South Korea continues to lobby for EV tax credits, America’s roads might be getting safer, Ford kills the Shelby GT500. All this and more in today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
South Korea Still Seeking IRA Resolution
Certain automakers and, indeed, nations still aren’t happy about new EV tax credits. Reuters reports that the Inflation Reduction Act weighs heavily on South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s first official trip to America.
The law has sparked complaints from government officials in Seoul, who see it as a betrayal of Biden’s vows to boost bilateral economic ties after South Korean companies agreed to make major investments and build factories in the United States.
Seoul officials have asked Washington to postpone the new rules until Hyundai completes building its Georgia factory in 2025. Yoon is likely to reiterate that request during the upcoming summit.
Speaking in Seoul on Tuesday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the IRA “seems to be a violation of the Free Trade Agreement” between the two nations. However, the South Korean government is focusing on bilateral dialogue for now, he said, when answering a lawmaker’s question in parliament.
It’s generally a bad idea to upset major trading partners, and South Korea might have a good case for expanding tax credits here. Electric passenger vehicles should essentially be tariff-free under code 87039000, and an interim solution for tax credits given plans for American Hyundai EV production in 2025 seems like a fair compromise.
America’s Roads Might Be Getting Safer
While road deaths soared through the pandemic, there are signs that things may be changing yet again. Bloomberg reports that road fatalities in the second quarter fell year-over-year.
Some 10,590 people died in car crashes from April through June, down 4.9 percent from the same period in 2021, according to estimates the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released Monday. Fatalities had been increasing since the third quarter of 2020.
“Although it is heartening to see a projected decline in roadway deaths in recent months, the number of people dying on roads in this country remains a crisis,” Ann Carlson, NHTSA’s acting administrator, said in a statement. Carlson recently assumed the role after Steven Cliff stepped down to return to the California Air Resources Board.
While I’d love to chalk this up to fewer rusty drivers on the roads, there’s another big mitigating factor that’s worth talking about: Gas prices. The numbers on the pump soared in the second quarter, which could’ve changed driving habits. I’ll be closely watching what happens to road deaths through the third quarter as fuel prices dropped again.
The 2023 Chrysler 300C Is Sold Out
If you wanted to get your hands on Chrysler’s new bruiser, I’m afraid I have bad news. Motor Trend reports that the 2023 Chrysler 300C sold out in just twelve hours. While limited-run cars selling out very quickly is a common PR stunt, something feels different here.
For starters, the new 300C isn’t that limited. A production run of 2,200 cars is quite significant, especially for a full-size sedan. Volkswagen of America only sold 5,537 Arteons in total last year. Secondly, the 300’s cultural moment passed a long time ago, right around the time of the Great Recession. Sure, the second-generation 300 SRT was cool, but it didn’t quite have the cachet the first LX-based 300 did.
Then there’s a matter of exactly what the 300C is. It’s a parts-bin special that doesn’t even use the second-most powerful production V8 in the FCA arsenal. By all accounts, the new 300C is a Dodge Charger Scat Pack that looks like a rental car. It’s not that special in the grand scheme of things, yet people are loving it. It’s easy to understand why. People like fun cars. Nobody needs a big sedan with 485 horsepower, but it’s fun to have. Before the vibe shift happens, people want to celebrate the fabulous liveliness of V8s. These beating hearts shoehorned between frame rails, from British gravel to Italian banshee wails. The baritone bellow of an American pushrod V8 sits right in a sweet spot that really gets the people going, and the new 300C is a love letter to that vigor.
Dead: Shelby GT500
While a new Ford Mustang is on the horizon, the current car isn’t done just yet. Muscle Cars & Trucks caught up with brand manager Jim Owens to learn more about what the 2023 model year Mustang will look like.
“Demand (for S550 Mustang) is there,” said Owens. “Supply is not, and we’re working towards it. We were down nine weeks this year, thirteen weeks last year” at the Flat Rock Assembly plant, where the Ford Mustang production exclusively takes place.
