Extra, Extra....Read All About It!

[LastDayScout]

Another one joining the off-road space....Hyundai??

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a69458366/hyundai-crater-off-road-concept-teaser/

Crater??? Really??? Based on how that looks, I would say that name is perfect.

 

[LastDayScout]

Anytime I read something from an EV owner it inevitably includes the statement “would never own another ICE vehicle”.

I wonder if the narrative changed, and the press was singing the praises of EVs how many more people would consider them.

I would not own another ICE vehicle as my daily driver.

 

[cyure]

not really my cup of tea...

That render looks like a Dakar car. It’s not going to look like that when it gets released. No way.

 

[Logan]

I teach a couple of workshops about changing cultural values within a workplace or team.

There’s a model for change adoption that seems to be fairly robust across many different contexts. One of its names is the “Diffusion of Ideas.” It’s been around a long time, and one popular iteration of it that’s relevant here is Rogers’ Innovation Model.

This graph is read from left to right as a timeline.

First the innovators create and share something with other innovators. It takes some time, but not a lot of time.
Then the Early adopters hear about it. They’re a much larger group than the Innovators, and it takes a little bit more time for them to adopt the new idea/technology.
Then we get to the Early Majority. There are almost three times as many of them as there are Early Adopters. And it takes even more time for them to buy into the idea/technology.
Eventually the Late Majority adopts.
You can see a sharp increase in the total market share during the time that the Early and Late Majority adopt.
The Laggards take a long, long time to adopt.
View attachment 11449
You can see this with smart (and earlier cell) phones. At the beginning, it was just a few people who owned a smart phone. Then their friends and colleagues who were curious but not innovators got to see the phone, got to play with the phone, got to feel a little envious of the phone. Those Early Adopters began getting smart phones and showing them to their friends and family and colleagues. The idea of a small computer in your pocket started to infiltrate into the rest of the world.

Now a huge proportion (but not 100%) of the population in the US have smart phones.

And this was a product with positive press for most of the adoption life cycle.
It’ll go the same way with EVs.

We were some of the very first people to own a hybrid. Many of our friends and family and colleagues were very skeptical of them until they got to ride in it, got to watch it not fail, not cost us a lot of money, etc. Ten or fifteen years ago, many of the people who are considering the Harvester or RAM EREV wouldn’t have considered a hybrid.

Now hybrids are the fastest growing segment of new and used vehicle sales. And BEVs, while their accelerating growth has slowed, their sales are still climbing (despite the media trying to stop that from happening).

If you look at when hybrids came into the market (around 2001) to today, that’s about 25 years. And we’re in the Late Majority of people adopting hybrids.
The first iPhone was announced in 2007. That’s about 20 years ago.

There’s really not much difference between the adoption rates of hybrids and smart phones. Yes, the phones move faster. But they’re also significantly cheaper! And there was a concerted campaign against hybrids by various FUDers in the media.

The adoption for BEVs is continuing apace, despite the road blocks being thrown up. We are somewhere between the end of the Early Adopters and shifting into the Early Majority with BEVs now. Yes, if the media weren’t so FUDdy, we’d probably see faster adoption. But… /shrug. It’s what happens in a lot of things.

I was actually talking about this just the other day with someone else.

I'd agree though, I think we're about into the early majority phase somewhere. And I think the manufacturers are seeing that as well. Hence many brands going back to "more buttons" and "the vehicle just looks and feels like a normal vehicle". Which, I think is one of the reasons that the Honda Prologue has done surprisingly well (and of course the aggressive discounts).

And, I hopefully the Scouts do well in this respect as well. Just normal vehicles, that happen to be BEV/EREVS.

 

[THil08]

Volkswagen & Rivian May Market Their Zonal Software To Other Automakers - CleanTechnica

The RV Tech joint venture between Volkswagen and Riving seems ready to bear fruit and may even appeal to other automakers.

cleantechnica.com

It might be VWs bailout from constantly having money issues. Being able to market the zonal architecture.

 

[J Alynn]

It'll be interesting to see what they bring to the table based off the drawing, I imagined it will be quite water downed from that drawing.

I’m hoping they rounded out the wheels since this render. 6-sided will be a really rough ride

 

[6-ScoutFamily]

Crater??? Really??? Based on how that looks, I would say that name is perfect.

