RUNNING DOWN A DREAM, PART III.

Editor's Note: This week, we travel in Peter's dream to the year 2035 as he details the state of the industry. As PMD says at the end, "the memorable moments in life are fleeting and precious, and still worth pursuing." A hopeful sentiment - no, as we mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, make that an impassioned plea. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. And at the end of the Rant, Peter reminds us once again that the future of our nation - our collective tomorrow - is up to all of us. In On The Table, we feature the latest monster hot-rod from Mercedes-AMG, the Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung. There are only 30 of them and they're all sold, of course, but it's still worth a look because of the stated attitude behind the car. Our video this week is a revealing look at Bruce McLaren, complete with details about his life that you probably weren't aware of. Our AE Song of the Week is "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers. In Fumes, Peter gives us Part III of his new series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have F1 results from the brand new "Madring" circuit in Madrid, Spain, and the MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." We're on it! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

 

Detroit. Deep in the throes of another sleepless night, delirious with the knowledge that it was the early hours of a Sunday morning and I still hadn’t written a column or even thought about it, the urgent, searing guitar riffs of one of Mr. Petty’s signature songs took over my thoughts.

And suddenly, it was 2035.

 

I stepped out into the darkness, wandering around in a world that looked, well, remarkably as it looks today. I noticed a few stray autonomous vehicles doing their rote routines, with their blue LEDs indicating what they were. But they were – not surprisingly – insignificant, part of the thrum of a new reality, but only a bit part.

And as the darkness lightened slightly, I started to see the ebb and flow of traffic on Woodward Avenue. Some avant-garde designs were noticeable – aero shapes punctuated by their wildly diverse lighting systems – but they were clearly full-zoot luxury machines. Other cars were decidedly less adventurous, a mix of small- to medium-sized conveyances that really didn’t look all that much different from today. And yes, the traffic flow was dominated by SUV-like vehicles still, the American consumer having long ago abandoned any thought of going back to a typical passenger car.

The sounds were diverse too. A mix of BEV whine, hybrids and yes, full-on ICE machines as well. It was obvious that the prognostications of a complete transition to BEVs were, of course, dead wrong. The “Grand Transition” had stalled out mightily by 2026, as the perpetual negatives associated with BEVs – the excruciatingly slow-to-develop infrastructure combined with the costly realities – crushed the BEV dreams of those convinced that it was The Future. The result? Scores of consumers happily embracing ICE vehicles for two reasons: cost and the freedom of movement with no limitations, abetted by the chaotic regime in Washington that finally came to an end at the end of 2028. The manufacturers who continued to hone their ICE offerings were reaping the financial rewards because of it, but the international push to EVs continued, and foreign manufacturers were slowly but surely leaving our domestic-based manufacturers in the dust.

To wit? GM and Ford were hanging by a thread, churning out ICE/Hybrid SUVs, crossovers and pickup trucks just to stay alive. The next “Model T” moment put forth by Ford CEO Jim “I’m a genius, just ask me” Farley defined by a wave of “breakthrough” affordable EV pickups and their derivatives was an abject failure. Plagued by launch delays and recurring quality issues, combined with the inevitable stiff price increases, the “new-wave” Fords were languishing on dealer lots because of too much hype and a ho-hum response from consumers. And Farley had finally been exited from the company because of it.

Mary Barra’s seemingly impressive ability to ride whichever way the prevailing winds were blowing in the industry finally ran out of gas, and she was exited too. GM was pretty much where it was at the end of 2026, with its unimpressive and decreasing market share, and a plethora of ICE vehicles that, though attractive, were battered by high prices and flagging consumer interest.

The bright spots for Ford and GM? The pint-sized Ford Pinto EV (developed after Farley’s departure), a limited range – 200-miles – urban commuter selling for $20k; and the GMC Jimmy, another pint-sized vehicle – this one in SUV guise – again with a limited range of 200 miles and selling for $20k.

What of Stellantis? The company pushed its muscle-head agenda to the limit but reached the point of diminishing returns by 2028. The muscle cars started piling up on dealer lots and the company floundered badly because of it. Now? The company lives on its hybrid Ram pickup trucks as it continues to throw product up against the wall to see what sticks. The big – and ongoing – train wreck for Stellantis was the continued mishandling of Jeep. Wrong products at the wrong time punctuated by high prices have damn-near crippled the brand. The “trail-rated” Jeep EVs launched dead in the water because of limited range and crushingly high prices. The “big” Jeeps continue, but pricing has become untenable, with $100k becoming the going ask. And of course, Detroit being Detroit, the Stellantis entry in the new – and all of a sudden red-hot – “pint-sized” market is the only Jeep EV to ever succeed: The on-road-only Jeepster for, you guessed it, $20K, with the obligatory 200-mile urban-only range.

