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.
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.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray looks wild! First look and specs revealed | carsales
carsales.com.au:
The first ever mid-engine Corvette will be
a truly global vehicle, and Holden has confirmed
that it will be coming to Australia.
Powered by a thumping 6.2-litre V8 engine,
it belts out almost 500hp [super: 370kW/640Nm]
and this drives through an eight-speed dual-clutch
transmission to the rear wheels, and it looks
like no other Corvette ever made.
The all-American sports car will be built
in left and right-hand drive – which means
it's coming to Australia – and it follows
66 years and 7 generations of Corvette history.
The new car will be extremely fast, thanks
to its free-spinning V8 and dual-clutch automatic.
Chevy says the gearbox can change gears way
faster than any human can.
Expect the 0-100km/h sprint to take around
3.0 seconds flat and top speed will be around
300km/h.
The car looks a bit like the lovechild of
a Honda NSX and a Ferrari Portofino, its wide
stance and exotic proportions delivering the
sort of design rarely seen in an all-American
sports car.
Touted as the best Corvette ever made, the
new coupe's rear end is probably the most
iconic, featuring signature Corvette brake
lights and quad exhaust pipes.
It also comes with removable roof panels,
giving it a sleek, exotic profile.
Chevy has completely redesigned the aero and
cooling systems.
The big V8 engine is visible through a glass
screen at the back of the car, which is fed
oxygen through a pair of huge, angular air
intakes behind the doors.
The driver's seat is moved forward to allow
more room for the engine, which is slotted
in right behind the driver.
The new corvette is 50 per cent stiffer than
its predecessor.
It has a better centre of gravity thanks to
the centrally mounted seats, which contribute
to enhanced handling dynamics and responsiveness.
Step inside the vehicle and as well as claiming
more leg room, the cockpit is extremely driver-focussed,
the touchscreen angled towards the driver.
There's a Ferrari-inspired oversquare steering
wheel and all the heating and cooling controls
have been pushed away, located on a long bridge
near the passenger.
There's a fully digital dashboard and three
seat options are available.
And Chevy says this is the most luxurious
Corvette ever built.
This sports car has been dubbed a milestone
vehicle for general motors.
It says this new model an attainable sports
car and will be priced at less than $60,000
in the US.
That said, expect the price will be well into
six figure territory when it arrives in Australia,
which will be around 2021.
Production of the new Chevrolet corvette will
begin in late 2019 with US buyers getting
the cars first in 2020.
Why Station Wagons Are More Popular In Europe Than America
CNBC:
Wagons away
Hi, I'm Jack Smith and right now,
it's station wagon savings time in the
west. Time to hit the trail in high
style with all a will comfort, but
only a Rambler station
wagon can give you.
The station wagon was once a
fixture of American family life.
It was a common sight in
American garages and frequently featured in
popular culture.
These days, however, it has
nearly vanished from US roads.
Americans, at least most of them,
just don't like the segment.
And it shows in the tiny number
of wagons sold every year, Americans just
don't like wagons
for whatever reason.
We we have rejected the
body style for many years.
It's been declining. You know, we think
back to perhaps some of those
movies like National Lampoon's Vacation, where
a family travels across the
country in a wagon. Those days
are long, long behind us.
And these days, wagon sales are less
than 2 percent of all industry sales.
Meanwhile, crossovers and sport utility
vehicles continue to swallow
market share, leading many manufacturers to
believe that if they want to
sell a wagon, they need to lift it
a bit, maybe cover it with some
cladding and call it a crossover.
You want the crossover tag associated
with it because that's what people
are buying and that's what
they want to buy.
At some point, they may want another
tag because it's no longer cool to
own a crossover, an SUV.
But right now, that's
not the case yet.
In 2018, consumers around the
world bought just under 2.5
million wagons, roughly a mere 3 percent
of all new cars sold in the
United States the segment represents only about
1 to 2 percent of all
sales. But in some European countries,
sales are several times that.
Wagon's represented nearly 20 percent of all
sales in Germany and at least
a quarter of sales in some
Scandinavian countries, such as Finland and
Sweden. wagons also comprised 23 percent
of all sales in Czech Republic,
16 percent in Slovakia and
15 percent in Poland.
In Sweden our home country, close to
50 percent of our volume is related
to wagons. You have the best residual
values, you have the most loyal
consumers. And also that is how
we were live in Sweden.
You know, nature is very important.
We do exactly in line with Americans.
You know, it's a lot of football and
a lot of sports associated with our
kids. So we need a space.
And so the legacy of wagons
is really in our DNA.
Also you see them all over the place
and the roads in Sweden and in
Europe. More than 70 percent of all wagon's
sold in the world are sold in
Europe. There the wagon is still seen
as an efficient blend of function
and performance, especially when fuel
prices can be quite high.
