Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Exploring Electric Cars, Road Trips, and Industry Updates with Jack Nerad: The Perfect Two-Vehicle Solution for Your Household

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Exploring Electric Cars, Road Trips, and Industry Updates with Jack Nerad: The Perfect Two-Vehicle Solution for Your Household · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:02
  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 11am, central.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: It's the In Wheel Time car talk show Coming up, jack Nierad coming this way for a road trip from California.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Hello, hello, hello.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Hello.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Hello.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Later I'll look at the stories making headlines.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, Mars King, Conrad DeLong.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We need more Jeff Seekin.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, along with Jack Nierad.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen wow, look at that background, Jack what in the world is this You?
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: got a whole new setup Are those all books you wrote.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, every one of them.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: I can say I carried them all, you, carried them all You didn't move, did you?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I didn't move?
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: them, but I put them up on the shelf.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Did you guys move?
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: No, no, is this the?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: same room that you've been coming to us from before.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Sometimes.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh, i kind of changed it up a little.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So you like it, i do like it, so clearly.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: He's got multiple studios, he has a palatial estate.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And he now has a banner.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: America on the Road, yeah.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I love that, Jack.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we like it a lot.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So, hey, it's good to see you.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: How have you been?
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: I've been terrific actually.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: In fact I'm headed toward Texas.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited about it.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, So in July and July weekend going to head to Dallas, fort Worth area, to Cedar Creek Lake, and we're going to spend a week there.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Bring a swamp cooler because it's hot.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, i know.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: It's going to be really hot And, matter of fact, there's jokes floating around because, you know, so many Californians have moved to the Austin area and somebody's been joking around on the internet going well, now that they're here in Austin, we've found a way to get them out of Texas, And that's to give them a summer, one summer here in Texas in the Hill Country, and they'll be back to California in no time.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: We don't.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: I figure I pay a weather tax.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: living in California, You every kind of tax you pay out there.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: So are you planning on moving here?
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: finally, You know we talk about it, we really do.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: I mean there's a lot to like about Texas.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: We've loved Texas.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: You know, two of our girls went to college in Texas and they love it and they are living there.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: So you know there's a lot to like about that.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So we did a remote broadcast two weeks ago at a place called Grandberry, texas.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Ah, sure, been there.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you've been there.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: You need to be there, i have there.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: I was there for the Texas Truck Rodeo, i think probably decades ago.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a long time ago.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Well, i will tell you that's what a great little bedroom community it is for the Fort Worth area.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Especially when you get to be our age.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: You know we try to move away from all the heavy traffic and all of that sort of stuff.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And the nice thing about Grandberry is it's close enough to Fort Worth that if you want to go see the Fort Worth Symphony it's only a little drive up there.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Not bad at all to get to.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: But anyway, just thought I'd offer that.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a big consideration for me.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Where is the nearest symphony?
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Well, there's one here in Houston and I know that you're a big ballet and symphony kind of guy.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: You're mostly ballet, so you're symphony, not so much.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I got you All right And you're, you're a symphony.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Guys in tights, that's what I like, that's right.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Well, you are from California.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: That's right, you'll love Conrad, yeah, yeah.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: So, jack, how are things out in California?
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I keep hearing very ugly things about San Francisco and I know that you are not there, but apparently.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Well, there's ugly things in the Southern California area too in terms of homelessness And that's heart-rending, of course, to see And at the same time it's also heart-rending for the people who aren't homeless, who have to deal with situations where people are living in the street and it's unsanitary and there's a lot of crime, a lot of drug use.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: It's kind of scary.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Well, and I don't think that it's unlike too many other major cities around the world.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: It's just at a more pronounced rate And I think it's Well.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Austin has its fair share of it as well.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've seen that.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: The problem is we've spent millions close to billions, I think in this state and we just have more homeless.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, maybe I don't think that was the goal of this massive spending, But the program that they put in place has just been a failure because it doesn't really address the root causes, And the root causes are, You know, probably drug use and mental illness, much more so than anything else.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: I agree.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Well, how are things?
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: how are things in the car world?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: You know, jack is fortunate because Jack gets to go places and gets the latest invites to all of the reveals in the car industry.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: What have you been to lately, jack?
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Well, the latest reveal actually was in Austin, texas You're just talking about Austin And I jetted down to Austin to see the two Twin Lexus reveals.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: They unveiled the all new GX, which is cool.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: I think they've done a nice job styling that vehicle and it's now decidedly an off-road vehicle and I could style that way, so I think it's going to be a big winner for them Now?
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: isn't the GX taken from an older Japanese version of an off-road vehicle?
