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iamrichardwinter · 5 years ago

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Review: The Kia XCeed

Some days, during lockdown, I imagine a time when I would sit at my work desk and fly through the days ‘To Do’ list. On the day I’m imagining, the sun is bright, glinting off the new cars. The staff are laughing with the steady stream of customers, the scent of fresh coffee wafts on the breeze, and there is the regular jingle of keys as they pass from hands of the service department to their awaiting owners.

Something catches my attention in the periphery of my vision; a customer pushes through the tall glass doors of Leslies Motors. They have walked straight past the pre-owned vehicles on the forecourt, so I can safely assume they’re after something new. They haven’t walked directly to one model, instead they browse the variety that the brand has to offer.

One of my colleagues walks up to the customer, offers his hand, and after a succinct and professional introduction asks a question that gets straight to the heart of the matter; “So, what are you looking for in a new car?”

Invariably the response is; “well, I’m not sure. But, I want something higher up”. And there it is - I’m waiting to have ‘showroom bingo’ cards made with this response printed on.

I’m not making sense, am I? What am I talking about?

“SUV” is apparently a dirty word. This imaginary customer wants to buy into the UK & Europe’s new love of Crossovers, and they don’t want to admit it.

The moment you point at the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Kona, Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, Mazda CX-5, or any of the numerous SUV’s now available, the customer says, “ah yes, that’s just what I’m looking for!”

Europe loves SUV’s. It’s not a bad thing. They are comfortable, practical, well built, and generally loaded with the latest features. And Kia’s newest offering is just that, and a whole lot more.

Allow me to introduce, the Kia XCeed.

Looks: The name Kia Ceed may seem familiar. Years ago Top Gear used the Kia Ceed as the “Star In The Reasonably Priced Car” feature. There, the penny’s dropped hasn’t it? It was an entirely different car back then, the new Kia Ceed was launched in 2018, and has quickly become a favourite amongst critics looking for an alternative to the VW Golf or the Ford Focus.

Since then, Kia have made an Estate [Kia Ceed Sportswagon], a sporty Shooting Brake [Kia ProCeed], and most recently a Crossover SUV [Kia XCeed].

The XCeed is longer than the Hatchback it is based on, and sits at a higher ride height. It features rugged SUV-style protection, roof rails, and a front bumper similar to its SUV kin; the Kia Stonic & Sportage.

Interior: The XCeed, and it’s Ceed based brethren, all received Kia’s new 10.25” touchscreen display. When you sit inside, it feels like the cabin has been based around this connectivity suite. It’s not just a feature, it’s a highlight.

The software has been a Kia strength for a long time. The displays are instinctively user friendly, and this new screen has taken that a step further. It features Android Auto & Applce CarPlay as standard, and can be splitscreen - to show the Satellite Navigation, DAB Radio, and Apps at the same time - or widescreen, to show a huge Sat-Nav or Reversing Camera.

The ‘3’ receives a semi-leather interior with Heated Seats, and the ‘First Edition’ launch special adds a full leather interior with Heated & Ventilated Seats. As well as a Sliding Panoramic-Glass Roof, making the elegant interior appear larger than it appears.

Engines: The XCeed uses the most popular turbo-charged Kia engines. A growling 1.0T with more than adequate pace, and a smooth four-cylinder 1.4T. But, what’s exciting about the new XCeed is that it’s be the first Kia to get the new Plug-In Hybrid drive train, since the electric-specific Kia Niro. Kia claims the new XCeed PHEV offers an almost unbelievable 202 miles per gallon (WLTP).

This 1.6 Petrol engine is paired to a battery with roughly 40-mile range. That may not sound a lot, but I’ve been using a Plug-In Hybrid recently, and hear me out; in reality I only need to charge once or twice a week, often while I’m sat at work. During the week I won’t use a drop of fuel, as I’m running entirely on electric power. Then, at the weekend if take a longer journey, it drives like a regular Hybrid, and can be topped up with petrol on the go – no need to wait hours for a charging station. It’s the best of both worlds.

The six-speed DCT gearbox is supremely smooth, and in electric mode the XCeed is practically silent. This has taken Kia’s already good car to new levels. The PHEV version offers a refinement that premium models wish they could offer in this price category.