That’s what I was thinking.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Apparently now there’s evidence that not only is Ford not cancelling the Lightning, they’re working on a Gen-2 of it.
The whiplash one could get from reading these rumor sites is grounds for a lawsuit. Or at least a neck brace.

Electric Ford F-150 Lightning may live on for a sequel

Evidence reveals Ford is currently working on a second-generation F-150 Lightning, with an all-new F-Series range just around the corner.

www.carexpert.com.au

 

[6-ScoutFamily]

Apparently now there’s evidence that not only is Ford not cancelling the Lightning, they’re working on a Gen-2 of it.
The whiplash one could get from reading these rumor sites is grounds for a lawsuit. Or at least a neck brace.

Electric Ford F-150 Lightning may live on for a sequel

Evidence reveals Ford is currently working on a second-generation F-150 Lightning, with an all-new F-Series range just around the corner.

www.carexpert.com.au

It’s the same old “shaving cream”. Ooo, this. No, that. Uh Uhu, something else.

 

[THil08]

Tesla recalls over 10,000 batteries nationwide for risk of burn, injury or death — USA TODAY

Tesla has received more than 20 reports of smoking or fires related to malfunctioning Powerwall 2 AC Battery Power Systems.

stocks.apple.com

 

[rfk]

Scout being dropped by VW is a possibility on the table due to low money. Most car companies would have money issues if they didn’t pay executives huge paychecks maybe reduce their pay, and stop cutting workers.

Audi's Making A Defender Rival Out Of The Scout In America | Carscoops

The German large electric SUV will be built in factory owned by new sister brand Scout Motors

www.carscoops.com

 

[THil08]

Audi's Making A Defender Rival Out Of The Scout In America | Carscoops

The German large electric SUV will be built in factory owned by new sister brand Scout Motors

www.carscoops.com

I'll wait until Uncle Scotty lets me know that its real, until then its all speculation.

 

[rfk]

Makes sense given it's an hour and a half from the factory and CLT is a major US airport with plenty of flights to Germany. The only question I have is whether they'll maintain the office in Tysons for the C suite (and 15m from VW and Audi corp offices) or will everyone move down to Charlotte?

I'm sure they'll leave Tysons - near VW made some sense getting underway, but over time more distance (literally) and closer proximity to factory makes sense.

Use 1710 Commonwealth Ave, Charlotte for a sense of where it is - past downtown Charlotte from the airport.

I'd bet we'll see some kind of promotion at Duke's Mayo Bowl at BoA stadium on 1/02/2026. Might go from No.VA depending on matchup.

 

[THil08]

CloudFlare seems to have taken down Scout, if you don't have the community bookmarked, you can't get on here.

 

[THil08]

Update: It back online

 

[cyure]

Good to know.

https://insideevs.com/news/779210/ev-battery-replacements-data-tesla/

 

[Mousehunter]

Honestly the Audi is fairly believable. I think Jamie already mentioned the possibility of the plant making vehicles for other parts of the VW group with excess capacity. It would make a lot of sense for them to do it with a vehicle that is >80% Scout.

But I am not overly worried that the Audi would delay the Scout launch - or honestly effect the Scout market all that much.

 

[cyure]

Honestly the Audi is fairly believable. I think Jamie already mentioned the possibility of the plant making vehicles for other parts of the VW group with excess capacity. It would make a lot of sense for them to do it with a vehicle that is >80% Scout.

But I am not overly worried that the Audi would delay the Scout launch - or honestly effect the Scout market all that much.

Same. I tease about them slapping an Audi logo on a Scout but that won’t be it. Just like they don’t slap an Audi logo on a VW.

 

[Mousehunter]

Audi already was talking about building an SUV with a portal axle - that would be a significant upscale upgrade (especially if they wanted a Defender competitor). Possibly something that could distinguish it against the Scout - while putting it in a different price point.

 

[THil08]

Same. I tease about them slapping an Audi logo on a Scout but that won’t be it. Just like they don’t slap an Audi logo on a VW.

Tell that to the engine covers, that you used to be able to pop the stuck-on logo, and it would reveal VW. Until the public gave outrage and now they have custom cover for each vehicle.