In Europe, the station wagon
continues to be the
prototype for many families, even though
it they have lost traction as
well in Europe. Despite the fact
that Europe is the world's wagon
stronghold, data do suggest that sport
utilities are eating into its share
on that continent as well.
Of course, on the other end of
the spectrum, US data show that sport
utility vehicles have completely eclipsed the
wagon as the family hauler
of choice. Wagons have steadily lost share
in the US new car market
from 3.69
percent of new car sales
in 2008 to 1.4
percent in 2018.
Cross-overs and SUVs grew their share of the
new car market in the US by
20 percent from 2008 to 2018.
They now make up nearly half
of all new car sales.
For now, wagons have managed to find a
way to keep a foothold, albeit a
small one in America.
For example, the segment straddling Subaru
Outback has been a tremendously
successful product for that company
part wagon, part crossover.
The Outback was introduced in the 1995
model year as a variant of the
Subaru legacy, but was soon spun out
into its own distinct brand and has
become something of a phenomenon.
The outback alone accounted for the vast
majority of wagon sales in the
US. Of that, 1.4
percent of the US market wagons have
the outback alone makes up 1.2
percent. In other words,
almost all of it.
That means all wagons sold by all
other brands combined would account for
just 0.2
percent of the total
US new car market.
So when we talk about wagons,
we're essentially talking about one model
with with a very decent industry share
and then a handful of other models
that, quite frankly, don't
sell very well.
The outback is an example of how
wagon like vehicles can be successfully
marketed in the United States and perhaps
gives an idea of how they are
likely to look in the
future if they stick around.
Though it retains many of the basic features
of a wagon, the car is lifted
a bit and covered in plastic cladding to
give it more of a rugged outdoor
appearance. It retains the basic silhouette
of the wagon, but the outback
has evolved over time to incorporate
more attributes of SUVs and
crossovers Subaru told CNBC.
This includes standard all wheel drive, the
ability to tow up to thirty
five hundred pounds and a full
eight point seven inches of ground
clearance higher than what is
found on many SUVs.
The company said they were one of
the early players obviously in this
crossover space before the term
crossover was even mentioned.
And that's again when they
were being called wagons.
So I think they've done well if
they've got a very loyal buyer.
They've expanded into the certainly the
outdoor lifestyle buyer has has
has long been a Subaru advocate.
So I think, you know, is that as
that continues to to develop and people
are more interested in an active, active
lives and in certainly what what
super has to offer from
just an honor and capability.
But but also on dirt
and on on trails even.
The outback shows that selling a wagon in the
US may be a lot easier if it
happens to look like
a sport utility vehicle.
In fact, it might be one of the
only wagon like vehicles to survive in the
United States. But yeah, no question
about it, the wagon market is
certainly taking cues from the from
the SUV and crossover segments and
adding, as you said, a little
bit of cladding, raising that ground
clearance up a little bit to give
it that that view that essentially it
can compete with a crossover.
That rather dire outlook has not
stopped other automakers from rolling the
dice, though. General Motors sells the Buick
Regal Tours X, a US version
of the Opel insignia wagon.
GM used to sell in Europe
when it owned the Opel brand.
Notably, the US version has the
same plastic cladding and slight lift,
which is not seen
on the European version.
But with a lower center of gravity,
it gives more sedan like driving
dynamics and a lower roof for
easy rooftop access key features wagon
buyers want in a car.
There are several positive signs for wagon
fans elsewhere in the US if
they have the cash.
Much of the variety in the US wagon
market is found at the higher end,
where luxury and high performance can
gloss over the otherwise dowdy and
domestic image the wagon has.
Given the fact that the countries with
some of the highest wagon sales are
Germany and the Scandinavian nations.
It makes sense that most of these
premium wagons are from German and
Scandinavian automakers.
The Swedish brand Volvo is perhaps the
brand best known for wagons, and
its among the brands most committed to
the segment in the United States.
Though Volvo has lately focused intensely
on building out its lineup of
sport utility vehicles, a substantial portion
of its portfolio is still in
wagons. I see the
same opportunities in us.
So one part of me is a bit
confused that this should be much bigger.
The volume should be
much, much, much bigger.
But then we have the SUV trend in
the US that probably overlaps that kind
of because could get the
space to an SUV.
But I would say the wagons
are for me they're beautiful.
And I think you'll see the cars here,
the size wise that are boxy anymore,
and they are not boring.
You get both. You get the driving capabilities
as a sedan and you get more
space. And also it looks sporty
and that's what we aim for.
Volvo sells the mid-sized V60
wagon and the larger V90.
Both can be bought in the cross
country trim, which means the car is
lifted and comes with the familiar dark
cladding on the sides of the car.
