Housekeeping: Merry New Year

2021 is finally ending. We lurch into 2022 still dealing with a global pandemic, and supply-chain shortages, and climate change, and everything else, but we can at least take three days to pause, watch a ton of college and NFL football (Go Irish, Bear Down), drink cheap champagne, and hope that 2022 is better — and brings about the end of the pandemic phase of COVID.

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Housekeeping: TTAC Takes A Christmas Break

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so it’s gonna be a long, relaxing weekend for those of us in the blog mines.

This means we will be knocking off early today.

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Housekeeping: It's Turkey Time

Hey all,

As per usual, we’re going mostly silent for the next few days so that we can stuff our faces with turkey and watch a lot of (bad) football.

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Housekeeping: Happy Labo(u)r Day

It’s Labo(u)r Day on both sides of the border on Monday, so us hard-working bloggers/writers/editors are taking it easy peasy until Tuesday.

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Housekeeping: Sign Up for Our Newsletter

You may have noticed a bit of text at the end of our posts lately asking you to sign up for our newsletter.

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Housekeeping: Happy Fourth of July!

It’s about time to celebrate America’s independence.

Which means fireworks, booze (don’t drink and drive), and barbecues.

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Housekeeping: There Are Gonna Be Some Changes Around Here

Hi there. Your friendly Managing Editor here. I am checking in with you out there in B and B land to give you a quick update on what’s going on over here on this side of the computer/phone/tablet screen, over here in TTAC country.

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Housekeeping: Memorial Day is Here Again

Monday marks Memorial Day in America, and therefore, TTAC is taking a break.

Yes, like many of you, we will be off Monday.

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Housekeeping: We Take a Day Off to Celebrate POTUS

No, not the current POTUS. Or the previous one, or the one before that, or the one before that…

We’re taking Monday off to celebrate two long-dead presidents who shaped American history. Thanks to a revised holiday schedule from our corporate masters in … Toronto.

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Housekeeping: In Which TTAC Observes MLK Day

Hey gang, the boss here.

Thanks to a directive from our corporate masters, we’re off on Monday.

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Housekeeping: Merry New Year

I don’t have much to say — you already know we’re on a light schedule until Monday. So I will keep this short.

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Housekeeping: Merry Happy Holidays, 2020 Edition

The hellfire of a year that 2020 has been is almost over, and while 2021 likely won’t be a picnic — especially at first, as we wait for the pandemic to abate as vaccines are rolled out — I don’t think too many people are going to miss this year.

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Housekeeping: Happy Turkey Day in the States

Yeah, it’s that time of year again. Except this year, it won’t be normal.

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Jason Sakurai, News Contributor: Who Am I?

I, Jason R. Sakurai, literally grew up in a dealership, with a father that nurtured my automotive interests. Following grad school, I was recruited by General Motors, leaving Phoenix for the Motor City.

Managing 21 dealerships in GM’s San Francisco Zone, I later moved to Nissan, and then Mazda. Eschewing corporate life, I sold ad space for Four Wheeler Magazine, then did TV for the National Hot Rod Association as Director of Sales. ESPN’s buyback of my inventory prompted me to start Roadhouse Marketing, a marketing, advertising, and PR firm dedicated to the automotive aftermarket and outdoor industries.

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Housekeeping: Welcome the New News Contributor

It’s taken a bit longer than planned, but we have our newest news contributor all settled in and raring to go. Please Welcome Jason Sakurai to our little, weird corner of the car Internet. He’ll be our next newshound, stepping into the role Steph Willems vacated.

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  • Probert They already have hybrids, but these won't ever be them as they are built on the modular E-GMP skateboard.
  • Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
  • 28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
  • 28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
  • AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.