We’ve talked cleanliness and staying safe til the cows come home (have they arrived home yet, did we even have space for cows in the first place?). This is BIG news in our current climate, but it’s always been to be honest. Who isn’t concerned with germs? Granted, we’re now freaked the BLANK out, but we’ve always been wary so while the present moment does present some challenges, there are a handful of manufacturers that spoke with the renowned publication, Roadshow from CNET surrounding their sales offers and what can be had during these odd times.

Fiat Chrysler

FCA is jumping headfirst into home delivery, allowing potential customers to peruse cars online via a super interactive 360-degree experience. Dealers then virtually connect and handle all the financing questions and cumbersome paperwork via the Internet or over the phone. If you already have a FCA ride some dealers are even offering pick-up and drop-off oil [...]

Warren Buffet picks winners. He’s been doing this all his life. He’s an older gentleman now and yet still regarded as the savviest investor on the planet. How does he do it? Well, as a loyal reader we’re going to reveal Mr. Buffet’s secret to you. Get close to your screen, closer, put the Corona Light down, and now listen up … Buffet’s secret is … he’s not you. There you have it, when most people bet on A, Buffet bets on B. It’s not that you can’t bet on B. You could, but most of Buffet’s investments are light years ahead of everyone else, and that’s his secret. He’s not you (nor us)! And while he doesn’t always strike gold, he does enough which makes him a very wealthy man.

Twelve years ago Buffest invested $230 million in a Chinese auto company with aspirations to sell electric cars. That company is BYD and [...]

You know what’s been going bonkers nowadays? Virtual tours, that’s what. Virtual experiences in general, everything from virtual 3D rooms, playing sports virtually to attending a virtual opera. We can’t leave the house, but the Internet is still pretty cool and we’re taking advantage like never before.

The auto world is right there with the rest of them, offering not only exceptional deals and ways to buy online, but also experiencing cars in ways that one might not have had the opportunity to do so unless a virtual tour was in play. Take the Petersen Automotive Museum for example. A Los Angeles staple with a rich history, Petersen has announced a series of live-streamed tours of its 60,000-square-foot vault with over 250 cars. Interest is through the roof, where over an hour-long vault tour, folks are guided through a highly interactive journey where questions can be submitted and tour guides answering them post tour. [...]

Alex Chesterman is not a household name. Not like Bill Gates or LeBron James for that matter. But we would argue Alex Chesterman should be a household name as he has accomplished some impressive feats, namely founding one of the leading virtual car buying experiences we currently count on. Cazoo, Mr. Chesterman’s baby, is a used car buying and selling platform based out of the U.K. Like Vroom or Beepi, Cazoo buys used cars and the re-sells them online. They are delivered to your door and many times not even a handshake between humans has been exchanged.

As of September of last year Cazoo’s valuation was in the $220 million range. Growth has been swift and several analysts feel they might be approaching the mid $300 million mark by now. In a coronavirus world, not having human contact is welcomed, with open (virtual) arms! The spread of the virus has put a deep freeze [...]

If you haven’t seen the drone coverage of San Francisco on YouTube, we highly recommend it. Watching it, one gets the sense this is what cities look like on holidays, days perhaps like Thanksgiving when we’re all at home. But then it hits you like a ton of bricks – there is nobody in the streets, not a soul. Well, that’s a small lie, there were a couple folks, but not even on Thanksgiving would you see such an absence of humanity out and about. This is eerie for us all, and some in the auto sector feel this is just a harbinger of things to come.

City planners have long been conspiring to wrestle away space from cars and pass it over to pedestrians and cyclists. We’re not going to enter into the merits of this, after all, we’re a car blog, and as such, like cars! The argument for less space is [...]

The one area of a car that gets talked about infrequently (way too infrequently) are the tires. We take them for granted, tires that is. The reason why is they’re not the most attractive, typically the dirtiest part of your car, and there isn’t much you can do with them. It’s not like your infotainment system for example, or even tinkering on the engine. Tires are well … pieces of rubber that don’t stimulate much thought. But they should, oh they should …

Tires are vital to the performance of our cars. A bad set can not only spell disaster for the overall car as a unit, but they can also result in extreme accidents or worse, death. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration knows a thing or two about this issue, where just three years ago 738 people in the U.S. died from tire-related crashes. That number is likely approaching the [...]

These days the main thing on most people’s minds is, “how can I get somewhere where there’s no people!” It’s the principal reason why many national parks are seeing their most traffic in years. People understand they need to self-isolate, but it’s not easy, we can all attest to that. There are many reasons to advise against taking the family on an extended camping trip, however. Yes, self-isolation would be achieved (assuming you don’t choose the same campground as 1,000 other families), but should medical attention be needed, you’re out in the wild and that is not a strategic position to be in.

Regardless, store this post away for our post-coronavirus days because what we’re going to run down is super interesting. Rooftop tents on cars is a relatively new genre that was born out of the Australian Outback. The great thing about employing your car in this camping adventure is you [...]

The automotive market in Asia is a monster. And we’re not just talking Asian brands. As we know with this crisis nearly every manufacturer in the world has a factory or many in Asia, with China being the preferred destination for most. To enter China a foreign manufacturer needs to first align themselves with a Chinese counterpart. This Chinese counterpart will have a name, like any other business, but these companies are frequently owned by the state. For example, in 2018 Ford and a company known as Baidu launched a partnership to begin testing autonomous cars. Jaguar Land Rover engages in a joint venture with Chery and there are still rumors that the two are in talks to create a new model. BMW and Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings have been in advanced talks to manufacture nearly half a million cars but that has understandably been placed on hold. And lastly, Volvo, has been owned [...]

In Part I we gave you the quick and dirty of what’s going on in terms of the effect coronavirus and the shut-down is having on the auto sector. So now that we’ve set the scene, the next pending (and ever-present) question with everyone is the relative safety of buying a car (or anything for that matter) during these times. It’s a timely question, and again perhaps won’t even be an issue by the time you’re reading this, but right now, it certainly is.

Yes, if you choose to buy a car you will likely (not in all cases) need to physically go somewhere to pick up said new or used car. Although we did report last year of someone in Mexico City buying a VW completely online, no test drive, no nothing, and the car was delivered to his doorstep in a giant box with a bow. Nice touch, right? So, that’s [...]

One thing is for sure. We have a whole lot more time to read now than we ever did. When all this is said and done (it will be, don’t fall into the doomsday talk, very smart people are working on the medical side of this and will eventually sort it out) and our lives are back to normal, we’ll look back on these past months with some valuable lessons learned to prepare us (and our younger generations) for their future.

But let’s talk coronavirus and where the auto sector stands with all this. As we know by now, business has slowed to a crawl. Many car dealerships are no longer open and Hyundai (at the time of this piece) is considering a worldwide closure as is Toyota and Fiat Chrysler. Shocking, yes, but now some are beginning to ask, “are there some deals to be had, here?” The short answer, yes. For [...]