It feels dumb to say that the most powerful thing any automotive brand has is its brand, but it’s not wrong. Just as a Ferrari economy car would feel unusual, so would, say, a Dacia hypercar. You have to be careful what you put your badge on, but does that explain why Audi is reportedly not planning on attaching its iconic four-ring logo onto upcoming Chinese EVs?
In addition to a report on Audi potentially not slapping four rings on Chinese co-developed EVs, we’ve got a fun grab-bag of news for you, here. California wants to put vehicle titles on the blockchain, Subaru sales are up last month but only by the skin of the brand’s teeth, and Maserati is going berserk.
In fairness, I can’t blame Maserati for announcing it’s rolling into Pebble Beach with a chip on its shoulder, because man, the internet hasn’t been kind to it in the wake of Stellantis announcing it’s thinking of trimming brands. Anyway, let’s circle back to this Audi news.
Don’t Put Four Rings On It?
In an era of increased technology-sharing and homogeneity in the automotive industry, safeguarding brand identity is paramount, and Audi is said to be considering an interesting move, possibly to protect its brand image in the west and leverage domestic branding in China. Reuters reports that for Chinese-built EVs developed in partnership with SAIC, Audi is looking to ditch its traditional logo.
The decision by the premium marque owned by Germany’s Volkswagen is due to “brand image consideration,” one of the people [with direct knowledge of the plans] said. It also reflects the use of automotive architecture co-developed with Chinese partner SAIC (600104.SS) and an increased reliance on local suppliers and technologies.
What does that mean? Also from the article:
Audi declined to comment on what it called speculation. SAIC said in a statement to Reuters that the EVs would be “true Audi with authentic Audi DNA”.
Chinese automakers are increasingly taking share in their home market – the world’s largest – with tech-savvy EVs. That’s led to sinking sales for foreign automakers, many of which are much more reliant on gasoline-engine models, pushing them into forming new partnerships.
Since Chinese EV manufacturers are going blow-for-blow with the Western establishment on technology, the draw of a German luxury brand over a Chinese luxury brand in the West is heritage. By saving the Audi logo for German-developed vehicles using entirely Audi technologies, the brand can create a two-tier system to encourage image-seekers to step up to an Audi-developed EV.
That’s assuming anyone actually cares anymore about a car being German-designed.
The terrifying flip side to this is that Chinese sales of Western automotive brands haven’t been so hot right now. Maybe Audi is better off with a brand that feels more Chinese, in the same way SAIC is branding its Chinese-built cars in the UK as “MGs.”
Is it possible that automakers are realizing that the cachet of a Western automaker in China is maybe less strong than one of a Chinese-backed startup?
California Wants To Put Car Titles On The Blockchain
Yes, you read that right. As reported by Automotive News, California wants to put car titles on the blockchain to prevent fraud and loss, and is currently running a trial to see what happens (If you’re not familiar with blockchain technology it’s basically a distributed, unmodifiable digital record used to record transactions or activity). Obviously, if this comes to be the way forward, it’ll have some reasonably significant ramifications, but it also faces difficulties in implementation.
On the plus side, it’s way harder to lose a title when the DMV holds it virtually. In addition, keeping things digital could make it easier to declare a change in ownership after selling a vehicle, which would make it much harder to get screwed by someone riding around in a car that’s still registered to you.
On the minus side, California’s digital title implementation proposal includes basically putting everything on the blockchain. Now, the bad part about that isn’t the concept of digital ledgers themselves. After all, the blockchain is really just a form of digital rights management, a bit like the shit Sony tried to pull with the PS4, but less inherently nefarious. The blockchain provides proof that someone owns an item, even if that item is super wack. It could be the title of a Ferrari, it could be a photo of a Ferrari, it could be a cease and desist from Ferrari, it doesn’t matter. That’s how all the stupid ape-drawing NFTs happened.
So, the downside isn’t that having a car title on the blockchain makes you look like a massive dork, it’s the potential power demand of a blockchain-based system. Because the blockchain process involves computers solving progressively harder puzzles, eventually, the electricity and computing demand will run up, and that’s a concern. Hey, at least we got some great political nonsense about this, with Oxhead Alpha president Andrew Smith telling Automotive News this:
As we get more sophisticated in our handling and understanding of the tools and techniques, technology will get more and more user-friendly, and the benefits that are waiting in the wings here for secure transportation and digital assets will be a real driver for economic growth.
