Very Professional

Airbag Alarm: Automakers Push Back on Recall Request 🚨🚗

Some prominent automakers, General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen, are doing recall math with preventable injuries and fatalities on one side and a 52 million unit recall on the other.

• 🚫 Recall Resistance: Automakers challenge NHTSA's 52 million airbag inflator recall proposal, questioning the risk analysis.
• ⚖️ Safety vs. Statistics: NHTSA links the inflators to one fatality and seven injuries, demanding action after an eight-year probe.
• 🔍 Long Investigation: The recall, if enforced, could become the second-largest in US history.
• 📉 Low Failure Rates: ARC Automotive argues the risk of new ruptures is extremely low over the next three decades.

That's it; we're adding ASOTU brand helmets to the swag shop. Coming 2030.

Deck the Lots: US Dealers Drive Holiday Deals 🎄🚗

Incentives are back in dealerships nationwide, and customers seem to be responding positively.  

• 📉 Price Drop Push: A 1.5% drop in average new vehicle prices hints at a more buyer-friendly market.
• 🚗 Inventory Overflow: Dealers are hustling to clear the highest inventory levels since early 2021.
• 💰 Incentive Increase: A 136% year-over-year spike in sales incentives is luring buyers.
• 🏷️ Big Brand Bargains: Major discounts from Jeep, Kia, Chevrolet, Mercedes, and Hyundai, including over $5,000 off on select models.

Tis the season for hot cocoa and clippin' coupons.

EV Charging Club: VW Finally Joins the Tesla Bandwagon ⚡🚗

Volkswagen Group, including Audi, Porsche, and Scout Motors, has capitulated to Tesla's charging dominance, adopting its EV charging standard.

• 🔌 Charging Collaboration: Volkswagen plans Tesla's Supercharger integration in its EVs by 2025.
• 🌍 Expansive Access: VW's move opens up 15,000 Tesla Supercharger locations to its customers.
• 🚀 Industry Shift: Volkswagen joins Ford and GM in embracing Tesla's North American Charging Standard.
• 🚗 Supercharger Superiority: Tesla boasts a global network of 45,000 chargers with near-perfect uptime.

If Tesla never makes another EV, it will be part of the electric car conversation for the foreseeable future.

Buick's Bold Buyout Bonanza 🏷️🚙

General Motors has slashed its Buick dealership network in the US by half, a billion-dollar move aiming at profitability and EV transition.

• 🔍 Dealership Downsizing: About 1,000 Buick dealerships have been cut to enhance sales at the remaining locations.
• 💸 Billion-Dollar Buyouts: GM's costly program aligns with Buick's pivot to electric vehicles.
• 🚀 Sales Strategy Shift: The move triples throughput at the remaining dealerships, focusing on EV investment.
• 🔌 EV Transition and Market Trends: Buick's target for an all-EV lineup by 2030 drives the strategy despite its current lack of EV offerings in the US.

Why stop there? Cut it back to 1 dealership, and people will drive from across the nation to shop there, obviously. No risk to brand loyalty there. Nope. None.

The Blazer EV's Software Saga 🖥️🚗

Kevin Williams' road trip in a Blazer EV became a software nightmare, exposing the challenges in modern vehicle technology.

• 🔌 Charging Chaos: The Blazer EV faced significant charging and software issues, demanding multiple DC fast charging stops.
• 📉 Infotainment Meltdown: Severe glitches plagued the Android Automotive-run infotainment system.
• 🚨 Limp Mode Limbo: A charging session in Virginia triggered a restrictive "limp mode" in the Blazer EV.
• 🔁 Common Concerns: Similar experiences by other EV owners indicate broader issues with Ulti Ωum-platform vehicles and Electrify America stations.

No wonder there are so many problem-free EV road trip stories; this guy has ALL the problems for them.