Will Chevrolet Return To Europe - Damino Media

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 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.

2020 Ford Explorer Review & First Drive - An Exciting New Chapter | Edmunds

Edmunds:

SPEAKER: The Ford Explorer
is an important SUV,
not just for Ford, but for
SUV shoppers in general.
That's because when
it debuted in 1991,
it redefined what a
family vehicle could be.
We're here in Washington
state on the banks
of the Columbia River.
And the big news is
the Ford Explorer
has changed from front-wheel
drive to rear-wheel drive.
We've got several
versions to drive,
and we'll be able to
see why that matters.
But before we get
into that, remember
to click Subscribe and visit
Edmunds for all your car
and SUV shopping needs.

Even though it's all new, it
still looks like an Explorer,
because some of the key design
elements are still here.
For one, the windshield pillar--
blacked out.
Always done that.
Also, the middle
pillar-- blacked out.
We get to the C pillar,
and it's prominent
and it's body colored.
And then back here at
the rear, the rear pillar
is also blacked out so that the
side window and the rear window
blend together.
Explorers have always
had these elements,
and this one does, too.
Perhaps the biggest difference
is here in the front.
Last time around, it
was front-wheel drive.
The engine sat that way.
There was a lot of radiator
and stuff like that up here.
It gave it a lot of bulk in
the front end of the car.
Now when you've got the
engine turned this way--
push the engine back, shorten
the nose a little bit--
it tightens up the front end,
makes it look more aggressive.
And it also has a
good approach angle.
The switch to rear drive
results in a wheel base
that's over six inches
longer between the front
and rear tires.
And that improves
weight distribution
from a dynamic
standpoint, but it also
improves passenger and
cargo space inside.
The switch to rear drive
also helps with towing.
Ideally, you want your
trailer's tongue weight
to be pressing down on the axle
that is propelling the vehicle.
And you get that here.
But you also get extra stability
because of the longer wheelbase
when towing.
And the tow rating, as a
result, is up slightly.
It was 5,000 pounds last year.
It's as much as 5,600
pounds this year.

The first thing you notice
about the new Explorer
inside is that it's spacious.
It's comfortable.
It's really easy to live with.
These seats, for example--
they're really nicely shaped.
They have great padding.
They're really comfortable.
These are the Platinums, but
I was in a Limited yesterday--
same thing there.
The steering wheel is
nice and chunky, too.
You know, it feels real good.
The tactile feel is really nice,
and it's comfortable over time.
The controls-- they're
really easy to figure out.
Here are the audio controls.
Here are the HVAC controls.
The touch screen
is easy to reach.
There are two touch screens.
This one has the bigger portrait
one that's about 10 inches.
There is an eight inch
landscape-oriented one,
really nice as well.
Both of those are great.
Really easy to use this cabin.
And there's a lot
of storage, too.
The glove box is big.
You can hook up a phone
through the access ports here.
This is pretty big,
the center console.
You can see I have
my phone here,
but I could also put it here
on this wireless charge pad.
The door pockets are big.
There's place for
your stuff alongside.
So you're not going to
have a problem of where
to put your stuff.
One of things I'm not
terribly sure about
is the interior quality.
It's good.
There's nice soft touch
material here and here
and some other places.
A few of these other ones
look a little bit hard.
But the main thing
for me is a couple
of these seams, this
one in particular.
They're really
prominent and they
stand out and catch your eye--
at least they catch my eye.
Recently, I was in
a Kia Telluride.
In that one, material's
quality just felt a step above.
Here I am in the middle
row of the Ford Explorer,
and right off the
bat, I can tell
this has got plenty of room.
I'm 6'2.
I've got extra headroom even
with this panoramic sunroof.
Leg room.
I got a little extra to give
the person in the back seat
if I need to.
It reclines.
That's nice.
One thing that's different
about the Explorer
compared to the competition
is most versions
are going to have captain's
chairs as standard.
And these are really nice.
So back here, I've
got a couple of USBs
under this hatch-- just one
USB and one USB-C, though.
I'd like more of those,
but they're not here.
I've got controls for
the air conditioning.
And the vent is up here, which
is interesting, not here.
It looks to be
really easy to put
child seats in the Explorer.
The latch anchors are right
here where you can see them.
They're really easy to get to.
As for storage, there
seems to be a lot of that.
There is a juice box
holder right up high here
where a child can reach it.
And further down,
there's a place
for a water bottle
and other items.
And here in the middle, there's
more storage and a couple more
cup holders.
You may have noticed
there's no console here.
That's because Ford
says they want to keep
this open for third row access.
So this is really low, and it's
actually made to be stepped on.
As you can see, there isn't
a lot of room for someone
my height, which is 6'2, to
sit back here in the third row.
I'm a little taller than what
they had in mind, I'm sure.
But even so, I've
got lots of headroom,
and there's an AC
vent back here.
That part is covered,
it's just this knee here.
The one on the side where I
can get between the captain's
chair, actually no problem.
But this is pretty
flat, so I don't
know how that would be
over a long distance.
It feels pretty good so far.
Back here though, there's
no USB ports to plug into,
and the cup holder is kind
of hard to get to on the side
here.
Another thing worth noting
is that the child seat
anchors are really easy to
get to here in the third row.
And that means that four child
seats can fit in this vehicle.
The other thing is that the
Explorer-- this third row
can only hold two people.
It's not equipped to hold three
like the competition can do.
So what that means
is that Explorers
can seat seven with
a bench seat, six
with captain's chairs.
The competition is one better.
If that matters to
you, I don't know.
It depends on the size of your
family or your soccer team.
Getting out of the third
row is really easy,
because there's two ways
your child can do it.
There's a loop at
the base of the seat,
or they can press this button.

