In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian for a look at the business side of recent automotive news. They cover the demise of the Chevy Malibu (again), BMW's aversion to building a pickup, Tesla's Supercharger situation (and the company's broader headcount initiatives) and Rivian's big Q1 drubbing. From there, it's time to talk some cars. Pras got to spend some time in a Porsche 911 T, and both he and Greg have sampled the new Kia EV9. Greg also has the latest on Autoblog's long-term Mazda CX-90, and Pras talks about spending some time with the BMW X5 PHEV.
TranscriptWelcome back to the auto blog podcast.
I'm Greg mcleary.
We've got an awesome show for you this week.
Uh Joining me today is my colleague and friend over at Yahoo Finance, the senior Autos reporter, Pro Subramanian.
What's going on, man?
Hey, man, how are you doing?
It's good to be back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Um Cool.
I mean, it's been a while, it's been a while.
We need to have you on more than like, you know, yearly.
I it's been a minute, I guess as the kids say, right?
Yeah, I mean, a lot, a lot going on.
So I know it's, there's, we're gonna catch up here, but I'm, I'm glad to be back.
All right.
Sounds good.
All right.
So a quick rundown here uh The Chevy Malibu is done.
So, uh you maybe read about that this week.
So we're gonna get into that.
We'll break down what it means for Chevy and for sedans.
Uh BMW says no to a pickup but yes to a more rugged off Roader.
Uh pros, I bat that around.
We're gonna talk about what's going on with Tesla and Rivian, two of the, I think the most, uh, you know, talked about EV Makers and then we'll run through what we've been driving, uh process.
But in some more interesting things that I have like the 911 T for starters.
Uh and I'm still in our long term Mazda CX 90 which is starting to really, uh grow on me in some ways, but also bug me and we've both been driving the EV nine.
that's Kia's three row uh SUV uh it's electric and we're gonna talk about that.
So with that, let's, let's get into it.
The Malibu is Dunzo, they are uh closing it.
I think this is in line with just general trends in the industry.
You know, sedans are not seeming to be what the people want.
Although the companies that do them like Honda and Toyota, they seem to do them pretty well and the car buyers seem to want to stay with them.
Uh It was Malibu this week a couple of weeks ago, it was the Subaru legacy.
Uh Long running nameplate is gonna be done.
Uh So, you know, I tend to think this is a broader, you know, just indication of where the market's going, that being said.
And I like to hear what you think pros, I really feel like there is still a market for sedans and I do think this is like a, it's cyclical, it might take like a decade, but I feel like at some point, people are gonna wanna drive this type of vehicle again.
I don't think everybody loves crossovers in all shapes and sizes.
Like there's some sort of power bars.
So, what do you think?
Yeah.
You know, Greg, we've been seeing this sort of trend for a long time now, people buying new cars, that trend of crossovers and suvs kind of, uh, continue to climb up past 40% of all cars.
Uh, and then you see sedan sort of taking hit, taking a hit.
Uh you see sports cars taking a hit or coups and then you see the pickups also uh gaining popularity.
Yeah, it's kind of like I'm doing a piece on it um this weekend or a kind of the next few days for, for Yahoo finance.
It's basically about, you know, the mali being dead, kind of like our news peg here.
I mean, the album has, you know, been around since the sixties.
It's such a class iconic Chevrolet nameplate.
And I think for me, it was kind of sad to see it go.
But um I also am sort of kind of ambivalent to see it go because I think the sedan is a, is a, is a good, it's, it's been around and it's actually a good vehicle that you can actually get a lot of performance and also utility, right?
Uh you know, wagons too.
We, we've seen those go away.
That's sort of in the same boat.
Uh But I think you're right in the Toyota Hyundai.
They still, they still sell a ton of sedans.
There's still a market there.
I know it's dwindling.
Uh, interesting point you made though, Greg, I want to get your take on, on both a potential comeback for the sedan.
Uh But also b why do you think that it just sort of lost its luster here?
Like, why do we become such a crossover nation?
Is what I'm trying to get at?
Yeah, I think Crossover Nation is like Starbucks Nation.
You know, it's, it's coffee, it's how it's transportation and I think it's just become so ubiquitous that people are not accustomed to driving slightly lower to the ground anymore, which is what a sedan gives you.
I think there's that and I think there's also just like, you know, the world thinks you get more space in a crossover because, you know, they're hatchbacks, most of them, they are hatchbacks, they have room in the back.
Uh People just think they, I think what they do is they have in their mind the idea of like a 19 nineties Ford Explorer which, you know, many of us grew up with is like the ubiquitous SUV.
And then they don't wanna go back to a car, a sedan is like maybe what, you know, grandpa had or something.
And I mean, I'm old enough.
I remember we had sedans.
So it's, it's not like, it's, you know, totally crazy here.
But I just, I think people are gonna wanna drive these on a daily basis in a way that you still see with, like, the Honda Accord, you know, the Honda Civic Toyota Camry, they're still very solid vehicles.
I think people are gonna want to return to that.
I mean, think of how big the trunks are in, like, like, what's the last time we drove, like an Accord or something?
You could put everything back there and a lot of times it's a better layout than, you know, XYZ compact crossover, you know.
Yeah.
You know, like you talk about a Camry or, or Honda, you have this the trunk, right?
This low load floor, it goes super deep.
Like, like can you believe how many suitcases you could put, put back there?
It's kind of astounding but I mean, you raise a good point there, man.
It's like number one, you know, anecdotally.
I hear people like my family members, et cetera.
Oh, this car is so low, I can't see anything.
They're so used to sitting up high now with these big cars are like putting them low and they, they think that they're gonna get hit by everything.
Um That's one thing that, that I, that I've heard um and not necessarily uh I don't disagree with that, but I think it's, you get used to whatever you're in but, but secondly, you mentioned the explore, right?
That thing was a truck, right?
That was like a body arm, I think, drove like a truck all, like, you know, almost felt like a, you know, that the, the, the kind of type of steering that where the steering, what's it called with the, the Jeeps have right where it's like, if you turn it twice before it actually moves right, reticular arms or whatever it's called, you know.
So, so what happened now is s us become more like cars and people get used to them.
And, you know, when the BMW the XM came out like, what the hell is that thing?
You know, it's, it drives like a coup.
Uh, but it has like the height of a crossover.
I think that's, we've sort of become accustomed to these bigger cars that handle better.
And now I think that that box is open, that Pandora's box is open.
We can't kind of go back to the sedan, which I still think is a great form factor to Zoom in a little bit on the Malibu.
It was the number three, best selling Chevrolet last year.
