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spaceexp · 5 years ago

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NASA Space Laser Missions Map 16 Years of Ice Sheet Loss

NASA - ICESat-2 Mission patch. April 30, 2020 Using the most advanced Earth-observing laser instrument NASA has ever flown in space, scientists have made precise, detailed measurements of how the elevation of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years. The results provide insights into how the polar ice sheets are changing, demonstrating definitively that small gains of ice in East Antarctica are dwarfed by massive losses in West Antarctica. The scientists found the net loss of ice from Antarctica, along with Greenland’s shrinking ice sheet, has been responsible for 0.55 inches (14 millimeters) of sea level rise between 2003 and 2019 – slightly less than a third of the total amount of sea level rise observed in the world’s oceans.

NASA Mission Maps 16 Years of Ice Loss

Video above: Using the most advanced Earth-observing laser instrument NASA has ever flown in space, scientists have made precise, detailed measurements of how the elevation of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years. Video Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The findings come from NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2), which launched in 2018 to make detailed global elevation measurements, including over Earth’s frozen regions. By comparing the recent data with measurements taken by the original ICESat from 2003 to 2009, researchers have generated a comprehensive portrait of the complexities of ice sheet change and insights about the future of Greenland and Antarctica. The study found that Greenland’s ice sheet lost an average of 200 gigatons of ice per year, and Antarctica’s ice sheet lost an average of 118 gigatons of ice per year. One gigaton of ice is enough to fill 400,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools or cover New York’s Central Park in ice more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) thick, reaching higher than the Chrysler Building. “If you watch a glacier or ice sheet for a month, or a year, you’re not going to learn much about what the climate is doing to it,” said Ben Smith, a glaciologist at the University of Washington and lead author of the new paper, published online in Science April 30. “We now have a 16-year span between ICESat and ICESat-2 and can be much more confident that the changes we’re seeing in the ice have to do with the long-term changes in the climate.” ICESat-2’s instrument is a laser altimeter, which sends 10,000 pulses of light a second down to Earth’s surface, and times how long it takes to return to the satellite – to within a billionth of a second. The instrument’s pulse rate allows for a dense map of measurement over the ice sheet; its high precision allows scientists to determine how much an ice sheet changes over a year to within an inch. The researchers took tracks of earlier ICESat measurements and overlaid the tracks of ICESat-2 measurements from 2019, and took data from the tens of millions of sites where the two data sets intersected. That gave them the elevation change, but to get to how much ice has been lost, the researchers developed a new model to convert volume change to mass change. The model calculated densities across the ice sheets to allow the total mass loss to be calculated. “These first results looking at land ice confirm the consensus from other research groups, but they also let us look at the details of change in individual glaciers and ice shelves at the same time,” said Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Image above: Using data from the ICESat and ICESat-2 laser altimeters, scientists precisely measured how much ice has been lost from ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland between 2003 and 2019. The Antarctic Peninsula, seen here, was one of the fastest changing regions of the continent. Image Credits: NASA/K. Ramsayer. In Antarctica, for example, the detailed measurements showed that the ice sheet is getting thicker in parts of the continent’s interior as a result of increased snowfall, according to the study. But the loss of ice from the continent’s margins, especially in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, far outweighs any gains in the interior. In those places, the loss is due to warming from the ocean. In Greenland, there was a significant amount of thinning of coastal glaciers, Smith said. The Kangerlussuaq and Jakobshavn glaciers, for example, have lost 14 to 20 ft (4 to 6 m) of elevation per year; the glacial basins have lost 16 gigatons per year and 22 gigatons per year, respectively. Warmer summer temperatures have melted ice from the surface of the glaciers and ice sheets, and in some basins the warmer ocean water erodes away the ice at their fronts. “The new analysis reveals the ice sheets’ response to changes in climate with unprecedented detail, revealing clues as to why and how the ice sheets are reacting the way they are,” said Alex Gardner, a glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and co-author on the Science paper. The study also examined ice shelves – the floating masses of ice at the downstream end of glaciers. These ice shelves, which rise and fall with the tides, can be difficult to measure, said Helen Amanda Fricker, a glaciologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and co-author on the Science paper. Some of them have rough surfaces, with crevasses and ridges, but the precision and high resolution of ICESat-2 allows researchers to measure overall changes.

ICESat-2 satellite. Image Credit: NASA

This is one of the first times that researchers have used laser altimetry to measure loss of the floating ice shelves around Antarctica simultaneously with loss of the continent’s ice sheet. The researchers found ice shelves are losing mass in West Antarctica, where many of the continent’s fastest-moving glaciers are located as well. Patterns of thinning over the ice shelves in West Antarctica show that Thwaites and Crosson ice shelves have thinned the most, an average of about 16 ft (5 m) and 10 ft (3 m) of ice per year, respectively. Ice that melts from ice shelves doesn’t raise sea levels, since it’s already floating – just like an ice cube already in a full cup of water doesn’t overflow the glass when it melts. But the ice shelves do provide stability for the glaciers and ice sheets behind them. “It’s like an architectural buttress that holds up a cathedral,” Fricker said. “The ice shelves hold the ice sheet up. If you take away the ice shelves, or even if you thin them, you’re reducing that buttressing force, so the grounded ice can flow faster.” For more information on ICESat-2, visit https://nasa.gov/icesat-2 or https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/GSFC/Kate Ramsayer. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

#space #science

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twoguysandaride · 3 years ago

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Chrysler Letter Car "Sisters"

The Chrysler 300 "letter series" are high-performance personal luxury cars that were built by Chrysler in the U.S. from 1955 to 1965 and were a sub-model from the Chrysler New Yorker. After the initial year, which was named C-300 for its standard 300 hp (220 kW) 331 cu in (5.4 L) FirePower V8, the 1956 cars were designated 300B. Successive model years were given the next letter of the alphabet as a suffix (skipping "i"), reaching the 300L by 1965, after which the model sequence was discontinued. At its introduction it was advertised as "America's Most Powerful Car".

The 300 "letter series" cars were among the vehicles built by Chrysler after World War II that focused on performance, and thus can be considered one of the muscle car's ancestors, though full-sized and more expensive. Chrysler had a long history of producing race car products going back to the Chrysler Six that was entered in the 1925 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1928 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Chrysler Imperial Eight roadster in the 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 1955 C-300 and the 1956 300B were raced with very little modification at NASCAR races to include Watkins Glen International where it won races multiple times.

The 1957 model year 300C was corporately shared with an all new appearance for Chrysler products called the "Forward Look" and featuring a "yawning" wide trapezoid-shaped front grille which was unique to the 300C, dual headlights, and gradually rising tailfins starting from the doors similar to Chrysler-branded products. The wheel diameter changed from 15 in (381 mm) to 14 in (356 mm) while continuing to use drum brakes for all wheels, and to keep the front brakes cool a cooling duct was installed with the air intake located just below the headlights that fed air directly to the front brakes. The exterior color list was expanded to offer Jet Black, Parade Green metallic, Copper Brown metallic, Gauguin Red and Cloud White while the interior was tan leather standard and optional interior choices were available from the New Yorker list of which the 300 was based.

The Hemi engine was upgraded to 392 cu in (6.4 L) with 375 hp (280 kW), or as a limited edition 390 hp (290 kW) version (18 built). The 392 CID engine was exclusive to the 300, New Yorker and Imperials, while the dual four barrel carburetors was standard on the 300C and continued with an improved air induction system that gave each carburetor its own air cleaner to improve efficiency. A convertible model was available for the first time and was listed at US$5,359 ($49,380 in 2020 dollars) while the two-door hardtop was listed at US$4,929 ($45,418 in 2020 dollars). In comparison, a 1957 Imperial Crown Convertible was listed at US$5,598 ($51,583 in 2020 dollars). GM's Pontiac Division introduced the Pontiac Bonneville as a convertible only, offering fuel injection and a similar price tag but offered lower luxury content and a reduced price for 1958.

The 1960 model offered a 375 hp (280 kW) "Cross-Ram" version of the 413 cu in (6.8 L) Wedge Head V8 introduced in 1959. To boost power at lower and mid rpms, a special intake manifold was derived. Instead of the normal V8 central intake manifold with carburetor(s) on top, the cross-ram consisted of two pairs of 30 in (760 mm) long tuned pipes that crisscrossed so that each set fed the opposite side of the engine. The carburetors and air cleaners hung off the sides of the engine over the fender wells. These long tubes were tuned so that resonances in the column of air helped force air into the cylinders at those engine speeds.

A special 400 hp (300 kW) "short ram" version optimized for higher engine speeds was produced for competition. The overall tube length remained at 30", but the tuned portion of the stacks was only 15 in (380 mm), favoring high RPMs. Only 15 "short ram" cars were produced; these were also fitted with the exotic but often troublesome French manufactured Pont-a-Mousson 4-speed manual transmissions developed for the Chrysler-powered Facel Vega. Approximately 4 of these "Special Gran Turismo" are known to exist, including one convertible and one with air conditioning; it is believed that 15 were originally produced.

#Chrysler300C #TwoGuysandARide #300F #300B #300G #LetterCars #DesMoinesConcors

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androidmaniaco · 5 years ago

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Android Auto: qué es y todos los modelos de coches compatibles

Hasta hace unos años, los coches no eran compatibles con nuestros teléfonos más allá de parcas conexiones mediante dispositivos manos libres de terceros a través de Bluetooth. Con el tiempo, llegaron soluciones como Android Auto o Apple CarPlay, con el objetivo de integrar nuestros móviles dentro del propio vehículo, con interfaces personalizadas que nos permiten controlar varios de sus apartados.

En concreto, Android Auto se encuentra disponible para más de 400 modelos de coches, por lo que procede comentar cuáles son dichos modelos compatibles, así como todo lo que conviene saber sobre Android Auto.

