The TechMobility Podcast
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The TechMobility Podcast
GM's Digital Leap and EV Risks, AI's Game-Changing Future, and Rail's Hybrid Revolution
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What happens when one of the world's largest automakers takes a bold leap into digital retailing and regional EV fulfillment? Join me, Ken Chester, as we navigate General Motors' ambitious strategy to save $2,000 per vehicle through this new approach. We'll reflect on lessons from the past when Cadillac tried a similar model decades ago, leading to unsold inventories and strained relationships with dealers. As the automotive landscape increasingly favors hybrids, we'll weigh GM's potential risks and explore the broader implications for the industry.
Take a journey back to the 1990s to witness Subaru's comeback story fueled by all-wheel drive technology, and fast forward to examine the cutting-edge progress in artificial intelligence with Google's DeepMind project. We'll discuss how AI's quest for artificial general intelligence could reshape industries like video gaming, potentially displacing jobs and redefining human roles in digital spaces. I'll unpack the complexities of creating AI systems that can mimic the real world and ponder what this means for our future.
Railroads are not to be outdone, with Norfolk Southern and Alstom SA leading the charge in hybrid battery diesel locomotives. These advancements promise impressive reductions in emissions and fuel costs, signaling a sustainable shift in railway propulsion technologies. As we bid farewell to classic vehicles like the Chevy Camaro and Malibu, we'll reflect on how SUVs and trucks are dominating the roads, changing the face of the automotive industry. Tune in to explore these profound transformations and innovations shaping the future of mobility.
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Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast.
Ken Chester:I'm Ken Chester. We have a full docket waiting, so let's get started! On the docket. Google wants to simulate the world with AI. A Class 1 railroad teams up for cleaner locomotives and end of the line. We take a look at the list of some of the vehicles that are being discontinued for 2025. To add your voice to the conversation, be it to ask a question, share an opinion or even suggest an idea for future discussion, call or text the Tech Mobility hotline, that number, 872-222-9793, or you can email the show talk at techmobilityshow. Be sure to visit us on social media, our YouTube channel or our two podcasts the Tech Mobility Podcast or Tech Mobility Topics.
Ken Chester:From the Tech Mobility news desk:
Ken Chester:I've been holding this story a while and I think now's a good time to talk about it, because it seems like automakers in particular do not necessarily learn from their past. And I'm going to talk about GM. I'm going to talk about Ford, one thing that they're doing that they've done before and it didn't work the last time. But here we go again. The headline from Automotive News says that GM projects $2,000 savings per vehicle from digital retained EV fulfillment. And let me just read this a little bit. General Motors says it expects to save $2,000 a vehicle by expanding a digital retailing platform and shifting to a regional fulfillment model for electric vehicles. Let me stop right there.
Ken Chester:30 years ago, gm started this regional fulfillment model for Cadillac. Their argument at the time was that they could, in regional yards, take a look at maybe 80% the top 80% of combinations of certain Cadillac models that they could fulfill. So the dealers would not incur the floor planning expense, gm could build the vehicles and dispatch them and it would be efficient for everybody, at least in theory. GM would be building the right vehicles, the popular vehicles would be stocked, the dealers would be able to get them right away. Everybody would be happy until they weren't, until it didn't work.
Ken Chester:The challenge is in any kind of regional fulfillment model, even though they are attaching this now to a digital retailing platform, is that when it comes to the automotive marketplace, americans are historically fickle. Certain things that Americans want when it comes to vehicles they want to see it before they buy it. They want to feel it, touch it. They want it in their inventory. If you want a half-ton Silverado 1500 in medium blue in high country trim with the short box and four doors, that's what you want to see with certain equipment, that's what you want, that's what you want to see in stock, and then you want to buy that one in stock With EVs.