One of our reporters discovered that when we were, you know, reporting this yesterday and I wasn't shocked because I think most of that is fleet, right?
I mean, that's usually where that stuff goes.
But, um, I mean, Chevy is gonna be giving up some volume here, uh, as Ford did with the Fusion and, you know, an observation I kind of have is like if you look just across town from Ford and Chevy over to Dodge.
Well, that Charger has been going on for two decades now and when they sort of relaunch it as an EV, but also with an in line six, there's gonna be a market for that because it's a unique product.
It's not for everybody but it's distinctive and I feel like that's where, uh, Ford and Chevy are kind of giving up, you know, space for maybe not the greatest reasons.
I mean, Ford, you know, they replaced the focus with the Maverick, which I give him credit for, that was very creative, try to play in that C segment there.
Um But I mean, I don't really know what Chevy's doing other than they just keep flooding the zone with all these different crossovers and maybe they don't think they need a sedan anymore.
Uh Especially one like the Malibu.
I got one more question for you.
So, you know, I just have we talking about that popularity of the Malibu and, you know, they're sort of putting all their eggs in the equinox basket, right?
In terms of not just this Gaspar one, but then also the EV and that's sort of gonna be your volume potential car that's not really a sedan, but, you know, taking up that, that entry level or whatever you wanna call it um area in, in the market.
But you know, back to the original comment like about is a sedan dead and, and, and maybe it's, maybe it's actually not that it's gonna come back.
Do you think it's something that's gonna cater to, like, people that want more sports oriented or a bit more performance?
Is that what we're looking at with the, if the sedan is to make, come back?
Yeah, I, I agree with that.
I think if you look at like Mercedes with the C and the E class and BMW with the three and the five series and then all the different, like, you know, grand coupes and coupes and things like that, that it's becoming like a luxury item.
You know, the, the sporty drive, the enthusiast driver who then wants like that athletic dynamic, they don't just want like a grocery getter, they want their sedan to be something special.
And actually, I think that's where Chevy could, could find some daylight to do that.
I think they, um, you know, they have a nice mix of, sort of accessible sportiness.
It's also Chevy, you know, Americana.
So they can play off of that.
And I think there could be room for that, maybe down the road, maybe it's electric.
I don't really know what shape it takes.
Uh, but I mean, they've got a bunch of great names, you know, Malibu Impala, you know, go back the last 100 years.
They've got a lot of names that they could dust this off.
I wouldn't be surprised if, when they do another, I don't know, mid size crossover.
Malibu gets dusted off again or something.
So, so we'll see.
I mean, it's, it's, I don't know, I, we kind of knew this was coming.
Like we were, I will admit we were kind of caught flat footed when this happened.
I think the Detroit News was one of the first to report it and then, like nobody else kind of did, especially in the enthusiast and Financial press.
It just seemed like some of the other random sites were getting it because literally, we had one of our editors was like, didn't they already kill the Malibu?
Wait a minute, what's going on here?
It's like one of those, like when you hear about an actor who lives so long that you like, forget they're not actually dead or something and that's kind of how this car was.
So, yeah, I mean, I'm looking at an auto blog article on right now, I'm thinking myself, but my idea of the Malibu is like two generations ago from this one.
You know, it's like, what does this thing look like?
So, yeah, it is around um Impala, good, great, great reference.
I mean, I'm thinking that's like I was thinking that could be good.
Evs and the Impala evs.
And so we'll see, I guess we were a side note.
We were doing an electric vehicle comparison test in Anna or Nova actually.
And we came out from, I think lunch or something a bunch of editors and the next generation Equinox was just sitting there and like, kind of camo tape.
And we're like, wow, this guy really picked the wrong parking spot to put his prototype camo vehicle next to like six on blog editors.
And it's like, all right, I can give this guy a pass, you know, in Michigan seeing like CAMO cars isn't that uncommon?
But I was like, oh man, if this guy knew who was like, basically looking at his car right now, he would probably be a little nervous or, you know, because they try not to get caught for those spy shots that everybody likes to look at.
So.
All right.
So that's the Malibu.
Uh Let's run through some other things.
BMW is uh they're gonna rule out a pickup uh but they're open to kind of doing something uh a little more rugged uh while being purposefully vague.
Uh As far as what that might actually be.
Uh We reported the story last week.
The comments are from uh Berndt Ker who is a BMW vice president in the originally, he mentioned this to BMW blog and they often are pretty well read in on all things.
BMW.
I'm gonna like a couple of weeks ago on the podcast.
I took a position that Kia shouldn't bother to do a pickup because they showed one, I think like at the China Motor Show or there were some drawings out there.
I was like, you just, you don't need to do that.
But I'm gonna change my thoughts here and say BMW, I think would not be bad to do some sort of lifestyle pickup truck vehicle.
Maybe throw it in the, like the same bucket is say, like the Hyundai Santa Cruz perhaps, which isn't exactly, it's not even like a maverick.
It's, it, it's almost like an El Camino, but I think BMW could do this.
I think Mercedes, you remember the X class thing they showed a few years ago that pickup truck, I think Mercedes should have done that.
I think these two companies have room to do it.
But am I crazy?
What do you think of this?
Probably uh you know, at first blush, I kind of was thinking when I saw the story, I, I was like, why would I, I didn't even think BMW would consider uh a pickup just based on the brand, but you know, I mentioned the X six, right?
They, they've kind of pushed the boundaries with what cars could be like or even trucks.
Um why not, why not take a pickup and reimagine it.
You know, we have like reimagining of a pickup on the Ford Maverick side, which is looks still pickup, but it's actually not really a pickup, right?
It's like an extended, like you said, um uh one of their crossovers.
Um and then the flip side, you mentioned Kia and even like Hyundai with, with the Santa Fe.
Right.
Um It's a pickup in name but it's most, it's really like a crossover car and, and drives like a car and has a lot of those characteristics but has the utility of pickup.
Why couldn't BMW do that?
And I could see obviously with uh Mercedes and their G class, like they got that, they got that branding there where they can go anywhere and BMW.
Right.
More of the on road uh performance.
But maybe they should consider, you know, there's a big overland community where people love those off-road, rugged looking trucks for their, especially their suvs, why not kind of mix things up and sort of inject the brand with something new and potentially a pickup like vehicle act.
Now that you mention it, you know, why not make it an EV I don't know, like make it something that's like this is sort of blows your brain a little bit.
Uh I could see them doing that.
They've not been shy about stuff like that in the past.
Yeah, they're, I think they're a much less conservative company than say Mercedes is when it comes to, you know, products uh and you know, pushing the envelope also when you look at the segment though to play devil's advocate to myself here, I guess they already make a bunch of crossovers in all shapes and sizes.