Behind the third
row, the Explorer
starts out with a competitive
amount of cargo space.
It slots in between the
Telluride and the Pilot.
This piece here,
you can flip it over
and you got a dirty
side if you've
got something muddy you
want to put in here.
Or you can drop it here for
a little extra stability
if you don't want
groceries to slide around.
And you can just pull this
lever to fold the headrest down.
And then this button here
will fold the seats down.
You could do both together
or the left and right
individually.
Once you do this, the
amount of cargo space
that you end up with
is right in there
with the others in the segment.
It's a virtual tie.
And then of course, if you
fold down the middle row
seats on both sides, the
amount of cargo space
is over 85 cubic feet, which
is another competitive number.
Because this has
captain's chairs,
you'll have a little
void in the middle.
It's not a completely
flat floor,
but that's true of any
vehicle with captain's chairs.

Now we're on the road, and
I'm driving the hybrid.
And that's what's interesting
about this new Explorer.
There are four powertrain
choices, including the hybrid,
which they've never had before.
The base and the XLT come with
a 2.3 liter EcoBoost engine.
Near the top of the
range, the Platinum
has a 3 liter V6
EcoBoost engine.
And the ST, which
is new this year--
it's got a high output version
of the 3 liter EcoBoost engine.
And then that leaves the
hybrid as the fourth choice.
This one has a 3.3 liter V6.
Not turbo charged, but it
does have a hybrid element
in its transmission.
And that's the unique
part here, is all four
of these powertrains have a 10
speed automatic transmission.
And the hybrid version
has an electric motor
built into the case.
And the upshot of that is you
don't get any weird hybrid CVT
feeling that you might get
in some of the competition.
This drives absolutely normally
when it comes to shifting.
You just have the hybrid
for low-speed operation
and fill-in, and other things
that improve fuel economy.
How much fuel
economy improvement?
Well, they haven't told us
what the rating is right now,
but they say that this
should have a 500 mile range.
It has a tank that
holds 18 gallons.
And if you do the math,
that's 27 or 28 miles
per gallon combined.
We'll have to see
where that shakes out.
What's great is you can get
all-wheel drive on the hybrid.
And it's not just
an electronic add-on
like some of the
competitors have.
This is genuine all-wheel
drive that mechanically
drives all four wheels
when it's engaged.
And that's really great,
because it gives it much more
authentic off-road capability.
The thing about the four
powertrains that's interesting
is, the smallest one,
the 2.3 EcoBoost turbo--
it makes as much horsepower
or more than the base engines,
which are really
the only engines
in a Pilot and a Telluride.
So you can only go up from
there, which is really nice.
The reason why I'm not
really quoting hard numbers
is because Ford's numbers
assume that you're
going to use 93 octane
fuel, which frankly, you
can't get, even in California
or most of the West Coast.
But also, most people aren't
going to spend the extra money.
They're going to want to put
in 87 octane regular unleaded,
which you can do, because
that is the recommended fuel.
But until we get horsepower
and torque figures on 87,
I'm not really ready to commit,
or really even able to say,
whether any of their
engines are more
powerful than the
competition's offerings or not.

One of the first things
I notice behind the wheel
is I really do
like the steering.
And it goes beyond the feeling
of the steering wheel, which
is really chunky,
and it's not too big.
When you go down
the road, it really
has a great sense
of straight ahead.
And we had some
strong crosswinds,
and that didn't faze it at all.
They went back to
rear-wheel drive,
but they didn't go
back to body-on-frame.
This is still a unibody vehicle.
And that gives it a
lower center of gravity,
which you can really feel--
the longer wheelbase as well.
There's a stability
here, a real composure
that really feels premium.
And that premium ride also
comes from the suspension tuning
and the noise abatement.
We're on some pretty coarse
roads, and when we hit bumps,
it's very settled.
It doesn't upset
the cabin at all.
And there's not a lot of road
noise coming up from the tires.
I'm really pleased
with the visibility.
It's really easy to
see out the front.
The pillars are slender.
That big C pillar that's body
color that we saw earlier
doesn't really block my view.
I don't feel like
I'm in a tank here.
The only thing about visibility
that I'm not a fan of--
I didn't notice this earlier--
is these are shiny,
and there's definitely
a lot of reflection coming up
off these HVAC controls here.
This vehicle has the standard
eight inch landscape oriented
screen, not the 10 inch
portrait screen we saw earlier.
And it's really nice.
The graphics are clear.
They're easy to understand.
It's responsive.
And there's a side benefit
to not having the big screen.
It doesn't fill up
this space, so there's
a nice shelf underneath
that'll hold a phone.
Now that I've been in this
vehicle for about four hours,
I think I've got it figured out.
I like the way it steers.
It goes down the road
really nicely, and even
in this crosswind.
The seats are comfortable.
I haven't gotten
tired of them yet.
I've got all the
controls figured out.
I could drive this thing home,
and I live almost 1,000 miles
away from here.

So we're still in the hybrid,
but we're towing a boat.
And this is great.
From the first moment I
pressed the accelerator,
the take away was smooth.
You could feel the torque of
the electric motor combining
with the motor to really get
the vehicle going really easily.
And then as we went up
through the first few gears,
all the shifts were nice
and smooth and buttery.
I really didn't expect that.
And at the moment, we're just
cruising around on the highway,
and it feels real happy.
Tow ratings, they're
just a number.
It's a reflection of the cooling
system and the suspension being
up to it.
But with some vehicles, you
feel like you're asking a lot.
It's going to do
it, technically.
It's fine, but you don't
necessarily enjoy it.
This is enjoyable.
This is not a problem at all.

Frankly,
I'm still trying to wrap
my head around the pricing.
At the base model level, it's
really similar to last year.
But if you go to XLT or
Limited, the price increase
starts to get
pretty substantial.
But on the other
hand, this vehicle
is a lot more substantial.
It really does feel like
a significant upgrade
from last year.
So extra money,
probably worth it.

So what does all of this mean
for the new Ford Explorer?
Well, I like the ride.
It's quiet.
It feels really composed.
And when the road gets twisty,
it actually can play along.
It's not an Olympic quality
athlete, but it works out.
It's fit.
It can keep up.
As for the powertrain,
same thing.
They're solid.
The base offering is as strong
as competition's only offering.
And the hybrid is just really
a no compromised machine.
You can take it off road,
really, up to a point.
It doesn't have low range.
You can tow a boat or
something else that
weighs within its capability.
And it's not like you're
asking it to do something
it doesn't want to do.
It feels really up to the task.
It's very well-rounded.
The interior's nice
and spacious, too.
It's got a lot of
thoughtful touches.
Yeah, there's a couple of things
I wish were a little different.
But for the most part, I've
got no complaints here.
If you want more
detailed information,
be sure to check out my article.
And remember to hit Subscribe
and visit Edmunds next time
you're ready to buy a car.

