between 2007 and 2010
hit Chevrolet hard.
But the road to recovery began in 2010 with
the introduction of fuel-efficient cars and
trucks to compete with foreign automobile
manufacturers.
Within the same year, Chevrolet introduced
the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, Chevrolet
Volt in America, which was sold under the
name Opel/Vauxhall Ampera throughout Europe
with a record 5,268 units soldand became the
world's best-selling plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle (PHEV) car in 2012, winning the award
for the North American Car of the Year, European
Car of the Year and World Green of the Year.
The series was then named the combined Volt/Ampera
that was sold across the world.
It exceeded the 100,000 unit sales milestone
in late 2005 and eleven years later the Volt
family of vehicles had become the world's
best-selling plug-in hybrid as well as the
third best selling electric car after the
Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf cars.
In 2011, Chevrolet set a global sales record
of 4.76 million vehicles sold worldwide
In late 2013, the Chevy brand was withdrawn
from Europe by General Motors leaving the
Corvette and Camero lines.
In 2016, Chevrolet unveiled the first affordable
mass-produced all-electric car the Chevrolet
Bolt EV.
This car too has won several awards.
Where Chevrolet Is Today
Chevrolet now has its headquarters in Detroit,
Michigan, and operates throughout 140 countries
in North and South America, Asia, Australia,
South Africa, and Europe with over two million
vehicles sold annually in the US alone and
a brand value of $11.5 billion.
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Why General Motors Left Europe
CNBC:
In 2017, General Motors,
the largest U.S.
automaker with brands known around the
world made perhaps one of
its boldest moves in its history.
It sold its European Opel and
Vauxhall brands to the French
automaker PSA known for brands
such as Peugeot and Citroen.
It was the end of an era
for GM which had first ventured into
Europe nearly 90 years before.
It also marked the end of nearly
two decades of losses for the
brands under GM's stewardship.
GM executives said the deal
would unload a difficult and
struggling business and allow the company
to focus on its more
profitable North American market and free
up cash to make needed
investments in new technologies such
as electric cars and
autonomous driving.
But the move came with risks.
The European new car market is about
as large as that of the
United States and leaving it would
not only hit GM's volume but
also increase its exposure to the
ups and downs of the U.S.
auto market.
The sale of the unit
also racked up huge costs.
GM took a $3.9 billion
loss in 2017 owing
mostly to the $6.2
billion in costs it had to
shell out for the sale.
So why did GM leave?
Did the automaker simply
screw up or fail?
Was it wise to get out of Europe?
And what does it mean for GM's
future and the future of the auto
industry?
The decision actually says a lot about
how difficult it is to be a
global automaker today and the
sometimes subtle ways markets
around the world increasingly favor
local players who can tailor
their products to
specific markets.
In the end GM may have failed
in Europe in part because it just
isn't European.
The numbers show General Motors was
having a rough time on the
continent in the nine years or
so before the divestiture of GM's
European business.
It bled money at the EBIT line
every single year for a total of
about $14 billion in
losses on $208.4
billion dollars in sales it's nine
year weighted loss of 6.9
percent.
EBIT stands for earnings before interest
and taxation and is the
metric GM uses to report
the money its international business
divisions make.
Its worst year during that time
was during the financial crisis in
2009.
Where GM incurred a 15
percent loss of $3.6
billion dollars.
The best year in that period was
2016 where it still had a 1.4
percent loss totaling
about $257 million.
Now that sounds like an improvement
and in absolute terms it was.
But consider that over the same
nine year period GM turned a
profit in North America of
$28 billion on $823.7
point billion in sales.
That's a nine year
weighted gain of 3.4
percent an automaker generally tries to
target an 8 percent EBIT
for any given region and for
the world as a whole.
GM's rival, Ford for example has an
8 percent EBIT target for its
European business.
The automobiles never really
sold well with consumers.
And one of the reasons they
weren't able to achieve profitability
is because what they did sell
were primarily passenger cars and
not the higher margin trucks and SUVs
that they saw a lot of in
the U.S..
So that's that's a
big part of it.
There's also a lot of headwinds that
they faced on the cost side
of the equation with with the
cost of labor, unions, and
also more stringent regulation
particularly from an emissions
standpoint.
So a lot of those reasons are
why they had such mixed results and
from a market share perspective when
they pulled out they were
they only had about 6
to 7 percent market share.
So it wasn't really a
dominant market for them.
And GM was losing ground
during that time to competitors.
Consider that the automaker
had a 9.3
percent share of the European car
market in 2008 but that fell
below 7 percent in 2014 and stayed
there for two years and then
fell again to around
6 percent in 2016.
Meanwhile European competitors seem
to be faring better.
And once GM sold off its
European business its earnings shot up.
The automaker earned a
global EBIT of 9.9
percent in 2017 and 8.4
percent in 2018.
But why was GM struggling in Europe
when it does so well in the
United States and is
even leading U.S.
automakers in China a market that is
by no means easy to do
business in.
One reason is that
Europe is pretty unique.
To be fair to GM it is not
the only automaker that has had trouble
there.
American cars have never been an
easy sell in the European market.
Ford for example has dialed back
its presence in the region.
Gm is not alone
in their struggles.
You see Ford pulling out of
Europe and American cars just never
have really sold very well there.
That market is really dominated
by the big three German
manufacturers and others.
But it's also a
fairly fragmented market.
So they just really were never
able to compete and consumers just
didn't really like their cars.
There were larger economic and political
factors such as the great
recession and tightening emissions
regulations that made it
tougher for companies to
do business there.
Another factor is the
distinctiveness of European tastes.
At the time GM CEO Mary Barra
said 80 percent of the vehicles in
the Opel portfolio didn't share
parts or platforms with those
sold in any of
GM's other markets.
When we look at the portfolio
going forward from a vehicle
perspective or a portfolio perspective
only 20 percent of the
portfolio overlapped with the rest
of the General Motors
portfolio.
So we think the real opportunity
for PSA is to leverage that
Europe specific scale.
That put the company
in a tough position.
Major automakers generally want to
build flexible platforms and
parts that can be used in
a variety of models in different
markets.
This helps them keep costs low
and achieve those highly desired
economies of scale.
There are forces however that make
it difficult to share parts and
platforms.
Automobiles tend to be highly regulated
products and many of the
markets where they are sold
and the regulations can vary
sometimes widely from
region to region.
One example of this is
fuel economy and emissions regulations.
Both the U.S.
and Europe have them.
But they tend to differ and
producing cars to meet each
regulatory regime costs
more money.
It requires that the company engineer
and test every vehicle to
fit every set of rules.
But many industry observers say GM
made a number of missteps over
the years that contributed to
the brand's struggles in Europe.
Opel and Vauxhall are often thought
of as sensible cars but they
do not have the glamorous
reputations of more premium brands.
GM typically sold Opels and Vauxhalls
in high volumes usually to
keep costs low.
