NOVEMBER 1, 2023

The original - and still our favorite - Autoextremist logo. 

The AE Quote of the Century: Everybody loves The High-Octane Truth. Until they don't. -WG 

Editor's Note: Well, it's that time again. Time to launch a new ad slogan for Chevrolet. We've spent a decade trying to "Find New Roads." Now, the geniuses at Chevy's agency, Commonweath/McCann, are about to blow your mind with - wait for it - "Together let's drive." It's hard to believe GM did a year's worth of research to arrive at this gem, but it's true, folks. According to Chevrolet Marketing VP Steve Majoros, as told to Automotive News, the marketing team spent time with Chevy owners and non-owners alike, and "what emerged was a sense of respect and admiration for trusted institutions and a focus on friends, family and community." The friends and family thing I can buy, but "respect and admiration for trusted institutions"?!?! What planet did these focus groups take place on exactly??? (I'm thinking what passes for "research" these days is questionable, but that's a story for another day!) Majoros went on to explain that people are longing for togetherness in today's world, and Chevy would like to help them get that feeling. “I think it’s something that everyone deep down feels because it’s easy to criticize how things are today…but deep down, what people told us is, that’s not me. That’s not my family. That’s not my community. That’s not how I feel,” he said. Okay, so people are cynical and disgusted with the way things are - just not any of the people Chevy talked to! Wow. Moving on, let's review. "Lacks originality and creativity." Check. "Lacks emotional resonance." Check. "Could be any car company's slogan" Check. (Note to self: see Toyota, "Let's Go Places.") So yes, it checks all the boxes. Trouble is, they're all the wrong ones. You can watch the launch spot here (it debuted Friday evening during Game One of the World Series). It's lame, it's lazy, and it's just plain sad. Over the past several years, few automotive brands (if any) have done less with more than Chevrolet. And if the various 'comment' sections on the websites announcing the new tagline are anything to go by (even on GM's own boards), it ain't exactly a grand-slam home run. Or, to paraphrase one of the posts, "Someone actually got paid to come up with that?!?!" Enough said. -WG Editor-in-Chief's Note: WordGirl speaks the High-Octane Truth. As for me, let's just say I am underwhelmed, and I will leave it at that. For now. -PMD

(Mazda images)

Mazda unveiled the MAZDA ICONIC SP at the Japan Mobility Show, a concept car that marries a dual rotary powertrain with an EV platform, a powertrain approach most recently launched in the all-new Mazda MX-30 R-EV. The MAZDA ICONIC SP "is a compact sports car concept designed to adapt to a new era and shows the company’s continued commitment to the creation of products that satisfy customers' love of driving and cars," according to Mazda PR minions. The idea of a two-rotor rotary EV system "would deliver a highly scalable engine with a flexible layout and the ability to burn a variety of fuels, including hydrogen, making it a Mazda-unique technology that is ideal for sports car packages," according to the manuafacturer. Unveiling the concept, Mazda President and CEO, Masahiro Moro said: “We love the MX-5, and the world loves the MX-5. We are determined in the age of electrification to keep the joy of driving which the MX-5 represents alive, and the MAZDA ICONIC SP, with its dual rotary power generator EV powertrain is our dream solution. A dream we will work hard to launch. Mazda will always deliver vehicles that remind people that cars are pure joy and an indispensable part of their lives.”

 

(Honda)

Honda unveiled a new Prelude Concept at the Japan Mobility Show, saying that it would become "the prelude for our future models which will inherit the 'joy of driving' into the full-fledged electrified future and embody Honda's unalterable sports mindset." We like it.

 

Letter from L.A.

By Tom Pease 

Beverly Hills. While I welcomed the idea of the “grand transition” to BEVs, I always had (and raised, to the point of people asking people like me to STFU) problems. BEVs cost more. They weigh more, and that extra weight (new Hummer is what, 16 tons?) means extra wear and tear on the roads that won't be being paid for by gas taxes BEVs won't be paying. In SoCal at least, every time there's a stiff breeze Edison shuts down the power grid in case they cause a wildfire, and we are told year-round these days not to use the microwave and the dryer at the same time between 6pm and 2am lest the fuses at Edison central go “pop.” And what is firing those plants that produce the energy we can't rely on?

