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The Auto Industry Spotlight - Insights from Jack Nerad · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30 minute mini version of the In Wheel Time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am, central Time.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Car talk.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: It's the In Wheel Time car talk show.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Just ahead, nationally acclaimed automotive genius Jack Nierad joins us from the West Coast, the left coast is.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought you were talking about Mike.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: No, not talking about Mike.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Conrad has this week in auto history.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: We get you caught up on the stories making automotive news this week.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: How do you along with Mike out of this world?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Mars King, conrad DeLong.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We always need more, jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us speaking of the West Coast.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Let's just jump right on out there, shall we here?
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: He is, ladies and gentlemen, the host of America on the road.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: It's Jack Nierad.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Hi Jack.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Hey, great to talk to you guys.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Happy holidays to you.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Well, and happy holidays to you too.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: And how are things out there?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: What?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Let's just start off with the price of gas that you bought this week.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Actually it's come down a little bit.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I think it's under $5 now, maybe four, seventy five or something like that for a gallon of regular.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: So I know that sounds obscene to you guys, but I paid 230 I paid 239 yesterday.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Two dollars and thirty cents is what we're paying here.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Well, even more, even more reason to move to Texas.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, plenty of reasons to move to Texas, absolutely.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: So Jack Nack toy awards.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Last time we talked you really couldn't say too much about it.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: You had, we had the finalists.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: You could you talk about that?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: So what happened?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Well, that's changed a little bit, actually, because we had a and this is a fairly, fairly rare occurrence we had a finalist drop out from the support utility side.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: What and it's?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: It's because it will not be available Early enough in next year to really qualify.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: So this was good.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: This is the Volvo EX 30.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Volvo Contacted us about a week ago, I think, and said you know what?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: We're delaying the Entry into the US market with this vehicle.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: It's going to probably not show up until midway through 2024 and thus it's.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: It's a your decision, but it would be wise probably to have that vehicle pull out.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So that happened.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: We replaced it with the number four vehicle in terms of votes, which is the Hyundai Kona, which I think you guys probably like, I certainly like yes, absolutely.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh good vehicle.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: So the EX 30 from Volvo is out and the Hyundai Kona is in.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I just got my final ballot.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: It is due on the 22nd of December and After that, on January 4th, we will announce the, the winner of the North American car of the year, the North American Utility of the year, in the North American truck of the year I see so, once again, we have spoken to you about something that hasn't taken place.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: But that is news, though, but that rarely happens, doesn't it?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it does, and it's interesting that, you know, sometimes some car companies might maybe not be as forthcoming as Volvo was in this particular instance, and especially when they've gone this far and gotten to be a finalist in what is a very prestigious award program, obviously.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: But I really have to hand a lot of kudos to Volvo for being very upfront about this and saying you know which is not going to have that vehicle in time and it really doesn't qualify.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: So I have to tell you that it's been.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: It's been a number of years since I've actually had a Volvo and I am anxiously awaiting for their return to the press fleet here in Texas.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: We just don't get them.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know why, but that's interesting because I drive a lot of Volvos actually, and I had one last week, for example, xc 90 recharge, which I like quite a bit, did you?
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And speaking of that, what is?
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: What vehicle have you had since the last time that we talked?
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: That really impresses you.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Clearly that one does.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that absolutely does.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you another one that has really impressed me recently and it's still sitting out front is the Honda Accord.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: It is one of our nominees for North American Car of the Year and the Accord is, you know, it's kind of under the radar in a lot of ways and everybody knows what an Accord is and this and that, but I tell you it just does such a good job.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: I was driving an EX model, which is their non hybrid.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: The upper level models are hybrids these days, which I think is pretty cool, but I wanted to get one that was, you know, not as expensive and that probably a lot of people would buy and see what that was like, and it's really impressive to me.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: You know, a turbocharged engine under the hood, plenty of power, large backseat, super comfortable, all the connectivity you could probably want.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: It's just a nice car.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: It's got cloth seats.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: How often have you driven a press car with cloth seats?