And Volvo also has a 415 horsepower
performance hybrid version of its V 60
bearing Volvos Polestar brand, which
was once its in-house performance
shop and now specializes in
making high performance electric vehicles.
Mercedes Benz sells its E-Class wagons
in the US, mostly to well-heeled
buyers with families.
The car sells especially
well in the Northeast.
Wagon sales make up a tiny portion
of Mercedes US total zero point seven
percent to be exact.
But buyers are loyal and they pay an
E 450 for Madoc wagon starts at about
sixty $66000 and the higher performance
AMG e63 S starts above one
hundred eight thousand dollars.
Fellow German automaker Audi said in August
of 2019, it plans to bring the
R.S. Six a vaunt wagon to the US.
The R.S. Six Avante
is a performance wagon.
Audi will sell alongside the eight for
all road wagon it currently offers
and the a six all road,
which Audi said in October.
It will also be bringing
back to the US.
In recent years in the United States, Audi
has only sold its a for all
road wagon, which is also a
popular choice among premium wagon buyers.
Even Porsche has a
wagon like vehicle.
However, the number of wagon loving
diehards seems to be shrinking and
many in the industry are not optimistic
that the wagon will make a
comeback anytime soon.
I just I wonder how many more cracks
at the bat we're gonna get here from
from this forbidden fruit.
And these wagons
coming from overseas.
So things are getting, you know, even
even slimmer for for a wagon
enthusiast out there.
And so guide the future for wagons.
It's going to be tough for for
future European wagons, too, to really come
to United States. What buyers are more
likely to end up with is a
crossover, which some say is really a
wagon in a slightly different form.
There isn't a lot of what I
would call pure wagon development going on
right now. So, you know, with that
as a backdrop, the I guess prospects
for the wagon
aren't necessarily strong.
But the caveat here is you're getting
into then that, you know, blurring
area where what is a
wagon and what's a crossover?
And a lot of the stuff that is
being developed is, you know, what I would
argue is a shorter height twice vehicles
that that have kind of crossover
style, but are probably
more like a wagon.
Sport utility vehicles do seem to
have certain practical advantages over
traditional passenger cars that consumers
seem to find irresistible.
Most importantly, their taller height gives
drivers a better view of the
road and often more
comfortable upright seating position.
Customers also consider them easier to
get in and out of fuel.
Economy has also improved on SUVs to
the point where they are often about
as efficient as comparably
sized passenger cars.
But their image as more rugged, sporty
and versatile vehicles has played a
significant role in their appeal,
say many industry watchers.
They have become so popular as family
vehicles that they may one day end
up with the same reputation wagons
themselves earned over the decades.
Practical but deeply uncool.
Why Chevy Is Radically Changing The Corvette
CNBC:
The Corvette is widely regarded
as America's sports car.
The Chevrolet Corvette has been in production
since 1953, making it one of
the longest running production
vehicles in history.
Of course, it's also one that
has occasionally risked the axe, especially
in times of stress for
Chevrolet parent General Motors.
In spite of that, the car has endured
and it is about to undergo its
biggest change in history.
The Corvette is becoming a mid-engine sports car
and it is one of a small
number of mid-engine sports cars that can
be bought for less than six
figures.
GM President Mark Reuss told the crowd
at the Corvettes unveiling that the
car would start at less than 60
thousand dollars and gasps could be heard
from the audience to
understand what this means.
It is important to take
a look at Corvette's history.
The first Corvette was designed
by legendary General Motors designer
Harley Earl.
Earl saw that American soldiers returning
from Europe after World War 2
had gone crazy for European sports cars,
and he wanted to create an
American competitor.
GM built 300 of the first Corvettes
in 1953, while the initial Corvette
was a virtual masterpiece
of automotive design.
The car's performance was mediocre.
GM engineers had put the car together
from materials the company had on
hand. Its six-cylinder engine lacked the
horsepower needed to match the
car's sleek looks.
The first Corvette sold poorly and was
being outsold several times over by
competitors such as
the Ford Thunderbird.
Just a few years after its creation,
the Corvette was already in danger of
being discontinued.
But the car had caught the attention
of a Russian born Belgian immigrant
engineer and race car driver named Zora
Arkus-Duntov, who soon got a job
with GM and became the
Corvettes first chief engineer.
Arkus-Duntov is credited with pushing
for a sportier, higher performing
Corvette. Over time, the car grew a
reputation as a working man's answer
to high end Italian and German supercars
and developed a proud and devoted
following apart from its lower price.
It also, over time, became known for
keeping its engine in the front of
the car. Like many conventional cars.
But the performance and handling of
a mirror engine layout is often
favored among makers of super cars
and high end sports cars.