Qué es Android Auto

Android Auto es la solución de Google para integrar nuestro dispositivo Android con nuestro vehículo compatible. Lleva funcionando desde el año 2014, y cuenta con una interfaz bastante simple e intuitiva, que se combina con acciones de voz que minimizan el contacto físico del conductor con el propio panel del vehículo.

Esta solución nos proporciona información sobre las notificaciones que recibimos, permite utilizar Google Maps, reproducir nuestra música, y responder mensajes mediante nuestra voz. El principal objetivo es el de poder interactuar con nuestro teléfono sin necesidad de tocarlo, minimizando las distracciones al volante.

Android Auto puede utilizarse desde el propio teléfono mediante su aplicación, aunque para sacarle el máximo partido es recomendable conectarlo al vehículo

Para utilizar Android Auto es necesario un vehículo o dispositivo compatible (Alpine, Pioneer o Sony tienen radios compatibles), así como disponer de un dispositivo Android con la versión 5.0 Lollipop y superiores. Teniendo dicha compatibilidad en el vehículo, tan solo hace falta descargar la aplicación de Android Auto y empezar a utilizarlo.

A la hora de realizar la conexión, podemos hacerlo de forma inalámbrica o mediante un cable USB que conecte tu móvil al coche. Android Auto funciona tanto en la interfaz de nuestro móvil, así como adaptándose al panel de nuestro coche.

En Xataka

Qué soluciones tecnológicas están ofreciendo los fabricantes para la plaga del siglo XXI, distraernos continuamente con el móvil

Coches compatibles con Android Auto

Actualmente Android Auto es compatible con más de 400 vehículos. Algunas firmas como Acura (Honda), Holden, Buick o Holden no se comercializan de forma oficial en España, pero te dejamos con el listado completo de vehículos, marca por marca, ya que si tu dispositivo es compatible y se importa alguno de estos vehículos, Android Auto seguirá funcionando.

Abarth

595 2017

695 2017

Acura

Acura MDX 2018

Acura NSX 2017

Acura TLX 2018

Alfa Romeo

Giulia 2018

Giulietta 2017

MiTo 2017

Stelvio 2018

Aston Martin

Rapide 2018

Vanquish 2018

Vantage 2018

Audi

Audi A1 2019

Audi A3 2017

Audi A4 2017

Audi A5 2017

Audi A6 2017

Audi A7 2017

Audi A8 2018

Audi Q3 2019

Audi Q2 2017

Audi Q3 2019

Audi Q8 2019

Audi Q5 2018

Audi Q7 2016

Disponible próximamente: Audi A1 Sportback 2019-

Borgward

BX5 2019

BX7 2018

Bentley

Próximamente disponible

BMW

Próximamente disponible

Buick

Encore 2017

Envision 2017

LaCrosse 2016

Regal 2016

Cadillac

ATS 2016

ATS Coupe 2016

ATS Sedan 2016

ATS V-Coupe 2016

ATS V-Sedan 2016

ATS-V 2016

CT6 2016

CT6 Plug-in 2017

CT6 Sedan 2016

CTS 2016

CTS Sedan 2016

CTS V-Sedan 2016

CTS-V 2016

ELR 2016

Escalade 2016

Escalade ESV 2016

XT5 2017

Chevrolet

Aveo 2017

Bolt EV 2017

Camaro 2016

Camaro Convertible 2016

Colorado 2016

Colorado/S10 2017

Corvette 2016

Corvette Convertible 2016

Cruze 2016

Cruze Hatchback 2017

Equinox 2018

Impala 2016

Malibu 2016

Onix 2017

Prisma 2017

Silverado 2016

Silverado HD 2016

Sonic 2017

Spark 2016

Suburban 2016

Tahoe 2016

Trailblazer 2017

Traverse 2018

Trax 2017

Volt 2016

Chrysler

300 2017

Pacifica 2018

Citroën

Berlingo 2018

C-Elysée 2017

C3 2017

C3 Aircross 2017

C4 2017

C4 Cactus 2018

C4 Picasso 2017

Grand C4 Picasso 2017

C4 SpaceTourer 2018

Grand C4 SpaceTourer 2018

C5 Aircross 2019

Jumpy 2017

SpaceTourer 2017

Dacia

Próximamente disponible

Dodge

Challenger 2017

Charger 2017

Durango 2018

DS4 2017

DS3 2018

DS3 CROSSBACK 2019

DS4 CROSSBACK 2017

DS5 2017

DS7 CROSSBACK 2018

Ferrari

-Ferrari GTC4Lusso 2019 -Ferrari GTC4Lusso T 2019 -Ferrari Portofino 2019

Fiat

500 2017

500L 2017

500X 2017

Argo 2017

Tipo 2017

Ford

C-MAX 2017

Edge 2017

Escape 2017

Everest 2017

Expedition 2017

Explorer 2017

F-150 2017

Flex 2017

Focus 2017

Fusion 2017

Galaxy 2017

Kuga 2017

Mondeo 2017

Mustang 2017

Ranger 2017

S-MAX 2017

Super Duty 2017

Taurus 2017

Tourneo Connect 2017

Transit 2017

Transit Connect 2017

Vignale 2017

Genesis

G70 2017

G80 2016

G90 2018

GMC

Acadia 2017

Canyon 2016

Sierra 2016

Yukon 2016

Yukon Denali 2016

Yukon XL 2016

Holden

Acadia 2018

Astra 2017

Barina 2017

Captiva 2016

Colorado 2017

Commodore 2018

Equinox 2018

Spark 2016

Trailblazer 2017

Trax 2017

Honda

Accord 2016

Civic 2016

Clarity Fuel Cell 2017

CR-V 2017

Fit 2018

Freed 2017

Odyssey 2018

Pilot 2017

Ridgeline 2017

Hyundai

Avante 2017

Azera 2015

Creta 2016

Elantra 2017

Elantra GT 2016

Grand i10 2016

Grandeur 2015

i10 2016

i20 2016

i30 2016

i40 2016

Ioniq Electric 2016

Ioniq Hybrid 2016

Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid 2016

Kona 2017

Maxcruz 2017

Palisade 2018

Santa Fe 2017

Santa Fe Sport 2017

Sonata 2015

Sonata Hybrid 2016

Sonata Plug-in Hybrid 2016

Tucson 2016

Veloster 2017

Iveco

Daily 2019

Infinity

-Q50 2020 -Q60 2020 -QX50 2020 -QX80 2020

Jaguar

Jaguar XJ 2019

Jaguar XF 2019

Jaguar XE 2019

Jaguar F-Pace 2019

Jaguar F-Type 2019

Jaguar E-Pace 2019

Jaguar I-Pace 2019

Jeep

Compass 2017

Grand Cherokee 2018

Wrangler 2018

Renegade 2017

Karma

Revero 2018

Kia

Cadenza 2017

Carens 2017

Carnival 2015

cee'd 2017

Forte 2017

Forte Koup 2017

Forte5 2017

K3 2017

K5 2015

K7 2017

K9 2018

Morning 2018

Niro 2017

Optima 2015

Optima Hybrid 2015

Optima Plug-in Hybrid 2017

Picanto 2018

Pride 2018

Rio 2018

Rondo 2017

Sedona 2015

Sorento 2016

Soul 2014

Soul Booster 2019

Soul Booster EV 2019

Soul EV 2015

Sportage 2017

Stinger 2018

Stonic 2018

Koenisegg

Próximamente disponible

Lada

Próximamente disponible

Lamborghini

Aventador 2018

Centenario 2016

Huracán 2019

Urus 2019

Land Rover

Range Rover 2019

Range Rover Sport 2019

Range Rover Velar 2019

Range Rover Evoque 2019

Land Rover Discovery 2019

Land Rover Discovery Sport 2019

Lexus

-ES 2020 -NX 2020 -RC 2020 -RX 2020 -UX 2020

Lincoln

Continental 2017

MKC 2017

MKX 2017

MKZ 2017

MKZ Hybrid 2017

Navigator 2017

Mahindra

-XUV500 2015 -Marazzo 2018 -XUV300 2019

Suzuki

Baleno 2015

Ciaz 2014

Dzire 2017

Ertiga 2016

Ignis 2017

S-Cross 2015

Vitara Brezza 2016

Hustler 2016

Ignis 2016

Lapin 2016

Solio 2016

Solio Bandit 2016

Spacia 2016

Spacia Custom 2016

Spacia Custom Z 2016

Swift 2016

WagonR 2016

WagonR Stingray 2016

Maserati

-Ghibli 2017 -GranCabrio 2018 -GranTurismo 2018 -Levante 2017 -Quattroporte 2017

Mazda

-CX-3 2020 -CX-30 2020 -CX-5 2019 -CX-8 2019 -CX-9 2019 -Mazda2 2020 -Mazda3 2019 -Mazda6 2018 -MX-5 2019

Mercedes-Benz

A-Class 2017

B-Class 2017

C-Class Cabriolet 2018

C-Class Coupe 2018

C-Class Sedan 2018

C-Class Wagon 2018

CLA Coupe 2017

CLA Shooting Brake 2017

CLS Coupe 2017

CLS Shooting Brake 2017

E-Class Cabriolet 2017

E-Class Coupe 2017

E-Class Sedan 2017

E-Class Wagon 2017

G-Class 2018

GLA 2017

GLC Coupe 2018

GLC SUV 2018

GLE 2017

GLE Coupe 2017

GLS 2017

Mercedes-Maybach 2018

S-Class Cabriolet 2018

S-Class Coupé 2018

S-Class Sedan 2018

SL 2017

SLC 2017

Mitsubishi

-ASX 2017 -Delica D:2 2017 -Delica D:2 Custom 2017 -Pajero (Montero) 2016 -Pajero (Montero) Sport 2016 -Eclipse Cross 2018 -i-MiEV 2017 -Mirage 2017 -Mirage G4 2017 -Outlander 2017 -Outlander PHEV 2017 -Triton 2016 -Próximamente: Xpander 2019