Additionally, if you’ve been wanting a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, now’s the time to buy, as we also learned that there won’t be one for the 2023 model year. This effectively means the GT500 is done after the 2022 model year, until if/when Ford debuts one for the S650 generation. Lastly, we also learned that the Brittany Blue heritage color has also been dropped, as well as the Mustang EcoBoost Coastal Edition. Ford will continue to build the Mustang Mach 1 for the 2023 model year, but will continue to hold off on building the Handling Package during the winter months, due to the warmer weather conditions needed for the Michelin performance tires.
So, bad news for anyone looking at the really quick Mustangs. If you want a GT500, it’s likely best to get your order in right now. In addition, a shortened model year also means much slimmer chances of getting a Mach 1 with the sticky Michelin Cup 2s optioned. The 2023 model year is your last chance to get an Ecoboost Mustang with a manual gearbox, the four-cylinder car is going automatic-only for 2024. It’s disappointing to see enthusiasts on a budget be left out in the cold for three-pedal thrills.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. Happy Tuesday, everyone. Automatic gearboxes often get a bad rap in enthusiast circles, yet some of them are really quite good. I’d love to know what your favorite conventional automatic gearbox is. No dual-clutch gearboxes, no CVTs, just torque converter stuff.
Lead photo credit: Hyundai
American roads would be safer with more manuals not less. I’ve never understood manual sports cars. Learn it and love it.
Never understood “non-manual” sports cars. Stupid
“non-manual” sports cars.
Stupid
“non-manual”
Stupid
I really like the Ford 10 speed auto in the Ecoboost. It makes it a faster car than the motor can explain. I’ve had a clutch pedal in my daily since I had a daily, I’d need the 6MT in a GT or above, but in the turbo 4 I prefer the auto. There are a lot of auto trans that would keep me out of a car. That’s not one of them.
“The woman in black and white standing next to the red 300 makes me wonder if this publicity shot was done in Eastern Europe”
Given the street sign outside I’d say US or Canada.
The event was on Greenwood Street in Bratislava. In those parts, there are many fans of outgoing American cars and generic, nice sounding street names.
ZF 8-speed and GM/Ford 10-speed are probably the two best conventional automatic transmissions on the market.
Old 3-speeds with OD. They shifted slushy, but it seemed appropriate for the cars they usually mated to and they didn’t constantly hunt around only to almost inevitably settle on the wrong gear, requiring manual override operation to enjoy a drive with a modicum of enthusiasm except that they shift way too damn slow in manual mode for it to be anything but frustrating. Honestly, as much as I hate CVTs for their lack of long term reliability, I prefer the better ones as a driving experience to these 100-speed autos that can’t make up their damn minds—they’re smooth and don’t jump around like an early 90’s Hip Hop act.
The only vehicle I’ve owned and driven with a conventional automatic was a 1959 Ford sedan with a Ford-O-Matic (the aluminum-cased genuine two-speed version), so by default I’ll claim that as my favorite, but only by default.
Favorite automatic? 2-speed Powerglide. It’s perfect for performance EV applications, inexpensive, reliable, durable, and as simple as it gets when it comes to repairs. It’s not a good match for ICE cars if efficiency is the goal, but electric motors have such a broad curve of high efficiency that for them operating point doesn’t matter as much.
“Electric motors have such a broad curve of high efficiency that for them operating point doesn’t matter as much.”
It matters much if that inefficiency drops you range to several miles short of the next working charger.
In that case, cleaning some splattered bugs and bird droppings off the body, and inflating your tires a few extra PSI, could make the same difference.
That said, if you don’t need the car to have a high top speed, just skip the transmission and use a single reduction ratio, like most of them do.
My rear wheel drive Automatics have been in vehicular chronological order TH400, 4L60E, ZF8, and RE7R01B.
For simplicity TH400.
For driving the ZF8 is programmed to read your mind. At least it is with a Hemi.
“It’s not that special in the grand scheme of things…”
“…a big sedan with 485 horsepower…”
Umm, I know we’re all jaded enthusiasts here, but a 485 hp sedan is still pretty special. Given that big, powerful sedans are probably first on the ICE chopping block I’m not at all surprised that it’s selling out.
The ZF 8 speed is pretty good. One I’ve been okay with is the Toyota/Aisin U660 6 speed. It’s responsive and matches the I4 it’s hooked onto fairly well. Change the fluid every so often and it’ll keep on going.