But simple supply and demand shows this
has a way of driving down
prices.
And while GM produced a lot of cars
it was hard for it to make
money on the cars it made.
It also introduced its Chevrolet brand
into Europe which had the
effect of undermining sales
of Opel and Vauxhall.
Both brands already had
difficulty distinguishing themselves in
Europe's competitive landscape and
selling highly similar
Chevrolets right next to
them further confused buyers.
Furthermore the company didn't
have the right products.
Opels portfolio was heavily
weighted toward traditional passenger
cars such as
subcompact and sedans.
And the brand missed the boom
in crossover and small SUV sales.
At the end of the day Europe is
a large market but it is a mature
one and does not offer the
opportunities for growth companies can
find in China and other emerging
markets or even the kinds of
opportunity in the U.S..
A lot of it is really reflection
of the economic growth in Europe
relative to China.
You have one of the fastest growing
countries in the world and the
U.S. which is growing stronger a
lot stronger than Europe now.
You know if you look at European
GDP over the last several years
just has really lagged the
North American market in Asia.
China is now the world's largest
car market with 28 million new
vehicles sold in 2018.
That number is likely to continue
to rise as the auto market
continues to grow.
In North America particularly the
United States, is becoming an
ever more profitable market as
consumers turn toward higher
priced crossovers, SUVs,
and pickup trucks.
So GM cut the cord in Europe and
said it would use the money to
focus more on its strong business
selling trucks in North America
while sinking piles of cash
into its investments in electric
vehicles and self-driving cars.
Those aren't cheap aspirations and it may
be a long time before GM
or anyone else makes
money off them.
Meanwhile GM's North American sales
have grown pretty consistently
from 56 billion dollars in 2009
to 113 billion dollars in 2018
according to FactSet.
Meanwhile it was able to sell the
business to Peugeot and a large
automaker that has been successful
focusing on Europe but who
also has plans to
return to the U.S..
They've been very open over the
last few months about their
interest in specifically
Fiat Chrysler.
Which I think they view as a
opportunity to gain a foothold in the
North American market and obviously
you know that company has
said some very well-received brands with
Jeep and a lot of the
new products that
they're introducing.
In a comment to
CNBC, General Motors
said:
Peugeot surprised the industry by saying
it had restored the Opel
and Vauxhall brands to profitability in
part by cutting costs and
introducing new more
profitable models.
2020 Chevrolet Suburban Review
Joshua McDonald:
All right, what's going on guys this Josh McDonald
And today we're gonna be looking at this 2020
Chevrolet Suburban premiere before we get started make sure to LIKE this video subscribe down below for more content
Let's hop right into it. So here's the key
You can lock unlock your boat start open up the bank glass and the lift gate with it
Same just lock it once hold this button down and she comes to life
This one does have the rst package on it, so you have your black bowtie and grill LED running lights
Are super nice black suburban badging
We also do have the keyless entry so you can lock your unlock it with a key in your pocket
Or on spot marring in the mirrors
Got the running boards on both sides
Have your chrome exhaust tip
Rst badging right there stands for rally support truck
Black bow ties black suburban badging so to open up the lift gate. You can press the button right there
Behind this handle or you can do it with the key
It comes up. It's a power liftgate
You have your power seats right here so you can fold down the back seats like that
And if you click this twice do the cat this chairs and they lift all the way up like that
On both sides
Get a little bit of stores under here
Charging port right there. And for the third row you have a couple cupholders right there one over there little storage pocket
So to put this back down you just press this button
You also have your tow hitch under this thing right here
So to take that off you just got two little screws on both sides
You got one right here and one right here on the other side
You just take that off and you got your tow hitch hookup and your lights down there
Easy fill gas cap
So back here when you lift the seats up it makes it super easy to get to the third row
So you can just run back there and hop in
Lift these back up off the side
So right here you have a charging port that's three prong all your AC controls heated seats view USBs and a charging port right here
We also do have your DVD players
Put those down
And you have two of them. So one for the third row one for the second row
super cool, really
Good space inside of here
Nice leather seating surfaces
All right, so to start all the way up you just put your foot on the brake
Hit this button and she comes to life
So up here. You have your center screen?
you have your info your audio your phone your navigation and your options so
On the info right here. You can see your miles per hour. It also does predict the speed limit right there
fuel economy fuel range oil life tire pressure more fuel economy
Every audio
You can change the radio station by pressing up or down on this
Your phone you can see what phone's connected
your navigation
You can resume your route and have the voice prompts on or off
And your options for the touchscreen?
Here's your steering wheel so you have your cruise control your forward collision alert
You can adjust how far you want that to go off flat
heated steering wheel
These are your controls for the center screen right there
Hands-free Bluetooth and calling
Give your front deck parking sensors your lane keep assist adjustable pedals. You can move those up or down
Trailer gain adjuster
formal drive controls light controls all your window and marry controls you can fold the mirrors in by pressing this
They fold in just like that
You have memory seats up front
All your charging ports and USBs are up here two cupholders wireless charging pad so you can place your smartphone on there no charge it
Super deep console right here. You have a charger port two. USB is in the aux port
You have heated and cooled seats on both sides
Your AC controls right here and your AC controls for up front. It is dual zone
so this side can be different from my side and
You also have your touch screen up here you can lift the touch screen up or down by holding this button down
Do you have a charger port behind there?
So on here you have your audio which is am/fm and Sirius XM radio
We also do have 4G LTE Wi-Fi through OnStar your temperature right there
Your phone you can also have apple carplay and android auto your navigation system right here
Settings weather video texting
OnStar traffic and your apps
You have your glove box right here
Bose audio nice leather seats up front here. You also do have the sunroof
You have your reading lights up here
Three garage door openers are your sunroof controls right here. You have a sunglasses holder
And a little mirror to see into the back seats
You should adjust your tailgate to match. So I'll open all the way up three four sort of cut it completely off
Also, if you push this button it will open up the lift gate just like that and if you push it again
It'll put it back down
Do you have the power sunroof?