Arkus-Duntov
had pressed his bosses to make a
mid-engine Corvette, and for years the
company experimented with designs.
You know, creating a car with the
drive train centralized in the middle of
the vehicle helps
centralize the mass.
When you do that, you end up with
more equal weight between the front and
rear axles and on the front tires.
Essentially, that makes the car more
stable, even at higher speeds and
even around sharper corners,
braking and acceleration.
Everything you're doing in the car especially
is a performance car is more
stable, more balanced when you have
mass centralised engine design over
time.
Chevrolet developed several different iterations
of what was called the
Chevrolet Experimental Research
Vehicle or CERV.
These cars were outfitted with
mid-engine configurations too, some of
which Arkus-Duntov himself held patents, but
none of the designs ever made
it to production, even as high
end performance vehicles from other
manufacturers routinely demonstrated the
advantages of the mid-engine
layout.
That Corvette was able to compete with
many far more expensive cars was
impressive that it did so while keeping
its engine in the front of the
car. For many of its fans added to
its charm, in some ways, the car
appeared to succeed in
spite of itself.
I think that when we talk about Corvette
and the idea that it stayed true
for so long to its heritage front engine,
rear drive and over time, as we
saw more mid-engine cars coming out,
performance levels getting higher and
higher.
Part of the mystique and the aura
around mid-engine was literally that was
the engines like right
behind your head.
Changes like ride and
drive dynamics, too.
But it kind of gave this idea that,
to compete at this level, you have to
have a mid-engine.
At the same time, Corvette soldiered on
and it was great Nuremberg lap
records.
It was crazy amounts of power grid,
all despite the fact that didn't have
this latest and greatest
exotic car engine.
Part of its success has come
from the credibility Corvette has established
in racing.
Corvettes have been a popular choice
for racing enthusiasts for decades,
even when General Motors has not
been formally involved in racing.
In 1960, a private race team entered a
Corvette in the 24 hours of Le
Monde endurance race in
Le Mans, France.
In 1999, GM began sponsoring a Corvette
racing team, which has since won
107 races around the world.
That is more than any other car
in the history of the International Motor
Sports Association, one of the major
sanctioning bodies for racing in
North America.
In addition, the current Corvette racing
team has had eight victories in
the car's class and the 24 hours
of Le Monde race since 2001.
The Corvette also benefited from some
clever publicity, courtesy of early
NASA astronauts in the early 1960s.
GM President Ed Cole and a Florida
Chevrolet dealer named Jim Rathmann, a
former Indy 500 winner, offered astronauts
from some of the Apollo
missions a special deal that let
them drive any Chevrolet vehicle they
wanted for a year for one dollar.
Many, of course, chose the Corvette.
That doesn't mean things have always
been easy for the Corvette.
General Motors has been
close to canceling the.
Car a few times, but it's always seemed
to save it at the last minute.
One famous incident was in the 1990s
when GM wanted to shut down the
Corvette program in favor
of more popular models.
At that time, the company was
reportedly losing 1000 dollars on every
Corvette it made.
But Corvette program manager Russ McClain
and his team secretly went to
work on a new Corvette.
McClain told no one except his wife that
he had been ordered to cancel the
car.
The car they created was released in
1997 and became Motor Trend's Car of
the Year in 1998.
Corvette sales have seen a decline
in recent years, falling from 33,329
units in 2015 to
18,791 units in 2018.
GM, along with rivals Ford and
Fiat Chrysler, have rapidly been abandoning
traditional passenger cars.
However, industry watchers say the Corvette
name has now lived long enough
to attain a kind of iconic status,
not unlike the Ford Mustang, which Ford
has decided to hold on to even
as it slowly drains its portfolio of
traditional sedans and coupes.
But General Motors has decided it is
time for a big change to Corvette,
and many industry observers say the
mid-engine gives GM a shot at
attracting a new audience to the car.
I think for General Motors and
virtually every automaker whose main stream
or even the luxury brands
that have these halo cars.
The rationale is literally that is that
we have to have something that
brings you into the showroom or gets
our own employees excited because it
does have that trickle down
effect from said vehicle.
And it's one of those things where
you're never going to justify on paper,
you work in product planning, your
corporate bean counting, whatever you
want to call it.
On paper, it doesn't make
a lot of sense.
Can you truly measure
its effect overall?
Not really.
I mean, if you really want extrapolated
down to word of mouth kind of
thing, which again, is pie 1, the
highest, you know, most reputable things
is , I heard it from X, Y, Z,
and you really can measure stuff like that.
You can say, you know, on the
internet we saw this much activity.
We saw as many clicks.
But at the end of the day, it's
one of those things that you really can't
measure people's feelings.
And we know the cars of this nature,
they stir the soul and they get
people excited.
