If you get your US political news from The Morning Dump allow me to be the first to tell you that former President Donald Trump has been declared the winner of the Presidential election, Republicans have taken back the US Senate, and it’s possible Republicans narrowly retain the house (though it’ll be a while before anyone knows for sure). Also, if you get your US political news from The Morning Dump, that’s quite strange; maybe don’t do that.
I’m ill-equipped to help explain everything about last night, though it seems voters generally disapproved of the Biden Administration, its policies, and especially inflation. Americans clearly hate inflation. Which, I mean, I get.
I am, possibly, somewhat better equipped to make some guesses about the impact this could have on the automotive world. That’s worth talking about. We made the decision collectively and early on to not focus too much on politics around here unless it’s specifically related to cars (Kei trucks, IRA, et cetera) and that’ll be the plan going forward. The Autopian is a safe space.
This is going to be interesting as, more than anyone, automotive CEO Elon Musk has been behind the campaign and tied his future to it. If you feel some-kind-of-way about last night and don’t want to engage in a discussion about this you have my permission to skip this edition TMD. I was tempted to skip it, too.
Below will be my read on what could happen, with the major caveat that my ability to predict what will happen took a rather large hit last night (I really thought Ball State could defeat Miami of Ohio. Ball is in their name!). Oh, and some more Bolt recalls, just because.
Elon Musk’s Very Good Night
The future is gonna be fantastic pic.twitter.com/I46tFsHxs3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2024
Here’s something that’s difficult to square. President Trump has been averse to CO2 requirements for cars in the United States, but his biggest public backer runs Tesla, an electric car company with a pro-environment image. During the campaign, this resulted in some curious statements, with President-Elect Trump saying he actually did like electric cars, just not for everyone. [Ed Note: I was interviewed by the New York Times a few months ago about the Cybertruck, and part of our conversation discussed whether we think it’s actually a positive thing for EV adoption that Musk is conservative. Does he help change the image of EVs to those who typically are less open to driving them? It’s an interesting thought. -DT].
Musk’s Tesla benefits greatly from carbon tax credits (something run by the California Air Resource Board, not the EPA) and from Inflation Reduction Act tax credits for electric cars. If you’re an automaker who is expecting to get those credits is there a universe wherein Trump and Tesla conspire to make that harder?
It would likely require getting the House and Senate to amend the bill in order to get rid of the credit completely, but the Biden Administration did decide to interpret the rule to allow automakers to get the $7,500 tax credit for vehicles they leased. This tax credit is important to a lot of car companies that aren’t building electric cars in the U.S. yet or use battery technology that uses too many materials sourced from China. I’ve written about this before, but here’s a chart of non-Tesla automakers and the split between leasing and buying:
The orange there is leasing and it’s the biggest chunk of sales for a lot of automakers here. I’m not sure this is the first item on Musk/Trump’s list, but it’s now in play.
I think even more important for Tesla, and this may explain why the company’s stock started exploding last night in pre-market trading, is that Musk seems to at least think he’ll have a say in regulatory policy as the head of some sort of “government efficiency commission.” It’s not clear what that is, but I had a guess a couple of weeks ago related to the Cybercab:
The regulatory hurdles of getting these cars out there when Waymo has fewer than 1,000 cars seem so high to me, though this does support my theory that part of what Musk wants out of a Trump administration is the ability to release thousands of robotaxis. I can’t imagine the current government in Texas or a Trump admin stopping him.
So, there you go. When it comes to SpaceX and Tesla, as well as possibly other companies Musk owns, you can expect Musk to try to reduce as many obstacles in his path as possible. If Republicans win the House this could be even simpler for him. This could also extend to labor, the environment, the FCC, and who knows what else.
Chinese Automakers And Battery Companies Will Likely Get Hit Hard
Let’s start with the obvious one: Companies trying to sell cars in the United States that were built in China were already in trouble, and this is going to make it worse. Is there a future for Lotus in the United States? What about the MotorTrend SUV of the Year Lincoln Nautilus, which is built in China? Polestar and Volvo benefit from an obscure trade rule that allows them to offset imports with exports from their South Carolina facilities… for now.
That’s not all.
China’s CATL is the world’s largest battery maker and has been trying to get into the US via joint ventures with American companies. That feels more remote than ever and I’m not sure what this means for Ford’s proposed plant backed by CATL, but it doesn’t seem great? Here’s the take from Automotive News:
Trump might also implement trade actions that expand on President Joe Biden’s steep Chinese EV tariffs and proposed rulemaking restricting the import of Chinese connected-vehicle technology.
