Why yes, I have been up for four hours, why do you ask? Things areĀ happening today and we got our own little October surprise in the form of car sales which, by one measure, were up 12% year-over-year even with stubborn headwinds. One place they weren’t up is at Toyota, which might be a good thing for you if you’re really jonesing for a Highlander but haven’t been able to get one for a good price.
Toyota has been butter in Manhattan (on a roll) for the last few years, but what goes up must eventually come down and the automaker is finally seeing sales slow down just the tiniest bit and incentives going up just a tiny bit more. This is a good thing for consumers.
Elon Musk is a… just kidding. I’m not going to do that to you today.
If you work at Ford you might be happy that federal regulators are closing an investigation into an engine recall impacting EcoBoost motors with intake valves as brittle as my nerves around 5:00 pm tonight. If you live in Britain you have even more to celebrate as Dacia is now offering the smallest, cheapest electric van. It’s cheap. And cute.
Deep breath. Let’s Morning Dump.
Car Sales Were A Bit Of An October Surprise
More new cars are being sold than last year, but it’s been a generally slow market with only gentle increases most months. The assumption has been that there’s a lot of pent-up demand and a number of factors have kept buyers out of dealer showrooms. There’s the presidential election which, maybe, will be over soon. Consumer confidence has been a mixed bag. Interest rate cuts have been slow to come and even slower to filter down to buyers. High on profits, some automakers have been reluctant to discount as quickly as they should.
Overall, the future is uncertain and cars are still expensive for varying reasons.
And yet, October was a big month for a lot of people according toĀ Automotive News:
The U.S. new light-vehicle market racked up a 12 percent gain in October, providing some momentum as the key fourth quarter unfolds after a lackluster third quarter.
New light truck and car sales totaled 1.343 million last month, GlobalData said in a preliminary report, exceeding the companyās forecast by some 15,000. Higher incentives, wider selection and extra selling days appeared to help drive volume higher, analysts said.
The market was expected to increase 8 to 11 percent in October, spurred by stronger retail volume that offset lower fleet deliveries, according to forecasts from J.D. Power, GlobalData, Cox Automotive and S&P Global Mobility.
What’s driving this demand? The election certainly wasn’t over as everyone you know who lives in Pennsylvania has been visited by folks from, like, Hastings-on-Hudson every other damn day. Even accounting for extra selling days, it was a great month for many brands.
Incentives are part of it andĀ Automotive News says they were up 71% on average compared to October 2023 when we were still coming out of inventory shortages.Ā The other big part of this, I think, is that consumer confidence is starting to pick up for whatever reason, as Cox Automotive has noted:
Consumer confidence continues to rise, with sentiment indices reaching the highest levels since spring 2021, driven partly by declining gas prices.
Generally speaking, economic indicators have been positive for a while. For all the doom and gloom over the last two years, the economy seems to be recovering just fine. In theory, this should mean a great November and December. Why might it not be? Because three years ago we were in the midst of supply chain-induced inventory shortages and this led to lower leasing. With fewer leases coming due, those customers are likely not in the market.
Toyota Will Probably Post A Profit Drop This Quarter And That Might Not Be Bad News For You
For the first time in two years, Toyota is going to report that it’s likely to not make quite as much money as it had been making. This isn’t like Aston Martin, Toyota still makes a lot of money, it’s just probably going to say it made a little less a lot of money than it has in the past.
Having ridden the hybrid train hard to record earnings, Toyota is slowing down just a touch.
The Japanese automaker is expected to report a 14% year-on-year operating profit decline in July-September, to 1.2 trillion yen ($7.9 billion), according to the average of nine analyst estimates in an LSEG poll.
That would mark its first profit decrease since the same quarter in 2022. It has already said quarterly global sales shrank 4% from a year earlier and that output declined 7%.
What’s happening? Some of this is just physics as Toyota’s stellar run has to slow down at some point. Additionally, Toyota is seeing its competition, like Mazda, up its incentives a lot in the United States. A stop-sale order for its new three-row Lexus TX and Grand Highlander also hasn’t helped.
This might be good news for you as Toyota has such a tight inventory that it’s been hard, though not impossible, to score big incentives on a lot of the brand’s bread-and-butter vehicles. Toyota seems to recognize this as incentives rose $686 to $1,669. It’s less than half what Mazda offered in October ($3,573), which goes to show you how popular Toyotas are right now.
