Automotive

We all have our vices, and one of mine is a crippling t-shirt addiction. It’s pointless, and I’ve tried my best to ween myself off snapping up the odd graphic tee on sight, but I still have moments of weakness. Typically I trade in band tees, but cars and motorsport are of course areas of interest too. It’s with that in mind that I ask you all: What’s your favorite piece of enthusiast apparel that you own? Advertisement I’ll broaden the question enthusiast (at risk of confusing things with that one brand) and not just automotive because motorcycle-related items let you die if you forget to turn on auto pay . I have lots I can contribute here. A few years back, Blipshift sold this design that was a mash-up of Days Of Thunder and Daytona USA , with the text “Let’s Go Away” in the same font as the movie title. I have never seen Days Of Thunder (I know) but I have played several lifetimes worth of Sega’s seminal stock-car arcade racer, so you can bet I …

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Volvo has reasons to be happy now The Morning Shift for July 23, 2021. Advertisement 1st Gear: Good News, Bad News At Volvo Volvo is absolutely raking it in at the moment, reporting the best half-year sales and operating profits in its 94 years as a company. The cause? Momentum behind crossovers and electric cars, which carry with them bigger margins and thus make the company more money than your aunt’s old 240 did. Unfortunately, Volvo also knows that no matter how rosy earnings are looking now, the back half of 2021 will not be so impressive. From Automotive News : “The base scenario that we have is that the chip shortage will not improve, which means our sales and revenue growth in the second half will be flat compared with the second half of 2020,” Volvo CFO Bjorn Annwall told Automotive News Europe. G/O Media may get a commission Segway Ninebot ES2 Electric Scooter (Refurbished) Buy for $300 at Woot …

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A parts shortage means that GM is shipping full-size pickups with a missing fuel economy module, and that means worse fuel economy. Anything to get pickups out the door! All that and more in The Morning Shift for March 16, 2021. Advertisement 1st Gear: Chip Shortage Means No Fuel Economy Module The global semiconductor shortage has been wreaking havoc across the car industry, with huge production cuts and factories getting shut down even here in the United States . Not shutting down: GM’s full-size pickup truck production. Nothing stands between America and its pickup trucks. Not a global pandemic, certainly not a parts shortage! Even if this means sending trucks out the door with worse fuel economy, as Reuters reports: General Motors said Monday that due to the global semiconductor chip shortage the U.S. automaker is building certain 2021 light-duty full-size pickup trucks without a fuel management module, hurting those vehicles’ fuel …

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GM has said that it will spend $27 billion over the next five years on electric autonomous car development, which sure sounded like a lot until today, when Ford said it would be investing $29 billion . That’s $2 billion more! Also Ford had its first full-year loss in more Advertisement The $29 billion will be invested in autonomous and electric car development through 2025, Ford said, though numbers from both Ford and GM aren’t much more than marketing at this point. What will matter, instead, are the actual products. Tesla currently sells four all-electric cars that many people like very much; Ford currently sells one all-electric car that people seem to not hate ; and GM currently sells one electric car in the U.S. that is the definition of “meh,” which you can currently get a pretty good deal on . In 2025, I’m not sure how that graf might read, though I think it’s safe to assume that GM and Ford will each From Automotive News : …

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I realize that when it comes to cars and what I like Advertisement By “normies” I mean people who don’t necessarily give a shit about cars, but still use them every day, for all kinds of things. I know plenty of people like this. They may have affection for their own car, but couldn’t give a brace of bowel movements what direction its pistons move or how much volume they displace or how many joules of energy their electric motor may demand at any moment or anything like that. They just want their cars to take them where they want to go, when they want to go there, and carry whatever they need to take with them. They don’t want them to look or sound embarrassing, they don’t want to spend too much money on them, they just want their transportation tools to be comfortable, useful, and work . So, in an era where we have carmakers pushing wildly quick 0-60 times or advanced, yet still very compromised Level 2 semi-automated systems , or remarkable …

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Mitsubishi is profitable again, Jaguar Land Rover’s parent Tata is not, and another man got a job. All that and more in The Morning Shift for July 27, 2021. Advertisement 1st Gear: Mitsubishi I had not realized until today how hideous the fourth-generation Outlander is. I came out in February , when we were all worried about more important things, which is probably why I missed it. But, good lord, this is an ugly car, so ugly, in fact, that I respect it. Let’s have another gander: I hereby refer to this look as light-encrusted, and I hate it, though other people disagree, and have been buying it. This has given Mitsu a boost, per Automotive News : The redesigned Outlander crossover fueled a U.S. sales surge, while the global microchip shortage had the positive side effect of crimping production, helping Mitsubishi clear inventories. As a result, Mitsubishi was able to pull in new, higher-level customers with the Outlander while …

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