The Competition: When it comes to Crossovers and SUV’s on the market, you are spoiled for choice. But how many offer a Plug-In Hybrid option?

In looks you may compare it to the new Audi Q3 Sportback, with its sleek rear end. But this isn’t hybrid, not even close. The Q3’s bigger brother, the Q5, is. However, at £50,000 plus change, vs Kia’s £30,000, customers are unlikely to be comparing these two.

BMW has a smaller and more affordable option; the X1 PHEV. At £38,200 the BMW is rouhgly in the same ballpark, but when comparing features of the X1 PHEV ‘Sport’ leaves a lot to the imagination compared to the Kia’s top-of-the-range ‘First Edition’. The XCeed features a Sliding Glass Panoramic Roof, Power Boot Hatch, Full Leather interior with Heath & Ventilated Seats, and a futuristic 12” digital dashboard. So, it’s the driver’s choice; for the excitement you’ll pick the BMW’s XDrive25e engine, but if you’re leaning towards family value, with features often only found in premium brand’s, you’ll pick the Kia.

The real battle will once again be between Kia and Ford. The new Kuga offers a PHEV which is competitively priced and offers plenty of kit. The blue oval will test Kia’s value, but not it’s comprehensive seven-year warranty. The Ford is larger, and what you gain in size, you lose on interior design. But that is subjective, and to some the Ford’s utilitarian interior may appeal.

The other choice? Kia. Walk into a Kia dealership and you currently have a choice between two Plug-In Hybrid Crossover SUV’s. The same engine, motor, battery pack, seven-year warranty, and features, are all available in the previous mentioned Kia Niro PHEV, and for a similar price.

Business User:

The XCeed is destined to be hot property with Business Users. It’s satisfyingly snug on longer journeys, has space for all the family, and sits as comfortably in the corners as it’s hatchback brother.

The PHEV is going to be the Business Users first choice. While the initial price maybe more, you’ll end up paying less in company car tax thanks to the low BIK (read: low emissions). So, you’ll have better fuel economy, a longer range, a smooth electric drive, and less to pay each month from your wages. It will mean a small change in lifestyle, for a big financial gain.

Chances are you’ll choose to lease, and run as an asset off balance sheet, or finance on Kia’s new 0% PCP*.

Island User:

The Garden Isle is an apt name for our green and pleasant land. The ferry port cities across the water suffer with some of the most polluted air in the country, but thanks to the Solent we’re not party to it. The Kia XCeed as a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle ensures that Island families can still go out into the great outdoors with their bikes, scooters, and surf boards, and rest safe in the knowledge that the emissions are significantly less that what they had been previously driving.

The additional boot space and roof rails of the Kia XCeed add practical features to and already beloved hatchback. It comes standard with the latest Kia safety features, including ‘Lane Keep Assist’, Driver Attention Warnings, Forward Collision Avoidence, Hill-Start Assitance, as well as the usual ABS, Tyre Pressure Monitor, and Intelligent Cruise Control.

Compared to other Hybrid rivals, the Kia XCeed makes a real case for itself thanks to its features, value, and the reassurance of Kia’s industry leading seven-year warranty.

Choices:

The Value Choice: Kia XCeed ‘2’ 1.0T Manual

The Range Topper: Kia XCeed ‘First Edition’ 1.6 PHEV Automatic

Leslies Motors Favourite: Kia XCeed ‘3’ 1.6 PHEV Automatic

Verdict:

The design is going to polarise people. Either you love the looks of the XCeed or you don’t.

When I had two XCeed ‘3’ in white sat on the forecourt waiting to be collected by their new owners, I had the whole service team begging me to organise an offer for them.

For most buyers, the 1.0T is going to be ideal on the Island. The 1.4T offers a little more refinement on longer journeys. But for business users, or those wishing for a serenely smooth electric ride, the PHEV is going to be first pick. Thanks to its low emissions and tax benefits. The interior is going to offer a wow-factor to your passengers, not often seen in this price range and you’ll be back by Kia’s legendary warranty, and the offer of 0% finance*.