Analysts expect that the Trump administration will implement new tariffs on battery components and silicon providers, targeting Chinese imports. Trump could also expand the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act by adding battery companies, including CATL, to the enforcement entity list.
While those actions are designed to undercut China’s manufacturing dominance, they might also punish American companies with higher costs for already pricey EV batteries — margins made thinner by an elimination of the EV tax credit.
Being an auto exec or even product planner in this environment is already difficult and it’s not going to get any easier anytime soon.
What’s Europe Going To Do?
Welp, this doesn’t unscrew Europe.
From Germany’s Manager Magazine:
The President of the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW), Achim Wambach , sees things similarly . “The election of Trump as President of the USA will probably lead to higher tariffs and lower taxes for companies in the United States,” Wambach told the Reuters news agency. In addition, American politics will focus even more on itself. “This increases the pressure on European companies to relocate their production to the USA.” Germany and the EU urgently need to strengthen their business locations. “Only a dynamic internal market can guarantee that we will not be crushed between the economic blocs of the USA and China ,” said Wambach.
Good luck doing that while also keeping jobs in Europe.
GM Recalls Some Bolts
As much as it might feel like things have changed this morning, at least there’s something we can all depend on: The Chevy Bolt being recalled.
General Motors must once again fix its Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles because of fire risk.
The automaker had to recall 142,000 Bolts globally a few years ago because of the issue. On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted a recall of 107 Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs, which is an SUV-like styling of the vehicle, over a fire risk. This new recall covers model year 2020-22 Bolt vehicles that were previously repaired for such a risk.
In its post, NHTSA stated, “The installation of advanced diagnostic software may have failed. As such, the high voltage battery could catch fire when charged to full or nearly full capacity.”
Fun times.
What I’m Listening To This Morning
I don’t know why, but LCD Soundsystem’s “Sound of Silver” is playing right now. No message. Just a song.
The Big Question
In your mind, what does the auto industry look like in the next few years?
I bought an EV this year and purposely did not buy a Tesla because of musk, and that was before his involvement in politics. Now after his involvement I’m thinking many will dump Tesla also. He shit on his client base , and I’m guessing he did it to try to get the Trump fanbase interested in his products, but I have a feeling he’s going to be screwed by Trump too.
Didn’t he already get screwed or at least frustrated by Trump his last time around? Musk was in the group of Trump’s business advisor friends until he said f-this and went home.
Even more full sized pickups and SUVs more CUVs and a lot fewer cars. Worse overall gas mileage, worse overall emissions, crumblier infrastructure, higher tolls, slightly cheaper gas more expensive electricity, and little to no progress on the electrical infrastructure needed for EVs. Much less pressure for walkable/bikeable communities outside of the west coast.
EV mandates will be watered down…a lot.
Maybe I was a pessimist, but I could see the software fix not stopping battery fires. Kinda like saying “We’ve installed a gasoline vapor sniffer in case our fuel lines spring a leak.” Kinda works if the vapors are blown that way and if the gas didn’t ignite before detection.
Not to sound alarmed here.
But where is Torch?
Praying that his heart/brain did not explode last night.
He posted a light hearted article this morning about the results of the K-Car election.
Thanks. The re use of the lead thumbnails screws with my small brain.
It’s not just that Musk wants to run an office of government efficiency. It’s that he wants to be the Director Of Government Efficiency. DOGE. Everything about his life is some sort of shitty out-of-date dad meme.
That’s hilarious. I love it.
Seems to me that tariffs were one of the most consistent themes throughout the campaign, and are something that a president can unilaterally enact. So I am thinking the chicken tax, but instead of just impacting Volkwagen vans, it impacts half of the auto industry. Domestically made cars can raise their own prices and they should be able to save huge amounts of money on development costs since competition is reduced.
I am less certain if the tariffs will extend to auto parts, which could have a significant impact on the price of maintaining vehicles.
I read Trump is planning a flat 10% across the board tariff on EVERYTHING. Other things will surely be targeted wither high tariffs. Apparently it’s the most beautiful word in the dictionary.
That will surely bring prices down.
Guess I’ll just have to LS swap my BMWs. /s
This site is as close as I get to any social media, and the only place I post anything, but far from the only source of auto or engineering information I read. To keep sane, I read classic comics First every morning, and I don’t know if Bill Watterson himself picks the rotation of his Calvin and Hobbs reruns, but this morning’s seems too apt. “Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2024/11/06
I’ve got the full box set of Calvin and Hobbes comics, and have been re reading them for the first time in over a decade. Definitely helps lift my mood, and Watterson was spot on with some of the points his characters make about the country and the world.
