Is High End Audio Market in Recession?

[godofwealth]

I am very optimistic about America’s future ; the Canadian dollar might suffer a bit here in the near term.

I wish I could feel the same. I've been living in the US for 40 years, and have never felt more pessimistic about the future of this country. We are certainly living in the post-truth era.

 

[godofwealth]

If this report is true, Jaguar is toast. The chutzpah required to launch a whole line of EVs without a conventional power train back up and revenue stream is matched only by their advertising acumen.

I live fairly close to the main Tesla factory in Fremont, where my Model S was built, but > 90% of my neighbors drive enormous gas guzzling pickups and SUVs that must cost a fortune to refill and maintain. I've always wondered about what the price of gasoline needs to be for a true change to happen. Right now, gasoline can cost anywhere from $5-$7 in California. Let's say it costs $20, or even $50 a gallon. Would folks still drive large gas guzzlers? I suspect the diehards would still do so, perhaps take out a second mortgage so they can pay for gasoline. Ultimately, the economics of drilling for oil will the driving force behind change. The US has become the world's largest producer of oil, thanks to shale oil. Till that changes, EVs are a bit of an exotic item because the price of gasoline will be low enough for folks to continue doing what they have always done, and the parents and grandparents did. Humans change at glacially slow pace, unless they have no choice.

 

[Al M.]

Restaurant are down in Seattle. Food got crazy expensive here. A croissant and latte is $14.

Dinner out is pushing $120 with 2 glasses wine, no desert.

The hardest hit is junk food. A Chick-fil-A sandwich is $9. A pizza is $40 plus. Families are staying home. Rent, transportation and everything necessary eat your cash.

Restaurants in Massachusetts are doing well. Tourism in my hometown Salem is booming.

 

[Al M.]

We are certainly living in the post-truth era.

That is true.

 

[PeterA]

We are certainly living in the post-truth era.

I don’t really know what you mean by this. Are you suddenly not going to believe what you read on this forum or in the audio magazines? The latest is suddenly not the greatest?

 

[Republicoftexas69]

If this report is true, Jaguar is toast. The chutzpah required to launch a whole line of EVs without a conventional power train back up and revenue stream is matched only by their advertising acumen.

Tata, the parent company that owns Jag has the resources. I agree and it will be costly.

 

[Another Johnson]

I wish I could feel the same. I've been living in the US for 40 years, and have never felt more pessimistic about the future of this country. We are certainly living in the post-truth era.

In your neck of the woods I’m sure there are safe spaces being set up.

We don’t live in the post-truth era because that can only be the case if there were a truth era.

Many years ago I remember a political operative who declared “We disagree with the other side because we are working from a different set of facts.”

As Pontius Pilate asked “What is truth?”

We live in the Advertising & Idiocy (AI) age.

 

[Republicoftexas69]

I wish I could feel the same. I've been living in the US for 40 years, and have never felt more pessimistic about the future of this country. We are certainly living in the post-truth era.

Yawn.

 

[Republicoftexas69]

That is true.

Rubbish!

 

[Another Johnson]

Tata, the parent company that owns Jag has the resources. I agree and it will be costly.

They say copy nothing. But they’ve copied “the future” from the Bill & Ted adventure movies.

 

[Republicoftexas69]

I live fairly close to the main Tesla factory in Fremont, where my Model S was built, but > 90% of my neighbors drive enormous gas guzzling pickups and SUVs that must cost a fortune to refill and maintain. I've always wondered about what the price of gasoline needs to be for a true change to happen. Right now, gasoline can cost anywhere from $5-$7 in California. Let's say it costs $20, or even $50 a gallon. Would folks still drive large gas guzzlers? I suspect the diehards would still do so, perhaps take out a second mortgage so they can pay for gasoline. Ultimately, the economics of drilling for oil will the driving force behind change. The US has become the world's largest producer of oil, thanks to shale oil. Till that changes, EVs are a bit of an exotic item because the price of gasoline will be low enough for folks to continue doing what they have always done, and the parents and grandparents did. Humans change at glacially slow pace, unless they have no choice.

The plant Elon is closing.