The easy move would be to put some jacked up tires on it.
Give it the big wheels, maybe some plastic cladding.
I mean, you're halfway there.
I mean, I'm sure they have a sketch or a prototype somewhere in Munich with this vehicle ready to go a truck.
It's a little bit more work, you know.
But I, you know, I don't know, you look at just all these different, like things that have entered the space from the cyber truck to the Indios grenadier to like Ferrari's crossover SUV thing.
I don't think there's any reason to limit yourself when you're an automaker right now.
Like, I mean, who says you can't do it?
You know, why would you ever think you couldn't do that?
You know, and I, I feel like BMW is just the way their, their vehicles handle in that just sporty DNA make it like a sport truck or something.
That's another thing that domestics have given up on.
So why not do something like that?
And people would like it?
I think you would sell, I bet you they'd sell 100 and 50,000 of them in America, you know, no problem.
You know, it's funny you mentioned, you mentioned eos and I know, I think they built a power train for that, for that vehicle.
It's like, and eos are gonna make a uh pickup like version of their truck, you know, that, that, which also looks like a land cruiser, which is mentioned in the article of the, of the defender, you know, why not have, why not let virgins in that regard and you can have a B MOD MBMO, you partner badge kind of vehicle, uh maybe make it a bit more sporty, who knows?
But, uh yeah, I think the pieces are in place that they could do something like that.
And I think we mentioned sedans earlier, right?
With, with that being maybe a luxury niche product, right?
Maybe these, you can kind of target that luxury pickup utility or Rivian lifestyle type person uh with the BMW badge, that's I think there's definitely a market there for that.
I think we've seen more and more people, you know, people that I know people that I've seen in the press, et cetera, they really desire this adventure truck and if being able to be quality by look, it's being is a top consumer reports, top brand overall, right?
Uh You have a lot going there and you can kind of give you some leeway to pursue other types of vehicle segments.
You know, they pioneered the whole like sport activity coop with those concepts like gosh, 15 years ago or 20 years ago.
So, I mean, I think I do is chop off the back, kind of put a nominal bed in there.
Give it that kind of Indios like Quartermaster Vibe.
I think that's what they're calling their truck, which uh that'd be cool.
Have you driven the Indios yet by chance?
No, no, I haven't.
Um I've uh I've been meaning to look.
A lot of people actually asked me about that truck.
Um, and so I think there's some, there's definitely interest there.
Yeah.
No, me too.
It's, uh, one of our editors drove it in the UK and then we might get some subsequent access, I think, uh, in the spring.
But it's as far as vehicles I would just love to drive this year.
It's on my short list.
Really looks like a riot I saw for the first time at eight.
I I it is a four by four community here in New York, believe it not in New York City that has sort of meet ups and, and these guys have like jacked up jeeps and, and land rovers and things like that and someone brought a grenadier uh to the meet and I can't say that I think it looked pretty impressive.
I thought it'd be kind of, you know, prototype looking, right?
It's a first year car looked pretty solid, nice paintwork.
Um Really like what the Defender should have been like, right.
That's what everyone says.
Uh I really on the face of it looks of it looked great.
Um So, yeah, I think that that's a, that's a winner for them.
Potentially.
I was in New York last weekend actually with the family and I was surprised how many Wranglers I saw just like rolling up and down, you know, anywhere Madison Avenue and it's like, ok, yeah, so I, I definitely believe you with the uh uh off Roader and you know, Jeep type community.
So cool, man.
Well, next time, maybe, hopefully both of us get into the Grenadier this year or the Quartermaster and could do another show on that because that's, I'm excited about that one.
I think it's gonna be fun.
Yeah.
You look, if you guys ever do a four by four shoot out somewhere, Nova, et cetera, whatever off of the up, let me know, I'll, I'll fly out there for that guaranteed, guaranteed.
All right, that sounds good.
That sounds good.
Uh, let's talk, uh, the opposite of Crazy off Roaders.
Let's go to Tesla.
Um, I don't know, what should we just throw darts here about what's going on with them where we want to pick, uh, the sort of slightly older news is the supercharging network.
But also it sounds like, um, they have a hiring freeze in effect as well as they've obviously been doing rounds of layoffs.
And, uh, you maybe saw this on linkedin, their head of product did a really long post about basically why he's leaving the company and just, you know, his, like what's going on and how it's kind of a hard climate to be, uh, as much as he loved the work they did there.
So this is kind of weird for me for a company that is, uh, still, I mean, their numbers have not been as good as they have been, but it's still not a company that's in a bad situation by any means as far as the, you know, the dollars and cents.
So, I mean, I'm a little bit at a loss to try to autopsy the, like last probably six weeks of events that have come out of Tesla.
I think the Supercharger network, which we've talked about on the show before.
That's another weird one.
Although I do think, I think that Elon Musk is sort of saying, hey, we've kind of got this where we want everybody's using our plug, everybody's agreed, you know, signed on and talked about how great the supercharger network is, but that's a group problem.
Now, that's not our problem.
So I kind of feel like maybe that's a sort of a smart two step on his part to back away bad for the industry and society, but good for him, Tesla, which clearly is how he thinks.
And then, you know, again, the layoffs, I, I would just say to sum it up, they feel kind of gratuitous to me.
Like, I think Tesla is a fairly lean and mean company and when you do layoffs, you often see quality issues arise.
So, I mean, this is a company that's already struggled with that.
So, I mean, that's kind of my like nickel tour of the situation.
I know you're really well read in on Tesla.
What do you make of what's going on over there at that shop?
So, uh So I'll start with the Super Charter stuff.
Um You know, when that news came out and it turned out that they had basically axed the entire division, um, which was mind boggling to everyone.
I mean, it was just like, uh I spoke to a, um, an industry source at an automaker and he was said it was, the move was quote unquote crazy like they were just shocked by it.
Um But after some digging into it, you know, um some other smart voices kind of chimed in saying, hey, you know, kind of echoing what you said Greg and says that they put the investment in uh the networks there.
It's, it's it's big but obviously nowhere near where it needs to be.
Um Other automakers are now on board, other charging networks like EV go are are going full on N A CS two, right?
And the thing that this uh one of his analysts told me was that, you know, this is a very low margin business that takes a lot of Capex and the return on it is super low even in the by 2030 it's only gonna account for less than like 4% of revenue and barely any profit because it just costs so much.
So it was probably a loss leader for them for the longest time because they knew, hey, we need to get this charging network built up.
That's why people buy our cars.
They do that And now it's Elon saying I need to cut for whatever reason we'll get into that later.
But he's saying, he's saying to himself, why do we need to keep investing in this?