The only tough question, is how to place your order while we’re all locked in.

*Offer advertised to end: 30th June.

#kia #car #cars #hybrid #hybrid car #hybrid cars #ev #phev #plugin #plug-in hybrid #plugin hybrid #plug in hybrid

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toyotaoforlando · 5 years ago

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New Toyota Vehicle Updates

As you know, Toyota is constantly releasing new vehicles and technology, and in Toyota of Orlando it’s our job to make sure our customers are always in the loop. New Toyotas are in the works and at our dealership it never gets boring because there’s a new Toyota to look forward to every week. To make things easier for our Orlando Toyota customers, we’ve collected the latest news headlines on new Toyotas. Check it out!

New Toyota Convertible

Orlando Toyota SUVs have had a rise in popularity throughout the years and why wouldn’t it? Spacious and comfortable is a combination everyone loves. Nevertheless, a new compact convertible will be making its way to the auto world and we’re sure that our customers will love this just as much! The Toyota Copen GR is an all new key car that will features a 3 cylinder engine that outputs 63hp and 68 lb/ft of torque.

Plug in the New Toyota RAV4

There’s been an update on the hybrid version of the Orlando Toyota RAV4. It will now be a plug in! The hybrid RAV4 already has awesome fuel efficiency and extra horsepower over its internal combustion counterparts. In addition to being electric, there will also be new paint color options—one of them including Supersonic Red.

Compact Battery Electric Powered Toyota

This very compact car will be seen for the first time at the Tokyo Auto Show next month. It’ll be powered via battery and designed to commute short distances. The target market is actually the older Japanese population that doesn’t really drive long distances. It can travel 62 miles on a single charge and can reach a top speed of 37 mph.

Unfortunately we won’t be seeing these vehicle on our lot when they come out. They’ll be available in Japan. But we do have a wide variety of options available for you s we speak! Stop by Toyota of Orlando today at 3575 Vineland just off I-4 near the Millenia Mall.

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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You'll like the 2021 Toyota RAV4 but probably not love it

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/youll-like-the-2021-toyota-rav4-but-probably-not-love-it/

You'll like the 2021 Toyota RAV4 but probably not love it

The RAV4 is a sharp looking small SUV.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

The 2021 Toyota RAV4 is a lot like that one friend everyone seems to have: always there to lend a hand, provide a shoulder to cry on or show up at a moment’s notice if you find yourself in hot water at 2:00 a.m. in Tijuana. No, the RAV4 doesn’t really lead the compact SUV class in any one area, but it’s well rounded, perfectly capable and ready to serve.

Attractive interior design

Standard driver aids

Added capability

Don’t Like

So-so infotainment system

Gritty reversing camera

Grumbling engine

Offering drivers plenty of choice, three basic flavors of RAV4 are available. There’s the standard model, an economical hybrid and then the RAV4 Prime, the plug-in hybrid variant with up to 42 miles of electric-only range. The example seen here is the most rugged of the bunch, the TRD Off-Road, which features a non-hybrid drivetrain and some additional features to make it perform better out on the trail.

For 2021, the TRD Off-Road model gains a swanky stainless-steel front skid plate, a first for the RAV4. This should help shield some of its delicates while thrashing around in the dirt. This Toyota’s body is supported by a uniquely tuned suspension, which features racy-looking red springs that supposedly provide better small-bump isolation on rough roads. This vehicle also boasts re-valved twin-tube shock absorbers for better body control over large surface irregularities. Providing and extra helping of traction is a set of Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail all-terrain tires mounted to 18-inch TRD wheels. These rubbers look super aggressive but are surprisingly agreeable. Indeed, the TRD Off-Road’s suspension tuning is totally livable, providing an impressively smooth on-pavement ride with little tire noise. If towing is your thing, this RAV4 can drag up to 3,500 pounds, enough for a couple snowmobiles or a small trailer.

My tester is also fitted with what have to be the most useless running boards in automotive history. The RAV4 sits low enough that they’re completely unnecessary. Making matters worse, these things are sure to get in the way while off-roading, plus they stick out far enough to streak your pant legs with whatever slop you last drove through. But here’s the kicker: All this added inconvenience costs an extra $549.