Translation? We’re still figuring this shit out, but who knows? It could be a good thing for the government once everyone gets the hang of it. And this is the technology company partnered with the California DMV saying this? Well, best of luck to everyone involved, then.
The Subaru Solterra Is…Winning?
Sales figures for July are out, and you know who had a weird month? Subaru. Sales are up 2.6 percent over last July, and if that isn’t treading water, I don’t know what is. So where do the gainers and losers in Subaru’s lineup sit? Well, in the right places to vindicate making boring-ass cars.
Compared to last July, BRZ sales are down 12.9 percent to 271 cars, and WRX sales are down a whopping 27.7 percent to 1,369 cars. So much for driving excitement, huh? Oh, and the news for passenger cars gets worse from there. The regular Impreza? Sales are down 7.9 percent to 2,578 cars, Legacy sales dropped 17.1 percent compared to the same period of sales last year, Ascent sales are down. a minor 1.4 percent, but more concerningly, Forester sales are down 26.4 percent from 14,504 to 10,682. That right there is a big deal, so how is Subaru treading water right now?
Well, thanks to the strength of two mainline crossovers, things aren’t looking too bad from a headline perspective. Crosstrek sales are up 36.3 percent over last July to 15,318 units, and it’s easy to see why. Consumers are still price-sensitive, and the Crosstrek is a big deal in the subcompact crossover space from a branding perspective. In addition, the Outback saw a sales increase of 14.3 percent to 14,204 units. However, the big surprise is the oft-maligned Solterra EV, with sales rising 66.4 percent to 1,261 units. Hey, when you’re technically gaining volume by the skin of your teeth, any W is a W.
Maserati’s Bringing Something Bonkers To Car Week
If you want further proof that Stellantis hasn’t given up on Maserati yet, here it is. The brand’s announced that a “new super sports car” is incoming, although the teaser image released really just makes it look like a harder-core MC20. Actually, that’s exactly what it is, and we certainly aren’t complaining. I’ve tweaked the exposure on the teaser image because that’s fair game, it it looks like we’re in for some excitement.
Right off the rip, it’s hard to ignore all the gills visible in the teaser image that just don’t exist on the regular MC20. Maserati claims that its new flagship model will draw inspiration from the marque’s GT2 race car, not a bad place to potentially borrow some parts from. Speaking of parts, the whole front fascia appears more aggressive than on a standard MC20, with what appears to be a substantially re-profiled nose that shrinks the proboscis surrounding the birdcage grille.
While we still don’t know what the entire aero package on, or output of, this new MC20 variant will be like, one thing’s for certain — Maserati’s taking its supercar and making it even more super. Expect to see it debut at The Quail on Aug. 16, not a bad venue for making a splash.
[Ed note: We’ve been invited to check it out and definitely will – MH]
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Ever stumble upon some gold? Cincinatti, Ohio-based dance-rockers Fluffer scratch a certain itch, even if you don’t know about them yet. On the track “Afterlife,” the combination of rolling 808s, sparkling arpeggios, and the use of an absolutely clapped E36 drift car in the music video suggest that these guys are fun to party with. Although the band doesn’t seem to have released anything since 2019, it still feels criminal that it only has 25 monthly Spotify listeners. For the hazy days of summer, give this a spin.
The Big Question
If almost everything goes electric as promised, how do you reckon established Western brands will hold onto buyers as the driving experiences get ever more similar from vehicle to vehicle? Is it just a matter of branding and trust, are trade sanctions enough, or is there something else consumers will latch onto?
(Photo credits: Audi, Subaru, Maserati)
Regarding EV differentiation: The midsize sedan class essentially standardized to 2.5l with automatic transmissions for years (decades?), and competition flourished without anyone thinking it was an existential crisis. If a manufacturer can’t figure out ways to differentiate their product in the highly standardized EV market, then they deserve to fail.
Well if Automakers stopped shoehorning BEVs into the Software Defined Vehicle category then the driving experiences would vary a lot more.
Software Defined Vehicles sure as shit didn’t work for Boeing with their 737 Max 8, and the reports I’ve been reading say Boeing has been using defective parts that Boeing knows are defective on planes to increase production figures (they literally take the defective parts out of a warehouse specifically for defective parts).
Every vehicle should be hardware defined first and foremost, and because of that you need to build it to withstand what you are selling it to do, and preferably with a bit extra margin on top of that.