Even better, Toyota is trying to move more of its Grand Highlanders and has introduced an entry-level LE version
This new trim is available in a choice of 2.5-liter Hybrid with standard electronic on-demand All Wheel Drive (AWD) or a 2.4-liter, 4 cylinder turbocharged gas-powered variant with available Front- or All Wheel Drive. Along with Grand Highlanderās signature spacious interior, it has great standard features like seating for eight with 60/40-fold down second and third row seating, 13 cup and bottle holders, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen with Toyota Audio Multimedia system. It also has a power liftgate, heated power outside mirrors with blind spot warning indicators, and Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 (TSS 3.0), standard. Altogether, it makes the LE grade an exceptional option for drivers who prioritize value without compromising on quality or features.
The LE trim will start at $40,860 (pre-destination) for an LE FWD and $44,120 for the hybrid. That’s a good deal.
Ford Skates On Second Engine Recall
Ford’s Jim Farley has been on a mission for the last year to restore quality as job #1 at the company after it fell to, I don’t know, maybe job #13 for a while. It was the job right after “make sure a big gulp fits in the cupholder” but ahead of “naming the fun scents for Lincolns.”
Unfortunately for him, Ford still has to contend with the ghosts of its shaky quality past. A recall for about 400,000 vehicles built with either the 2.7-liter or 3.0-liter EcoBoost engines was supposed to deal with the problem of cracked intake valves grenading engines. But did it though?
Ford’s contention was that if this was going to happen it was almost certainly going to happen under 20,000 miles, meaning that any car that had the brittle valves likely already experienced the issue and has had its engine replaced. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated Ford’s analysis just to be sure and ultimately agreed:
The results of this analysis, and the trends identified through the failure report data are generally consistent with Fordās assessment that defective intake valves will likely fail at a low time in service and indicate that the majority of subject vehicles equipped with defective valves have already experienced a failure.
Anyone with one of those motors will have a 10-year, 150-mile extended warranty to fall back on should something happen.
Look At This Cute Cheap Electric Van
I’m no just the President of the Dacia Spring Is A Good Cheap Car Club, I’m also a member. This little EV is cute and, better than anything else, it’s cheap. One of these in the lowest trim goes for Ā£14,995 in the UK, or under $20,000, which gives you about 140 miles on the mixed European WLTP test cycle. Cars tend to be a bit more expensive in the UK and food/theatre tickets are cheaper. If you put both the inflated price and test cycle through the Americanizer you can think of it as an EV that goes about 120 miles and hypothetically could cost about $18k.
And now there’s a van version!
With the rear seats removed and a mesh bulkhead fitted, the N1 homologated Spring Cargo is a clever van version of Britainās most affordable new electric car, the All-New Dacia Spring.
As a compact van thatās only 3.7m long with a turning radius of just 4.8m, the Spring Cargo is ideal for city driving. It also offers a generous payload of 370 kg with 1085 litres of load space thatās easily accessed from the rear doors or tailgate.
Around town, the 26.8 kWh battery offers plenty of range with up to 186 miles available (WLTP urban cycle) or 140 miles (WLTP mixed cycle) with fast charging from 20% to 80% in 45 minutes.
The starting price is also Ā£14,995, so if you’re delivering compact things in a city environment it’s a cheap way to do it.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This was parodied by Austin Powers, but here’s “Soul Bossa Nova” from the late, great Quincy Jones getting the full Bob Fosse treatment. It just oozes funky cool.
The Big Question
What do you call a sandwich made with a long roll of bread, generally sliced in half, and filled with ingredients like meats, cheese, and veggies?
Deli, hogie, sub. All three are acceptable.
grinder too, depending on where you are
Damn! If my back were 1/10th as flexible as that lead female dancer, I might actually be able to fit in a Miata. But alas…
Lunch. Such a culinary creation serves as lunch.
When you get a sandwich around here they ask if you want it on a roll or hero. It’s a hero
Steamed ham
Steamed hams? I thought you said we were having Steamed Clams?
It’s an Albany expression
A Sub.
I also ordered a Toyota in October which is the first new car I’ve ordered for myself in 24 years.
Ooh fun. I just emailed you to start working on a members’ rides write up. What’s the new Toyota?
I got that! Thank you! Might take me awhile though, there’s a just a lot. LOL
Well, the new car is a stick, RWD, and green…….
I have money down, but they tell me the wait might be 6-8 months. It’s been a month now and it’s already killing me. š
Ooh nice! I like it! And yeah I know with a fleet of like 50 I ask a lot of questions haha
Depends. Could be a hotdog, sub, taco, or baguette. https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/249/778/490.jpg
This is the kind of clarity I need in my life in 2024. Now do one that helps me understand my insurance benefits.
