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Bob Lutz says Tesla remains 'fringe' brand

We've said it before, we'll said it again: Bob Lutz gives great quotes. From his toilet-themed opinion of global warming to Toyota's deity status, the man knows how to get your attention. His latest? Saying that Tesla Motors is and will remain a fringe brand. Take that, Tesla fanbois. This, of course, is the same fringe company that prompted Lutz and his former colleagues at General Motors to start working on the Chevy Volt around eight years ago. The same fringe company that has easily outsold the similarly priced (but don't call it a competitor) Cadillac ELR with its Model S. Lutz did clarify that the fringe status will only last until Tesla comes out with a mass-market electric vehicle that has a range of 200 to 300 miles. Lutz was on CNBC talking about the TSLA stock's recent performance, and he pointed out that even Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the California automaker's stock is overvalued these days. Despite its prevalence around these parts, Tesla is not yet a household brand. But the company is working hard to get a cheaper, long-range EV to market in the not-too-distant future, so this fringe thing may not last much longer than that show Fringe did. Watch the video below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: CNBC via Green Car Reports Green Chevrolet Tesla Green Culture Electric Hybrid PHEV cnbc

Trucks and tidbits from GM's earnings report

General Motors announced this morning that 2018 was a good year for it financially, thanks in large part to the company's performance in North America, which was predicated, according to the company, on "strong pricing, surging crossover sales, successful execution of the company's full-size truck launch, growth of GM Financial earnings, and disciplined cost control." GM reported full-year income of $8.1 billion and EBIT-adjusted income of $11.8 billion. Crossover sales in 2018 were 1,034,808, an increase of 7 percent compared to 2017 deliveries. Throw in the body-on-frame SUVs and the ute number is a total 1,295,700. But let's face it: It is the trucks that really matter. The Chevy Silverado and Colorado, the GMC Sierra and Canyon. Altogether, GM sold 973,463 pickups in the U.S. in 2018. Although Ford gets bragging rights for F-Series sales, GM gets to point out that it has a greater aggregate number. An important factor regarding the trucks and the reported income is that during the last quarter, more than 90 percent of the new 2019 trucks were crew cabs (which have a higher sticker), and at GMC more than 70 percent were Denali and AT4 models (which have even higher stickers). According to reporting by Bloomberg, GM's pickup trucks combine for $65 billion in annual revenue. Clearly when the 2018 sales of the Silverado — 585,581— dwarf the combined sales of both Buick (206,863) and Cadillac combined (154,702), pickups are what matter to the overall health of the company in a way that it is difficult to otherwise achieve. The "disciplined cost control" is something that is very much in the public eye right now, as the company is taking out thousands of its workers, and there is still the "unallocated" plant situation and other plants that will remain under capacity. The numbers in GM's earnings report probably made Unifor members' heads explode in consternation, coming fresh off their Super Bowl ad: " GM, you may have forgotten our generosity, but we'll never forget your greed." But there are a couple of curiosities in the full GM earnings release. One is that so far as its autonomous efforts go, it mentions only that (1) in the first quarter of 2018 Cruise introduced a production-ready autonomous vehicle, and (2) Cruise attracted $5 billion in external capital from SoftBank and Honda. Not a whole lot of love for autonomy. Good thing they have the trucks to fund the program, to say nothing of the external capital.

Looking back on our favorite cars of Mad Men

The second half of the seventh and final season of Mad Men debuted this week, set to cap a run of public and critical acclaim. A decade's worth of interesting cars also made for good television, if you were paying attention. Vehicles didn't often steal the spotlight from Don, Betty, Roger, Joan and the gang, but they added meaningfully to the tone and beauty of the series. We sorted through the wheeled extras from Mad Men's archives, and choose some of our favorites to highlight. The list consists of cars that had at least a small impact on the plot of an episode, though certainly there are worthy gems hiding in just about every street and driving scene. Check out our subjective top five, and then let us know which of the Mad Men cars would be on your list. 1962 Cadillac Coupe DeVille – Season 2 Don Draper's Cadillac Coupe DeVille, all 500 feet of it, shows up in a few seasons of the show, but it's the first appearance that sets the tone. A Cadillac salesman, cut from the same cloth as Draper, asks what Don drives right now. "A Dodge," Don admits. "Those are wonderful if you want to get somewhere," allows the salesman, "this is for when you've already arrived." For a man on the move up corporate and social ladders that's a powerful message, and a pitch-perfect car. 1961 Lincoln Continental – Season 3 The most stylish Lincoln Continental ever is perfect set dressing for the mod show, of course. Though it's interesting that the car isn't cast as dapper Draper's ride, but rather his father-in-law's. Grandpa Gene does what all great grandfathers are bound to: lets his granddaughter Sally drive the big Lincoln while he works the pedals. Generational bond secured, in fine fashion. When you go back through the first three seasons of the show, you'll notice that Continentals show up more than once, too. There's nothing quite like them to evoke the best of the early '60s. 1963 John Deere 110 – Season 3 The only non-standard passenger vehicle on the list, no self-respecting gearhead/Mad Men fan should quibble with the inclusion of the John Deere 110 riding mower. For starters, the Deere is lovely to look at; a miniature version of the American Heartland icon in its green and yellow duds. The 110 appears as if milled from a solid block of steel, just the opposite of today's sleek, plasticky lawn minders (we're scouring Craigslist for one to bring home). The John Deere also has dear ramifications to the plot, too.