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Michael Jordan's cars showcased in 'The Last Dance' documentary

After the masses begged and pleaded for an early release, ESPN finally unlocked the doors to the biggest production in company history last month. Episodes 1 and 2 of The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary special about Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls, and the 1997-1998 season, was released at last on April 19, 2020. Each week since, two new episodes have aired on Sunday nights, and the next two, episodes 7 and 8 are scheduled to drop this weekend on May 10. With unprecedented video access to MJ, who became averse to the media during his playing days, a byproduct from The Last Dance is a look at some of Jordan's cars. The Goat's taste ranges across a number of brands, but they all had one thing in common: performance as a top priority. Below, we have listed the rides that have already appeared in the series, and each week, we will update with new car cameos. Chevrolet Corvette C4 The photo above somewhat epitomizes one of the themes of The Last Dance. Everybody, whether that was men, women, children, franchise owners, reporters, coaches, teammates, or opponents, wanted a piece of Jordan. If that meant stopping in the middle of the road to get an autograph, then so be it. Around town, MJ was fairly easy to spot due to his flashy cars that occasionally wore Bulls red. Jordan has driven numerous Corvettes throughout the years, but the C4 is unique in that it was Chevy's top ride when Jordan signed an endorsement deal with the American company during his rookie year in 1984. Two famous photos, one in front of the Chicago skyline, show him standing next to a C4 with the license plate "Jump 23." This exact car, however, came later, as indicated by the squared-off taillights. He went on to star in a number of Chevrolet commercials with vehicles such as the Blazer and S-10 pickup truck. Chevrolet Corvette C5 The most notable Corvette His Airness ever owned was likely the C4 40th Anniversary ZR-1, but he also drove a C5 coupe at one point. Roughly nine minutes into the first episode, Jordan is seen driving the chrome-wheeled targa top into the parking lot at the Berto Center, the Bulls old practice facility.   Ferrari 550 Maranello Roughly three minutes into episode four, viewers get a glimpse of Jordan's exotic taste in the form of a red Ferrari 550 Maranello.

Buick takes top spot in 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

People, economies, and supply chains weren't the only things continuing to get sick over the past year. The 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) is out, showing the average rate of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership increased overall. The average figure for the 32 ranked manufacturers in 2020 was about 166 problems per 100 vehicles. In the 2021 IQS, that dropped to an average of 162. This year, the average jumps to 180 problems. J.D. Power says that figure is a record high over the 36-year history of the study. Buick leapt to the top of the rankings this year with the fewest issues, at 139 problems per 100 vehicles in the first 100 days of ownership. After Dodge became the first American automaker to lead the IQS in 2020, followed by Ram in 2021, this year marks a three-peat for U.S. carmakers. Dodge took second this year at 143 PP100, Chevrolet third with 147 PP100, Genesis the first luxury maker on the chart in fourth with 156 PP100. Between February and May, this year's study gathered responses to 223 questions from more than 84,000 new 2022-model-year car owners and lessees. The questions are designed to zero in on real-world problems new owners encounter with nine categories of vehicle features: Infotainment; features, controls and displays; exterior; driving assistance; interior; powertrain; seats; driving experience; and climate. As has been the case in the past few year, infotainment has proved to be the most problematic bugbear making scores worse. Considering features individually, six of 10 of the worst problem areas dealt with infotainment, causing infotainment's score of 45 PP100 to be 19.5 PP100 worse than the second-placed feature. Consumers ranked getting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to connect reliably as the most troublesome.  GM didn't just score with Buick, which was one of only nine of the 33 ranked brands to show improvement this year. The conglomerate earned first place with the fewest PP100 among all the automaker groups, and scored the most model-level awards with nine, ahead of BMW with eight and Hyundai Group with three.  This year's study again showed a gap between luxury and mass-market makers, thought to be down to the amount of tech in luxury vehicles that consumers aren't properly informed about or that doesn't act as expected — that latter issue exacerbated by the chip shortage.

Plug In 2014: VIA makes the case for 'free' plug-in hybrid work vans, trucks

If you're a fleet manager who's been waiting anxiously for the chance to buy a plug-in hybrid van from Via Motors, your wait is almost over. If you work for the right fleet, anyway. David West, the chief marketing efficer for VIA Motors, took AutoblogGreen for a ride around the San Jose Convention Center in a Via van sporting an Electric Blue paint job as part of the Plug In 2014 Conference this week and gave us an update on how things are coming along. The big news is that the Via PHEV van production is going to start by the end of September. Via can currently build two vans an hour at its production plant in Mexico, or about 16 a day and could easily double that. "That would get us to 20,000 a year with two full lines running," West said. "We have the capacity." "There is no way gas can compete with electric." – David West, Via Motors But they can't sell that many quite yet. By the end of December, around 350 Vans will be made, mostly for a $20-million program from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District that will see the vehicles used by fleets that will report energy data to the Idaho National Lab. Via is also finishing up CARB certification for both the van and the company's plug-in hybrid pick-up truck. About 50 percent of Via's technology in the truck will not need to be tested again, since it's the same as what's in the van, but things like crash tests will need to be done twice. Despite the progress, this is not where Via hoped it would be today. The bankruptcy of battery supplier A123, "took about a year off our timeline," West said. "It's been getting a little slow getting it to market, there have been some challenges, particuarly since we had the country's worst recession right in the middle of this wrap up, but it's inevitable in my mind. There is no way gas can compete with electric." Maybe that's why FedEx has expressed an interest in buying around 5,000 units, West said. FedEx already has some pilot vehicles, just like Verizon does, and PG&E wants to replace all of their gas trucks with electric vehicles, which would be another 3,000 sales, he said. Besides the fuel savings, vehicles like these, with easy on-site power generation, could also work wonders in post-disaster situations, he said, since they could replace the need for generators.