Just bought the new MAD Magazine special collector edition.
Its loaded with the oldies but goodies,a lot of stuff I’d forgotten about.
Just like this site,it’s a great way to take your mind off the election stress
I doubt even if they did try to contact us we could hear them. We can’t even see whole PLANETS in systems more than a handful of light years away, only infer their existence by their effects on their stars. How are we supposed to pick out a weak radio signal from the background noise of a star, especially since we don’t know what we are looking for?
Of course that assumes others are still using radio, not quantum entanglement, subspace, strings, psychic/dark energy or other as of yet only imaginary communications tech.
Have you read Alien Earths? It’s about looking for other planets that could (maybe, possibly) support life. Great book if you are interested in the subject matter!
I have not read that book. My dad was a Lockheed/Aerojet/Loral engineer so I was raised by someone only too happy to highlight the realities of space. And those realities are:
There is a whole lot of literally nothing between here and there. No food, no water, no air, no energy, nothing….well except ionizing radiation, not enough to run a space ship on, just enough to kill you slowly.
All that nothing but radiation is extremely hostile to humanity by its very nature.
The least hospitable, most hostile locations on Earth (except perhaps inside an active volcano) would be considered a human friendly paradise anywhere but on Earth. Its hard to exist where oxygen freezes (if there’s oxygen at all), rocks melt, water is scarce or the star is dim or bright and ionizing radiation is everywhere.
It would be far FAR easier as in orders of magnitude easier to fix Earth or even terraform Venus into a paradise than some far away exoplanet. Hell the Earth can just fix itself! All we need to do is stop screwing it up!
Even if we were to find an exoplanet that had a breathable atmosphere, radiation shielding magnetosphere, etc it still might not have soil to grow things. That requires life. If soil exists those life forms that may not be compatiable with our own. Perhaps their proteins are based on completely different, highly toxic amino acids, (like some mushrooms here on Earth) or they use something similar to but not DNA to code for those proteins. Or even if they do use DNA but it winds in the opposite direction.
As I’ve said before the only sure thing about the colonization of space is the first wave of colonists will quickly die to become food either for the indigenous life or the subsequent waves of colonists.
Or other planets have implemented Dark Forest Measures because they realize the last thing you want to do is let your planet be found.
Its a big sky. Surely there are plenty of planets without intelligent life too.
Thanks for the link.
Sonny, let me tell you now. Intelligent life has made contact. We MADE humanity. These political squabbles are designed to keep you distracted. The Overlizards run things, since we ran off the Annunaki. We just don’t tell it to the people in “charge.”
You Lizard people are so self absorbed. I would like to claim a direct lineage to Atahensic, but actually Master Commandant Richard Somers who died during the first Barbary war in Tripoli is as far as I’ve traced.
We are not self absorbed. We’ll, OK maybe. But you have to admit our terraforming program and livestock breeding program is doing quite well.
Platypus! OK stop now. I’m trying to decode the universe, and it requires undivided attention!
You shall not try to gaze upon the face of God! OK, I admit, I’m playing with a stacked deck. Trying to invoke religion when lizards control the catholic church is totally cheating. Go ahead, decode the universe. You will get a laugh when you do. Evidently the universe was programed by a being (roughly equivalent to a nerdy teenage human boy) as a poorly designed mmorpg that he never debugged or finished.
Hopefully we don’t fall behind on EVs then we realize we lost the competition to other countries, gas prices rise and everyone will be scrambling to get one. The economy is doing great on a lot of aspects today and I hope we keep the momentum to a better country, we will see.
No mention of Rivian here…..I expect them to get battered a bit short term as demonstrated by their stock price this morning.
Why in particular? because they are a Tesla competitor, or something more specific?
Likely roll back of green initiatives and subsidizing of EVs. Impacts of potential tariffs on battery tech/parts. Tesla will be more insulated initially due to being more mature as a company and proximity of Musk to his orange friend. Rivian is just much more vulnerable right now, not because they are a Tesla competitor, but because they have more at risk in their infancy.
Also, fewer Tesla’s qualify for credits right now so less of a driver for sales.
He may have a large slice of significantly smaller market.
I drive a non-Tesla EV (leased). I’ll be turning it in in a couple of years. We’ve loved the EV experience, but I’ll absolutely go back to ICE before buying Tesla. Not even political, I’d just prefer a car from an actual car company.