The new Corvette boasts
some impressive specs.
It will have 495 horsepower.
And when paired with a performance package,
we'll be able to go from zero
to 60 in under three
seconds according to GM.
That is approaching
supercar performance levels.
For example, it is within just fractions
of a second of the times boasted
by the 350 thousand dollar Ferrari
488 Pista and the 573 thousand
dollar Lamborghini Aventador
SVJ Roadster.
Chevrolet said redesigning the new Corvette
from the ground up provided a
historic opportunity Chevrolet designers have
wanted for 60 years.
The company said the Corvette can stand
tall with the best the world has
to offer.
GM President Mark Reuss also said Corvette
has pushed the potential of its
front engine design as far
as it can go.
But not everyone is happy about
the switch to a mid-engine layout.
Some longtime Corvette fans have cried
foul over the change, some
considered a betrayal
of Corvettes legacy.
Some complain the car is just aping
European designs and some don't like
how the mid-engine layout
changes the car's proportions.
Others are more optimistic;
if a bit guarded.
General Motors has been trying to
cut costs and improve profitability, and
its push has resulted in some bold,
if controversial moves such as cutting
production of several of its
passenger cars in late 2018.
As of September 2019, shares of GM
had risen about 12 percent over the
past five years.
With sales being so small, many think
Corvettes status as a kind of 'halo'
car becomes ever more
important to its survival.
It gives GM a chance to make
an inspiring, attention grabbing vehicle and
showcase the company's
engineering talent.
By switching over to
a mid-engine design.
Corvette is showing it can make
a world class vehicle and undercut
higher-end makers of super
cars in price.
It's always fascinating to
watch the supercar evolution.
This is a this is
a segment that doesn't stop.
It's never standing still.
It's never static. Every
not even a year.
It's really more like almost
every three to four months.
There's another super car
coming around the corner.
I think General Motors has stepped
into this competitive segment with a
very capable entry in this
new C 8 Corvette.
And it will be fascinating to watch
how how effectively they compete at
their price point with
much higher priced vehicle.
When they've got a vehicle that already
looks like it's going to be
offering performance based models that
are just being produced, despite
all the data that shows sport
utility is taking over the U.S.
auto market.
The next few years could be
some good ones for sports cars.
Why Jaguar And Land Rover Face Uncertain Futures
CNBC:
Jaguar Land Rover are two iconic
brands in the automotive world.
Rich with heritage an excellent style
and performance but each have
also suffered Rocky histories.
And for years each were passed between
new owners in Europe and the
U.S. including BMW and Ford.
With BMW owning Land Rover and
Ford owning Jaguar in the 80s.
Then just when they were on the
verge of bankruptcy the two thoroughly
British sister brands were bought
by the Indian, Tata Motors.
Part of the vast Tata Group
empire that makes up everything from
software to food products.
When Tata acquired them in 2008, both
Jaguar Land Rover had their fair
share of financial struggles and
had fought to overcome reputations
for unreliability.
If you were going to say drive
across the country in a given vehicle
and hope that everything went well.
Pre-Tata, Jaguar Land Rover would have been
one of the last brands I
would have picked to do that in.
I just didn't have
faith in their vehicles.
Worse, Tata had bought these brands
and perhaps one the worst possible
times in recent history.
Right on the cusp
of the financial crisis.
However in the years that followed,
Tata Motors did something many
owners had failed to do
before turning them into moneymakers.
But things are getting gloomy
for jail are once again.
Just as these two legends have
finally found some footing a
drastically shrinking market in China for
JLR and trouble in Europe
are threatening them once again.
The S&P lowered the credit ratings of
both JLR and Tata Motors in
early 2019 and they are
now deep in junk status.
The question now?
Will Tata Motors be able to turn around
JLR once more or is looking to
cut its losses?
Jaguar was founded in 1922 as the
Swallows Side Car company by William
Lyons, a motorcycle
enthusiast and engineer.
Back then the company initially made
side cars, those little pods that
sit on the side of motorcycles.
But in 1935, Lyons built the S.S.
Jaguar.
It was the first car
to bear the Jaguar name.
Over the years the company has
made sleek aerodynamic sports cars and
became known for racing.
Number 20 is the winning Jaguar
which eventually finish nine laps
ahead of the next car.
Having traveled at an
average speed of 93.5
miles an hour.
Perhaps the most famous example was
the E-type which Jaguar started
making in the 1960s.
Land Rover had an entirely
different history making off-road vehicles
used by the military and bucolic
customers in Europe and around the
world starting in 1947.
Over the years Land Rover developed
a reputation for making rugged
trucks an SUV with
a distinct British touch.
Models such as the defender,
developed reputations for ruggedness and
capability rivaled perhaps only by few
vehicles such as the Jeep
Wrangler.