Get past those optional running boards and you’ll find this SUV’s interior is well built and the overall design is easy on the eyes, without any frou-frou add-ons or unnecessary sculpting. Mazda’s CX-5 is clearly more upscale and the Honda CR-V’s cabin is nicer, too, but there’s no shortage of soft materials in this Toyota and I love the racy-looking red stitching that runs across the dashboard, door panels and seats. This is complemented by crimson accents around the cup holders and available wireless charging plate as well as on the rubber floor mats.

The 2021 Toyota RAV4’s interior is handsome and functional.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

An 8-inch touchscreen is perched on the dashboard where it’s easy to reach and see (lower trims feature a 7-incher). Unfortunately, this display is home to an outdated infotainment system that’s challenging to use and rather unattractive. But hey, at least Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Amazon Alexa are all supported. I appreciate the rubbery temperature- and audio-control knobs, which feel great in my hands, but some of the other HVAC buttons are a bit too small to easily see while driving. Beyond all that, this RAV4 also features the $1,620 Premium Audio package, which includes an 11-speaker JBL sound system, embedded navigation and a few other goodies.

As in other Toyotas, the RAV4’s back-up camera is poor, providing a low-resolution image of what’s behind you. The $1,950 TRD Off-Road Technology Package includes a 360-degree camera system, which is helpful, but just as gritty looking. This options group contains other goodies, too, like a digital rear-view mirror, parking sensors, a wireless charging plate and more, so it is worth the extra outlay even if the camera system is merely so-so.

The RAV4’s front chairs are supportive and comfortable, helping provide a good view of the road ahead. This SUV’s backseat is also spacious, with plenty of room for knees and noggins, though the rear cushion is just a tad too low for it to be totally accommodating. Also, the back door openings are narrow, so it can be challenging to access the rear accommodations.

This Toyota’s four-cylinder engine works surprisingly well, even if it’s a bit noisy while working.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

This example’s wide, power-opening hatch makes it a snap to access the cargo hold, which provides 37.5 cubic-feet of storage space behind the rear backrests or 69.8 cubes with them folded down. That’s more space than you get in a CX-5 or Ford Escape, but those scores do fall slightly behind the capacious CR-V.

The RAV4 is propelled by a familiar drivetrain, one used to great advantage throughout Toyota’s automotive empire. Nestled between this SUV’s front fenders is a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder that delivers a reasonable 203 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. The engine is backed by an eight-speed automatic transmission that is, for the most part, quick-witted and smooth, though occasionally gearchanges can feel a bit uneven. The performance this powertrain delivers is perfectly fine; unladen, the RAV4 has no trouble getting up to highway speed. Really, I have no complaints about this SUV’s get-up-and-go, rather, I’m not a huge fan of its refinement. The engine is gruff sounding when on the boil and sometimes you feel uncouth vibrations.

But hey, at least the RAV4 is efficient. TRD Off-Road models come with torque-vectoring all-wheel drive, a feature that should make them reasonably capable little mountain goats. Despite the added weight and friction of four-corner traction, this SUV is rated at 25 mpg city, 32 mpg highway and 28 mpg combined. In mixed (though mostly highway) driving, I’m averaging about 31.5 mpg, which is, frankly, stellar for a vehicle this tall fitted with such aggressive tires.

The infotainment system is one of the RAV4’s biggest weaknesses.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

At interstate speeds a bit of wind noise makes its presence known, but this is hardly objectionable. The RAV4’s ride is mostly supple and the brake pedal feels good beneath your tootsies. This vehicle’s steering is crisp and quick, but a tad too light for my taste and the wheel’s rim is almost dainty its cross-section is so small.

Helping keep the RAV4 shiny side up, Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 is standard fare on every 2021 model. This suite of driver aids includes lane-departure warning, automatic high beams, road-sign recognition and more. The headline features, though, are adaptive cruise control and lane centering. Together, these two amenities make long highway drives a breeze, keeping the vehicle from wandering and effortlessly matching the speed of surrounding traffic.