We can just maintain a network and we grow it in a more slow manner.
Uh But, but like Elon again, now we go back to the point where he's so totally haphazard, he cuts everyone off to the point that a lot of the um the suppliers and their partners are building out the charging network, the charging spaces, they don't know, they don't have a point of contact there.
Who do I talk to about?
We ordered this equipment, who do we talk to about installing it and getting it on the network.
A lot of confusion.
There are a lot of uh suppliers talking about how upset they are with what happened.
And Elon and, and crew are back to like potentially not kidding, rehiring people to bring them back to address some of these things.
So why did we do that in the first place?
And then, you know, it's pivoting into the broader layoffs.
We're talking about engineers, uh people in China, uh service people.
Again, this is something that you can't replace.
Quality control goes down service levels to Tesla Service already was sort of a weak spot.
You start getting rid of some of these service advisors that becomes even worse.
Um I understand the need to sort of be lean in a time where the EV industry is maybe kidding a plateau.
But, because I, like, tell it wasn't making money.
They still are.
Um, so these, these, these moves seem draconian to me and, and, and, and then, and on top of all that, Greg, oh, by the way, please pass my $56 billion pay package at the shareholder meeting.
So, what are we doing here?
We're, we're saving money but then we're gonna give you $56 billion to the CEO um makes it, makes it, it's a head scratcher.
Yeah.
No, it's obviously, you know, it's Freddie for a guy who's uh pretty good at capturing the public's attention.
He's pretty bad at having really any level of self awareness.
So, I mean, when you, you talk about the executive compensation, I mean, I feel like that's something that every other executive in the economy learned like the 19 eighties about just how golden parachutes and like bonuses.
Like there, there's a time and a place to like do that type of thing and there's a time and a place certainly not to and obviously you have to articulate why you're doing that.
Not just give me the money.
I mean, he literally, it sounds like he's saying, show me the money.
So I whatever, that's a whole other set of issues.
But uh yeah, I mean, it's, I think it's just another gonna be a bumpy year for Tesla.
I really think it is.
And I think uh you know, he, he did, I think at least pay lip service to like the car world and Wall Street by saying, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna do a lower cost model.
And this is after he basically said, I'm not gonna do it because I wanna do robo taxis and the world is like, and I mean, he got criticism from everybody for this because frankly, it's a very interesting academic idea.
I mean, I've driven in autonomous cars.
I've written them, there could be a model for them.
I believe me, I don't wanna like drive Fred Flintstone's car here.
I I think change, this is all good stuff, but I don't think it's definitely a pillar for your company in the near term, especially when you've had some weird uh weird is another word for saying bad financial performances recently.
So you got at least tell people, hey, I'm, we're gonna do the model two or at least a lower cost version of the model Y model three.
And I think he sort of said what he had to say to kind of keep, you know, keep the wolves at bay after that, you know, Q one performance that I mean, clearly he got hit from all corners on.
So um yeah, I mean, sorry, good, good.
I would say side note.
Have you driven a model Y or a model three lately?
Yeah, I mean, I, I have, I've driven both recently, uh, with, with Hertz, believe it or not.
That's another story.
We won't get into that.
Um, but, uh, I actually, I think they're great cars for fleet, right?
Uh, great cars for rentals if you're able to understand, you know, hey, maybe it's a 20 degree day, you need to, you know, pre the pre the battery things like that, like, um, and, and, and, and by the way, with Hertz, at least the, the, the charging experience is seamless man, like it's already all hooked up.
Um So for me, it was, I've done about three or four of them and I found it to be extremely pleasant, not a problem at all.
Um with, with those cars, I mean, they're like, they're like gadgets.
So, uh if you, if you're, if you're into that kind of thing, like it's just so much great software, right?
It's really good software.
Um And it's, it's the phone app works like it's just, it's just a, it's just an appliance that works, but, but kind of going back to the Robo Taxi thing, you know, we've been obviously been covering that a lot here because it's been a focus on investors.
Basically, the guy is pivoting the entire company from, you know what that model two, we were talking about that cheap car.
Well, that's gonna be on hold at, at best.
Um And Elon is going hardcore 100% into software, Robo Taxi machine learning A I driven whatever buzz word do you want to say?
He's been talking about it?
And that's what he's, yeah, see the buzzers, but also they're pushing that way.
And that's the gamble is, is, can they actually solve the Robo Taxi puzzle?
The autonomous self driving puzzle that is gonna unlock, you know, potentially trillion dollar value, right?
This is our, beyond that multiple trillion trillions.
That's the, the gamble that I think he's taken.
He's, he's the kind of guy that would do that.
He's the kind of guy that, that, that does take gambles.
But this seems like even the biggest gamble because the company, I mean, was the most valuable car maker before uh this stuff.
And now he's saying, you know what we're pivoting the EV game is clearly plateaued.
He's not saying that, but he's acting that way and he's betting the farm on the Robo Taxi and their ability to solve this puzzle.
Oh, by the way, yesterday, the DOJ is investigating them for fraud, potential probe.
Um And then also the fact that there's another NSA investigation and the safety of it.
So there's a lot happening there.
Um And it's a big gamble.
I think the best way I could have this put a ball in it is come back to auto blog where we have all sorts of coverage as well as our friends at Yahoo Finance because it's, I mean, we put up 34 T stories a day, I'm sure you guys do the same and it's just, it's a never ending fire hose of news and, you know.
Yeah.
So, team coverage, team coverage, team coverage.
Let's talk about Rivian.
Now, another even EV maker that's actually kind of struggling.
They had a bad, uh, first quarter, they lost, uh, 1.45 call it 1.5 billion in the first quarter.
Uh, they still made or brought in a ton of revenue.
So a little bit of a mixed quarter.
I, I wouldn't say it's like, you know, iceberg dead ahead.
It's not a huge, like warning, but it's pretty, not great start to the year.
Uh Right now it seems like they, they're trying to find their footing and this is where I think start ups find challenges.
You try to find that steady cruising speed in between things like they launched the R one S, the R one T very well received vehicles then, uh I think it was six weeks ago, maybe two months ago.
They showed all of this other cool stuff.
The R two, the R three, all these new products, but they're not here yet and seems like everybody who wants an R one S or an R one T are, you know, if they have one, they already have it.
Uh I personally would actually enjoy owning one.
I think they're very cool vehicles.
Um, but they're kind of in this like delta between like the initial fizz and then the next round that gen two.
So, I mean, what's your read on Rivian?
You know, I think if you talk to RJ scarring, you know, at some point he's, he's an interesting cat.
So it's, it's a company to watch and again, kind of a bumpy start to the year.
