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When Policy Swerves And Drivers Don’t: What The Market Has Told Detroit · In Wheel Time Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: And the chaos continues, ladies and gentlemen.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: That's the award-winning In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Jeff will have the cruise in and events calendars.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have a special here on EVs, and Mr.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Mars is going to do his driving destinations.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: It's all coming up in this portion of the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us in Howdy, along with Mike out of this world Mars in Neaterville, Texas.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: We always need more Jeff Zeke and Master Studio and Transmitter Engineer David Ainsley.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm Don Armstrong.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: So glad that you could join us on Valentine's Day.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: If you're listening on a podcast, that's when we have recorded this for you.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: If you're listening live, well, hugs and kisses.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Let's do the story this hour, if you don't mind, because Mars needs some more time to get his act together over there.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna give him that.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Are you sitting down?
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: 50 B as in billion dollars, a stark measure of how much the industry misjudged what buyers would embrace and how fast.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: I think they said, Oh, uh we we got to build one.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: And then they went, Well, wait a minute.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: There's no infrastructure to support this.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: They didn't get that that wasn't part of the thought process.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Write downs of investments in EV factory capacity, vehicle programs, and battery manufacturing have stained the balance sheets of General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Honda Motor Company in recent months.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: The charges range from an expected$1.9 billion by the end of March for Honda to roughly$26 billion for Stellantis, which didn't specify how much of what it called a reset of its business was EV related.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Automakers still plan to channel some profits from their gasoline vehicles into EVs and battery development and continue pushing for lower costs.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: We'll see if that happens.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: The charges follow years of dialing up EV development to keep up with increasingly stringent zero emission regulations in the U.S.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: and Europe.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Automakers also had to respond to competitive pressures from Tesla and startup EV manufacturers, Rivian and Lucid Motors, as well as the potential threat posed by up-and-coming Chinese automakers, and they are coming in strong.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: For a time, the market was definitely moving big time toward EVs, according to David Wiston, a U.S.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: auto senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Other CEOs, had they been in the shoes of GM's Mary Berra, Ford's Jim Farley, and former Stellantis Chief Carlos Taveras, would have made similar moves, according to him.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: Mainstream U.S.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: buyers have proved reluctant to switch from combustion vehicles, citing higher purchase prices and concerns about battery range, charging speeds, and where to charge them.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: President Trump also moved quickly in his second term to relax federal regulations, ending penalties for noncompliance with fuel economy standards, and scuttling the$7,500 federal tax credit that helped offset high EV sticker prices.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: The result?
3:24
SPEAKER_00: EV sales are slowing, and automakers are reassessing how much production capacity they need, converting some factory space back to combustion vehicles and canceling entire programs.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: U.S.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: buyers registered 1.3 million EVs in 2025 for a 7.8% share of the new light vehicle market, down slightly from 8% in 2024, according to SP Global Mobility data.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: GM disclosed more than 7 billion in EV-related charges for 2025, and in January said it expects to take a lesser amount in such chargers, but they don't say how much.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: The automaker canceled its Chevy Bright Drop electric commercial van and repurposed a planned electric pickup plant near Detroit to instead build gasoline trucks.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Ford's EV pivot will cost about$20.9 billion through 2027, slightly higher than it originally projected, though it took the bulk of the charges in late 2025.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: It canceled the F-150 Lightning Electric Pickup in December and instead plans to make an extended range model with a gasoline engine that acts as a generator.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Ford previously canceled a pair of three-row electric crossovers.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: The company will record about$7 billion in charges this year.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: Some of the cash-related charges are settlements with suppliers that invested to add capacity based on automakers' projections that would build a certain number of EVs, according to Mike Ward, a U.S.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: auto analyst at Citigroup.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Stillantis previewed$26 billion in charges February 6th, ahead of releasing its full 2025 financial results later in the month.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: On a call with analysts, Stellantis said substantially reduced EV volume and profit projections are anticipated.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Automakers revising their EV strategies to better fit the market.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: They're all trying.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: One thing I didn't hear in that Volkswagen is part of that too.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: I read in that same similar story that Volkswagen is taking the uh that that bus may not be around very much longer.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: The VW uh mini microbus or whatever they're calling it.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Right.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: You know it what a disappointment.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: It I it's hard for me to understand, even though they swore up and down that the EV thing was going to go big, if you're going to design something and you've got two forms of power powering the vehicles, you got gasoline over here and you got electric over here, why not build a platform that accepts both?