Keeping pace with rival SUVs, an entry-level, front-drive 2021 Toyota RAV4 starts at 27 grand and change including $1,175 in destination fees. As it sits, the loaded TRD Off-Road model seen here checks out for $42,622. That figure includes a number of options like the Off-Road Weather Package ($1,015), the Premium Audio options group ($1,620), the TRD Off-Road tech pack ($1,950), door sill guards ($140), mud flaps ($129) and, yes, those silly running boards ($549).

Well, what do you think of the 2021 Toyota RAV4?

Craig Cole/Roadshow

With added capability and commendable refinement, the RAV4 TRD Off-Road is a likable SUV. I still prefer the CX-5, which feels much more premium and I think the CR-V is probably a bit more sensible, but as always, the ever-popular RAV4 remains an excellent choice.

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scorpio0930 · 4 years ago

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4 fast facts regarding the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid

The policeman quit where I was parked on the sidewalk before one of Chicago's spots destinations. I rushed to obtain one last image of the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid, and informed them I would certainly get on my way.

" Is that the electric one?" One police officer asked.

I clarified it was a plug-in hybrid with a gas engine and 2 electrical motors. " So it's electric?" the other police officer asked, leaving his cars and truck. You could connect it in for electric power or fill it up for gas power, I stated.

" It's nice," he said, and also followed me on a walk around. "I got the 2019 gas version. Love it."

He is not the only one. A hit for 25 years, the Toyota RAV4[ rav4 aftermarket accessories]crossover SUV is the very successful guest lorry that is not a truck in the U.S. It also comes as a hybrid, and the RAV4 Hybrid's EPA-rated 40 mpg integrated aided it to become the very popular crossbreed in 2019, quickly outselling the Toyota Prius.

But the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid is the new celebrity in Toyota's household and ought to shine brilliant for shoppers seeking a reliable crossover SUV with a lot of electric variety for the commute.

One of the most effective as well as most reliable RAV4 crossover SUV to day bridges the void between gas and electric automobiles and gives the most effective of both worlds.

I spent a weekend driving a very early XSE model around the collar counties of Chicago, on the interstates, with the suburban areas, as well as quit and also enter city streets. Right here's where it radiated one of the most. Practical variety

The big 18.1-kwh battery pack in the 2021 RAV4 Prime supplies approximately 42 miles of all-electric variety, great for a lot of commutes. It charged from no to full in my garage on a typical 120-volt Air Conditioner electrical outlet overnight, or after about 12 hrs. There's no requirement to install a 240-volt Level 2 charger in your garage, however if you do, it can charge to full in just 4.5 hrs with a 3.3-kw onboard charger; the offered 6.6-kw battery charger will reduce that time to 2.5 hrs, according to Environment-friendly Auto Reports.

The only understanding curve is to keep in mind to plug it in, which I failed to remember to do, and drove the next day on gas and guilt.

Functionally, its effectiveness relies on the driving problems. A seven-mile tour through Chicago ate nine miles of variety. Hefty on the throttle, running the air conditioner, surpassing interstate speed limits will decrease efficiency, like a gas engine. In EV mode, speed is topped at 84 mph. On a common trip toting family equipment as well as totaling 97 miles at a typical speed of 34 miles per hour, I utilized all 35 miles of electric range that stayed from the previous drive for an efficiency of 3.1 miles per kwh, which is near top of the class for plug-in hybrids as well as electric automobiles. Rephrase, the RAV4 Prime gets the equivalent of 94 mpg working on electrical power alone, according to the EPA.

On the interstates, at speeds where the gas engine is most efficient, I maintained the Prime in EV Hold setting to protect battery power. Running the gas engine just as well as saving electrical juice for prior to the on-ramp as well as after the off-ramp is excellent for commuters who have equal components highway as well as around-town shuttles[find here].

On the way from midtown back to the burbs, there was no electric variety left yet the RAV4 Prime still balanced greater than 53 mpg as a conventional hybrid. Procedure was smooth, as well as the switch from electric to gas might just be spotted with the radio off or if you were trying to find it. The engine thrums from the footwell however guests really did not discover.

