Sam Abuelsamid  0:01  
Coming up on episode 236 of wheel bearings. It's just Sam and Robbie this weekend with the GMC Sierra. Subaru WR X VW GTI the new Morgan Three Wheeler, pulsars new aluminum platform, adaptive headlight rules, Virgin Hyperloop shifts to cargo and driving top down your round all that more coming up next

this is wheel bearings episode 236. I'm Sam Abuelsamid from guidehouse insights. 

Roberto Baldwin  0:37  
I am Roberto Baldwin from the verge, I just like to say the verge. 

Sam Abuelsamid  0:40  
The verge this week, is that new is new? 

Roberto Baldwin  0:44  
they they reached out I said yes. And now we have a mutual business understanding of how you know as a as a writer and a publisher try to, to to navigate the weird weird world of media. Well, that's always good just to have that. That mutual understanding that mutual misunderstanding. Yes. And Nicole is I think back at Disney again this week with her whole family, I believe.

Yeah, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go by rocks today. Which is just like Disneyland.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:14  
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, so what are you driving this week? This week,

Roberto Baldwin  1:21  
I drove two vehicles. If you are in your 20s or you're a fan of fun, enthusiast cars, maybe you'll be a little jealous. I drove the 2022 Subaru Subaru WR x and the Volkswagen, the Volkswagen GTI. Let's let's jump into the WR X. I love, love, love the WR x. Now that's me in the car. And I'm in the car. The exterior is it's very, it feels a at one point sort of plain like the car just sort of blends in but at another instance that that weird cladding is also kind of it's a Subarus don't. Subaru doesn't typically make a pretty car. How's that they make cars. And this is from someone who had his own multiple Subarus, who loved all of the Subarus, who was a fan of Subaru vehicles. But they're not like yeah, they're, they're not beautiful. They're not Porsches, Ferraris. They're not even, like in some cases, Fords. There's something else. And if you can get past the exterior of the WR X, you're gonna have a great time, especially if you're a fan of that vehicle. And if you're a fan of that, that gearbox, and if you're a fan of that, that turbo, I own a WR x in 2002. I feel like they haven't really changed the gearing or the turbo lag since then. And you know what, that's fine. Alright, sorry. 2004 DB RX is what I had. Yeah, the fifth generation. It is it's, it's, it's great behind the wheel as is really, really short first and second gear, which I know throws a lot of people and makes them very, that what the hell is going on. Because a lot of vehicles when you get into them today, like you can get up to almost 60 miles an hour in first gear, which makes zero sense but sure, why not. This is a very, you know, this and that, you know, they they build this for rallying and you want, you know, a nice, short, just bah, bah, bah, yeah, up until third, to have that torque, to get uphills and over dirt and jump precariously close to spectators. It has 271 horsepower, 258 pound feet of torque. And you if you once you figure out how to drive that vehicle, it'll pay off you are using every ounce of that power. The suspension, the handling is outstanding. I am I live near some nice twisty roads that are nice and twisty that are not good roads. The good roads have to go over a bridge. They're very nice. What do

Sam Abuelsamid  4:00  
you mean by good roads? Like you know, they are right like they've been paved within the last 10 years or

Roberto Baldwin  4:05  
yeah, they don't feel like they've been paved or paid attention to. There's a lot of ruts, a lot of bumps a lot of if I drive a lot of performance vehicles on there, I'm just getting tossed about

Sam Abuelsamid  4:18  
so in other words the perfect road for a rally car.

Roberto Baldwin  4:21  
They are the perfect road for a rally car that's what they are. I've driven the STI on those these roads I've driven the WR X on these roads and they just do just chew up these roads like there's no problem yeah, no big deal like nothing else. Like the WX in the STI can handle the roads. Everything you know Verizon's Ferraris, corvettes, anything else I've driven on this road, you're getting tossed about a bit when you're going around corners because there's just dips and just hard you know, like lifts because there's tree trunks that are you know, there's there's roots, everything is messing up these poor roads. And so you You're like okay let me slow down let me do this let me get tossed about that now the DVR acts up good to go Ready to Rock Yeah, it has it and here's the fun is that it's it's all these things that make it a rally car and then barely some stuff that bring it into the 21st century. Like the the infotainment system is it's fine Subarus infotainment system, it's you're better off. It's it's essentially like a plug in your phone is the Subaru infotainment system. So yeah, plug in your phone, you're gonna be fine. Everything and we have Starlink which I've never used. I've never called anybody I don't hear it. The seats are comfortable. If you're a fan of sort of sporty seats. It is wonderful. It has that it has a WR X exhaust note, which, you know, if you've ever hung around people who vape a lot you probably heard it. It is i

Sam Abuelsamid  6:01  
It is a unique sound. There's nothing else like from that box or four cylinder. Yes, that box

Roberto Baldwin  6:07  
or four cylinder is something else. That's 2.4 liter turbocharged boxer. When I had my 2000 for the gentlemen that would work on it for me. We used to call it the sewing machine. Yeah,

Sam Abuelsamid  6:19  
I think that's it. That's a good description.

Roberto Baldwin  6:21  
Yeah, he's like, Oh, do you need to change your sewing machine? I'm like yes, yes, I do. Yeah, it has eyesight, it has all this you know, this stuff you definitely have to get as a man in transmission this is very much an enthusiast vehicle this is where you know, on one hand you have all these like, you know pretty nice Subarus that you know they have CVTs but they do what they need that what needs to be done they have a lot of room you throw some dogs in the back and then on the other hand, you have the WX NSTI and the BR z. So you have the these almost conflicting personalities that are coming out of Subaru you have this very utilitarian part of the company and he is very enthusiast part of the company and I am a fan of actually both. I wish I do wish to some of the you know the impress I wish it had more power. It feels sort of like a but yeah, you know what I miss? It's a sedan. I wish it was a wagon. But it almost this is this is this is where I am right now because of driving this car. The plan was to sell my 2014 BRC wait a year wait till the second year of the new BRC and then by that because I love New Year the new gr 86 New BRC outstanding that has been thrown in because of this new suit, the WR x so now I'm like well maybe I should get a WR x and then I had a WX before why don't just go back to a WR X even though it's not a wagon and I dearly wish it was a wagon but it is not Yeah, it's

Sam Abuelsamid  7:55  
a shame that they used to they used to have that hatchback there was almost wagon like

Roberto Baldwin  8:02  
yeah, that was my that was my snowboarding machine I would take it at the Tahoe and all wheel drive I put all seasons on it it had you know, turbocharged boxer engine. And I love that it was my favorite car ever. That that that vehicle that the bad guy WX Sportwagon so so it's it's a toughy if you're a fan of Debi RX I know you're probably I know people who got really angry about the design I've people have been getting angry about Super designs for a long time that's sort of like par for the

Sam Abuelsamid  8:33  
course that goes back pretty much to the the very first Subaru they've Yeah, they've always been a little unique. Yeah, yeah. And they got they got less unique you know over the last decade or so. But now they're they're adding some of the the weirdness back I mean, you remember the the X t coupe from the early 90s late 80s early 90s

Roberto Baldwin  8:56  
That was a fun little weird

Sam Abuelsamid  8:57  
car. Yeah. They've had they've had a lot of strange designs.

Roberto Baldwin  9:03  
Yes, yes. And I for one and I am happy whenever I like weird cars. So I wish this one was a little bit weirder. It does have like this sort of a combined with like blah on this one but I they should have gone a little bit more weird but I feel like they're probably like we got to sell a lot of these because we're a small player really in the grand scheme of things compared to everyone else and we can't just keep hope that Toyota will help us sell cars

Sam Abuelsamid  9:34  
kind of a strange design choice to add the the black cladding around the wheel arches you know the previous generation didn't have that you know just had sheet metal right down to the the wheel arches. Now you know you've got like they're trying to make it look more crossover SUV like trying to give it that kind of feel, you know, kind of out back kind of thing

Roberto Baldwin  9:57  
where people were they were they saying, hey, you know, I'm getting a lot of scratches on the wheel. My vehicle, could you start some cladding? Was that a thing people were doing with with? That'd be our axes.

Sam Abuelsamid  10:11  
I mean, maybe if they were actually using it as it was designed to be used, you know, as a rally car. It's possible,

Roberto Baldwin  10:16  
I guess. Yeah, it's alright. Sure. So they're a WX I really liked it. And now we're gonna talk about the 2022 Golf GTI This is the only you can only get the Golf GTI and the golf are now in the United States. They got rid of the little low NTS because no one's buying it or we just bought the GTI is essentially what what happened which is you know, fine, I understand. I it was delivered on a believe it on a Tuesday. I didn't have a chance to drive it until Wednesday morning. I was very busy. And I went out to the car and I sat in the car, and it was an automatic transmission in my heart think

Sam Abuelsamid  10:56  
oh, ah, there should be no such thing as a GTI with an automatic

Roberto Baldwin  11:02  
it's Well, I mean, that's that's just how we are as a human race now. Yeah. Anyway, so it has that seven speed tiptronic otic man transmission. I wish the gearing was a little bit more aggressive. But that's only because I was excited about driving a GTI Yeah, it has paddle shifters so you can take care of you can you can use the paddle shifters, I've driven the car with a manual transmission and that was fine. I wish the transmission was a little bit better. It feels a little sludgy on the car. But yeah, whatever you're buying in are you're going to be happy. So this is the the the Golf GTI and having driven both of them I'm going to say that I prefer the the Gaul the GTI versus the R I know that's that's that may be blasphemy it's it's front wheel drive as opposed to all wheel drive. But it's it's a fun little car. It's it's everything that a little hatch needs to be. I drove around town I had a good time. It's nice and small. It's easy to park it's it's got the the exhaust note that I believe is somehow fake a little bit I think they say so. It doesn't enhance that's the word. It doesn't matter. Who cares. I don't care. And we're we're in a world where EVs have make space noises who I don't care. If you have to do weird things to the exhaust No, to pipe it into the speakers. Yeah, who cares?