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: lately.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I love cloth seats.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I do too.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of cloth seats.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I think they really work well, but we don't see them very much, although Volvo has them.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Actually, volvo and some of their vehicles will have cloth.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, when we're dealing with 108 degree temperatures here in the summer, leather seats are really not there, Really not the thing to have.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: When you've got it locked up out in the parking lot and 108 degree, the interior of the car is at 140 degrees and you're going to sit your butt on that.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I'm.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Give me a cloth seat Anything.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Listen to the sizzle.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: I'm right with you.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: I will say it.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: My one of my daughters just bought a new Honda Accord and she just was at the dealership looking and she wasn't even looking for that, but she saw it and they've changed the stylings Her.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: We gave a 2003 to her granddaughter and you know they don't look anything like that anymore but she was under that impression.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: You know it was just, like you say, kind of a plain Jane car and they've really done some nice things as far as the styling cues go and she's liking it real well.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: She's got the hybrid and she loves it yeah.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And the hybrid just has, you know, like through the roof fuel economy too.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly what the numbers are, but it's up towards 50 miles per gallon, I think, and for something a car that substantial to get that kind of fuel economy is pretty amazing Well.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that you're like me in the fact that you know you got people and ask you all the time, hey man, what's your favorite car?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And I have to tell you that I've been really impressed here in the last I don't know couple of years anyway, with these non plug-in hybrid cars because of the gas mileage.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: And you think, oh, a hybrid car has no horsepower.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: That's not true at all.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: They're very competitive, in my opinion, with a four cylinder engine.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Some V sixes If those are even still around anymore, those are kind of become a rare thing.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Maybe a collector car in the V six department these days.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a lot of car companies that Toyota, honda for example have replaced their V sixes with turbocharged four cylinders, with hybrid attached to them often, or a hybrid in a non turbo kind of situation.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: But that turbo hybrid kind of thing, hybrid is essentially free power.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: You put a fairly small, fairly inexpensive battery in there and you can use that electric power, that electric motor, to kind of smooth shift transitions to give you more power when you accelerate.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: It's just and it's instant torque.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I think you guys have all experienced that.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: It's really terrific.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: In my daughter's case it's her.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: She's six miles round trip.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: She's a school teacher.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: She goes across town, comes back and you know what little bit of running around she does.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: You know she doesn't burn very much gas at all.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, she kicks it over to that electric side.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Well, I do know that in some cars you can actually go all electric for a short period of time.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: So if you, you know, really wanted to narrow it down, you could have an electric car by pressing the button and say go electric.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and certainly plug in hybrids are that way, with maybe 30, 40 miles of all electric range.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, where during the week, I mean you know Michael's daughter would be driving on electric power?
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: that entire time.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Right, she's loving.
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: I mean she's.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: She can't.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: She said she's running up in the 40 plus miles per gallon.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: Her husband don't believe her, but that's the way she's calculating and I believe it.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not a stretch for 40 miles per gallon.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: It's truly amazing that more and more people aren't attracted to that, because I would be.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, especially over the.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: Well, because you get the best of both worlds.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: You get the power of the electric propulsion and that instant torque and the longevity of gasoline powered, for you know your fears of range anxiety.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and God knows, I've got that.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Have you driven any trucks lately, jack?
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Let's see.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I'm about to.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I have and I'm about to drive again the Ford Super Duty, which is a terrific vehicle also and I'm sounding like a broken record here talking about North American Car of the Year nominees, but that's what I'm driving and testing right now because balloting is coming up but that's a terrific vehicle.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: That really is a wonderful vehicle.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, so many of those are used for towing.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: I think they say 80% of the buyers of those vehicles use them as a tow vehicle.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: It's really rigged out for that.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: At the same time, it's one of those vehicles I think you guys have certainly experienced this it drives smaller than it is.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: When you first see it, it's a gargantuan vehicle.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: It's like a school bus you know in front of your house, but then you get in it and start driving it around.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: It's pretty agile.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: It's really kind of amazing.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: They've done a remarkable job with it.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the turning radius, you know, they clearly know that the thing is, you know, 100 feet long and how are we going to get it around the corner.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: But they've done a remarkable job in the steering with that thing and I'm impressed, Of course.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: You know they've been building trucks at a long, long time and they got it down to pretty good science.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Ford understands how to do a pickup.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you, let's change gears for just a second.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Now that the United Auto Workers Strike is over with and we're starting to see some of the fallout from that, with factories laying off workers and also these EVs especially, they're canceling shifts Things are a changing in the automotive network.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: It really are.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know the manufacturers struck by the UAW were between a rock and a hard place and you know they needed to settle with the union to sell cars at the same time, the deal they made.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know how competitive they can be going forward paying what they're paying to their workers versus what others are paying to their non-UAW workers to do essentially the same jobs, and that's here in the United States.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, when we talked about the Volvo EX, that's a vehicle built in China.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Think of what the labor rate is in China, or the labor rate is in Vietnam, where we're seeing some vehicles coming now.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Zinfast yes.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: I was just writing about the Zinfast vehicles this week.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: You know, it's got to be very difficult, I imagine, for the domestic car companies to think about expanding production in the United States using UAW workers when potentially they could build those same vehicles in Mexico, right across the border from you guys and with a much lower labor rate.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: It kind of just that's kind of a no, and not have any kind of tariff ramifications or anything like that, because they're all part of the same North American agreement.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: It's got to be difficult times, I think.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: And then you throw the whole EV thing into it, where you can't build a vehicle, a conventional vehicle, on the kind of an Altium platform, for example.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: General Motors is about to build all its EVs on those just don't mix well.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: So you can't go okay, we're going to up the number of conventional vehicles built in this factory and cut down the EV.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: You can't do that.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: So you have to have dedicated EV factories for that kind of situation.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And that's it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Because the hearts I'm scratching their head and going how do we do this?