Ford decided to go software defined with the Maverick Tremor. So much so that for a press event for the Tremor, where automotive journalists would drive the Tremor on a course specifically built for the Tremor, the Tremors were regularly in FWD only because either the PTO or the Rear differential would overheat.
Build the cars tough enough that they won’t need recalls, don’t just push an OTA update that derates them to compensate for a weak and or faulty build.
All heads are in agreement so that I wish that I could give three likes!
Hey, you HAD your chance with Chrysler, and you blew it!
But if not software defined how could they give you features locked behind a pay wall of subscriptions or fees. Think of the childr….. I mean share holders and investment firms
I agree, taking another step and purposefully avoiding the software defined vehicle with an EV could provide a lot of differentiation if anyone ever does it. Sure, lots of software needed for BMS, motor control, charging, etc, but having an EV where the driver basically does not interact directly with software would be a huge difference. I’d love to see someone produce a new car with 2020’s+ EV drive tech, the simplicity of my 1990’s Jeep, and the functional, basic but nice interior of the 2006 A3 I used to have, with no internet connection, but probably the best chance of that would be custom modifying an old vehicle.
EV’s with the simplicity of remote controlled cars (or other similar things that run off battery) would be so much better then a bunch of software defined BS.
> they literally take the defective parts out of a warehouse specifically for defective parts
TBF that’s just being tidy. I wouldn’t want the defective parts in the non-defective parts warehouse.
I think manufacturers are paranoid about “infotainment” because they want to differentiate on the interface. If handling and power levels out due to technology, software (and accompanying ecosystems, walled or not) could be the difference between an Audi and a Dacia.
I’m not counting on it, though, I think CarPlay/Android Auto is going to win in the end.
The Big Question is one that I’ve been pondering for years. Now add in more self driving features to EVs—maybe full self driving at some point—and why would anyone spend more for essentially the same thing? They can’t sell character when there isn’t any and heritage is a massive stretch when there’s so little relation to previous product that the legacy companies might as well 5be unrelated startups that resurrected an old name at that point (except for past experience building cars). Maybe make the interiors a little fancier, but will that be enough and will exterior style even matter much when everything’s a heavily aesthetically compromised 2-box shape (or maybe even a 1-box)? I’d say it’s already hardly a concern for most buyers when so much of what sells is bland, outright ugly, or somehow manages to be both, so what would be the differentiator that would justify premium pricing? As the reputation of old brand names with the older generations who remember their old products fade, what’s left to sustain the premium brands? My answer is the same one I’ve had since I first considered it: I have no idea, though there is plenty of historical precedence of once great brands dying as they either fail to adapt to market changes or stop making great cars and that was in an environment where product could be better differentiated from competing offerings and nods to past glories could be more readily sold. All I know is that I’ll either be buying vintage stuff or the absolute cheapest new POS on the market that isn’t from China unless the non-China alternative is prohibitively more expensive. I’m just glad I made a decision years ago to not continue pursuing a degree in transportation design. Yuck.
To add: perhaps the way to stand out would be de-integrating software and making a vehicle more resilient, repairable, and selling it as truly green. That I would pay more for, but if everything is about equally disposable, I’ll go with the cheapest way out.
I don’t know…ShÄ“ngyÄ«n just doesn’t sound right.
Car titles in blockchain? What would you call that, Doc Blocking?
Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g&pp=ygUMbGluZSBnb2VzIHVw
Yes, it’s about crypto and NFTs, but it also goes into the problems with blockchain-based systems as a whole. TLDR: the system is ill-suited to basically every application they are trying to shoehorn it into. It’s also not at all what it’s being sold as by the tech bros who think this will make them digital gods. I’m only being slightly hyperbolic there.
Not hyperbolic at all. As a tech bro I can confirm the block chain is a poor solution to even those problems it’s tailor-made to address.
Hmmm, what could go wrong about when you combine the famously slow and poor service of the DMV with the buzzy tech that’s been used almost entirely for scams and hype over the past few years?
Funny thing. Processing blockchain transactions can take a lot of time. You could probably end up waiting even longer for your title to transfer.
I’m confused. My interpretation with some of the better blockchains (i.e. beyond Level 1) was the transaction writing is in the THOUSANDS per second, and reading it is a simple exercise that takes no “building” time at all. There’s obv. more to this than input -> output, but many blockchains are being developed specifically for supply chain management replacements.
I read the article and there is zero info about what system they are using but I will assume it doesn’t consume a portion of CA’s energy.