Nissan

Altima 2018

Kicks 2018

LEAF 2018

Maxima 2018

Murano 2018

Rogue 2018

Rogue Sport 2019

Sentra 2019

TITAN 2019

TITAN XD 2019

Versa Note 2019

Versa Sedan 2019

Opel

Adam 2016

Ampera-e 2017

Astra 2016

Combo 2018

Corsa 2016

Crossland X 2017

Grandland X 2018

Insignia 2016

Karl 2016

Mokka 2016

Zafira 2016 -Zafira Life 2019

Peugeot

208 2017

2008 2017

301 2017

308 2017

308 SW 2017

3008 2017

508 2017

508 SW 2017

5008 2017

Expert 2017

Partner 2018

Rifter 2018

Traveller 2017

RAM

1500 2018

2500 2018

3500 2018

Chassis Cab 2018

Renault

Captur 2017

Clio 2017

Clio Estate 2017

Espace 2017

Grand Scénic 2017

Kadjar 2017

Kangoo 2017

Koleos 2017

Master 2017

Mégane 2017

Mégane Estate 2017

Scénic 2017

Talisman 2017

Talisman Estate 2017

Trafic 2017

Twingo 2017

ZOE 2017

SEAT

Alhambra 2016

Arona 2017

Ateca 2016

Ibiza 2016

León 2016

Toledo 2016

Škoda

Fabia 2016

Fabia Combi 2016-

Karoq 2018

Kodiaq 2017

Octavia 2016

Octavia Combi 2016

Rapid 2016

Rapid Spaceback 2016

Superb 2016

Superb Combi 2016

Yeti 2016

smart

fortwo 2017

fortwo cabrio 2017

forfour 2017

SsangYong

Rexton 2017

Musso Sports 2018

Subaru

-Ascent 2019 -BRZ 2018 -Forester 2019 -Impreza 2017 -Legacy/Liberty 2018 -Outback 2018 -WRX 2019 -XV / Crosstrek 2018

Tata

-Harrier 2019 -Hexa 2019 -Nexon 2017 -Nexon 2019 -Tiago 2019 -Tigor 2018 -Próximamente: Altroz 2020

Toyota

4Runner 2020

Aygo 2018

Sequoia 2020

Tacoma 2020

Tundra 2020

Yaris 2019

Vauxhall

Adam 2016

Astra 2016

Combo 2018

Corsa 2016

Crossland X 2017

Grandland X 2018

Insignia 2016

Mokka 2016

Viva 2016

Zafira 2016

Volkswagen:

Arteon 2017

Atlas 2018

Beetle 2016

Beetle Cabriolet 2016-

CC 2016

CrossFox 2017

Fox 2017

Gol 2017

Golf 2016

Golf Cabriolet 2016

Golf Sportsvan 2016

Golf Variant 2016

Jetta 2016

NMS-Passat 2016

Passat 2016

Passat Variant 2016

Polo 2016

Sagitar 2016

Saveiro 2017

Scirocco 2016

Sharan 2016

Suran 2016

T-Roc 2018-

Teramont 2018

Tiguan 2016

Touareg 2018

Touran 2016

Voyage 2017

Amarok 2016

Caddy 2016

California 2016

Caravelle 2016

Crafter 2017

Multivan 2016

Transporter 2016

Volvo

XC90 2017

S90 2017

V90 2017

V90 Cross Country 2017

XC60 2018

S60 2019

V60 2019

XC40 2018

- La noticia Android Auto: qué es y todos los modelos de coches compatibles fue publicada originalmente en Xataka Android por Ricardo Aguilar .

Xataka Android https://ift.tt/2YsBlak

#Xataka Android

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juditmiltz · 6 years ago

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National Cheat Sheet: Real estate’s top billionaires revealed, retail apocalypse continues… & more

Clockwise from top left: Dollar Tree to shutter or rebrand hundreds of Family Dollar stores, the richest real estate billionaires on an annual Forbes ranking hail from China and Hong Kong, dozens of Gap and Victoria’s Secret stores prepare to close amid low sales and real estate investment trusts are benefiting from the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates where they are.

China, Hong Kong real estate billionaires top Forbes richest ranking Forbes has released its annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest people, and the real estate moguls who placed highest on its list are all from either China or Hong Kong. Evergrande Group’s Hui Ka Yan took the 22nd spot with a net worth exceeding $36 billion, while Dalian Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin placed 36th with a net worth of $22.6 billion, according to Forbes. Irvine Company chairman Donald Bren was the highest-ranked American property mogul, placing 68th on the list. Related Companies’ Stephen Ross took the 191st spot on the ranking with a net worth of $7.6 billion. Ross, the developer behind New York’s Hudson Yards, was the only major Manhattan real estate billionaire in the top 200. [TRD]

Hundreds of Gap, Family Dollar, Victoria’s Secret stores to close Around 230 Gap stores and 53 Victoria’s Secret stores will be closing, their respective parent companies have said. Dollar Tree, which owns the Family Dollar chain, also plans to close up to 390 stores and convert another 200 Family Dollar stores into Dollar Tree shops, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar for around $9 billion in 2015.) As for Gap, it plans to split off its Old Navy brand into a separate company, as the chain’s “business model and customers have increasingly diverged from our specialty brands over time,” said a statement from board chairman Robert Fisher. Old Navy has been doing better than its sister companies, Gap and Banana Republic, according to USA Today. Meanwhile, Victoria’s Secret, a flagship of retail giant L Brands, has experienced a drop in sales amid an increased desire among shoppers for so-called “comfort lingerie,” according to CNBC. [TRD]

Amazon pulls plug on 87 pop-up stores, plans new grocery store chain Fresh off ditching Long Island City for its so-called H2Q, Amazon is now preparing to shutter 87 pop-up retail stores throughout the country, according to the Wall Street Journal. The e-commerce giant, which launched the small store concept in 2014, is reportedly reevaluating its physical retail plans. The purported move comes as Amazon prepares to launch a new grocery store line, one whose first outpost will open in Los Angeles, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Los Angeles store could open before the end of the year, and two other stores are expected to open at the beginning of 2020, according to the outlet. Amazon’s new chain isn’t being billed as a competitor to Whole Foods, which the company acquired in 2017 and reportedly has plans to expand, but will instead offer a broader range of products. The new stores will be about 35,000 square feet, although its plans aren’t set in stone, as Amazon could back out of its existing contracts, the outlet reported. [TRD]

We Company sheds 300 staffers, or 3 percent of its workforce The co-working giant formerly known as WeWork, most recently valued at $47 billion ahead of a January rebranding as the We Company, let go of 300 employees last week, according to The Real Deal‘s exclusive reporting. The layoffs, which sources said took place globally in its WeWork, WeLive and WeGrow divisions, are the largest by the company since its formation in 2010. A We Company spokesperson said the company has plans to hire 6,000 employees this year, or about 500 per month, to bolster its current head count of roughly 10,000. The SoftBank Group-backed firm, whose CEO Adam Neumann has come under scrutiny for personal investments that mirror those made by the We Company, last made major cutbacks in 2016. Sources told TRD that the latest force reductions have been positioned as being for performance-related reasons. [TRD]

Keller Williams credits tech expansion for 2018 deal surge A week after Douglas Elliman and Realogy disclosed less-than-stellar financials for 2018, franchise brokerage rival Keller Williams has unveiled some key financial metrics that it hit last year. The Austin-based real estate company said that its agents in the U.S. and Canada closed $332.4 billion in sales volume during its most recent fiscal year, up 5.7 percent from 2017, as contract volume jumped 5.5 percent year-over-year, to $365 billion. Keller Williams declined, however, to disclose its net income or address a decline in franchisee profits. The company, whose CEO Gary Keller returned to its leadership ranks earlier this year, claimed that key investments in technology were paying off. Official agent count remained steady at 159,447, although Keller Williams is in the midst of purging potentially thousands of inactive agents. [TRD]

REITs benefit from Fed’s decision to keep interest rates steady The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to keep interest rates where they are has been good for real estate investment trusts. Real estate stocks on the S&P 500 fell 5.6 percent in 2018, but have jumped by 12 percent since the beginning of this year as investors set their sights on REIT shares, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The surprising drop in yields and the drop in mortgage rates could potentially be another positive for housing and housing-related stocks going forward,” LPL Financial senior market strategist Ryan Detrick told the outlet. The Fed raised interest rates four times in 2018, but held off on another rate hike in January. [TRD]

MAJOR MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

New York’s Chrysler Building nears potential $100M sale Aby Rosen, principal and co-founder of Manhattan-based real estate firm RFR Holding, is nearing a deal to acquire the iconic Chrysler Building, according to The Real Deal‘s exclusive reporting. A source with knowledge of the negotiations told TRD that the purchase price is “not much higher” than the $100 million estimate that the Commercial Observer reported the building could trade for, in part due to a ground lease on the landmarked property. The Chrysler Building’s current owners, an Abu Dhabi government fund and the developer Tishman Speyer, put the Art Deco-style office tower up for sale in January. CBRE Group is marketing the building, which saw the Abu Dhabi Investment Council cough up $800 million in 2008 for what would become a 90 percent stake in the tower. [TRD]

Silverstein Properties, Cantor Fitzgerald to raise nearly $2B OZ fund In one of the largest funds so far to target the Trump administration’s increasingly popular Opportunity Zone program, financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and real estate developer Silverstein Properties announced on March 7 that they had joined forces on a fund that they hope will raise $2 billion. The duo, which are both based in Manhattan, said they will target ground-up developments in primary metropolitan markets with a focus on industrial, hospitality, office and retail projects. The partnership between Silverstein and Cantor Fitzgerald is the latest in a series of moves by real estate firms and other investors seeking to capitalize on the OZ program. Earlier this week, Greenwich, Connecticut-based Belpointe Capital announced its plans for an OZ-focused real estate investment trust that it hopes will raise $3 billion within eight years. [TRD]