Ken Chester:What GM is trying to do, what the industry is really trying to do right now with the shift towards hybrids, with the shift towards less expensive models, because, as we've reported here, the average price of a new vehicle is almost $60,000, average price it's north of 40, and it's in the 50s, heading for 60. And if you segment that, if you look at pickup trucks or you look at even full-size SUVs, that average price is even higher. So they're trying to get a handle on it. The automakers opened three centralized EV fulfillment centers two in California and one in the Southeast and this inventory management change is designed to speed up delivery times to as few as four days and increase efficiency, which will reduce distribution costs. Certainly, there's something to be said for them trying to get a grip on it, and automakers have been looking at different ways of doing this for years.
Ken Chester:One of the ways, of course, is taking some of the load off the dealers and maybe being that buffer. The problem with the automaker being that buffer building vehicles to order building vehicles they think the customer wants is that if the customer doesn't want the vehicles they built, the automaker's stuck with them and as opposed to the dealer being stuck with them and them offering incentives to clear them out, now they're going to probably try to get the dealers to take these vehicles, should this not work? Because EV sales has been widely reported have been off pure EVs. Everybody wants hybrids now, so there's still a risk of that. And if you want to go back even further to an automaker who tried doing something like this, you could talk about Chrysler.
Ken Chester:In the 60s and 70s they had something called the sales bank. They built thousands of cars. Problem is people didn't want them, so Chrysler was parking them everywhere. In fact, it shows a picture. There's a picture shown of a football field at University of Michigan filled with unsold Chryslers and what happened is the dealers learned to game the system. They knew Chrysler was stuck with this stuff and they would angle for Chrysler to give them a better deal off the sticker price, even off of the wholesale price, to move the metal. So the dealers found a way to make money at the automaker's expense. At one time they called it the sales bank. At one time that sales bank, towards the end of the 1970s, was worth $800 million.
Ken Chester:So how's this going to work with EVs? Well, they know there's a demand out there. Question is how much demand? And if the customer is already ordering the vehicle, then you don't really need this regional fulfillment center. So that tells me that either A GM has vehicles that are unsold, that are EVs, that they're going to move to these fulfillment centers in an attempt to deal with dealer complaints of floor planning expenses on vehicles that aren't selling and coming out of their pocket versus customer demand when a customer does walk in and want one. What's going to probably happen is GM is probably going to get stuck with a number of unsold cars that they are going to have to put big money on a hood to get the dealers to take in order to sell them, which means the dealers can choose to pass that on to the consumer, which means the consumer can get even better deal on an EV, or the dealers can put it in their pocket because they're not obligated, if it's a factory, to dealer rebate or otherwise cash back. They're not required to share that with the consumer.
Ken Chester:When things get bad, a lot of times they will just move the iron because of the way that the automaker might sweeten the deal. For example, gm might tell them say look, if you take 10 cars out of our regional fulfillment center in California or in the southeast, we'll make sure you get five additional popular half-ton or three-quarter-ton pickups that you wanted, that we've product-restricted you on because we can't meet demand, but we'll see that you get them. That's how the dealers play and it's been going on for years. So GM is trying to do this and I'm skeptical because I've seen this before. The article also ends with GM has also launched a digital retailing tool that currently works with the Chevy Volt EV. The platform will expand and include Cadillac in 2020 last year and I'm wondering if this is going to work. I just don't know. 80% of GM's US network is what they're expected. 3,200 dealerships are enrolled in their retailing platform, representing about 80% of GM's US network.
Ken Chester:I still think GM is getting stuck with vehicles they can't sell, if that's not to add insult to injury, if that's not to add insult to injury, ford is paying dealers to take F-150 Lightnings from their new EV distribution centers and this was last fall and they're offering this is typical of automakers, this is not new offering dealers up to $1,500 for each 2024 F-150 Lightning they order from one of the automaker's new regional electric vehicle distribution centers. Let me translate that for you. They said order, but no, these vehicles are already built. They're sitting on the ground waiting to go. Challenge is this is almost $80,000 vehicle.