So you can see out of here
And it also does tilt up which I'll show you here in a second just pull up on this lever a little tilt for you
Nice wood grain trim inside of here
Yeah, go ahead and pop out give you guys one last look at it
So again, this is the 2020 Chevrolet Suburban for beer with the rst trim
Let me know what you guys think of it down in the comments below
I think it looks really good with a silver color and the black accents
And we'll go ahead and show you guys the windows thicker
So it's a 2020 suburban four-wheel-drive
Premiere it's over ice metallic with the jet black interior
6.2 liter v8 with a 10 speed automatic transmission
total price on is
77856
Is a son and heir tainment system
6.2 rst performance edition rst edition
You can see everything it gives you right there you get 14 miles per gallon city 20 highway
Total price with the accessories is 79 three-one-seven
You guys can go ahead and pause the video right here if you want to take a deeper look at the window sticker
Another thing about this vehicle is like it's absolutely massive
So driving it. It feels like you're driving a 18-wheeler or something
Which is pretty cool
So, I'll Drive it back to the parking spot just so you guys can get a feel for what it looks like
And we just pull my info back up
You can put it in Drive with this handle right here. So you just pull up it from down
Put in the drive you also do have your backup camera
That you can see right there
If you turn your wheel a little line, right your turns with it, so it makes it super easy to back in
You also do have the manual shift you can go up or down a gear in the Tahoe mode
You just press that when you're towing, you know, change the gear ratios and everything
Yeah, super-smooth plenty of power
And I'll go ahead and demonstrate backing it in
My parking spot right here play reverse
You can see that line turns with a backup camera makes it super easy to backup
Straighten it out a little bit
And the seats do vibrate when you get close to objects just to warn you you also do have your hazards that link right there
But yeah guys, that's the 2020 chevy suburban premier
Make sure you guys like this video subscribe down below for more content and I'll see you guys next time
SHOCKING!! Car Restoration | Bringing Back Plymouth Belvedere to Life
INFOINSTA:
At First Sight it Seems a Scrap
Lets see how this car won
Golden Award in Classic Car Rally
Please Comment down to Request Subtitles in your language
This is 1959 Plymouth Belvedere
the car was supposedly used as a Governor's car in Madhya pradesh,
imported by Goverment of India
It was bought from its second owner,
who hardly used the car since buying it in 1971.
The odometer reads 3000 miles,
which might be genuine.
The marks on the roof shows
that a beacon light was fixed there
The car after some cleaning
Dont Forget to Subscribe to my channel
Comment Down i would be happy to Respond
Here is the engine bay of the Plymouth
The car needs work on suspension
and brakes before it can be driven.
The restoration work has started on the
Plymouth Belvedere
Full grounds up restoration has commenced,trims etc will of-course removed in due course
right now the body is off the chassis
and work on the underside has begun
suspension and mechanical parts
have arrived from the US as well.
Engine has been removed for checking and cleaning, doesn't need much work
The chassis was cleaned/cleared of all rust
and painted with primer.
Chassis has received a coat of paint and work on suspension has begun.
Tinkering work on the underside of the body is almost complete and it has received a coat of anti-rust.
The underside has received rubber coating.
Chassis is fully restored with all new suspension, shockers , arm bushes , steering ends and engine and transmission mounts,
all parts imported from USA.
The body has been united with chassis
and tinkering work is in progress now.
some parts are awaited from the US
like mouldings, cosmetics etc,
they are also looking for a shipping agency which picks/ships Glass, as the rear glass has to be imported.
Tinkering work is almost complete
the car has received a coat of primer
now the car is with the painters for putty-ing
and preparing the base for paint job.
Here is a video of firing of the engine.
After the final coat of primer.
A small video of the test drive.
The engine is Plymouth 230 inline
6 flathead, its about 3772 cc.
The fenders, hood have recieved a rubber coating (3M)
This was painted couple of days back and now they are thinking of changing it
waiting for the correct formula for the powder blue.
earlier the car was painted
and the outcome was not as expected.
it was decided to try to get the correct shade from USA
luckily these period touch up
samples were found on eBay.
Finally the car was repainted today
with the correct powder blue shade,
Here it is how it looks
Tail lamps lenses and
a period radio has also been imported
the missing knob on the radio is now being sourced.
the white on the roof and sides was sprayed
Colour as it looks after rubbing.
Original seat pattern found underneath covers.
Wiring work has started.
details are sorted
Work has been slow on the car
as more parts are sourced
This just appeared in The Plymouth Bulletin,
Work on the car is going on full pace now
luckily an original rear glass along with an odd lot of spare parts were found in Jharkhand.
The rear glass has been fitted now
New tyres (Firestone) 750-14, 4-Ply (2-1/4'' white walls) have also arrived from the US.
some small items are still awaited from the US including some mouldings, knobs and an ash tray.
Car got every original party it has before
and We won Golden Award in Classic car rally
if you liked my video Please give it thumbs up
Don't forget to Subscribe to my channel
Comment down if you have any queries or suggestions
Subscribe now
Chevy Suburban - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed
Donut Media:
(tires squealing)
- Bad guys love 'em,
cartels gots ta have 'em,
and of course you can't forget
that they're loved by the biggest,
baddest authority figures
of them all, moms.
Biggie got shot in one.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Chevy Suburban.
(electronic music)
Suburban is longest lasting moniker
in American automotive history.
It's kinda like if Ford
still had a Model T.
I'll do my best breeze by the early,
low horsepower bits that happened
before your grand-pappy was just a glimmer
in your grandad's eyes,
but I'm not gonna skip it.
It was the early 30's,
and the middle of the US
had a big bowl of dust on its hands.
From 1930 to 1934, Chevy was
quietly putting station wagon
bodies on their full size
truck frames for private use.
Private, meaning outfits
like the National Guard,
and the US Military, you
ever heard about 'em?
Support the Troops.
As these big, long, covered
trucks are coming off the line,
some dude at Chevy was like,
these things are pretty useful,
maybe we could make one for the public.
Some sort of backwoods,
family and possession
transport vehicle.
Why not call it the Suburban Carryall.
My dude, Brad, that is why
they call you the thesaurus.
Dude, thank you, I love that nick name.
The Suburban Carryall had
its Chevy Truck papa's
rugged full size frame,
and from its station wagon
mama it got a sleek body.
Windows, and plenty of seats,
and it came out in 1935.
You may know that GM was in
the habit of sharing designs
between their companies back in the day,
and the boys over at GMC where like,
hey, can we borrow your backwoods,
family and possession transport vehicle?
And Chevy was like, sure.
So in 1937 both GMC and Chevrolet,
had the same care with the same name.
During Dub-Dub two, Suburbans were used
as military transport vehicles,
and soldiers got to likin' 'em.
So after all that warin' over seas,
GIs were coming home buying
houses and making babies.
A lot of them wanted to load
those families into the big
Suburbans they got used to in the war,
so Chevy gave 'em what they wanted,
with the third gen Suburban in 1947.
Look at those curve
fenders and sweeping lines.
This gen Suburban was the
inspiration for the 2011 HHR.
The greatest looking car of all time.
Through the 50s and 60s
the Suburban got beefier,
and more capable just like my grandpa,
but it also had some strong competish.
Jeep and the Ford Bronco started to siphon
some business from the Burban,
so GM responded by making
it more off-road capable.
But they were faced with a decision.
Would they slim down the
Suburban so it can compete
with the new brood of
off-road fun machines?
No, let's make it bigger!
So they did.
The 'Burban got over
a foot longer in 1967.
Sticking to their guns worked.
Just 6200 Suburbans were produced in 1967
and by 72 that number
had grown to over 27,000.
As is the custom with such great sales,
Chevy and GMC decided it was
time for a new generation
of the 'Burban, and it
would be the best yet.
