Posts by: Eddie Mejia

Tesla Model 3 and the Bolt in its Plans

The day the automotive world has been waiting for came and went, Tesla Motors revealed their highly anticipated Model 3. There were two mentalities of anticipation, either you are on team Tesla is going to save the world, or ruin my business. Obviously the oil industry, has vested interest in the Model 3’s flopping. They wanted the range to be under 200 miles so the anxiety would hinder sales. Un

Apple: Autonomous Driving Data and Didi Chuxing

Recently, Apple Inc. invested $1 Billion into an Uber competitor in China; Didi Chuxing. On the surface that is a rather uninteresting story. However, there are a number of details, that give the story more color, and allow onlookers to cast conjectures as to what Apple’s intentions are. The key detail that opens the story up to speculations is that fact that Didi Chuxing by no means needs $1 bil

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Courts Google

The most consistent criticism against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has been that they are behinds the times, in terms of automotive technology. That is actually a valid argument. Sergio Marchionne has prioritized quantity over quality in order to get Fiat Chrysler Automobiles back onto clear waters. That technique is not unique to FCA. Countless automakers employed that exact same mass product

Mitsubishi Motors and Hyundai Kia: Regarding Mileage

After coasting under the radar for quite awhile, Mitsubishi Motors has made a grand rise to the worst kind of prominence. They (and pretty much anyone else) would much preferred obscurity to impropriety exposure. Regrettably, for the Japanese automaker; the mileage scandal could not have been more nonfortuitously timed for Mitsubishi Motors. The South Korean automaking super duo; Hyundai and Kia;

Mitsubishi Motors and the System

Mitsubishi Motors has seen better days… namely the days in which it was so monumental a company, that it was broken up by the US after World War II. What started as a shipping company in 1873 had vertically integrated itself into a rather tall corporation in a short 20 years. By the second World War, Mitsubishi Group was almost a space elevator. What was once one giant company, is now a more mass

Marchionne Risks It All on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Sergio Marchionne has taken audacious actions in order to revamp Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Everytime he has taken the helm of a normal automaker (as opposed to the fabled Ferrari s.P.a (now N.V.)), bankrupt or heading towards it. Now, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Marchionne started with Fiat, in 2003. When he got a hold of it, it was far from even faltering

The United States Congress Acts Slow on FAST Act

Earlier last year, President Barack Obama, proposed a $478 Million injection into America’s aging infrastructure, The Fixing America’s Surface Infrastructure Act (FAST). The 2015 FAST Act was passed by the United States Congress with overwhelming support from both sides of the fence. It was enacted by a 359-65 and 83-16 votes in the House of Representatives and Senate respectively, but only after

How Volkswagen Changed Everything

Before the Volkswagen scandal, people could really care less about any recalls. There were dozens of recalls that preceded the diesel scandal that were a blip on the American radar at best. That all changed when Volkswagen admitted wrongdoing to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and everyone else in the world. After the company acknowledged the charges, they lost a quarter of their stock

Learning to Drive: Double Standard

This is not true of the whole world, but the amount of ‘learning’ necessary to be allowed on the streets is dreadful. In the US, all that is necessary is test of common sense and a demonstrated aptitude of deciphering street signs. The only real learning necessary is how to appease the proctor in a 15 minute drive The driving test itself is about as close to a literal walk in the park as is possi

The Avatar Effect: Why Drivers Suck

What I call the Avatar effect plays a pervasive (if unconscious) role on the road. Basically, it comes down to moral hazard: people are more likely to take risks when they feel they are shielded from the consequences of their actions. Especially when they feel detached from danger via avatars or proxies. Like Jake Sully (the crippled main character of Avatar), who uses a super expensive Na’vi hu