Michael Cohen sues Trump Org over $2M in unpaid legal fees President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, fresh off testifying on Capitol Hill and suing two Chicago-based taxi medallion moguls over a $6 million condo loan in Miami, is back in court again. Michael Cohen has sued the Trump Organization for breach of contract over its alleged nonpayment on roughly $1.9 million in legal fees. Cohen claims the president’s namesake real estate company must reimburse him for legal costs he incurred as a result of investigations into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan by lawyers from Binder & Schwartz and Gilbert LLP, states that at various times he has been represented by the Blakely Law Group, Davis Goldberg & Galper, McDermott Will & Emery, Monico & Spevack and Petrillo Klein & Boxer. Cohen, who was disbarred in New York State last month, claims that the Trump Organization cut him off after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors. [TRD]

Top Miami broker teams merge at Coldwell Banker, rebrand One of Miami’s top broker teams has left its home of 16 years to merge with another top team. Judy Zeder’s team has parted ways with Coral Gables-based EWM Realty International and is teaming up with Jill Herzberg and Jill Eber’s group at Coldwell Banker. The new group will be called The Jills Zeder Group with Coldwell Banker. The families that comprise the two groups are longtime friends, Zeder said. “It’s a very unusual situation to have three families get along and like each other,” said Zeder, adding that they would be “working together for the benefit of the clients.�� The two teams have closed a combined $5 billion in real estate sales since 2006. Eber and Herzberg, known as “The Jills” in South Florida’s real estate market, saw a former Miami realtor who tried to extort them receive a jail sentence in February. [TRD]

Nashville-based office REIT mulling potential IPO Priam Properties is thinking about going public in a move that would make the Nashville-based outfit the first real estate investment trust in the U.S. to pursue an initial public offering this year, Bloomberg reported. The office landlord “has held discussions with investment banks about selling shares as soon as this year,” the outlet reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Priam generally focuses on “high-growth markets” in states such as Florida, Ohio and Tennessee. Its representatives didn’t return requests for comment about the reported IPO. Dallas-based Fathom Realty, a cloud-based brokerage founded in 2010 that operates on a 100 percent commission model, is another real estate firm reportedly considering an IPO this year. [TRD]

Chicago gets priciest resi sale this year as condo trades for $11.3M Despite some areas along the southern shore of Lake Michigan sinking due to climate change, Chicago had its priciest residential sale of 2019, the Chicago Tribune reported. A 31st floor unit at No. 9 Walton, a luxury condo tower along the Windy City’s Gold Coast that has attracted business magnates and celebrities, sold for $11.3 million to an as-yet-unidentified buyer. Nancy Tassone of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing for the four-bedroom, 7,100-square-foot condo unit, while Natasha Motev of Jameson Sotheby’s is advising the buyer. Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who made headlines earlier this year for a record-setting penthouse purchase in New York, paid $59 million in late 2017 to buy the top four floors of No. 9 Walton. That deal remains the most expensive residential transaction ever in the Chicagoland area. [TRD]

Compass’ Bay Area growth continues with Alain Pinel Realtors acquisition A week after picking up customer relationship manager Contractually, Compass is expanding again. The New York-based brokerage announced on March 4 that it bolted on Saratoga, California-based Alain Pinel Realtors, which has 1,300 agents in 33 offices across Northern California, Inman first reported. Compass’ expansion in the Bay Area continues an acquisition spree it began in 2017 when the SoftBank Group-backed firm snapped up San Francisco-based Pacific Union International, which reported $14 billion in sales in 2017. The acquisition of Alain Pinel brings Compass’ agent count in the Golden State up to around 4,500. Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said in January that the firm doesn’t plan to expand into any new markets this year. [TRD]

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/2019/03/08/national-cheat-sheet-real-estates-top-billionaires-revealed-retail-apocalypse-continues-we-company-sheds-staffers-more/#new_tab via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami

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verymerynice · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on Top Auto Blog

New Post has been published on http://topauto.site/under-the-brand-name-ch/

Under the brand name Chrysler will be two crossover

The Chrysler brand, which has turned 93 years, is now not in the best shape. The current gamma consists of only two models — a full-sized sedan the Chrysler 300 that debuted in 2004 and since then has undergone several upgrades, as well as a relatively new Pacifica minivan of the sample 2016. Even in published this summer of the group’s development strategy FCA brand Chrysler practically ignored. But, it seems, to bury the famous brand is still too early: a specialized resource Allpar has information about the imminent release of two new models.

As usual in modern automotive industry, it will be ubiquitous crossovers. First, the novelty will represent turned seven-seat SUV Jeep Grand Commander, which was originally created for the Chinese market. This model is built on the same platform as the current Cherokee with a transverse engine and front wheel drive main. Chinese Jeep equipped with two-liter turbo engine, but for American option under the Chrysler, likely to be prepared a different range of engines. The new crossover will not supply from China: instead, production will be organized on American soil.

The second new model of certainty is smaller. This is supposed to be cross-universal on the basis of the current sedan Dodge Charger, which, in turn, is a kind of the Chrysler 300. By itself, the “trencada” in a year will retire, so it’s possible that the upcoming SUV will inherit the familiar buyers index.

The timing of the release of the new crossovers is not yet established. But confirmed the debut of another model: in 2020 will be the production version of the minivan Chrysler electric Portal, marred as a concept two years ago. About the same time it is expected the updated Pacifica. Thus, the Chrysler brand will be converted to spacious family cars. And it is certainly better closure and oblivion.

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theinvinciblenoob · 7 years ago

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Rivian has kept a relatively low profile since the automotive startup with Midwestern roots launched in 2009.

Those days are over.

CEO and founder RJ Scaringe unveiled two all-electric vehicles this week at the LA Auto Show that boast some eye-popping battery ranges as well as some noteworthy performance and capability features.

Rivian kicked off the week with a reveal of the R1T, a robust-looking 5-passenger electric pickup truck. On Tuesday, Scaringe took it up a notch with the introduction of a 7-seater all-electric SUV.

Rivian is expected to start production of the pickup and SUV in 2020.

Nuts and bolts

Customers will be able to pick from different battery pack configurations. But in the beginning, Rivian will produce vehicles with the highest performance level and heftiest range first — a 180 kilowatt-hour capacity battery pack that can travel 410 miles on a single charge. A 135 kWh-pack will be available at launch as well. A base model equipped with a 105 kWh-battery that gets more than 250 miles of range will follow in 2021, the company said.

Both vehicles share the same”skateboard” architecture, which situates the battery in the middle of the vehicle in the floor. This low and central battery placement, similar to Tesla’s setup, provides that low center of gravity that helps deliver stellar handling on curvy roads. The high-performance versions of the vehicles will be able to travel from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds and will reach top speeds of about 125 mph.

The R1T pickup has a base price of $69,000 before the federal tax credit. The R1S SUV starts at $72,500. Customers can preorder the vehicles with a refundable $1,000 deposit. Both vehicles will be produced at Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois at a former Mitsubishi facility.

The vehicles boast other features meant for the adventurous, including the ability to wade in up to 3 feet of water, lockable storage bins for gear, a gear tunnel (who wouldn’t want that) and a quad-motor all-wheel drive. That last item is worth digging into.

Rivian’s vehicle has two motors per axle. Each motor individually controls the wheel. It’s not a hub loader; these motors are mounted in the body and each one sends torque out to each wheel for precise control. This particular design is meant to provide high-speed agility, particularly on unpaved surfaces.

The gear tunnel in the Rivian truck.

Not a Tesla Killer

Don’t think of these vehicles as Tesla killers — a term slapped on every new electric-powered vehicle or concept that has debuted at an auto show in recent years. Instead, Rivian’s vehicles, with their rugged, sophisticated looks, could end up competing against the Range Rovers of the world.

Rivian doesn’t really want to be a Tesla. Instead, the company is aiming for that Patagonia brand sweet spot.

“A lot of the aspirational vehicles tend to be more like an Armani suit,” Scaringe told TechCrunch in a recent interview. “These brands do have things that are more functional, almost like an Armani leisure wear, but there’s no one that has built up and focused on that Patagonia-like brand position.”

Of course, Rivian still has to successfully scale up and produce not one, but two vehicles in two years. The company has raised $450 million in capital and debt financing from investors including Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. (That sounds like a large figure until you try to produce a vehicle.)

The company has grown and changed since it launched almost a decade ago in Florida under the name Mainstream Motors. Rivian, a name it adopted in 2011, is no longer in Florida and it’s much bigger these days. The company has about 600 employees now, split between four development locations in the U.S. and an office in the UK. The bulk of its employees, about 300, are in Michigan to be close to an expansive automotive supply chain.

The company also has operations in San Jose, California and in Irvine, California, where engineers are working on autonomous vehicle technology. Rivian purchased in 2017 the Normal, Ill. factory, which was where Mitsubishi in a joint venture with Chrysler Corporation called Diamond-Star Motors produced the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Plymouth Laser and the Dodge Avenger among others.

About 65 employees work at the 2.4 million-square-foot facility, which is currently being converted to accommodate Rivian’s needs.

“This was a facility that had over 3,000 people working there just a few years back,” Scaringe said, referring to the Illinois plant. “They really understand what it takes to operate so a big part of our time of getting this facility was to access the talent base, this the workforce that’s trained and ready to go.”

via TechCrunch

#IFTTT #TechCrunch

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fmservers · 7 years ago

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Rivian debuts an electric pickup and SUV designed to look good while getting dirty

Rivian has kept a relatively low profile since the automotive startup with Midwestern roots launched in 2009.

