Money is trading hands in Arizona for cars you dream of. Winter is in full swing for the states, especially the northern area. And unlike most of the country, we haven’t thrown away our resolution to lose weight…we’re just being creative about it. We’re ditching pounds of semi-useful news off of our desk by reconstituting it into Scrapple, a patty of news bites with some salt for seasoning. Enjoy!
1. Police Brutality
Morons…absolute f***ing morons. 20 year old Arfhy Santos and 24 year old William Lopez, along with a third individual, were stunting in Times Square…you know, that congested block in New York City?…when they got caught dead-to-rights by a cop. So they tried to run his ass over. Literally hit the gas, knocked him aside, and darted down a side street, side-swiping everyone in their way. As of press time, the two have been arrested and are being held, though chargers aren’t public yet.
2. Made In China
One car that raised more than a few eyebrows at the 2018 North American International Auto Show is this little crossover, the GAC Enverge. GAC is shorthand for Guangzhou Automobile Group, and they have a partnership with FCA for Chinese operations and sales, where Jeep and Fiat products are sold. GAC aims to be the first Chinese manufacturer to establish some kind of foothold in the US marketplace with a timetable of a couple of years.
3. Not Being Sent To China
FCA has been the subject of speculation over mergers, splits and breakaways for years. Let’s face facts, the company hasn’t had the most stable foundation. CEO Sergio Marchionne has tried to partner up with just about anybody he could before getting shut down. But one speculation kept cropping up: breaking off part of FCA to a Chinese company in order to save grace, but with things going well, Marchionne made it clear at NAIAS that nothing was going to be broken up and that GAC isn’t anything to worry about.
Esxcept for Magneti Marelli. That’s supposed to be gone by the end of the year.
4. Going green, huh?
California leads the way on automotive policy, huh? Then please, someone explain to me how the LAPD can get 100 BMW i3 hybrids, which were designated for light-duty work, and not do a damn thing with them except run errands or leave them to sit? Over $10 million dollars to lease the BMWs and they sit with only a couple hundred miles on the clock for the most part. But according to LAPD Deputy Chief Jorge Villegas, “It’s all a part of saving the Earth, going green…quite frankly, to try and save money for the community and the taxpayers.”
5. If the Stinger is any indication…
While time will tell if the Kia Stinger is ultimately successful or not, it’s been pretty clear that the Korean automaker has found some kind of success with the sports sedan. Hell, we love it and we even got to have a little fun with one…they properly move out, too. Apparently stage two of fixing Kia’s reputation is a large SUV in line with the Telluride, a three-row full-size that was first shown in 2016. Kia has tried this trick before, but in the case of the Borrego, the timing couldn’t have been worse if they tried: the previous large SUV appeared just in time for the 2008 Recession and while it’s still sold in other markets, it isn’t represented in the States at all and hasn’t been since 2010.
Only in California, the liberal shithole that it is, can the LAPD spend $10 million dollars on BMWs just to let them sit. Another example on why “sanctuary cities” should have no federal funds.
That Kia SUV is one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen period. It could be stone reliable, out tow a Suburban and get 100 mpg and I wouldn’t buy it based on that face.