A slew of dusty Italian sports cars hidden in muscle car country | Barn Find Hunter - Ep. 30

Hagerty:

(classic rock music)
(engine revving)
- Last year when I was
writing the book that recently
came out callled Motor City Barn Finds,
I met a gentleman at a Cars and Coffee
event outside Detroit,
who told us he had a bunch
of foreign cars in northern Michigan.
We went up there and looked
at them and wow it's pretty cool.
So now we're gonna bring the
video series, Barn Find Hunter,
with these video cameras to
come and look at those cars
in his yard, way up in northern Michigan.
(classic rock music)
Here's an Alfa Romeo
2000 ,pretty rare car.
Much larger than your average Alfa Romeo.
It's probably only good
for a parts car these days.
There are nice parts on
it, tail lights, bumpers
but if you look at the chassis rot
down on the quarter panel
there it's pretty bad.
Next to it if you can check
it out is a French car,
called a Citroën 2CV or Deux Chevaux,
and that was a front wheel
drive two cylinder car
that was designed so
that you could drive it
to the market to sell
your eggs at the market.
And if you had those eggs in
a basket on the front seat
with you you could drive across a plowed
farm field and they wouldn't break.
That's how compliant the suspension was.
And back there is a
1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta
It's the 34th car like that built.
And it's probably too far
gone to restore unfortunately
but we're just getting
to the good stuff now.
This is just a prelude of things to come.
Here's a car that in
Europe this was called
a Volkswagen, marketed as a Volkswagen,
but in the states it was called a Porsche.
It's a 914, a mid engine car.
This one's a four cylinder probably a 1.8.
They were amazing handling cars especially
when they had the optional six cylinder
which was a 911 6, it was amazing.
This one's got the optional alloy rims.
You know you'd really have to go in there
take everything out and
see how the floor is.
These cars have a bad habit
of rusting very badly.
But if it has solid
bones it might be worth
restoring or making a vintage racecar.
This has been on this
trailer for at least 20 years
if not longer, the owner
bought it in the early '80s
and it's been sitting here ever since.
But now we're gonna go down
to a garage, David, who owns
these vehicles is gonna explain
what we're walking past.
This is our friend, David Korwin,
and David has invited us here to his farm
up in northern Michigan to look at some
of the cars that he and his brother
and ultimately his father
collected over the years.
We've seen some of them
over in the woods there
but this is the mother load in here.
So if you're a foreign car
guy you'll really dig this.
So, thanks for inviting us.
- Thanks Tom.
- Show us what you got.
- [David] All right the
first thing you'll see
is this 1940 Dodge truck,
it's a one ton stake.
And the idea with this is that it was
gonna be the perfect
vintage race car hauler.
Especially for like an old Lotus 6.
Because you could drive it up on the back
and on the ramps and you'd be all set.
- [Tom] So your dad bought this?
- [David] Yeah, and we
were talking about that.
We think maybe in Roscommon,
Michigan but we're not sure.
- [Tom] How long ago
you figure he bought it?
- [David] Maybe 1976.
- [Tom] '76?
- [David] Or more.
- [Tom] Yeah, 40 years.
Okay so we have an Alfa coupe here?
- A 1957 Giulietta Sprint.
It's a car that my mom
and dad went on dates in.
- [Tom] No Kidding?
- [David] Yeah
Way back, way back then,
so early '60s, end of '50s.
I think he bought this car in '59.
- [Tom] What year is it do you think?
- [David] This is a '57.
- [Tom] Okay so he bought it as a
two year old car no kidding.
- [David] Yeah.
And this thing was like a turquoise.
- [David] That is the original color
- [Tom] Isn't that something.
- [David] I think it would
have been called celeste blue.
- [Tom] You can see the
dash board a little bit,
wow what a fabulous car
this must've been, geez!
Column shift?
- [David] Yep.
- [Tom] This car has a
column four on the column.
- [David] Yeah four speed on the column.
- [Tom] Here's the engine on the Giulietta
It's a 1957 1600 cc's.
If you could look at
this, this is a 1957 car
being built at the same time as MG A's
and Triumph TR3's and they were so basic.
The Triumphs, the MGs and most other cars
had push rod engines very antiquated.
But this car had overhead cam,
double overhead cam engine.
Aluminum head, it was
so much more advanced
than the British
contemporaries of the day.
Italians really had it together
when it came to machinery.
It's got a single down draft single barrel
but most people who had
performance versions of this
would have side draft Weber carburetors.
Two two barrels.
It's a flow through head
design which means the intake
is on this side, the exhaust
is on this side so gas and air
would flow through the
head and right out again.
A much better cylinder head design
than the alternative
which would be the gas
and air come in and go
out on the same side.
It just slows the whole momentum down.
This is a car worth restoring.
And especially since David,
his parents dated in this car
in the late '50s or early '60s.
He has a real need to
wanna restore this again.
So we have here what is it, a GTV?
- [David] This is a GTV that
my dad owned a couple of times.
(laughing)
It's a '66 and he sold it to a young man
in Ann Arbor who drove
it for a couple of months
before he floated it over a traffic island
and took out the sump and
the front end of the car.
And when we walk to the front
end, you can see that my dad
didn't buy factory panels and repair it.
Because he was a body guy he
decided to do his own take.
- [Tom] Oh look at that.
- [David] On Chazarros
theme here and it's got NSU
headlights, that's where the
oval headlights came from.
- [Tom] So you got a
custom Alfa, holy mackerel.
- [David] Yeah, but it is a custom Alfa.
It's all done with lead, it's surviving
better than the rest of the car.
- [Tom] And did he drive
it after he fixed the car?
- [David] Oh, quite a bit, after this guy
crashed it my dad bought it back from him,
the guy gave him a bunch
of money and my dad
gave him in return his
Iso Rivolta as a trade
and got this back and
then did the work on it.
- [Tom] Huh, interesting.
- [David] So then they drove
it for years, my brother and I
used to hear them coming home
from the shop and we'd hear
them downshifting a block over
from us and we'd say there
comes dad and it was just
wonderful to listen to.
- [Tom] Isn't that cool? Wow.
And another, is this a 2000?
- [David] This is a 2000
as well this is a 1960
and this one is in pretty decent shape
as far as a restoration project
and we have all the pieces plus parts car
obviously, and this is body by touring,
this is a coach built car, the body looks
similar to some of the
Maserati's at the time
because touring had their designs,
their favorite look and it does look
similar to that the 2600 was a bigger
car than this and had a little less
detail as far as trim was concerned
but this was a luxurious car for the time.
- [Tom] You got a nice
Alfa logo on the back.
Is this the car that the other one
in the woods is a parts car for this?
- [David] Correct, correct.
- [Tom] Yeah, okay.
It's been here for a while.
- [David] It has been, there's
a roosting area up there.
- [Tom] Is your intention to restore this?
- [David] This one will be a
restoration, yeah this one is.
- [Tom] Now is there
anything in here that you're
interested in selling in here?
- [David] We've talked about
whether or not we would.
I'm not old enough to decide to sell off
the projects yet, and at
this point, I still think
there's time to restore things.
- [Tom] Yep, well we're
leaving a great stash
of Alfa Romeo's in a barn
and in the woods around here.
And we're driving about
50 miles north of here
in Michigan because
we've heard about a guy
named Denny, who has been
collecting too many cars
for too long, has
decided I've got to start
getting rid of these things
because I can't finish them
all in my lifetime so that
sounds pretty appealing to me,
so we're going to go check that out.
Come on with us.
(classic rock music)