Cuddling up to the government teet is the best idea for a man who runs multiple companies that couldn’t survive (or exist in the first place) without government hand outs.
I mean, everyone is moving to NACS (the Tesla charging standard), so you should get the big selling point of Teslas with non Tesla automobiles in the very near future.
Personally I prefer the Service model and the lack of Dealership BS that comes with Teslas, however there’s no way in hell I’m buying a car with electric door handles unless the doors are easily removed (like on the Jeep Recon), in which case I’d remove the doors and never put them back on, hopefully the aftermarket will come out with doors that have mechanical latches.
I have used a public charger once, only to make sure I had the stupid app set up right.
EA chargers around here all work and can charge my car from almost empty to full in ~20 minutes, so the Tesla chargers aren’t an upgrade – and certainly aren’t a selling point.
I used one once, in a parking garage because it was free and just to see how it worked. But that may be the last time. Charging standard was 0% of my consideration when buying.
That’s like saying people would stop buying Apple phones because it didn’t have USB charging. Nobody cared… except EU.
Seems like a massive oversight unless you’re only using it in town.
This is more like if apple products required a male to male lightning charging cable to charge, but you didn’t have power adapters that allowed you to plug it into your house outlets.
In the US everything but NACS is going the way of the dodo, which will leave CCS equipped cars about as well off as the Leaf is today charger availability wise.
BEV charger adapters are not purely a hardware issue, the car and the charger have to go through a software handshake in order for the car to start charging, some vehicles like the Leaf are impossible to charge on NACS even if you had the charging adapter hardware sorted because their software is incompatible with one another.
Non NACS equipped automobiles will be the first to lose their public charging software support from both the OEMs and the public charging networks.
For this and the obscene cost difference I believe we should put in 240V outlets instead of LVL 2 charging stations, as that hardware standard hasn’t changed for a long time, and there’s no software issue, just bring your own cable, plug into the 240v outlet, and plug into your car.
Modern electric cars are a lot more software dependent for refueling than their ICE counterparts.
There are like 13 ‘Standard’ 220v outlets.
https://www.calstatesolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/220v-nema-receptacle.png
not an oversight, that’s just how unimportant it is for us.
The EV is for the 99.9% of our use cases. If we drive across the state we’ll use ICE and avoid the whole charging issue altogether.
Sorry – too late to edit:
There are like 13 ‘Standard’ 220v outlets. I have 2 dryer outlets in my house and a welder outlet in the garage. All are different and none of them match the plug that comes on most level 2 chargers.
https://www.calstatesolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/220v-nema-receptacle.png
300 mile range is relatively standard (or available on a lot of EVs if you spec them to prioritize range). It’s more than enough for more than in-town use.
That will get you from Boston to NYC or NYC to DC with 80 miles or so of overhead to find a suitable charger.
I know everyone’s use case is different. For me, EV use has not introduced a single headache over ICE use. Car is used for ~60 mile round-trip 3 days a week. Connect it when home on the third day on a level 1 charger plugged into a standard outlet and it’s fully charged by the end of the Thursday wfh day.
EV mandates (just like every emissions or mpg mandate) will be pushed back. Probably more loudly now than they would have been otherwise, but they always get pushed out or disregarded through a loophole.
I don’t think government mandates are the best way to get anything done, but when presented with ‘too big to fail’ auto manufacturers something needs to push innovation and development. Ideally, manufacturers would innovate on their own but the barriers to entering the auto industry have become prohibitively high. When you have huge barriers to entry, you do not have a free market. In that case, be prepared to be kicked around by regulations.
For BEV charger outlets there are 2. NEMA 6-50 and 14-50. We’d pick 1, preferably NEMA 14-50 due to its ability to also supply 120v, so with a purely hardware based adapter people could charge their smaller BEVs that don’t need the 240v using the same outlet.
I don’t doubt your claim of a lack of headaches from BEV use, it’s one of the selling points of it outside of public charging issues outside of Tesla charging network.
I agree with both your statement and your sentiment around mandates, while I dislike mandates as a point of principle, many things I like exist because of mandates (S-10 EV, 5 MPH bumpers, etc.)
Open 220v outlets would introduce some issues.They’d just become home base shore power connections for van-lifers. Nobody wants to attract van-lifers.
Then there would also be instagram and tiktok fools setting up home kitchens in charging spots and cooking thanksgiving dinner in an electric range they rolled down to the spot.