Sam Abuelsamid  12:31  
What, a couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to drive I haven't driven the new generation GTI or Golf R yet. But at the the mama rally in 2019, I think I got a chance to drive the GTI and the golf are back to back at Road America. And I agree I like the GTI then, I mean, this is the previous generation, I like the GTI better than the R even though the R is more powerful. I think, you know, the extra weight and the all wheel drive. Kind of it's smooth things out a little bit too much. And it felt while it had higher limits. It didn't feel as possible, you know, because it would bring things in. Whereas, you know, the GTI you know, still had that classic GTI feel of you can fling it around corners, you know, felt more nimble. And yeah, didn't accelerate to 60 quite as quick but it was still plenty quick enough. And it had that sporty feel that you want out of a GTI

Roberto Baldwin  13:36  
Yeah, yeah, I think it's it's, we should we should we should uh, any you know, you're thinking about well, that's you know, it's it's in your brain when you look on paper, you're like well, I should want the AR I should want the AI but if you're thinking about the art go drive the GTI if you absolutely positively have to have that power. If you absolutely positively have to have all will drive fine get the car, but drive them both drive them back to back. If you have a hopefully they'll if you're a fan of manual transmissions they'll have some in stock

Sam Abuelsamid  14:09  
so they have anything in stock but yeah, assuming that that's the that's the that's the other thing I didn't all burn up on that cargo ship on I know last week,

Roberto Baldwin  14:17  
which was event adores oh that's that's that's it? That's a tough Yeah, drove it around. I think they're, they're combined is 28 I think I got 27.1 which is fine. I had it for a few days. I really really enjoyed it. Except for those buttons. That's this this weird hat. I don't know what the hell is buttons man. And you're like,

Sam Abuelsamid  14:44  
it's got touch controls, right?

Roberto Baldwin  14:45  
Yeah. And the touch controls are on the they're on the steering wheel and they're on the dash and they're just a very they the really tough to get used to and you're gonna you know you bought a car you're going to use to what what you know How it's controlled, you know their buttons, so they're actually there. But I found myself trying to turn the heater down and all I kept doing was turning the sound up because the buttons underneath the infotainment system don't light up at night. Which makes us so that's where the the I know, I know that's where that's where the that's just wrong. That's so there's there's like a

Sam Abuelsamid  15:22  
it's like a feel for it you know if you if you have to see it, light it up.

Roberto Baldwin  15:28  
Exactly exactly like make them a little weird touch controls um so that's a you know, on either side of it are the the heat and the cool. And then there's the audio and somehow I just kept turning either turning it up or turning down anyway, I wasn't adjusting the temperature I was doing something else. And it was it was getting kind of annoying and I couldn't see it and I just couldn't see you know what was going on? Unless I turn on the overhead light which is that's not a that's not a great that's a great look like every car it's it has like climate controls has had some sort of illumination backlit or something I don't it was it was really kind of annoying it's you're just like oh this car is great. And then that happens like come on so let's see the car I was driving and the base price for the GTI was $35,000

Sam Abuelsamid  16:22  
getting up there Yeah.

Roberto Baldwin  16:25  
The one I was driving was 36 Yeah, they didn't throw too much too much stuff on there. And then the DSG yeah and then the Subaru the starting the WR x the starting price is 29 so I don't know what that they didn't that they didn't have like a real Monroney for this it's um it doesn't give me the price what of everything goes on it and I'm too lazy to add stuff Oh these through some a stereo speaker and a moonroof. So I don't know it was probably about 3334 but for money for fun the STI better value but not I'm sorry that the that the STI DW RX Yeah that'd be our X Syria. It doesn't look as cool the the the GTI is is it still looks like a jeep. It still looks like a golf looks cool. Hit a nice bright red version for me. They gave me a blue, a blue WR X. But for just old school like going for it manual transmission. Fun. The WR X is probably the way to go for Yeah, but you can't really can't go wrong with either of them to be to be completely honest. Except for the color. All right, except for the design. That yeah, you'll get you'll get but once

Sam Abuelsamid  17:47  
you you know once you're behind the the steering wheel, you don't notice the design anymore.

Roberto Baldwin  17:52  
Yeah, that's the thing. You should don't you kind of like yeah, this is fine. Whatever. They don't yeah, you know it right. What does it have this? I don't care. Does it have all these like future? No, don't cares? Who cares? No. Okay. You get them. You get your rolling around and 16 manual transmission. You're blasting through first, second and third and about 10 seconds. Like you don't? Who cares? Who cares? Yeah, you're having the time of your life driving over roads that would destroy other vehicles. And that GTA including that GTA, yeah, yeah, the GTA gets tossed up, tossed a bit on the on those those those those back roads near my house. Fortunately, I can go over a bridge. Nice, smooth, twisty roads that you can take anything on. Just on my near my house. The twisty roads are also pitted and whatever.

Sam Abuelsamid  18:39  
Trust me, I'm quite familiar with pitted roads, especially this time of year here in Michigan. Over the last two and a half weeks, we've cycled back and forth every few days between temperatures in the teens, low teens and 20s up to 50 and back down again and back up again. And each time it got cold it snowed and then it melted and then froze again. And Michigan Avenue just down the road here. It's got these huge craters in it now it's it's typical Michigan February.

Roberto Baldwin  19:13  
I've driven through Detroit a few times and through Michigan and you're just driving like oh my god, what is that? Yeah, like Oh, thanks. There's a bug in there. There was a Volkswagen Beetle in that hole.

Sam Abuelsamid  19:25  
Well, fortunately, the the the vehicle that I'm driving has no problem with with that sort of stuff because I've got the 2022 GMC Sierra Limited 84 Duramax so this is full size GMC Sierra pickup, four wheel drive, crew cab shortbed with the three liter inline six diesel, which is still a fantastic engine and so on. A few months ago, GM GMC announced midcycle refresh for the Sierra. But it looks like initially, you know, the refresh gives, you know, a redone front facia and a new interior. But it looks like two for watch. They're only watching that on the Denali, Denali ultimate, and the the new 84x trim. So basically a couple of high end trim levels and I'm guessing the rest of the lineup will get it for the 23 models. And so if you look at the GMC building price site, now, you'll see that all the 20 twos, they don't have the new the refreshed ones listed on there yet all the 20 twos are variations of cedar a limited so if you see Sierra Ltd, that is actually basically carry over 2021 model that you know as a 22 is that's the 2022 model, but it's unchanged from the 21. So they added the limited in there to indicate that this is the the older look and the older interior, which is not bad. It's it's not fine. It's not quite up to the the premium look and feel inside of a Ram pickup. But it's fine. And the the 84 is sort of the off road, the four wheel drive off road package, so this thing's got big nobly all terrain tires on it. And it's got a two speed transfer case. So you can get four wheel drive low, if you're going over doing some rock crawling and this thing sets up a little bit higher than most of the other Sierras. You know this is equivalent to like an F 150 tremor ford f 150 tremor or a Dodge Ram Rebel, that that type of setup. The the interior, this still has the older eight inch touchscreen display with the older generation infotainment systems that doesn't have the new Android automotive infotainment system that was on the 22 Tahoe that I drove a couple of months ago. The and the 22 Yukons get that and the those that updated Denali and 84x. They have that and presumably the rest of the lineup, we'll be getting that for the 2023 models. So it's it's a perfectly workable system. Although again, it's funny, after driving more and more vehicles with you know, 1213 1415 inch screens in there, the eight inch display just seems so puny, you know, it's a good sized display but it just seems so so tiny in this massive dashboard compared to the other stuff I've been driving lately. And but it does have support for wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto the you know as one of the neat features that GM put into the current generation Sierra and Silverado when they launched them a couple of years ago. In the the back seats, there's there's a you'll see a little loop sticking out from the side of the the seat cushion and the second row seats, you pull that and the the middle section of the the seat back on each side is hinged, it opens up and there's a little hidden storage compartment behind the seat there between the the back of the cab the back wall of the cab and the seat. So if you want to stash some, some valuables that you want to keep out of sight, you know, that aren't stuff that's not too large, you can stick it in there, it'll be nice and secure.

The the truck that I'm driving also has the I think they call it the multi flex tailgate, which you can put in about 62 different configurations. So you have the the center section of the tailgate that can drop down separately from the main tailgate and it's got a piece that flips up so you can use that as a step when it's down or use it as a backstop when you've got the main tailgate up or just leave leave that part down and leave the middle section down. So if you get long items to carry, so they're they're sloping down towards the front of the bed so they don't, they're less likely to slide out the back. So a lot of different ways you can use that very, very handy. Lots of USB ports inside the cab, both USB A and USB C. There's also a wireless charging pad. One of my one of my favorite aspects of this truck and the other current generation GM full size trucks and utilities. Is that three liter diesel It is a fantastic engine. I was when they when they launched these new trucks in was it 2019 That they came out I think, you know, I was I was shocked you know when I was at the reveal event for Actually for both the CEA and the Silverado, the Silverado was shown first. And they announced this engine. In 2019, they launched an all new diesel engine. For these things, it wasn't a derivative of anything they had done before, like the, the DS, the V six diesels that Ford and Ram had in their trucks. This was this is a brand new design that shared nothing with any existing diesel. And it's, it's really good, it's relatively quiet, it's extremely smooth, you don't feel any vibration from it at all because it is of course, an inline six cylinder, which are which is probably the second most perfect engine configuration you can have after a v 12. Which is the same thing. Two of them. And 277 horsepower, 460 foot pounds of torque, the version, the configuration that I have, which is the the four wheel drive 84 Short box Crewcab has maximum tow rating of 8800 pounds, depending on which configuration like if you get the two wheel drive short box 984 You can get up to 9200 pounds towing, you know, it's it's roughly you know, in that 9000 pound class which is which is very, very good. It's, it's enough for the vast majority of what most people are ever going to need in terms of towing. You know, if you need anything more than that you're probably going to be stepping up to a heavy duty truck anyway. But the the most probably the most impressive thing about this engine is the fuel economy. You know, I was just driving the the F 150 hybrid a few weeks ago. And it was very cold weather when I had that. And I think I got what 16 or 17 miles per gallon with that thing. It was not quite as cold but it was still pretty cold over the last several days as I was driving the Sierra and it is EPA rated at or in full with the four wheel drive at four. And this is as I said, with the All Terrain off road tires. So this is not the most efficient version of this at 20 City 23 miles per gallon highway and 21 combined. Depending on what you get, I think the the two wheel drive based models, you can they have up to 30 miles per gallon highway rating and about 23 or 24 highway or city driving around, you know mixed driving over the last several days with the Sierra I've been averaging 2023 and a half miles per gallon.

