Having the tax credit be available for only North American built EVs makes sense to me since we’re supposed to be helping (sort of) home team manufacturing, aren’t we? I suppose Canada and Mexico production being included was intended to help the big 2.5.

We should also mention the Tonale C segment crossover that will start shipping in Q1 2023.

For all my pedantic friends, Car and Driver reported a 5.7 second 0-60 with a fwd Chrysler 200C and a 5.1 second 0-60 with a Challenger R/T 5.7 with a manual.

My personal favorite is the myth that a stock ‘69 Charger Daytona was a 200 mph car.

Whether borrowing or paying cash is the best move is more based on the interest rate on your note vs. how much that cash could potentially grow when invested in equity markets.

The $60 per hour was just an example I pulled out of the air. However, it is true that there are huge variations in hourly pay between regions, and brands, especially when comparing rural markets to extremely high cost of living markets like Southern California, as is the case here.

Well said. As someone who spent decades around dealership service departments, I’m well aware of the value and rarity of skills a good technician has. Few people can do that job, and those that can need to be paid accordingly. The guaranteed hours thing has been going on for years.

You are correct. I suspect there might be an ongoing issue with not enough repair orders to keep the shop busy which significantly effects tech pay.

Yes, in the long term there’s going to be some fundamental changes in how dealerships structure their operations with significantly less revenue from service and parts operations due to EVs.

As you might expect, the most profitable piece of square footage by far in a dealership is a technician’s service bay.

Nobody cares how rare a C8 Corvette is except possibly the owner. Chevrolet will keep making C8s in whatever combo the configurator allows so it’s a moot point.

Here’s how the guaranteed hours thing works for automotive technicians:

High line franchises have the same tech shortage issues as mass market franchises. Those guys will be just fine at another MB store or equivalent. 

There’s always two sides to the story and we really don’t hear much of the dealership management’s side other than customers may have been blocked from entering.

This is some fun news; Mopar ending their Hemi ICE offerings with the apex predator of them all.

I get that you don’t like the dealership distribution model and think it should go away or that it’s “on its way out”.

Even if every state franchise law could magically disappear, nothing would change.

The manufacturers and dealers are already contractually obligated aside from state franchise laws.

Note to cyclists in Texas:

I wasn’t making the argument that the supply / demand curve for automobiles was absolutely frictionless within the dealer distribution model.