Flush: I like parsh, and I generally trust them on things like build quality and privacy more than I do some of the upstarts and Chinese companies. So, there’s that, at least for now. The yer-a-peein’s have much more solid laws on data privacy that seem to be bleeding over into their US offerings, for one. Like that Porsche press car that even warned you on start up about this stuff — I think disclosures like that are important in the age of companies selling drivers’ data to insurance companies and Ford filing a patent that’d snitch on other vehicles (which shouldn’t even be legal, IMHO).
(I’ve also been balls-deep in data privacy stuff lately, so that’s a thing, but I don’t want my personal garbage leaked to whoever via my car. Let me listen to embarrassing music and fumble the lyrics in peace, keep other weirdos from tracking my location, yadda yadda.)
—
Also, I know “fluffer” means something else in less SFW contexts, but Fluffy Bunny, Eater of Souls, appreciates fluff-names anyway. Those beater donuts are a quality Hoon of the Day, too.
great name. the Col approves.
Imagine the shame as your phone flashes a notification and it recognized what you were singing except it’s a completely different song.
I really think Subaru wanted the WRX to fail so they would have a good reason to kill it. This generation is so ugly, does very little if anything to move the needle in terms of performance, and they didn’t bother with an STI version for a halo. Of all the vehicles in Subaru’s lineup it is the outlier. It doesn’t with with what the brand has become even though it helped build that brand.
On the one hand, I’ve heard that the VB WRX is head-and-shoulders above the VA, but losing the mechanical limited-slip differentials, the 59:41 rear-bias AWD system, and the much-beefier transmission of the STi is just such a loss. The STi was such a fun and predictable car to drive.
The fact they haven’t WRXed the XV-Crosstrek and the Outback yet is proof that this company is either woefully ignorant, malicious against their success, or I know far less than I think I know. But what do know is I see Crosstreks and Outbacks everywhere, and if they made a version that looked even cooler and cost more, they would print money.
I’d love either a 1) WRX’d Crosstrek or a 2) Hybrid Crosstrek that gets 40+ mpg.
Instead they give you a bland drivetrain that doesn’t do much of anything well.
Oh, but it does! ..it drinks gasoline like no other modern car, with most of it converted to heat, since the power is scarce 🙂
I’ve only been in a single Subaru that had good fuel economy, it was a european diesel one that we don’t get here (probably the only diesel boxer engine that I know of)
I’ve got a couple Subs. The old 2012 Forester is shit on fuel economy. The 2017 Legacy does great, mid 30s average with the normal mix of city/hwy driving.
On the EV choices, hopefully we’ll start getting some body variations as we were promised with the “it’s a skateboard we can put any body on it!” talk.
Right now it’s like 75% crossovers, 25% trucks, where’s the Ora Funky cat options? VW can’t be bothered to slap a Beetle body on the ID3 and give it a frunk?
Have GM Bring back Geo and give us a Tracker/Storm/Prizm/Metro all from the same EV platform!
If they all drive the same, the other differences need to stand out, look at the Cybertruck, not any quicker than the Hummer or Lightning but you definitely know what it is!
Yeah, if the driving experience becomes more homogenized than it already is, brands will just have to distinguish themselves with design excellence, variety in body styles, high quality materials, and attention to detail. Deliver a better designed, better built, better finished car than the competition.
Although, Lucid is more or less trying that and failing, but, still
The problem is the form factors everyone seems to want are 2-box-on-stilts or pick up, which not only severely limits stand out design options, but shows that the wide majority of buyers value non-aesthetic concerns by far over design.
Crossovers/SUVs are super practical, and now that they get over 30 or 40mpg the major issue that the first ones of them had, they just make even more sense. They’re the modern mini-van without the stigma. And trucks are just ‘merica, and again with gains in mpg and now they all have 4 doors there’s less reasons not to get them.
But to use an analogy, I feel like it’s not that other car types wouldn’t sell ok, it’s just car makes started min/maxing their car models like video game character stats. Crossover/Suv/Truck is overpowered and always win the sales game so hardly anybody plays Miata or X-90 anymore, or can afford to since the 2008 recession. . Mazda had to team up with Stellantis to keep the Miata going, and Suzuki is gone in the US.
I just really had hope with EVs that they’d finally start trying some different stuff if they didn’t have to worry about emmissions and where to put the exhaust and the fuel tank and the engine and what not. Maybe in my lifetime while I’m still driving we’ll see another bubble but it’s looking less likely as they all just become iphones on wheels.
