Celebrating a Death

71
3928

How does one “celebrate” a death?

It’s an odd choice of words given the death is more like a murder – the unnatural ending of the lives of the Dodge Charger and Challenger, which should have been around for many years to come but won’t be around after the end of next year – courtesy of the Things in Washington that signed their death warrants.

They will be replaced by more “eco-friendly” electric cars – air-fingers-quotation marks to emphasize the lie of the thing, since there is nothing “eco friendly” about replacing a 500 pound V8 engine – as in the Charger and Challenger – with a 1,000-plus pounds of environmentally hazardous materials that consume a gratuitously excessive amount of power – in the form electricity that is generated almost entirely by burning hydrocarbon fuels, just like a V8 engine.

The only thing “eco” about these electric cars is the fraudulent sales pitch.

Here it is worth a mention that VW got Hut! Hut! Hutted! by the federal government for marketing what were styled “clean” diesels – because they produced fractionally more oxides of nitrogen, a byproduct of combustion, under full throttle – and because VW installed “cheat” software that caused this fractional difference in NOx emissions to pass unnoticed on federal emissions certification tests.

Now, these VW diesels were “clean” – in that they burned very little fuel per mile (most were capable of going more than 50 miles on a gallon of fuel) and that alone reduced the quantity of gasses they “emitted” substantially.

Being diesels, their engines would go 200,000-plus miles before needing to be replaced – as opposed to replacing the EV’s 1,000-plus pound battery pack at least once by then.

VW’s diesels were far more “eco-friendly” than electric cars that require 1,000-plus pounds of environmentally toxic materials to store a massive amount of electricity that must be regularly replenished via the energy-intensive combustion of hydrocarbon fuels that – when burned – results in more gasses being produced. The same gasses allegedly responsible for the “climate change” these Things assert must be averted by killing off V8-powered cars like the Dodge Charger and Challenger. And not just them, either. The Chrysler 300 is closely related to the Charger; if the Charger goes, so does Chrysler probably.

It is idiocy and outrage combined.

And it may well result in the ending of Dodge, too – as Dodge without the Charger and Challenger in the lineup is a car company with only one other model left in its lineup, that one being the Durango SUV. Which is also expected to walk the Green Mile, for it is also powered by the same V8 that Dodge can no longer offer in the Charger and Challenger.

Well, there may still be Dodges called Chargers and Challengers after 2023 – but without the V8s (and with battery-electric propulsion) they become something in-name-only. Something the same as every other “electrified” everything else. How many of the same thing can the market support?

Dodge sold more than 3 million Challengers and Chargers because the people who bought them wanted something different.

And different they were.

Uniquely in the modern era, these big bruisers offered big V8s, the kind of powerplant that once defined American cars – and which most Americans could afford, once-upon-a-better-time.

Three-plus million people did not buy these cars because they were “eco friendly” – but because they were a Bruce Lee thorax punch to that cloying bullshit, even though they weren’t bad for the “environment,” either. See that point made earlier about the 500 pound V8 vs. the 1,000-plus pounds of earth-raped materials and keeping the big brick powered up. Not to mention the much shorter operational lifespan of the 1,000-plus pounds of earth-raped materials that will have to be replaced – more earth rape, as for example endless fields of earth-ruinous brine leaching to extract lithium – years before a V8 reaches its functional dotage (usually 12-15 years and often much longer with decent treatment).

Without those V8s – no matter how powerful their “electrified” replacements turn out to be – they will just be another iteration of the same thing.

Dodge is being forced, in other words, to kill off the thing that made the brand desirable to those who bought the cars – in order to appease the sanctimony of those who hate cars and will cackle over Dodge’s open grave like Hillary when she heard about what her minions had done to Muammar Quadaffi.

So light a candle.

Before the last Charger or Challenger rolls off the assembly line in Brampton (in Ontario, Canada) Dodge will “celebrate” their end by embossing each 2023 model with a Last Call plaque and by resurrecting, for one last time, colors such as Sublime and Plum Crazy. V8 models will also carry special “345” badges – to reflect cubic inches, not liters – as American cars once proudly boasted.

In the future, it will be kilowatt-hours . . . just like your microwave.

The ultimate Last Call model will be the Jailbreak Edition – which packages the supercharged, 807 horsepower Hemi V8 with Wide-Body flared fenders, sidepipe exhaust and the classic color schemes, too.

“Three million cars, a billion horsepower and a lot of really happy customers that helped build our brand,” says Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis. “We’re going to make sure that we do that (he means, the funeral) right.”

Mourn for what was – and which didn’t have to go. Courtesy of the Things that are responsible for making them go.

God damn them every one of them.

. . .

Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in! Or email me at [email protected] if the @!** “ask Eric” button doesn’t work!

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos. 

We depend on you to keep the wheels turning! 

Our donate button is here.

 If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:

EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079

PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)

My eBook about car buying (new and used) is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here.  If that fails, email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy directly!

 

 

 

 

71 COMMENTS

  1. “Hidden gas guzzlers”…The wonders of electric cars are turning out to be pie-in-the-sky fantasies.

    Massive energy losses from generation, to transmission, to charging and during battery storage are turning electric mobility into a cost nightmare.

    “E-cars lose massive amounts of power during charging,” reports the online 24hamburg-de here, citing results of tests conducted on a variety of electric cars of different price classes and sizes by Germany’s ADAC automobile association.

    This makes electric cars even more expensive, and less affordable, than previously thought.

    The ADAC’s results show, “electricity consumption when charging electric cars is significantly higher than indicated on the consumption displays.”

    Manufacturers forgot to tell e-car buyers that lots of energy – about 10% – in fact gets lost during charging and battery storage. there is another 3% daily loss with the car just sitting…

    “With a gasoline-powered car, that would be like spilling a few liters when refueling,” says the ADAC.

    Apparently. significant energy gets lost by all the electrical systems, from the charging station, to the on-board charger and the drive battery in the car itself.

    The ADAC tested electric vehicles were all connected to the same 22-kW wall box at 23 degrees ambient temperature, all under the same conditions. According to the test results: “a 100 kWh battery in a Tesla Model X100D actually requires 108.3 kWh. The Kia e-Niro Spirit requires 72.3 kWh for a 64 kWh battery. Even the Jaguar I-PACE EV400 needs at least 10 kWh more for a 90 kWh battery,” reports 24hamburg.de.

    With skyrocketing electricity prices in Germany, these hidden costs are turning out to be substantial. But the news will soon get a lot worse, 24hamburg.de reveals:

    “Electricity prices will rise by 320 percent. […] Driving electric cars is and will be more expensive for drivers than previously thought.”

