If I had put down $1,000 for a Tesla Model 3 I wouldn't be thrilled about someone that already owned a Model S or X jumping the line. However, if I cared about the long term outlook of the company, I would understand.

Tesla Model 3 Delivery Priority: It’s All About the Cash
In April 1964, the Ford Motor Company stunned the auto industry by selling 22,000 Mustangs over the first weekend of sales. That figure now seems inconsequential compared to the nearly 300,000 peop…

Google sunsets products that it doesn't care about any more all the time. Might it do the same to its self-driving cars?

Another Downside Of Driving Automation – What If The Manufacturer Decides To Shut Down?
A self-driving car traverses a parking lot at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California on January 8, 2016. / AFP / Noah Berger (Photo credit should read NOAH BERGER/AFP/Getty Images) For the past 130 years, whenever we buy a car, we expect it to continue operating relatively normally until the mechanical […]

MotorWagen to Model T == tzero to Model 3?

Tesla’s Affordable EV Finally Sees the Light of Day
Who would have thought that a small, roofless, two-seat, self-propelled machine could inspire a revolution in the way humans move about? Strangely enough, it has happened twice now, first in 1886 w…

Tesla Model 3 is more than I expected but there are still a lot of unanswered questions

Tesla Model 3 Revealed – What I Got Wrong And What We Still Don’t Know
Tesla Model 3 (image credit: Tesla Motors) Now that Tesla has finally revealed, the Model 3, I can happily say that I was wrong on at least two major points in my recent column on how much the company’s first affordable electric car would actually cost. However, given that the Model […]

Crossovers like the Fiat 500X point the way to what we'll be seeing more of in the next several years

2016 Fiat 500X Trekking AWD – The Best Cinquecento Yet? – Sam’s Thoughts
Let’s face it, the re-entry of Fiat into the American marketplace in the wake of the Italian company’s post-bankruptcy absorption of Chrysler has not gone as well as CEO Sergio Marchionne had hoped. The diminutive 500 never reached the sales targets expected of it and the larger 500L MPV did even worse. We still have …

Early spring robin in the paw-paw tree as I ate lunch

In Album 3/25/16

camera-shy bunny

In Album 3/25/16

Tesla has a factory full of shiny equipment and next week we'll probably see a styling buck of its next car that may or may not be able to move on its own power. Meanwhile I saw a prototype +Chevrolet Bolt on the roads near my home a couple of weeks ago and pilot production cars are now going down the assembly line in Orion, Mich.

After driving a couple of different +Ford Motor Company Explorers in the past month, I have some thoughts on the matter

2016 Ford Explorer Platinum – Looking More Like a Range Rover – Sam’s Thoughts
Over the course of its first 25 years, the Ford Explorer has had quite a roller coaster ride. It got off to a strong start in the original SUV wave of the 1990s eventually hit peak sales of more than 445,000 in 2000 before starting a decade of mostly steady decline. By 2009 when the …

In Album 3/19/16