Tesla has long service waits for their vehicles in many areas, so their service model is terrible right now.
It’s always been questionable. My best friend had a cracked wheel on a Model 3 (because tesla was having known porosity issues) and he had to wait 2 weeks. And had to get his car to the service center 1hour away… where they kept it all day long. Just to mount and balance a tire on a new wheel.
Luckily he didn’t have anywhere to go since he worked from home. And had a second car.
I’m at home waiting for a Tesla mobile repair tech at the moment. My only problem is a flat tire, but local tire places don’t want to repair it for some reason so Tesla is the only option. I set the appointment 9 days ago. In the meantime, my car has been undrivable since it did not come with a spare tire.
I have had a good experience with my car until now, but it is ridiculous that my car has been undrivable for over a week due to a flat tire. A flat tire is usually a minor inconvenience at worst.
Could you not remove the wheel and bring it to a shop without the Tesla attached?
Yes, although when I tried setting an appointment to do just that, the earliest I could get in was December 11th. I have no idea why I would have to wait over a month to have a tire fixed, but apparently that is the case.
The tech at least showed up at my house today. Unfortunately, he couldn’t repair the tire and couldn’t replace it because he didn’t have the correct tire with him. He also couldn’t go get the correct tire because, while there is a Tesla service center 5 miles from my house, he works at the one 40 miles away and would have to go there to get the tire (which apparently he didn’t have time to do). So I had to set another appointment for Sunday.
I can’t believe it is this much of a pain in the ass to fix a damn tire.
I posted before I saw this and said they would just sell you a new tire. That’s all they ever do even if it is repairable. I just use America’s Tire.
Sorry that you are having to deal with this for that long, I had to a year ago and got a new set of tires because the alternative was waiting 2 weeks.
I’ll definitely remember for next time that they do not repair tires. While the local tire stores wouldn’t repair my tire, they were fine with selling me a replacement. Having the tire store do the work would have saved time and money.
Hi, I’m hear to replace tire. Sorry. I forgot to bring a tire. I’ll be back in four days between 2am and 3pm. Cool? See you then.
Sunday:
Dude, you’re not going to believe this. I have the tire, but I’m just a guy in a van and have no way to mount or balance it. Put this donut on and follow me back to my shop 40 miles away. The ride out is going suck, but the ride back should be awesome!
They are just going to sell you a new tire. They will not repair the flat.
All have / would.
Most could get up on their own two feet without the government being their only customer / benefactor. If you can find them, it’s great to have major sponsors who do not expect a return.
I have nothing positive to say about last night, however I do really like LCD Soundsystem. Nice choice.
Too many unknowns. California is gonna be screwed as is the regulatory impact on cars. That blueprint for electric? In the dumpster fire for 4 more years. Lucid?? Either bought by Tesla or bankruptcy. Stellantis? More Hellcats, ugh. I see the American and European auto builders creating a wall against China’s electrics and more electric alternatives. Great for ICE, sucks for Arctic.
Great for ICE, sucks for ice caps.
Polar bears and penguins don’t vote.
And by the time Miami floods, it’ll be too late.
For Miami. Mar-a-Largo will be raised several feet using federal money.
Polar bears and penguins don’t have any money to give to superpacs to funnel back to the boss man.
Predictions are tough, especially about the future
EV sales will continue to taper off until some game changing battery technology emerges. Continued popularity of hybrids – who doesn’t like 35 mpg from a large vehicle like a Sienna or Grand Highlander? Continued popularity of big gas trucks and SUVs cuz that’ll never change.
My prediction is even more big trucks and SUVs because poor MPG was the main detriment to buyers. The safety of others is just that: SEP. Big trucks and SUVS are better for ever more beat up road surfaces and the buyers of those giant vehicles will lay the blame squarely on heavy EVs rather than the person in the mirror.
Predictions about the past are actually pretty easy
These days we can’t even agree on the past.
I don’t think we will see a huge amount of changes, tbh.
One positive thing is that Trump has always been into cars, and seems to believe that EV’s work for some but not everyone (he doesn’t straight up hate EV’s).
I don’t think it’s going to be doom and gloom (like dismantling the EPA, etc), but EV mandates will likely be paused or pushed farther out. I am fine with this, personally. EV’s need to become compelling enough to stand on their own (as the car was compelling enough to replace the horse). Today’s charging infrastructure and products don’t work for a huge percentage of Americans.
In regards to oil, the less outsourcing we have to do, the better.