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: It is, it hasn't been, but it hasn't been styled that way And I think a lot of people who bought it have no conception of the off-road capabilities that that vehicle has always had.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: But now they're making it pretty plain and I think that's probably a good move, and at the same time they've introduced a different vehicle, another three-row vehicle called the TX.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: That fills what I think is a big hole in the Lexus lineup And that is kind of a more on-road oriented, family type three-row vehicle, large three-row vehicle, and I think you were just talking about the Chevy Tahoe.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: It's essentially a Tahoe competitor, i see.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: And where does it fit in the lineup of Lexus?
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Well, it fits above the RX and probably, you would say, below the LX.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: I forget what the number of that LX is these days, but the LX So it's in that space.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: It's more on-road oriented But based on the Grand Highlander.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: it's going to be built in Indiana.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: It's interesting that it's a Lexus vehicle.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: It's going to be built in the United States, built in Indiana, on the same line as the Grand Highlander.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: I think it's going to be terrific.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a success Because all of the Lexus I thought were built in Japan.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, typically up to the.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: So this will be a new thing, okay, so what else have you run across?
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Well, i was just talking to the folks from Karma.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Do you remember Karma?
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, didn't they go to that?
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: car.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: I thought they went out of business.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: They went out of business a couple of times.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: They now have more money behind them And I'm excited about what they're liable to launch here.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: I'm told by their people that they've got a real cool supercar ready to go, and I think we're going to see that in the fall, so I'm excited about that.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Another pure EV, because I think that's what Karma is kind of known for is just pure EVs.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Any gasoline models that just stand out that you've driven lately?
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Geez, let's talk about that a little bit.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Although I've been driving a lot of electrics actually I drove the Mustang Mach-E and the Nissan Leaf back to back in the last couple of weeks I'm currently driving an Infiniti GX80.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Another large three-row, essentially a competitor to the TX that's going to come out And I'm impressed with that vehicle.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: I think they've done a nice job with it.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: It's kind of a sleeper in the luxury segment there, the Infiniti GX80.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: And a good-looking car.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I like the style they have on that car.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: The front end and the rear end treatment is really nice Yeah.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Well, i'm driving that thing and I'm looking down on full-size pickup trucks.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: I think, oh wow, this is kind of a serious vehicle.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's a cool look.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: It's essentially what it's based on right.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, makes sense.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Do you get lots of waves and thumbs up and people slowing down to take a look at it?
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: I've had that.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, i've had people who like the looks of it.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: It's one of those things where you see a different shape, right, and you go, well, what is that?
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: And then people kind of swarm around and try to figure out exactly what that model is.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, that says a lot in the car culture of California that it creates that kind of buzz.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Speaking of electrics, jack, a couple of things.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: One is are you seeing more charging places around town?
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I would not say it's obvious.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: And I think that's one of the big problems with charging stations.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: I mean gasoline stations kind of advertise the fact that they're there and they're in very convenient locations.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: With charging stations they could be anywhere behind the back of a warehouse store or near a hotel or something like that.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: It's just hard to figure out.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: I mean it's a whole different business model And I don't know that it's a particularly good business model because most of them are unattended.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: And I've heard many stories you probably run into this too where you go to a charging station and the charging station you want to use is inoperable.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Maybe it's the only DC fast charger in the array there and it's not working.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: And then if you were to call the company that owns it, they would go.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: We had no idea it wasn't working Right And it might not have been working for days And a lot of times that's the case.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: So I mean that's a real struggle for people who really rely on that.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: If you're doing a long distance trip in an electric vehicle, even with a fairly large amount of range say 300 miles of range you're going to have to be able to get a lot of work.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: You're going to want to know where you can charge and find that to be pretty reliable, and I don't think people have seen that.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and assume that all of them work In that regard.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Tesla charging port, And it seems as though that everybody finally is going to decide that Tesla charging port is the way to go.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: What do you think about that?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Well, i think they're doing it because in the IRA or I think it was associated with the IRA Tesla has essentially been persuaded bribed, depending on how you look at it to open up some of its superchargers to non-Tesla owners.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: If I were a Tesla owner I'd be kind of upset about that, but that's a different story.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: And so then to make that work, you have to use that kind of charging port.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: So it's kind of the Betamax VHS thing that we saw 40 years ago.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: those kind of things where there's incompatibilities of very similar kind of technology.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: But what do you think?
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: it's because Tesla's made got so far ahead of everybody else about building out their infrastructure.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, the government can't even keep up.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Well, i think, that's true, and there's so many Teslas out there.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, when you look at the number of electric vehicles in service, now they're mostly Teslas.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: I mean it's dominant by a huge margin.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: You see a bunch of other models coming into the market, but in terms of vehicles in service, i mean it's mostly Tesla, model 3.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Have you ever driven one?