Sub. And I’ll torpedo any arguments against.
City cars don’t sell in America, land of giant spaces and giant people. As for why, well, we have space to park giant vehicles and a Pax Americana to transport black gold safely* around the world.
For Elon, he’s a fool with a magaphone. There’s the Elon reference for today.
It was definitely a “sub” in Denver in the 80s. My favorite was the pizza sub from Joyce’s subs on Peoria and Colfax with a large mixture (fried cauliflower, zucchnini and mushrooms) on the side. That was a delicious and unhealthy treat.
Nothing like taking perfectly healthy options like zucchini and mushrooms and drowning them in enough carbs and grease to make your arteries beg for mercy.
Not to mention the ranch to dip them in.
blu cheese, but yeah. totally.
My mom just got a call from the dealer that the stop sale fix for her ordered GH hybrid is finally ready and they should be able to take delivery in a month or so.
Honestly, these are going to be everywhere. A big 3 row SUV that gets 35 mpg combined?
BƔnh mƬ.
Damnit, now I’m hungry.
I’m fixin’ to go downstairs and get me one of those for lunch.
I’d call it a sandwich. I’m not getting into any arguments about subs, hoagies, grinders, or whatever else people want to call them. I’m also not getting into any arguments about which cheeses are acceptable on a cheesesteak.
If you want to talk about why a pop-tart is a ravioli, sure, let’s talk.
The ongoing discussion in my house revolves around cereal being a salad.
But is cereal in milk not a soup?
Cold cereal in milk is a cold and lumpy porridge.
Next you’ll be telling me my bloody mary is gazpacho.
Ketchup is a smoothie
That’s what I tell my coworkers. A nice big mug of gazpacho.
In a way, a cup of coffee is a bean soup, or at least a bean broth.
Considering the delineation of soup vs salad is unclear, that’s a fair discussion. If I use too much dressing, does my salad become soup? If I drain broth from a soup, does it become salad? Is dry cereal a salad? There are many valid questions.
Uncrustables are large raviolis!
That seems fair, but consider whether handheld ravioli are just calzones. Or is a calzone just another large ravioli?
:head explodes:
Well, what the fuck is a cheeze-it then?
According to the cube food categorization system, any cracker (with or without toppings) would be classified as toast (unless there is something between two crackers, at which point it would be a sandwich). But I’m not completely sold on the system.
As with any broad classification, you run the risk of someone with a plucked chicken declaring “behold, a man.”
If that’s the case, I guess I will become a Pringles guy. I bet Mr. Pringles is a solid hang.
Subs – I knew of the hoagie term, but despite all my family being from the north I never heard of the term “grinder” until my first job in high school. I worked at the spongmonkey restaurant, and I remember a guy came in asking if we sold “meatball grinders.” I told him no, and then I think someone explained it later. But also, read the menu!
Nowadays there’s sort of an app for that but not that kind of app.
What do I call it?
Depends on whether it slept with my sister or not.
Whoās your sister, Poke Salad Annie?
Deep cut reference – I’m proud I got it! Good blues tune. Is it ‘poke’ or ‘polk’ salad Annie?
Poke, from pokeweed.
polk salad
It is actually poke salad, though the song was titled āPolk Salad Annie.ā Thereās an interesting – possibly apocryphal – story about the spellings.
Poke salad, made from boiled and drained pokeweed greens (itās highly toxic otherwise) has been around forever and was a staple for Blacks in early America. They used pokeweed because it grew readily along the edges of fields, among other places, and as it was a weed was not prized by plantation owners. Its use spread to poor Whites and then, like a lot of foods favored by the poor, slowly found its way onto the tables and into the traditions of those more well off.
Now, as the story goes, the word āpokeā has several meanings, one being slang for sexual intercourse. Women who were rather free with their virtues came to be called Poke Salad Annieās as a sly way of referring to their proclivities. This sort of double entendre did not sit well with the finer folk who liked poke salad, so they began to write and speak of it as Polk Salad to cleanse it of its down and dirtier meanings.
Over time, the terms largely became interchangeable when referring to the salad with Whites mostly using Polk and Blacks sticking with poke, though there was, inevitably, crossover.