2020 Corvette Stingray Review ― Test Drive of the New Corvette C8

Edmunds:

KURT NIEBUHR: You know,
there's been a lot of buzz
around this all new Corvette.
It's supposed to be mid-engine.
It's faster.
It's supposed to have a really
nice interior in it too.
It's supposed to
handle really well.
It's supposed to be a lot.
I'll believe it when I see it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
If we can ignore the fact that
this new Corvette is completely
new and is also a
mid-engine Corvette--
try really hard to ignore the
fact that this is a mid-engine
Corvette--
the interior on this car is
the biggest talking point.
It's amazing.
It's really well crafted.
It's nice.
It looks like no other
Corvette interior ever,
and that's a good thing.
So the first thing you
really see on the inside
when you sit down is
the steering wheel,
which is a two-spoke steering
wheel, something you wouldn't
expect in a sports car.
But it's also a little square.
And when you're on the
road, it doesn't really
matter that much.
You're not putting a lot
of lock into the wheel.
And once you start to make
U-turns or tighter turns,
it does get a little
weird because you wind up
grabbing a corner.
It's not the end of the world.
It's just unique.
So the second thing you're
likely to see in this car--
maybe it's the first thing--
is this climate
control arrangement.
And they've put all of the
buttons, all of the switches
in a row, which is unique.
When I first saw it in pictures,
I wasn't thrilled about it.
But to be honest, now that I've
spent some time in the car,
it does work.
And the climate control
system is pretty good.
So you just set it, and then
you don't even look at it.
And it frees up this
whole center console area
and keeps it relatively
clutter free.
But like the square
steering wheel, it's unique.
Another big change with
this brand new Corvette
is the digital instrument panel.
And it changes with the
drive mode that you select.
And some manufacturers can
get that a little tacky
with explosions and weird swipes
and changes on the screen.
The Corvette is very simple.
And when you change the
instrument panel display,
the heads up display also
changes at the same time.
I think it's kind of cool.
It's one of the better
executions on the market.
So the passenger seat
in the new Corvette
is what I like to call the
sit down and shut up seat,
because as you can
see, you really
don't have anything to control.
You have seat ventilation, seat
heating, and climate control
buttons.
Everything else--
that's for the driver,
kind of as it should be.
Another nice touch
on this interior,
and one that was
totally unexpected,
are these nifty
little air vents.
I'll admit-- at first glance,
they looked a little useless.
But they have good airflow,
good adjustability,
and they're well-made
with a nice, oily action.
I think they're pretty cool.
[ROCK MUSIC]
Yeah, yeah, so who cares
about the rest of it, right?
What's it like to drive?
Well, it's got a 6.2-liter V8,
495 horsepower with the Z51
exhaust, 470 foot
pounds of torque.
I mean, it's a small
block Chevy, man.
It's great.
Ah, listen to that.

There's only one
transmission offered in this,
and it's an
eight-speed automatic.
Now, before you get all sad and
wish that they made a manual,
I can tell you that the
time I've spent in this car,
I have never wanted
for a manual.
This transmission is very
smooth and quick acting,
and the shifts are seamless.

Listen to that.
And as an added bonus, these
shift paddles are heavy.
They're metallic.
They feel really good.
It's just-- it's
extra confidence,
and it just makes the whole car
feel better and more upscale
than it's ever felt before.
The way this thing shifts--
downshifts really
quickly, upshifts quickly.
Everything is
seamless and smooth,
and the car is never
upset by the transmission.
For all the power
that this car makes,
that's something to
really celebrate.
I wouldn't even buy a manual
transmission in this car
if they offered it.
Yeah, you can take away
my performance driving
card if you want.
I don't care.
That's a Lotus Elise.
How fast is it?
Well, we were able to
take it to our test track
and put the car
through its paces,
so let's go see how that went.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
First off, yes, these
numbers aren't as quick
as we were expecting.
But since we didn't have
access to 93 octane,
we only get 91
octane in California,
and we used a fairly
standard asphalt surface,
we were limited on
outright traction.
The Vet spun its wheels
through most of first gear,
even with launch control, so
these are real world numbers.
But hey, 3.2 seconds
to 60, 11.5 seconds,
and 118.7 miles an hour
through the quarter mile
is nothing to sneeze at.
105 feet from 60 miles
an hour is pretty solid.
There is good consistency
and stability.
Of course, wider grip
your tires would easily
shave off another 10 feet.
We suspect they're saving
those for the inevitable Z06.
Pulling 1.09 on the skid
pad puts the Corvette
in some pretty rare
company, and that's
with Pilot Sport 4Ss and a
fairly narrow 245 section front
tire.
Sure, we could talk about
how it needs more tire,
but this number speaks volumes
about the chassis, suspension,
and differential tunings.
FYI-- that number was pulled in
track mode with ESC fully off.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That small block V8 provides
what you'd expect out
of a small block V8--
a broad, meaty power
band that sounds
just amazing at full
throttle, just amazing.
[ENGINE REVVING]
See?
Amazing.