    Currently charging rates in German cities are at about 50 euro-cents a kilowatt hour. With a 300% rise, mobility is about to become a luxury only affordable by the rich.

    charging a 90 kwh battery @ 50 cents per kwh = 45 euro ($45) @ 2.4 miles per kwh = 216 miles
    with price tripling….. @ 1.5 euro per kwh = 135 euro ($135 )

    compared to: 2014 Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion diesel, capable of a claimed 73.5 mpg U.S.
    216 miles @ 73.5 mpg = 2.9 gallons @ $4.00 = $11.60

    216 miles in the ice diesel golf = $11.60
    216 miles in the EV = $135.00

    At 100,000 miles the EV needs a $22,000 battery replacement….lol

    Germany’s once much ballyhooed “Energiewende” is unraveling, and turning into a grand technological fiasco.

    https://notrickszone.com/2022/08/16/charging-electric-cars-like-spilling-liters-of-petrol-hidden-losses-during-charging-are-huge/?fbclid=IwAR2MF2zkItF-7itptpz7jsZqEKPy3rkc0m7ke1dcWeSiKGzUl6Ks-6lnSfY

  2. ban all ice vehicles, replace them with EV’s powered by wind mills…..lol

    GreenMageddon

    it is commonly claimed that 12% of US primary energy consumption (2020) is accounted for by “renewables”,

    only 4.9% comes from green energy solar and wind…

    Actually, no—not even close. That’s because “renewables” and green energy defined as solar and wind are not remotely the same thing.

    According to DOE, the US consumed 11.6 quads (quadrillion BTUs) of renewables in 2020, but 7.3 quads or 63% of that was accounted for by old-style non-fossil fuels including:

    Hydroelectric: 2.6 quads;
    Wood: 2.5 quads;
    Biofuels: 2.0 quads;
    Geothermal: 0.2 quads
    most of these sources are tapped out or not desirable to expand.

    We have already seen, for instance, that hydroelectric—which was a favorite of the New Deal back in the 1930s—was tapped out long ago. Up to 80% of the long rivers in the US are already damned,

    and environmentalists haven’t permitted a new major hydroelectric project in decades. In fact, hydro-electric output of 291 billion kWh in 2020 was well below the peak level of 356 billion kWh recorded in 1997 and was even exceeded by the 304 kWh generated way back in 1974.

    Nor do we hear the Climate Howlers beating the tom-toms for the original source of modern BTUs— more wood combustion! Actually, they advocate the opposite: Massive tree-planting as “offsets” to carbon emissions.

    Likewise, most of the 2.0 quads attributable to biofuels is accounted for by ethanol produced from fermented corn. Yet any material increase in ethanol consumption—via higher mandated blending with gasoline—would likely wreck most of the IC engines on the highways, while turning the vast food production expanses of Iowa and Nebraska into fuel farms.

    Finally, consider the implicit lesson in the small amount of consumption—0.2 quads—attributable to geothermal energy. As it happens, geothermal electricity is about as close to a perfect source of renewable energy as you can get, as one analysts recently noted, but there is a huge catch:

    So why isn’t there more of it?

    Because there wasn’t much of it to begin with. While renewable energy sources like wind and solar are exploitable to a greater or lesser extent almost everywhere, high-temperature geothermal resources are found only there is a coincidence of high heat flow and favorable hydrology, and…..these coincidences occur only in a few places.

    Which Leaves Wind and Solar, Which Leaves a Lot to be Desired
    This gets us to the only so-called “renewables” which are actually expandable at scale—-solar and wind.

    As to the former solar , it needs be noted that US consumption during 2020 amounted to only 1.2 quads, or less than half of the primary energy supplied by wood (including a small amount of industrial consumption of bio-waste such at pulp mills etc.).

    That’s right. After decades of big time subsidies and endless government promotion, solar is still eclipsed by the fuel first used by cavemen!

    The problem with wind power, however, is no less prohibitive. In the case of the 3.0 quads of primary energy attributed to wind in 2020, virtually 100% was used by utilities to generate electricity for the grid. Accordingly, only 90% of that wind energy ever makes it to a home, industrial plant or EV auto. The difference is accounted for by BTUs lost in downstream transmission and distribution lines (T&D losses). And when you add the fact that 64% of primary solar consumption was also used by electric utilities and also suffered T&D losses, you get a truly startling fact.

    To wit, only 3.4 quads of solar and wind energy actually generated net electrical power to end users in the US economy in 2020.

    In turn, that tiny figure represents only 4.9% of the 69.7 quads of net energy from all fuels (after deducting utility system waste from all fuel sources) used by the entire US economy in 2020.

    95.1% of all energy comes from non green sources
    (green source solar and wind supply 4.9%)….
    they are banning all of them and want to go all green sources….that is impossible, you will freeze to death…..

    Yet even that tiny fraction was an artifact of the massive government subsidies which have been thrown at the two green fuels……useless entirely subsidy driven…with tax dollars.

    https://rclutz.com/2021/11/12/david-stockman-resist-the-greenmageddon-part-5/

    • 95.1% of all electrical energy comes from so called dirty non green sources
      (green source solar and wind supply 4.9%)….

      so 95.1% of EV’s are powered by dirty energy, so why switch from ice vehicles with their ultra low .00001% emissions engines that are far cleaner then dirty power stations??

      So the Charger is being replaced by a high emission EV, that makes sense….lol

      • green…..hahaha…… solar and wind mills

        Lithium batteries:
        Can’t be recycled = really green energy….haha

        95% of lithium batteries aren’t recycled, Solar panels can’t be recycled, Used wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds, they are made from fiberglass.

        A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, (tesla batteries go up to 1800 lb., hummer battery is 3000 lb. ) It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.
        It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just one battery.” For the larger batteries multiply all that by 2 X.

        Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?”
        95% of lithium batteries aren’t recycled

        Solar panels:

        The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicone dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.
        Solar panels can’t be recycled…..what will they do with them (and wind turbine blades)? throw them down old mine shafts like nuclear waste?…..lol..

        solar panels are toxic. They sterilize the ground they sit on. Birds that fly over a solar farm are roasted mid-flight.
        Have you researched the temperature directly above a solar farm?? These farms have been accused of creating warming in the regions around them.

        The alarmists will always show you pictures of solar panels on green grass – which have to taken as soon as the panels are installed. They leach cadmium and other toxic chemicals and sterilize the soil. Just try to find anything growing under a solar farm that has stood for a few years.
        And the landmass that both wind and solar take up will take up most of the farmland in America. Right now we’re not even at 3% electrical production of both. We’re going down a doomed path!