You are more optimistic than me. Driving enthusiasm is circling the drain and I don’t see a revival in a world of restrictions, nannies, traffic, disposability (who gets weepy when trading in their old smart phone?), and lack of exposure to vehicles that are fun to drive (very few of which are new unless someone is one of those one-dimensional people that think acceleration and only acceleration is a qualifier for fun and, even then, EV CUVs will be obscenely quick so as to satisfy them). Were I growing up today, it’s unlikely that I would GAF about cars as nobody I know has anything interesting and classics are largely unattainable, require knowledge that I wouldn’t have in that life, and I wouldn’t know what I was missing to care. I would probably be into boats for the freedom available in it (and am as I have switched my dream from building a car of my own design to a boat). Why would most people buy a less practical body style when—as you point out—there is no real advantage besides possibly aesthetics and standing out from the crowd, a thing the monochromatic market as a whole shows they do not care much about? Even me, I’d have a sport wagon if they still existed. While not a CUV, it certainly prioritizes utility. With margins so small at the lower end of the market, why bother selling anything but Standard Universal Vehicles? For the few of us who might not like it—likely not enough to justify production of something different as the volumes wouldn’t be there as evidenced by low sales numbers for fun cars under $50k in an uncrowded market—we’d have no choice but to buy the same eunuchmobiles as the rest if we want personal mobility (such that it will be with tracking and control software), so why would they care? Add consolidation and inevitable culling of brands, and there’s even less incentive to stand out in the market.
who gets weepy when trading in their old smart phone?
I do!
Maybe I’d be OK with a trade in if I could find a more modern one also with $10 swappable batteries, a minijack, dual SIM, a TV controlling IR blaster and audiophile quality 32+ bit DACs for <$100 on the used market.
No? Then I'm keeping my phone!
I’m with you on that! I remember when I traded in my Krzr for my first smartphone, and the lady at the desk looked at it and said aloud “wow this is OLD”…., that was like 2012, and ok maybe it was like 6 years old, but if it was working fine, and if it the case hadn’t cracked I probably would’ve kept rocking it.
Just switched last year from android to iphone but then got a bluetooth/minjack rechargeable adapter so I could keep using all my wired earbuds and headphones, the wireless ones kept falling out when I’m mowing.
I keep mine until they are pretty well wasted and I grumble because I hate spending money on it, but I don’t feel any emotion about the phone (I’d go back to a flip phone if they were really any cheaper and I didn’t need a smart phone for work).
I do see some younger generations that have car interest, I see kids with beaters from the 90s and 2000s, they lower the cars and mini trucks, jack up the 4wd trucks, paint their cars in chalk paint and draw all over them. I feel there is still hope.
But yeah the car makers aren’t putting out the cooler small cars/trucks any more, so in 10 years a kid just getting their license can one grab for a couple grand and hoon it out. I guess there’ll still be some Chargers and 300s rolling around then lol, they’re gonna be the Ford LTDs of the mid 2,000s.
Maybe China will find a way in and snap car makes back to reality that fun cheap cars should be a thing, Ford at least talks the talk that they’re getting ready for that.
They’re the modern mini-van without the stigma.
Counterpoints: Minivans with their sliding doors and low floors are much easier to carry stuff in. Crossovers/SUV stigma exists, it’s just submerged under an ocean of flabby middle age denial.
Crossovers are just taller wagons and impose no further limits on design imagination than sedans do.
Back when sedans were in the majority, guess what, they also all looked the same!
There is absolutely design limitations in crossovers! It’s a 2-box shape that prioritizes interior packaging (though you’d never know it from how cramped modern vehicles can feel) and some utility work over form with styling meant to appeal to the widest range of people. Adding in narrow market segment size divisions and that’s about as limiting a brief as you can get. Sedans are no paragon of design, being a 3-box version covering the same market that CUVs are now taking over with maybe less focus on utility, but very much having to meet the expectations for broad appeal. I never liked them, either, but their decline is also conveniently emblematic of how pervasive the CUV has become. If I’m going to hate the driving experience and be completely uninspired either way, even I’m picking the CUV over a sedan.
