GM Buys Out Half of All Buick Dealers

[ck80]

One has to wonder where the oil companies are in all of this. They've manipulated the market to benefit their business before.

General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Well, think about it. The same pumping, drilling, and pipelines that move crude pull brine for lithium.

Same for rare earth's extraction. At their heart they're mining companies employing teams of skilled geologists, can be directly pivoted into what you want for EVs. Same with uranium.

Then figure you still need oil to make plastics and other parts of cars beyond gasoline.

 

[Supercharged111]

I think their plan is if nothing is offered BUT EVs, people will HAVE to buy EVs.

Market collusion on the grandest scale.

If enough manufacturers buy in, it ends up working.

At this point we're only talking about one brand though with others offering ICE alternatives. To me that seems like brand suicide. It would only work if all brands flipped that switch at exactly the same time.

 

[jiho]

One has to wonder where the oil companies are in all of this.

Rolling in profits as far as the eye can see. As yet, no one has produced viable full-scale alternatives to fossil fuels.

 

[jiho]

Is anyone familiar with the East German car called the Trabant? ['Trabi' to fans]. It was the world's worst car, no power, smokey pollution, no space, no gauges, made from recycled crap, and it did not deteriorate. The abandoned body is still being found trashed in places where it is collected and buried. Relatives in Slovakia say that if you found one along side the road, you were able to scavenge parts for your own. This went on until the fall of the Iron Curtain. Now they are collector's items. Kids like to work on them because they are so simple.

Are you comparing EVs to the Trabant? That's not very flattering.

 

[ck80]

At this point we're only talking about one brand though with others offering ICE alternatives. To me that seems like brand suicide. It would only work if all brands flipped that switch at exactly the same time.

Not really. Gm still technically builds gas powered vehicles, it's the pledge to phase out that is being really pushed. Other brands had similar pledges, somewhat walked back though.

EU law mandates all new cars sold be zero emission by 2035. I'm not sure how that would impact exports either , but, it could impact luxury brands that build there and then export.

 

[ck80]

Are you comparing EVs to the Trabant? That's not very flattering.

I agree. The Trabant was much more desirable than any EV

 

[jiho]

I agree. The Trabant was much more desirable than any EV

I started liking that with 🤣 . Then it occurred to me, you won't catch many people resurrecting a dead EV as any kind of classic. So in fact, it's true.

 

[69hurstolds]

I started liking that with 🤣 . Then it occurred to me, you won't catch many people resurrecting a dead EV as any kind of classic. So in fact, it's true.

When your only performance upgrade consists of replacing the resistor pack with something that makes the motor spin faster, then you're done with upgrades, that's not at the heart of hot rodding. And will garner absolutely ZERO respect from me.

But maybe THEN if someone swaps an LS engine in say, a Tesla, that will be the only time I'll give that a thumbs up. JMO, but to me, electric motors belong in appliances. I'm not against EVs or progress into the future, but stepping on the necks of manufacturers to basically force them to make different propulsion as they regulate ICE out of existence doesen't convince me that now is a great time to do everything all at once. Turns out the people are starting to turn away from the EV, even the ones that sell them. That's never a great sign.

The ONLY people I'll consider taking EV advice from are ones that only own ONE car. And that would have to be a BEV. No hybrid, no "spare" car, nothing else. Ok, maybe a bicycle or something. That tells me they're committed to making the changeover work from Day 1. Because most all the people that are EV proponents are rich enough to own two or more cars, and then virtue signal about being green, without knowing anything about going green. I say they can stuff it all up their azz. "Here, you need to accept all this new technology without question, and drop what you've been doing as a hobby you love for the last 45+ years. Don't worry, you won't need your toolbox or Jeg's or Summit. Maybe Mouser Electronics, etc...." No sir, it's not going to be that simple.

I got ICE in my veins...and I'm happy about it.

 

[DRIVEN]

Maybe we'll see Radio Shack revived as a speed shop?

 

[ck80]

I started liking that with 🤣 . Then it occurred to me, you won't catch many people resurrecting a dead EV as any kind of classic. So in fact, it's true.

Add to the comparison that gm put out a stop sale on the Blazer ev due to all sorts of interface and software bugs on the ultium platform and... yep, interesting future for them