        Wind turbines

        Wind turbines are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades. Sadly, both solar arrays and windmills kill birds, bats, sea life, and migratory insects.

        Wind turbines are junk energy yes the cost is enormous! They have a lifespan of roughly maybe 20 years and to decommission one costs $500,000! And the landmass that both wind and solar take up will take up most of the farmland in America. Right now we’re not even at 3% electrical production of both. We’re going down a doomed path!

        Used wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds, they are made from fiberglass.

        The average wind farm has 150 turbines. Each wind turbine requires 80 gallons of oil for lubrication, and this isn’t vegetable oil; this is a PAO synthetic oil based on crude… 12,000 gallons. Once a year, that oil must be replenished.

        they leak oil from their motors. They cannot be recycled so they are buried in Landfills. They use more electricity than they create. They can fling ice for hundreds of meters. They kill large predatory birds, bats and insects. Their infrasound negatively affect the hearts of humans and animals that live near them. The huge cement footings damage aquifers.

        But truly, there is no making sense of these people anymore.
        They are ready to shell out hundreds of billions to take over arable acreage with solar panels even as we face a food crisis, and festoon the countryside with bird-slaughtering windmills rather than permit more pipelines and refineries to open.

        https://www.truth11.com/content/images/2022/07/5F4EEBF7-CFDB-4DC0-8406-D8B485529046.jpeg

        • All that is fine, but the real issue is, assuming the climate research is correct, they’ve been wasting time and money on really poor alternatives thanks to their constant fixation on potential energy sources instead of proven ways to reduce CO2. The justification for wind and solar are aways “there’s enough sunlight hitting the Earth to provide 10,000 amount of ‘energy.'” Or, “There’s enough wind ‘energy’ in Texas to provide for all the needs of the planet,” like all of it can be converted into useful joules of work. The so-called scientists who come up with these freshman physics calculations completely ignore reality. Yes, it is possible to supply enough power to run society, if you work very very hard at it and take a tremendous amount of money. And be willing put up with just enough and no excess energy.

          Meanwhile, replacing coal electricity with nuclear power plants on a one-to-one basis, even the old “unsafe” 1970s reactors, will easily provide all the electricity needed to run modern society, on demand and without fail, for decades. “Oh, but it’s too expensive!” they cry. Well, sure, thanks to the greens and coal lobby tying up operators and builders in the courts for years before a shovel hits the dirt. Lawyers cost money, but not as much as delayed construction, so to a coal barron backing “friends of the Earth” with a few million bucks in lawyer fees is worth it if stops real competition.

          This is what is unseen. A true green revolution (and not glowing) that would provide an energy bounty greater than oil. Enough electricity to run oceanside desalination plants in Southern California, taking strain off the Colorado and other rivers. Heat to finally make switchgrass and other “biofuels” not only profitable but competitive with oil -and not at the expense of food crops. Growing crops year around in northern climates using massive greenhouses, lit with electricity and “waste” heat from the nuclear plant (much like the large commerical cannabis grow houses popping up all over Colorado). Heck, run a steam plant to the city and make a few bucks heating houses too.

          Even if you’re a hard core “climate hater” you should be in favor of at least some of those ideas. Human flourishing is never bad.

          • Re: nuclear
            One needs to have a clear understanding of just why it is that nuclear power is so hated
            all over the world, and why the fake “environmentalist” movement, established and
            financially supported by the Club of Rome, was called upon to wage war on nuclear
            energy.

            With nuclear energy generating electricity in cheap and abundant supplies, Third
            World countries would gradually become independent of U.S. foreign aid and begin to
            assert their sovereignty, instead they are forced to borrow money from the world bank at
            very high interest rates pushing them into bankruptcy.

            Nuclear generated electricity is THE key to bringing Third
            World countries out of their backward state, a state which the Committee of 300 has
            ordered to remain in position.

            • Third world can’t have nukes, according to the accepted narrative, because first thing they’ll do is refine weapons-grade fissile material.

              Probably right about that. After all, it’s the first thing the US did with refined uranium.

              And what’s wrong with that? A poisonous snake annouces its presence in many ways. The human eye has evolved (or was designed, depending on your time scale) to detect and avoid visible threats. Despite progressive-era attempts to domesticate/normalize poisonous snakes the majority of the human population avoids all snakes and has a natural aversion to them. There’s a reason why snakes were used by the pamphleteers to drum up support for the revolution. People intrinsically understood that a snake is dangerous, but only when disturbed.

          • Re: climate change

            As This Chart Clearly Shows; Humans have nothing to do with climate change
            The climate change premise debunked.

            CO2 has risen since 1895 …….but…..

            ATTENTION: Since 1895 there there has been no global warming, the line on the graph showing the temperature since 1895 is flat, no increase, none, zero global warming, global warming is a lie….

            Do you realize CO2 helps plants grow?…….enviro nuts say that is bad….lol

            Climate change?….yes……..the sun has cycles, it has always had cycles since the beginning of time….what are you going to do about it tax the sun?……lol

            We acknowledge full heartedly that the climate changes. However, the science shows that humans, animals, and C02 have nothing to do with it. The sun has cycles, it has had for millions of years

            CO2 does not cause global warming, people and CO2 don’t cause climate change.

            So they are taking away your food (meat), cars, money, assetts, real estate and freedom based on a lie that you cause CO2 which causes global warming that causes climate change….lol

            Based on this they are eliminating/banning ice cars because they have .00001% emissions of CO2 that has no connection to anything….lol….but they lie and say it does…..

            the double-speak involved is intensely characteristic of the reversal of reality practiced by satanists…..black is white….. up is down….bad is good….no warming is warming

            do as we say not as we do……inversion typical of leftists…the rules don’t apply to them….
            leftists lie 24/7
            (the elite communist/globalists in control at the top will still drive Bugatti’s, own sixty cars, eat steak, fly in private jets, sail in 400 foot yachts, have billions of dollars and ten $50 million homes). you will own nothing….lol

            Demons invert/reverse all that they touch. The psychopath uses the same trick.
            leftist/communists = satanist.

            https://www.truth11.com/humans-have-nothing-to-do/

          • ATTENTION: wind turbines and solar panels won’t fix it because they do not work. To make them work would require a wind turbine and a solar array (or both) on every rooftop, but even once you did that you need batteries.

            Lots of batteries. A prohibitive amount of batteries. Batteries like we’ve never imagined before. And you have to replace them every 5-7 years. dangerous lithium fire bomb batteries.