I’d still have preferred a manual, but the aisin 6 in my Sportwagen is significantly nicer to live with than anything older I’ve spent significant time on. Big improvement even from the aisin 5 in the v50 it replaced
Toyota/Aisin automatics are awesome. They last a long time with no problems, and they shift smooth.
The Korean automakers have union contracts where they must close foreign facilities before domestic Korean ones, so their whining about the electric car deal is kind of hypocritical…
Fuck that stupid limited edition shit, especially after they specifically said it wouldn’t be a limited edition. Yawn…
Maybe an S650 Shelby will be available with the Godzilla. You know the Godzilla will eventually make its way into a factory Mustang.
I wonder if the decline in deaths on the road could also be attributable to fewer drivers? Many of the oldest boomers are now giving up their keys, and it’s been written about endlessly how “younguns” aren’t interested in cars and prefer busses, scooters and Uber.
Unless they’re quoting deaths/vehicle miles, it’s easy to manipulate statistics. However, 40K deaths is still 40K dead people.
I like Hundal’s gas price theory. High prices would tend to result in people driving fewer miles and, possibly, at saner speeds. A drop in disposable income might also see fewer people going out for dinner/drinks, leading to fewer intoxicated drivers.
“High prices would tend to result in people driving fewer miles and, possibly, at saner speeds”
Maybe the former but if that’s the case the freeways would be less crowded leading to much less of the latter.
Regarding the Chrysler 300C, there simply won’t be any floor plan cars. These days, “Sold Out” special editions don’t mean cars that are sold out to the dealers. It usually means sold out to customers. Even if deposits haven’t been made yet, I’m pretty sure they have enough interested people to collect deposits from, even if a whole bunch of potential buyers drop out.
I suspect that Chrysler is deliberately avoiding floor plan vehicles because those aren’t as profitable for the manufacturer as dividing the available production so that they’re able to ship at least some of all models of their best and most profitable sellers. If they were doing 5,000, I think you’d eventually see some unsold 300Cs on dealer lots. But I think this is limited enough that you’ll only ever see the occasional car from a drop-out between allocation and delivery on dealer lots.
I don’t blame the gubment for setting up the tax credit structure to benefit American manufacturers. It’s their job to try to improve the country, even if a shocking amount of people in office have no such intention. It just is what it is.
The 300C selling out surprises me very little. These cars are cynical cash grabs with artificially low supply to drive up demand. While I’m far from the target audience for one people are PASSIONATE about Murican V8s. I don’t see the point of dropping 60k (at least, you know markups are coming) on one of these when you could get a decent Charger or Challenger Poo Pack for around 40, but again…I’m not the target audience. These are emotional cars and people are making emotional decisions. I get that much at least.
There will be another GT500. This is just…*checks notes* a cynical cash grab and a manufacturer trying to create a panic about THE DEATH OF THE V8. Whatever. Looks like Ford will have a V8 on option for the next 6-7 years so I don’t see why we need to panic. All of this stuff is overblown and there will be more Super Stangs.
DCTs are my favorite but if we’re going torque converter I’d have to say the Ford/GM 10 speed in sports car applications. It seems as though its tuning varies and it’s actually terrible in trucks but I had it in a Camaro SS rental and I loved that thing. It felt and sounded very raw and mechanical but it was still smooth. Hearing the combination of the roar of the V8 and the click/hiss of the transmission shifting with the roof down was like a symphony. Just amazing.
The ZF8 is nice too and I’ve driven it in a V6 A6 and 330i amongst other things. It’s silky smooth and shifts imperceptibly quickly, but to me it lacks character. I like the mechanical feel of the 10 speed more, and naturally it’s why I gravitate towards DCTs in my urban dailies as well. I want to feel like me and/or the car are actually doing something when gears change.
As long as people continue to confuse improving the country with subsidizing American companies you’ll continue to get both the country and the mediocre products you deserve.
The woman in black and white standing next to the red 300 makes me wonder if this publicity shot was done in Eastern Europe
First; Part of the reasoning behind the tariffs is to strengthen supply chains, you do that by shortening them and building in redundancy. That means both building them in America and importing them from South Korea (among other places). In other words, it’s not you, it’s your neighbors.