- (Announcer) Chevy
Suburban, tough like a truck,
smooth like a wagon.
- The seventh gen
Suburban, debuted in 1973
and would last for almost 20 years.
This is the Suburban that would define
Suburbans for most Americans.
When it came out, you could
get it with the legendary
Chevy small blocks, or the
beefilicious 454 under the hood.
It was tall and aggressive and screamed,
I know what the heck I'm
doin', now get the frick
out of my way, you fence!
(Wilhelm screaming)
By the mid 80s, it was the Jeep Cherokee
and Toyota 4Runner that
were changing the game,
and the term SUV first entered
the automotive lexicon.
Lucky for Chevy, the
hardy, capable Suburban,
was ahead of the game.
By 1984, Chevy and GMC were
cranking out almost 65,000
Suburbans a year.
Remember, aside from small changes,
this model had already
been out for over a decade.
The world could not get
enough of this over sized,
outdoorsy, sports vehicle people hauler.
After 20 years it was time for a new look.
And GM handed the task
to their establish designer Chuck Jordan.
(jazz music)
I love doin' up the speed
episodes on American cars,
because I know how to
say everybody's name,
Chuck was known to design
cars that embodied the era
in which they were designed.
This '59 Caddy, the Buick
Reatta, this Oldsmobile 98.
He'd later do the Chevy Cavalier.
All of them competent designs,
but none of them very exciting.
Why choose someone so vanilla?
Well military and special
forces loved the Suburban,
for many reasons, but
one of those reasons,
is that it's not flashy.
It blends in as much as something
can, as massive as it is.
But when you need to stand out,
Caravan four more black 'Burbans,
and no body is gettin' in your way.
If you see a hoard of black Suburbans,
you know something is going down.
These vehicles are also reliable,
and easy to work on, all over the globe,
thanks, in part, to GM's world
wide parts supplier network.
They're everywhere and they're durable.
There are stories of dudes driving
through hostile territories and
taking fire in these things,
but making it safely out in a Suburban
riddled with bullet holes.
You know who else likes being badass
and traveling in an entourage?
Celebrities.
The beefy Suburbans
came with luxury options
and had plenty of room inside
for friends and business partners.
Biggie Smalls was in one when he got shot.
Rest in Peace big poppa.
He used to love when I called him that.
In 2000, GMC figured
it was time to rebrand
their Suburban as the
much fancier Yukon XL,
and the Chevy Suburban soldiered on
as though nothing had happened.
It did start to get a little
more comfortable to drive
when it was loaded up with high tech,
load leveling auto ride, and
rear leveling suspension.
Chevy leaned into the
off-road rugged image,
and unveiled the legendary
Z71 package in 2001,
which featured a front skid
plate, off roadin' tires,
a unique grill, runnin' boards,
and Z71 stamped everywhere!
They also had available Quadrasteer,
which means all four wheels steer,
which helps when your
vehicle is over 18 feet long.
And families love Suburbans.
They're not for everyone
but we all had a friend
whose mom or dad hauled
them around in a Suburban.
2007's 10th generation
Suburban took inspiration
from the Tahoe and was redesigned
with more modern, less boxy styling.
It had a badass, more aerodynamic shape,
and a steeply raked windshield angel.
It also got even bigger,
growing almost half a foot in length.
In February 2010, for the
Suburban's 75th birthday,
Chevy, of course, unveiled
the 75th anniversary
trim level, the Diamond Edition.
Chevy was embracing the luxury SUV market
and decided they would
absolutely kill it with this one.
This big, beefy beauty had
white diamond exterior paint.
It had standard 20 inch
chrome clad wheels.
Remote starting, adjustable pedals,
and leather upholstery with
heated slash cooled front seats.
Yes, Hip Hop moguls, and special ops
would still drive their
blacked out Suburbans,
but now Mariah Carey could have one too.
(James singing)
That brings us all the way to the current,
11th generation Chevrolet Suburban,
which was introduced to
public in September 2013.
Special edition, 11th gen Suburbans
abound the Texas Edition.
A little thank you to the lone star state
'cause more Suburbans are sold
in Texas then anywhere else.
Texas Edition featured a trailer package.
All them suspension
goodies, all wheel drive,
big old wheels, and of course,
an exclusive Texas Edition badge.
What could be cooler than Texas Edintion?
Only the most badass
special ops inspired vehicle
of 'em all, the 2017 Chevy Suburban!
Midnight Edition.
I want you guys to do an
exercise with me right now.
Close your eyes, imagine
the blackest black
you can think of, you got it?
The Midnight Edition is blacker!
Windows, grills, wheels, and
even the bow tie is black.
It's so badass!
The secret service and
spies must love this thing!
Summer of 2019 will bring us the fastest,
and most furious street themed
suburban to date, the RST.
RST stands for Rally Sport
Truck, think about that.
A Rally Sport Suburban?
The Suburban is already
unreal for it's size.
Now listen to what's in the RST.
6.2L V8 makin', 420 buff horses,
it's got magnetic ride control
with variable performance settings,
and a 10 speed automatic transmission.
Borla makes the exhaust,
and it comes out of the fricken side!
And it's also got Brembos,
because Brembos on everything.
And if 420 ain't your lucky number,
a specialty vehicle
engineering out of New Jersey
says they've perfected a tuning kit
that'll bump your beefy
'burbin to 1,000 horsepower.
That's buff horse power!
Over 10 decades, and 11
generations of vehicles,
four generations of humans,
have learned the Suburban
is unrivaled in a class it created.
And I wouldn't be surprised
if it keeps kickin',
for another century!
(tires squealing)
Thanks for watching Up to Speed,
every Thursday 'til the day I die,
new episode on Donut.
Smash that like button, smash
that like button, smash it!
This show is a history show,
but if you want me to actually,
you want to see me actually
interact with the cars,
check out my new show Bumper to Bumper.
I host it, it's just as funny as this one,
except there's cool cars in it.
Is the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Worth an Extra $10K?
Edmunds:
ELENA SCHERR: This is the 2019
Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
It has 717 horsepower and
656 pound-feet of torque.
There's pretty much nothing
like it on the market,
except for this.
This is the 2019 Dodge
Challenger Hellcat SRT Redeye.
It has 797 horsepower and
707 pound-feet of torque.
Is it worth it to buy the
Redeye over the Hellcat?
Let's find out.
It's sort of a Spot
the Differences game
when you're looking at a
Hellcat and the Hellcat Redeye.
It's not the hood.
This dual snorkel hood is on the
Redeye and it's on the Hellcat,
and it is fully functional.
There's a new vent down
here for the brakes.
When you go more than
200 miles an hour,
you really need to
keep those things cool.
But the Hellcat
gets that as well.
The wide body fender extensions
are the same on both cars.
You can get either
car without them.
You can get a
narrow body Hellcat.
You can you get a
narrow body Redeye.
But why would you?
The logo is different, though.