            Then when it is really cold with heavy snow, with no wind, the solar panels, wind turbines don’t work and the batteries lose 50% capacity, then you freeze…..lol

    • 95.1% of all energy comes from non green sources
      (green source solar and wind supply 4.9%)….

      they are banning all of them and want to go all green sources….that is impossible, you will freeze to death…..

      with the agenda 2030 depopulation agenda the numbers might add up….lol

  3. Killing ice power and going all electric….

    Perils of Everything Electrified

    a prolonged “polar vortex” with no wind (a.k.a., “wind drought”) coupled with snow covered photovoltaics = no power….
    During such periods, all the heat from a typical electric heat pump will be in the form of electric resistance that is built into it; that’s just how typical heat pumps work…..you freeze to death…..

    If your local electric utility has “transitioned’ to all renewables, they will need several days’ worth of battery storage. Also, battery capacity drops sharply in extreme cold. That’s just how batteries work.

    Altogether, this equates to astronomical costs that get passed on to consumers. In short, if you are “all-electric,” you will need to fend for yourself and should at least consider investing in your own emergency generator system, assuming you can afford it.

    the electric utility industry stands to profit from doubling (or more) in size and rate-basing much more expensive renewable technologies, all with the increased cost of “monopoly rents.”

    The environmentalists also get what they’ve craved: economic control.

    Together, they can achieve social control; awarding energy compliance and
    punishing energy disobedience; like how the system presently works in China.

    https://rclutz.com/2022/08/17/perils-of-everything-electrified/?fbclid=IwAR25J6GRlpPh1Dz0EG7SfoxQwa_7u1Pr_l2Prs49uEz8KrR4NDdDttYYErE

  4. Love and Love-making – the really good kind – is just like driving a really fine car with lots of horsepower and good sounds and the driver pushes her up to climax and back again, joining as he “drives.”
    Here is an article that for those who have experienced either (hopefully both) these emotions. Launch Elton John’s song at the end and continue on as it plays and read the comments section. And try and not keep the tears out of your eyes.
    (I apologize for the author’s final sentence – I did not write the words).
    Ken

  5. I’ll miss the V8 version, if only to mourn the idiocy of corporate america. You know these companies, like Dodge or Jeep would be profitable as hell if there were no cafe standards and they could build what people wanted.

    What I won’t miss is the douchebags that buy these things – chargers and challengers – with the smallest motor and replace the muffler with a pipe, thinking it’ll make it faster, then blasting by my house.

    I swear to god it blows me away to thing there’s a moron tuner with a Honda and no muffler only to look up and see a charger or challenger. Sad, sad, sad.

    Mustangs, same thing. Sounds like a busted weed eater.

    Go Large or Go Home.

  6. Moments with the Master in the Upper Room

    Not you, Klaus, you freak, you freaking idiot. You need a few teeth knocked out of your stupid head. Another fascist no one wants around.

    It’s dog eat dog in this world.

    Chrysler was on the ropes in 1980, Lee Iaccoca went hat-in-hand to the US gov and asked kindly for 1.5 billion dollars. Another billion from private lenders kept Chrysler from digging its own grave.

    Chrysler payed back the full amount and profited another 4 billion dollars.

    In 2009, Chrysler asked for another 4 billion dollars from the US gov.

    Now Dodge is at the mercy of their masters. Stellantis will do what it is told to do.

    Vie hab unsere vays!

    Makes no sense, but is the way it is.

    Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

    Lots of thunder after a lightning strike.

    Thunder stones, Jefferson’s explanation for meteors after striking the earth, meteorites.

    Plenty of impact craters here on earth.

  7. Eric,

    You’re not terribly far from North Wilkesboro, NC. Might could take a pilgrimage & recharge (so to speak) with old school racers, race fans, car aficionados.

    Dale Jr is racing there this weekend I think.

  8. Carbon Reduction…..

    The Charger was first…you are next…

    WEF Advisor: ‘Common People’ Should Live In Fear, ‘We Don’t Need The Vast Majority of You’

    “Common people” are right to be fearful of a future in which they will be made “redundant“, according to World Economic Forum (WEF) advisor Yuval Noah Harari, who said “We just don’t need the vast majority of the population” in the early 21st century given modern technologies.”

    Harari’s extraordinary remarks were made in an interview with Chris Anderson, the head of TED, published on Tuesday, and represent the strongest warning yet that Klaus Schwab’s WEF is intent on depopulating the world.

    “Now, fast forward to the early 21st century when we just don’t need the vast majority of the population,” the WEF adviser concluded, “because because the future is about developing more and more sophisticated technology, like artificial intelligence [and] bioengineering, Most people don’t contribute anything to that, except perhaps for their data, and whatever people are still doing which is useful, these technologies increasingly will make redundant and will make it possible to replace the people.”

    What happens to the useful idiots helping/enabling/cheer leading the globalists?……..

    The third stage instigates a crisis that leads to a civil war, revolution, or foreign invasion. This stage only took 2-6 months.

    This is the stage when the leftist idealists, or “useful idiots,” are no longer needed, because they would be disillusioned, become obstacles, push back, turn against the new government. They are going to be eliminated, exiled, or imprisoned.

    note: this is the interesting part, when the communists takeover, leftist idealists, or “useful idiots,” who helped the communists are exterminated. for one they know too much.

    https://newspunch.com/wef-advisor-common-people-should-live-in-fear-we-dont-need-the-vast-majority-of-you/

  9. Betcha the Hemi soon becomes a “collectable.”

    Its provenance goes all the way back to NASCAR circa 1960s. It has proven to be an engine that is just too good to retire.

    I’ve always loved the Hemi. Glad finally I got a new one in 2017.

  10. Then I wish Stellantis a painful market death. By going along to get along, that’s what they’ll get.

    Although one might accuse me of whistling past the grave yard, I’m not overly pessimistic about this. The U.S. auto industry went through the malaise period where V8s were choked down to 110 hp. 30 years later a production car produced 808 hp. There was also a 55mph speed limit. Political winds can and will change. Think about society in the Summer of 2020. Somehow people (and certain politicians) grew some balls and started pushing back.

    We all just need to keep fighting the good fight!

  11. The VW diesel, killed for doing exactly the same thing public education does, teaching to the test. They did NOT violate EPA testing rules. They were penalized for the inadequacy of the EPA testing to discover real world effects, and taking advantage of that. The EPA called it “cheating”. I was pleasantly surprised VW survived the incident.