Ken Chester:Is $1,500 going to be enough for the dealers to step up and move the needle? I don't know, but they say that this will further test the logistics and efficiencies of what Ford is calling their rapid replenishment centers to increase engagement. In other words, we want to pay the dealers to use it. We want to encourage the dealers that this is the way to go. Again, these are vehicles Ford's already built because they've already scaled back Ford Lightning production. So again, is $1,500 going to be enough on a vehicle that's not even 10%? It's not even 5%? I don't know. I mean, the Lightning is an amazing truck, but again, $80,000 truck. Ford will pay dealers $1,000 for each of the nine XLT Flash, lirida Premium Lightnings they take from any of these centers. We'll see if that works.
Ken Chester:Google wants to simulate the world with AI, what could possibly go wrong? You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show.
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Ken Chester:Social media is the main place to be these days, and we are no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Facebook videos, from my latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary of a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Facebook. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook page.
Ken Chester:Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week. Shorter than a full show, these bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show. From Apple Podcasts to iHeartRadio and many podcast platforms in between, we got you covered.
Advertisement :Just enter Tech Mobility Topics in the search bar, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Advertisement :Fact Over 800,000 automobile crashes occur in the rain each year. Fact the Subaru Legacy is equipped with all-wheel drive, the ultimate safety feature. In fact, compared to front-wheel drive, the Subaru all-wheel drive system provides the driver with superior control and better handling on rain-slick surfaces, a fact that's very comforting indeed. The all-wheel drive legacy from Subaru.
Ken Chester:This was back in 1995 when Subaru was going back to its roots as an all-wheel drive company. All-wheel drive all the time. The challenge is we know better now, but back then four-wheel drive was the end-all, be-all of traction control, stability, handling, everything. Not so much, but back then, as opposed to rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive, it was a panacea for handling and control. Problem is, studies show that actually on ice all-wheel drive is worse. But today we have stability control, we have traction control, which mitigates all-wheel drive. So some of the bad things about all-wheel drive are not as bad. The bad things about all-wheel drive are not as bad because of these additional technologies that did not exist when this commercial was made in 1995. And if you happen to be in one of those climbs where Subaru did really well, which was in the north part of the United States where you get a lot of snow, all-wheel drive is a benefit, a big benefit, and particularly for those cars back then because, remember, predominantly they were cars, trucks, suvs, crossovers. Not a big thing back then, Not like now. But Subaru, all-wheel drive, the beauty of all-wheel drive, they said. In fact Subaru has three different all-wheel drive systems. They're so committed to it. But the beauty of all-wheel drive and Subaru made their fortune on it. They got back to it and, honestly, it saved the company, because Subaru was all-wheel drive before. It was cool to be all-wheel drive. Them and Audi All-wheel drive was not the big thing. It is now. It was very few companies that were doing it. This was Subaru's hook and it worked very well for them.
Ken Chester:Google is currently staffing up its DeepMind research lab to build generative models that are capable of simulating the physical world. The project will be a critical part of the company's attempt to achieve artificial general intelligence. Why do I have an uneasy feeling about this? This is topic A. Let's classify this under what could possibly go wrong. What is happening right now is AI has limits. Yeah, they take tons of data what they call large language models and they crunch it to look for trends and patterns, and it does really well at doing that. You have predictive AI, you have statistical AI. You have very different things, but right now, ai is limited about what it can do going forward based on this information, and that is what they want to change. They want to take this to the next level, where they literally can simulate the world According to the role descriptions of the jobs they're looking to fill.