6:02
SPEAKER_00: And that way you've kind of hedged the bet, I think.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Because if the EV isn't selling this year because it's priced too high, then put a gasoline engine in it.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that they can do that with everything.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: No.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: No, some of them are designed strictly for uh electric power.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: I think that's true, but and they're also trying to look three, four years out.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: You know, used to, they used to plan five years out.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: So if you got the regulators sitting here on top of you saying you've got to meet these this criteria by these dates, come hell or high water, we're not giving any slack, then you're you're kind of forced, they got forced to go in into a certain direction and putting those resources in there in a hurry.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: They didn't really have time to think about it and be logical, like you're talking about, I think.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, did you see some of the bat size of these battery factories that they're currently building?
6:51
SPEAKER_00: Huge, huge, like these ginormous Amazon warehouses that we see around Houston, all over the place.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: These things are like ten times the size.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like the size of a factory that would turn out a car.
7:03
SPEAKER_02: And what are they gonna do with them if if the EV market shrinks enough that they don't need all that capacity?
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, one of them, and I can't say for all of them, but one of them has already said, hey, we've got deals, this battery factory, the manufacturer, we've got deals with several automobile manufacturers.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: So at least they hedge their bet, as opposed to GM saying, well, we're gonna build batteries just for us.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's part of the that's part of the money they're losing because they had to pay all these vendors off for the contracts that they didn't abide by.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: That's what that that's all about there, too.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: I wonder how many people lost their jobs over there.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Probably quite a few.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean the ones that are not.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: Not as many are going to, right.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's true.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: And it's the money that's the large amount, not the people that's the large amount that are gonna lose their jobs.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: So they're talking about all this inflated money, da da da.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: I tell you what, I think that the the the silly thing that Toyota did, what, twenty-five years ago?
8:04
SPEAKER_00: They came out with this ugly little car called a Toyota Prius, and everybody laughed at it and made fun of it and all of that sort of thing.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: And then here comes GM tried to copy it.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: And and now they're all doing it because it's a hybrid.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: It's got a gasoline motor in it, and it's got a battery in it, and it gets like, you know, 50 miles per gallon.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, a lot of people, including us, were talking about that years ago, that that seemed to be the way to go, at least through the transition.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: And if people would have gone that way with uh a transition plan to go from the hybrid to the plug-in, etc., they wouldn't be so deep into it now.
8:38
SPEAKER_02: I don't and it might save them a lot.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, kind of.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: I'll tell you.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: So what has been is what will be.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: The majority of the cars that I get to drive, I get a uh fortunate that I get to drive a new different car every week, and people going, How do you get that deal?
8:54
SPEAKER_00: You don't deserve that.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, probably don't deserve it.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: But you know, uh back in the day when I was doing this stuff when I started, what was it, 1999, I think.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, I got to drive the new Prius, and now most of the cars that I get are hybrids, and I absolutely love them.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: I hate it when I get a pure EV because I don't have the charging structure here at my house.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: If if I charge it at all here, it's on 110 volts.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: And I guess I could stretch the extension cord from the back of the wall in the garage all the way out to the driveway, but I haven't done that yet.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I will this summer.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: It takes days to do that though, whenever you charge it again.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, it it does, and uh, and it's funny because as time goes by and I get different vehicles, I had one just recently, I can't remember the name of it.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, that man, I was it used a Tesla charger, but the battery structure itself took a full charge in my eight-hour workday at the airport.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: And uh it used the Tesla charger.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't know whether it was the charger or the battery, I don't know what it was, but boy, I'll tell you what, I got a full charge out of that thing.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: And I never had to go and buy a fast charge, which is a total and complete ripoff.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: So as a PSA out there to all the manufactur automotive manufacturers, if you need a decision made and you're unsure, contact Mike at info at Inwheel Tower.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: We will help you with that decision.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: We will guide you through.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: He's got a car on the lot, it's sitting right behind him right now.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: If you don't make any rash decisions about production, just contact Mike.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll get you going the right direction.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: We'll fix you up.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: We'll fix you up.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: That's our PSA for the day.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Mr.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Mars?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: We've we've kind of stretched this out just for you.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, I appreciate that.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for so you can do the complete and full driving destinations.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: Cool.
10:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, I want a disclaimer here on this very first one.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: Oh god, here we clear out that you know we're not encouraging anybody to go road racing or anything like that, but a lot of people do enjoy driving, and they do enjoy the way their car handles in some driving situations, such as FM 170 River Road.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is down in the Big Bend State Park.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is a 30-mile drive that runs between La Hitas and Presidio, but again, this is the Big Bend State Park, not the Big Bend National Park, which is across the highway.
11:23
SPEAKER_02: This is the biggest park inside uh the state of Texas, 311,000 acres.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: Got a lot of desert scenery, uh long sight lines, which is important, minimal traffic, so it's great for focused driving.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: But be careful, there's not a lot of fuel, and there's definitely no place to charge your EV down in that part of the world.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: Another place you might want to go to, but it's a little further up north, is the Polyduro Canyon Loop.
11:49
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is up in the panhandle.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: It's got sweeping canyon views and red rock backdrops.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: Now, what this does, though, it actually drops you down into what's considered the Grand Canyon of Texas.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: A lot of smooth curves, elevation changes, and uh, you get up against the wall of the canyon.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: Really nice, and it's perfect for uh uh a scenic drive.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: It's only 16 miles long, but it takes between 60 and 90 minutes to actually make this drive.
12:16
SPEAKER_02: And you may have heard of this Paladuro Canyon because of that's where you're gonna also find the Texas Outdoor Musical Amphitheater.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: And I know a lot of people have gone up there to that see that musical, and they've never taken this road to drive down into the canyon stuff, where uh I think you might enjoy that as well.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: Then you get a little bit closer home, we can go to the Devil's Backbone Run, which is uh Rural Route 32.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: Now, this goes between Wimberley and Blanco, and it runs a scenic ridge line down through the hill country.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: Now I've been on part of this through the rolling hills and the curves, got some nice tight bins to go along with the big views on it.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: And so it's uh got a lot of flowers during the spring, and it's got an elevated driving experience because of the way the road is laid out.
13:00
SPEAKER_02: And this is also considered the most haunted road in Texas if you want to go hunting for ghosts.
13:06
SPEAKER_02: Then we get a little bit even closer.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: Inks Lake.
13:09
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is near Burnett, and it goes through a lot of the granite that's up there in that part of the world alongside Inks Lake, and it's actually was created as a shortcut basically to go from one highway to another and and uh to get to the lake once they did that.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: And it's short, it's only 15.5 miles, but there is 400-foot elevation changes inside this little parkway run.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: The um next one would be on uh Park Road 37.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is Medina Lake.
13:37
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is up north of San Antonio, been up there several times, and this is considered the Nuremberg of Texas.
13:44
SPEAKER_02: So it's short, but it's got very sharp curves, quick elevation shifts, and uh there's not much shoulders.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: You're actually on Highway 16 coming out of San Antonio, headed up towards Bandera, whenever you can cut across on this.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: Then we get to the one that we are closest to and the one that we're most you hear the most about.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: And this is Twisted Sisters in the Texas Hill Country.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: Now, this place is legendary, and it was originally called Three Sisters.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but because of the curves and uh the motorcycles and things that go up there on the switchbacks, the blind crest, they've changed it to the Twisted Sisters, is what it's more commonly called now.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh long sweepers through the ranch land, limestone cliffs.
14:24
SPEAKER_02: Now, I will say that between 2010 and 2024, there were 259 reported accidents on this road.
14:33
SPEAKER_02: 249 were listed as driver cause.
14:37
SPEAKER_02: 191 left the roadway, 167 involved speeding.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is very popular.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: Motorcycles out there on the weekend, they tell me that there's a lot of them.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: If you're in your car and you want to um experience this roadway, you ought to go during the week if possible.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: But uh, those are a few of the places in Texas that you can go around and have a little more driver experience in your car if you would like to.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: Where is Twisted Sisters?
15:05
SPEAKER_02: It's north of um north of Wimberley.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to, I'm in my mind went blank.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm flipping back around here to it.
15:13
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and uh you can go up through there in uh green.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: You go up through green and you can find it up through that away.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: So north of Austin.
15:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kind of north.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, north and west.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's west of Austin and Wimberley and stuff.
15:28
SPEAKER_02: So um it's a hundred-mile loop.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: So it's one of the bigger ones.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: You're probably on some of it, not the actual road, but that type of road when you go up to Wimberley, because there's a lot of that switchback and up in the mountains and yes, yeah.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: So you get up into the hill country, there's a lot of places that you can do it.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: And Mike, blue bonnets are coming out.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm hearing that uh West Texas has got some blue bonnets already blooming.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they got a lot of w uh a lot of water, a lot of rain this year, so we've got a lot of moisture in the ground, so that helps the blue bonnet crop keeping other things.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, unfortunately, we had a freeze around these parts, and I don't know, it may delay the uh blooming of the blue bonnets out here.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: But um I will tell you that they're close by the Houston area, yeah.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: And within an hour's drive, you can have uh whole fields of blue bonnets, and that's something else.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that would be an idea for your next driving destination.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: The blue bonnet run.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Don't pick them.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: It's against a lot of pictures.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna get a lot of places.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, people will go out in the park on the side of the shoulder where they can, and they'll go out in the hill and take pictures of the kids and stuff.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: And if it's private property, you better ask permission.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of there's a lot of nobody asks.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: We're car guys, we don't ask permission.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: You ask for forgiveness.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm so sorry, I didn't know.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: You don't care.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, when you miss the fence and the bulls riding, you know, yeah, that's the problem.
16:50
SPEAKER_02: You got to kind of look and see what's on the other side of that fence first.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: All right.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: Careful.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Um coming up, let's see.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: We're running short of time here.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: Coming up, Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars, and I'll have the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: We invite you to stay with us here on the Inwheel Time Card Talk Show.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: We'll be back after this quick break.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: The Tailpipes and Tacos renowned cruise-in expands to Beaumont.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Golden Triangle cruisers will want to experience tailpipes and tacos at the Loopy Tortilla, High Tends South in Beaumont near Washington Boulevard.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: Grab free Loopy Breakfast Tacos with any donation to Shirley's kids.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy a coffee or an adult beverage.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Every cruising vehicle is automatically entered to win one of the beautiful chili pepper trophies for Best Hot Rod, Classic, and Modern Classic.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: Tailpipes and Tacos Beaumont happens Saturday morning, March 21st, 8 to 11 a.m.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: If you're a car geek like we are, this is the event you'll want to attend.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: The end-of-the-time cover talk show will be online live, and you may be interviewed about your ride.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Tailpipes and Tacos Beaumont edition Saturday, March 21st, 8 to 11 a.m.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: at the Loopy Tortilla 2050 I-10 South in Beaumont.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: The Katie Tailpipes and Tacos happens Easter Saturday, April 4th, 8 to 11.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: The Free Tailpipes and Tacos Cruising is a production of Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex, Beaumont and Katie.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty good.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Apple or Android in Wheel Time Podcasts can be found everywhere, on the stream and through downloads.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're on the road or at home and Jones in for a different kind of car talk show, give In Wheel Time a try.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Honest new car reviews, fun, informative interviews with real car people, weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture and Mike's driving destinations, all on In Wheel Time.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Check us out on Sirius XM Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: InWheeltime.com has a list, and we know you love lists.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Talk show.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate you joining us today on this Valentine's Day.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: We got some storms going to be rolling through here later on tonight.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: So if you're going to be out and about, um, be sure and take an umbrella.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: Or this morning I heard Kevin Roth, the Channel 13 Weather Guide, say, take a poncho.
19:02
unknown: Ah.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Remember ponchos?
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Poncho, yeah.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Plastic ponchos.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: You probably got a whole closet full of them over there, Mars.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: Customer, a bunch of them.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Really?
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Catch them every once in a while and sell for a dollar a piece.
19:13
SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, that's you know, trash bag will work just as good.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: Time out the cruise in and events calendars.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Next Saturday, February 21st, 8 to noon.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: It's Tint World Automotive Styling Centers.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: What'd you say?
19:26
SPEAKER_01: What did you say?