Roberto Baldwin  27:58  
It's a big thing is huge. It is this is a

Sam Abuelsamid  28:01  
three ton truck. Yeah, so I mean, this is you know, to get 23 miles per gallon driving around town who had this thing you know, almost 23 around town on the highway, I've gotten as much as 2526 miles per gallon with this thing. And as I said, you know, the 84 is lifted, you know, it's got a higher ground clearance than the the other trim levels, you know, it's it's the off road truck. And these are not roll low rolling resistance tires. These are big honkin tires. You know, to get that get get that kind of fuel economy without even really trying is really really impressive. So, you know, if, you know, at least until the electric trucks become more widely available, if you if you need a full sized truck and you are concerned about fuel economy, which you know given the way fuel prices have gone in recent months, I think it's up to almost five bucks a gallon out in California right?

Roberto Baldwin  29:01  
For Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Sam Abuelsamid  29:04  
And especially if you're going to tell if you want to tow I would absolutely recommend that you get the diesel. Yeah, cuz one of the big advantages to the diesel engine is they they really work well under load. And, you know, with with a gas engine you can get you can actually get higher tow ratings with some of the gas engines on the on the car and the other pickups as well. But when you hook up a 656 7000 pound trailer on the back, your fuel economy usually gets cut in half or worse, you know, so instead of 20 miles per gallon, you might be getting 10 miles per gallon with the the diesel it's like you got a trailer on the back fine, whatever, don't care. You might drop by one mile per gallon, you know, at worst it's it's it's remarkable. You know, or if you're if you're towing, you know if you're hauling a lot of payload in the bed You know, if you if you're hauling some rocks home, a lot of rocks home in the better, you know, the diesel won't even flinch. So if if fuel economy is a concern, then I would absolutely recommend getting the diesel option in one of the GM trucks. Ford has is I don't know if they're still available, but they they've announced that they're discontinuing the diesel and the F 150. Which, you know, given that they're about to launch the lightning is probably, you know, probably doesn't matter. But I think RAM is still offering diesel for now, but I don't know how much longer it's going to be available. I suspect that you know, GM may keep this diesel going till the end of the current model cycle. So probably another two or three years, till they redesign these trucks. But that it is definitely highly recommended in this thing, because as I said, it is smooth, quiet and remarkably fuel efficient for a vehicle of this type. The base price on the 84, the limited 84 is $56,300. And this one the with the options that had on it, which includes the the premium package that gets you the power, we're sliding window, the premium infotainment nav, the wireless CarPlay, and Android Auto, the wireless charging pad and a bunch of other stuff that adds about 3400 bucks, another two grand for the technology package with all the extra cameras and the surround vision with trailer camera, rear camera, mirror, and assorted other stuff. All told, including the $1,700 destination charge $64,715. So this is not an inexpensive truck. But it's also not, you know, when you price it out, you know against a comparably equipped Ford or RAM. You know it's going to be in this they're going to be in the same ballpark. And unfortunately, this is the reality of the world we live in where Dino trucks then everything's getting really expensive. All vehicles are getting really expensive, but especially trucks. But if you if you need one, and oh, the other thing I should mention is even with that off road suspension package and those big tires, this thing actually rides really well. And it's really well controlled that you know, the driving dynamics are outstanding. It doesn't it doesn't have the rear coil springs, like the RAM does still get loose springs on the back. But it it feels really stable. There's you know, minimal body motion, even with nothing in the bed. And on the way the pavement around here is at this particular moment in time. You know, it just rolls right over those giant potholes and doesn't even doesn't even flinch. So there is that? So 65 grand, not cheap, but it is it is an excellent truck.

Roberto Baldwin  33:13  
Yeah, trucks are powerful, expensive, except for the maverick which I'll talk which I got now, but I'll talk about next week. And that is a game changer. Which is kind of a backwards because this is sort of trucks we had before but anyway, next week we'll talk about the maverick. Yep.

Sam Abuelsamid  33:29  
All right. So let's get into some of the items of the week. Big news this week. I think probably probably I would say probably the biggest news of the week. There's an all new Morgan Three Wheeler for those of you that aren't weirdos that that follow Alex Roy

Roberto Baldwin  33:51  
anything Morgan So always think about Alex Alex doing right now.

Sam Abuelsamid  33:57  
Well, he just got his Tesla towed this week and it was having some challenges getting it back and he posted a fun little video standing outside the the tow facility about 20 feet away from his car and contemplating on Instagram whether or not he should just use the summon feature to to just extract his car without going in and paying whatever the exorbitant charges are for, for getting towed from a place where he was actually legally parked.

Roberto Baldwin  34:28  
Yeah, I don't know.

Sam Abuelsamid  34:32  
No, it's anyway. The Morgan Three wheelers For those not familiar with Morgan, small British specialties sports car maker that's been around for well over a century. until relatively recently, they were still making cars that had frames made of ash as in wood. And they also make make this peculiar little machine called the three wheeler a trike, two front wheels and one one rear wheel. And until Until last year, Morgan Three wheelers didn't look much different than they did in the 1930s. And they they used a V Twin motorcycle engine that was hanging off the front of the vehicle and, and those are getting to be pretty much impossible to get certified for emissions almost anywhere. So they designed a completely new three wheeler, that still looks like a Morgan but now you don't have that V Twin air cooled engine on the front, they adopted a Ford 1.5 liter three cylinder made it up to a Miata five speed transmission, driving the rear wheel. And what do you think of this thing?

Roberto Baldwin  35:54  
You know what? It's weird. I don't know if I'd want a Morgan I, they've seen cars with four wheels. So they know they're out there.

Sam Abuelsamid  36:03  
They know. And they make cars with four wheels. Yeah,

Roberto Baldwin  36:07  
I know that just you know, the Morgan Three Wheeler is always just going to be an oddity. And something that you buy and be like, Hey, look at this. You know if a Lamborghini and Ferrari and a Morgan show up everyone's gonna ignore the Lamborghini in the Ferrari. That's because you've seen those. Yeah, like most people haven't seen a Morgan Three Wheeler in real life. It's it's, it's it is, you know, they make like four years or something. I don't know. But yeah, you know, more power to them. It looks cool. I like the way it looks. I like that they put an actual car engine in there for emissions. It's doesn't mean a transmission, which is great. So yeah, no, I mean, Morgan called me up and said, Hey, do you want to drive this round? I'm back. Yes, yes. Do you want to buy this that's a totally different you know, that's a whole other conversation. But for the for those who are who are interested in something that's different. This is definitely different. And you know, all your Miata friends gonna be like, Oh, wow. Wow.

Sam Abuelsamid  37:09  
I like the the photo in here with the suitcase strapped to the side. On the on the driver's side. Yeah, you just

Roberto Baldwin  37:16  
strap your stuff to the side of the car. That's

Sam Abuelsamid  37:19  
like, so you get a little extra cushioning, you know, but when you get T boned by somebody, yeah.

Roberto Baldwin  37:24  
Like you're like, it's a horse. Like, yeah, you just have a saddle bear saddlebags for your vehicle. It Yeah, it's you know, again, it's, it's a Morgan Three Wheeler is you're gonna buy it and you're gonna drive it around, and you're gonna turn a lot of heads, you're gonna have some fun. And then, you know, you put it away and then you'll get in your, you know, Toyota Camry and go to work that day. Yeah.

Sam Abuelsamid  37:46  
It's a great Sunday morning, you know, go out for a ride in the country.

Roberto Baldwin  37:50  
Yeah, it's, it's a cruising around car.

Sam Abuelsamid  37:55  
Although, I know Alex, you know, has used his when he was living in New York. I don't know if he even still has one. He's on a couple of three wheelers over the years. You know, he used it to cruise around Brooklyn and Manhattan. So

Roberto Baldwin  38:08  
yeah, yeah, that's Alex. Oh, he was gonna He's gonna summon his car out of the police impound.

Sam Abuelsamid  38:17  
All right. Kind of the opposite end of the scale from the Morgan is pulsar, one of their upcoming models. Pollstar has decided to go with a very unique and original naming scheme for its models with single digit numerical name, model names. They've got the pole star one, which is their original plug in hybrid coupe, pole star, two sedan, they got the Pole Star Three crossover coming later this year. And I think I think coming late 2023 or early 2024, there's going to be a pole star for which is a smaller crossover. And then there's the Pole Star five, which is their flagship sedan that's coming. And the five is all right now all the pole stars are sharing platforms with their parent company Volvo. So the Pole Star TOS the same architectures the Volvo XC 40. The pole star three is going to be sharing its platform with the XC 90 replacement. Fall star five is an all new platform purpose built for pole star. And from the pole star five onwards. They apparently are no longer going to be sharing platforms with Volvo. Everything is going to be purpose built for Pollstar. And this one is kind of interesting. And Pollstar has an r&d facility in Coventry, England. And apparently they've hired a lot of engineers from another British company. That's basically In an Eastern a few, about 100 miles or so east of Coventry, maybe it's less than that place called Hafele. A lotus. And you would never guess that from reading it this particular architecture it's, it's an aluminum spaceframe that's bonded, looks like a lot of aluminum extrusions mixed with a few stampings and some castings most of it is is glued together and if you are a fan of Lotus you would probably find this approach very familiar because this is something that Lotus invented for the lease some 25 odd years ago and it's since been used to varying degrees by a number of other manufacturers the same concept. The F 150 Does has a lot of bonded aluminum so basically this is aluminum pieces that are glued together not welded, not riveted, bolted, but glued together. What do you think?