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: I have, i have, and you know it's interesting to drive.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: I think electrics have their own idiosyncrasies about them and their own pleasures, and their own lack of pleasure is some of it.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: There's something kind of appliance-like about it, you know, like driving a dryer or a washing machine, or a gnaw A gnaw, yeah.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: a gnaw, yeah, i remember gnawing.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah Well, i mean, that's interesting, you should say that and that everybody seems to be following their lead.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: You know, the great big, huge touchscreen in the middle of it's got you know Like lemmings over the cliff.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I appreciate the largeness of the screen, but I don't think that the largeness of the screen should actually sell you on the car.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: To me it takes up an enormous amount of room And I've been in a Tesla.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I am very impressed by the whole thing, think it rides great and obviously the acceleration is unbelievable.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And I know somebody that I work with that owns one.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: He and his wife love the thing.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: They take it from Houston to San Antonio and back.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: They have this one place that they stop to charge up to top off.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: If you will, they can make it all the way if they're cautious and really keep an eye on the accelerator pedal.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: But he loves the thing and he drives it back and forth to work And I will say that you know 20 miles one way to work and 20 miles back to home is not much for him.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: But I think that that I think it's a thing for a certain group of people And I think that it is going to be just another coin in the fountain, if you will, of all of these different types of vehicles that are available today.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: You know, i agree with you And I think they work best that way.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Right, if you have two vehicles in your household fleet, you know two, not much of a fleet.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: But if you have a conventional car, even a hybrid, you know something with essentially unlimited range.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: If you fill it up with gas and then you use an electric for a round town, like I had a Nissan Leaf with about 200 miles of range recently, that's the higher range Nissan Leaf, and the Leaf is essentially the first mass market brand electric vehicle that came to market.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: That came to market in 2011,.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Then they totally revised it for 2018.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: And it was just fine for that kind of purpose.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: You know, i could go 30 miles and come back and, you know, never worry about it.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I charged it overnight using 110 volt electricity and I'd have, you know, 200 miles of range the next day and everything was fine.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: If I wanted to go cross country in that thing, i would be pulling my hair out, but for that kind of use, if you had another vehicle to go long distances or carry more stuff, it would work just fine.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: The interesting thing, though, that isn't the goal.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: The goal is to make everything electric.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: At least the goal from some people is to make everything electric, and that's a no go.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I think, especially in my lifetime I mean up till 20, we've got vehicles on the road that'll probably gas vehicles on the road.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: They'll be on the road 20 years from now.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: You know that's a long time out in the future, right?
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: So it's kind of interesting what we're trying to do here.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: I don't know that it's been well thought out or that even the individual consumers is thinking about well, i buy an electric.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this may contribute to declining greenhouse gases, but talk about it dropping the bucket, it's spitting the ocean.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: So when you say what we're trying to do, let's not quite use weir so much as what you are.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Let's say they are, there's a group, yeah, and they are trying to impose upon us.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, I like the idea that we can decide.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: We as individuals can decide what we want to buy, how we want to live our lives.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: You know what we want to eat, what we want to you know what kind of cars and how big, we want them to be, all of that kind of stuff.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: You want a Ford, you want a Chevy.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: You know, you, that's that's right to you.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, i will tell you that the guy that I work with that has the Tesla.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: His wife has an older model Mercedes Benz I don't know what it is the SL, the little coupe and she loves it.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: It's older, it's been paid for for quite a while and he told me he says, yeah, she's kind of getting ready to get rid of that.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I think we're going to get another gasoline car Not exactly sure we really do like the Mercedes Benz And I said, well then, that makes sense.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: So you got a gasoline and an electric.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: You know it gives a little bit of a saying.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: You know one you can get out of town and then the other one you can get halfway out of town.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much Right, Right Well not get back Yeah.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Well, let's hope you can get back anyway.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: So when are you leaving to come to Texas?