Those days are over.

CEO and founder RJ Scaringe unveiled two all-electric vehicles this week at the LA Auto Show that boast some eye-popping battery ranges as well as some noteworthy performance and capability features.

Rivian kicked off the week with a reveal of the R1T, a robust-looking 5-passenger electric pickup truck. On Tuesday, Scaringe took it up a notch with the introduction of a 7-seater all-electric SUV.

Rivian is expected to start production of the pickup and SUV in 2020.

Nuts and bolts

The gear tunnel in the Rivian truck.

Not a Tesla Killer

Rivian doesn’t really want to be a Tesla. Instead, the company is aiming for that Patagonia brand sweet spot.

About 65 employees work at the 2.4 million-square-foot facility, which is currently being converted to accommodate Rivian’s needs.

Via Kirsten Korosec https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

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victorparker1-blog · 7 years ago

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General Motors (GM) Analysis

General Motors was founded in 1897 in Detroit, Michigan, and is one of the largest car makers in the world. The company sells more than 7.5 million vehicles around the world each year primarily through its approximately 19,000 dealerships. GM’s global market share is close to 17%, including an industry-leading position in its most profitable region, the U.S.

General Motors has embarked on a multi-year strategy to redesign and expand its truck and crossover portfolio, which is more profitable and growing faster than passenger cars. On a retail basis, close to 80% of GM sales are now trucks and crossovers.

The company markets its cars and trucks under the following brands:

Chevrolet

Buick

GMC

Cadillac

Wuling (China)

Baojun (China)

Jiefang (China)

Holden (Australia)

In March 2007, GM agreed to sell its perennially unprofitable European operations for about $2 billion. As a result, GM’s operating income comes from the following segments:

North America: 75%

International: 11%

GM Finance: 11%

South America: 3%

Business Analysis

The auto business in general is a very harsh one, thanks to high levels of global competition, cyclical sales, and massive capital intensity. Auto manufacturers face a constant need to design, launch, and update their vehicles to remain competitive and maintain market share.

However, U.S. automakers in particular have had a rough go of it in the last few decades due to several unique historical quirks that once had American auto giants such as GM flying high, but later became a massive albatross around their necks.

For example, after World War II, the U.S. was the sole industrial power left standing, with Europe, Asia, and Russia having had their manufacturing capacity decimated.

U.S. consumer auto production had also been halted during the war effort because GM, Ford (F), and Chrysler (FCAU)’s factories had been converted to produce tanks, planes, and military jeeps.

This created a golden age for GM in the the 1950’s (and extending into the 1960’s) in which pent up U.S. demand for cars, as well as an insatiable need from the rest of the world for vehicles, led GM to become the world’s preeminent automaker, with 50% market share at its peak.

Since it was swimming in cash, GM was able to have exceptionally good labor relations with its heavily unionized workforce. The company offered them large pensions, free healthcare for life, generous annual raises, and other perks.

However, this unique situation created two problems for GM. The first was that such dominance resulted in GM resting on its laurels in terms of R&D, especially when it came to poor vehicle reliability and low fuel economy.

In the 1970’s the Japanese, having rebuilt their auto sector with a vengeance, entered the U.S. market offering higher reliability, greater fuel efficiency, and lower cost options.

And thanks to the twin oil shocks of the 1970’s (when oil prices quadrupled at one point), Japanese manufactures such as Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC), and Datsun (now Nissan) began steadily eroding GM’s market share.

Source: The Economist

Worse still? Because of increasing life expectancy and improved (and more expensive) healthcare, GM’s number of retired workers soon ballooned into the millions and began to dwarf its actual workforce.

In addition, increasing labor strife (union workers worried about their jobs) forced GM to institute a job bank in the 1980’s, which ensured that laid off workers receive 95% pay until the company could find new work for them. GM essentially became a privately run social welfare program that happened to build cars.

In fact, according to The Center for Automotive Research, by 2008 GM was spending 50% more per hour per worker (adding $1,200 to its cars) relative to its Japanese competitors.

When the financial crisis hit, GM’s debt load, plus unfunded liabilities (future pension and healthcare obligations) had ballooned to $104 billion ($17 billion which was due within a year), compared to just $14 billion in non-restricted cash on the balance sheet.

In addition, GM’s finance arm (which was later spun off as Ally Financial) had made numerous subprime loans that imploded and resulted in massive losses, including $9.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.

This forced GM to accept a $50 billion bailout from the U.S. government (in the form of a 61% equity stake, plus preferred shares and a loan) as it declared bankruptcy.

In fairness to GM, the company managed to do a solid job of righting the ship, having made numerous painful but necessary changes to become a far better managed, competitive, and profitable company. These actions included:

Shut down or sold numerous unprofitable brands, such as Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab

Closed 2,300 dealerships

Closed about a third of its factories

Laid off 30,000 workers (unionized employees down from 67% of GM’s total workforce in 2009 to 53% in 2016)

Eliminated nearly $80 billion of debt

Worked with Ford and Chrysler to create the Voluntary Beneficiaries Association, or VBA, which pushed future healthcare trust funding onto the United Automobile Workers union, thus saving GM $3 billion per year

GM has also become much more disciplined with its business, reducing the number of cars it sells to rental fleets. These tend to be low-margin vehicles that did little more than fill capacity at the company’s factories.

Ford and Chrysler have taken similar restructuring actions, even showing a willingness to give up some market share to maintain their focus on profits. That’s a big change from the past.

When the Big Three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) built more than half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. car market in 2007, they were losing more than $300 per car produced, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Today, even with lower market share, the Big Three are profiting more than $2,500 for every car made in North America.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Other important efforts by GM included a shift from regional vehicle platforms, which accounted for 61% of vehicles sold in 2010 (when GM exited bankruptcy), to global platforms, resulting in much lower development costs, shorter design times, and an ability to sell the same vehicle all over the world to better leverage costs and improve profitability.

In addition to a focus on more efficient global platforms (which are expected to make up 99% of sales in 2020), GM has been laser focused on reducing its number of vehicle platforms from 26 in 2014 to just 4 in 2025.

Of course, making vehicles more efficiently is of little value unless the company can sell them, and here too GM has made excellent improvements over the years.

Specifically, the company has greatly improved its reliability. For example, the 2017 J.D. Power and Associates’ annual vehicle dependability study (which looks at the reliability over a vehicle’s first three years) shows several GM products having segment-leading dependability.

Small car: Chevy Sonic

Sports car: Chevy Camaro

Large heavy duty pickup: Chevy Silverado

Large SUV: Chevy Tahoe

In fact, several of GM’s brands now rank right with, or even slightly better than, legendary Japanese makes. For example, Buicks are now nearly as reliable as Toyota’s, Chevy’s are slightly better than Hondas, and Cadillac’s are more reliable than rivals such as Volvo and Audi.

Source: JD Power & Associates

In addition to a big focus on improved efficiency, cost controls, and reliability, GM has been aggressive in making its vehicles more competitive, by launching or redesigning an impressive amount of their product offerings over the last few years. In fact, close to 40% of GM’s sales volume between 2017 and 2020 is expected to come from new or refreshed model introductions.

In the coming years, GM expects this cadence of new product launches to only accelerate, with a greater focus on more profitable trucks, SUVs, and crossovers (car-based SUVs), which are currently taking the world by storm.

GM’s aggressive push into lower cost production of higher-quality and more popular vehicles, such as crossovers, has helped the company to steadily increase its average selling price by more than 10% since 2013, driving strong growth in earnings.

Another important growth opportunity for GM is China, which is now the largest auto market in the world with more vehicles sold each year than the U.S. GM is planning on opening five factories in China by the end of 2018, which it hopes will allow it to increase its sales in the middle kingdom to 5 million vehicles annually (up from 4 million in 2017).

However, as far as GM has come, there are still several major risks to consider.

Key Risks

As impressive as GM’s turnaround has been, there are two major issues facing the company when it comes to being able to maintain or grow its dividend.

First, the auto market is very unforgiving, requiring high levels of capital intensity, consistent technological innovation, extremely robust supply chains and efficient manufacturing facilities, big marketing budgets, and strict adherence to safety and environmental regulations.

Auto companies are constantly having to redesign and retool their plants, resulting in massive capital expenditures and R&D spending. For example, GM routinely spends more than $15 billion on capital expenditures and R&D each year.

And because auto sales are cyclical but production plants have high fixed costs, GM’s profits can drop in a hurry when sales volumes plummet. Automakers also have a history of being undisciplined on pricing when conditions get tough, which further strains profitability during down cycles.

Investors are worried that the current auto cycle could be peaking. A combination of solid GDP growth, healthy employment, improving wages, high consumer sentiment, and low interest rates, which reduce monthly payments, has fueled a multi-year stretch of excellent vehicle sales.

As you can see below, U.S. sales of autos and light trucks have sharply recovered since the financial crisis, hovering around 17 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) in recent years.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Simply Safe Dividends

Most “experts,” including the company’s chief economist, expect demand levels to remain similar in 2018. The record age of vehicles on the road (over 11 years versus 9.6 years in 2002), low gas prices, rock bottom interest rates, and continued growth in major international markets such as China could keep the good times rolling for much longer than most people expect. However, no one can really forecast when the next inevitable downturn will occur with much accuracy.

As previously discussed, General Motors has certainly made a number of structural improvements to its business to better manage through the next sales trough. Fewer brands, production discipline, a more profitable product mix (SUVs, trucks, and crossovers), less dealer incentives, improved union labor agreements, and more concentrated marketing and R&D efforts form a foundation for structural margin improvement. In fact, GM expects its operating margin to rise to 10% (from less than 7% in 2014).