Instead of being
a bright chrome,
it's this sort of dark smoked
chrome, and it's bedazzled.
Your six-year-old daughter
is going to love that.
The rest of the body
is exactly the same.
There are no changes
until you get
to the back, where the
little duck tail spoiler is
a tiny bit wider,
wraps around, and has
just the hint of a gurney flap.
Dodge calls this the
Hellcat HO, High Output.
It's really the same engine
that was in the Dodge Demon
if you remember that car.
You might.
It made a little bit of
a splash in the news.
It was a nine-second car
that lifted the front wheels
and had all this crazy
drag racing stuff.
And it was also a
limited production run.
So if you didn't already
get one, you can't get one,
unless you're willing to spend
a lot of money to get somebody
else's.
But you can get
the Demon engine.
Now, the Demon
was 808 horsepower
and the Redeye is rated at 797.
Why the difference?
Well, basically, just because
it has a different hood.
The Demon had a
much bigger scoop,
so it was bringing more air in.
More air means more
gas means more power.
But honestly, there was no
point in driving this car
I was like, "Oh, my God!
If only I had 808
horsepower, I would have
been able to make that pass.
But with 797, I just
couldn't do it!"
No, that didn't happen.
If you are super
nerdy, as I am, and you
want to know the differences
between this engine
and the Demon engine,
it's very simple.
Basically, it has
black valve covers.
It has a different badge
on the supercharger.
The magical thing
about this car there
is never any sort of merging
distance that is too short.
Bam!
Traffic speed.
Is there any reason
that you should
be driving an 800-horsepower
car on the street?
No.
No, there is not.
That is not sensible.
This is not a reasonable
choice to make.
It is probably an
irresponsible choice to make,
but it is so much fun.
So the question for
me is, what makes
this better than the Hellcat?
Because the Hellcat starts in
the $50,000 range, and this car
starts about $10,000 above that.
And this exact car
that we're driving
with all the stripes and
the really nice interior
and every single option and
the nicer radio and sunroof,
it's like $90,000.
It kind of ruins the
horsepower per dollar value.
I don't know that I
would want to spend
$90,000 for the Redeye.
But you don't have to.
I mean, again, this
has a lot of options,
and you don't have to do that.
But you do need to think, if
you're looking at these cars,
do you want the bragging rights
of 797 horsepower and then
you'll give up
some of the options
like the sunroof or
the leather interior
or do you want a
fully-optioned Hellcat?
For the same amount of money,
you'd get everything on it.
You'd just lose 100 horses.
The thing that blew
my mind about this car
when we first got in it
and started driving was you
would not know
that it's so fast.
Obviously, you know as soon
as you put the hammer down.
But right now, I've got about
this much throttle cruising
at 60 miles an hour.
Totally comfortable.
Air conditioning is on.
I could have the radio on
if I wasn't talking to you.
And it's just like a normal car.
It's not hard to drive.
You don't have to be experienced
with high performance cars
to be able to drive this
car around on the street.
It doesn't feel
outrageous or out of line
until you get in the gas.
But it has a bunch
of safety stuff.
So it wants to help you.
It wants you to have a good
time and not get into trouble.
So you can leave
traction control on.
It'll still step out,
but it will catch itself,
for the most part.
I mean, it can't do anything
if you steer it into a tree.
So don't do that.
But it has lane change
warnings and airbags.
If you went back in time
and told somebody driving--
I don't know-- a 1970
Dodge Dart that they
could have 800
horsepower that was safer
to drive than their Dodge Dart,
they would never believe you.
How is the handling?
Really good, really nice.
It's not twitchy.
It isn't jumpy.
In fact, everything
about this car, I think,
is even better than
the lower levels,
like I just drove a
Scat Pack, and it's
a little bit jumpier than this
car, like it wants to do more.
It wants to impress you.
This car is like, I don't
need to impress you.
You're already impressed.
And it's right.
Not all love for the Challenger.
There a couple of complaints
that I have about it.
It's never had the
best visibility.
Some people complain
about the back.
That doesn't bother me
so much, because that's
what all the mirrors are for.
But it has a huge pillar here.
And you will definitely
come into situations
where you're like, I
would like to turn,
and I do not know what's
behind that pillar.
So you get used to it if it's
your car, but I don't like it.
And I wish it was a
little bit thinner.
The other thing that I
think isn't fantastic
about Challenger is the seats.
They aren't bad
for the short term,
but they're sort of in
between race and comfort.
And they're not quite
doing either perfectly.
I was sliding
around a fair amount
when I was on the road
course in this car,
because the seat is big and
not quite bolstered enough
to hold me in place.
I feel like the
seats aren't quite as
comfortable as they could be.
And that is definitely
a point for Camaro,
because I have never been in a
car with more comfortable seats
than the current
generation Camaro.
Aside from the horsepower,
which I know I keep harping
on-- (WHISPERING) it's so much--
the other thing
that sets Challenger
apart from some
of the other cars
that you might be looking at
in the two-door high horsepower
sporty grand touring
category is the back seat.
It's quite good.
You can fit back there.
I mean, I can fit
back there, but even
if you're bigger than me,
you can fit back there.
I don't think that this will be
a very comfortable car for four
very tall people.
I mean, if the seats
are all the way back,
you definitely lose
leg room in the back.
But no problem for kids,
and really no problem
for a combination of adults.
The Redeye is a really
easy car to a fully nerd
out on, because there's a
lot of interesting tech in it
that comes from Demon.
It has this chiller
system that reroutes
the air conditioning to cool the
intake charge for the engine.
So that your engine gets cold,
even though you're really hot.
That's race track stuff.
I mean, you would absolutely
hate using it on the street.
But it's cool.
And again, it's this
bragging rights thing.
It's like you're
hanging out with people
and you're all talking
about your cars,
and they're like,
well, you know,
I have this very fine
automobile and it
has this much horsepower, and
you know, traction control.
And you're like, but
do you have a chiller?
And then you win.
I really can't tell you enough
how easy this car is to drive.
It's not even scary.
It should be scary.
It's not scary unless you get
on it, then it is very scary.
Even though there are a
ton of different versions
of the Challenger,
they all really share
the basic interiors.
So as you spend more money, you
can get nicer leather and nicer
trim pieces, but the overall
design of the interior
remains the same.
And it's fine.
It's nice enough.
It feels good, and
it's comfortable.
It doesn't look
really expensive.
It's not going to impress people
by the rarity of the materials
or the perfection of
the fit and finish.
But there's nothing
wrong with it.
It's nothing that's
going to bother you
while you're driving.
And it's really not why
you buy this car, anyway.
Infotainment is really easy
to use and easy to go through.
I don't love that a lot of the
controls are in the Apps menu,
because it wouldn't occur to
me to look in the Apps menu
to, say, figure out
how to sync my phone,
but once you know that they're
there, it's no big deal.
That's where there are.
A couple of them are
a little slow to load,
in particular the
Performance pages.