Roberto Baldwin  41:07  
I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's great that they're going for, you know, anything, it's more lightweight, but still strong, is good for an Eevee it's also something that's it's, it's, it's proven to work and that's the that's that's the thing, if it's if it's proven to work, it's worked for less work for for the f1 50, which is the number one selling thing ever. Then I think they're they're on the right track, I think as a sort of a smallish company with a lot of money behind them and a sort of bigger ish company behind them. If you go to the to the Volvo, the Volvo headquarters in Sweden, there is a Pollstar they're like little headquarters is there in there's like a little box, they actually had like a box building that they built it this is like a big cube on the on the campus, which is kind of cool, because you're just driving to like, like little pole star thing. So you know that, you know, they even though they're they're sort of moving away from that, that, that platform, they're still going to have that DNA of safety when it comes to Volvo. I mean, those that then they're not going to want to be the ones that are like, Hey, we did something that's a little bit unsafe. That's not Yeah, that's not that's not in the Volvo or this or really the Swedish DNA at all.

Sam Abuelsamid  42:22  
Yeah. And as he said, you know, the ability to make something that's really strong and really lightweight, is going to be important for EVs because it funny when actually when I was coming home the other day after I get coming home from the airport, right after I picked up that car, I was waiting at a traffic light just after I got off the freeway down the road here from my house. And as I was sitting at the red light coming around the corner in the opposite direction was a big white Hummer, Evie, which is the opposite of lightweight. It's 9000 pound curb weight. Like GM could have used a little bit of this sort of approach I think with with Hummer and and the upcoming Silverado Evie because those things are just absurdly heavy.

Roberto Baldwin  43:13  
I think that the the seats in the Hummer EV probably way more than a pulsar.

Sam Abuelsamid  43:17  
Yeah. Probably have steel frame seats or cast iron seats has fired

Roberto Baldwin  43:24  
see.

Sam Abuelsamid  43:29  
Okay, let's see what else we got adaptive headlights? So have you? Have you ever driven anything with these new adaptive headlight systems?

Roberto Baldwin  43:41  
Yes. And they're awesome. And in only in Europe, obviously. And I think every automotive journalist at some point in their career has written an article about why don't we have adaptive headlights in this country? What is wrong with this country? I think we've all read that study from I think 2012 or 2015. Where like, once it blinded a motorcyclists are like, Yeah, this isn't working. Yeah, it is really, it's crazy impressive how well they work when they work well. And it's also insane that we haven't had them here.

Sam Abuelsamid  44:14  
Yeah, and for those not familiar with them, you know, traditional headlights that we've been using for 100 years, you know, whether they're old steel beams, or more modern halogens or LEDs, you know, for the most part that basically consists of having a light source, a bulb of some sort, and a reflector and a lens that casts a fixed pattern on the road, you turn on the lights. And, you know, at night, you can see there's a fixed lighting pattern and it never almost never changes it. The only the only variation we've had is some lights that will actually steer into corners. But it's still the same pattern. It's just being shifted to one side or the other when you turn the steering wheel. So if you've got low beams, you're going to have a limited area that you can see with your high beams on, it lights up a different area. And everything within those high beams that's coming towards you is going to be blinded. And the idea with the, the adaptive headlights is now moving to something more sophisticated, that has some sort of mechanism to control the the light pattern that you're that you're putting on the road. So you can put have different patterns for different situations. So as you're driving down the road, if the sensor detects a vehicle coming towards you, or motorcycle or pedestrian, it can are actually mostly for the vehicles, it can actually dim or dip, the the pixels, the lights in just a portion of your field of view where that vehicle is. So it's like, you know, putting on the high beams just for that region where that vehicle is, everything around that is still lit up with your high beams or low beams for that vehicle. You low beams for the vehicle that's kept towards you everything else around it is high beams, so you can still see what's there. Or when it detects a pedestrian it can light up that pedestrian. Remember, at the LA Auto Show a couple years ago, when Audi was showing off the the E Tron Sportback, they had that demo that they were doing off to one side, showing the different kinds of lighting patterns where you can have brighter strips, emanating from where your tires your front tires are, and showing, you know where your tires are pointed. So if you turn the steering wheel, you'll see those those lines where your tires are moving to one side or the other. So you can you can see if you're going you know heading straight down the center of the lane, or going shifting to one side or the other. All kinds of funky things that you can do with these things. And now they're finally going to be legal here in the US pretty soon.

Roberto Baldwin  47:09  
Finally, no, it's crazy that a lot of automakers just the European automakers have been the hardware is there on the vehicles. They're like we we keep putting the hardware as soon as NITSA changes the rule. It's just the software update, we could just turn it on. Yeah. And if you I think the last 20 years, people have gotten way more excited about driving around with their high beams on all the time blinding me and blinded me I hate the people who are why if you can't see without the high beams, you shouldn't be driving at night, that's that's a when there's other cars around you shouldn't be driving at night, that's that's the real issue. But to sort of solve that, that that horrible, horrible habit and, and crime against humanity. Now you could drive around with your high beams and not blind everyone else on the road, because every other vehicle, whether you're driving behind them, or they're coming at you, that gets cropped out by the lights. So you know, if someone's right behind me with their high beams on, I'm not going to go blind, but I'm going to get the benefit of all their extra light, because everything to go all the light is sort of going around me is lighting up the world. And I can like oh, look at that.

Sam Abuelsamid  48:21  
Yeah, so the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that they're, they're drafting the final version of the new regulations now, and should be out in the next couple of months. And then 45 days after that's published to the Federal Register, those adaptive headlights will be will be legal. I sent a note to to Audi to ask if they're going to have an update that's available for their existing vehicles that have the adaptive lights. And they said they're looking at it depends on exactly how the regulation is worded. But they, you know, they may well have an update. So if you have a recent Audi model that's got the adaptive headlight hardware on there, you may you may be getting a software update available that you know, makes your lights much work much better. And

Roberto Baldwin  49:13  
he's really been pushing it this for years and I've I've talked to Audi more than any other automaker about this they're there it's sort of their jam. And so I'm sure there was a big party when this happened and I'm sure there'll be another big party when it's available and when they can when and you know if depending on what the hardware is like they said the rules they could turn it on and make all their just delight their customers I guess.

Sam Abuelsamid  49:39  
Alright, next up, Virgin Hyperloop made some made an announcement this week. It for those that have been following the the Hyperloop for almost a decade now since Elon Musk first announced the the idea not that it was you know, an entirely original idea which is his stuff rarely ever is, you know, when when he put out his little white paper, you know, putting, you know, now, this, you know, he said, I'm not gonna do this, we're not gonna, we're not going to build this, but I'm open sourcing it. So anybody else can try this. And a whole bunch of companies popped up, including one that was originally called Hyperloop. One, or was Hyperloop technologies, and then eventually became Hyperloop. One and then got bought out by Virgin. And they've been developing the idea. So far, nobody's even close to actually deploying it commercially. There's some, some test tracks in various places around the world, including one near Las Vegas. And virgin Hyperloop. announced this week that they are. And the idea of the Hyperloop is you've got these pods that go through these vacuum tubes, at speeds up to 700 miles an hour, you know, get you from San Francisco to LA in 30 minutes. Of course, you know, to do that you have to accelerate the thing at very high rates and then decelerated at very high rates. And I think, you know, there's some challenges with that kind of acceleration or deceleration that's this is why astronauts get a lot of special training to deal with that. And so virgin Hyperloop announced that, yeah, we're not going to do passenger carrying with these things. We're, we're only going to do for cargo for the time being, they're gonna, they're going to focus on shipping cargo, because cargo doesn't care how fast you accelerate it. For the most part.

Roberto Baldwin  51:41  
I covered Hyperloop technologies for a number of years when it first came out. And even then I was like, well, this makes zero sense. But let's go for it in a you know, my my general takeaway was, a lot of stuff that's happening in the Hyperloop. space could be transferred to other forms of transportation, but there's so many issues like first one issue is everything has to be vacuumed, sealed. Now, I've been to a bunch of the Hyperloop events at next SpaceX, where they have they built a half mile or quarter mile Hyperloop, like a miniature scale Hyperloop. And between each, and this is SpaceX. And it's next to SpaceX, you know, people who shoot rockets into space. And it was like colleges that come out, and they put their little pot in that shoot it down that the tube, it would take, they were always like, Oh, it's only gonna take like 10 minutes to like, create the vacuum. And it would always take like, 45 minutes. So the beginning of the day, I'm going around and talking to everyone, I'm getting my interviews, I'm doing my videos. And then at the end of the day, we're all just sitting there in the hot sun in LA, just baking, waiting for things to go through a tube that we can't even see. Yeah. So you have all that. So first of all, you have to create a vacuum over hundreds of miles. And either like either you have to create like a bunch of chambers and then open and close them, while the the this little pod is flying through this tube. Or you have to create one giant vacuum which makes zero sense. So there's there's that there's also the infrastructure issue, you have to get people to let you build a big tube on their land, or by land or by infrastructure. They're like, well, you can build an extra trains, I'm like, well just build a better train.

Sam Abuelsamid  53:26  
Yeah, upgrade the train tracks, upgrade the

Roberto Baldwin  53:29  
train tracks, those are already there, and you can still use those for regular trains it was, and the idea that the people are gonna be super happy to sit in a in a tube in a vacuum in the dark. Yeah, for any length of time. There's just a lot of and they're not very big, and a train works much better. There's just all these like sort of issues, but it was always like, Okay, well, some of this can be transferred over to regular transportation. And of course, they're, you know, the the transportation of goods, I think they're trying to do something in Long Beach or San Pedro, along the lines with hyper tube, hyper loop, and tubes and goods. But really, this is I mean, if you've ever been to Costco or to a bank in the 90s, where they had the little tubes, and they stuck them into a vacuum. It got sucked in. It's that as separate people, and that's not a good idea.

Sam Abuelsamid  54:21  
Yeah, I don't think I don't think people would enjoy that kind of trip very much. Yeah, that does it that does that. That's the fundamental problem with, you know, with anything that is going at very high speeds is you have to get from zero speed to that high speed in some period of time. And to get, you know, to do like, between San Francisco and Los Angeles and three hour or 30 minutes, I mean, you you have to have a very high rate of acceleration. And the human body's not really designed for that kind of acceleration for the most part.