Probably the biggest
change with this Corvette
is how fast you can go with it.
I'm not saying the other
Corvettes were slow.
The C7 was no slouch.
The C6 was no slouch.
Any Z06-- ferocious.
But you had to be really
careful with them.
And unless you spent a lot
of time in an older Corvette,
it took a while to
get to know the car.
And they could catch you out.
They could catch out
experienced drivers
simply because the
front axle didn't really
tell you what was going on,
how much grip you had left.
You know?
In this car, it's talking
to you constantly.
I know right where the
grip is on the front end.
Also unlike those
older Corvettes,
the back end on this
car behaves itself.
495 horsepower in this
trim follows the front,
helps power you out of corners.
I am not afraid of
this car on this road.
And I wouldn't be driving
a C7 or a C6 Corvette
anywhere near this quickly.
In order to drive
on a road like this,
as hard as you want to drive on
it, you need good brakes too.
With the Z51 package,
you get good brakes.
I think they're 13.6 inch in
the front and 13.8 in the back.
I hope I got that right.
[DINGING]
If I didn't, I'm
sure the Corvette
forums will let me know.
But there's a lot of feel
with these brakes too,
and the pedal is
solid and consistent.
Much like the ability to change
steering effort and weighting,
this Corvette allows you to
change brake pedal pressure.
So if you like a harder,
more immediate pedal,
you can punch it up.
Punch it up on the screen,
and you can change it.
That changes with the
drive mode as well.
My feet aren't
sophisticated enough
to really tell the
individual modes apart,
but I spend no time adjusting
in between the modes.
The brakes are intuitive
and easy to use.
And when you're going fast,
that's the best thing to be.

All of this phenomenal
grip is brought to you
by rather ordinary Michelin
Pilot Sport 4S tires.
These are tires you can find
on a lot of normal cars.
In other words, they're
not super hero tires.
They have tread.
They're not noisy,
but they still
offer near supercar
levels of grip.
That just goes to show you
how good the chassis is.
So this car has three
main drive modes.
And I'm going to
say three because I
live in LA, so I don't need a
snow mode or a weather mode.
You've got the
touring mode, which
is what we're in right now.
And it just slackens off
the shocks a little bit.
It's really good compliance.
This is a pretty bumpy road,
and I'm not that upset.
It also tones down the exhaust.
You get a lighter steering
feel and the slightly less
jumpy throttle.
Moving into sport
mode, everything
gets a little bit more intense.
The throttle becomes
more sensitive.
The ride becomes a
little bit more firm,
as you can probably see.
And sport mode is a really good
all-around mode in this car.
You could drive in
sport mode all the time.
You can even drive it on this
road, which is fantastic,
and you wouldn't really
want for anything else.
But there is track mode.
The track mode is not silly.
I've driven cars with track
modes that try and knock
the fillings out of your teeth.
This car, with the
[INAUDIBLE] shocks,
gets tracked mode right.
So I've got two
complaints with this car.
They're not really
serious complaints
because you don't have to get
these things, like this tan.
This tan causes reflections
all through the windshield.
It's really annoying.
But you can get it in black,
so just buy it in black.
So the other complaint
I have are these seats.
Now, these are the
competition seats.
And I know that I'm not a small
man, but I'm not that big.
I'm 6'1", like 210 pounds.
But these seats pinch
my legs to the point
where it's uncomfortable.
But just like the tan
leather up here, you
don't have to get these seats.
You have two other options--
the regular seat, and
you have the GT2 seat.
I'd get the GT2 seat.
So the Corvettes
is an automatic.
Will the Corvette do a burnout?
Of course the Corvette
will do a burnout.
Turn traction control off.
Pull the paddles to
put it in neutral.
Ride the rev limiter.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Oh!
Proper burnout.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So maybe it's a
good thing that we
didn't have as much
time in the Corvette
as we wanted to, because
I think if I kept
driving that, I'd get arrested.
It's really fast.
It's so composed and so easy to
drive on any manner of roads,
even on the open highway.
It's a total piece of cake.
This mid-engine car has
ushered in a whole new era
for Corvette, and I
think it was about time.
So what does this
car compete with?
It is basically a
mid-engine supercar,
but it doesn't cost as much
as a mid-engine supercar.
It's about half
the price or less.
So a base Corvette is $60,000.
The one that you see behind
us is pretty well optioned up,
but that's still about
$83,800, I think.
In that car's price range is
now the BMW M4, which is slower.
It's the Shelby GT350,
which is slower.
It is the Porsche 718 Cayman
S, which is slower and does not
have the rad V8 engine in it.
And there are probably a
couple other cars in the class
that I have missed simply
because I can't remember them,
because they don't make as
much of an impression on me
as this thing does.
This is-- it's really that good.
I'm genuinely surprised
at how good this car is.
So yeah, this is a shorter
video than you'd probably like,
and we really need to get into
the minutia about this car,
but we didn't have
a lot of time.
But fear not.
Edmunds has bought a
2020 Chevrolet Corvette.
That's right.
We bought one, and we're
going to keep it for a year.
So subscribe so
that you don't miss
any of those upcoming
videos, probably late
January or early February.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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

Chevy Bolt EV: Winter Range and Performance (Chicago winter)