Not everyone wants to sit up high, wagons had more useful use of space in that it was horizontally oriented rather than vertical with that on-paper space often awkwardly shaped due to sloping rear windows trying to claw back a bit of aerodynamic efficiency, and crossovers drive completely different than lower wagons (part of this is that those wagons don’t exist anymore and were made in a time when cars in general were better to drive. CUVs being current would be disadvantaged in that regard even without the handling and ride issues caused by increased height and modern weights, so the comparison is necessarily exaggerated and irrelevant—might as well be comparing a Miata to a Camry if the Miata had equal if not better utility than the Camry) and, in the past, there were a lot more alternatives to CUVs and pickups, while the slim pickings of anything else that we have gets smaller every year. My ’90 Legacy wagon felt like more of a sports car than my GR86—one of the very few remaining sports cars and unlikely making much profit beyond a difficult to measure sporting halo effect for a stodgy brand that I’m not sure matters as much as it did a few decades ago.
Lets look at the once popular, but now dead or steadily declining categories with ever-dropping participants that people once had to choose from (especially in the affordable price brackets, though SUVs have heavily infected the high end as well): hardtops, non-hardtop coupes of all sizes (as in 2 doors, not this 4-door coupes that are really CUVs with a more slanted window nonsense), wagons of all types, sports cars (different than a performance car or GT, not that there are a lot of them, either), large variety of sedans, large variety of compact cars, hot hatches, regular hatches, comfy land yachts, actually small pickup trucks, muscle cars, small vans, minivans, sub-compacts, and non-sports car convertibles of all kinds.
As a kid, I’d ride around on my bike spotting interesting cars and it was like at least every 10th driveway in my blue collar area had something at least semi-interesting. I live in an uppity area now and nearly everyone has monochrome S/CUVs, even multiples of the same damn thing in the same damn non-color and these are the people that can readily afford something interesting, unlike the blue collar people who might be buying CUVs as the best compromise that they can afford. As the remaining players abandon other markets, leaving a couple lackluster offerings in non-CUV categories that are also no fun to drive, and so disincentivizing choosing anything but the utility compromise, if I’m an automaker seeing this, why would I build anything but CUVs and maybe what passes for a small pickup (large ones would be too difficult a market to get into if not already established) going forward?
I feel like there could still be more variety in the Crossover styles than the jellybean most car makes put out. Like the Ioniq 5 or the Rivian R3, there can be diversity, but instead of actual design styles most makes do design by committee.
Like somebody comes up with the ‘floating’ roof and then EVERYBODY does the floating roof, like it worked for a couple of styles but not every car needs it.
And the 1 company that could actually go bonkers on design makes…<sigh> the Cybertruck. Yeah it’s different so there’s that, but would’ve loved them to have done something more like the Santa Cruz or Rivian, different but not “I said we’re doing stainless and sharp edges so we’re doing it!” stupid stubborn.
Oh well, maybe it’ll cause other car makes to get a little wilder like when they all copied Tesla and got rid of the AC buttons, cause that was cool. I remember thinking, dang it sucks that I can adjust my ac by these 3 easy dials right within hands reach, I wish that was buried in a touchscreen menu I can’t easily find when driving, one can hope!
If all this dangerous ergonomic touchscreen garbage is down to cost, then maybe switches and such will find their ways back to high end cars, then that will be associated with the high end and will trickle back down to the lower end makes trying to give the owners a more higher end experience. So it goes.
Ok
Crosstrek sales make sense with the redesigned model out too, which seem to be popping up quickly around me. The Solterra has been odd to me as I’ve seen them around much more than the bZ4x. Don’t know if it’s loyal Subaru owners sticking with the brand, or someone just looking for cheap deals (which both have) and the Subaru dealers have more of them or just are easier to deal with (probably a bit of both).
As someone who owns the other car that both Toyota and Subaru sell I went with the Subaru version for 3 reasons, price (lower at Subaru), features (at the time Subaru had Android Auto and Toyota didn’t), and the dealership experience. Subaru really knocks it out of the park taking care of folks who visit their dealerships, whether buying a new car or just getting an oil change.
I always thought Toyota’s legendary owner loyalty was at least partly thanks to their dealers being “pretty good”. But I guess they ought to be good when they’re gouging customers on some products (Tacoma, Sienna, RAV4 Prime, etc.).
My wife and I both owned Toyotas for over a decade and their dealerships are just that, “pretty good”, but Subarus are better. At least for the few I’ve experienced.
The reason that California wants to get titles on the blockchain is, you guessed it, money. Today, you can sell a car or motorcycle with an open title and have it sold again and again (right Mercedes?) without an actual transfer of title and the associated taxes that go with it. With a blockchain title, you will have to do a title transfer and pay the sales tax on every sale. To have your ownership transferred into the blockchain will require both parties (seller and buyer) to participate, no open signatures.