    • VW should have put up a defense rather than genuflect before mighty EPA and their ridiculous edicts. I have no desire to purchase, let alone lease an electric VW/Audi/Porsche, or any other make for that matter.

    • Hi John

      all the manufacturers were doing the same thing as VW, all the manufacturers of heavy duty industrial diesels were doing the same thing. VW was the scapegoat, they were the number one car manufacturer, were German and had the best engineers, so were targeted….that is racist….lol

  12. No more affordable performance. I wonder when Bugatti Ferrari and Lamborghini will be tossing their V12 super-exotics to the curb? Will Queen Elizabeth give up her royal Rolls for a Prius? Perhaps she’ll go back to her horse drawn carriage, with the pesants trailing behind, collecting the horse excement for selling on Etsy?

    “They” attacked Taylor Swift for flying private jets, ignoring the fact that if she were to fly commerical the whole airport would go nuts and cause an international incident (due to “them” pushing out stories on social media to ride her coattails). Yet I remind everyone that the third busiest airfield in Colorado is Aspen/Sardy Field, and the largest plane permitted to land there is the Embraer ERJ-145. The tarmac is filled with Gulfstreams and Citations, most of them owned by companies that have an ESG score to worry about. And no one is calling out the Aspenites for thier carbon footprint.

    But for we, the people, who might have a small business or have saved up for their dream car, no. You cannot have that because the infinitesimal addition of one vehicle’s “emissions” adds up. Adam Corolla used to rant about Paris Hilton’s McLaren and how to her it was just a daily driver, but to someone who’s worked hard their whole life getting a business off the ground, or otherwise had some small success, a car like that would be a major accomplishment.

    That matters. It should count for something. Fuck those people.

      • Hey Eric

        You can convert your Firebird to run on hydrogen, if there is a gas supply problem. The carburetor needs to be modified. Real zero emissions…

        A hydrogen burning ice engine is zero emission, the only emission is water from burning hydrogen.

        So, even though hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are popular now days because they are classified as zero emissions vehicles, the H2ICE still has a couple of advantages. For instance, the H2ICE is near-zero emissions, the only emission is water from burning hydrogen.

        A standard ICE can be converted to run on hydrogen including fittings and tanks for between $30,000 and $70,000, which is way below the price of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that costs in the $100,000’s to build.

        So, don’t count the H2ICE out just yet. It’s been here for over 200 years and chances are it will be around a little while longer.

        Some of the more well known H2ICE vehicles are the BMW Hydrogen 7, the Mazda vehicles, and several Ford models.

        The BMW Hydrogen 7 is a luxury car with an internal combustion engine that can burn either gasoline or super cooled liquid hydrogen fuel.

        Mazda has two vehicles, the RX8 Renesis RE Hydrogen and the Premacy RE Hydrogen that both have rotary engines and run on compressed hydrogen gas. According the Mazda the rotary engine is the perfect H2ICE because of its design which prevents knocking and pinging.

        The Mazda vehicles have been used in the cool regions of Norway for their Hynor hydrogen highway project. Ford has developed both fuel cell vehicles and H2ICE vehicles. The Ford Superchief F250 is actually a tri-fuel vehicle that can run on hydrogen, gasoline or E85 ethanol.

        Ford has also built and rolled out around 20 E-450 and F-450 H2ICE shuttle buses combined for various projects.

        In fact, the early history of H2ICE vehicles dates back to 1807 when Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland built the first working model. It wasn’t until 1966, when GM put an experimental fuel cell inside its Electrovan that FCVs (fuel cell vehicles) began to catch on.

        https://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/index.php/h2ice-cars/

      • Hi Anon,
        This appears to be yet another “carbon neutral” shell game. From a story linked in that article:

        “By using CO2 from the atmosphere that has already been emitted as pollution, the damage has already been done. Crucially, when burnt, the carbon emissions of synfuel do not add anything to the atmosphere that wasn’t already there to begin with. This makes synthetic fuel carbon neutral in the combustion process, only emitting the CO2 that was used to create it in the first place; CO2 that was already polluting the atmosphere.
        “The caveat to this is that while the combustion process is effectively carbon neutral, the refinement of e-fuels isn’t necessarily so. Harnessing CO2 and hydrogen from the atmosphere is energy-intensive – which has always been one of the big hindrances to the widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. That means that the creation of synthetic fuel is only carbon neutral if renewable energy sources – solar, wind, hydro-electric power, for example – are used in its refinement.”

        And we should not forget that according to the nutty EPA, wood-powered cars would be “carbon neutral” too.

        • Hi Roland

          Yes gas and diesel are far better.

          With hydrogen you can claim it is green because….

          Microorganisms such as bacteria and algae can produce hydrogen through biological processes.

          Hydrogen can be produced using a number of different processes. Thermochemical processes use heat and chemical reactions to release hydrogen from organic materials, such as fossil fuels and biomass, or from materials like water. Water (H2O) can also be split into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) using electrolysis or solar energy. Microorganisms such as bacteria and algae can produce hydrogen through biological processes.

          synthetic fuels are different it is a shell game to get around the rules…it is carbon neutral, CO2 is taken out of the air and mixed in the fuel (hydrogen), then put back in the air when the fuel is burnt = carbon neutral…

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOUjXNheBZA

  13. I’m very sad that these fine cars are getting the axe, even though they sell extraordinarily well considering the national obsession with crossovers and body-on-frame real trucks. Guess those on the chopping block next.

    There are so many things NONE of us voted for, yet are done to us. I didn’t vote for billions to be sent to Ukraine and Israel, yet our officials print more money and send it over, likely taking a large kickback for themselves and their donors. There’s a reason why most of these politicians become millionaires while in office, yet most of them have never been anywhere near a real job in their pointless existences.

    I didn’t vote for countless brushfire wars around the globe and now war with Russia and China. Yet that’s what we get from our so-called “leaders.”

    The beauty of military life
    No questions, only orders and flight only flight
    What a beautiful sight in his wild blue dream
    The eternal child leafs through his
    War magazine
    And his kind Uncle Sam feeds ten trillion in
    Change into the total entertainment
    Combat video game

    “Late Home Tonight”
    Roger Waters

    I didn’t vote for an open border where anyone can walk across, making citizenship absolutely useless. I also didn’t vote for preferential treatment for minorities at the expense of the country’s founding stock. I also didn’t vote for drag queen story hour and trannies 24/7, crowding out real women in women’s sports, mutilating kids, etc. Yet here we are.