19:26
SPEAKER_01: Tint World Automotive Styling.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Tint World.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: T I M T.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's an N in there that I think that he kind of skipped over.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: Got a list.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: I thought y'all had a new placeover.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: There's something I missed.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, we do, and it's at 553 South Business I-35 in New Braunfold.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's gonna be rushing up there.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: There's Tint World Automotive Styling Centers host Cars and Coffee on the third Saturday of every month.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Tint Tint Tint.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: There's an end in there.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: It's a world.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, go on out there.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: It's uh they support Toys for Todd.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: The next one next Saturday, we've got Porsche Car Show.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Did I pronounce that right?
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Porsche Car Show.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Porsche.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh 405 2nd Street in Kema, down there on the coast.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Porsche car shows is scheduled a Saturday, February 21st at the Classics in Kema, Texas.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: It'll feature selections of vehicles, include check-in and staging from 8 to 9.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: They'll close the check-in at 9.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: The car show goes on and they'll be judging about 1 o'clock.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: It concludes then.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so they can listen to our show then.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Then you got top-notch Austin Vintage VW night next Saturday.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: That's at 7525 Burnett Road in Austin.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: Hot Rod Nights is a reoccurring event.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: Classic cars, live music from 530 to 9.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Food offerings include charcoal hamburgers, fried chicken, and dining room.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And they've even got a curb service.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Now this kind of uh relates to uh on the first Saturday it's in Burnett.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: Second Saturday it's in Hutto.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: So check your local listings and there's different different areas to meet up.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: Then next Sunday you've got Danny's show in Shine.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: Good for Danny, 3232 Briar Crest Drive in Bryan, Texas.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's the 20 22nd of February, which is next uh Sunday.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh at the center Brazil Center Pavilion in Bryan, Texas.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh the event will feature uh free show, music awards include best of show and best hot rod.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: And lastly, we have Jeep Days.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: This is in Navasota.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: It's at 1863 County Road 306.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh get out there, it goes from 11 to 3 30 uh PM.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: So they've got foods and all kinds of stuff going on out there.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: Take a trip in your Jeep, go out and check them out.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: And I just got uh text from my uh uh good friend of mine, Candace Thackery Sneed, who we uh discussed on this show before.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: She says, Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet elementary school friend.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you mean yeah yeah to me and uh of course you know George Skelton, he also is my elementary school friend.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: And you know it's now did you and Candace and George all hang out together?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: No.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: No, we were at the same school, but the the you know, in my era, the the uh classes were packed.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: We had thirty kids in the house.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: It was a one-room schoolhouse.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was not a one-room schoolhouse, thank you very much.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: No, there were lots of kids there, and they brought in shacks, and the shacks were basically World War II bunk houses that they put in in place and they put two two uh classrooms in that each one of those.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: So dealt with a lot of that.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: But uh well, I did hear from George this week.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh he is doing better, and his cancer is in remission.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: He said, I still have two more chemo treatments to take, and he wasn't looking forward to them.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: I said, you know, I can hang in there though.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: I gotta hang in there, yeah.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: So we love you guys, and uh thanks for reaching out.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I just had a little surgery too, so get near.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, this this is happening everywhere.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: I had mine years ago, I'm done.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh Honda called for a fundamental review of the automobile strategy after mounting losses on electric vehicles drove the company's beleaguered auto business deeper into the red and forced executives to warn of increased incentives and a shift to more fleet sales.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Automakers' write-offs and expenses for its premature wager on EVs ballooned to$1.71 billion in the nine months ended December 31st.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Moody's ratings downgraded Stellantis, their credit rating, citing the car makers' warning that a recovery in profitability will take longer than expected due to the costs of scaling back its electric vehicle plans.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: We went over all of this earlier, but to remind you that the Stellantis electric vehicle registrations fell last year for the first time in at least a decade following the repeal of the Federal EV tax credit.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Although the drop was modest, EV registrations declined 0.4% compared with a year earlier to 1.3 million vehicles, according to SP Global Mobility.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: EV's share of the light vehicle market fell to 7.8% from 8% a year earlier.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Holding up the opening of the Gordy Howe International Bridge, as President Trump threatened to do February 10th, would hurt businesses of various industries on each side of the U.S.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Canada border, including the auto industry experts say.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Ongoing battle between the U.S.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: and Canada, and Canada has gotten away with a lot of stuff over the years, and so they raised the they raised the tariffs on a lot of different things, but there's also the overriding USMCA agreement.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Right.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: And that's uh U.S.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: during the bridge in Canada.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: So that kind of rules the car thing.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: So it's a big mess.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: With the bridge, each country paid for their side of the bridge.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I don't know why I just think it's I don't I don't know either.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: And Gordy Howe is an icon.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: We love Gordy Howe.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Do you work in here when I was a little kid?