Yeah that actually would make the most sense for it. I had bought a Nova to pull them engine from and put in my firebird so I didn’t register it in my name and sold it to a buddy. So yeah the government may have lost out on taxes on a vehicle that have already made who knows how much on taxes since the thing was first sold. I love paying taxes on something that already had taxes paid on it with my money that has already been taxed.
In my state of Illinois you only pay sales tax on a used car if it’s over $15,000, but it’s probably different in other states.
You could also declare a value below $15k for any used car, but that would be illegal, so likely no one does that 😛
Howdy neighbor I am in Indiana you have to pay 7% sales tax here on used cars (no sales tax on most groceries which is nice) but the BMV just ask for a bill of sale or how much you paid I have never lied when buying a private sale vehicle nope not at all.
There is certainly a subsection that is still lead to vehicles entirely by Brand name alone (looking at you “Jeep” owners of barely rebadged Fiats) and that will maintain some buyers, but I do believe sanctions or trade restrictions will be totally necessary to keep cheaper Chinese EVs out of the market.
In the same way Hyundai/Kia have risen massively in the last 10 years, Chinese EVs would do the same if let in. To elaborate, Hyundai/Kia are vertically integrated, highly agile, and offer a strong value proposition for the features included, as well as have eye catching designs and innovative tech (not always reliable, but that’s not the point)
This is exactly what Chinese EVs are capable of matching and even surpassing with the way their market, companies, and labor base is set up. They have the ability to greatly outpace all manufacturers currently involved in the US market, and we’re starting to see it happen in Europe.
The reality is consumers are price conscious, and while not all entirely well informed, are more than happy to throw loads of money at Chinese built trash with some flashy marketing and loud discounts – see Temu, Wish, Alibaba’s rises as evidence of this. Most people don’t know, or care where their car comes from, and can be swayed easily to a brand of Chinese origin.
Man this blockchain brain damage won’t die. Using for car titles makes no sense whatsoever.
Blockchains are useful when you need to reach public consensus on something without a central authority. However, the DMV IS THE CENTRAL AUTHORITY! There’s no need to spend time computing hashes for a Bitcoin-style proof-of-work scheme, just use public key cryptography to digitally sign titles and put them in a database! You can make that database public or non-public it doesn’t matter.
Apologies I didn’t read the question as I was too enraged by this word salad from the California DMV
unless they are trying to get rid of the DMV…
I dream about that at night sometimes.
..along with all the ‘sovereign citizens’ 😀
Whenever I see a Craigslist ad that says “lost title”, my brain reads “I stole it”.
It says to me that I am dealing with either a thief, fence, or lazy loser.
For me it depends if it is a running and driving car that is like from the last 15-20 years that seems fishy as hell. The lawn ornament/barn car that hasn’t run in 20+ years or they just got back up and running that was owned by someone’s family member that isn’t around anymore makes sense.
Oh yeah I didn’t think of that. Barn find missing title is ok, there’s probably a lot of other things missing too.
But a regular car for daily driving? Yikes!
Yeah, there’s a motorcycle in New York I kind of want, have a couple days off coming up, course pick up a trailer and get it tomorrow, but the seller is not budging on the “lost title, bill of sale only” thing. I used to live in New York, it’s been a decade, but I’m pretty sure you can get a duplicate title quickly and easily for like $30-$40 by filling out a form, if you can’t do that, there’s either something sketchy going on with the vehicle or you just don’t actually want to sell it and get off on wasting people’s time.
Catch is, the replacement title request has to come from the person who last titled it, you can’t just take the vehicle and sort it out yourself later, you really need the seller to at least cooperate
“Lost title” is really pretty similar to “a/c just needs a charge”, if either was at all true, the seller would have already taken care if it himself and there’d be no need to even say that in an ad
I’d have to agree. That $30-40 turns into hundreds or even thousands on the sale with a good title, so who wouldn’t?
Those who can’t.
It’s almost all the same letters!
The redesigned Forester just hit lots, likely why sales were down over last year. Old product slowed to a trickle waiting for the new one to arrive. This does confirm the WRX is a disaster though.
Regarding brand. Many consumers will buy whatever is cheap. It is why you see people buying Dodge Hornets ($10k off of course) or Nissans when there is no good reason to. People used to buy Hyundais when they were POS’s. They were cheaper. The search for a cheap car has probably never been greater than today with new car prices where they are.