Yeah, we covered the earnings pretty closely this week.
Um, you know, Mike sort of take on it.
You know, the grew revenue, a tremendously nice, nice beat there from a Wall Street perspective.
But the, but a wider loss than expected.
E two, I think they're losing almost 40,000 per vehicle at this point.
Um which is actually better than what they were before.
But I think there's a couple, there's some silver linings here.
Uh I think for them uh two things so they still pre predict or they still see that by the Q four, they see a modest, a modest quote, gross profit on their vehicle.
So they're trending in the right direction.
They did some optimizations of the plant in normal Illinois to make that more efficient could bring down the bill of sales.
They kept it's called and they kept saying bomb, bring, bring the bomb down, both build materials down.
So they, they're talking about that, the other big thing that uh they mentioned was that they're moving the R two production, right?
Not from Georgia.
They're pausing that plan trying to save some money, moving it to normal.
They, they say they're gonna save a few billion in Capex.
Uh uh uh several 100 million Capex this year alone.
Uh It'll allow them to start production of that R two in 2026 and get that going.
That's gonna be their, their big 45 K volume seller.
So right now, I think the bet in the company if you're an investor or whoever is, can they do, they have enough time and they buy until enough time to get the 2026 for that car to come out and still be in, in a good footing to, to launch it because that costs a lot of money too.
Right?
But I think that big, the big thing is, are they able to hit that gross profit metric in Q four and then be able to sort of sustain themselves until 2026.
That's the big question that if you're a bull on r the stocks been chopped in half this year.
Um That's what you do.
But if you're just a fan and whatever, want to see what's going on, um They're in a precarious spot, but I think things are trending better but, but you see that massive loss and it's, it's hard to stomach.
Yeah, I think you really need to.
If you're, you know, frankly looking to, you know, buy into them, you gotta look at, uh you know, some of the moves that scaring just made like consolidating operations into normal Illinois.
I kind of think that's a good move.
Actually, I think their scale is small enough that you don't need two factories halfway across the country.
And if you look at their volume, they just produce their 100 1000th vehicle that could get that word out, which is not nothing.
They have some staying power.
I mean, that's like that puts them up there with, like I would say Tesla as far as a company that is kind of sort of made it.
I mean, Tesla has, but Rivian is like entering, they're on the porch, they're right there.
You know, and I think that's where you, you see, they have, they've separated themselves from the herd from companies like, you know, Lordstown that obviously didn't make it or Fisker that appears to be slipping below the waves, companies like that.
So, uh, you know, I think I feel reason to be optimistic for them based on, you know, what we've seen for their future product.
I mean, that's some really cool stuff that really, I think could play to their base and bring in new consumers because they're smaller, likely, uh, less expensive vehicles and in like, they do a great job with design.
That's another thing that I think Rivian really gets and to, you know, go back to, we're talking about Inos, it seems like these smaller upstarts are, they're almost out land, rover land rover, you know, with like some of these products they're ruling out because I mean, there what like if I were designing a vehicle, this is what I want it to look like.
You know, the new Defender.
Sure, it's great.
It's luxurious.
You'll see it at every country club in the country.
But give me the grenadier man or even the Wrangler or some of these Rivian just from a pure aesthetic perspective.
So, yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, you know, Rivian is, is at, at the time it could be a case study um for how you start a company for nothing and develop that brand.
You know, the the the styling and design is one thing they made the brand all about.
We're about connecting people with nature and and and in cool tech.
Um look at the A and RJ that's, that's back to RJ scaring, right?
His vision, you know, connecting it, making it to make a real company from the very start, you know, brought Amazon on huge investment there, still partners with them.
You know, just this week, we saw the rumors of Apple potentially join a partner for whatever that may be, you know, on on the earnings call.
They said we don't comment on speculation but they didn't, they knock the rumor.
Um you know, they didn't knock it down so they credit them for actually making themselves be a company that is not fly by night.
They got a ton of investment, heavy design, a thoughtful approach to what they wanted to do and who they wanted to target and, and look, they actually are introducing a cheaper variant of those R one vehicles with the dual motor and uh kind of stripping them down.
They can leasing uh expanding to 36 states now, leasing.
That's a big way to get, to get, you, get to use that tax credit, get that out, get those products out.
Um I think they are a success story in that regard.
Like I said, 100,000 vehicles.
Not many, how many, uh, start up automakers have existed over the last 100 years that never last and never built, not even 10,000 cars.
They made 100,000.
That's, that's impressive.
Yeah, absolutely.
They, they're definitely gonna be, I think a story to watch as the, the twenties, weird as that is to say, rolls on.
So, uh, the roaring twenties, right?
We're already, we're already halfway through them almost.
It's Gatsby and e uh, all right, let's have some fun.
Tell me about this 911 tea that you were driving.
Where did you drive it?
Uh, what did you do with it?
Uh, yeah, I had it for a weekend, um, down in Florida.
Uh, so that was, that was nice.
Um, and I, you know, I, I, it, it, yeah, I'm, I'm down, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna be honest, I'm big Porsche guy, right?
Love Porsche.
Love it, love it, love, love the brand Um, ok, there goes my impartiality.
But anyway, the 911 t, you know, I was sort of initially thinking to myself, seems like a lot of, seems like a lot of money for a car that's, you know, stripped down 911 essentially.
Right.
With some of the nice sporty, um, options packages.
Uh, I, in the car I had was, was sticking for 140 100 and $45,000.
Um, but then I drove it and then of course what happened?
It's amazing.
Uh It's got the nice, the sportier, I believe it has like the sportier shifter.
It was, I was a manual, um, it was in this nice shark that sharp blue color that they have now and it just hit all the points like this is the car.
This is a reimagining of the 911, uh for now, for the 2024 right?
It's, it's got everything you want from like a enthusiast point of view.
Uh, but it's called the Modern Niceties.
It's quiet when you want it to be quiet.
Comfortable.
Has all the tech you want still has three pedals.
Lovely seven speed, right?
Seven speed uh shifter, right?
Um And it just, I mean, it was just phenomenal and it, and it has a 3.0 engine, the turbo engine, it's, it's plenty of power of power.
Um, so if you're in the market, you have money, you want a new car, you want to buy a used car, a new 911, which I totally get, I mean, I would love to get new 911.
Don't me wrong.
But if you got a brand new car and you want to still maintain some semblance of, I like to just keep it a bit sportier on the sportier side.
I think you can't go wrong.
You still can't go wrong with that car.
Yeah, we, uh, I didn't personally drive one but we had one in the fleet, uh, last month and, uh, did a, you know, pretty extensive road test of it.