 

[Kingrex]

I don’t really know what you mean by this. Are you suddenly not going to believe what you read on this forum or in the audio magazines? The latest is suddenly not the greatest?

I take everything I read here and in magazines with a grain of salt.

 

[godofwealth]

The plant Elon is closing.

He can’t afford to without bankrupting the company. It produces hundreds of thousands of EVs. He doesn’t like California but guess where his xAI is primarily hiring staff. The Bay Area. It’s the world headquarters for AI. As Elon has staked his future on AI and Tesla’s, he’s here permanently.

 

[Kingrex]

I wish I could feel the same. I've been living in the US for 40 years, and have never felt more pessimistic about the future of this country. We are certainly living in the post-truth era.

I wish we had a thumbs down. The USA is a fantastic country to live in. I feel quite the opposite.

 

[Another Johnson]

The plant Elon is closing.

California state management have said that they will continue the tax rebates from California’s income tax. We can’t do that here because we have no state income tax.

I filled up the tank on one of my hybrid vehicles yesterday… I paid $2.399/gal.

The official US government calculation of MPGe includes a factor of .15 in the denominator to “account for the benefit of EVs to the society.” For the math challenged, that means that MPGe figures are inflated by a factor greater than 6. The actual true well to wheels fuel consumption for EVs is greater than for conventional power trains. Even if you argue for nuclear power, honest accounting of the retirement of spent fuel makes it cost prohibitive.

 

[Republicoftexas69]

He can’t afford to without bankrupting the company. It produces hundreds of thousands of EVs. He doesn’t like California but guess where his xAI is primarily hiring staff. The Bay Area. It’s the world headquarters for AI. As Elon has staked his future on AI and Tesla’s, he’s here permanently.

You’re wrong they have been transitioning to Texas for 2 years. No point in arguing.

 

[godofwealth]

I wish we had a thumbs down. The USA is a fantastic country to live in. I feel quite the opposite.

Yes, I have much to thank this country for. I don’t want to diminish everything it has stood for through the last two centuries or more. But the future is what concerns me, not the past. The reasons are complex but certainly social networks have not made us happier. San Francisco is a poster child for what’s gone wrong. A few years ago I spent an entire week in a scientific meeting in Stockholm. The contrast with San Francisco could not be more striking. I walked a large part of Stockholm. In every respect it’s a much more livable city. Would you believe the mass transit system in San Francisco runs on floppy disk drives? This is the so called capital of high tech and AI. Infrastructure is crumbling. Big retailers are fleeing in droves. Ask anyone who lives in the city. It’s truly sad.

 

[godofwealth]

You’re wrong they have been transitioning to Texas for 2 years. No point in arguing.

Nope. He built another gigafactory in Texas. Just like in Berlin. He doesn’t close one to build another. He’d quickly be out of business. His biggest challenge is scaling. He needs more plants. He cannot afford to close a single one. California remains one of world’s largest EV markets. Besides you don’t understand how AI figures in his plans. It’s at the core of everything he wants to achieve.

 

[Republicoftexas69]

Nope. He built another gigafactory in Texas. Just like in Berlin. He doesn’t close one to build another. He’d quickly be out of business. His biggest challenge is scaling. He needs more plants. He cannot afford to close a single one. California remains one of world’s largest EV markets. Besides you don’t understand how AI figures in his plans. It’s at the core of everything he wants to achieve.

Sure okay. So now back to your local Audio Discussions.

 

[Another Johnson]

Yes, I have much to thank this country for. I don’t want to diminish everything it has stood for through the last two centuries or more. But the future is what concerns me, not the past. The reasons are complex but certainly social networks have not made us happier. San Francisco is a poster child for what’s gone wrong. A few years ago I spent an entire week in a scientific meeting in Stockholm. The contrast with San Francisco could not be more striking. I walked a large part of Stockholm. In every respect it’s a much more livable city. Would you believe the mass transit system in San Francisco runs on floppy disk drives? This is the so called capital of high tech and AI. Infrastructure is crumbling. Big retailers are fleeing in droves. Ask anyone who lives in the city. It’s truly sad.

This is why people are optimistic. San Francisco values are being replaced in time to keep the cancer from spreading.