So don't wait till
the last minute
if you're really excited
to find out your G forces.
You've got to set that up well
before you hit the skid pad.
The Redeye is only
available in the automatic.
It's an 8-speed automatic,
the same as the Hellcat.
You can't get a manual,
because they just
don't have a transmission that
can back this much torque.
Dodge gives you a lot of
options for customizing
the modes and a quick button
to get there, the SRT.
You can change all of
this stuff, custom set up,
say you want sport trans
or paddle shifters off.
Redeye doesn't have all the drag
racing stuff that Demon has.
So it doesn't have
a trans brake.
It does have a launch
control and a line lock.
So you can do the burnouts
without using up your brake.
So is the 2019 Dodge
Hellcat Redeye a good catch?
It has impressive
horsepower and a ton of fun.
But you can get 90% of what
it offers in a Hellcat.
It's up to you if you
think that horsepower
is worth an extra $10,000.
To find out more
about the Challenger
Redeye and the whole
Challenger lineup,
please visit us at Edmund.
If you like this video and
want to see more like it,
please subscribe.
And don't forget to follow
us on Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Why Global Military Spending Is On The Rise
CNBC:
Global military spending is
on the rise.
That means more and better
equipped soldiers on land
more warships at sea
and more high tech fighter
jets in the skies.
In 2018, worldwide, military
spending hit 1.8
trillion dollars.
It has reached the highest point since
us at SIPRI have started compiling
world data over the
last 30 something years.
So what does all this mean?
Does more military spending
make the world safer?
Or is it a warning
of conflict to come?
The last time spending rivaled today's
levels was at the height of
President Reagan's Cold War arms
buildup in the late 1980s.
But the sudden collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991 changed the game.
Military spending soon plummeted.
Large scale military conflicts virtually disappeared
for the most part, at
least. And the global economy boomed.
By 1998, global spending hit its
lowest point since the Cold War.
But then...
There is a major
incident in lower Manhattan.
Apparently, a plane has crashed into one
of the upper floors of the World
Trade Center.
The September 11th attacks in
2001 prompted a massive U.S.
military mobilization for President
Bush's 'War on Terror'.
Our enemy is a radical network
of terrorists and every government that
supports them.
As the U.S.
and its allies deploy troops to
Afghanistan and Iraq, global spending
numbers swelled, until Obama's first
term, when war fatigue, internal
budget pressures and troop withdrawals
pushed spending back down again.
So if it wasn't Iraq and
Afghanistan that propelled military spending to
record levels in 2018, what was it?
During all of this, a tectonic geopolitical
shift was taking place in East
Asia, the rise of China.
In 1990, the U.S.,
the Soviet Union, then
Germany, France, the U.K.
and so on made up
the top 10 military spenders.
But fast forward to 2018 and
those top spenders have drastically changed.
China has jumped from a share of just
2 percent to 14 percent, the second
largest behind the U.S.
The country's explosive economic growth allowed
it to increase spending for
24 straight years, culminating in a
2018 budget of 250 billion dollars.
So where's all that money going
to modernize China's People's Liberation
Army? President Xi Jinping hopes to
fully modernize the military by 2035
and complete training into a
world class force by 2049.
They want to assert themselves as a
regional superpower, but also as a
world superpower competing
with the U.S.
on a military basis.
Progress has been swift.
Since just 2011, China has gone
from having zero commissioned aircraft
carriers to two in operation
and a third under construction.
The U.S.
in comparison has eleven much more
massive and highly advanced carriers.
The Chinese are fielding elite fighter jets
as well, like the J-20 Chengdu
and the Shenyang FC-31.
Together, these fighters are designed
to compete with America's latest
generation Stealth F-22
Raptor and F-35.
U.S. officials claim the Chinese used hacked
F-35 plans to help build these
next generation aircraft.
And that leads us to cyber warfare.
China is spending big there, too.
China doesn't only want
to hack into U.S.
computer networks, it wants to find
a way to neutralize U.S.
advantages on the
physical battlefield.
China has been watching how the
United States has conducted military
operations very closely for
the last 25 years.
They understand how dependent we
are on information enabled technologies
and they have been developing asymmetric
capabilities to deny us those key
enabling technologies.
China's also spending money to update
its nuclear arsenal and the bombers
and submarines that carry those
weapons of mass destruction.
Then there's hypersonic missiles.
They travel more than five times the
speed of sound, making them difficult
to detect and neutralize.
And if that wasn't enough, these cutting
edge weapons also come tipped with
nuclear warheads.
Another really significant area is
China's development of anti satellite
weapons.
Space is critical to just about everything
we do with regards to military
operations, for reconnaissance, to communicating
with our own forces, to
placing weapons on targets.
If China or other adversaries can deny
the United States access to space
based capabilities that would fundamentally
change the military equation
here on Earth.
China is also expanding its
military presence beyond its borders.
In 2017, China opened its first overseas
base in the African country of
Djibouti. China has been flexing its
military muscles in its own backyard
as well.
China is trying to project power into
the South China Sea, where it has
territorial disputes over resource rich
islands and shallow reefs with
nations like the
Philippines and Vietnam.
China has begun unilaterally asserting
claims over these islands, turning
several into full scale military
installations and demanding vessels
recognize Chinese authority
in surrounding waters.
An international court ruled against
these actions in 2016.
The U.S.
also rebuffs China's demands by frequently
sailing Navy ships through the
waters, China claims.
Still, China shows no
signs of backing down.
There is the prospect that the two
sides could get into a skirmish, a
crisis, or even potentially a war in
the waters or airspace over the South
China Sea, or even more likely,
in my view, over Taiwan.
The island of Taiwan, once under
mainland China's control, broke away
during China's communist
revolution with U.S.
support and now governs
itself as a democracy.
But today's mainland communist leadership
still claims the island.
Most analysts don't believe that China has
the ability today to launch an
amphibious invasion of Taiwan and take
the country over by force and
occupy it.
What concerns more observers is the
possibility that China might use some
of its increasing military capabilities to
try to blockade or coerce
Taiwan into politically unifying
with the mainland.
President Xi Jinping has ramped up
military exercises around Taiwan and
further diplomatically isolated the island since
he came to power in 2012.
The other thing to remember about China's
military spending is a lot of its
military spending is actually
directed internally toward maintaining
political stability within China.
2019's unrest in Hong Kong has prompted
concern over how China might use
its upgraded military capabilities.
After weeks of protests, the People's
Liberation Army released this video
showing soldiers conducting battle exercises
in urban environments and
quelling simulated civilian unrest.
The overall worry?
a newly empowered China will not be
a benevolent player on the world
stage. Instead, using its military
prowess to bully weaker neighboring
countries and to suppress its own people
or those it claims it represents.
This worry has helped prompt
spending increases throughout the
Asia-Pacific region, countries as diverse
as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam
and Australia all increased
spending in 2018.