Anyway, when a White musician penned the song āPolk Salad Annieā in the late 60s, he went with the Polk spelling. He was aware of the sexual history of the phrase āpoke salad Annie, ā and supposedly used a lot of oblique references to sex in his lyrics to avoid censorship. This was actually a very common practice in the 50s and 60s.
Then Elvis covered the song and it became a big hit at his shows and so āPolk Salad Annieā it was, with the original sexual subtext ignored.
I got this story from a Cajun musician who was pretty ancient when I met him. Whether itās true or not, who knows? But it sounds as if it could be close to a truth anyway.
Thanks.
That’s between her and her deli.
“What do you call a sandwich made with a long roll of bread, generally sliced in half, and filled with ingredients like meats, cheese, and veggies?”
Delicious and filled with promise.
I remember reading the below article years ago. Mr. Jones, who didn’t drive, was taken out for a ride in the Maybach Exelero. Still a great read. RIP Q.
https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/02/05/8399176/index.htm
A sub, or maybe a cheessteak if it’s a cheesesteak. But is a hot dog a sandwich?
Yes. https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/249/778/490.jpg
No, it’s a taco.
What do you call a sandwich made with a long roll of bread, generally sliced in half, and filled with ingredients like meats, cheese, and veggies?
That is a sub, unless the meat in question is shaved beef, possibly dipped in au jus, and topped with giardiniera, in which case you have an Italian beef, my frent.
*edited to fix autocorrect*
Need a Chicago accent setting for autocorrect
Da Bulls. Da Bears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBnnon_iZOM
Italian beef is good, I get some when in Chicagoland.
Itās a sandwich. A more complicated sandwich but a sandwich all the same.
Seriously, do all the things in the world need special names and labels?
A grinder or a sub.
dang! 150 miles!
Poā Boy. Blame it on the bossa nova.
I was looking for this answer! Roast beef is my favorite.
And it would be a dressed po’boy if it has the veggies.
So right.
It seems like a lot longer ago than it really was, maybe 30 years ago. On a trip from Baton Rouge to New Orleans my friend convinced me to stop for food at a place he’d heard about. It turned out to be some decommissioned cargo ship that someone decided to turn into a restaurant/side show affair. The shrimp po’ boy and fries were beyond excellent. Why did I choose the shrimp po’ boy and fries? That was the menu.
Iāve had great food all over the world, but the best overall was New Orleans and its environs. You just canāt get a bad meal. I could live on poā boys and muffulettas forever, and thatās just lunch!
The big question? It’s a sandwich, now you can also go by sub if it’s cold, a hoagie if it’s meant to be hot, and people who call them grinders need to seek help
I’m on the edge of Grinder and Wedge. Seriously. Wedge! When I first moved up here someone was like “Do you want a eggplant parm wedge?” and I assumed it would be wedge-shaped. Nope! Still just sub-shaped.
Wedge? Straight to jail.
In Pittsburgh we have wedgies (I know), which are basically hot subs served in a folded-over pizza crust. So, like, shaved beef, melted cheese, then lettuce & onion & tomato with Italian dressing in a 14″ semicircle.
God, I would kill for one of those right now.
Also writing that made me realize that I call a cold sandwich like that a hoagie, but a hot one a sub. At least if I use the word “hot”. Like, it’s a meatball hoagie, but a hot Italian sub. Weird.
Greetings fellow yinzer. Got yinz all beat, ate at the the original Primanti’s in the Strip Friday night.
Primanti’s, the first place to ask the question “shouldn’t the fries just be in the sandwich?” and get the answer right. (Yes.)
Yep! A sauceless calzone and absolutely delicious artery cloggers. I now need to order one locally.
Well, hold your horses for a day. The Purge may start tomorrow.
You north-easterners have some weird language quirks.
Wait until you hear a Philadelphian say the words Orange and Water.
It gets worse. “Yinz” is Pittsburgh. Head over to Altoona and it changes to “youns”, sort of a contracted you ‘uns.
You mean a hoagie?
A Sub
Hoagie.
Don’t Make me sic the Spongemonkeys on ya you degenerate! š
We love the subs!
Coz they are good to us!
And its pop, not soda!
Oof. I’ve always really disliked that one.
I think that is the true Western PA/Eastern PA divide right there.
Maybe. It’s just the sound of the word. “Pahp” or “pawp.” *Shudder*
I live in a house divided. Me: soda. Wife: coke (independent of actual brand or flavor).
I went to school dead-center in pop territory (Michigan)
It may be unique to New England and older folks, but I remember them calling all sodas “tonics.” “You kids want some tonics?”