Roberto Baldwin  54:56  
Yeah, this is sort of all like all on go. It's not That's not it. And again, I mean, we can look at the rest of the world and say, oh, like they have high speed trains where they're carrying hundreds of people at once. As opposed to a pod. Let's just I don't there was there. Yeah, there was just a lot of the the infrastructure having to buy up all that land pool. I think like, you know, there's already infrastructure for trains and for planes. Like, I don't see how you're going to. Yeah, it seemed doomed from the beginning. But I was like, well, let's see what happens. Maybe they'll make maybe they'll figure it out. But apparently they didn't.

Sam Abuelsamid  55:30  
All right. Finally, as we hopefully are winding down towards the enter end of winter, in the northern parts of the country. Somebody posted on Twitter, one of our patrons, Brent burns, housing, posted it retweeted a video clip from a Boston TV station. Somebody's driving down the highway, in very cold, very snowy highway, in a convertible with the top down and said, you know, this, this drivers living their best life, and I totally agree with with that philosophy. I mean, you know, if you're going to drive top down, go for it, you know, in the coal, although the particular one that was posted by this by this TV station, if you watch the video, and I'll include a link to it, in the show notes. If you watch the video, you'll see that it's hard to tell I think it's a Miata, but I'm not, I'm not 100% Sure. But you can see the back end of this thing wiggling back and forth as it's going down the road. So clearly this person is driving way too fast for the conditions. You know, given given how slippery the road is, you know, find drive with the top down and the Snell I've, I've done that before. I have no no issue with it. But, you know, make sure you do it at a speed or make sure you have winter tires, so that you're doing it. So it's still stable and safe. But that got me thinking about I used to work in I used to have a couple of I used to have a job in Detroit and then in Dearborn and had a regular commute along i 94 between the Ann Arbor area and the Dearborn Detroit area. And for several years, at least once or twice a week, I would see this blue hot light light blue Honda S 2000. And the driver in it is fairly tall guy. And I would see this car year round. Like even when we had a polar vortex, you know, it was 10 below zero 15 below zero. And he was driving as as 2000 Happy as a clam top down. I have never seen that car with the top up the most. I haven't seen it for a couple of years. So I don't know if he's still doing it. But back in 2015, the Detroit Free Press did a story on this guy. They interviewed him. And I've got pictures of him somewhere that I took one time when I saw him, you know, always always top down and that's 2000 is an IT guy in Detroit. So, what Yeah, have you ever driven a convertible top down and winter conditions?

Roberto Baldwin  58:09  
Yes. You turn the heater on if it has heated seats, like that's even better. Like I don't you know, I've had the I've had the the top down. I had a del Sol and I would drive it around LA and it'd be so hot. And I would have the top down and the air conditioning blasting and I would just yell decadence as I was driving down the road. Like that's the whole point like driving around the Bay Area. It gets really cold and really like moist. Top down. Turn the heater on it doesn't who cares? Who cares? Go for it. No, it's yeah, it's that's the whole point of that convertible is to have the to use the convertible bit maybe I don't know I don't know if I've ever driven one in the snow.

Sam Abuelsamid  58:51  
That's Germany autos with the top down in the snow press cars I don't I don't drop my own just because I don't want to expose the salt. Yeah. But you know, as soon as as soon as the snow melts and we've had a good rain or to to wash the salt off the road. You know, I get the Miata drive it top down just like just like turn up the heater?

Roberto Baldwin  59:11  
Three to party. Yeah. No, that's the whole point. And that's the whole point of the convertible is that to make to enjoy the elements the enjoy the world have on vetted access to everything around you as well as much as you can. And I couldn't read a little bit more so than a regular car. So I applaud anyone who's out there who's driving top down with a convertible or a roadster or whatever, I applaud you. You're You're the hero

Sam Abuelsamid  59:40  
make sure you put on suitable tires.

Roberto Baldwin  59:42  
Yeah, just and I wonder if that person was they did that person know they're going to be on video. I think some people like they started drive a little faster, a little bit more aggressive when they think they're going to be on video. I don't know. And yeah. So that's how you that's I mean, that's how we end up with a bunch of videos of cars and ditches Leaving a cars and coffee. Yeah, they're just gonna shoot this video. We'll do a burner app all Plock

Sam Abuelsamid  1:00:08  
Okay. During the chicago auto show a couple weeks ago I had a chance to sit down with Steve kosofsky who is the long range planning and strategy manager for key in North America. And we talked about what key is doing you know, they were showing off the the new Sportage plug in hybrid. They also had the Evie six there, and all their other stuff. So I'm going to drop that in here my conversation with Steve Celski but what he is doing. So Steve, just heard James talking a little bit about the plan s setting is this the shift for kiya as a brand? Let's start off with that where where do you see the kiya brand going? And how do you differentiate it from your corporate siblings? That will remain unnamed for the moment?

Stephen Kosowski   1:01:07  
Well, first, Sam, we should we should circle back and get all the clarity on the brand distinction. I'm much more focused on product but the brand is overarching. The way we're shifting brand in the first firstly foundationally is becoming more and more electrified, which is lots more hybrids, lots more plugins and a lot more battery electric vehicles. So the proportion of electrified vehicles is just increasing by by a magnitude every year. So that changes the dynamics and the characteristics of the car, you know, power performance, fuel efficiency, how the car drives and feels. And I think a good sort of reference for the distinctions between the brands. is evident in for example, the Evie six versus its counterparts, right? Are you be sixes you know, sporty is an overused word, but it's much more bold, distinctive, original, some say it's radical, and more dynamic looking. Yeah. Right. And so, you know, it rides on a shorter wheelbase. The driving dynamics are a little different. Hi, Michael. Okay, okay. Okay, so. So I think that sort of execution on PgMP characterizes how you can make the cars feel different using the same bits and pieces, right. And if you look at for example, look at the Sportage versus its counterpart in the Sportage has a very unique distinct character. And it's designed for language and execution, but yet it rides on the N three architecture. Right. So and then there's other you know, look at for example, Sorento versus Santa Fe, those kinds of things. So, I think, you know, the brand folks can can specifically talk about the brand distinctions, but the character, the character of the cars, I think, is really messaging how the brands are different, right? Maybe we're more youthful or more dynamic. Maybe even a little more techie, in some respects, whereas the other brand is moving stream, something like that, but I can't speak for the other brands I

Sam Abuelsamid  1:03:41  
know and you can driving the the various vehicles across the brands, you can you can feel some of that distinction, you can you can certainly see it in the character of the design, but you can also feel it in in terms of some of the choices made, how, how things are executed. So, let's dive a little deeper into the whole electrification strategy. Certainly, he has been doing some really impressive things with electrification going back more than a decade, right when the original Optima hybrid plug in hybrid launched and yeah, you know, and then later that, the Nero and now the EGM Sol Evie Yes, it was a great option and it's always available here. So we're where do you see kind of the mix and the choices for kiya as you go more and more electric, you know, between hybrid plug in hybrid battery electric.

Stephen Kosowski   1:04:44  
Firstly, thanks for recognizing our history. We used that point actually, in some discussions recently that we you know, we have more than a decade's worth of electrification going back to the Optima hybrid and even before that with if you remember the rate, Evie in Korea and even before There's been lots of efforts in Korea, there was a 40 hybrid and a real hybrid and even Sam, as far back as the Seoul Olympics, I don't know if you've ever seen the event we had Yeah, okay. Right. Okay. Anyways, um, so, as I mentioned, more and more electrification in every subsequent year. And that's more hybrids, more plug in hybrids and more battery batteries. So each one of those powertrain disciplines will see more and more applications across the range for a variety of reasons. One is, you know, we have a decarbonisation plan, right. Through the end of the decade, actually, beyond that, but so that means more electrification, naturally, I am not at liberty to reveal, you know, which cars are going to get hybrids, at what time for which cars are going to get PhDs. And so, but the point is, the proportion of our volume that's electrified, will be increasing. To the point where probably by the end of the decade, it's probably, you know, probably, well, north of 50%, maybe 60%. Right. And part of sales volume. Yeah. But it probably more than that, because part of that number 60% or more by the end of the decade. For, for us as electrified.

Michael McHale  1:06:30  
I don't, that's not the number we're saying.

Stephen Kosowski   1:06:33  
So I think we've officially said 40% V. Right, right. But with respect to hybrids, and PhDs and everything, I thought that was cool. So ah, we should go back and

Michael McHale  1:06:45  
Double Fine, so let's not use that number. Okay. All right, Sam. Yeah.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:06:50  
Yeah, I'll cut that out. And if you can confirm that, you know, then I'll put out a note on there.

Stephen Kosowski   1:06:56  
The point I think we can all agree on is it's up in Russia. Yeah. Right. And so, you know, a lot of that, frankly, is driven by market interest. There is rapidly increasing market interest in EVs, some some OEMs, as my Tesla, you saw, they saw what they referred to as a profound awakening. For battery electric vehicles. We're sensing it right now with EDI six, you have people in forums who are checking that the cargo vessel, the shipping vessel destinations, so they can match that with a local dealer calm and get a car. And so T that's that's a good barometer. And then there's a lot of other syndicated data, Sam, I don't know if you read it or follow it, but it definitely shows which I write some of it. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah, of course you do. That's right. So you know that there's legitimate interest in the market, right? So we sense that. But a battery electric vehicle may or may not work for everybody, and degrees of electrification are starting to proliferate, people like hybrids, a like plug in hybrids. And these cars keep getting better and better and better in terms of efficiency and refinement and dynamics and integration. So we're aligned with that. Right. So I hope I'm answering some of your question.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:08:18  
Yeah. So at least through this decade, you expect a significant proportion of GSA sales to continue to have a mix of hybrid plug in hybrid as well as battery electric volumes. Right. One of the one of the challenges, I think, for a lot of consumers, you know, as good as your plug in vehicles have been, you know, I have often recommended the Niro electric, you know, as an option for somebody that's looking for, for for an Eevee you know, with a reasonable amount of range at a relatively reasonable price point. It's just availability. Your your plugin vehicles have been limited to the California and the other states.