I read years ago that the US refineries are configured to refine heavier imported crude oils, which is why much of the lighter domestic production is exported. In 2023 the US produced more crude oil than any other country. My point being we’ll continue to import oil even though we are producing records levels locally.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61545
I have read same findings and this is something that I know is missed all too often. Regardless of which team you’re on this is just how it has been set up. Until it is more profitable to do otherwise, that is just how it’ll be.
We will import/export simply because of market dynamics. It’ll never be the most profitable to only sell to the internal market. That’s one of the reasons why countries have nationalized their oil companies
I recall reading a year or two ago that refining is an issue, the last major US refinery was built in the 1970’s.
In that same article the CEO of Warrior petroleum was quoted as saying no matter how high prices go, they won’t be doing any new drilling. I believe he was also later indicted on charges of price fixing.
We can drill baby drill as much as we want, but oil will continue to be a worldwide commodity unless they nationalize the oil companies. I’m fine with that, but then refining is still an issue.
On Rogan, Trump mentioned that there’s billions of dollars’ worth of oil just sitting there ready to be tapped. Billions for whom? Exxon Mobil, etc, sure as shit not us.
My thought on importing oil has always been that it’s better to let the rest of the world drain their oil fields.
Does Trump even have a drivers license? He certainly has never been into cars, beyond their value as a tool to show off his wealth and stroke his ego.
He does/did. After becoming president, you never really get to drive anymore.
Didn’t last time they try to remove CARB? I could see them taking another swing at that. Then maybe California secedes? Then we have to build a wall along the California border, then that’ll be a whole thing.
What’s that old saying, “may you live in interesting times?” I’d prefer not to.
Don’t tempt the rest of us with a good time.
We have a wall already, the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Just block the passes. Down south its the Mojave.
The Mojave desert does not extend down to the Mexican border.
We have a wall: The Sierras. We even have the world’s biggest moat: The Pacific. And hundreds of miles of empty desert buffer zone: Nevada and most of Utah. We even have Death Valley in between.
If you’re east of the Rockies you have to REALLY want to come to California.
I effing LOVE California. For someone who likes to be outdoors, it’s such an amazing place. If I could afford to live there, I’d move in a heartbeat.
You can.
If you like hot poverty there’s the central valley. If that’s not hot and poor enough for you there’s the Mojave. If THAT’S not hot and poor enough for you may I recommend Slab City:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City,_California
If you like freezing cold, methamphetamine ravaged wastelands try Eureka. If you really hate people but love trees there’s lots of little communities north of Chico where you can go weeks without seeing anybody. It gets both hot and cold depending on altitude.
Or say fuck California and move to Oregon instead.
Slab City is awesome, but only to visit.
I want to take my custom microcar/”bicycle” to Slab City so bad.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRD82a-AeWBmPVBp7bUaPv4b-Q5jdZoc8BbYw&s
I remember something about red states wanting the west coast gone. I vote that we add the west coast (and it’s GDP) to Canada.
Slow down there! We keep Oregon! And Washington has the Starbucks so…we keep them too, Canada can have California detached, like we have Alaska, that seems fair.
No deal, Howie. I need to avoid crossing the US border at all costs. And I’m a member of this site, which means I wanna be able to DRIVE it.
Ok, how about we give you Oregon, a tiny clip of Washington, and that weird sprout of Idaho, but in exchange, we get the coast between Washington and Alaska.
Hah, you can have it. Once you get north of Vancouver, most of it is useless and unpopulated.
I think it’s too early to speculate on what the car market will become, only because it has yet to be seen what Musks alleged federal appointment will exactly entail, and what influence he will end up yielding. Basically can chalk up the market to aligning with or diverging from Musks vision of the future based on how much power he gets. I don’t love that idea, but the signs seem to be pointing in that direction.
Well, I feel like EVs are gonna take a beating.
More big, gas guzzling trucks and SUVs. So, no real change.
Thanks for bringing up LCD Soundsystem on a bummer morning. Their Halloween night show last week in LA was fantastic! They opened with a cover of Bela Lugosi’s Dead.
Great band for sure! I was listening to Someone Great this morning on my commute. However, Daft Punk is not playing in my house tonight. Little too somber to dance.
In your mind, what does the auto industry look like in the next few years?
1 if the tariffs do happen, expect EVERY car to become drastically more expensive whether it’s made in USA, Mexico, Canada or anywhere in the world.