Though also extremely capable, the
brand's Range Rover was perhaps
what anticipated the trend in
high end luxury sports utility
vehicles.
And has even been the target
of scorn for its popularity with
well-heeled buyers who never drive
the thing off pavement.
The two companies were rejoined under
one roof beginning with Ford
buying Jaguar in the late 1980s.
But in terms of fully exploiting the
brand name of strength that we
were building up in the company there's
no question we should be able
to do a better job with the
resources that Ford Motor Company will
make available.
And then in 2000,
Ford bought Land Rover.
Ford under went its own
troubles in the following years.
It had to sell off many of
the premium names they had acquired
including Jaguar and Land Rover.
And another high-end British
automaker Aston Martin.
Just eight years after Ford bought Land
Rover, Ford sold it and Jaguar
to Tata Motors for about 2.7
billion dollars.
Tata Motors did exactly what many fans
and enthusiasts say is the best
thing an owner can do for
car companies as legendary as these.
And it paid off.
Jaguar Land Rover didn't really start
to become a powerful and
competitive group of brands in the
modern automotive world until Tata
took over.
And when Tata inherited both brands
and invested the kind of money
that they had long needed invested.
That's when you saw everything from
the design to the engineering to
most importantly the quality, reach a
level that made them comparable
to things like a BMW or
an Audi or a Mercedes.
Up until 2017, it looked like
Tata Motors had engineered a lasting
turnaround for the
legendary brands.
But things took a turn
for the worse in 2018.
JLR posting a loss of about 4.3
billion dollars in
fiscal year 2019.
Its biggest loss in
the last 10 years.
That loss resulted in a large part
from a nearly 4 billion dollar one
time write down.
However even taking that into account
the company still would have
lost money.
The company said in January of 2019
that it's cutting 4,500 jobs about
10 percent of its workforce.
Jaguar Land Rovers troubles have
hurt parent company Tata motors.
JLR's recent troubles have been one
of the factors contributing to
recent declines.
In April 2019, reports surfaced that
Tata Motors is considering a sale
of the brands to
French car manufacturer PSA.
Reports that Tata Motors denies.
Out of the two brands
Land Rovers and the strongest.
But it has struggled as well.
A big part of the problem, Jaguar
Land Rover sales in China fell about
26 percent in May and
46 percent in April.
In March 2019, the company said sales
in China had fallen 34 percent
for the fiscal 2018 to 2019 year.
It is also facing
headwinds in Europe.
Brexit threatens to raise costs.
More than 40 percent materials used
travels from the European Union to
the United Kingdom.
And it must contend with
increasingly stringent emissions laws in
Europe following the so-called diesel
gate scandal that rocked
Volkswagen and other companies
in the automotive world.
In a comment to CNBC, Jaguar
CEO Ralph space said that:
But the U.S.
may hold the keys
for JLR's recovery.
Land Rover's strongest markets in North
America where it's in the
fortunate position of being a premium
sports utility maker in a time
where U.S.
customers are hungry for SUVs.
JLR sold about 10 times as many
SUV as the United States as did
traditional passenger cars in 2018.
Despite the fact that jaguars portfolio
is still heavy on sedans and
sports cars.
But Jaguar is leaning
into utility vehicles too.
It sold almost twice as many SUVs
in 2018 as its famous sports cars
and sedans.
And unlike brands such as Porsche,
it's brushing aside the usual
criticism that moving towards utility
vehicles is straying away from
its race car roots.
The Jaguar Land Rover
CEO also said:
Jaguar
is also stepping forcefully into
electric cars with its I-Pace
crossover which has been
praised by critics.
The car swept the world car awards
at the New York International Auto
Show in 2019.
But North America's continued appetite for
its vehicles might not be
enough to engineer a full
recovery for the two brands.
Industry analysts worry about a larger
downturn in new car sales is
looming.
The easier path is just sell
Land Rovers people know them by
Land Rovers.
But they are taking a longer path
by of keeping both Jaguar Land Rover
together because there are a couple
of restrictions which are coming
in terms of fleet norms and all
those things which they need to meet
and hence they can work out.
In the meantime Tata Motors has
fended off reports that it's
considering selling the division
to PSA group,.
The very same French automaker that
bought Opel and Vauxhall car
brands from General Motors
and turn them around.
Jaguar Land Rover have history
and heritage on their side.
But the global automotive industry
is changing rapidly and it's
unknown how much of that history
and heritage will count in a
business increasingly obsessed
with the future.
Why Ford And Other American Cars Don’t Sell In Japan
CNBC:
When it comes to cars, Americans
seem to love the Japanese.
But the Japanese don't seem
to love Americans back.
Japanese brands sell remarkably well
in the United States.