Ken Chester:In DeepMind, in Google's DeepMind subsidiary. The effort to build world models will quote power numerous domains, such as visual reasoning and simulation planning. For embodied agents we talked about a geanic AI before. For embodied agents we talked about a geanic AI before, which is the next level of AI, where agents actually sort of like an AI assistant and real-time interactive entertainment. A world model, put simply as possible, seeks to simulate how the world actually works. Generative models like Sora are able to replicate things that it's seen before within its training data, but it doesn't have any real understanding as to the why that thing happens. So I'll give you an illustration. So it can successfully generate the video of a person throwing a baseball, but doesn't have any understanding of the physics of what's happening. World models aim to arm the machine with enough information to actually parse through the how an action happens and the likely outcome of it. World models currently are difficult to build for a number of reasons, including the massive amount of computational power needed to run a model and the lack of sufficient training data to create an accurate model, resulting in most world models working only for limited and specific contexts. I add these two words for now. Specific context I add these two words for now. Deepmind team seems intent on taking the world model wider. The plan is to build real-time interactive generation tools on top of the models and potentially look at how they could integrate their world model into Google's large language model, gemini Though they're looking at video games and this might be the canary in the coal mine. The job description for the new teams note that they will collaborate with the VO and Genie teams at Google. Genie is Google's Sora-like video generator, and Genie is an existing world model that can simulate 3D environments in real time. The video game industry is already keen to adopt AI tools.
Ken Chester:Displacing thousands of workers. Displace I love this word. Displace is a nice word for fire. Let's not get it twisted when you see the word job displacement. These people are losing their jobs. So that we're clear, they're using this euphemism called displacing thousands of workers. No, thousands of workers are losing their jobs in this arena. A CVL economic survey found that more than 86% of all gaming firms have already adopted generative AI tools and nearly 15% of all gaming jobs could be disrupted by 2026. Yeah, let me substitute the word 15% of all gaming jobs could disappear by 2026. That's the problem.
Ken Chester:Now. I mentioned and I've talked about this in the past, but didn't spend a lot of time with it, so let me back up a minute. What they're trying to do is something called artificial general intelligence, otherwise known as AGI, and you're going to want to remember that term because AGI generally refers to AI that can accomplish any task a human can. Let me say that again I'm talking about artificial general intelligence, ai that can accomplish any task a human can any task, any task. How long do you think it's going to be? Because DeepMind is not the only company rushing to do this. With quantum computing, with all the tools that are coming into the realm right now good bad being used both for good purposes and nefarious purposes, with AI getting more and more sophisticated, with large language models getting tuned to be more accurate in what they're looking for, do you really think, with all the billions of dollars that are being thrown towards this activity, that we're not going to be in a world of a different world in 10 years? A number of startups and big tech companies are chasing after world models, and they believe that world models one day could be used to create interactive media like video games and movies, and run realistic simulations like training environments for robots. And run realistic simulations like training environments for robots Training environments that they figure it out, real world as the consequence of what they're doing, that they have context of what they're doing. This is where they're heading at full steam ahead, with no guardrails and no regulations. Norfolk Southern is teaming up with Ahlstrom to develop a cleaner railroad locomotive.
Ken Chester:This is the Tech Mobility Show. Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you've missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility podcast just about anywhere. You can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility podcast in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts.
Ken Chester:Social media it's the place to be. We no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host the TechM obility show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility, technology, news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the tech mobility show on TikTok. Check it out.
Ken Chester:A Class 1 railroad, Norfolk Southern and for those of you who are not railroad enthusiasts, like I am, class 1 means it's a big railroad, by the way, and there's only five or six of those that size, and it's measured by annual revenues. Norfolk Southern is one of them. Annual revenues Norfolk Southern is one of them. They've teamed with Alstrom SA, a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets, to convert two diesel engines to hybrid battery diesel technology. The finished battery diesel hybrid locomotives will deliver about 90% fewer emissions and 30% better pulling capacity than traditional diesel models.
Ken Chester:This is Topic B. Now I need to give you some context, because a lot of people don't understand really how a first or second generation railroad locomotive works these days. So let me explain something. When they say diesel locomotive, it's not exactly a diesel. Yes, it has a 16 or 20 cylinder diesel engine in the system, but that diesel engine does not directly turn the wheels. What the diesel engine does is actually turns a generator which creates electricity which runs the traction motors that operate the locomotive. So in a way you could argue that's sort of a hybrid. The diesel engine does not turn the wheels directly. It makes the electricity that makes turning the wheels possible.