Technology Connections:

Having myself driven a Chevy Volt for the
past two and a half years, when it came time
for my parents to get a new car my experiences
with the Volt (and a little prodding) led
them to get the Chevy Bolt EV, that Bolt with
a B as in Bravo.
Yes, GM is wonderful at naming their products.
Anyway, both myself and my parents live in
Illinois, I live about 20 miles from the city
of Chicago, they live actually 120 miles away
from Chicago which is a video in and of itself,
because even in a rural setting, the Bolt
meets their needs.
But, anyway, what we're talking about in this
video is winter driving performance.
Many people are worried about how the winter
affects electric vehicle range, so why not
find out?
I'm gonna take the Bolt to and from work.
I have a very long commute--it's 35 miles
each way.
So come along with me and we'll find out what
sort of range we get.
For reference the Chevy Bolt EV's EPA estimated
range is 238 miles, but what will it be in the winter?
So I'm about to go to work, and it's a pretty
cold day, and it's gonna snow two to four
inches while I'm at work.
I figured today would be an excellent day
to test the winter mileage of the Chevy Bolt EV.
If you haven't run across my earlier videos
you might not know that I live in a condo
building but I do have access to EV charging,
there's a whole video on that if you want to check that out.
Alright--
Car!
Obviously one advantage that I get because
I do live in a condo building is that I am
in a heated garage, so that thing buzzes away.
My space is usually about 50 to 55 degrees
Fahrenheit so I do have that as an advantage.
Alright.
So, um, I'm about to get going.
And...
most of the footage that you're going to see
is coming from my dashcam cause I don't have
a good way to hold the phone while I'm driving,
um, but just thought I would show you...
hopefully..
Ah.
That didn't go well.
Let's turn the car on.
(Chiming from the car)
Ugh.
We are predicted with 173 miles of range,
but I need to turn the heat off right now
cause...I'll explain that later.
But anyway, turning the heat off gets us 180
--(sound of the turn signal flashing)--my
goodness.
This is not going well.
Turning the heat off gives us 182 miles predicted
range.
That's a little optimistic, as you'll see,
but let's find out what we really get.
So range is currently, um, I currently have
the heating off because I don't need it, when
I Ieave the garage, and sometimes the automatic climate
control seems to get confused in a heated
garage; I like to set the temperature very
low and it will sometimes cool when I first
turn on the car.
I've never actually looked at dashcam footage
from the roads that I take on my normal commute
and it's actually quite noisy so I'm going
to be doing most of this in voiceover.
So what I was explaining about the heat was
that, because I start with a heated garage,
I like to turn the heat off because I like
to set the heat very low and the Bolt's climate
control seems to get confused when it's in
a heated garage.
If I have the heat set to 62, and it's 55
according to its ambient temperature sensor,
it will actually run the air conditioning.
And it takes it quite a while from leaving
the garage to realize "It's cold outside,
stop doing that", so that's a minor annoyance
but it saves energy anyway to turn off the
climate control when you do have a heated
garage until you actually need the heat.
So I'm starting my journey on I-88 in the
Western suburbs, heading Eastbound, and then
I'll be taking the Tri-State Northbound.
The noise levels improved once I got on the
Tri-State, so I'm going to switch back to
the dashcam audio.
It is still fairly noise so I apologize for
that.
(Audio from dashcam) Welcome to the Tri-State
Tollway!
Everybody's favorite!
Gotta love the TRI-STATE!
So at this point I am going to turn the heat
on because I'm starting to get a little chilly,
and the longer you wait then the longer...it
has to fight to get back up to a temperature
you really want, so, I'm gonna turn it to
64--I tend to be pretty frugal with my heating.
It's especially great here in this car because
my parents opted to get one with a heated
steering wheel which was my recommendation,
and holding it is delightful!
You can tolerate the cabin temperature being
much colder if you have a heated seat and
a heated steering wheel.
And you should know that by turning on the
heat it immediately dropped the range estimate
by about 12 miles.
So I'm now showing 169 miles of range remaining,
and I have traveled 7.8 miles of my 35.
As far as speed I like to keep my speed to
about 65 or less.
In an EV and this is especially true in the
winter I've discovered, the slower you drive
the better range you get.
And anything above 60, every 5 miles an hour
you take a significant range hit.
So I try to keep to 65 or less which can be
difficult on
the Tri-state, because although the speed
limit is 55 that Prius over there is probably
going 80.
So more often than not I find myself putzing
along in the right lane, just because I want
to save energy and not go quite so fast.
Just though I'd chime in again and explain
that so far the trend-line on the range meter
which tells you whether or not you're going
towards the max or the min range, is about
a quarter of the way up towards max, so based
on current driving conditions, although the
predicted range is 164 miles it thinks I'll
do a little bit better than that.
That trend-line on the range meter is one
of the things...it's a genius thing about
this car and I really, I mean, it really helps
explain how it's calculating your range and
how you're doing, because when you just get
a number; that number is usually pretty accurate,
but you won't know, if-- the only way to know
if you're exceeding or doing worse than that
number would be to actually be looking at
a trip meter and see if the numbers you add
match the numbers that subtract, so for instance
in the Volt, if you're doing better, then the
number on
the range meter will only go down maybe every
1.2 or 1.3 miles, but you have to manually
keep track of that.
But with this clever range meter here, that
gives you that trend-line, not only do you
have a maximum and a minimum number which
many automotive journalists have talked about,
and said "That's a great idea", but you also
get that indication of which way you're going
which is genius.
And really really helpful.
This is a photo of the energy information
screen once I got to work.
As you can see we used 10.7 kilowatt hours
of the battery to go 34.7 miles.
Now that's an efficiency of 3.24 miles/kWh,
which is not fantastic but it's also not that bad.
4 miles/kWh is considered "normal", though
the Bolt is known to go about 5 if you're
driving well.
And you know that 4 is about the normal benchmark
because it's a 60 kilowatt-hour battery, it's
EPA range is 238 miles which is almost 240,
240 divided by 60 is 4 so simple math there.
So we're doing a little bit worse than what
would be considered average, um, but not too bad.
You'll also see here that our climate setting,
the actual heat, only accounted for 10% of