Several of the best-selling automakers in
America are from Japan, and
their products seem to dominate entire
segments in sales and critical
acclaim. Japanese automakers sell so
many cars in the U.S.
that they actually employ vast numbers
of American workers in factories
around the country.
Japanese automakers actually build a third of
all the vehicles made in the
U.S. But the Japanese don't seem
to be interested in America's SUVs,
pickup trucks, muscle cars or just
about any vehicle made by Detroit.
Ford left Japan entirely in 2017.
General Motors keeps a presence there, but
it is tiny — the largest U.S.
automaker sold only 700 cars
in Japan in 2018.
And people are divided as to why
and what, if anything, should be done
about it.
President Donald Trump has criticized the
imbalance, but so have U.S.
automotive trade associations, who
blame Japanese protectionism.
While there are no
Japanese tariffs on U.S.
imports, a number of critics say there
are all kinds of technical barriers
that make it harder for U.S.
companies to sell in Japan.
Here in the United States, when we
set regulations for fuel economy or
safety or communications standards or whatever,
all of the automakers that
sell and produce in the United
States are party to that conversation.
In Japan, it's a much more
closed process for regulatory compliance.
It's "these are the rules and
you will meet the rules."
Japanese producers have input into that
and suppliers, but it's pretty
closed to any external companies that
would be doing business there.
But some industry experts say
that really isn't the problem.
Instead, the reasons U.S.
cars are so rare in Japan, which
is the world's third-largest car market,
have more to do with Japanese
consumer tastes, the abiding if outdated
stereotypes the Japanese have about the
quality of American cars, and the
very different way customers shop
for vehicles in Japan.
It is first important to note
that Japanese brands all but completely
dominate local roads.
More than 95 percent of all cars
sold in the country are Japanese.
Imports make up the balance and
most of those are higher-end European
luxury vehicles and sports cars.
This is partly because the
Japanese have pretty specific needs.
For one thing, space
is incredibly tight.
Wildly popular in Japan are these
so-called Kei cars, which are tiny
vehicles preferred by drivers who have
to thread their way through narrow
streets and crowded cities.
Kei Cars alone make up
40 percent of the Japanese
market and U.S.
automakers don't make them.
Americans, on the other hand, tend
to excel in making big vehicles,
particularly pickup trucks and
large sport utilities.
In recent years, American automakers have
scaled back or even entirely
killed off their own lines of
compact vehicles, which are often still
bigger than their
Japanese counterparts.
In fact, many of the Japanese vehicles
sold in America — from sedans such
as the Toyota Camry all the way up
to the pickups — are not even
particularly popular in Japan.
All three Detroit automakers have less
than 1 percent market share.
One of the bestsellers, Jeep, sells about
10,000 vehicles in Japan a year.
The Japanese car buying experience would
also likely shock many Americans,
who often view a trip to the
dealership as one of life's necessary evils.
Much of Japanese business culture is
built around service and hospitality,
and auto dealerships
are no exception.
Japanese dealerships offer customers nearly
white glove service, and the
way buyers choose cars is entirely
different from the traditional buying
experience in the U.S.
Whereas American shoppers will often choose
a car from what is available
on a dealer lot, Japanese buyers can
often custom-build a car out of a
catalog and then have it made for
them in a matter of weeks.
A strong local supply chain and
local factories allow Japanese automakers
to do this.
Furthermore, quality of service
is often quite high.
Dealerships frequently have amenities such
as cafes and complimentary car
washes. They will also follow up
with customers sometimes even years after
a purchase.
Foreign automakers overall have had difficulty
adapting to this way of
selling. Moreover, the Japanese have
longstanding perceptions of American
cars as inefficient and unreliable.
This somewhat outdated view originates in
the decades from the 1960s
through the 1980s, when Japanese
brands were ascending and American
automakers were plagued with criticism and
scandal over vehicles such as
the Chevrolet Vega, the AMC Gremlin,
the Ford Pinto and the Chevrolet
Corvair.
And though American manufacturers have
made far more fuel-efficient engines
in recent years, the U.S.
has historically made some gas guzzlers
when compared with cars made
elsewhere.
Yeah, I think there is
a hangover for American vehicles.
You know, what does an American
car say about you in Japan.
That baggage is carried with that.
Meanwhile, the Japanese rose to power in
the auto industry in large part on
their reputation for building solid, efficient
cars that don't break down.
Of course, many observers note that American
autos have done a lot to
close the reliability gap over the years,
and cars overall are able to log
far more miles on the road than
they did even a decade ago.
And U.S.
automakers are adamant that they would be
better able to compete in Japan
if the country removes barriers
that make doing business difficult.
The trouble for Detroit is that Japan
is just one of the international
markets where U.S.
automakers have struggled.