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember Gordy Howe when he played for the uh Houston Arows in the WHA?
24:58
SPEAKER_00: And then they brought his sons, Mark and Marty Howe, and they all skated together in what was the compact center.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: And I will never forget those.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: The whole team protected Gordy because he was old.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: And somebody got in a TIFF with him from the other team, not realizing that the entire team would come out on the ice and pummel this idiot who got into it with Gordy Huff.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me tell you something.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Gordy Howe, at 50 years of age, could still take care of himself.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Well, see, that's what we do.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: When we go out of remorse, we kind of get around you to protect you that way, too.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: For people wanting to kill me, Mars.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: So there's that.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Um Robotaxi operators are preparing to scale across the U.S.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: as Waymo, Tesla, and others battle for early market share, but recent injury crashes and traffic violations are testing public acceptance despite robust safety claims.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: The industry has seen how quickly public trust can unravel.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Uber shattered, shuttered its uh self-driving program after a 2018 fatal crash while testing in Arizona.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: The crews did the same thing after a pedestrian was dragged under one of its cars in San Francisco.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, so be on the lookout for any of those robotaxis around.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh Zook's Robo Taxi in San Francisco hit a parked car after the driver opened a door into its path on January 17th.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Robotaxi identified the opening door and tried to avoid it, but contact was unavoidable, and the list goes on and on.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, I did want to mention that uh the fact of talking about robotaxis.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh new cities uh for robotaxis will include Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Nashville, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and the list goes on and on.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: Um we'll have to get back to Wallet Hub after we've had it for a while and see where the worst problems are.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: They might be working on that now, yeah.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Um newest version of the venerable and top-selling Toyota nameplate will be short one thing that all of its predecessors for the last 25 years have had.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: An engine, the 2027 Toyota Highlander, will have a far more spacious interior than the outgoing model because it will transition to be an electric-only vehicle.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: We just had an hour and a half discussion on that.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but see, I think that's another one of those things they're in too deep to stop now.
27:25
SPEAKER_02: I I agree.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I think will they sell it?
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh time will tell.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Eventually you've got to cut your losses.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but they can't cut their losses and write it off if they don't try and sell it and prove that it's a loss.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna wrap up today's show after this.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: Quick break.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: Stay with us.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: You own a car you love.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
27:56
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27:58
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano ceramic window tent, or new windshield protection called ExoShield, Gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Curbed your wheels?
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
28:16
SPEAKER_00: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshield.com.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Call them today, 832-930-5655 or gcautoshield.com.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show now reaches millions of folks around the globe each year.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Check us out on InWheeltime.com, YouTube, Facebook, and don't forget our podcasts.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Catch our live show every Saturday, 10 to noon Central Time.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show has informative automotive guests, new car reviews, along with popular features including driving destinations, Jeff's car culture, the latest car news, cruise ins, and racing days.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: It's all on InWheeltime.com.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Join us.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's all for this week's In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Be sure.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean absolutely be sure that you check us out online at inwheeltime.com.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: We're always looking for new and informative and great automotive things to bring to our global audience.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: If you have an idea, anything like that, road trip, tall tale, let us know.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Our email address is info at inrealtime.com.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Truth or dare?
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Hey, when you're looking for award-winning car talk, you can find the In Real Time Car Talk Show 24-7 on InReal Time, the app, the website, grab a podcast from your favorite podcast store.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: We video stream our live show every Saturday, 10 to 11 on Facebook, YouTube, and InRealTime.com.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: The In Real Time Video Coordinator is we always need more Jeff Zeker, booking agent, video editor, Mike out of this world ours, chief engineer David Angston, I'm Don Armstrong.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: Thanks to our weekly show contributors, Jeff Heitzman and George Skelton.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Happy Valentine's Day, which I found out there was a pre-K student that Katie had back in the day, and um she was taught that because that's the way that women pronounce Valentine's.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Have a great weekend.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: Stay safe, so on for now.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheeltime.com website.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Podcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.