We had a, the bright kind of lim green one.
and, you know, I think it's, it's really, I think one, I think one of the sweet spots of the Porsche lineup, I think it really is one, it's not cheap to your point.
And I tend to often look at when I get in the 911 a little cynically because I often feel like I'm a 718, like Cayman or boxer guy.
I used to really love the purest layout, the driving dynamics, the steering, everything about those cars.
But then again in 911 I'm like, oh, yeah, of course.
This is it, yeah, I mean, it's, it's just, it is what it is, you know, it's, there is no substitute for 911, dude.
I mean, the fly back, the, the, that's kind of the, the swept back on a fly back design work for, they call it.
Um It's just, it's just, it's the pro like, it's like everyone you could grab someone from like the middle of the nowhere and say, what is that car though?
That's 911, right?
It's a Porsche, right?
Like it's just so that design is so iconic.
They, they're still able to, I mean, I'm not breaking news here, still able to like uh just keep iterating that design and still looks phenomenal.
II I, I'm still, I'm a fan of the 992 design.
I know a lot of people hate it, but I think it looks, it's a reimagining in a modern way and, and I, I'm lucky Greg I, I, the, the, the Caymans, the, the boxes are like, that's like pure Porsche, right?
Uh Mid real true, mid mid engine design, uh you can turn on a dime but we still do the 911 and say, well, that's the Porsche that I want, you know.
Yeah, the only complaint I have about driving nine elevens and it's a definitely a first world problem is I do feel like they are, they are bigger.
They're almost like this is a weird comparison, but they remind me of like a dodge challenger to a Mustang, you know, as the 911 is to a Cayman or a boxer.
And I personally, when I'm driving a Porsche, I do like that life feel with the good visibility with that direct connection to the, like through the steering wheel.
So I do like that and I do think Porsche's kind of lost a tiny bit of that in the 911, which they've traded for.
It's the most sophisticated 911 ever, obviously.
But it, it really shows that too real.
But my brother bought a 986 box to write that gym.
Um, and that thing, it feels tiny in a really good way.
You know, like you, you feel like you're, you're, it's just that extends out of your body, you know, like it is just a connection, just totally connected in that car.
Like your body weight matters in that car.
You know what I mean?
Like, um, and it feels it's such a different experience that, uh, I totally get it when you're like, we really dial down to what you really want out of a sports car.
My one is probably a bit too big these days for that is what it comes down to.
But if you want, if you want, like, you know, more of the creature comforts and luxury, you can still get that with the 911.
So, yeah, one of my neighbors has the 986 generation and I always make a point of walking the dog down that side of the street, just kind of looking at it.
I'm, it's a decent shape too.
I'm very tempted to be like, because those prices are fairly reasonable still, like they are pretty reasonable.
I'd like to kind of just be like, hey, man, if you ever wanna sell this, just give me a, a refusal here.
Ok. Like it may not be the right logical decision.
But I mean, to me what would be better to drive from, say, well, we're in the north here from, I don't know, let's be like mid May until late September before it starts to snow again.
Uh, I mean, what could be better than that thing?
So, um, yeah, and they're not too, not too badly priced these days either.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's talk about the EV nine.
We've both driven this thing.
Uh, I, you probably drove it more recently than I do.
But I, I had a notebook, not a notebook, but my iphone was filled with notes on driving it because there's so much going on there.
Uh, staff at auto blog really likes it.
I mean, I think it's arguably the most ambitious thing he has ever done.
Maybe right up there with the telluride.
It's a three row SUV, that's electric.
It's a design statement.
I mean, there's companies that have been around 100 and 10 years that have not done this and they're like, boom, we're gonna do it.
To me it's a Moonshot.
So I've been very impressed with it.
There's some things I don't love about it as far as just individual parts of it.
Uh, but very impressed with it.
I, I said this before I voted for it for North American Utility Vehicle of the year award.
I, to me, I got out of it.
I went into the house and told my wife, boom, this thing's got my vote.
It's, you know, hands down.
It was, you know, a singular product compared to everything else that was on the ballot that year.
So, um, but my guess is you've been in one a little bit more recently because this was actually, it was still snowy around here.
So tell me, what did you do with your EV nine?
So we had it, I think it was earlier in April and we did my, so my colleague, Rick Newman and I did a review of that, of it and I had it for, I had it for a few days and, you know, I, I got might be a little long here, long, long winded here, but I'll, I'll keep it, keep it short, but the car comes out of the garage, we pick it up and it's, I can't be how big this, this thing is, right?
It is.
I thought it was enormous because it's basically, it's basically a suburban Tahoe.
It's a Tahoe basically, right?
In terms of footprint, maybe not as tall because they want to keep that arrow profile low.
But uh this thing is big and like you said, there is nothing like this out on like, I mean, uh hummers aside, right?
There's nothing out there in the full size E va full size EV market that I can think of.
Um, basically, we, we were talking about what, what the defender should have been.
Well, this, this should be what the land, the, the range rover should be.
The electric range rover should be.
This should be this thing.
It's that like impressive and, and looks as that, you know, sort of, kind of harkens back to that range rover, right in that, in that sense, that boxy but sporty and uh almost um sophisticated looks, you know, we're not used to that with Kia and I was talking to a Kia um or the reps there and he said, you know, Kia people think we're, we're the the bottom bucket Korean brand, but actually we have no, there's no frustration with who we are as a brand.
We can go from the, the, the really small cell toast or whatever to all the way up to the EV nine, which ours cost $78,000 80,000 dollars.
That's, that's luxury level pricing there, but you get a lot of money for it.
We had 303 100 miles of range at the time.
We picked up the car, uh dual motor, um luxurious insides inside.
I thought the beautiful color with this blue specific blue color and amazing light.
They do really good top the lighting.
Um All the creature covers, you could, you could ask, although it's, I find it weird that only the driver seat had, had the seat massage, not the, not the passenger side seat, but hey, we'll take it, we'll still take it.
Um, so you to get the massage and make Newman, you know, just sit in the passenger seat and, you know, he was, he wasn't pleased, although there was the, we had the other package where it had, it had actual, uh, some kind of, I forget what the feature was, but I think it had massaging in the back or something like that, but not the front passenger and he wanted to do a shoot where he was in the back the whole time.
I was like, it's not gonna work for a video point you get in the front.
Um But, but anyway, he was impressed to the car is, you said it is audacious this what they did, how they were able to make this vehicle and launch it here uh in this country also, I think in, in Korea too.
And yeah, there's nothing else like it and I think it's worthy of an award winning car.
It's I think right now it's the embodiment of what Kia hopes to be their aspirations as a brand because you can get one for like 54 or you can get one.