Ken Chester:Where are these guys going? Well, what they're looking at now is using the diesel engine and a smaller one to actually recharge batteries that provide the electricity to turn the traction motors so they don't have to run as much, unlike now. Right now, the diesel engines are in constant power. You power up. They got to run all the time because they're generating electricity in real time. There's no storage. So you start the diesel engine, it turns a generator, it makes electricity and it brings it to the wheels.
Ken Chester:Where they're going in their development is the diesel engine charges the batteries, which then the battery, the electricity in the batteries, run the motors. So what's that mean? Well, you don't need to run the engine all the time. That's how they're getting this tremendous advantage in. You know less fuel, fewer emissions, because instead of running 100% of the time, the diesel engine will only run as needed to recharge the batteries, and that depends on load and distance. So it's going to cut fuel costs, which is a big deal for the railroad. It's going to cut maintenance costs. And here's another thing. The beautiful thing about any electric motor is that you get torque from zero. So with the battery you don't have to worry about the diesel engine revving up to get the generator turned up to get started. The battery gives you 100% of the power immediately. So that's how they get also 30% better pulling power from these engines.
Ken Chester:Now, to give you an idea of just how long-term railroads are, Norfolk Southern is actually donating two 50-year-old chassis. 50 years old is going to put you probably back in the mid-1970s, which means, depending, it could be anything from a GP38-2 to a GP40, 45, or 50. These are engines that were built by General Motors in the 1970s that if you check most railroads, there's some still running around. And in most railroad yards there are GP38-2s running around and they are over 50 years old, been rebuilt once or twice, but that's kind of the long lead time. In fact, to be honest with you, there are some railroads in the United States of America that are running first-generation GP9s which were built in the late 1940s, early 1950s. Just to give you an idea, that's the long lead time of the railroad business.
Ken Chester:These batteries that they're talking about will provide the primary propulsion, while smaller tier four diesel engine will run only when needed to charge the batteries. The beautiful part about this is the modular design of where they're going will enable the propulsion systems to be upgraded or replaced as battery and engine technology advances. So it becomes cheaper to upgrade and become more efficient over time, which is way less than replacing the engine. Today's railroad locomotives that they use, when you see mainline operations in class one railroads, they're big. These things are 4,400 horsepower and typically per copy, run about $1.3 million. Each weigh about 265 tons.
Ken Chester:So if they could do this for a fraction of the cost, get better economy, better reliability, more traction. It's all about the money. It's all about cost per ton mile, just like in trucking. And diesel fuel is a major expense, just like in trucking. So if they can eliminate that or dramatically reduce it, why wouldn't they? But that's not the only way that railroads are going.
Ken Chester:Now Canadian Pacific Kansas City, is going the hydrogen route and they're using a water electrolyzer, compression, storage and dispensing systems to dispense hydrogen, to use it as a fuel cell, to generate electricity, to turn the traction motors. They're not using diesel at all and they built production and refueling facilities in Calgary and Edmonton. And why this matters is Canadian Pacific Kansas City has about 20,000 miles of track in the United States. So here's another way that railroads are looking at being practical, getting costs down and eliminating the cost of diesel fuel. And these folks, if they're using water to create hydrogen from water, then it's green. And, what's even better, if they're using renewable energy to do it, it's totally green hydrogen, completely Renewable energy, separated from water, as opposed to the formal way, which is from using natural gas and a steam what they call reformation process, to strip hydrogen atoms from the natural gas atoms, which is kind of the old way and it really doesn't save you anything in terms of the environment.