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: We leave on the 30th of June, so I think Coming up next weekend six days from now, something like that right.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we hope that the weather is not going to deter any of your time with your kids and the visit to Texas, because we kind of brag about the fact that everybody's welcome in Texas and we want everybody to have a good time here.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Well, we always have a great time.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: This'll be our 30 year going to Cedar Creek Lake and we take a lake house and we're mostly in the water when it gets hot and we have a blast.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: So I love Texas and love seeing the kids, of course, Well, and the other thing that you must do if you've never been, you got to stop at Bucky's somewhere.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Oh, i've done that absolutely.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, that's actually a destination.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Huge proponent of everything they do, especially their hot sandwiches and, oh boy, lots of charging stations too.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Jack, it's great to talk to you.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for spending the time with us today and we hope to catch up with you after your vacation and talk about cars again soon.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Well, i look forward to it Great to talk to you guys.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: As always, those books are coming your way.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: So be ready for that, And maybe we can talk about it next time.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: So terrific.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Take care yourself.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Thanks, jack.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: And that's America on the Road.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: All right, very cool.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: We're kind of wrapping things up here for this edition of the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Kind of a quick today.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: A little quick It has.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Yep, cadillac plans to introduce the electric version of its Escalade full-size SUV on August 9th in New York.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Gm luxury brand on Tuesday confirmed the reveal date and a news release and teaser video for the Escalade IQ I wasn't invited Which it said it'll be built at the automakers Factory Zero Electric Vehicle Assembly Plant in Detroit.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Automotive News has reported that the Escalade IQ was expected to go on sale in 2024.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Cadillac did not share details Tuesday on the production launch.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: The gasoline-powered Escalade has been Cadillac's top-selling US model for the past two years as the brand focused on production of more profitable vehicles during the microchip shortage.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Cadillac, working to electrify its lineup, like everybody else is And How heavy do you think that'll be?
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, can you imagine?
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: The Escalade IQ will follow the Lyric mid-size electric crossover.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Which I can't produce right now, which?
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: is on sale now, and the Celestic Or Celestic.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: What do you want to call it, celestic?
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Kind of like Celestic.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: That sounds too plastic.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Call it Cadillac, Okay.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Well, there's that A hand-built, $300,000 plus electric sedan that'll start production in December.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, Here's an interesting thing.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: The US traffic deaths are down in 2023.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Even as more miles are driven.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: The agency NHTSA estimated 9,330 people died in vehicle crashes in the first three months of the year, Down 3.3% from last year.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Because they're obeying the signs, Well, and the other thing is they're doing that, And the other thing is is that they're driving more miles.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: So I guess that that's a good thing.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Well, you gotta think too.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: the technology of today's cars is definitely geared to protect the occupants Automatic braking, lane departure warning and stuff.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: All of that stuff, i think, has had a real impact on lowering the death rates.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: So it's working.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Speaking of which technology is more prevalent, which creates more opportunities for problems to arise, and issues are cropping up with basic vehicle functions, such as the ease of opening doors That, according to JD Power's 2023 US initial quality study, those factors contributed to a record high number of vehicle problems this year, building on quality issues last year that stem from supply chain shortages and remote work.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: According to JD Power, on average, owners reported 192 problems per 100 vehicles industry wide, according to the survey, up from 180 a year earlier and 162 in 2021,.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: The study, conducted from February through May, published Thursday, based on responses from 93,000 buyers and leases of new 2023 model year vehicles.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: And I think some of that's driven by the complexity of the car.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: You know we laugh and giggle about people never read owner's manuals and they don't.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: And today in a lot of cars there is no owner's manual.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: You have to figure out how to get a display on the, how to get it to display on the screen on the vehicle, and people aren't gonna read that either.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: And the book is in the computer on the screen, right.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: So you know all of that means hey, how does this work?
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I'm pissed off, i'm gonna give it a bad score, yep.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: New vehicle quality improved at 12 of the 33 brands ranked in the study.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Dodge was number one in quality Oh, that's surprising Followed by Ram, alfa Romeo, portia, marzarrati, jaguar, subaru, jeep, mitsubishi, audi, chrysler and Volvo.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: They all And who surveys that again?
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: JD Power.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Okay, they're the kingding of surveys, yeah.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I question.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Dodge was number one.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: I question.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Isn't that bizarre?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, dodge, followed by Ram.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Not that they were flawless by any stretch of the imagination.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: But you know to outscore Lexus and Mercedes, so in descending order.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I'll give it to you Dodge, ram, alfa Romeo, buick, chevrolet, gmc, portia because Portia used to be at the top of the list Cadillac, kia, lexus.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: And this is in descending order now Genesis, mini, nissan, marzarrati.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Jaguar, where's industry average fallen.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Industry average is below BMW and above Mitsubishi.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, So the number one is Dodge at 140, and average study is average and the study is 192.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Problems with vehicles per 100.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: It says a lot for the Dodge product.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I know Well, they've been building the same thing for a long time.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: You think they'd finally get it right, you know.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Well, you gotta think Dodge, what's a Dodge anymore?