Flush; I guess I’ll second Mark Tucker’s answer.
the 4L80E with Standalone controller is pretty solid, but for a while there you could get well built 700R4’s for a song. those gave you overdrive with built TH350 performance.
I’m actually ok with most of the old American 3-speeds: TH350 and 400, Torqueflites, C4 and C6. Yes, they’re terribly inefdicient, but they’re simple, reasonably cheap to rebuild/replace, understandable by DIY mechanics, and can be tuned to shift how you want them to.
It’s when you get into electronic controls and overdrives that you lose me; no otherwise functional old car should have to be junked because a new transmission costs more than the car is worth.
As the owner of a TH350: Find me a TH350 that doesn’t leak. They are reliable and simple, but god, they leak.
I owned at least three TH350-equipped cars back in the day. They didn’t leak, although you could count on needing a rebuild at about 80K miles. That was common for those times, though.
My current leak is the front main seal. Get to drop the entire tranny to fix that. Yay!
When it first came out I wanted to hate on the Chrysler 300 because of the Rolls Royce mimicry and the “old man” feel to it. Over time, it’s grown on me.
I can definitely see the draw of getting a high horsepower version of the last production year of a car in a segment that’s disappearing.
eh, this writer is starting to feel a little like Ralph Orlove somedays. He misunderstands the power of breathing new life into old models with special editions. it definitely does not look like a rental to me, but I digress. it is also lamentable that they did not give us a full send Hell cat motor, but I also think this guy does not understand the difference between a scat pack and actual SRT full dynamic suspension. Basically this is the best Charger you can get and it looks different than literally every other one out there.
I chortled at “Ralph.”
Hadn’t thought about that whiny loser since switching sites, not feeling any nostalgic pull to go see what he’s up to now.
He went to R&T.
Do you think that when one takes the helm of the NHTSA there’s a specific part of the onboarding where they teach you that there will never not be a crisis, or does one only get the job if they demonstrate such an understanding?
Gotta keep that funding secured, even if a “crisis” means you’re still seeing fewer deaths per mile traveled than was thought possible a few decades ago.
An annualized death rate of 40,000 people isn’t a crisis just because it used to be worse? These aren’t natural deaths or even a case of age-related causes meaning someone only lived to, say, 80 instead of 83. It’s still a lot of people even if the percapita rate doesn’t, I dunno, feel significant?
No, by definition a crisis is a point at which the course of the future is changed because of what is happening or has happened. A slowly diminishing trendline of a bad thing may be many things, but it’s not a crisis. We’re not going to see a sudden change in how automobiles are used and regulated because of the “vehicular death crisis of 2022.” Instead we’ll continue to see incremental changes not tied to particular events.
It’s also necessary to remember the scale of numbers we’re dealing with. Vehicle related deaths ticking up by 2 or 3% is statistically significant in the scope of that data, but it’s not even a rounding error in the roughly 3.5 million annual deaths in the US.
Not all deaths are preventable. Most are even inevitable. Every singular vehicular death is preventable. 40,000 is a lot
I have the now ubiquitous ZF 8-speed in my Grand Cherokee and I can’t tell you the last time I’ve even thought about it while driving because it just works seamlessly.
That thing is bulletproof. Had it in my Diesel GC and an Audi A6. It always seems to be in the right gear. Kuddos to ZF on that one.
The ZF 8 speed- whether in a CJDR or BMW has always been my favorite.
The 300C sellout isn’t really surprising when you consider it’s the last year for the platform, and impending bans of new IC powered vehicles will make those cars very valuable on the used market.
And the price is pretty good, assuming anyone gets close to MSRP. Compare it with the 300S comparably equipped.
That said, I suspect we’ll hear about dealers getting them in and then giving the folks who ordered the choice of paying too much or losing out. And they’ll point to the quick reservations as evidence of the high demand.
The Aisin 8 speed in modern Volvos is the smoothest auto I have ever driven. In the comfort setting of my V60 I almost don’t even notice the gear shifts and I don’t know what more you could want from an auto gearbox
Basic answer, but the TH400/4L80E.
If it’s possible to call an automatic transmission iconic, this is the one. I’ve had several and none have ever let me down.
To be fair, the ZF 8 Speed is probably THE iconic modern automatic, so yeah I think they can be.