Leaving aside the amount of money union vs. non-union labor costs, its not surprising that employers oppose unionization because it constrains their flexibility on labor. Makes it harder to fire or restructure workers and creates labor uncertainties around strikes.
Larry’s entire channel is marketing for his business, which is selling detailing products. Its like Tim Apple making a video about checking his email with his iPhone.
Well TSMC having a substantial manufacturing footprint of leading edge nodes in the US would sure diminish any incentive the USA has to defend Taiwan if China invaded. Just speculation, but wouldn’t be surprised if that factored in. US labor laws are also a pain in the ass and given a large share (if not a majority) of the workers would be immigrants or foreign workers anyway, why bother putting it in the US?
Alfa has to be up there for this. The Giulia is perhaps the best driving sedan on sale today. Certainly at the very top among sedans under 100k. The Stelvio is also great. Haven’t driven the tonale yet, but press seems to be somewhat positive at least.
They lose out in luxury and tech to competitors, but its very hard to beat the dynamics they bring to the table without having to spend 10 or 20k more.
EVs are like modern cell phones, very expensive and difficult to repair. Gigantic one piece panels and frame elements. Lots of cameras and sensors on the periphery that get damaged in accidents. Most importantly the battery is a potential bomb waiting to go off if damaged and minor damage is near impossible to detect in a battery back after a minor accident, which may necessitate replacement of the entire battery, which is enormously expensive.
Throw in the strong acceleration and the unfamiliar control systems (e.g., yokes, lack of gear shift/turn signal stalk, regen braking settings, etc.) and its no wonder they are expensive to insure.
The Emira.
Probably 90% of a Cayman GTS with (IMO) a better looking body. Sadly their delays and price hikes sort of kill most of the value proposition over a Cayman, but its still something I’d love to own.
These self-driving car projects were always boondoggles. It always made more sense to work on standardizing road design and pedestrian handling versus trying to build some magic machine learning model that can perfectly manage the total chaos of humans on and around roads. Its like trying to build a program that can predict the outcome of a coinflip every tenth of a second for an hour.
These failed efforts have really done nothing besides cause regulators to throw up roadblocks and tank public perception for future self-driving tech.
Still blows my mind that its cheaper to throw these sweatshops up around Asia and train a workforce than it is to simply redesign the iPhone to be easily assembled by an automated assembly line. Car companies automate far large and more complicated assembly processes than a phone.