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're right, Because the parts don't interchange much.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: I mean, you can't even use the same tires off of an EV onto a gas.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: Well, you could, I guess that, but you can't use the gasoline type tires, vehicle tires, onto an EV.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: So you know, there's no, there's no economic factors there that you can kind of cross-pollinate with.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, jack, I will tell you this that, at least from everything that I've read I've not done my own personal dealer survey, but from what I've read that the EVs are stocking up on dealer lots right now because they can't sell them.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: It's very difficult.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: I think what we've seen is EVs are a province of the rich.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, evs are luxury vehicles.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: They're priced at a premium and they're not priced as much at a premium among the luxury brands.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I think luxury brands have enough margin in their vehicles that they can kind of absorb some of that added electric vehicle cost in their vehicles and they also want to, you know, compete with Tesla.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: But we have not seen any kind of real mass market adoption of electric vehicles and I don't know that we're going to.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: When you look at the marketplace, about half the vehicles sold are priced under $40,000.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: It typically used to be more like $30,000, but these days, with price escalation and COVID, it's more like $40,000.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: But try and find an EV you want to buy for $40,000.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: So if you're over $40,000, half of the market is already just not available to you as a manufacturer.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Well, I think that this 2024 upcoming year is going to be a real shakeout for a lot of people, including the dealers, because the bottom line is, if the dealers not selling the vehicle, they're hurting just like the auto manufacturers are when it comes to, you know, building a car that's competitive, price wise, but they can't sell it.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: Well, and that's the throughput.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Because when dealer inventories increase, manufacturers offer higher incentives, so it cuts into the profitability.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: And when their cost of building stays the same, offering higher incentives just cuts into their profits.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's going to be very interesting.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I think that there are going to be a lot of dealer people getting out of the dealership business, selling their dealership off.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: It's a really touchy is.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: It's a touchy time it is.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: It's a watershed time and you know governments can specify what manufacturers have to build, but they can't.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Up till now, they haven't been able to force people to buy them Right, and people are voting voting with their dollars, voting with their wallets on whether they want EVs or not.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I don't think any of us is anti EV.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I think EVs are terrific, but they should compete with internal combustion engine vehicles on their own merits, as opposed to being forced upon us, and we're not seeing that.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a play.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: It's like suburban and trucks.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: There's a specific place that that vehicle fits into the market that consumers want.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: For that reason, and not everybody needs or wants an EV, you're right.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: Jack, you got plans for.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Christmas.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: We're sticking around.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: As I think you guys know, two of my daughters lived in the Dallas Fort Worth area and they're both coming into town.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Actually, one is arriving this afternoon and then my third daughter is coming and she's studying abroad this year and she's coming back from Copenhagen.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: We're going to pick her up at the airport in a couple hours.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: So we've got two coming in, one more coming in later.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: So we're sticking around.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: How about you guys?
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Well, I think we're all sticking around, no big plans, just going to stay close to the house and enjoy family and friends.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, terrific.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: So how's your book doing?