    And lastly, I didn’t vote for our government to mandate the replacement of real ICE cars with glorified, joyless, soulless golf carts on steroids. These “cars” explode if damaged then burn like a sumbitch. They are are short ranged and don’t last as long as real cars and trucks. Yet, our officials like Secretary Buttplug, that pointless twit who’s never had a real job in his life, tell us “Go buy an EV.”

    There will be a culling of automakers. There’s no reason to have 20 or so when you can tell an EV by styling, interior trim and how big the stupid screen in the middle of the dash is. When you had real engines, 350 V-8s, Hemi V-8s, 351 Clevelands and Windsors, 454s, the 2JZ straight 6 from Toyota, Honda’s great B18 4-bangers, Mercedes-Benz and BMW’s marvelous straight 6s and Subaru, VW diesels and Porsche boxster 4 and 6 cylinders, you had a reason to have diversity in the marketplace. If every car is just a pointless skateboard on top of a godawful battery pack, what’s the danged point?

    My hope is when our imperial, tyrannical government that is a force for evil around the globe collapses, the automakers will rise up again like the distillers did after Prohibition, another government sponsored extinction level event for an industry that rankled the moral busybodies who plague our nation and always have.

    • Hi dr_m, I didn’t vote for any of those things either, nor did the vast majority of Americans. Cracks me up how the PTB keep whining about “threats to our democracy”, as if we ever had one. Just a distraction from their evil agenda.

      • Mike, when you say the word “politician,” most people laugh. They know instinctively that politicians are for the most part stupid, self-aggrandizing clowns. But I doubt that many of them have similar contempt for the massive administrative state that inflicts real misery every day.
        To Trump’s credit, he did issue an executive order to create “Schedule F” for federal employees, which would have made it easier to get rid of them. Of course he did it way too late in his term (I suspect his ego told him he surely had four more years coming), and Biden immediately reversed it.
        If re-elected, will he have the balls to issue it again, and then actually use it?

  14. Car companies could just tell the fedgov to get bent and ignore them. Corporate nullification. That requires two things in short supply nowadays: a) balls and b) backbone.

    • Mike,
      They can’t. Corporations are a creation of the state, and so are beholden to it. They have only the rights the state grants them, and so those rights can just as easily be taken away.

  15. It is all so disingenuous and depressing. I think they are just buying time trying to figure out the future badge for the Pacifica. Jeeps, and Rams will be all that remains of “MoPar”.

    • Hi Mr. Bobo –

      The future looks bleak for Jeep, too. How can models such as the V8 Grand Wagoneer and Grand Cherokee survive if the V8 Charger and Challenger cannot? How does Ram survive, when all it is allowed to sell are $50,000 electric trucks that are useless for any kind of real work?

      • Their new Hurricane 3.0 straight-6 TT is their current answer that will be going in the Rams and Grand X’s, I believe very soon or now, ’23?
        Of course, we’ve seen Ram come out with hybrid and EV concepts, but zero news on actual production of such.

        • Hi Chris,

          I wonder whether Stellantis has thought to consider that the same regulatory regime that made offering the V8 impossible will also, inevitably, make the six impossible, too… these bastards being determined to use regulations to systematically make anything not electric an impossibility. And then they’ll move on to the electrics.

          • Eric, as others have said, regimes change. We can only hope.
            A fact is, the new hurricane engine and re-tooling cost Stellantis buku bucks. They even have to re-engineer the brandy new Grand X’s and somewhat new Rams to go from V6 and V8 to straight 6, I’m sure all are ready to accept such with good planning, but still requires buku bucks to retool a factory.
            All of these costs are transferred to us as you know.
            I’m positive they are already trying to figure out how to make all of these vehicles hybrid and/or EV.

          • Re: eric August 17, 2022 At 11:59 am

            They will never stop. They will even go after bicycles. It’s about only one thing, power. The power to control everything about people’s lives.
            Problem is now everyone born after about 1980 has no memory of real pollution and thus is easily conned regarding things they cannot see, smell, or taste. That they can’t verify.

  16. In another article, Kuniskis makes this odd and self-contradictory statement:

    “At Dodge, we never lift, and the brand will mark the last of our iconic Charger and Challenger nameplates in their current form in the same way that got us here, with a passion both for our products and our enthusiasts that drives us to create as much uniqueness in the muscle car community and marketplace as possible.”

    So we never lift, but we are lifting. We will create uniqueness, but we will create only what the government tells us to create. Up is down. Black is white. The vaccines work, so wear your mask.

  17. Your government is pushing EV’s? Why?

    Re: EV’s and grid upgrade equipment……

    China has infiltrated all levels of governments, taken control, (check out the leftist/communist takeover), your politicians bought off, paid to push the EV agenda.

    Anybody pushing EV’s is a paid ccp shill.

    Who benefits the most from the EV vehicle conversion? china does.

    All the most important components in the new EV’s are all made in china. Then you are dependent on china for replacement parts, etc., in effect they take over the whole vehicle supply chain. Vehicle production is then centralized in China.

    the chinese are taking over the electric car market, they are starting to export their EV’s worldwide, their EV’s are supposed to be advanced and cheap, they will kill off the other manufacturers……

    the chinese make most of the chips, maybe the shortage was to help their EV launch….lots of their cars coming here soon

    at this rate everyone will be driving a chinese car soon, a lot of electronics in your car are made there already…….

    no wonder tesla moved a lot of production to china…

    china…..it is where most rare earths are processed; and most of the mineral supply-chains for electric vehicles lead there, with existing supply sewn up.

    With more EV’s the grid has to be updated, most of the equipment for expanding the grid is made in china.
    The largest beneficiaries are the Chinese manufacturers of electric transformers, cables, generators, etc. since almost none of that stuff is made anywhere else anymore.

    If there is a war and chine detonates a neutron bomb that takes out the grid, they get to supply all the replacement equipment, another win for them.

    What about all the vaccines and drugs the government has been pushing, all the ingredients come from china.

    https://carnewschina.com/2022/04/18/chinese-electric-vehicles-are-on-fire/?fbclid=IwAR0qjRYwe7u0vfefTsZ9MOEDRE3imKU9cXN2qbZwQr-XdU3D04FgvorMWIM

  18. Replacing ice cars with EV’s makes no sense……

    Comparing fuel costs for 12,000 miles in an EV compared to an ice diesel

    I saw rates somewhere at $0.14 per kwh at home, that is due to probably triple very soon.
    I saw rates nation wide at chargers outside home at $0.40 per kwh

    What test drivers are actually getting driving in the real world driving EV’s is they are getting 2.4 miles of range for every kwh

    At 12,000 miles per year = 5000 kwh x $0.14 = $700.00 at home
    At 12,000 miles per year = 5000 kwh x $0.40 = $2000.00 at chargers

    An EV just sitting loses:
    tesla says a daily 3%-5% stationary range consumption.” (just parked)
    90 kwh x .05 = 4.5 kwh lost per day x 365 days = 1642.5 kwh x $0.14 = $229.95 per year just parked
    So Tesla says it’s normal to fully discharge itself in under 3 weeks. Keep this in mind when parking it somewhere 90kwh @ $0.40 per kwh = another $36.00 per 3 weeks lost just parked…lol

    Plus the cost of the battery, which is huge, you have to store the electricity in the very, very expensive battery, that is the killer for EV’s right there, the expensive, rapidly wearing out battery.
    the tesla $22,000 battery is used up, worn out in 100,000 miles. In a very hot or cold climates the life is shorter.