As a result, management believes GM can maintain a breakeven point at a SAAR level of 10 to 11 million units, which is close to where unit sales bottomed during the financial crisis. The company’s CFO, Chuck Stevens, expects the company’s improved profitability and efficiency to support GM’s dividend in that scenario:

“In the first year of the downturn, we’d expect to burn about $5 billion, roughly, of free cash flow. Obviously, that risk is factored into our $18 billion target cash [reserve] to ensure that we can continue to invest through the downturn and maintain our current dividend.”

Aside from auto cycles and global economic growth, GM can also be affected by union negotiations, fuel costs, and vehicle recalls. However, none of these issues seem likely to affect the company’s long-term earnings power.Instead, the rise of electric and self-driving vehicles have potential to reshape the auto industry’s future. General Motors is being very proactive in both of these areas. Here are some of the company’s accomplishments from 2017:

Shared its vision for zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion and outlined an all-electric future with plans to launch at least 20 electric vehicle models by 2023.

Introduced the third of three generations of autonomous test vehicles that were developed within a span of 14 months.

Announced plans to deploy self-driving vehicles in a ride-sharing environment in early 2019.

Acquired Strobe to help develop next-generation LIDAR solutions for self-driving vehicles and reduce LIDAR costs by 99 percent over time.

Became the first company to use mass-production methods to build autonomous electric test vehicles.

Focusing more on electric vehicles appears to be a smart move, especially given the company’s growth ambitions in China. That’s because China is just one of numerous countries now considering phasing out gas and diesel vehicles.

France, UK, and China by 2040

Netherlands, Norway to require 100% of new vehicle sales to be EVs by 2025

Germany 100% EVs by 2030

India 100% EV requirement by 2030

California is considering requiring 100% EVs by 2030

In other words, GM sees the writing on the wall and believes that electric vehicles are the future. After all, its most important future market, China, which is plagued by some of the worst air pollution in the world, plans to mandate 10% EV sales by 2019 before ramping up to 100% over time.

In fact, by some estimates almost 60% of all global car sales will be plug-in models by 2040.

And with rivals like Ford planning to invest $4.5 billion to launch 13 EV models over the next five years, GM knows it needs to build on its success with the Chevy Volt (plug-in hybrid) and Chevy Bolt EV.

GM has actually been a pioneer in EVs in the past decade with the Bolt EV (voted 2017 North American car of the year at the Detroit Auto Show), which has found success with both critics (Car and Driver called it the best non luxury EV in America) and consumers.

While GM is pouring money into electric vehicles in an effort to protect its long-term health, these efforts could weigh on the company’s long-term profitability and growth (electric vehicles are expected to last longer and be more reliable). They could also fail to move the needle given the massive size of the company’s other operations and some of the uncertainties facing the industry (high costs due to expensive batteries, federal tax credits, competition from Tesla and others).

Perhaps the biggest threat to GM of all is autonomous cars. Specifically, self-driving cars could revolutionize the way people move around and disrupt U.S. vehicle sales in a major way.

According to AAA, for example, the average car costs about $700 a month to own.

Source: AAA

However, many experts are predicting that future of personal mobility could very well be one in which individual car ownership is far rarer and many consumers simply subscribe to an autonomous vehicle service.

In fact, in just the past 15 years, without any autonomous cars being available, the combined effects of the great recession, smartphone adoption, and the rise of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft have resulted in car ownership declining across the board, with the exception of those over 55.

According to Aarjav Trivedi, chief executive of Ridecell, a San Francisco company that provides the back-end software for car sharing, “By 2022, 2023, the majority of transportation in urban cities with temperate weather will be on demand, shared and likely autonomous.”

Various companies are looking at different business models for this, including Uber and Lyft who plan to switch almost all of their fleets to autonomous vehicles to provide rides on a per use basis.

Others, like Tesla, are looking to set up networks where robo vehicles can be rented out by owners on a subscription basis to help offset the cost of ownership.

In other words, in the future, it’s not out of the question that cars could become more of a luxury owned by the wealthy, while the majority of people end up subscribing to a robo taxi service at $175 to $350 a month (25% to 50% less than the cost of owning your own vehicle).

Now GM has been preparing for this potential disruptive future by investing in $500 million in Lyft and launching its own ride sharing service, Maven. The company believes it can have driverless cars ready to take on complex urban environments in 2019, investing about $250 million a quarter this year in autonomous-vehicle development (up from the $150 million it was spending in 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal).

Not surprisingly, GM’s goal is to get in on the ground floor and hopefully provide the autonomous electric vehicles that companies like Lyft and Uber use, as well as potentially provide Vehicle Management and Services, or VMAAS, for such companies. This basically means that GM wants to manage and maintain the electric vehicle robo taxis that it believes may one day make up the majority of vehicles in this country.

GM believes the total addressable market for a driverless-car service will be worth several hundreds of billions of dollars by 2025 while offering 20% to 30% margins.

Jim Hackett, former head of Ford’s Smart Mobility division (and the new CEO of the company), shares GM’s enthusiasm about this market and believes that VMAAS will one day be a $400 billion market, with operating margins of “at least 20%.”

It’s hard to fathom, but the company has said that the robo taxi service it is developing has potential to eclipse the profits it earns from its core automotive business within a decade!

While those potential margins are nearly triple the industry average operating margin right now, keep in mind that there are two main problems that could still hurt automakers.

First, electric motors can last over 1 million miles, and regenerative braking can allow brakes to similarly last for decades (they recapture almost all braking energy and thus significantly reduce wear and tear). As a result, electric vehicles could end up lasting far longer than cars today, perhaps reducing long-term private vehicle demand.

Robo taxi subscription services would likely be a different story because they would operate 24/7, racking up more miles than any taxi is capable of today. However, even if GM’s future is basically building electric-powered robo cars for companies such as Lyft or Uber, the question remains how many cars will the global market need under such a future mobility solution.

For example, perhaps super efficient autonomous vehicle subscription services require just 5 to 10 million U.S. auto sales a year (compared to 17 million today), which would mean that GM might permanently face a future with lower sales and profits, especially if it can’t find a way to capture higher-margin value from the fast-growing software and services side of the industry.

Closing Thoughts on General Motors

GM has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of bankruptcy and made a remarkable turnaround, including a number of structural fixes to its workforce, manufacturing footprint, production mix, and balance sheet. Today’s GM appears to be a much more reliable source of income, albeit one with little to offer in the way of dividend growth.

Despite its improved profitability, the company’s stock has consistently traded at a single-digit P/E multiple since emerging from bankruptcy, attracting value investors such as Warren Buffett, who initiated a stake in GM in early 2012.

For one thing, investors remain fearful of the current auto cycle peaking, preferring to take a wait-and-see approach to GM’s claims that it can breakeven and maintain its dividend during the next downturn.

More importantly, the massive changes coming down the line over the next 10 to 20 years, including the shift to electric vehicles, self-driving cars, and personal mobility services, make it harder to know just what type of company GM could be.

Overall, the cyclical auto industry is not a great place for risk averse income investors to allocate much, if any, of their portfolio. However, for value-focused dividend investors willing to tolerate some potential volatility and uncertainty in their well-diversified portfolios, GM stands out from the pack.

The company’s reshaped operations and strategic bets on future technology could ultimately lead to much higher margins and more stable profits over the very long term.

To learn more about General Motors’ dividend safety and growth profile, please click here.

This article was originally featured on Simply Safe Dividends.

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from victorparker https://www.modestmoney.com/general-motors-gm-analysis/40619/

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jesusvasser · 7 years ago

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2017 Los Angeles Auto Show Hits, Misses, & Revelations

LOS ANGELES, California—This year’s Automobility/L.A. Auto Show was much like the last couple of years, only more so. Which is to say that on paper, there were a number of significant reveals, led by Fiat Chrysler’s very important and very profitable JL Jeep Wrangler.

Still, at the end of the day, the 2017 L.A. Auto Show left us, at best, whelmed. Perhaps it’s because more and more, the auto show plays second-fiddle to the advanced technology that is the centerpiece of Automobility, which wraps discussion of autonomy and electric-powered vehicles around reveals of the shiny new cars and trucks.

If you attend the public Los Angeles Auto Show, December 1 to 10, you might see things a bit differently. Here’s what we saw this year…

HIT: JL Jeep Wrangler

It’s lighter by 200 pounds, it’s more easily convertible, and it is extremely Jeep. The all-new two-door and four-door 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL models will please the marque’s faithful and entice four-wheeling neophytes. The four-door has a power top that removes very quickly and easily, there’s an optional open-air pass-through in the middle of each front door, and the windshield folds down for the full open-air experience.

—Kara Snow

I’m no off-road outdoorsy type, but the latest iteration of this American classic makes me want to convert. As typical for Jeep, there are so many surprise-and-delight features that I can’t guarantee my introductory news story of the debut is comprehensive. Hardcore fans will love the new Wrangler’s interior spec plate, recalling the original Willys MB’s dash plate, the fold-down windshield and the door hinges stamped with the tool number needed to remove them. The masses who bought the first-generation Wrangler Unlimited will want to trade in for easy-to-lower tops and subtle refinement that doesn’t at all diminish its hard-core image.

—Todd Lassa

MISS: JL Jeep Wrangler pricing

Although Jeep promised to give us prices for the new JL models at the show, they weren’t ready to reveal just yet. Naturally, we’re fearing a big increase.

—K.S.

HIT: BMW i8 Roadster

There wasn’t a whole lot that BMW could do to make its i8 PHEV GT coupe cooler, but converting it into a roadster by ripping out the vestigial rear seats and dispensing with the fixed roof is a great way to do it.

—Kirill Ougarov

HIT: Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman GTS

Its 2.5-liter turbo H-4 makes 365 hp, and top speed is 180 mph.