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starkeygirls · 4 years ago

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8 & 52 🚗

8. what kind of car do you drive? color?

bleh. i drive a gray 2005 scion xB, stick shift. she is OLD. fun fact tho, my car and the hurricane in obx have the same nickname. we love aggie’s.

BUT!!! im getting a black toyota rav4 hybrid in black VERY soon! and because im lame as fuck im naming it rafe, bc rafe and rav SORTA sound similar and i really think im so funny but i know im not. but im getting cupholder inserts with drew’s face on them and i think my dad hates me for it.

52. what is your dream car?

telsa for sure. i like the x, but i would really love to see the concepts that they have when im actually able to afford one. i want that in white.

i want a gray 4 door jeep wrangler as a second car- that would be a stick shift

i also love mini coopers, also stick shift. i like the royal blue they have with two white stripes. (my mom drives this exact car and lets me borrow it sometimes and i really die almost every time).

#asks

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toyotaofnorthcharlotte · 2 years ago

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Which 2023 Toyota are you taking on a road trip this year?

The holiday season is here and that means it's time to hit the road. Whether you're seeing the lights, visiting family and friends, or taking advantage of the weather for winter sports, Toyota of N Charlotte has got you covered - check out these 2023 Toyotas that we think are perfect for your next holiday road trip!

2023 Toyota Highlander: Are you taking the family along for the ride this holiday season? The 2023 Toyota Highlander is the SUV for the job. It's super spacious - it can seat up to 8 with cargo room leftover - and also has Toyota Safety Sense for extra peace of mind with your precious cargo. You'll also have access to navigation and Bluetooth wireless streaming so you can listen to your favorite Christmas carols the entire ride.

2023 Toyota Corolla: College students come home for the holidays, and as a parent, you want them to have a safe (and affordable) way to do it. Cue the 2023 Toyota Corolla! This fuel-efficient N Charlotte Toyota can save you and your college student a ton of money on gas and they'll love tech like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as Qi wireless charging for devices. Plus, it's got an affordable MSRP so no matter who's paying for it, it's feasible.

2023 Toyota RAV4: Want something sporty and versatile to take on your favorite winter sports this season? The 2023 Toyota RAV4 is up for it! It comes in a variety of models and offers a hybrid drivetrain, as well as features like all-wheel drive and multi-terrain select for tackling rough terrain. It can tow up to 3,500 lbs with ease and also seats five with 37 cubic feet of cargo space.

Make one of these 2023 Toyotas - or any of the others we have on the lot - yours today! Visit Toyota of North Charlotte at 13429 Statesville Road, just off I-77 at exit 23 in Huntersville.

#Toyotas #2023 Toyota #road trip #holidays #holiday season #Christmas #new years #travel #winter

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perksofwifi · 5 years ago

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Best Memorial Day SUV Deals for 2020: Sport Utility Value

Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, and summer is arguably the best time for an ambitious family road trip or the off-road adventure of your dreams. Thankfully, the folks at Intellichoice—which is part of the MotorTrend Group—have shared with us the best SUV deals on offer this Memorial Day weekend so we can pass them on to you.

More Memorial Day new car deals:

Best Memorial Day Car Deals for 2020: Huge Markdowns on These New Rides

2020 Buick Encore

The Encore has been a huge success for Buick since its launch in 2012 and right now you can pick one up in the Preferred trim with a $4,500 discount. In terms of percentage of its base price, this is one of the best deals on a new SUV you’ll find this weekend. It’s a comfortable, quiet cruiser of a subcompact premium SUV and although material choices on lower-trim examples leave something to be desired, with that rebate you could afford to climb the trim ladder (or upgrade to a model with AWD). Like the other deals in this story, this one is good through June 1.

2020 Chevrolet Equinox

The Equinox is Chevrolet’s best seller aside from the Silverado pickup and for memorial day, it’s on offer with a rebate of $4,750, with the exception of the base model. The Equinox may attract buyers with its intuitive infotainment system and loads of interior space. Although there’s room for improvement in terms of its road manners and noisy cabin, a stack of cash definitely sweetens the deal.