2 if the EPA gets dismantled, say good bye to breathing in a decade
3 expect our crumbling infrastructure to only get worse
4 “self driving” Teslas get to run free and kill or injure as many people as Elon wants with no accountability whatsoever
5 expect much higher gas prices again
It will now be 2 Dollar Tree.
Looking forward to buying more expired food there…/s
If you like Dollar Tree then you’ll LOVE Grocery Outlet and its ilk. I’ve gotten some shockingly good stuff there and WAAY cheaper than Dollar Tree. Pet food too.
I’d avoid the pasta though. Somehow the brands they sell managed to screw up pasta. AND the packages are chronically under filled. So bring a scale.
Overall though they have more good deals than bad.
Groc Out is amazing. I’ve picked up everything there from Italian balsamic vinegar (of very high quality) to imported cheese to topnotch rye whiskey, and all at 25% or less of the normal retail prices. You can consistently find excellent wine that’s also way below retail. You do need to be picky as there’s plenty of dreck there, and you have to drop in frequently, but I’m part of a network of Groc Out folks who alert each other when something really good comes in, so we do well out of the place.
“You can consistently find excellent wine that’s also way below retail.”
Can confirm. I picked up four cases of a very nice red blend just today for $2.39/bottle + tax and deposit thanks to their 20% off sale.
They also have a decent box of a viogner/chenin blanc blend for $7.99 or $6.40 when on sale.
I love both Grocery outlet and WinCo foods.
Different kind of market strategy but they both work for me
Oh, so THAT’S where DT gets his shower spaghetti!
I hear the best (well store bought anyway) shower spaghetti comes from WalMart.
Go figure…ha ha
They will just get rid of expiration dates; every meal is a gamble.
Eh, just irradiate it. No roll of the dice needed.
Family Fiver
Simplify it with The Dollars Tree.
Dollar$ Tree. I’ll take $4 million for the time I’ve spent brainstorming this revolutionary branding exercise.
Yes, between tariffs and demolishing the labor market, prices of EVERYTHING are going to go way up, which means sales will go way down. Which is funny because a majority of voters just ignored all principles and values because they were mad about prices going up.
We’re due for a housing market correction / adjustment. Considering how far values climbed in market conditions during Covid that should have sent them falling, there’s been some less than kosher manipulation going on.
Considering we fully let banks off the hook for the last one, we can only imagine how risky they’ve gone this time knowing there’s a safety net and no consequences.
I bet housing prices do not fall because housing construction becomes extraordinarily expensive after Trump deports 75% of people who swing a hammer in the Sunbelt.
That and corporate backers want us to be renters forever.
It may be an unintended consequence of tariffs and closing the borders financially. There’s a lot of US housing held as investments in foreign portfolios.
Could be. I think we can all agree that the economy will be destabilized, and which way it wobbles depends on a whole lot.
And with 1 out of 5 house selling to corporations for rentals, the potential for a major housing financial crash is high, with the corps geting bailed out while the rest of us don’t.
Corporations gonna corporation.
That means they live by hard mathematical rules. When the asset loses value, you ditch that asset.
I’m sure dumping corporate-owned homes onto the market during a sell-off won’t hurt values at all. Maybe if they drop low enough below their ‘zestimate’ it will trigger Zillow to auto-buy all of them. Zillow will save us all!
In regards to 3, I am certain Infrastructure Week will happen this time.
But I was assured on this very site that the deficit will be zeroed out.
Agree with a lot of that, except maybe the infrastructure part. The IIJA has resulted in a lot of projects up and running that will be completed over the next few years, so things will likely improve on that front for a while. That spending hasn’t been a campaign issue, so it seems unlikely that the new administration will try to gut it, although you never know
Why would gas prices go up? I think if anything is going to go up it’s electricity to pay for gasoline subsidies.
Because economists are predicting generalized 6-9% inflation from Trump’s plans. And, Trump is likely to encourage Israel to hit Iran economically, increasing oil prices.
Russia will be happy to make up for any Iranian shortfall.
Because OPEC will raise their prices with ZERO blowback and then US companies will also raise their prices because they would also like even more profits, this will be unencumbered capitalism with cartel practices.
They could have done that already.
Could have, but now they have their guy of choice going back in office.
They had him from 2016-2020 too.
And gas got expensive
If you recall it dropped to a low before that because demand plummeted.
I dropped due to the pandemic shutdowns, but it got really expensive before then
I don’t recall it getting REALLY expensive behorehand, only after.