Stephen Kosowski   1:09:03  
That's not 100% True. So the pH EVs are 50 states are okay. Yeah. And the EVs have been more than ZEV states because you have Washington Texas, Georgia, Hawaii, right plus a few

Sam Abuelsamid  1:09:14  
the key market right right.

Stephen Kosowski   1:09:16  
But as of March of last year, they've been off okay, he's Yeah,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:09:19  
so So the Evie six Yeah, that's a launch is gonna be okay. Right here

Stephen Kosowski   1:09:24  
and are we VSF like I said March of 21. is matter of fact in February of 21. We sent a letter to all the dealers and said you know, we're going all in on EVs. We want you to get ready on charges, tools and training we even offered some subsidization for that so by I think it was June if you if you double check the Polk registrations you can see that okay, mind you, it's like one or two that were in North Dakota and whatnot but but pretty much all the viewers are on board. So that's

Sam Abuelsamid  1:09:54  
great to hear that you know, the availability is much wider because that, you know that that has been a challenge. Juniper obviously, in the past, so what about supply constraints? Are you are you able to meet the demand that you're seeing from customers walking into Kia dealerships for your plugins?

Stephen Kosowski   1:10:16  
Yeah, so So a couple things. One is we did you know, we launched Nero Evie. And then we got supply constraints and our dream and our volume aspirations were, were were cut a little bit. And some of that is related to battery supply, which has been resolved. And some of that related to other other factors. So Europe really needed some cars more than we did. But that's changed as a matter of fact, this year, actually, last year, the Nero Evie volume is way up over the previous year, like 2.3 or 2.4x. So, so we got our supply, who really cranked up the EVS. And that's the same with Evie six. Right? So you've probably seen Sam, that in Korea, there's a 13 month waiting list, right? And even gV 60, I think it's six months. But we double check this in basically, we're told that, you know, our volume plan is earmarked, it won't be diverted or cut or whatever.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:11:20  
While you get the chips you need,

Stephen Kosowski   1:11:21  
yeah, right. And that's, you know, that's, that's legitimate. Hang up, there's, you know, there's little bits and pieces on the car that we, for example, the Papa door handles, we wanted to put them across the board, but that takes processing power, right. And so you have to step back and manage the product plan accordingly. So but we're confident and comfortable that our supply the chips and batteries and everything you need free V six is in place, and we're going to get the cars we need. It may or may not meet demand. Again, demand for these cars is is really strong. So

Sam Abuelsamid  1:11:57  
that's a good problem to have. Yeah. And unfortunately, because of the semiconductor shortages, you know that that's a challenge that everybody is facing, right much across the board. Right, getting enough enough to meet demand. But at least at least on the the battery front sounds like your your battery supplies have gotten to the point where you're able to build what you want to supermarkets. Yes. And then the Nero recently revealed in Euro Korea, I think, when when's that coming to North America that later this year or next year playing?

Stephen Kosowski   1:12:30  
I don't know that we're okay. Okay, you never know. And the

Sam Abuelsamid  1:12:39  
fact that I've seen them running around here, they're they and Arbor Tech Center is completely irrelevant.

Michael McHale  1:12:45  
Till we buy a ticket when not necessarily Yes, sir.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:12:48  
Okay. Okay, with Michael? There'll be a moment. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there always is. If

Michael McHale  1:12:59  
you made a Guess Who's Coming

Sam Abuelsamid  1:13:01  
to guess? You get? Good data. All right. One, one, I guess one other area that within the larger group, that kid has not been involved in up to this point. Is its fuel cell technology? Is that something that is ever likely to be part of the key lineup in the next decade?

Michael McHale  1:13:30  
So a specific answer that if you have one, that's okay. Please use those. If you can expand on this is all right. We were told that there will be a key has to be okay, we've been told that from HQ, if that's what you were gonna say it more than that. That's yeah, we were told that.

Stephen Kosowski   1:13:51  
Okay, so I'm gonna defer to Michael, on that.

Michael McHale  1:13:56  
In this country. Fair enough. Yeah.

Stephen Kosowski   1:14:00  
Okay. That's an important point. Yeah,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:14:01  
that is that is an important stipulation. So obviously, Korea, and the Korean market has had more support for fueling infrastructure, which has been a challenge there.

Stephen Kosowski   1:14:12  
That's right. Exactly. Exactly. I was going Sam is the our parent company, our own engineering is really good. If your sales as you know. And they have multiple efforts in multiple different segments around the world, some commercial sums, retail, some stationery and very, very confident in in very, very good at that technology. And we sense here, that there is potential, but it may be more focused and I'm not speaking with key on speaking of market, maybe more focused on commercial trucks. But that's all contingent on fueling infrastructure. And that's been that's been a hang up with To clear, and there aren't enough stations, we know from reports on other brands and other products that that part of the ownership experiences has been a headache. And so that's just one part of it. The other part of it relates to dealer readiness. Right, you know, there.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:15:19  
That's hard enough with battery electric VA. Exactly.

Stephen Kosowski   1:15:21  
Just a couple years ago, there's a great article, you probably read it in automotive news where they interviewed Longo, Toyota, I don't know if you read it, but if you didn't hear it, right, and so he talked about it was $958,000 for dealership readiness for service and repair everything else. And I think in the context of our go to market plans, our current electrification plan hybrid plug in hybrids in shifting mainly to battery electric. That's a call cool, that's, that's a less resistive path, because of the infrastructure and because of the dealer writings. So in the end, Jim, look, the the engineering and the technology is really good. Our company's very agile, if there's opportunities we see, you know, we can we can prove a business case, great, but our, our plan s is really focused on battery electric plug in hybrid and hybrid.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:16:27  
So, one, one last area, purchase less resistance, you know, reducing friction. You know, one of the the pain points with EDS can be charging. Some companies are doing some things with aggregating multiple charging networks through a single interface. Others have invested directly in charging infrastructure. And then, one of the things in within within the large group I know, engineers at the tech center now harbor have done a lot of work with wireless charging, there's a pilot going on with GD 60 and in South Korea, is that something that you see as a potential thing that might make its way into Do you see potential for that within the key lineup as a particularly for plug in hybrids? Which often I know from studies that have been done a lot of people that buy plug in hybrids don't actually plug them in, which is you're wasting that battery, dragging around extra weight, and you're not getting the benefit that you could? Yeah,

Stephen Kosowski   1:17:31  
I hear you, Sam. And you know, a lot of it just relates to the plug in hybrid buyer who doesn't want to put a charger at home or it's kind of a pain or he doesn't see a need to do it. We sent that to and firstly, we we understand the criticality of charging, right so for example, we have an offer with charge point that's coming on the Evie six, right? So if you get an Eevee six first edition, you had a choice between the charge point Flex 1000 kilowatt hours of Electrify America energy or Apple I watch. So, you know, understanding that, you know, is an indicator of our understanding of the need for charging, particularly a battery electric home Evie charging. The second part relates to the Electrify America 1000 kilowatt hours of energy that comes with it. Maybe the third part relates to the ultra fast DC charging on the EB six and the fact that we've had standard DC charging on all of our EAS, EB since the Sol v. So we we totally get the need for charging and the criticality for charging at home and in the public space. With respect to app average app aggregation, firstly, we are, you know, the new key access app in key a Connect. Those are fresh redesigns. And we we totally understand what other automakers have done in why that can work where everything is integrated, right from my key access app, or, but it's, it's it's a lot of engineering work. And, but I'll leave it at this, Sam that we understand the need for it. So so stay tuned. And then the other part related to like infrastructure or public infrastructure, that's another one where there are a lot of initiatives in the marketplace that are happening. And we're very cognizant of, of the need very cognizant of the What Works and sort of how to do it. I guess you could put it that way. And but we're not we're not ready to announce anything and I think that any any kind of broader infrastructure effort or announcement or plan is is a little further

Sam Abuelsamid  1:20:14  
global wireless? Is that something you think could be of some value the

Stephen Kosowski   1:20:17  
sort of customer? Yes. So the wireless is another interesting one. I don't know if you if you dug into this, Sam, but many years ago, we had a project with mojo mobility. And that was the same deal, which is the plate on the floor and the plate on the bottom of the car. And we gave them I think 19 soli ds, and they experimented with it with Hachi. And we see the merit in that. In other words, to your point, if I could just drive my Eevee or PhD in the garage and not have to lift a finger. That's beautiful. But there's complications that arise. And here's, here's, here's what we've learned. Firstly, it's not cheap, that hardware is two to $3,000. And it seems like it's been two to $3,000, for 10 years, the costs, the cost reductions aren't really we're not, we're not seeing the cost reductions we need. The second part is that there's various different ways to execute this, right, you can have a thing come out of the car, you can have something to lift up, there's no one complete standard way to do this, right? There's, there's half a dozen different companies that have wireless charging solutions, all with their own way. So it feels like if you're going to do this, the only real place you're going to do this is at home. Okay? This maybe the third or fourth part is that we realized that when you execute this, there's hardware that goes on the car, and it's, it's heavy, and you have to package protect for it, and it's in front of the car, which means you have to crash, right? And you have to engineer around this. And a lot of the times it's not easy to put that much mass or that much volume in the front of the car and not have it affect the the crash performance. So that's another part of it. So in the end, you step back and you're like, wait a second, we're gonna put mass forward to the extra line. And we got a package protect for it. And it's expensive. And this is all because the customer doesn't want to take 10 seconds to

Sam Abuelsamid  1:22:15  
put a lot more complicated than just putting your lightest toothbrush on the stand.