Yes, people in apartments can pay to have charging stations put in their buildings, if they have a dedicated parking space. I have two Tesla-owning neighbors who still charge in Culver City since the expense of the charging station would be borne by them and kind of lock them into the building to justify the expense. Of the twelve other buildings on my block, four of them have no parking and four are under-parked. Not to mention cities like mine that are allowing new buildings to be built without parking because the state mandates anything near a “transit hub” (like, a bus line) doesn't have to have them. Or the idea that in states without snow to dissolve them into salt rust ICE vehicles can go through 3rd, 4th or even 5th owners before heading to the boneyard; how many 3rd owners of a Tesla are going to want to pony up the money for a new battery as the price of admission to that 7-year-old Model S? Not to mention what are we going to do with all the batteries when BEVs are sold in the numbers that ICE cars are now?

Now, I really would love a future where we could stick it to Shellexxomobil like they're been sticking it to us for years. But I don't see it happening that soon. In the meantime, I will be very happy that there will be cars like the CT5-V Blackwing, even if I can't afford that either. Automakers can just chalk any perceived backtracking to “Customer Demand.

The AE Song of the Week:

I got my driver's license last week
Just like we always talked about
'Cause you were so excited for me
To finally drive up to your house
But today I drove through the suburbs
Cryin' 'cause you weren't around

And you're probably with that blonde girl
Who always made me doubt
She's so much older than me
She's everything I'm insecure about
Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs
'Cause how could I ever love someone else?

And I know we weren't perfect but I've never felt this way for no one
And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone
Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me
'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

And all my friends are tired
Of hearing how much I miss you, but
I kinda feel sorry for them
'Cause they'll never know you the way that I do, yeah
Today I drove through the suburbs
And pictured I was driving home to you

And I know we weren't perfect
But I've never felt this way for no one, oh
And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone
I guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me
'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Red lights, stop signs
I still see your face in the white cars, front yards
Can't drive past the places we used to go to
'Cause I still fuckin' love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
Sidewalks we crossed
I still hear your voice in the traffic, we're laughing
Over all the noise
God, I'm so blue, know we're through
But I still fuckin' love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

I know we weren't perfect but I've never felt this way for no one
And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone
'Cause you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me
'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street
Yeah, you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

"Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo from the album "Sour" (2021).* Written by Daniel Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo. Publisher: Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind. Watch the Original Music Video here. 

*Olivia Rodrigo was known as an actress when she released her first single as a solo artist, "Drivers License," at age 17. She made her name in a couple of Disney series; her breakthrough role was Paige Olvera on Bizaardvark, and she then played Nini Salazar-Roberts on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (the Gabriella of the original show). Rodrigo recorded several songs for HSM: The Musical: The Series, including the hit single "All I Want," which she also wrote. Rodrigo signed with Geffen Records in 2020 and released "Drivers License" on January 8, 2021. With a memorable heartsore vocal and cathartic bridge, the song was an instant sensation, going straight to #1 in America and topping the charts in many other countries as well. On Spotify, it was the most-streamed song of 2021, with a global count of 1.1 billion. Rodrigo wrote the raw lyrics after breaking up with her boyfriend. The two used to talk about how excited they'd be when she passed her driving test and could drive to his home. Now she is aimlessly riding through the LA suburbs with her newly christened "driver's license," longing for her ex. "When I came up with 'drivers license,' I was going through a heartbreak that was so confusing to me, so multifaceted," Rodrigo explained. "Putting all those feelings into a song made everything seem so much simpler and clearer - and at the end of the day, I think that's really the whole purpose of songwriting. There's nothing like sitting at the piano in my bedroom and writing a really sad song. It's truly my favorite thing in the world." Did you spot the incorrect grammar in the title - the song name should read "Driver's License." Rodrigo admitted to Vogue the error was her bad. "Oh, my gosh. I definitely got that wrong," she said. "I also put a double negative in the song when I say, 'I've never felt this way for no one,' which is completely grammatically incorrect. The song is all over the place [laughs]."Rodrigo wrote the song with the track's producer Dan Nigro. (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts.com)

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