If a Chinese brand came in offering a cheap car with some bells and whistles to get someone’s attention, they’ll sell. The Western companies taught them how to make a comparable car, it’ll probably satisfy 70% of the market. I imagine they’d follow the Hyundai playbook with a big warranty on it too.
There will still be customers who are brand-loyal and there will still be customers who buy the status symbol, but most customers are already just looking for the best value to them. Styling and comfort matter more to the average consumer than driving dynamics, and those will continue to be differentiated.
If there’s one advantage of the American brands, it’s designing seats for American asses.
Haven’t cars recently gotten similar already? What company hasn’t had a turbo 2.0 with some form 8+ speed automatic. So I think you will still have styling, handling, luxury features and so on that will separate cars. I still don’t know if EV’s are the future but there are already things that separate the current EV from one another.
It sound like someone at California’s DMV just learned what blockchain is and wants to fix every perceived problem with it.
In a mostly EV world, I expect styling, driver’s environments and how passengers interact with the car (screens, buttons, dials, etc) to become more important.
Exactly this, while the Mk.8 GTI and Golf R may be the best driving golf variants of all time, I’d go back and buy a Mk7.5 of either instead, simply because the interiors are leagues better for usability and feel higher quality.
Similar is the Honda Prologue, sure it may be GM switchgear and be an Ultium platform vehicle, but it’s laid out like a Honda, and tuned like one. And while minor, if I had to pick, it would be the Honda on usability alone. Also I think the Blazer EV is trying way too hard visually.
I drove my Volvo-badged DAF to work today because it was parked in the way of my Triumph-badged Honda and… um… what was the question again?
There’s a bigger problem with this: blocks are all public. Currently a car title is not a public document; you can see a vehicle is titled, but not to whom it owns, and this brings up some severe privacy concerns. This is why it’s a monstrous idea to put health records, etc, on the blockchain. You also can’t remove anything from the blockchain, you can only create a new block that clarifies that another block is no longer accurate.
What low-trust problem does this solve without creating a whole host of new ones? The DMV can already issue a replacement title. I can’t wait until a smart contract is secreted into an unsuspecting title-holders wallet that transfers all items to a scammer.
As soon as I saw block chain and DMV mentioned together this just seems like it will just lead to a whole slew of issues. Oh sorry we were hacked and now your title belongs to a Nigerian prince so you must pay all the shipping and export fees for it.
Also, even though we realize you are not, in fact, a Nigerian prince, once a mistake is made on the blockchain it can’t be fixed.* Enjoy your new car, your highness.
*: This is not strictly true, but unless you can get the ear of someone who controls the particular blockchain in question (yes, there is someone/a group who does that, despite what they claim) you’re screwed.
Even if you’re able to revert it, you might end up with a fork where there are two copies of your title with different owners on two different chains!
This whole idea is magnificently stupid.
Exactly. Even if you manage to convince them to roll back the change, the original chain still exists. You have to convince the DMV to completely toss out all transactions since the fraudulent one. Good luck with that.
Sir please take a ticket and wait in line like everyone else you are 50th person today to have their title “stolen” (proceeds to wait to finally get called up but you don’t have enough information to supply them what they need)
They don’t have to publish it, necessarily. The DMV could be the sole owner and accessor of all copies. Which makes it a database but way more complicated and expensive.
Many people care, but not for any reasons the Germans would like.
Precisely, over engineered German garbage is what my mechanic calls them. (Well I wouldn’t kick a 911 out of bed because of that though). My German car is a 1986 Cabriolet, what’s yours?
I do, I just make an exception for Audi.
The only reason the Solterra (and the Toyota equivalent) is selling is because of massive incentives and fleets buying them. They aren’t competitive otherwise. I would say there’s a 70% chance the Solterra you see on the road today is in the hands of a rideshare driver. Right now Subaru is advertising the Solterra for lease around $350/month sign and drive (i.e. no money down). I’ve seen these advertised even lower locally in CO due to other cash on the hood for EVs.
Depreciation is ringing hard on the Solterra and Toyota right now. $49k MSRP now selling for $25k with 4,000 miles and one year old.
I have never once seen a Solterra.
As more and more people come to realize that brands do absolutely >nothing< to merit that ripoff Calvin peeing on the other brand sticker on their truck, I’m hoping we will all gravitate towards the ‘what’s the least craptastic vehicle at this price level’ model some may remember from the 70s