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Porsche Taycan 4S, Ferrari Roma and a tuned Ford Ranger | Autoblog Podcast #624

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder to recap Earth Day 2020 coverage, including a first drive and range test of the 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S, Tesla and the state of the EV industry, and what we think are the best green cars of all time. Then they shift gears to talk about the Ranger pickup getting a tuning package from Ford, as well as their own dives through the Ferrari Roma configurator. They discuss the cars they've been driving — the 2020 VW Jetta and our long-term 2019 Subaru Forester. Lastly, they reach into the mailbag to help a listener buy a used car. Autoblog Podcast #624 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Earth Day recap 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S Tesla and the EV industry The best green cars of all time Ranger gets a tuning package from Ford Configuring the Ferrari Roma Cars we're driving 2020 Volkswagen Jetta 2019 Subaru Forester long-term update Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Iowa gives Tesla the red light on direct sales

The Iowa Department of Transportation was recently tipped off that Tesla Motors was offering test drives in the state. This led to the state DoT shutting down those test drives in West Des Moines earlier this month, according to USA Today. Tesla reps said that the company was just trying to offer test drives and wasn't actually trying to sell cars, but that argument didn't fly. The issue is that Tesla is neither licensed as an auto dealer nor is allowed to sell its vehicles directly to customers because of franchised dealership laws. Iowa stands among states like Texas, Arizona, New Jersey and Maryland in its position that a third-party franchised dealership is legally required for car sales. Recently, Georgia said it may revoke Tesla's dealer license because of opposition from the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association. On the flipside, Tesla won a recent legal victory in Massachusetts. Oh, and the tip to the Iowa Dot? It came from the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association.

Musk reports positive cash flow for Tesla last week

According to Bloomberg, Tesla actually earned money last week. CEO Elon Musk sent out a message on Twitter saying his company was "narrowly cash positive." That's big news for a company that hasn't turned a quarterly profit as of yet. Tesla is currently in the middle of stepping up production for its Model S sedan, and has announced the vehicle's MSRP will jump by $2,500, presumably to help fund that expansion.
So far, Tesla says it has built will build around 20,000 Model S units at its California production facility next year, though analysts say the ability to repeatedly generate a positive cash flow would go a long way toward the company's evolution into a "sustainable operating entry." So far, the Model S has garnered substantive praise, earning the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award among others. Tesla shares are up 19 percent this year over the same time period in 2011.