Stephen Kosowski   1:22:18  
Exactly, exactly. And that's the frustration. But you know, what we do see is that the wireless charging concept, and the performance is remarkable, the charging speeds are getting better, the devices are getting smaller. And maybe the hope is that in the future, someday, maybe we will. But in the near term. It's it's a lot of complication in cost. That a lot of customers like customer would say, Okay, if the, if it's gonna cost the customer $2,500 Is it really worth it? And immediately, it may work for other luxury brands. And I get that that's pretty cool. But customer might step back and say, Look, I'm paying 35,000 for a plug in hybrid for $600 or $700 or 1000. I can put up a charge point flex in my house, and I'm good to go. So I think that's kind of the balance. It just it just depends. So

Michael McHale  1:23:08  
as a pilot program right now

Sam Abuelsamid  1:23:12  
was Yeah, and I know Genesis on the GV 60.

Michael McHale  1:23:17  
That's two white TriCity. Right there. I was in the wireless space for a while. Yeah, your

Sam Abuelsamid  1:23:22  
momentum dynamics. Remember

Michael McHale  1:23:27  
that everything you said is what I said to momentum. And it's great, you got to get rid of all those costs. And now you've got a model. But the other model there is how you stuff. So if a vehicle is constantly in service of shuttle, or a bus or attack,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:23:41  
yeah, and I think those those are much, potentially much more interesting applications for that technology

Michael McHale  1:23:47  
is then get rid of the driver. And you can have this thing shuttling between two maglev points. And the cost of vehicles charging itself doesn't have to be dynamic can be that to be the same. There is a standard 1772 standard. But not everybody agrees with that romantic Parkway, we did so there can be something else. It's really interesting spaces, what you would want to do is how I charge

Sam Abuelsamid  1:24:12  
now, I do the same thing

Michael McHale  1:24:15  
for charging because differences point that we could never get over is, you know, the vision was to have a Starbucks. Well, that means you got to charge your mini cooper next to an F 150. Where to where do you line up in office? But yeah, so public charging just on vehicle dimensions is really difficult. Yeah, is I think, moment I think why just to put the text into the standard because they're going to build it that it goes into service. But the central vehicle, well, that's fine, but if you're an f1 50 your front end is now to the front of the Starbucks like it's difficult.

Stephen Kosowski   1:24:57  
Now, soon what's your view? I mean,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:25:00  
No, I agree with what you said, you know, I mean, I've done a couple of different studies over the years on wireless charging. And while it absolutely has potential, especially for certain applications, like, for example, a transit buses that along its route might have several stops, were sitting idle for a few minutes. and a high powered wireless pad, they're worth stop, you know, good keep an electric plus going all day long. But, you know, I think for the most part for for light duty vehicles, for consumer vehicles, it's the cost, as you said, as a as a problem. Certainly, you know, the packaging and the crack protection is a challenge. And, you know, the things that Mike just talked about, in terms of how you standardize the positioning, if at all, especially for public charging, it becomes a real challenge. Yeah. You know, it's, it's tough enough, just with with wired, charging, you know, getting everybody on the same page, you know, we're getting there with that. But, you know, with CHAdeMO, you know, we're fading away in North America, you know, we're down to down to two standards, and maybe at some point in the future even want, right, right, right. Yeah, I mean, chart charging. You know, from the studies we've done. Guide has the consumer surveys we've done charging is two of the top three barriers to Evie adoption that we've found, who are charging related availability and time to charge. Yeah. And then the other one being the price of the vehicles. Yeah. So making progress on the price. Availability is getting much better. Yeah. And time to charge thanks to things like 800 volt electrical systems. Yeah, it's also getting much better. So yeah, we're making progress on all those fronts. And we are at a point now working on the number of EDI options is exploding. We've gone from a few months ago. 20 Evie nameplates in North America, or in the US market? To 51 Yeah, and you know, be at 40 by the end of this year. Yeah. And probably close to double that again by the end of next year. Yeah. Different kinds of vehicles different price points. So now you've gone from a very limited number of options if you wanted anybody to be able to choose the kind of vehicle you want and get

Stephen Kosowski   1:27:21  
it in. I couldn't agree more Sam it's it's you know, people talk about a tipping point or an inflection point it's happening right before our eyes with vehicles like the Evie six and more and more Evie, SUVs coming, which is what the US market wants it pickup trucks, right. And so it feels like the the market finally the product is what the US market needs. And I think we're only going to see more of that. And that's going to feed itself. Sure your research proves this. But what we found is that the last time we checked us it was about 25% of the US market said I'm I'm in for an Eevee and okay, the fact of the matter is 3.2% actually wrote the check last year, okay. But every prior year to that 25% was maybe 20 and 18 and 15. So it's it's increasing. And then what you have is when you start to filter that for Iona EV, and I'm going to buy, what are you going to buy next? It rises to 90% and 91%. And I My point is, the people who are in EVs are never going back. And the more and more electrification you add into that sample, the more and more interest they have in buying another electrified car. And in a sense, it's feeding on itself. And now again, with with a really strong mix of utilities, and that's sort of writ large, that's vans that's pickups but mainly mainstream Evie SUVs, that proportion of the US buying Publix has so many good choices, and it's only going to get better. So we think we're very positive and optimistic on it. And it's good to be part of it.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:29:07  
Now the big challenge for everybody in the industry is to keep up with demand for battery production. Yes. And the materials that go into those batteries, recycling those materials. Yes. That's that's going to be the big challenge in the coming decade. We've got a lot of a lot of battery plants going in. Yeah. And now we got to have the got to feed them with something.

Stephen Kosowski   1:29:28  
Yeah. Yeah. In Michael and I, we talked about this a little bit with Edie six. And you know, our parent company in Korea has recycling efforts in place with SK, SK I, you know, sort of a circle of life approach to use and reuse and so forth and taking those minerals and materials and reusing them again and again and again.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:29:52  
Do you expect to start producing some electrified vehicles in Georgia? point in the not too distant future,

Stephen Kosowski   1:30:01  
I would defer to Michael.

Michael McHale  1:30:03  
We have been nice to him about bouncing lights.

Stephen Kosowski   1:30:12  
Yep. Okay, so thank you so much for. Thanks. Thank you.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:30:18  
Alright, and we're back. And let's answer some listener questions. We've got several of them this week. So let's start off with Albert back. 91. Albert asks, is the opportunity for a cheap new car gone forever. With dealer discounts, we bought four new cars for less than 13,000. In the last four years, they got an 18 Chevy Cruze for 13 and 18 Fiesta, Ford Fiesta for 11, a 19. Fiesta for 12 and a half, and a 20 Nissan Versa for 13,000. With rising MSRP and no discounts, lots of folks may be priced out of a new car.

Roberto Baldwin  1:30:58  
What do you think? I think it's gonna be a few years before we start seeing those big discounts again, on you know, this drive off for only $12,000 or, you know, those instant cash, you know, all that's the those those sorts of fun things just because of the supply chain issue and the chip issue. They're, they're barely making enough cards to meet demand. And even then, actually, in most cases, they're not even meeting demand. And dealerships have no incentive in order to get cars off lot, because they can't get any cars on lots. So it's, you know, it's, it's, it's a supply and demand issue. It's my hope that in a few years, we can get back to, you know, given having cars that like people can buy, like just regular working folk. I'm, I do have a, I am a little excited about the fact that the Mavic starts at like $20,000 It's that it's in and it has a hybrid. So you get like some good mileage, you get a low cost, and a pretty good, you know, in a good utility to tell you in vehicle so you could buy that for that could be your car. Is this this this truck that is that's inexpensive compared to everything else on that that's coming on out there. But yeah, I think it's going to be at least a few years before we see because the automakers are going to make the things are going to build the things that make them the most money right now. And the dealerships are going to mark everything up. And the transition to EVs means that they're going to be for a little while, they're not going to be making as much money as they were before. So we have to kind of yeah, there's a couple there's a couple things working against a really cheap car. But hopefully in a few years, it'll we can we can get something that people can afford, without, you know, five year loans. On on some dealer locks.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:32:47  
Yeah, and, you know, we've talked about, you know, the dealer markups and stuff before, obviously, you know, the limited supply and inventories right now making it tough to find a good deal on anything. You know, there are still some relatively cheaper cars available, you're not likely to find discounts on any of them right now. But you can still get things like the Hyundai Accent for about 16 and a half. sticker price. The Nissan Versa starts at 15. There's the Mitsubishi Mirage, and there's a few others out there that are you know, at that low end of the market, you know, even cheaper than, excuse me cheaper than the maverick. You know, the Maverick is, is a great choice. But you know, obviously that starts at 20 and goes up from there. So and you're going to be probably gonna have a tough time getting one for 20 grand, although my next door neighbor did. So I think you know, it's going to be tougher in the future, to get those kinds of discounts and below negotiate on pricing. Because even when the supply chain issues do subside, I think manufacturers increasingly are going to try and keep a tighter, tighter rein on on balancing production with sales and, and have less inventory at dealerships you know, you're gonna have this, I think permanent shift towards more, you know, more people, or doing factory orders of what they want the specific vehicle they want and having less vehicles available and in dealer inventories to choose from, and that's when you when they've got a lot of cars in inventory. That's when you can get those good deals. And I think that everybody is going to try to avoid that in the future. You know, they like being able to sell them at sticker or above unfortunately, in some cases. So yeah, it's it's it's gonna be tough to get those kinds of deals, especially on a new car.

Roberto Baldwin  1:34:54  
Yeah. sad times. Yep.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:34:58  
Alright, ask or ask. The searcher says, I've only owned three cars in about 30 years of driving. Is that weird?

Roberto Baldwin  1:35:06  
No, I owned my my 90 Honda Civic for like 15 years. Now, my wife had some car. We had some cars that there were my wife's over that time. But really? Yeah, I had that car for ever. And so I think if you're if you have a car, I think I mean, let's say your average is 10 years per car. That's a pretty sweet deal. Because that means you love a car or you like a car, or at least you. You can you can you can stomach a car, pretend they get you around. You're taking care of it. It's doing a good job.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:35:39  
Yeah, it also means for most of that time, you probably don't have any car payments.