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: By the way, before we get out of here, my book is doing well and thanks for asking.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I'm a Dancing the Darkest.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: The name of my book is right over my right shoulder here and a pretty good Christmas gift maybe, depending on if your recipient likes thrillers.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: This is a crime thriller but it's doing well.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Thanks for asking.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: And it's available on Amazon.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: It is available on Amazon, so there's still time to get it.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a nice, fairly inexpensive and easy to get Christmas gift.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: You're our guy, Jack Neerad.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: We thank you very much.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Best wishes to you and your family and have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Well, same to all of you.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I really cherish this time I get to spend with you guys every Saturday of month or something like that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: It's really terrific, thank you.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you, dear friend.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Talk to you soon.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, you guys take care.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: All right, let's see Time now for this Week in Auto History.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Conrad has that.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: Well, this week in 1935.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: I remember it well In 1939, the first Lincoln Continental was produced.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: When Edsel Ford requested a personal luxury vehicle for use while he was vacationing in Florida, designer Bob Gregory put a pen to paper.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Within an hour he'd sketched out what eventually would become the Lincoln Continental.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: The initial design was essentially a two door, channeled and sectioned.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: Lincoln's Zephyr featured a convertible top and no running boards.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: The workers hand built the car, which sat seven inches lower than the original Lincoln, and delivered it to Edsel in Ford.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, can you imagine, hi, I want a new car.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Can you bring the new design me, a new car, and bring it to me in Florida?
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Yes, mr Ford, and they built about a thousand of them.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: In 1957, the last generation Ford, the last of the first generation Ford Thunderbirds, was produced.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: Ford's answer to the Corvette, the Thunderbird began rolling off the assembly line in 1954 for the 55 model year.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: Well designed to compete with Chevrolet's sports car, the Thunderbird was marketed more as a personal luxury vehicle.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: I never considered that they competed, but in which you would look at a two seat convertible.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: They kind of did.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: But yeah, ford way outsold the Corvette 20 to 1 in 1955 because they didn't sell a lot of 55 Corvettes.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: And then in 1970, lee Iacocca was elected president of Ford Motor Company, and Lee became the first president of Ford Motor Company that wasn't a Ford.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: He would serve the role for nearly eight years before a jealous Henry II kicked him off to the curb.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: His career in the auto industry was the stuff of legends and he ended up moving from Ford over to Chrysler and, like I said earlier, shelby followed him over to Chrysler as well.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: So in 1990, the I-75 Ford Fog Disaster Disaster unfolded in a series of multi-vehicle collisions involving an astounding 99 vehicles.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Is this one of them here?
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: No, that was.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: I have that one at a position.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Gm announces in 2000 the end of Oldsmobile.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: At the time, oldsmobile closed its doors in 2004.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: But this week in 2000, gm announced that they were going to end.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Oldsmobile Broke my heart.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: I could tell you where I was when it happened.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Just like Elvis.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: When Elvis died, I couldn't tell you where I was when Elvis died.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I can you could tell me where I was when Elvis died?
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: No, I can tell you where I was when Elvis died.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: I was at Padre Island, oh, partying, wow, yeah, that's what it was, yeah, partying.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: But yeah, in 1990, the I-75 Fog Disaster 99 cars involved in a Fog accident.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Okay so and I know that's happened here in Houston through the years as well Not that many cars.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: That's this week in Auto History Very good, Thank you sir, general Motors subsidiary Cruz fired nine employees Wednesday as a result of an ongoing investigation into the October 2nd self-driving crash involving a pedestrian and the company's subsequent actions.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: The departures included COO Gil West and Chief Legal Officer Jeff Black.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: According to a source familiar with the dismissals, they also included the company's head of government affairs.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: A Cruz Robo Taxi ran over a pedestrian who had been previously struck by a human-driven vehicle in San Francisco on the night of October 2nd.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: After the Robo Taxi stopped, it started moving again and dragged the victim 20 feet, according to California's Department of Motor Vehicles.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: What was that?
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: I just ran over it back up and checked it Further the DMV said, cruz's vehicles officials admitted and misrepresented key circumstances regarding the crash.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: In meetings with state regulators, the DMV indefinitely suspended Cruz's driverless permits.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: As a result, cruz idled its national fleet of hundreds of cars.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Michael Fonder's, kyle Vault and Daniel Kahn resigned in November.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Same thing happened to the fleet that was here in Houston, off with its head.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: They fired the wrong person Pity me of a drag queen?