2020 Acura MDX

Acura is offering big money on the midsize MDX; $5,000 off all but the hand-built MDX PMC Edition. That rebate covers hybrid and non-hybrid models as well as FWD and AWD; we’ve been impressed by the current model’s SH-AWD system on and off-road. We don’t love its button-crowded center console and yes, there’s a new one coming soon, but $5,000 on the hood of a solid midsize luxury SUV makes it more worthy of your attention.

2020 Dodge Durango

The second-gen Durango is somehow still on sale (it launched in 2010) and Dodge is offering a $3,600 rebate on eight-cylinder R/T models for Memorial Day weekend, or $2,950 on other trims. And if you’ve got your heart set on the 475-hp Durango SRT, the rebate amounts to $4,750. It’s as old-school as you’d expect (with limited active safety tech), but the Dodge is a comparatively great handler and has muscle-car-on-stilts energy in spades. Add to that a $3,600 or $4,750 rebate and you can sign us up.

2020 Kia Sportage

Kia is offering $2,000 in rebates on its Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4–fighting Sportage for Memorial Day weekend. It’s an attractive, feature-filled package that offers great value even before incentives like these. Watch out for the floaty suspension and tight cabin, but this could be a great buy if those don’t bother you.

2020 Jeep Renegade

The littlest Jeep boasts a healthy rebate for the holiday—$2,750 off all trims including the capable Renegade Trailhawk. It nails the cute-ute styling and its infotainment system is one of the more intuitive on the market. The underpowered drivetrain and unimpressive road manners will steer some folks away but if you’ve decided this is the summer you buy a Jeep, the Renegade could be an option.

2020 Cadillac Escalade

With the next-gen Escalade right around the corner, it’s no surprise Cadillac is offering great deals on the outgoing model, but a $9,000 rebate is no joke. The CUE infotainment system could be improved and fuel economy is unimpressive, but if you’re after the swagger and style of an Escalade, it’s hard to beat a 10-percent discount on Cadillac’s bonafide status symbol.

2020 Jaguar I-Pace

If it’s an electric SUV you’re after this weekend, now would be the time to ring up your local Jaguar dealer to chat about the $5,000 rebate Jag is offering on its I-Pace EV. It’s a fabulous example of how eco-minded vehicles need not be bound by alien styling—looking at you, Toyota—and its driving experience is a great one. It’s even decent off-road. With 234 miles of range it falls behind the segment leaders, but few electric cars can match the appeal of this Jag.

The post Best Memorial Day SUV Deals for 2020: Sport Utility Value appeared first on MotorTrend.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/best-memorial-day-suv-deals/ visto antes em https://www.motortrend.com

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onwheelsxyz-blog · 5 years ago

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LA Auto Show Hits and Misses Here in LA-LA land, the Auto Show is and has mostly been all about going green. The exception was the celebration of 50 years of Hemi muscle power and the fossil fuel needed to run a quarter mile. At least that was a genuine celebration and not the lip service paid to a pressing need that many manufacturers spouted — leaving bluer skies for future generations. As Driving does at every auto show, we pick the best and worst on the floor. Here are the team’s picks for the shiners and horrors!Check out all of our latest auto show coverage hereDavid Booth was ready to pick Karma’s new SC2 concept. With 1,100 horsepower and a shape that’s sensual enough to make Ferrari jealous, it seemed like a certainty. Then Toyota announced the 2021 RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid. It has 302 horsepower and scoots to 96 km/h in just 5.8 seconds. Fuel economy and performance are wrapped up in an old-faithful of a package. As Herr Motor Mouth opined, “a Gold star for the boys from Toyota.”Andrew McCredie was of the same mind. “Not only does this all-new plug-in hybrid have a full electric range of just over 60 kilometres, it will be the second-fastest Toyota in the automaker’s lineup when it shows up in Canadian showrooms next summer.” The acceleration and horsepower at play that’s fired through a good all-wheel-drive system leaves but one question. “When can I drive one?” My pick as highlight was going to be the Audi RS Q8. How can you not love a high-riding crossover that can run with the RS 6?

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davidchanus · 6 years ago

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Car bomb fears and stolen prototypes: Inside Facebook's efforts to protect its 80,000 workers across the globe (FB)

Facebook has a 6,000-person security army quietly protecting its tens of thousands of employees around the world.

