Highway Star Rising, Act 2: Roadblock in the Bluegrass

Over a year has passed since my quest to regain my license began. A lot has happened since then.

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Highway Star Rising, Act 1: Permittance Regained

Kept you waiting, huh?

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Look Who's Writing About Cars Over At Insider Louisville
TTAC's own Cameron Aubernon has found herself a new home over at Insider Louisville.
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My Sun Sets To Rise Again

Over three years ago, I contacted Jack via private message on Facebook with a question:

Would my skills as a fashion blogger be of any interest to TTAC?

A few months had passed since I was let go (with everyone else) from my previous – and only – full-time job, and I wanted to take my writing to the next level by breaking into journalism, one way or another. Jack brought me aboard, and my journey began in April of 2012.

Nearly two years ago – just after Jack and Derek took over TTAC from ousted editor-in-chief Bertel Schmitt – Jack asked if I was in a place in life where I could start writing again; I disappeared during the summer of 2012, though I did keep busy in the interim. He also informed me I would be paid to write for the blog if I came back. Thus, with “Posse On Broadway” booming from the trunk, I returned in October of 2013.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.

The long version of the story?

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  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
  • Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.