    ATTENTION: this works out to $22.00 per 100 miles it is costing you for the battery.
    12,000 miles x $0.22 per mile = $2640.00 per year for the battery use

    NOTE: If you use fast chargers a lot it will ruin the battery in your EV, it will lose 50% of it’s range, if you don’t use fast chargers it takes forever to recharge

    NOTE: you can only use 60% of the battery capacity…… between 30% and 90%. using the battery below 30% you can damage the battery, charging above 90% can damage the battery and cause a fire. So you can only use 60% of the range advertised…..

    Fast charging?…start a fire….lol
    Extreme fast chargers, for example,can push battery pack temperatures to 270ºC/514ºF after just a few minutes of charging.

    $2640.00 for the battery use plus $700.00 for the electricity = $3340.00 for 12,000 miles…….not including the electricity lost while sitting.

    Ice diesel:
    The 2014 Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion diesel, capable of a claimed 88.3 mpg imperial, or 73.5 mpg U.S. it has a 971 mile range, the perfect car.

    Driving 12,000 miles in a 73.5 mpg diesel at $4.00 per gallon = $653.00
    Driving 12,000 miles in an EV = 5000 kwh x $0.14 = $700.00 at home charger

    Just in fuel costs alone the VW diesel is cheaper.

    The total cost of driving the EV for 12,000 miles costs far more though
    ……$2640.00 for the battery use plus $700.00 for the electricity = $3340.00 for 12,000 miles…….not including the electricity lost while sitting. Plus In 12,000 miles the EV had an extra $636.00 in tire use costs.

    Tire costs
    The tires on EVs tend to wear out faster due to the additional weight and extra torque that hits the road. Plus, EV tires typically have less tread to improve range and decrease noise, they need special more expensive HL rated tires.

    Tesla tire size 235 35 20 $391.00
    VW Golf tire size 225 45 R17 $119.00

    In 100,000 miles if the tesla needs 4 replacement sets = $391.00 x 16 tires = $6256.00

    In 100,000 miles if the VW Golf needs 2 replacement sets = $119.00 x 8 tires = $952.00

    EV tire cost for 12,000 miles $750.00
    VW Golf tire cost for 12,000 miles $114.00

    In 12,000 miles the EV had an extra $636.00 in tire use costs

    Plus the EV costs $50,000 to $70,000, the VW diesel costs $24,355

    The EV depreciates faster, there is another huge hidden cost and costs more for maintenance and repair (one example it weighs 40% more so it eats tires = more expense)

    Pollution note………
    NOTE: The biggest pollutant emitted from new cars because they have so low emissions are from tires wearing out while driving, tiny tire particles, polluting the air.
    ATTENTION: Electric cars weigh 30% to 40% more than gas powered cars so have higher tire wear, so EV’s pollute more.

  19. Great post Eric.
    I was fortunate to have owned one. An 18 300S V8 RWD-only, and it was one of my favorite vehicles of all time (of 30+). I now wish I wouldn’t have traded it in, and rather ponied up for the new Ram I needed, and kept the 300 too.
    The EV replacements, if coming, will be DOA. The first reason is that these were for most trims, affordable and relatively large and comfortable. And we know the replacement EV will not be even two of those. Secondly, the brawny ones, assuming about 1/3 of the trims were bought because they were brawny, and again the EV version will not be.
    If, by chance, they get the new Ram 3.0 inline 6 TT, then there might be a fighting chance to sell the lower 2/3rds trims as before. But they are not at (saying) this at this time.
    DOA

    • Thanks, Chris –

      I wish I could afford to buy one of the last of these things and just store it in the garage as a relic from a “better, vanished time.” But at least I have my Orange Barchetta.

    • The money circle:

      Politicians/government collect taxes by force, this money is handed out to corporations pushing the ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) agenda,

      which is part of the great reset, agenda 2030, globalization program, (lockdowns, inje ct ions, destroying small business, stopping food production, confiscation of property, pushing EV’s, etc.) you will own nothing and be happy

      some of this money then is given back to the politicians which ends up in their offshore accounts…lol…,
      sounds like money laundering…lol

      What Is ESG? (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) It’s A Leveraging Tool For The Woke Communist Takeover

      The term “ESG” was originally coined by the United Nations Environment Program Initiative in 2005, but the methodology was not fully applied to the corporate world until the past six years when ESG investment skyrocketed.

      Corporations are at bottom creations of government; they are chartered by governments, receive special legal advantages including corporate personhood, and they often receive special protections from governments including central bank stimulus and a shield from civil litigation. They call it “too big to fail” because the government and the corporate world work hand in hand to keep certain institutions alive.

      One could call this an odd mix of communism and fascism; the point is, the lines have blurred beyond all recognition and the ideology of the people in power is specifically leftist/communist/globalist. Corporations already have government incentives to protect the corrupt status quo, but ESG is designed to lure them into supporting vocal political alignment even at the cost of normal profits.

      ESG is about money; loans given out by top banks and foundations to companies that meet the guidelines of “stakeholder capitalism.” Companies must show that they are actively pursuing a business environment that prioritizes woke virtues and climate change restrictions.

      These loans are not an all prevailing income source, but ESG loans are highly targeted, they are growing in size (for now) and they are very easy to get as long as a company is willing to preach the social justice gospel as loudly as possible.

      These loans become a form of leverage over the business world – Once they get a taste of that easy money they keep coming back. Many of the loan targets attached to ESG are rarely enforced and penalties are few and far between. Primarily, an ESG funded company must propagandize, that is all. They must propagandize their employees and they must propagandize their customers. As long as they do this, that sweet loan capital keeps flowing.

      The list of companies heavily involved in ESG includes some of the largest in the world, with influence over thousands of smaller businesses. The ESG rating system is much like the social credit scoring system used in communist China to oppress the citizenry.