All three Detroit automakers have had
challenges in South America and
Europe. While China which is the world's
largest car market could become a
tougher place to do business
with slowing economic growth, increased
competition, and trade disputes.
If something doesn't change, U.S.
automakers could become just that: American
companies that sell trucks and
SUVs to Americans.
What It's Like to Live in a Chevy Van and Drive Across America
Scotty Kilmer:
welcome to wacky Wednesday's where
everyone has a chance to show off their
car mods and here's this week's winner
hi Scotty I know it's it's a Chevy
Express and the engine is nothing
special is just standard Chevy engine
and the tires are nothing special either
they're just semi off roaders nothing
special about the exhaust either its
smoke comes out of it
just a little it's got regular Chevy
lights same thing in the front nothing
special about the grill no high
performance wiper blades just standard
cargo van mirrors nothing special about
the dash now on top of the roof that's
what it begins to get interesting I not
only have a roof vent I also have a
solid panel and security cameras all the
way around they were very nice while
they worked unfortunately they're
garbage and they don't work anymore this
is a 2014 chevy express its a 4.8 v8
engine it's a six-speed automatic
transmission
285 horsepower front and rear disc
brakes with front disc brake wear sensor
front independent suspension two-stage
multi-leaf rear spring front stabilizer
bar stability control traction control
system airbags dual front daytime
running lights theft deterrent system
tire pressure monitor 16-inch steel
wheels front air conditioner power
windows and door locks I also installed
an alarm system and I can go on my phone
turn the van on unlock the doors turn
off the alarm see exactly where my van
is at all times from the outside the van
looks completely like any other van
almost except for the solar panel and
the roof vent and all that but inside
this is where the van shines it doesn't
have a fancy engine it doesn't go
tremendously fast it just works when I'm
not working I'm traveling across the
country in this homemade camper I got
less than 50 square feet of usable space
but I got everything I need I have a
nice comfortable bed
I got a TV I have two refrigerators one
I can turn into a freezer if I want to I
have roof vents I have lights
I have cabinets I have tables I have an
inverter plenty of plugs I have
everything I need in here I can even
take a shower in here if I want to
seriously look one of the first things I
did was installed a rain guard on the
two front windows I connected a device
called the Stirling power it brings
power to my house batteries and allows
me to charge them while I Drive in 2015
and I installed this device called a WA
batsto heater it's very common in other
places like in Europe they use them to
keep the trucks heated it's about the
size of a loaf of bread whatever
temperature I set the heater at it stays
at that temperature all night long until
last year I only had one thirty five
quart refrigerator from Dometic it's
either a refrigerator or a freezer I can
set it for either or bus winter when I
was in Florida I purchased a twenty five
quart refrigerator the settings allow
the refrigerator to go all the way down
to zero Fahrenheit of course I couldn't
have the refrigerators if it wasn't for
my solar panel 325 watts I did all the
wiring myself installed all these lights
I have four different lights I have
three vents to smaller vents that fit
under my solar panel my bigger one is a
fantastic vent so far I don't have an
air conditioner but that's about to
change because I just ordered a 12-volt
air conditioner it's actually an air
condition that works on either 12 volt
or 110 I have a Morningstar MPPT charge
controller I have two AGM batteries from
lifeline 255 amps each everything you
see in here I've done myself all the
wiring all the fans delights the
cabinets everything that's seen here I
did it myself I started building the van
in spring and summer of 2014 I continued
through the winter continue the
following summer and then off and on
I've done some minor changes here and
there or add-ons like this
here used to be a desk and then
eventually I never used a desk so I turn
this into into a cabinet for stuff that
I need more than a desk and I do all the
oil changes what I have to do I do all
the maintenance for the future though I
intend on getting something that I can
stand up in because that makes makes a
whole lot of difference you can compare
when you can stand up versus sitting
down all the time so yes that's for the
future maybe near future
it's not fancy it's just a cargo van but
it has taken me all across the country
to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore to
Yellowstone and to the high plains of
Montana to Idaho to the Painted Hills of
Oregon to the Pacific Ocean and to the
redwoods to the Golden Gate Bridge and
to Reno Nevada
Death Valley Las Vegas to the Grand
Canyon and to Monument Valley the
mountains of Colorado Kansas Missouri
Illinois all across the country to the
nice sandy beaches of Florida on the
west coast and to the Atlantic coast
this is not just a van this is my home
on wheels my van doesn't go very fast
doesn't have fancy stuff but when I come
back here no matter where I'm at in this
country whenever I come back here I am
home my name is Luis and I Chronicle my
journey across this country and Scotty
keep on revving those engines
well that was this week's video and to
have your car mod shown on my channel
here check this out,
so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos, remember to
ring that Bell
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
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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