The Toyota conglomerate now includes Honda and Mazda – run as completely separate entities – as well as Subaru. And Lexus survives only as a fully-electric brand after Toyota bought out the assets of Tesla, which had gone bankrupt five years earlier, a direct result of the “Muskian Nightmare” as St. Elon’s runaway ego ran the company right into the ground. Other news? Peugeot-Citroën and Renault solidified into one company, with Nissan being absorbed and rebranded as Datsun worldwide and Infiniti having been finally put to sleep, for good.

Daimler and BMW had entered into a joint operating agreement; both Mercedes and BMW retained product independence in the new German company and were joined by Aston Martin, which finally ran out of time and money trying to keep its luxury brand afloat.

The VW Group accomplished a shockingly successful turnaround, and its interest in taking over Ford has become a hot thing. Ford’s perpetually late product cadence, ineffectual leadership and prodigious ability to piss away billions has finally caught up with the denizens of Dearborn. And for the first time in its history Ford was no longer controlled by the Ford family, although the family still maintained a significant – but drastically reduced (from 40 to 20 percent) – presence in terms of stock and influence. Was Ford going to survive as an independent entity much longer? Don’t count on it.

As for the Chinese and Korean manufacturers, their presence had been growing to the point that the mainstream BEV market was dominated by their brands, as their market share grew exponentially. And because of that, this country's domestic brands were becoming less and less viable. It was indeed a different automotive world.

Another thing I noticed as I walked past the local Speedway gas station/convenience store on Woodward on the way home was that a row of quick-charging stations for BEVs sat empty, but the gas pumps were already busy.

I found myself back at my computer and I began to peruse some of the stories. The ongoing story (since 2026) that AI was set to kill us all, and soon, had become like any day now, soon. Why should we be surprised? Why should we have expected that those soulless, cash-sucking zombies in Silicon Valley would be responsible stewards of anything connected to the health and well-being of society? Left to their own devices, they conducted themselves exactly like we thought they would: self-absorbed societal pariahs with no redeeming value whatsoever. The brutally painful result? Criminal behavior and flat-out greed equal doomsday scenarios that have our collective heads in a guillotine. Not Good doesn’t even remotely cover it.

The most amazing thing I discovered in my future dream was that all of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the development of autonomous vehicles had turned out to be the biggest financial disaster in automotive history. The focus on autonomous conveyances and the promise of a Utopian future of no-involvement ride sharing and rent-by-the-minute usage had devolved into lawyered-up tech companies fighting over a few big municipal fleets, contracts with the U. S. Post Office and very narrowly-focused utilization for the elderly. The Masters from The Valley of Silicon were incredulous that consumers just didn’t buy into their all-encompassing brilliance.

The wholesale consumer acceptance of mass usage rental vehicles turned out to be a mirage, as real people with real lives convincingly reminded the brainiacs that the reality of mass ride sharing just doesn’t work in the real world, where the comings and goings of an average family will never fit into a perfect little autonomous box.

The brightening sky was now getting dark again, as storm clouds rolled in from the west. I went out and fired up The Beast one more time, just to remind myself that the memorable moments in life are fleeting and precious, and still worth pursuing.

And then I woke up and began writing...

I’ll leave it to Mr. Petty to close this one out:

I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There’s something good waitin’ down this road
I’m pickin’ up whatever’s mine 

I'm runnin' down a dream
That never would've come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

Editor-in-Chief’s Note: I couldn’t let last week’s events go by without some final thoughts. On the 25th anniversary of one of this country’s darkest hours, and amid the somber – and profoundly sad – realization that too many people have forgotten about the events of that horrible day, patriotism seems to have been ill-defined and marginalized by the cabal of miscreants currently at the helm of our government entities in Washington, D.C. Needless to say, this is blatantly offensive and an insult to every American who cares deeply about our country. The chaos unfolding on a daily basis and propelling the downward spiral that threatens to swallow this country's future whole is simply inexcusable and unforgivable. And as I said last week, it’s up to all of us to prevent this behavior from destroying this great nation from within. (Read Peter’s incendiary Rant from last week here. -WG)

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG