I understand that, in journalism, an unidentified source is often considered less authoritative than one with a real name/title. But there’s a method to my madness.

By granting engineers anonymity, I’m able to give a voice to true experts currently working in the field, and not just ones who have undergone media…

Speaking of holy shit...holy shit are you ever triggered by such a small deal. Glad your boss wouldn’t give a flying fuck if you went on the record, but the reality is quite a few of us have these sorts of provisions that discourage that, work in an at-will environment, and have little protection from the subsequent…

If an employee works under a policy of not speaking directly to the press without corporate approval, but then speaks directly to the press - you don’t think that would lead to blowback?

Because that’s exactly how you get blowback. Doesn’t matter if what they say is basic engineering theory or trade secrets/ classified…

We’re still wage workers my dude. I don’t want a future employer googling my name, seeing I have a reputation of talking to the media, and not hiring me. Or conversely being passed over for a promotion because I’ve spoken to the media about something relevant to my job without consent from my employer and seen as a…

I bet there are, but the reality is that lots of engineers have lots to say, but aren’t media trained.

They’re not supposed to act as mouthpieces for their companies, but they’re still experts. So I’m happy to use them as sources. Ultimately, I just want to pass on insight from their brains to yours.

Toyota moved to Texas for the tax breaks; Honda is based in CA because it has always been based in CA. Nissan NA moved to Kentucky for the tax breaks. “Bleeding edge” is not the reason capital intensive industries do things; they might put a think take or buy a small company located in a place.

Problem is that there are still companies COMING to the greater Detroit area. I live a little outside Ann Arbor and there’s a newish Hyundai Tech center and a soon to open Subaru tech center nearby. A Toyota one is 20 minutes away, Honda is nearby in Northern Ohio, Nissan is in the northern greater Detroit area. And…

I feel like there’s a reason Toyota is based in Texas and Honda is based in California.

The corporate bubble doesn’t care where your HQ is.  

I starred your comment, but am curious what the actual margins on these vehicles are along with actual number of units compared to the brands’ mass produced vehicles.

why in the name of all that is fucking holy is this car not sold in the US?

I have a buddy who worked at a high level on the tech side for GM for 10 years. He described a mngt culture so ridiculous that it makes anything ive seen seem streamlined and efficient.

Actually not true. The Buick had precisely none of the innovative features the Aztek did.... NONE. It was a jelly bean. At least the Aztek is unique, annnnd had several innovative features.

I saw a newer Avalanche the other day and had this exact same thought.  Once they got rid of all the shitty plastic cladding, it didn’t look half bad!

They moved to a place that hates cars (!!!)

I’m just throwing this out there - the Aztec wasn’t half bad. In fact it was pretty damn forward looking and revolutionary. I mean BMW, Mercedes and a whole host of other companies have basically riffed off of the basic ‘lifted, 5 door hatch’ theme with various X5GrandGLECoupe models. Except at least GM didn’t charge…

Cadillac tried this by moving to NYC, but it didn’t work out for them. GM just needs to focus on making better quality, more interesting cars. 

Is it me, or the do the steelies look really good on it? They go with the whole retro thing.

How about “Feds File Charges in Case with over 1,000 Key Fobs stolen from a Train Shipment”

People with this mindset that come to Alaska end up just like this guy and that moron Treadwell that got himself and his girlfriend killed. We have a saying in Alaska: From Dipshit to Bear shit.