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Probably so, but whatever the case may be, all I can tell you is that there was a large fleet.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: They had had a block down in the Montrose area, as a matter of fact, close to downtown, where most of them did their business Same thing.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: All of them were there parked.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I flew over it not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago, as a matter of fact, and they were all parked and they locked the gate and there they all are.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Another million dollar disaster by the DMV.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: You know, we kind of highlight every once in a while bad dealers.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: What was thought to be an up and coming dealership group of single franchise stores has imploded, leaving litigation and shuttered showrooms.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: This is a story from automotive news.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: This fall, stephanie Morris Nissan in Sedalia, missouri, and Stephanie Morris Nissan in Durango, colorado, closed.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Stephanie Morris bought both of the dealerships just more than a year prior, according to the acquiring the Missouri store in March and the Colorado store in April.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: The phone at the Missouri store rings unanswered and its most recent Facebook post was in July.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Missouri federal court lawsuit filed November 6th floor plan lender equity bank is attempting to recoup more than $2.5 million in unpaid loans from the Colorado and Missouri stores and from Morris and her husband Chad.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Looking for Stephanie now personally guaranteed loans of up to $3 million.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: The bank determined that 75 vehicles being used as collateral were missing, representing 1.8 million in inventory, according to the complaint.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Situation at the Missouri store Worsened, according to equity bank, as more vehicles disappeared without explanation the day after its audit, while the store failed to return any of the collateral and remained in default.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Ooh, it seeks an order directing the local sheriff to seize what vehicles are left, including their titles and keys, as well as damages of $2.5 million.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: And they found all electric vehicles was all that was left.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: The batteries are all dead and they couldn't drive my way and Penske automotive agrees to buy 15 premium brand dealerships in the UK from Rybrook group Dealerships in.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: The acquisition, if completed, would include for BMW, for many, for Volvo to land over in one Porsche dealership.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: The stores generate about $1 billion in annual revenue.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Like he needs the money?
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Well, apparently he does a pretty good job at the stores in this Penske stores here in town and they're very well run stores.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: All right time now for a quick break.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: We're going to wrap up today's show right after these messages.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Stay with us.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: You own a car you love.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state of the art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: We promise you'll be impressed.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nanosuramic window tent or new windshield protection called ExoShield, gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Curb your wheels Instead of buying new one.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I'd have them repaired.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Toulway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Call them today 832-930-5655, or gcautoshieldcom.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: The original group of loopy tortilla restaurants will have you telling your family and friends just what the original recipes mean.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: When it comes to the best fajitas in Southeast Texas, founder Stan Holt invites you to visit the original loopy tortilla near I-10 and Highway 6.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Here's the original house that inspired the design of all the rest and the original charm that helped make loopy tortilla the go-to destination for Houston Tex-Mex.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Speaking of original, nothing can compete with the original lime pepper marinade.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: That everyone will agree makes loopy tortilla award-winning beef fajitas the best anywhere.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Loopy Tortilla Katie is another location that gives you the same quality and service Houstonians have come to expect at loopies.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: It's located just off I-10 of the Grand Parkway.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: At Kingsland Boulevard in Katie, find yourself an Aggie Land.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Head to the loopy tortilla in College Station, located just around the corner from Kyle Field.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: It's a great place to enjoy those famous frozen margaritas before or after the game.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Head to East, to Louisiana.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Stop in at the loopy tortilla in Beaumont.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: It twos on I-10, you can't miss it.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: The original group of loopy tortilla restaurants invites you in for the best Tex-Mex anywhere.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show is now part of the I-Heart family.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Now you'll have access to 24-7 car talk anytime you need to fix.
• 27:27
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• 27:31
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• 27:35
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• 27:42
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• 27:50
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• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Never miss a minute of up-to-date new car reviews, pre-owned reviews, conrad's Car Clinic and formative interviews, automotive news and the most fun car talk show on the planet.
• 28:06
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• 28:15
  Speaker 1: In-wheel Time Car Talk streaming now on I-Heartcom.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Slash In-Wheel Time Car Talk.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Well, that's it for this week's In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Here's your invitation to follow us on Facebook.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Give us a like, tell your friends about us and share our stuff.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: We'll keep you posted on all things automotive all week long, including new car reviews, upcoming events, cruise ins, racing, and car truck and SUV goodies.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: When you need a car fix during the week.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: You can find the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show 24.7 via the I-Heart radio app.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: We live stream this show on Facebook, youtube and on In-WheelTimecom every Saturday, 8 to 11 am Central Time.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Daily 30-minute podcasts are available on your favorite streaming provider.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: There's a new episode every day.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you, mr Morris.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: The In-Wheel Time Chief Engineer is David Ainslie.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Our marketing advertising advisor and video technical director is we need more Jeff Zeekin For booking agent do it all and head potentate Mike Morris, mr Know it All, his royalty King, conrad DeLong and Chief Engineer David Ainslie.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I said that already.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: We hope you join us for another live award-winning production of the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show on our Christmas show next Saturday, december 23, 2023, on all of our In-Wheel Time Car Talk Awards.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Have a great weekend and stay safe out there.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In-Wheel Time Car Show.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning, 8 to 11 am Central on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our In-WheelTimecom website.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Thanks for being here.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you.