Slow rolling of federal emissions/EV standards, with blue states ostentatiously spiting the orange man by tightening their own standards. Messy court fights ensue. Car companies attempt to straddle the line by selling “California-only” models like in decades past while modestly increasing availability of gas powered models elsewhere.
A welcome decoupling from China continues.
This president will never be seen on a UAW picket line, but probably won the majority of their votes again this year. At some point Democrats will start picking up on this disconnect and give themselves permission to begin publicly moving away from unions.
Honestly can’t argue with this assessment. I suspect the Federal EV tax credit is toast. There may or may not be a rollback of CAFE standards, although really a short term moot issue since product planning occurs years in advance. It’s gonna be messy – I plan to hold on to what I have for the time being and suspect many others will as well.
Decoupling from China will be a shit show but is likely a long term good.
I think this depends greatly on what happens with the House. Even if Republicans take control, we’ve obviously seen their inability to control a small advantage in the chamber recently. And unless they are willing to nuke the filibuster, any legislation will still need buyin and compromise from some Democrats. Not to mention at least one prominent Republican runs a company that appreciates EV credits…..
The stuff that can be done merely by executive agencies like the EPA I think is more certain to change.
Again, likely correct.
Also remember that real changes to legislation require the senate to vote in committee and it takes a 60 vote majority to move new legislation out of committee to a full floor vote.
So, there isn’t as much compromise needed but still some. They’ll have to get 6-7 blue states to vote with them on changes to the IRA.
This is why it’s better to have an actual law rather than executive orders, as has been the norm. I pass no judgement either way on the IRA but if you want your agenda to stick, you’ll need some compromises along the way. I wonder if the Republicans, in their celebration of the election, will see the need to do it but it will have to be done in some measure.
EO is a nightmare no matter which side you are on. Legislation requires compromise and is the better solution.
If we’re getting rid of CAFE standards lets start with the Footprint rule!
You’re right about Democrats caring less about unions, but it just speaks to how completely ineffectual they’ve been. Instead of fighting tooth and nail to gain more of a foothold in unions, they’ll just throw up their hands and turn yet another demographic over to Republicans.
“A welcome decoupling from China continues”
And a not so welcome market of $200 hoodies and $20 socks. Also a quiet increase of 13th amendment US prison labor and illegal sweatshops to make up for the Chinese shortfall.
In addition to getting all my political news from The Autopian, I’ve listed Jason Torchinsky as my primary care doctor and Adrian Clarke as my “In Case of Emergency” contact.
Yeah, that’s not gonna turn out great.
As my therapist, I appreciate your concern. Maybe we can talk about it during our next session. Also, that 6′ tall rabbit that only I can see is back. We should probably address that too.
Sorry, I let Harvey out again and he gets into places he shouldn’t.
It is kinda hard to contain a ‘6 rabbit….
Brother you have NO IDEA. He’s smarter than he looks!
He’s a guy in a bunny suit. That’s a rather low bar.
https://youtu.be/r-IfeyR_Cw8?t=5
Your submission for Germany’s Most Disturbing Home Videos?
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9p5ey
A scene from the 1997 film Gummo. It’s widely cited by film critics as one of the most disturbing films ever made, but watching that film for the first time a month ago brought me back to my childhood. I figured the bunny ears kid was relevant to the brief discussion about a 6′ rabbit. Here’s another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6LQRikA2kI
And the above clip you posted was so damned good. If you want to see more Germany-inspired comedic goodness, here’s one for you:
https://youtu.be/xlmM7yoq59E?t=5
I love German stereotypes.
Don’t we all?
And now Talledega nights comes to mind:
Adrian: I’ve decided to do what’s best and pull the plug.
Doc: what? He is just sleeping!
Adrian: it’s what he would have wanted.
Doc: he is fine!
Same as it ever was.
Except for Carlos, (not pictured above).
He will assume the appointed position of Auto Czar and lead the entire industry into a golden age…/s
Golden what?
I was told the only election that happened yesterday involved Chrysler products from the 80s and we were living the next 4 years under the Dodge Caravan administration.
This is the first time I was able to laugh today. I extend a truly heartfelt thank you.
Don’t blame me, I voted for Aerostar.
If it were an option I would have went with the Iron Duke Astro!
To be fair, I’d trust Lee Iacocca more in that office.
“Also, if you get your US political news from The Morning Dump, that’s quite strange; maybe don’t do that.”
I get all my news from a truthful reliable source.
Memes.
There’s a Sopranos-themed Instagram account that routinely ends up being one of the first accounts to break certain types of news, usually deaths of famous people.