Ken Chester:What's going to happen right now in the United States is oil giant ExxonMobil is planning a Baytown, texas project to produce 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen a day. Sounds great, right? Except their project surprise, surprise will use the carbon intensive means of generating hydrogen, which means they're going to reformulate it from natural gas. However, according to ExxonMobil, they plan to capture 98% of that associated CO2 and store or repurpose it. They don't get into how they're going to repurpose it or where they're going to store it. Carbon capture is a big thing. We've talked about that. But I kind of like Kansas City I'm sorry Canadian Pacific K ansas City's plans to go fuel cell, because that gets rid of the diesel engine entirely. And if they could do it completely renewable renewable power from water to create the hydrogen it's an awesome way to go. So there are a lot of different ways that railroads are looking at cleaning it up. And again, I'm sorry it's all about the money, because if they can eliminate the cost of diesel fuel, if they can get smaller diesel engines, reduce the maintenance costs, increase the uptime, it's going to be awesome. What I want to find out is how these things do on a coal train, a 100-unit, very heavy train, and these 100-unit coal trains are 10,000 tons, they're heavy. I'd like to see if these things are up for that task, because that is a demanding task, which is why we have alternating current railroad locomotives, which is another conversation for another time that I'll explain.
Ken Chester:The last of the once popular passenger cars have come to the end of production for 2025.
Ken Chester:We are the Tech Mobility Show. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobility. show. That's techmobility. show. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobility. show.
Ken Chester:Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out.
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Ken Chester:Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception.
Ken Chester:I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos From the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Ken Chester:Crossovers, suvs, pickup trucks, hybrids and electric vehicles the automakers have their hands full with brand new technologies and brand new ways of doing things, all while trying to adjust to the fickle demands of the American motoring public. The passenger sedan, for example, has had a good run for well over 100 years, and the last of them have finally run out of time and production. We say goodbye to them here. This is Topic C. I'm looking at an article. It's got a whole number of vehicles that are going away. I'm not going to concentrate on some of the more exotic ones.
Ken Chester:I want to talk to you about some of the names that you may recognize and may even, in your past, or maybe even in your current, you may own one of these. So let me start with one of America's favorites the Chevy Camaro. When I was a kid, when I was in third grade, I remember these came out in the late 1960s the Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird as GM's answer to the Ford Mustang. And they were cool and everybody wanted one. In fact, our second grade girls gym teacher actually won one. It was white with that wraparound blue stripe in front. She won it. I'll never forget it, and that was in the late 1960s. They built it into the early 2000s and it went away for a number of years, came back in the 2010s, had another 10, 14 years run, but at last it's over.
Ken Chester:After a storied run. The Camaro is out and by the time you hear this, that production is already done and it doesn't seem that GM is planning to bring that back. Will it come back as a hybrid or an electric? I kind of doubt it. Kind of doubt it is planning to bring that back. Will it come back as a hybrid or an electric? I kind of doubt it. Kind of doubt it, but it had a heck of a run and gave Ford quite a run for its money, also, along with another Chevy Chevy's last sedan, the one that they built right was solid and, honestly, hasn't been updated in almost 10 years, and that's the Chevy Malibu, built in Kansas City, kansas, but, again, is already out of production. With SUVs dominating the market, the Malibu is retiring and Chevy's lineup will now consist entirely of trucks and SUVs, except for one car, the Corvette, and it's a reflection of the sedan market's decline in the United States, leaving buyers with fewer options in the traditional four-door cars.
Ken Chester:Let me be the first to tell you, if you are still one of those that said I'll never own a truck, I'll never own a crossover, I'll never own an SUV, get down to your Chevy dealer. If you can find a Malibu, buy the car. It's still a solid car, probably one of the best GM ever made, and it's worthy. It's worthy. This one's even worthy used if you can find it.