our usage.
If I were able to tolerate driving without
the heat on at all--which I would not be--but
if I would then we would have gotten a slight
boost in efficiency.
Also of note is that no energy was spent on
battery conditioning.
Pretty much because the car started in that
heated garage.
But if it wasn't in a heated garage, even
if it was outside, so long as the car were
plugged in it should keep its battery pack
warm, and you won't need battery conditioning.
Well, out of work.
And there's about 4 inches of snow on the
ground.
Time to clear off the car and get going.
It's warming up right now, that's why the
lights are on.
OK so welcome back to the car.
Now that we're back on the highway, obviously--I
don't know how well you can see cause my dashcam's
nighttime performance isn't fantastic--but
there is snow on the road, but where there isn't
snow there's plenty of traction.
So I'm comfortable driving 55 (miles per hour).
That's still, you know, the speed limit is
65 here so I could be going faster but I'm
actually passing up a good deal of people,
so, I don't need to go faster nor do I want to.
That trend-line is pointing very negative
right now, and I did expect that to happen.
I've noticed with the Volt, my daily driver,
that there appears to be an elevation difference
downward towards my work, because I always
end up getting to work using a much smaller
percentage of the battery then getting back
from work.
Now looking at the energy info screen the
car has needed to spend some energy on battery
conditioning, and what that means is it's
only 11 degrees outside right now and because
it wasn't plugged in the battery got very
cold so when I turned it on it spent some
of the battery's energy just to warm itself
up.
It is a thermally managed battery, it can
both heat and cool itself, and in the winter
it will need to heat itself if the battery
pack is allowed to get cold.
Now if you have the car plugged in it will
periodically run a heater in the battery pack
to keep it conditioned, but when you're outside
without it being plugged in....
you don't get any help.
As far as winter weather traction goes with
this car, it's very, very good.
I've never had a car with four-wheel drive
because living in Illinois the land is flat
everywhere.
Four-wheel drive is not a huge advantage here.
Grant you there is some advantage, but, you're
never--you almost never need to traverse a
hill, so no one in my family has every thought
it necessary to have a vehicle with four-wheel drive.
With that being said, the road's getting pretty
bad here, I better slow down...
The fact that I'm only going 55 is helping
the range again, especially when it's only
12 degrees outside, but its range estimate
is still pretty... it's still trending pretty
negative because it was expecting to have,
um... it's last estimate was based on the
warmer weather without wet roads, so that's
one thing you need to keep in mind.
That range estimate is only as accurate as
the data it's getting, so when you change
its environment which we have significantly;
like I said I believe we're going uphill overall--I
haven't verified that, I should, but I think
we are--the roads are wet and slick, and it's
colder.
So it's going to impact range more negatively.
But we are doing a little better than we would
be if I were going, say, 65, because we have
the benefit of reduced speed, reduced wind
resistance, and it doesn't have to work as
hard to heat the cabin.
Well, so much for going 55.
We might be behind some plows taking care
of the road, but I don't think so because
it's not very close to pavement right here,
but we're now going about 30 miles an hour
keeping up with traffic.
And the trend-line has swung way up.
It's still below its estimate, but slowing
down like this is going to increase our range
significantly.
So I have completed my 70 mile, you can see
exactly 70.0 miles, roundtrip commute and
it took twenty--it just rolled over to 25.1
kWh--but 25 kilowatt-hours.
Now that's a significant chunk of the battery
but I still have more than half remaining.
And estimated range at this point is 101 miles.
So, since we've gone 70, and it thinks we
have 101 to go, that means we probably would
get 170 miles per charge even in these awful
weather conditions.
Now granted we were helped out a little bit
by the slow driving.
I'm kinda surprised it's using this much energy
to heat right now, it must not realize it's
inside.
So we were helped out by the slow speed we
were going, but it's important to note that
even though the weather conditions weren't
great and the road conditions were awful,
this is actually a pretty typical number.
I've done this commute 4 or 5 times in this
car, with weather conditions around this much
without snow, and it's usually about 24 kWh
consumed, so, 170 miles per charge is a not
unrealistic number with these weather conditions.
So there you go, a 70 mile commute in pretty
cold temperatures with horrible road conditions
on the way back, still only used 25 of the
60 kilowatt hours and we could go another
100 miles if we needed to.
Now I'm going to plug this car in, and it
will be done charging in about 4 hours.
And we can start this all over again.
And for those who say, "Oh you have to remember
to plug in every night"--I could forget tonight
and I would be fine for tomorrow.
I'd need to plug in the second night, but
again, I'm going to plug it in now, and in
about 4 hours it will be charged.
So I'm only gonna be halfway through sleeping
and this car's gonna be ready to do the same
thing over again tomorrow.
Let's go inside and talk a little bit more
about the numbers.
So one of the most important things, here,
to figure out is how much did this cost?
Now I pay a flat ten cents per kilowatt-hour,
so the car will make it seem as though this
cost $2.50.
Now it is going to be under-reported slightly
because the car is telling you energy use
from the battery, not energy pulled from the
wall.
However, my charger is on its own meter.
This is how I'm able to repay the condo association
for my electricity usage; that's why they agreed
to allow me to install this charger in the
first place, and it shows I started the commute
with 2,519 kWh on the meter, and I came back
with 2,547, which is a difference of 28 so
there is a difference of 3 kilowatt-hours,
but that's only thirty cents.
I have a flat $0.10/kWh rate (it's like $0.099
from ComEd but I just round it up to $0.10)
so that means this commute, even though it
was seventy miles in the winter, cost just
$2.80.
It cost more in tolls to get to work and back
then it did for fuel.
When I did the same commute the next day,
the weather wasn't much better it was only
about 20 degrees outside, however it was sunny.
And because it was sunny I was able to do
the entire drive to work without using the
heat at all.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but having a
heated seat and a heated steering wheel makes
it that much easier to stay in the car without
running the heat.
The only thing I needed to do was periodically
run the defroster, just with the fan, because