Vietnam started buying submarines.
Taiwan started developing more anti
aircraft missiles for instance.
Japan is also starting
to modernize its weapons.
Overall, in the whole Asia, it's
almost seen as action reaction.
But perhaps most
importantly, the U.S.
has taken notice, too.
The United States remains the
world's undisputed foremost military power.
Its budget is larger than the
next eight biggest spenders combined.
The United States defense budget actually
still dwarfs China by a
significant margin.
Not only is the United States still
the number one defense spender in the
world, but most of the other
major spenders are also U.S.
allies. Countries such as South Korea,
Japan, Germany, France, Britain and
so on.
In 2018, U.S.
military spending hits 649 billion dollars,
an increase of four point six
percent from 2017 and the first time
the budget had increased at all since
2011. China's rise remains a
major factor behind the increase.
China's expanding its influence into the
Pacific, which has always been
this area controlled by the
US since World War 2.
So it is this pushing the boundaries
of sphere influence between China and
U.S. China's expanding power has
been on the U.S.'s
radar for years.
But President Trump's election ushered
in a particularly hawkish national
security staff.
This staff has pushed the idea that the
world is entering a new era of
so-called great power competition, reviving
justifications for the large
scale conventional forces and nuclear arsenals
that fell out of style
after the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
To help prepare for potential conflict in
this perceived new era of great
power competition, the Trump administration
has fast track military
modernization and expansion plans, from
recruiting more soldiers to
upgrading the Navy's aircraft carriers,
completing the acquisition of the
new F-35 fighter jet platform,
designing next generation bombers and
submarines, upgrading nuclear forces, dumping
money into cyber operations
and more.
This spending shows few signs of
slowing down, with the U.S.
charting a defense budget
increase for 2019.
And it's not all about China.
There is also a Russian resurgence
under way that few saw coming.
The view back in the late 1990s
is that we were always going to
most likely be dealing
with a benign Russia.
That's fundamentally changed.
From President Vladimir Putin's snatching
of Crimea to his destabilization
of Ukraine, election meddling in the
West, advanced cyber capabilities and
cutting edge hypersonic missile technology, Russia
is back in the great
power game.
It's been increasing spending since 2011 and
had a very big and expensive
modernization program until
about 2016.
And then as the program is nearing its
end, we of course see the spending
taper out and slightly decrease.
That resurgence has prompted considerable
spending increases in former
Soviet states fearing
Russian aggression.
Increases include Poland, Bulgaria,
Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.
So does 2018's record spending
levels mean conflict is imminent?
These numbers do indicate issues
of increased tension, increased rivalries,
possible conflicts that might occur.
I think the question is
whether spending causes conflicts.
So far, no definitive answer, but
there definitely is a relationship
there.
Global military spending by itself
is not necessarily the problem.
Rather, the spending reflects how countries
are seeing their interests and
their beliefs that they are in
competition with other great powers and
that they have to prepare
for the possibility of conflict.
Why Does a Jeep Wrangler Cost $107,000 in India?
4 Wheel Online:
The “Jeep” name is known around the world
for quality, ruggedness and for ultimate customization.
They’re sold in over 120 countries, and
recently started being sold in India.
That’s great, right?
That means more people get to enjoy one of
the best vehicles ever made.
Except the people of India aren’t very happy
with the pricing and they’re taking to social
media to let out their anger.
Hey guys, Ken here with 4WheelOnline.
If you enjoy our videos you should subscribe!
We post a new video every Friday, and in November
we’ll be at SEMA to show you the coolest
custom Jeeps.
Although FCA’s latest venture with Jeep
is bringing them to India, the plan has been
in the works for years.
To start, they’re selling three vehicles,
the Grand Cherokee, the Grand Cherokee SRT
and the Wrangler Unlimited.
Which, if you ask me, are fine choices.
We originally weren’t going to make a video
on this, but then we checked Jeep India’s
facebook page and realized there’s some
interesting things going on here.
There’s numerous comments from people saying
they’re happy they are able to buy a Jeep,
but a lot are also saying it’s simply too
expensive.
And we’d have to agree.
In the US a JKU Sahara has an MSRP of about
$33,800.
The same vehicle is sold in India for ₹ 72
Lakhs, which is $107,000 USD.
That’s crazy, right?
Indian Jeep buyers will pay over 3 times more
for the same vehicle.
So now we’re starting to see where their
upset comes from.
We actually found a response on Jeep India’s
facebook page which explained the high cost.
The vehicles being sold in India are being
imported from the US and are subject to import
duties and sales tax.
Our research showed an import duty of 120%
for “Completely Built-up Units” and a
30% sales tax on SUVs slapped on top.
So let’s do some basic math.
The Wrangler’s starting price is about $107,000.
A 30% sales tax is $32,000 which means FCA
gets about $75,000 for each Wrangler sold.
At a 120% import duty it would cost about
$40,500 to bring a US made Jeep into India.
That means FCA walks away with $34,500 from
the sale of a single $107,000 Wrangler.
And that doesn’t even count their overhead
costs or material costs!
So FCA is making about the same per vehicle
in India as they are in the USA but theyre
doing a whole lot more work to get them over
there and they have to charge their customers
a ton more because of the sales tax.
However there are plans to bring that price
down, and hopefully by a lot.
FCA is investing $280 million into a new manufacturing
plant with Tata Motors, who are the 5th largest
vehicle manufacturer and based right in India..
Jeep has yet to announce what vehicle will
be built at the new plant, but we’ve got
two ideas.
Jeep keeps calling it “all-new” so it
could be a whole new vehicle designed for
the Indian market, /OR/ it could be the new
JL.
At this point it’s all a guess.
What do you think Jeep will be building in
their new Indian facility?
Let us know in our poll right here and then
let us know your thoughts in the comments
below.
But before you do that make sure to subscribe
to our channel, then thumbs up and share this
video with all your friends.
Until next time, I’m Ken with 4WheelOnline
and you’ve just been refreshed.
Why GM And Ford Are Worried About RAM
CNBC:
American automakers take their
trucks extremely seriously.
And the ongoing battles for dominance
among the Detroit three are
often called the "Truck wars".
General Motors, the largest U.S.
automaker overall, sells the most trucks,
if you count full-size and
mid-sized pickups.
Ford F-Series is the best
selling line of full-size trucks.
But, third place challenger Ram has
made its own waves in recent
years, snagging major industry awards
and stealing market share from
rivals. Ram is killing it.
U.S. sales of Fiat Chrysler's truck
brand have roughly tripled in the
last decade, and the brand seems to
be taking food out of its rivals
mouths. After taking the helm
of Fiat Chrysler in 2018,
new CEO Mike Manley said he
wanted to make Ram the second-best
selling full-size pickup brand
in the U.S.
In the first three
quarters of 2019,
Ram surprised the automotive world by
passing Chevrolet in sales, and
some think Ram could very well
stay in second place, fulfilling
Manley's goal. To be fair, others are
quick to note the timing has
been in Ram's favor and that the
game is too early to call.