      The tactic is pretty straightforward – Banking elites are centralizing control of social narratives by incentivising businesses to embrace social justice and globalist ideals, like climate change. They control who gets the money and anyone who doesn’t play ball will be at a distinct disadvantage compared to companies that do.
      NOTE: Businesses not cooperating get starved/pushed out, demonized.

      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-esg-its-leveraging-tool-woke-communist-takeover

        • Hi Anon,

          I think it’s best to focus on what it is – that being authoritarian collectivism. Whether it is founded on facade of “the people,” “the nation” or “the environment,” it all amounts to the same thing. The collective – “voiced” by a minority of controllers – controls everything. The individual exists to serve the collective; that is, to serve the small minority that claims to represent the collective.

      • Nice summary, Anonymous.

        The question though, is why? I have a theory. ESG is a meteric that can be used as a side bet on Wall St to get some action on a stock. No one really gives a shit one way or the other, but they have to do something to move the needle or their options aren’t worth anything. And every manager in every publicly traded corporation has an option plan as part of their compensation package. EPS doesn’t matter, everyone knows the C suite has a real-time dashboard showing revenue in real time, and if it’s not what they want they’ll just leak the “whisper number” ahead and the analysts will adjust their projections (because they can never be wrong either). EPS is a new thing, and new things have some room to play. Added bonus is that there’s no way to measure EPS, it’s mostly just how a company markets itself.

  20. “Three million cars, a billion horsepower and a lot of really happy customers that helped build our brand,” says Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis.

    How many of those Chargers were purchased for and operated by AGWs? Even if the Chargers remain as FI 6s, will they pipe in the sound of a V8 so AGWs can still have the “V8 experience”? Or will the AGWs get an exemption and keep getting their V8s?

    • Hi J,

      The fleet Chargers are mostly V6-equipped; in any event, the Hemi V8 is a dead man walking. They won’t be making any Chargers equipped with one after 2023.

      • Hi Eric

        Chargers with real engines replaced by another 70% content chinese EV, like all EV’s……they are all the same, just different names….soon the world will be full of them, all the ice gone….

        All the most important components in the new EV’s are all made in china. low quality = fire hazard.

        china gets to upgrade the grid too…lol….

        With more EV’s the grid has to be upgraded, most of the equipment for expanding the grid is made in china.

        The largest beneficiaries are the Chinese manufacturers of electric transformers, cables, generators, etc. since almost none of that stuff is made anywhere else anymore.

        • Hi Anon,

          Yup. If “electrification” proceeds, there will eventually be just a couple of brands; most of the brands currently selling cars will go out of business. Especially the luxury brands, which are already in trouble because of the “catching up” of non-luxury-brand cars that are already all-but-luxury-cars, in terms of their features and equipment. What meaningful difference is there, as a for-instance, between a loaded Toyota Avalon and a Lexus ES350? Now electrify the thing – and make it the same as the things being sold under Audi and BMW and Cadillac brands.

          A great culling is coming.

          And I think this is wanted – by the power-that-be. That is they desire the consolidation of the car industry into an easily controllable central entity, that makes a few EVs for the elite and their parasites who can afford them.

  21. ‘The ultimate Last Call model will be the Jailbreak Edition.’ — eric

    AH HA HA HA

    This is sophisticated, self-referential mockery, as Dodge voluntarily shows up to be handcuffed and strip-searched at its own show-trial arraignment.

    Talking ultra-bad-ass as one supinely grovels before one’s oppressors is the quintessence of 21st century American poseurs (and RINOs).

    Listen up, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis. Here’s how it plays out for you:

    ‘The concentration of power at the top of large-scale societies gives the elite a vested interest in the status quo; they continue to prosper in darkening times long after the general populace begin to suffer.

    ‘The more insurmountable the crisis becomes, the more we, like our prehistoric ancestors, will retreat into self-defeating responses, violence, magical thinking and denial.

    ‘Historian Arnold Toynbee argued that civilizations are not murdered, but commit suicide. They fail to adapt to a crisis, ensuring their own obliteration.’ — anthropologist Ronald Wright, via ZH

    The sole appropriate color for Dodge’s Jailbreak Edition is a saturated Pussified Pink.

    Sad Sack was sittin’ on a block of stone
    Way over in the corner weepin’ all alone
    The warden said, Hey, buddy, don’t you be no square
    If you can’t find a partner use a wooden chair

    — Elvis Presley, Jailhouse Rock

    • Well-said Jim –

      I’ve met Kuniskis; he’s a good guy in an impossible position. I know he’d like to do the right thing and tell the government to (pardon the language) Fuck Off – and continue building what people want to buy. But the corporation hears its Master’s Voice and obeys. Since it’s not his company, what can he do – other than quit? Actually, that latter is just what I’d do were I he. After all, he ought to have Fuck You money by now. Go Galt. Stop working. Disappear. It may be the only way to grind this evil system to a halt.

      • Hi Eric

        Go Galt. Stop working. Disappear. It may be the only way to grind this evil system to a halt.

        Yes….don’t buy anything, live on as little as possible, avoid all taxes, don’t have taxable income if possible, don’t feed the beast….

        Don’t comply to anything ever….

  22. Great piece Eric.

    Since we will not have the support of the automotive manufacturers I can see a future where we shall be forced into EV’s, tracked and monitored at all times… permitted to travel when your request for additional “juice” is granted. At least that’s what the commies want.

    Occasionally a Red Barchetta leaks out onto a back road.

    However there also exists another possibility – one where EV’s don’t work out at all. Unreliable and unsustainable, we end up like Cuba, desperately working to keep our old gasoline and diesel cars on the road, refineries using mid 20th century technology to continue to produce the fuel that we require and need to cling to a somewhat free existence. Remaining EV’s are hacked to become usable as their battery life slowly wastes away with no replacement batteries available.

    These automakers who chose to be in bed with the politicians… their nameplates only live on because of the aged automobiles kept alive by loving owners who valued freedom more than convenience.

    It’s a toss up, but I know I prefer a free life that is difficult as opposed to easy living under the boot of big brother.

    • Thanks, Mike!

      No doubt in my mind, gradualism is done. This is all going to come to a head soon – within the next five years, maybe before then. Either the system will collapse, perhaps taking the country along with it – and we rebuild from the shattered remains, perhaps several new countries – or we are Gulag’d for the rest of our lives.

      • Eric,
        Either way, it will not be a lot of fun. But the former should produce better results for our progeny, which as I near my maximum expiration date, is all I care about.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here