Roberto Baldwin  1:35:43  
Yeah, you're in the near the gravy years. If you have a three year loan, it's seven years of gravy. Absolutely. Yeah.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:35:50  
I wholly endorse that philosophy. I mean, I've, I've been, you know, I've, I've been I've owned my own vehicles for, like, 36 years now. 3536 years, you know, since I've, I bought my first one of my own, you know, rather than driving my dad's one of my dad's cars, and in that time, I've owned five vehicles. Yes, yeah. So and that, you know, that includes two Mustangs, a Dodge Stratus, the the 84 GMC, s 15 that I had through college, and my Miata. So, you know, we, we keep our cars you know, usually eight to 10 years or more. And I think, I think the vast majority of people actually do tend to keep their cars for a lot longer. And the reality is, most people never buy new cars anyway. Most people only buy used cars, and they tend to keep them running as long as they can. You know, us we sell about three times three and a half times as many used cars every years we do new cars. So it's it's actually not it's more unusual to be swapping cars every two or three years.

Roberto Baldwin  1:37:04  
Yeah, yeah, I think we've we've I've been the only new cars we've ever had are the the two leases that we've had. And that's the Fiat 500 and the the Honda I'm sorry, the Hyundai Kona Evie. Everything else I've ever purchased has been used. I don't I've never liked just except for my Best Buy Best Buy we bought new. That's not a car anyway, so it's not a car, so I don't know how that much counts. All right.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:37:31  
Andrew Pappas asks, What bad car do you have an irrational love for? I want a Citroen X 11 in the worst way. problem is most of them were cobbled together by the general in the worst way. Oh citation x 11. Sorry, I misread that. You want to Chevy citation x 11. And he says Most were cobbled together by the general in the worst way so for those not not familiar with the citation this was the came out in 1980 was one of the first batch of Jim's front wheel drive X cars or compact X cars. Yeah, it was it's a car. Yeah. It's four wheels most of the time. Yeah. What so what's what's your what what bad car do you love?

Roberto Baldwin  1:38:17  
Oh, dog is very upset about this question. I really had to think about did you have a car? You tell me your car and then I tried to think of something that I that I want that I know is bad for me like like a candy bar of some sort of car that the Triumph TR seven

Sam Abuelsamid  1:38:34  
All right, yeah, that's a TR seven came out in 75 You know, I was a kid when it came out, I remember the the ads for it, you know, the magazines and on TV, it was the the the wedge the shape of things to come? Which apparently it was not. And you know, I it was it was built at probably the the depths of you know, the British car industry in terms of quality and reliability. It was not well put together. You know, if you thought that X 11 was built by the general in the worst way, you should try a British car of that era. But when I was in high school, my auto shop teacher bought a used one from his brother that was not running. And I got to spend a lot of time working on that car over a couple over the span of a couple of years and really developed an irrational love for

Roberto Baldwin  1:39:42  
you know what, I think I figured out the car, the AMC ego because you'll cross over the criminal court. You know, it looks like a micro machine. And like It's like this, like the the micro machines that they like kind of biggest wheels and they're kind of raised up the AMC Eagle kind of looks Like a micro machine it's I've never seen more than four of them on the road at the same time ever. I've seen a lot of them in in in front of houses with like things growing on them I had a I had a friend a guitarist who had one and he did it wasn't good but it was so just such an odd weird thing the body style preference I like to just the the just a regular old sedan not that and use them you know, I like wagons but the just the sedan because it looks just even more ridiculous. It's it's everything about this vehicle is just ridiculous. It looks out of place, especially at the time, you know, in the late 70s, early 80s. It just looked wrong. And

Sam Abuelsamid  1:40:51  
there were a bunch of them today it would be it would fit right in.

Roberto Baldwin  1:40:54  
Oh yeah. Today is it's fine today. It's fine. Subaru

Sam Abuelsamid  1:40:58  
basically took that concept and did it right with the ELPAC.

Roberto Baldwin  1:41:02  
Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, no, it's it is AMC.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:41:10  
AMC took the Hornet and stuff the Jeep four wheel drive power drive train underneath it, and jacked it up a little bit. Exactly. Eagle.

Roberto Baldwin  1:41:18  
That was the eagle it is it's again, it's a car. I like apparently there were convertibles at some point. I've never seen a convertible I've only mostly seen this a dad but I'm looking at a picture of a an AMC 1981 AMC convertible.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:41:37  
I somebody Yeah, I think they might have done a limited run of those with like American sunroof or one of those companies that did some convertible conversions.

Roberto Baldwin  1:41:46  
It's like the Nissan Murano convertible or just like what what why that's that's exactly what the AMC Eagle convertible is like. But yeah, yeah, no, they didn't. Oh, yeah. Eagle wagon. It's, if I had one, I'd be like, This is awesome. Until it broke down. Like 10 minutes after I got in to the driver side. Yeah, it's such a it's it's just ridiculous. I don't Good job, AMC. Way to just say no, go for it. Hey, I

Sam Abuelsamid  1:42:13  
mean, they were they were.

Roberto Baldwin  1:42:16  
They're ahead of their time. It's like the, I think I talked about the Baja and the brat. And an article really, were both of those were sort of ahead of their time, like the brat came out. It didn't All right, and then it went away. And then mini trucking happened. And you're like, Oh, we missed it. And then the Baja came out because everyone's like bringing back the bread and they brought back the they introduced the Baja there was like bring back the bread now nevermind. And then it went away. And now small trucks are coming back. And you know, Subarus just like Oh, come on. And now the Baja you know, before the the whole supply chain issues, the prices on us Baja are going up. So I wonder what the AMC Eagles prices are. Now that we have crossovers everywhere.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:42:57  
I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the Baja comes back now, especially if the Maverick and the Santa Cruz do well.

Roberto Baldwin  1:43:03  
Yeah, we need to bring it back. Bring it back as an Eevee. Yep,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:43:07  
there you go. Alright, see gifted Napper asks, thought to you guys, when somebody posted this in the machi forums as a way to fool the for driving assistance. Seems Ford owners of joint Tesla owners in the same unsafe workarounds totally agree with you that capacitive steering wheel should be standard. And so I'll put a link to this Twitter post in here. But it's a picture of maki steering wheel. And there's a mask hanger with wrapped around the right hand side spoke with key fob and some other stuff hanging from on a carabiner from the straps of the mask. And the idea here is when you're using the the copilot the hands on copilot 360 feature because the the blue Cruz hands free feature is only available on certain limited or divided highways. So you can't use it on other roads but you can turn on the copilot 360 Lane Keeping Assist anywhere. But you're supposed to keep your hands on the wheel. And so you know, this is like you know, Tesla owners that stuff water bottles or oranges into the between the spokes of their steering wheel. And just Please don't Don't do this. Don't ever do this.

Roberto Baldwin  1:44:29  
The feeding it's it's like when people like like, I remember the JC Whitney catalog, like a thing where you get hold down like a mechanism where you can hold down the accelerator. So you would have like, like cruise control is and as a kid I remember seeing this as a kid I'm like, Well, this is just a bad idea. Like what happened a lot of bad ideas in the JC Whitney Yeah, the JC Whitney catalog was just a a pile of bad ideas but yeah Don't Don't don't because you're putting like ever you you're putting yourself you're putting your family or friends anyone else's in the car, and then other people on the road all at risk, because you don't want to put your hand on the wheel. How lazy are you? Maybe you shouldn't be driving. If you're taking Uber. Uber get it or a bus or a bus or a hybrid. Call a friend give them 20 bucks to drive your own.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:45:26  
Okay, finally, nth degree burns asks What's the one car accessory you have in every car that you own? I buy Lloyd rubber rubber tie custom floormats for all my cars since I have dogs and I'm bad about tracking in mud and dirt. Have them in my Chrysler Town and Country cargo area and everywhere in my RAM 1500

Roberto Baldwin  1:45:49  
Every car I don't know. I don't think I I just sort of live with it.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:46:00  
The only the only accessory that's in that's been in all of our cars for years is a USB cable.

Roberto Baldwin  1:46:06  
Yeah, that's pretty much a USB cable or

Sam Abuelsamid  1:46:09  
my wife's got all Carlinhos stuff in her in her. Yeah. shopping bags. You know things like that reusable shopping bags, but USB cables The only common thread across all of them.

Roberto Baldwin  1:46:20  
Yeah, I don't I can't think of anything else that I've put in like every single car I haven't even I still haven't swapped out the stereo in my BRC because I'm just like, Yeah, whatever. Because I'm more interested in what the car is doing. And like, well, it's making music I mean, I shouldn't be able to, to like get text messages from my wife and listen to all my music without you know, having to use my phone or the weird BRC infotainment system that you kind of have to stab really hard in order to go to the next song. But yeah,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:46:51  
I don't I guess the one the one other accessory that my wife and I've generally not had these in my cars but my wife likes to have a sunshade in her car that you put across the windshield so when so doesn't crack the well no just if you know if it's parked in the sun somewhere so you don't get as much solar heat load in the cab. So reflective sunshield. So yeah, just because it's usually one of those ones that you it's got the spring frame that you put it together.

Roberto Baldwin  1:47:26  
Oh, yeah. Twisted, twisted as opposed to the foldy like like yeah, funds where you're just like pop pop, pop, pop pop, blah, blah, blah. And then he's got like a big giant piece of aluminum. Aluminum foil in your car.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:47:38  
Yeah, so that's, that's something that my wife has always kept in, in her cars over the years.

Roberto Baldwin  1:47:44  
I should get these custom floor mats though because of the dogs. I do like rubber floor mats. Anytime I get a vehicle in and it has like the rubber floor mats I get a little bit excited. I'm like yeah, this is how your car is supposed to.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:47:56  
I do I do have a seat cover that I put I put in whenever I go somewhere with Daisy or previous prior to that with Rosie, you know just just chip hooks over the head rest and you know, basically like kind of a sort of a rubberized Canvas thing, but I don't keep that in the car. I only put it in when we're going somewhere with the dog.

Roberto Baldwin  1:48:15  
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I thought like the little rubberized. We have like a things in the back that we put in for the dog. But we should get some rubber eyes and stuff. Just because just makes a lot more sense.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:48:27  
All right. Well, that's it for this week. Thanks, everybody for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Bye bye Purdue