What is certain is that this upstart
is now posing a more serious
threat to its rivals
than ever before.
It's a stunning rise for a brand
some in the industry thought Fiat
Chrysler was foolish to create in
the first place. The
Ram brand was once actually part of
Dodge, but the two were separated
as Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy under
the oversight of the late
Sergio Marchionne.
The idea was that the split would
allow Ram to focus exclusively on
trucks while permitting Dodge to
focus on developing performance
vehicles, including its popular Challenger
and Charger, as well as
sport utility vehicles and
its long-running Caravan minivan.
Some in the industry questioned the
wisdom of spinning the Ram brand
out at a time when cross-town
rival General Motors was axing several
of its own brands.
First of all, the Ram name has
a long history with Dodge itself.
The company first started using the Ram
logo on its cars in 1932, and
it was still used on Dodge models
until FCA began rolling out new
logos sometime after the
brand's split in 2009.
As one of the four American
full-sized pickup brands, Rams sold
reasonably well, but were often
known as a more affordable
alternative to those offered
by GM and Ford.
The audio you're about to hear
is distorted due to recording issues.
They were less expensive, the
interiors weren't that great.
They were pretty basic.
It wasn't the kind of truck that
GM or Ford had on the road.
Ram simply could not compete with
the capability offered by rivals.
But after Fiat took over and
the company began to emerge from
bankruptcy, Ram came out swinging.
In 2010, GM and Ford were roughly
tied and pickup market share, each
with just over 38 percent with Ram
solidly in third place at just
14.6 percent.
But, over the next eight years, Ram
grew its share of the market to
more than 22 percent, while Ford lost
one percent of its share and GM
lost nearly five.
To be fair, Japanese import brand Toyota
also lost some share at that
time from 6.8
percent of the market to 4.9
percent and fellow Japanese maker Nissan
gained a sliver of market
share. But Ram is now threatening
to displace Chevrolet as these
second best selling full-size pickup
brand in the United States.
So how did it do this?
By offering something different,
say industry analysts?
So I think Ram's idea then was
OK, then maybe, our strategy should be
to build a really, really
good all around truck.
Let's make it comfortable.
Let's make the interiors nice.
Let's make the ride
quality really good.
Two areas where Ram really
shines our interiors and technology.
The interior of the truck
is just unbelievably great.
The technology is unbelievable.
They've got the biggest screen,
it looks like a laptop.
Ram made a bet that seems
particularly suited to the times.
Owners are more accepting of technology
than they ever have before.
There's examples of new technology being
put into pickup trucks that
kind of fell flat. General Motors
had a four-wheel steering system
for their pickup trucks,
which was terrific.
But the problem was that it was
an expensive option, and at that
time, pickup truck owners, their feedback
was, I already know how to
move my truck. I already
know how to tow.
I already know how
to do this stuff.
I don't need to spend the man's
money that you're asking to have this
technology help me do that.
But times have changed.
Now we have buyers of every demographic
that are far more willing to
let technology help them do things.
And as a result, the big screen in
the Ram has drawn a lot of
attention. As a result, some of
the technology that General Motors
has brought it to their Chevrolet and
to the GMC, there's a lot more
cameras on board.
There's ways to save your towing
of your trailer information to your
truck so that if you have three
trailers, every time you hook it up,
you just call up that information and
you don't have to reset it.
There's lots of things in both of
those trucks that make it easier to
work with them. And the Ram got
out into the market a little bit
earlier. One feature in the 2019 Ram
1500 truck that has had the
automotive world buzzing is the large
12 inch touchscreen in the
center of the console.
Ram boasted that the screen was the
largest found in any truck in its
class. If you asked a pickup truck
owner, before they had the big
screen in the Ram if they wanted
a big screen, they'd probably said,
no. I don't want that.
I don't need that. I
don't need to do that.
But now that it's there,
they're reacting to it strongly.
FCA's new strategy was well-timed.
The pickup market has changed over
the last decade as truck sales
have risen. Along with the boom
in sport, utilities and crossovers,
pickup trucks have become popular options
for drivers who might have
a wider range of uses in
mind then in previous eras.
For instance, there has been a rise
in the portion of four seat and
four door models in
the pickup market.
Ram said more than 50 percent
of its pickups are "family trucks".
FCA has also used a tactic
that some industry observers say has
contributed to the brand's sales success
- selling an outgoing model
along a newly redesigned one,
typically at a lower price.
Ram's rise is partly notable
because pickup truck buyers have
historically been considered among the
most brand-loyal in the
automotive market.
Ford buyers typically don't buy GM
trucks, and just the opposite, GM
buyers typically don't buy Ford
trucks, but what's interesting is
either one of those buyers
will consider a Ram truck.
Dealer
Don "K" Kaltschmidt, who sells both
Chevrolet and Ram and owns
products from both GM and Fiat Chrysler,
said that in some ways Ram
does outdo the Chevrolets, but he
thinks it isn't over yet.
The GM truck product is very,
very strong here for good reason.
It is important to understand the
timing has also worked in Ram's
favor. The Ram went into production
roughly eight months before the
Chevrolet product did.
So, there was a bit of a head
start and sort of building it and
having it online and having
it available for the dealerships.
Another element is that Ram has
kept the previous generation of
production longer than
Chevrolet has.
A spokesman for General Motors told
CNBC, the launch of our Chevrolet
Silverado has gone exceptionally well
and combined with the GMC
Sierra, we are quite pleased with
the quality of our market share.
As of November 2019, Ford said
its F-Series lineup outsold Ram by
225,000 trucks for the year, a lead
the company expected to widen by
the end of 2019,
a spokesman told CNBC.
Ford has so far been the best selling
line of pickups in the US for
the last 42 years.
The "Blue Oval" has also been
hyping its upcoming hybrid and fully
electric versions of the F-series.
Electric vehicles are important and
they're happening and they're
coming, but they're
also coming slowly.
That's kind of
important to remember.
Even as Ford and GM are
talking and start talking about electric
pickup trucks, once they're here, the
sales ramp up is probably going
to be a pretty slow.
Pickup truck battles are fierce in
ways that fights in other segments
are not. You get excited about a
pickup truck because it either helps
you feed your family,
or you're into horses.
It's an enabler to do something
that you truly care about.
And, that makes it much more
important emotionally than I'm going
back and forth to work and
it's just a mode of transportation.
There are also a huge
source of profits for automakers.
So industry watchers aren't expecting this
one to be over anytime
soon. If you think about building a
small car and you need so
much amount of steel or so much
amount of wiring harness, or so much
amount of leather or cloth to cover
the seats and you can charge
$20,000 for a small car.
You need more of all of those
materials to build a pickup truck, but
you're charging four
times the cost.
It's an interesting element
of the market too.
Smaller products are not as
profitable, as larger products.
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