—Robert Cumberford

HIT: 2019 Lincoln Nautilus

The name may be a bit too dramatic for a fancy Ford Edge, but not only does the arrival of the 2019 Lincoln Nautilus signal the end of the brand’s confusing MK_ naming scheme (it’s the artist formerly known as the MKX, in case you’re one of the five people out there that could keep track), the midsize crossover wears the best interpretation of Lincoln’s current design language to date, suffering none of the proportional indignities of the Continental, Navigator, and MKC.

—K.O.

MISS: 2019 Lincoln MKC

The looks for the facelifted 2019 Lincoln MKC are a bit wonky, but that’s not the miss here. The miss is the missed opportunity to do away with the MKC name, as was done with the Nautilus, née MKX. This likely means that the Ford Edge-based compact crossover will be the last Lincoln to get a proper name.

—K.O.

MISS: Volvo XC40

I just can’t warm up to the new compact Volvo SUV. It looks short, stubby, and inelegant compared with the longer, nicely proportioned XC90, which I think is still the best SUV in its class. Though the interior is appropriately premium and well-designed, with excellent fit and finish, from the outside, the Volvo looks no more upscale than the Nissan Kicks.

—T.L.

REVELATION: Subscription is the new lease

This week at the L.A. show, Volvo announced its new “Care By Volvo” plan, a “subscription” program that it is rolling out nationwide on its consumer Web site volvocars.com/us, starting with its new XC40 compact crossover. The concept is simple, you choose either a Momentum or R-Design trim XC40 that you can configure, and everything else is covered: insurance, maintenance, payment, down payment, etc., and they deliver the car to you—no dealer required. The term starts at 24 months, but you can switch cars in as little as 12 months if you like. Mileage is capped at 15,000 a year. All for $600 a month to start. There is some fine print, namely around insurance (Liberty Mutual is the partner) and it’s fun to hear Volvo Cars global CEO, Hakan Samuelsson, and newly minted Volvo Car USA CEO, Anders Gustafsson, use the word “lease” a couple of times as they did in describing the program to me.

—Mike Floyd

HIT: Reds a.k.a CHTC Redspace

Chris Bangle is thinking inside the box for a change. Reds is one of the most refreshing concepts to emerge in a long time. It’s not made for Americans and most folks will hate it, but I love its childish, Toontown looks and the idea of a car that’s designed from the inside out—definitely next level stuff. A woman at the show told Bangle it was beautiful and he was taken back—he doesn’t think it is but appreciated the comment. Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder.

—Ed Tahaney

MISS: CHTC Redspace

It lacks charm, beauty, grace… most of the attributes we tend to seek in cars, but the Redspace city vehicle is the most interesting device in the L.A. Auto Show, apparently all about maximizing interior volume to enhance comfort while its occupants are stuck in traffic, which is estimated to be about 90-percent of the time the thing is in operation, at least in such target-market cities as Beijing. Chris Bangle’s return to car design shows us why he should have foregone the opportunity. Dreadful object. Not a car, a street fixture. Most massive A-pillar ever.

—R.C.

REVELATION: CHTC Redspace is an appliance

It looks like a huge, rolling coffee grinder. That’s not necessarily a criticism; I love coffee.

—T.L.

HIT: Volkswagen I.D. Crozz EV Crossover Concept

Volkswagen’s autonomous I.D. concept looks like a cloud with wheels. And although it’s just a concept, it’s easy to believe a ride in this all-electric vehicle would be as silent as a fluffy altocumulus. Big points for the airy, spacious interior (although it’s 6 inches shorter than the Golf) with futuristic seats, a panoramic full-glass roof, and a steering wheel that folds forward into the dash when the driver isn’t needed. Look for it in 2020.

—K.S.

HIT: Jaguar’s show stand

Jaguar pointed its upcoming i-Pace electric SUV and related spec series electric racer, parked in parallel, straight at the Tesla Model 3 on its stand across the aisle. The Jaguar i-Pace is scheduled to go on sale late next year. Wonder, which EV will reach full production first.

—T.L.

MISS: 2018 Chrysler 300

Seems to have lost all the charm it once possessed. Too bad. This nth reskin of an ancient Mercedes chassis was costly.

—R.C.

REVELATION: The Multilink from Infiniti’s Variable Compression Engine

On the surface, Infiniti’s sculpted QX50 has been received as a design hit. But beneath the crossover’s wavy sheetmetal is a deeper story: the world’s first series production variable compression ratio engine. Christian Meunier, Infiniti’s VP Global Marketing and Sales, shared his thoughts with Automobile on the 2.0-liter VC-Turbo engine’s unique bits, which he compared to “parts of a Swiss watch” while flashing an elegant Jaeger-LeCoutre Reverso on his wrist. Case in point: the palm-sized multilink component, which serves as the lynchpin for altering piston clearance and varying the compression ratio from 8:1 to 14:1. “The manufacturing tolerance on it is greater than anything we’ve ever done,” he explains. “It’s one thing to produce it, and another to mass produce it.” While the QX50 on display drew the attention of onloookers, this small hunk of steel tells the arguably more intriguing story of the 20-year struggle to bring a variable compression ratio engine to market.

—Basem Wasef

HIT: Kia lineup

Kia is a surprise to me. Stinger is quite good looking, and Kia’s number-one rating in initial quality is excellent. Obviously European stylists have made a major contribution to the current status of the make.

—R.C.

MISS: Toyota FT-AC concept

I really wanted to like it and make it a “hit.” But I find it an overdrawn take on the new Subaru Crosstrek. Toyota’s Jack Hollis describes it as a crossover, though it has torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive with front and rear lockers. It’s a tweener, size-wise, bigger than a RAV4, but not quite a mid-size vehicle. One of its best features is a built-in rear-bumper bike rack that can accommodate just one bike, though it isn’t any different from this SUV-concept trope we’ve seen at auto shows for years. Plus, the rack is probably three-times the weight of the Specialized mountain bike attached to it. Meanwhile, there are huge, 20-inch tires mostly filling large Crosstrek-style black plastic overfenders, though these overfenders extend out from the bodywork, which doesn’t seem very aerodynamic. While Toyota hints the FT-AC is headed for production, the concept doesn’t have an interior. Toyota’s TJ Cruiser at October’s Tokyo Motor Show came with an innovative interior, and though bigger, boxier and more minivan-like, that concept was one of my hits.

—T.L.

REVELATION: Land Rover’s 1 Percenter Drafting

The likes of Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Lamborghini are making it a lot less lonely at the top of the SUV pyramid, but you needn’t shed a tear for O.G. luxury offroad manufacturer Land Rover. “You wouldn’t have bought a Range Rover for more than £90,000 ten years ago; now, we sell quite a lot of £160,000, £170,000 Range Rovers,” Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicles Operations boss John Edwards told Automobile. “Customers are coming to us and spending another £30,000 on top of that bespoking them. We’ll do probably 250 bespoke cars this year.” Can we expect a new Super SUV from Land Rover to play with the (even bigger) boys? Edwards was mum on future product, but emphasized that competition has made business better than ever. “People always used to tell me, particularly when Bentley was going to be introducing an SUV, ‘You must be really nervous, this is terrible news.’ I’d say, ‘This is fantastic news because it’s going to grow the market; I’m very respectful of Bentley but what they’ve done is expanded the marketplace and provided us with an opportunity. Our business has benefitted massively from that marketplace growing. It is crowded and becoming more crowded, but it’s becoming stronger.”

—B.W.

HIT: Sonders electric three-wheeler

This is probably another pipe dream, but it’s really well styled, very professional, has a believable layout (unlike tandem two-seaters) and could work. But the $10,000 price? That’s a pipe dream.

—R.C.

MISS: Ampere 1 three-wheel electric sports car

A very crude prototype that should never have been presented in public. “With a range of up to 100 miles.” Yeah, sure.

—R.C.

HIT: Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class

With their overwrought side surfacing, the first- and second-generation Mercedes CLS-Classes looked especially awkward where the rear haunches met the rakish four-door “coupe” profile. The new CLS, like the E-Class on which is based, has a much cleaner profile, resolving the issue. And now there’s room for three, not two, in the back seat.

—T.L.

HIT: 2019 Subaru Ascent

The last time Subaru tried to make a three-row SUV, things didn’t work out too well—but the less said about the bygone Tribeca, the better. The automaker did a good job of scaling up its current design language for the Ascent, which looks like a meatier Outback. Now, Subaru owners with growing families will no longer be forced to look elsewhere, so Subaru’s absurd streak of increasing sales for 71 months in a row is nearly certain to continue.

—K.O.

Hit? More like a home run for Subaru.

—E.T.

REVELATION – Mercedes-Benz’s (Inscrutable) 48 Volt Inline-6 Engine

Mercedes-Benz’s arc-shaped CLS has long been considered the sleeker (and less functional) cousin to the workaday E-Class. But the CLS 450 unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show packs a secret weapon that should appeal to anyone with an appreciation for mechanical elegance: Daimler’s latest, greatest, 48-volt-equipped inline-6 powerplant. I was smitten by the mild hybrid engine’s smooth power and imperceptible start/stop action during our first drive of a Europe-only S-Class. Using an integrated starter/generator, the powerplant produces a baseline of 362 hp and 369 lb-ft, adding another 21 hp and 184 lb-ft when electric assistance (aka, EQ Boost) kicks in. But how will Benz pull in non-techy, design focused consumers towards the advanced powertrain? I posed the question to Dietmar Exler, Mercedes-Benz USA’s president and CEO, who answered, “We have to find a way to communicate what the technology really does. When you ask a non-gearhead ‘What’s a Hemi engine?’ I’ll bet you 90 percent of consumers don’t know about hemispheric combustion chambers. But they all know it means more power.” Until Mercedes comes up with a one-word answer to that marketing conundrum, I’ll say this: driving is believing.

—B.W.

