8 Cylinder Power Roof Leather Loaded Not For Sale To New York Residents on 2040-cars

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Tesla Model 3, Ford In Mexico, French Return | Autoblog Podcast #473

Episode #473 of the Autoblog Podcast is here. This week, Dan Roth, Sebastian Blanco, and Brandon Turkus talk about the Tesla Model 3, Ford's most recent production investment in Mexico, the apparent demise of the Cadillac CT8, and a possible return of French cars to the US market. It all starts with the Autoblog Garage and finishes with some of your questions. Check out the rundown with times for topics, and thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #473 Topics Tesla Model 3 Ford Mexico Investment Cadillac CT8 apparently cancelled French cars coming back? In The Autoblog Garage 2016 Subaru Forester 2016 Mazda 6 GT Hosts: Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, Sebastian Blanco Rundown Intro & Garage - 00:00 Tesla Model 3 - 18:00 Ford Mexico - 44:49 Cadillac CT8 - 49:43 French Cars - 51:22 Q&A - 56:15 Total Duration: 01:02:04 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 Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes

180,000 new vehicles are sitting, derailed by lack of transport trains

If you're planning on buying a new car in the next month or so, you might want to pick from what's on the lot, because there could be a long wait for new vehicles from the factory. Locomotives continue to be in short supply in North America, and that's causing major delays for automakers trying to move assembled cars.
According to The Detroit News, there are about 180,000 new vehicles waiting to be transported by rail in North America at the moment. In a normal year, it would be about 69,000. The complications have been industry-wide. Toyota, General Motors, Honda and Ford all reported experiencing some delays, and Chrysler recently had hundreds of minivans sitting on the Detroit waterfront waiting to be shipped out.
The problem is twofold for automakers. First, the fracking boom in the Bakken oil field in the Plains and Canada is monopolizing many locomotives. Second, the long, harsh winter is still causing major delays in freight train travel. The bad weather forced trains to slow down and carry less weight, which caused a backup of goods to transport. The auto companies resorted to moving some vehicles by truck, which was a less efficient but necessary option.

Ford talking unibody Ranger replacement

Now here's some welcome news. Car and Driver reports Ford is seriously mulling a replacement for the recently deceased Ranger, but the successor to the compact pickup's throne may not look anything like what we've seen from the nameplate in the past.
While speaking at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show, Doug Scott, marketing manager for Ford Trucks, said there's still a market for a smaller pickup, but that buyers expect to see a larger differentiation between the smaller utility vehicles and their full size counterparts in price, capability and fuel economy.
According to Scott, that means a vehicle with a payload capacity of around 1,000 pounds paired with a towing capacity of 3,000 pounds and "a dramatic reduction in fuel consumption." But the biggest piece of that recipe is the price tag, and Scott says to keep the MSRP far enough away from the already cheap F-150, the answer could come in the form of a unibody design. Scott says target customers in this market don't care whether the truck has a traditional frame or not, so long as it's tough enough to do the job and has the capability they need.