And it turns out someone is taking this approach - Boeing and Lockheed today announced a new booster to take on SpaceX, and they’re focusing on recycling the engine end only (the most expensive bits) - with it set to parachute back down and be intercepted midair by a helicopter, just like in these old videos..

Yeah, but asking $3k isn't asking for much more than $2k. You generally get plenty of offers, even if most are in the $2k range.

The 2002 wasn't recalled for that, just like my old 97 wasn't - and it had a stance identical to this car from day 1 - the rear just has a smaller gap than the front - you can see it even in Ford's promotional literature and associated shots. There's no way you can say this car has broken springs based on what we see…

I'm a little shocked he can't move it.

I sold my 97 Taurus 5 years ago (so the same age at the time that this one is now) with more miles on it without any trouble. I didn't ask $3k, but got $2k out of it and sold it in less than 24 hours with multiple offers on it.

What makes you say that? This generation of Taurus (and the one prior to it) sat lower in the rear than in the front, with noticeably less gap between the fender and the tire than in the front.

Yep - I’ve seen it inside the OEMS and outside, both. And at many other companies, too. Precious few companies reward people for “taking one for the team”.

And that’s my point - the entire change would be for internal metrics and wouldn’t do squat for the company overall - in fact, it would likely reduce profits overall.

There’s too much of this behavior in the business world - everyone has their own fiefdom and is worried about making it look good, the rest of the…

Realistically, it doesn’t matter whether the model is cheap or expensive. It’s just an accounting trick.

Say, for example, you have the option of building Corollas in Ontario and Camrys in Mexico or shifting Corolla production to Mexico and retooling for Camrys in Ontario. For simplicity’s sake, say each takes 30 man…

Got me thinking - and sure enough, Toyota is killing off their agreement with Subaru to build the Camry in Lafayette, so they need someplace to build more beigemobiles.

Yes, it isn’t the whole output - but it is a gigantic portion of it. In 2012, for example, Toyota produced 340,855 vehicles in Cambridge. 254,159, or 74.6% of them, were Corollas/Matrices.

In 2013, that percentage dropped a hair to 70.6%. That is still a huge gaping hole to fill.

Which would make sense, with the Mazda 2 made in Guanajuato as well, since supplier bases could be shared, though the articles I’ve read keep referring to the plant building Corollas. I could see both, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ll have to figure out what to do with existing Corolla capacity...

I believe Maryland’s credit is $125 per kWh of battery capacity. The Spark EV has a 19 kWh battery, so that should be $2,375 in credits. If you get the $7500 federal credit, too, that pushes the price to $16,945 plus ttl (and tax will likely be calculated on the price prior to credits, fwiw).

Not bad - but still more…

Get rid of the centered layout, improve the handling, and put in some decent plastics. Seriously - the Prius has horrid interior materials by modern standards.

The Toyota plant is supposed to be to build Corollas. Which makes me wonder - Toyota already builds Corollas in Cambridge, Ontario, and Tupelo, Mississippi. There is no need for three factories turning out that car. So will Cambridge close, or just be repurposed? I doubt that Tupelo closes or gets repurposed - they…

I don’t think any of these plants are new - the Reuters article refers to Ford investing in a plant in the central Guanajuato province - where Ford already has a joint venture plant with Getrag. Other articles suggest that Ford is looking to buy out Getrag, while the International Business Times explicitly states that…

Meh.. THIS would be cooler... just get an Antonov An-225 and a really good winch... :)

I don’t think it was the barge moving too much - that rocket was in a pretty desperate last minute maneuver and didn’t appear to be in a stable upright position at any time in the last few seconds there...

Just because they’re non-citizens doesn’t mean that we can’t win out of the deal.

In the 1980s, the Japanese went on a real estate buying spree in the US thanks to their huge trade surpluses. Everyone freaked out about them buying us up. Turns out that they massively overpaid for many things, and ended up selling them…

Kasich isn’t saying anything because he doesn’t care what the heck the public thinks or wants.

Under Kasich, Ohio sold off the revenue stream from its liquor taxes to a “privatized” department of development that he renamed “JobsOhio”. Then he made all of JobsOhio’s activity secretive and not subject to any sunshine…

GM says to take your standardized controls and shove them where the sun don’t shine, and puts the headlight switch right about here on the driver’s side door (see 1992-1999 Buick LeSabre)