Episode 30 – Essentially Distant

Throwin’ Wrenches – Episode 30

Welcome to the Auto Podcast that is hosted by “essential employees”
Daryl and Eric had a full week of work… Because we are essential! While navigating friends, family and kids all running amok with the social distancing orders that Illinois put into place last weekend, it made it hard to get time for a show. In the meantime, we are still working on the catchphrase. One will stick sooner or later.

We know that Eric sometimes “phones it in” when we do the show… But that is literally what he did in this episode. Social distancing has left us in a position with both of our occupations and family occupations that it was not the wisest choice to hang out face-to-face for a few hours and record this episode. Hopefully, this is the last time we do this!

Lets just say that Eric’s house is technology challenged!

Sponsors:

CASEY LAW Office. CLOpeoria.com

Fort’s Toyota of Pekin. www.toyota-pekin.com

PATREON – Who knows what Daryl and I talk about before a show? You will if you are a Patreon subscriber! Thanks to this week’s honored subscriber, Keith Sawyer. Swag is in the mail! We swear! Want to help the show? Click here

Feedback

Joel says have an “Anti” rally… A Prius and set fuel readings

Jason asked if we are still alive… Yeah, we are getting through this! Thanks for asking!!!

WE NEED REVIEWS! iTunes… Wherever! Get a sticker!

Projects

Eric

  • Lost my spring break
  • Tailgate fail while removing the daughter from SIU
  • Wheeling events cancelled. Autocross cancelled.
  • PIP and the supra wrap

Daryl

  • New Sabre mower

Headlines

TWISM (This week in Social Media)

Central Illinois Automotive Cars and coffee is cancelled!!! As was Friday Night lights as of tonight. Chris Hruby and the rest of the team are doing what they have to, and we know its tough to tell a couple of thousand car freaks with varying degrees of belief in the current situation that they can’t get out for the first meetup of spring! We are bummed along with all of you guys!

International

Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford will defer 100 percent of his salary for at least the next five months and other top executives will defer up to half of their pay as the automaker looks to conserve cash amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said CEO Jim Hackett, COO Jim Farley and CFO Tim Stone will defer 50 percent of their salaries, effective May 1.
Source: Automotive News

China’s Passenger Car Sales Fall 80% in February on Coronavirus Epidemic

Passenger car retail sales in China, the world’s biggest auto market, fell 80% in February because of the coronavirus epidemic, one of the country’s industry associations said on Wednesday. The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said in a statement that China’s overall passenger car sales dropped 80%, without giving a full sales figure for the month.

Source: Reuters

National

Ford Motor, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. on Thursday updated plans to resume North American light-vehicle output.

Ford Motor Co. will restart production at some of the idled North American plants in early April. Toyota, citing a decline in vehicle demand, said it will extend the shutdown of all light-vehicle and components plants in North America, including Canada and Mexico, through April 17, with output to resume April 20.
Source: Automotive News
Forecasters expect a decent increase in U.S. auto sales in February — up around 6% vs. February 2019 — but that’s due largely to the fact that 2020 is a Leap Year. That contributes an extra day’s worth of sales for the month, and it also happens to fall on a weekend at the tail end of the month to boot, a prime day for auto sales, on Saturday, Feb. 29. Auto sales usually peak at the end of every month, as dealerships try to hit their monthly sales targets.
Source: Forbes

I cut this one short… When we first made this doc after the last episode, it seemed kinda comical that “Leap Year” was an economic boon… Unfortunately, that was short-lived as March moved on! Eric

Waymo Halts All Automated Ride, Delivery And Trucking Services Over Coronavirus Concerns
Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving tech unit, is shutting down all its automated ride, delivery and trucking services in Arizona until at least next month amid widespread moves by U.S. states and cities to keep more people at home to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision comes after the Mountain View, California-based company earlier this week halted rides in its on-demand Waymo One service in metro Phoenix with human backup drivers behind the wheel. At the time it said that fully automated rides, without humans in the front, would continue, along with robotic delivery vans and trucks.
“As we continue to closely monitor the evolving COVID-19 situation, we’re suspending all of our Waymo One rider services in Arizona until April 7th, including our service with trained drivers and our fully driverless operations within the early rider program,” the company said. “All driving operations in other locations also remain suspended for now, along with local delivery and truck testing.”

Source: Forbes

Keep on Trucking!

Items are flying off the shelves in many stores. There are teams of people behind the scenes that are working around the clock to get those products back in stock.
Truck Drivers are one of the industries that are seeing big impacts, that can’t stop. Despite the even higher demand for the products in trucks. drivers are going up against conditions that make it much harder for them to do their job.
The main impact is drivers not able to get food or use the bathroom. A number of rest areas and restaurants are not open. Truck drivers are also not able to pull the truck through a drive-through limiting the options for food.
But despite the closures of other things- they must get to their destinations to deliver their goods.

Source: WSET.com

Why Annual Pickup Truck Sales Have More Than Doubled Over The Last Decade
Big pickup truck deliveries swelled by 123 percent since 2009, according to the automotive information company Edmunds’ annual Truck Report. They reached a 14-year high in 2019 and accounted for 14.5 percent of all new-vehicle sales. Demand is so strong, both General Motors and Fiat-Chrysler continued to build and successfully sell previous-generation versions of their redesigned Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, and Ram 1500 pickups for 2019 (the Ram 1500 “Classic” remains in production for 2020). Edmunds attributes this surge largely to a reliably strong economy, affordable gasoline prices, and low-interest rates, along with an explosion of technology, luxury, and safety features being offered.
Source: Forbes

Local

Dunlap Teachers Bring ‘Royal Road Rally’ To The Students
Staff of Dunlap Grade School found a way to connect with students Monday.
They formed a vehicle caravan and snaked through the Village of Dunlap and the Copperfield, Timberbrook, and Wyndridge subdivisions.
Dubbed the “Royal Road Rally,” staff waved as dozens drove through the Copperfield subdivision just after 11 a.m. Some vehicles had signs that said, “We miss you.” One passenger banged wooden drum sticks on an over-sized stainless steel bowl.
Nearly every car horn honked. In a Facebook message announcing the rally, staff encouraged parents and students to go outside and wave from their driveways and sidewalks as the caravan passed.

Source: WCBU Radio Peoria

Moment of Musk

Elon is making masks and supplies for the medical front lines… But we talk a little about that stock price. Where is that sucker going after the Coronavirus leaves? Any ideas?

Riff Zone

(No hate this week, just advice from Daryl)
Daryl made a list of things you can do in your garage or around the house while you are in social isolation… watch for the full post on these in a few days.

Cars of the WEAK! – CANCELLED

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