It sounds like we may have had the same vehicle.
Uh Ours was priced very similarly.
There's a fair amount of like play between all the North and Eastern fleets.
Uh, it was that same shade of blue.
It was, yeah, expensive as hell.
It does take a bit of brain recalibration to think.
I'm driving this 74 or $78,000 Kia.
But, I mean, look at how much a Tahoe costs, you know, and same.
So, and you're paying for the tech and Kia, I think Kias and Hyundais, they will chase value all day long.
They will give you all sorts of features for less money than anybody else.
And they're past the point where it's like, well, you get everything but it's kind of a cheap interior now.
It's, it was a very nice interior.
I liked, uh, you know, all of them, not all but most of the materials, it was solid.
Um, and it drove pretty well too.
I thought they, it's not easy to get a three row SUV to sort of sing on the road and it was solid.
Uh, two more points I wanna make.
Uh, exactly.
I didn't mention the fact that it drove really well.
And I think that again goes back to how are these things made while the battery is low in the car?
Gives it gives you better balance, better, better agility.
Got the thought it turn, turning was pretty, pretty, pretty good for a, for a car that size.
Uh, and then pricing, you know, 78 whatever, $1000 it was.
It sounds like a lot.
It is a lot of money, but not when they're selling them, they're giving them incentives.
Now, the dealerships and you get that qualifies for the tax rate if you lease it.
So you can actually lease that car for a very reasonable amount considering the fact how much it will cost you to lease a expedition or a suburban or a Tahoe uh or even a Durango.
Um This car can actually compete at that level from a pricing point of view uh depending on how you expect it.
So I think it's very impressive.
The question is, and Rick kept having his question because he's, he's kind of a bit skeptical on the whole ev transition in the sense that we're not gonna charge this thing.
Um If you, if you can live with the charging situation in terms of you charging at home or at work and you live in Michigan or the northeast, you could survive on it.
You'd be totally fine with it.
Yeah, it's uh I, the ev nine was one where I ran into, I was trying to charge it at a charge point location.
I didn't have to charge it.
But when I get a press car, I like to try to charge it.
Why not?
And man, this charge point has been, you know, doing me wrong.
I just, I feel like one out of three times I can actually charge something there.
Uh So infrastructure is still a challenge but that's that is what it is.
I did actually side note charge.
Uh Our long term Mazda CX 90 at the uh Ford mobility hub just outside of uh they're rebuilding this like train station in downtown Detroit.
It's gonna be like a mobility hub office and the parking garage is already open.
So that was nice in the first two floor were plugs.
So I pulled in there and boom, got 21 miles uh While I went to the NFL draft, which was actually just a really great night all around, you know, free charging.
Uh, you know, so the Lions draft a cornerback out of Alabama and it was, you know, not a bad Friday night, you know, and my, my Bears did well too that, that night as well.
Oh, good God.
The Bears did great.
The new quarterback, they got a guy to throw the ball to, that's, they look like they're gonna be, I think the Lions still win the division, but I think they could take out Green Bay for a second place.
Yeah, I mean, it's, I don't wanna pivot too hard to sports podcast here.
But, um, you know, the Carolina Panthers fan is the one that keeps on gift that keeps on giving for the Bears.
So very excited about that good value, good value for that.
I would agree with that.
I agree with that.
Next time you're in town.
If it's football season, the Bears are in town, hey, gotta go to a game or watch a game or two.
That's, I, ironically, I went to the Lions Bears game last year at Ford Field and it was a, that was a nail biter.
That was a nail biter.
So, anyways, let's talk about the Mazda before this turns the Yahoo Sports Podcast.
Um, so the CX 90 is joined our long term fleet.
Uh, I've been updating, you know, our regular podcast listeners.
Uh, I could break it down like two things fairly quickly here.
I love how it looks.
Uh It's a pretty nice interior, little plain but still very nice.
Um, but the transmission just kind of sucks.
It's, they're trying to do too much here.
It's like, so it's a plug in hybrid, which is great, but the just the transmission does not shift properly.
Like last night, I was taking my kid to his baseball game and I made a pretty aggressive turn as one does, but not one where, like, you should be penalized with your life for it.
And cars were coming at me for both sides and I'm just like, we're gonna put it to the floor, we're gonna pin it here and it's like, normally at that point, take off life is good.
You're fine.
There was like, maybe a half a second or a beat where I'm like, it's like the transmission hesitates the power trains trying to sort out what I want to do.
The power comes on slowly.
You hit 323 horsepower.
It's like the slowest application of over 300 horsepower ever felt.
And it's just, it's frustrating, man.
So, you know, it was the hybrid power train or just go with the traditional straight six.
I drove the straight six last November.
Uh We did a fairly long, uh not fairly long, but we did like a day trip um in it that, that engine just sings this one.
Like I wanna recommend the plug in hybrid version for all the reasons that you think because it could fit, you know, you get like 26 miles of range, you know, electric range, but it's just the execution is not there.
It feels like a gen one, you know, hybrid from 2010, 2015.
It's not what you should be doing now.
Like it's a pass fail business.
There's no points for trying hard.
And to me it's just kind of, it's kind of rough.
So, I mean, otherwise I love the thing, you know, it is fairly fuel efficient.
I was getting like 25 MPG, you know, right in there with the EPA combined figure.
Um, nothing to sneeze at.
It's huge, got golf clubs and camping chairs in the back right now.
You know, everybody can get into it.
The dog loves it and she's 65 golden retriever.
It's, it's a very good C 90.
Just, this isn't quite the flavor I would go with.
So, you know, Mazda for a kind of, you know, if we look at the big brands, it seems kind of niche these these days.
But I know a lot of people, uh, anecdotally drive them and the 690 was asked about in, in our office by several people asked me about that vehicle because they love their prior Mazda so much.
And I hadn't driven this, the, I, I've been wanting to drive the new 690.
I haven't driven it yet nor have I driven the, I don't know, I have driven the plug in version too.
Um And, but I'd heard similar things, Greg that it was a bit disappointing because the car looks great, lovely interior.
Of course, Maza these days, like almost near premium luxury level levels of quality and, and obviously, we know these cars, Maz Drive generally the more of that sportier feel at it leaning in on more of a performance uh kind of a vibe, but it sounds like, yeah, like you mentioned this poor execution with the transmission.
Um Really sad because there are people that want, like you said, we talk about people that want crossovers, right?
But hey, I want one that's sportier or utilities that actually can I feel something when I drive it even, even if it's just going to the mall and I think Maz was hitting that niche pretty well and it's, there's no coming back.
I mean, well, you gotta wait to the gen two version of this to, to maybe get some improvements.