HIT: Ram pickup and Chevrolet Silverado High Country backup cameras

If you’ve ever towed a trailer or had a payload in the back of your truck that necessitated leaving the tailgate down, you know how that ordinary backup cameras can be useless. That’s why it was good to see on display with Ram and Chevrolet some well-developed trailering camera systems. The Silverado High Country on the show floor featured a standard three-camera trailering system by EchoMaster. Cameras on each side mirror activate with the turn signals and display on the infotainment screen. There’s also a wireless backup camera to place on the back of your trailer. Options include a front camera kit, a second wireless camera, and a third brakelight camera kit.

—K.S.

HIT: Bollinger Motors B 1

Stupidly primitive as is its styling, it’s full of interesting ideas on storage in an electric 4X4. And like the original Land Rover, it should be easy to repair.

—R.C.

REVELATION: Reports of the death of the conventional car are greatly exaggerated

For the last few years, the Los Angeles auto show had largely focused on green cars, with some self-driving car chatter thrown in for good measure. That went out the window this year despite increasing proclamations about the looming deaths of the internal combustion engine and the human-driven automobile. Instead, we were treated to hot convertibles, brawny sedans, and gas-chugging SUVs, none of which have any plans on driving themselves. Maybe we should focus on improving driver training after all.

—K.O.

HIT: JL Jeep Wrangler press kit

For at least 20 years, Chrysler/DaimlerChrysler/Chrysler Group/Fiat Chrysler has created the best traditional press kits, even as everyone else migrated to thumb drives, then to special websites. A thick booklet describing all the myriad features of the new Jeep Wrangler comes in a wood-and-brass box, with a brass-colored thumb drive and a Jeep grille-theme mini-speaker. You can probably find them offered up on eBay, but not from me. I’m keeping mine.

—T.L.

REVELATION: Mitsubishi Mirage hatch is cute

…but not too impressive on fuel mileage.

—R.C.

HIT: Dodge Durango SRT

Dodge agrees with those of us who believe SUVs can be slow, boring blah-mobiles. Just because you need a seven-seater doesn’t mean you don’t want a little power. That’s why they stuck a 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 in the new Durango SRT with 475 horsepower, 470 lb-ft of torque and—get this—a 0-60-mph time of 4.4 seconds. Pile all of your friends into the luxe interior of this beast and show them that bigger is indeed better. But where is our Durango Demon?

—K.S.

REVELATION: Car magazines can’t wait to write the first-drive headline, “Nissan Kicks Ass”

There. We’ve done it already.

—T.L.

The post 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show Hits, Misses, & Revelations appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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jonathanbelloblog · 7 years ago

Text

2017 Los Angeles Auto Show Hits, Misses, & Revelations

If you attend the public Los Angeles Auto Show, December 1 to 10, you might see things a bit differently. Here’s what we saw this year…

HIT: JL Jeep Wrangler

—Kara Snow

—Todd Lassa

MISS: JL Jeep Wrangler pricing

Although Jeep promised to give us prices for the new JL models at the show, they weren’t ready to reveal just yet. Naturally, we’re fearing a big increase.

—K.S.

HIT: BMW i8 Roadster

—Kirill Ougarov

HIT: Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman GTS

Its 2.5-liter turbo H-4 makes 365 hp, and top speed is 180 mph.

—Robert Cumberford

HIT: 2019 Lincoln Nautilus

—K.O.

MISS: 2019 Lincoln MKC

—K.O.

MISS: Volvo XC40

—T.L.

REVELATION: Subscription is the new lease

—Mike Floyd

HIT: Reds a.k.a CHTC Redspace

—Ed Tahaney

MISS: CHTC Redspace

—R.C.

REVELATION: CHTC Redspace is an appliance

It looks like a huge, rolling coffee grinder. That’s not necessarily a criticism; I love coffee.

—T.L.

HIT: Volkswagen I.D. Crozz EV Crossover Concept

—K.S.

HIT: Jaguar’s show stand

—T.L.

MISS: 2018 Chrysler 300

Seems to have lost all the charm it once possessed. Too bad. This nth reskin of an ancient Mercedes chassis was costly.

—R.C.

REVELATION: The Multilink from Infiniti’s Variable Compression Engine

—Basem Wasef

HIT: Kia lineup

—R.C.

MISS: Toyota FT-AC concept

—T.L.

REVELATION: Land Rover’s 1 Percenter Drafting

—B.W.

HIT: Sonders electric three-wheeler

—R.C.

MISS: Ampere 1 three-wheel electric sports car

A very crude prototype that should never have been presented in public. “With a range of up to 100 miles.” Yeah, sure.

—R.C.

HIT: Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class

—T.L.

HIT: 2019 Subaru Ascent

—K.O.

Hit? More like a home run for Subaru.

—E.T.

REVELATION – Mercedes-Benz’s (Inscrutable) 48 Volt Inline-6 Engine

—B.W.

HIT: Ram pickup and Chevrolet Silverado High Country backup cameras

—K.S.

HIT: Bollinger Motors B 1

Stupidly primitive as is its styling, it’s full of interesting ideas on storage in an electric 4X4. And like the original Land Rover, it should be easy to repair.

—R.C.

REVELATION: Reports of the death of the conventional car are greatly exaggerated

—K.O.

HIT: JL Jeep Wrangler press kit

—T.L.

REVELATION: Mitsubishi Mirage hatch is cute

…but not too impressive on fuel mileage.

—R.C.

HIT: Dodge Durango SRT

—K.S.

REVELATION: Car magazines can’t wait to write the first-drive headline, “Nissan Kicks Ass”

There. We’ve done it already.

—T.L.

The post 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show Hits, Misses, & Revelations appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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eddiejpoplar · 7 years ago

Text

2017 Los Angeles Auto Show Hits, Misses, & Revelations

If you attend the public Los Angeles Auto Show, December 1 to 10, you might see things a bit differently. Here’s what we saw this year…

HIT: JL Jeep Wrangler

—Kara Snow

—Todd Lassa

MISS: JL Jeep Wrangler pricing

Although Jeep promised to give us prices for the new JL models at the show, they weren’t ready to reveal just yet. Naturally, we’re fearing a big increase.

—K.S.

HIT: BMW i8 Roadster

—Kirill Ougarov

HIT: Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman GTS

Its 2.5-liter turbo H-4 makes 365 hp, and top speed is 180 mph.

—Robert Cumberford

HIT: 2019 Lincoln Nautilus

—K.O.

MISS: 2019 Lincoln MKC

—K.O.

MISS: Volvo XC40

—T.L.

REVELATION: Subscription is the new lease

—Mike Floyd

HIT: Reds a.k.a CHTC Redspace

—Ed Tahaney

MISS: CHTC Redspace

—R.C.

REVELATION: CHTC Redspace is an appliance

It looks like a huge, rolling coffee grinder. That’s not necessarily a criticism; I love coffee.

—T.L.

HIT: Volkswagen I.D. Crozz EV Crossover Concept

—K.S.

HIT: Jaguar’s show stand

—T.L.

MISS: 2018 Chrysler 300

Seems to have lost all the charm it once possessed. Too bad. This nth reskin of an ancient Mercedes chassis was costly.

—R.C.

REVELATION: The Multilink from Infiniti’s Variable Compression Engine

—Basem Wasef

HIT: Kia lineup

—R.C.

MISS: Toyota FT-AC concept

—T.L.

REVELATION: Land Rover’s 1 Percenter Drafting

—B.W.

HIT: Sonders electric three-wheeler

—R.C.

MISS: Ampere 1 three-wheel electric sports car

A very crude prototype that should never have been presented in public. “With a range of up to 100 miles.” Yeah, sure.

—R.C.

HIT: Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class

—T.L.

HIT: 2019 Subaru Ascent

—K.O.

Hit? More like a home run for Subaru.

—E.T.

REVELATION – Mercedes-Benz’s (Inscrutable) 48 Volt Inline-6 Engine

—B.W.

HIT: Ram pickup and Chevrolet Silverado High Country backup cameras

—K.S.

HIT: Bollinger Motors B 1

Stupidly primitive as is its styling, it’s full of interesting ideas on storage in an electric 4X4. And like the original Land Rover, it should be easy to repair.

—R.C.

REVELATION: Reports of the death of the conventional car are greatly exaggerated

—K.O.

HIT: JL Jeep Wrangler press kit

—T.L.

REVELATION: Mitsubishi Mirage hatch is cute

…but not too impressive on fuel mileage.

—R.C.

HIT: Dodge Durango SRT

—K.S.

REVELATION: Car magazines can’t wait to write the first-drive headline, “Nissan Kicks Ass”

There. We’ve done it already.

—T.L.

The post 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show Hits, Misses, & Revelations appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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juditmiltz · 6 years ago

Text

National Cheat Sheet: Real estate’s top billionaires revealed, retail apocalypse continues… & more

MAJOR MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

Top Miami broker teams merge at Coldwell Banker, rebrand One of Miami’s top broker teams has left its home of 16 years to merge with another top team. Judy Zeder’s team has parted ways with Coral Gables-based EWM Realty International and is teaming up with Jill Herzberg and Jill Eber’s group at Coldwell Banker. The new group will be called The Jills Zeder Group with Coldwell Banker. The families that comprise the two groups are longtime friends, Zeder said. “It’s a very unusual situation to have three families get along and like each other,” said Zeder, adding that they would be “working together for the benefit of the clients.” The two teams have closed a combined $5 billion in real estate sales since 2006. Eber and Herzberg, known as “The Jills” in South Florida’s real estate market, saw a former Miami realtor who tried to extort them receive a jail sentence in February. [TRD]

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/2019/03/08/national-cheat-sheet-real-estates-top-billionaires-revealed-retail-apocalypse-continues-we-company-sheds-staffers-more/#new_tab via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami

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