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Charger, Challenger, Yeah, but all those are going away Yeah.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good timing, apparently.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: We finally got it.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Right now it's gonna go away.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Lithium producers are growing anxious that delays in mine permitting, staffing shortages and inflation may hinder their ability to supply enough of the battery metal to meet the world's aggressive electrification timelines.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, once a niche metal used primarily in ceramics and pharmaceuticals, lithium is now one of the world's most in demand metals, given aggressive EV plans from the global auto industry.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: At stake is the pace with which electric vehicles could displace internal combustion engines, a key goal of the green energy transition.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I don't think that that's going to replace it.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I think it may become a different component in the overall sales, like we were talking with Jack about, but at any rate, it is what it is.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, ford planning additional layoffs to its salaried workforce in the coming weeks.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: According to people with knowledge of the matter, although the cuts are not expected to be as large as previous rounds, the automaker, which could announce the moves as early as next week, is expected to prune workers from multiple business units, including its Ford Blue combustion vehicle division and its model E electric vehicle unit.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: According to sources, last year Ford laid off about 3,000 workers around the globe.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: This year they slashed more than a thousand jobs in China and some 3,800 jobs in Europe over the next three years, okay, yep, no big deal unless you're one of them, yeah, in the electric division.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Well, apparently, yeah, i thought that that was interesting, that some of the cuts are coming from the electric division, didn't you find that interesting?
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think it's amazing.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Either they had way too many people working in that division, which wouldn't surprise me, Or it's just not as profitable, as you know.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: people think it should be.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: And even though that they keep raising the price of the Ford Lightning, lightning And if you cut back production then you've got an overstaff Right.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Too many people?
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: All right, we're back in the studio next weekend And you know, next weekend is July 4th weekend.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Got any big plans?
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Am I invited over?
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: No.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not What, what, what are now?
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I know I invited myself.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: I know on the air, i know He probably invited Leslie too, but he probably invited Leslie first.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: You already did.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: What are you doing next weekend?
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: You going to sit home, pop some firecrackers?
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not a fireworks guy.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Never really have been much of a fireworks guy.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: We used to do the I've got idiot neighbors.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: We used to do the bottle rockets back in my day And we used to take the little six ounce Coke bottles.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, put them on the ground And they would do the bottle rocket in it light it.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Where'd go.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: I lived in a neighborhood where there were two fireworks crazies And they would do bottle rockets and they would also do those mortars, yeah, and they would do them in these tubes And eventually the tubes would kind of lean over and we would fire over two houses to get to them and they would fire back at us.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: How fun.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: And that's when we went inside Great ideas Right now.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: We'll write back with a wrap up of today's show.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: You're on the In Wheel Time Cart Talk Show on iHeart Radio.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Everyone at the Tailpipes and Tacos cruise in at the Lupi Tortilla Tex-Max in Katie.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you for participating in the best cruise in a round and look forward to seeing you again.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: You'll hear about the next cruise in date right here on In Real Time.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Next time you're in the West Houston Energy Corridor area, be sure and stop in at the original Lupi Tortilla Tex-Max at I-10 and Highway 6 or the Katie location on the Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard When passing through Beaumont or College Station, stop in and have Lupi's award-winning beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: There's always a celebration at Lupi Tortilla.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Lupi Tortilla founders Stan Hold and his wife Sheila are winning racers on the NHRA Drag Racing Circuit and have a collection of hot rods and classics that everyone appreciates.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Look for them at the next Tailpipes and Tacos cruise in.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: The date will be announced soon and will once again be held at the Lupi Tortilla Tex-Max on 99 in Kingsland Boulevard, just south of I-10 and Katie.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: We'll give you all the details right here on the In Real Time Car Talk Show and online Donations benefit God's Garage.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: We'll see you then.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: You own a car you love.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 27:17
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• 27:19
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• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Curb your wheels.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to GCautoshieldcom.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tullway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Call them today, 832-930-5655, or GCautoshieldcom.
• 28:05
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• 28:25
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• 28:35
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• 28:42
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• 28:49
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• 28:59
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• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Well, that's a wrap for this week's InWheelTime car talk show.
• 29:08
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• 29:16
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• 29:20
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• 29:22
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• 29:35
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• 29:46
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• 29:51
  Speaker 1: The InWheelTime chief engineer is David Ainsley, our marketing advertising advisor and video technical director.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: As we need more, jeff Zien, the booking agent.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: And thumb twiddler Mike Mars, mr Know-it-all, his royalty King Conrad along.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Please join us for our next live InWheelTime car talk show Saturday, july 1st 2023 on all of our InWheelTime car talk outlets Right here on the Smokin' Mirrors Network, 8 to 11 Central.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Have a great weekend, stay cool.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: It's so long for now.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Bye-bye.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the InWheelTime car show.
• 30:39
  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 InWheelTimecom website.
• 30:50
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• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.