I mean, it's not great for, this is their, this is their volume car.
Right.
They're, they're three row.
Yeah, it's, and I just, I don't, I feel like they, this reminds me a little bit of like when Volvo had that power train lineup that was turbocharged and supercharged and it was a plug in.
It's like, it's one of those things that in theory is a good idea, but it's just in practice, it's just, they're, again, they're trying to do too much.
And, you know, I, maybe I'm being too hard on the, the eight speed transmission.
Like it is working with a four cylinder, a 2.5 L as opposed to just the straight six.
So maybe that's the problem too.
But either way it's, it's not my flavor of brandy, but I do, like, like I said, it looks great.
I like Mazdas.
It's the sportiest three row SUV, I've probably ever driven.
Um, the steering, I think I'll be interested to hear if you, you get behind the wheel of these, it's a heavy weighted Mazda steering.
So it's, that's cool.
But wait till you're driving one, like with three rows and golf clubs and can be chairs and it's just, it's kind of weird.
You don't expect that level of direct, uh, precision, you know, it's just this weird segment, you know.
So that's that's our long term update.
Um, so you are getting into the BMW X five plug in hybrid.
And I feel like plugins can be a little controversial right now just because of, uh, you know, I controversial maybe isn't the right word, but a lot of times you don't get the efficiency you want.
You know, we saw this with our long term three series plug in hybrid.
If you didn't charge it, the small gas tank meant instead of like going to the gas station less, you were going to the gas station more.
So, uh, I'll be interested to hear, you know, what are you looking to get out of the X five?
Phev.
So, you know, one of the reasons why we, we, we don't test that many cars here at Yahoo Finance.
Um, but one of the reasons why we were intrigued by, in particular, the X five plug in was because it was, uh, consumer reports rated it not just their, one of their best cars.
It was the best car that they, they, they said last year, uh, that they think overall.
Um, and of course, they named the brand BMW is the top brand for the second year in a row.
So we thought, hey, hybrids are so popular these days.
Same plugins.
This has been named the top car from it, from Consumer Force.
Let's get in the behind the wheel and see what we think.
And, uh, I'm, I'm curious because, you know, we, I, I was in the XM.
Right.
Remember that vehicle, um, which is basically has more of a souped up V eight version of that, right.
The souped up the V eight version with the, with the plug in hybrid.
And, uh, I mean, that was pretty raucous power train.
The car itself is another story and execution wise.
It wasn't, uh I don't think it was that great but I think the X the X five plugins a bit more.
Um It's gonna be more for more people, right?
It's gonna be, it's gonna be that, that V six Turbo V six, I believe, right?
With that power, with that electric motor, um kind of, you know, give me a decent, like almost like 500 horsepower there uh with that power train and I think almost close to 40 miles electric range.
Um And like you said, there are issues with people that don't, they don't know they have to plug them in, right.
So they don't ever really get the full um sort of output there.
I think BMW owners might be a bit more aware of these things and they probably even have charging at home potentially.
Uh So maybe they're getting most out of this car and getting the most from like an efficiency point of view.
But it sounds like this car and its execution is, is, is an all around winner uh even for a almost $80,000 price tag, like we said, these cars are getting pretty expensive, uh or you're getting a lot of your money potentially and maybe you release it.
So we'll see.
Um, but yeah, we're excited to get into it.
Of course, you know, it's gonna have that BMW level of luxury and these days they've been knocking on the park or that you like the twin sort of wide screen uh format.
Like there's also a 40 inch screen that's like your, both your and your uh instrument panel.
If you're, if you're cool with that, great.
I think a lot of people are.
Um We'll see how that execution goes and see how they kind of animate the, the sort of all wheel drive and electric motor kind of being working together.
They always do the thoughtful ways of, of, of showing that, that type of data.
But yeah, excited to get into it and see what it's like.
Um I'm sure it's gonna have plenty of power.
Uh And so, and, and be smooth and just kind of, hey, this is why this car is so great.
We, we'll see.
All right, sounds good.
Well, that's all the time we have this week.
I'd like to thank pros for joining us the week this week.
Give him a follow over at Yahoo Finance.
They do great work.
If you enjoy the show, please give us five stars on Apple Podcast, Spotify, uh where you get your podcasts.
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In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor John Beltz Snyder. Greg is fresh off first drives to the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV RST and Chevy Equinox EV. John and Greg took turns driving a 2024 Porsche 718 Boxster Style Edition, and Greg spent …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. They discuss the refreshed 2025 Honda Civic and its new hybrid powertrain, a possible Ford Maverick sport truck, rumblings of a new Mitsubishi Delica, the continued growth of hybrid sales, the UAW's loss …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor John Beltz Snyder. John's been driving the new Chevy Traverse and the BMW X5 M Competition, and Greg gives his first impressions from behind the wheel of the new Fiat 500e. They discuss Tesla's abandonment of …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian for a look at the business side of recent automotive news. They cover the demise of the Chevy Malibu (again), BMW's aversion to building a pickup, Tesla's Supercharger situation (and the company's broader headcount …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd for a gasoline-powered installment. They lead off by diving into the Tesla layoff news from this week before leaving electrification behind for a bit to talk about not one, but two production V12 unveilings. …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. The Tesla Model 3 Performance has been revealed, and we discuss Tesla's first-quarter results. Mercedes unveiled its G 580 with EQ Technology. A VW factory voted to join the UAW. The Ford Mustang celebrated …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. The two kick things off with a loaded review section, starting with the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq Sport 3 then moving along to the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy. After that, they dig into …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd, who joins us fresh from the floor at the 2024 New York Auto Show. They start with an overview of the show and this year's big debuts, then pivot to other news for talk …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. In the news, BMW revealed the Neue Klasse X EV, Jeep Wrangler drops the V8, Ford Mustang gets a 810-horsepower supercharger kit and Shell leans into EV charging. We look back on the life …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd. They start off discussing a couple of vehicles they've both driven — the 2024 Ford Maverick Tremor and the 2024 Volvo C40 Recharge 2WD. From there, they pivot to Byron's first drive of the …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by News Editor Joel Stocksdale. They lead off with the 2024 Dodge Charger reveal, followed by various EV startup news including the reported death of the Apple Car; rumors of a tie-up between Fisker and Nissan; and when we'll finally …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. Joel shares his experience checking out the Tesla Cybertruck in Chicago. James leads a discussion concerning GM's track record with the Ultium EV roll-out and the company's history with …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd. They start out talking about Scout's new facility in South Carolina and what Volkswagen Group wants to do with its new truck and SUV brand. From there, they briefly revisit the General Motors F1 …