Ken Chester:Volvo's not immune. Did you know the Volvo S60 was still being made until now? It hasn't been the flashiest and it's been around for years and it's been an amazing car. But it's leaving, and it's one of two because they had the S60 and the S90. Driven both of them, the X60, down through the years has been an amazing ride, but end of the line for it too. And the funny thing of it is this S60, the last ones were actually built in the United States, fun fact. So if you want a US made S60 Volvo, you might want to make it down to your Volvo dealer.
Ken Chester:Reason why I got Subaru on the mind Subaru legacy Bet you didn't know that the legacy was still being made, did you? You probably didn't even realize what Subaru Legacy still for sale. Yeah, you haven't seen an advertisement for the Legacy in years. But, yeah, yeah, part of the Subaru lineup made in America and going away. Finally, biting the dust, vehicles that were once popular. I should stop and tell you this right here Two sedans that are still in production, at least for now Toyota Camry, which is a hybrid. Honda Accord they're still building them and we don't know and it's not part of this of when those may go away. Also, nice little curve, if you're looking for something smaller, mazda still makes the Mazda 3 sedan, in case you were wondering. And yes, hyundai and Kia still make sedans. For now, the question about the Sonata is sort of up in the air. Not sure where it's going, but right now, today, they're still in production. So if you're still wanting a sedan, you can get one.
Ken Chester:Sedans are not the only thing that are going away. There's a couple of SUVs and crossovers, believe it or not, that are biting the dust the Cadillac XT4, which is their smallest, which is also made in the same plant that the Chevy Malibu's made in. They're both out of production. Now. Cadillac is introducing a new EV called the Optic, which will take the place of the brand's smallest SUV, highlighting Cadillac's pivot to electric vehicles. We'll see how that goes.
Ken Chester:Another vehicle, and I've always wondered about this, one of why it was ever built Because I really thought it was ever built, because I really thought it was a vehicle in search of a market and that's my personal take on it and the vehicle I'm talking about is the Ford Edge. Finally, the Ford Edge is done. One of the brand's midsize SUVs, built in Oakville, ontario, canada, it's being discontinued. Once a popular choice for families and consumers commuters, I'm sorry the Edge has lost some of its appeal as newer arrivals have entered the scene. My biggest complaint with the Edge all these years a lack of nooks and crannies to put stuff. I mean, you want families in this thing, but the little stuff that you need for kids, or put your phone or your little stuff or your gloves or whatever. Yeah was not necessarily a strong point, but yeah survived for a while.
Ken Chester:Another vehicle I will not miss at all is the Mitsubishi Mirage. They bill it as the least expensive vehicle for sale in the American marketplace and it had, absolutely, absolutely positively, nothing to recommend it other than its price. Consumer Reports dinged it and dinged it hard. It was not necessarily a safe vehicle, excuse me. It was a small vehicle and it was cheap. And those are its two main attributes, unfortunately, and it's going away, thank God. Minimal features, lackluster performance, often place it at the bottom of its class. In other words, it would have been better for you to buy a used car than to buy this thing new. You would have gotten a better deal for the money you would have spent. In fact, a used Chevy Malibu two or three years old would have been a better car than Mitsubishi Mirage as far as I'm concerned. But again, that is my opinion.
Ken Chester:Another vehicle bite in the dust that I bet you didn't know they still made was the Nissan Titan. For 20 years Nissan was in the full-size truck business. I was at the plant in Canton, mississippi, when they launched this truck back 20 years ago 21 years ago to be exact. They struggled but they never could get the kind of traction they needed to carve out the kind of marketplace they deserved for this truck. And when it came out it was pretty trick back in the day but they couldn't make it work. And the Yamada and the QX80 are based on that same chassis, but the Titan's done and it doesn't look like Nissan will replace it with anything of similar size. But those are some of the ones you may recognize. There are others. I didn't have time to get to them, but I thought you might appreciate the ones that you may have heard of, may have seen on the road, may have been aware of. It's over.
Ken Chester:We've come to the end of our visit. Be sure to join me here next time, right here. This has been the Tech Mobility Show.
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