the windows were fogging up a little bit.
Now because I didn't use the heat at all it
only took 8.9 kWh to get to work, but we already
know if I had been using the heat it probably
would be about 10.5, maybe 11 in the worst case.
And as I was saying, it's a very similar commute
energy usage regardless of whether its snowing
or not.
On the way back I did have to use the heat
of course, in the end we used 23.3 kWh, so
had I used the heat on the way to work we
would have ended up with probably 24.5 maybe
25, pretty much the exact same thing we had
the night before.
Even though this drive I didn't have to slow
down, I was going 55+ the whole time, however
I did encounter some snow towards the end
of my drive, but not enough to slow me down.
But that's not all.
In addition to having a simple commute scenario,
I also have a more long-distance drive.
Back in December, I needed to get the vehicle
from where I Iive to where my parents live,
and that's a 114 mile journey.
We did this in 17 degree weather with some
snow.
So here's an idea of what our range was.
So I am currently head West on Interstate
80 in Illinois and it is 17 degrees out, and
snowing moderately.
And to maintain 68 miles an hour, which is
what I'm currently driving on flat land, it
takes about 24 or 25 kilowatts.
Now with a 60 kilowatt-hour battery, that
means that we could go for about 2 hours and
twenty minutes at 68 miles per hour, I'll
have to double-check my math on that, but
that means basically assuming these driving
conditions and maintaining this speed
our anticipated range from a full charge should
be 165-170 miles or so.
At this point in my journey I have 2 bars
over half of the battery which is 26.6 kWh
used, with an anticipated remaining range
of 87 miles.
One of the important things about the fact
that I'm on 80 head West is that I am facing
a headwind.
It's not very bad at this point, but driving
an electric car any time of year wind has
a great impact on range.
It does in a conventional vehicle as well,
but you tend to not notice it because you
don't worry about range so much.
But in an electric car, you will see a range
hit if you're facing a headwind.
So when I return to my place which is East
of here, if we have the same headwind it would
actually be helping me a little bit with the
range.
When you're on the highway, especially in
the winter, going slower really helps you.
And if you are comfortable following a semi
truck, with a moderate distance behind it,
you can get a significant range boost.
(Voice-over) In the ultimate showcase of incompetence
I forgot to take a picture of the energy screen
on this journey but I did end up finishing
the journey with about 50 miles of range left,
so with 114 we had already traveled plus 50
remaining would be a range of about 164 miles.
Which makes perfect sense because were were
going a little faster on this trip than I
was during my commute, we were facing West
fighting a bit of a wind, and so even though
the temperature was quite similar we did have
some conditions that hampered range slightly.
Now if you're looking for a sort-of worst
case scenario, for the Chicago area anyway,
we did do a journey--that same 114 miles--in
pretty much zero degree weather the entire
way, and we would've only gotten 140 miles
on that charge if we didn't alter our driving
at all.
Now we were maintaining 68 miles per hour
for that entire trip, partially to test the
limits of the car, so if we had slowed down
to, say, 60 I think we probably would have
gotten at least another 20 miles on that charge
and gotten back up to 160 or so miles of range.
But because it was so cold, the heat needed
to be run at a very high intensity just to
maintain a comfortable cabin temperature.
You can see from the energy graph that almost
a quarter of the energy usage was simply for
heat.
A large percentage of that battery was just
going to keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature.
And so, a lot of that range drop wasn't directly
because it was cold, it was because we needed
to heat to keep ourselves warm.
Going along with that, you'll notice it doesn't
have an battery conditioning on that graph
at all, that's because we started this journey
with the vehicle plugged in.
Actually it was outside, but we started with
the car plugged in, we had it run for about
10 minutes with it plugged in to allow it
to heat up before we started our journey,
and therefore no battery conditioning was
necessary at all.
So I hope you enjoyed this video on the winter
performance of the Chevy Bolt EV here in the
Chicagoland area.
This channel doesn't normally do electric
vehicle videos, I do them from time-to-time
as I am an electric vehicle advocate and I
am also and electric vehicle enthusiast.
However, I want to close this video out by
saying if you are looking for an electric
vehicle and want some advice on it, sometimes
electric vehicle enthusiasts are not the best
people to ask.
Now I'm going to explain why, and I'll probably
get some hate for this, but there are many
electric vehicle enthusiasts that live in
California that have no context of what winter
is like here in areas like Chicago.
So I've seen many different forum posts where
people say, "You know if you do a needs analysis,
you might find out you only need a 100 mile
range for your car".
Now that's very true, I could almost get away
with a 100 mile range.
But because I live in the Chicago area, every
year for three months out of the year at least,
it's going to be below freezing.
And I need to know that I have a vehicle that
can get me through that time.
If I had an electric vehicle with only 100
miles of range, every winter it would not
get me where I need to go.
That's why people like us in the Midwest have
been waiting for a vehicle like the Chevy
Bolt or the Tesla Model 3 to have a range
over 200 miles, that way even if we had a
horrendous efficiency and our battery range
somehow dropped in half (which is likely never
would) but even if that happened, we'd still
be able to get wherever we needed to go.
Now another reason why electric vehicle enthusiasts
can sometimes cloud the picture for someone
outside of the group, is they tend to form
fanclubs.
And what I mean by this is they get on the
side of one automaker or another, and their
judgement gets clouded.
If you go back a year from, a year before
from now, you'll find plenty of auto forums
talking about the Tesla Model 3 and comparing
it to the Chevy Bolt, and many people who
are Tesla fanboys were insisting that "GM
doesn't really want to sell the Bolt, this
is a Compliance car, it's not gonna be sold
outside of the CARB states", and guess what?
Here in Illinois I've seen about 10 Bolts,
haven't seen a single Tesla Model 3 yet.
So I'm just saying, the fanboys in the EV
enthusiast club are gonna give you information
that may or may not be correct, it might just
be what they want to hear.
Anyway, thank you so much for watching.
If you have any questions please feel free
to leave them in the comments, I'll try to
answer them the best that I can, and I'll
see you next time.