The challenges they face are immense — from stalkers to stolen prototypes, car bomb fears, gang violence, and concerns about state-sponsored espionage.

Business Insider spoke to current and former Facebook employees about the wild hidden world of Silicon Valley corporate security.

Thousands of people turn up at Facebook's offices every week to complain about their accounts, attempt to sneak in, ask for tours, or try to meet CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Defenses range from plain-clothes officers with firearms to location-tracking of blacklisted people — and there are even rumors of a secret escape passageway.

When a disgruntled YouTube user opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol at the company's California headquarters in April 2018, injuring three, the gunshots reverberated across Silicon Valley.

At Facebook, just a 30-minute drive away, the company sprang into action and quietly redoubled its own defenses. The Menlo Park-based social networking firm drastically upped the number of off-duty police officers that covertly patrol its halls in civilian clothes with concealed firearms. Few employees even know these officers exist, and the move spooked some of the workers that subsequently noticed them.

And it spent around $1 million to bolster its vehicle fleet with more than 30 new Toyota RAV4 hybrid SUVs for its security organization to patrol its Bay Area offices with — only to leave them sitting in a garage for months, unused, as the company deliberated about how they should be branded. (It's not clear if they're now in action or not.)

If it sounds like a small army, that's because in many ways, it is.

Silicon Valley's founding principles of freedom and non-conformism created a province of open-plan offices and sprawling, university-like campuses that have since been emulated throughout the corporate world.

But within Silicon Valley's tech companies today, there's a more hardheaded reality hiding just below this idyllic surface. At a time when tech brands and leaders have become objects of public fascination, and in some cases, outright hostility, and in the wake of the YouTube shooting, tech companies like Facebook have no choice but to erect ever-more sophisticated, and expensive fortifications.

For shareholders, this means shouldering ever heavier costs, often tens of millions of dollars, for the protection of top company executives and facilities security. Within Facebook, it means empowering a 6,000-person shadow workforce whose day-to-day experiences provide a revealing window into another side of Silicon Valley, far removed from app marketing plans and machine learning conferences: A secret world of stalkers, stolen prototypes, car bomb fears, earthquake contingency plans, gang violence, and concerns about state-sponsored espionage.

Business Insider spoke to current and former workers in Facebook's security organisation and others familiar with the matter, obtained internal company documents, reviewed court documents, and surveyed publicly available information about how the company handles its security.

These sources described sophisticated logistical challenges in protecting tens of thousands of employees and contract workers every day — and an underlying tension between the techie ideals of openness and engineer freedom and the realities of protecting a high-profile and increasingly controversial multinational firm.

"As a security guy, you can buy Fort Knox tomorrow, but that's not going to fly in a tech environment," said a former member of Facebook's security team. "[So] you create policies and barriers and processes so you're the friendliest you can be while as safe as you can be." (Sources were granted anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak publicly about their experiences.)

Some of what Facebook's security team faces is prosaic, day-to-day issues, the kind you'd find at any major company: Petty thefts, car accidents, medical emergencies, and so on. But Facebook's unprecedented impact on civil society and billions of people's daily lives around the world means it also faces one-of-a-kind security challenges. People swarm to Facebook’s offices by the thousands — whether that’s to try to look around, attempt to give unsolicited pitches to company executives, or air their grievances.

And then there's one of the most important challenges of all: Protecting Mark Zuckerberg.

Protecting the principal

When CEO Mark Zuckerberg first got 24/7 executive protection, there was a problem: He kept wandering off.

Sources said that in the early 2010s, the world-famous Facebook cofounder didn't always keep the team — initially just one person — in the loop on his plans. He might decide on a whim to leave the office, or go for a jog, or to a bar, leaving his security staff scrambling to keep up.

"He [was] in his mid-twenties ... he was developing a platform he truly believed was good ... at the time he didn't grasp the concept that there were haters out there," one source said.

Since then, however, Zuckerberg has grown more accepting of executive protection's constant presence, according to insiders. His closely monitored patterns of life now far more closely resemble a head of state than a typical 34-year-old engineer, with the stricter security practices mirroring the increase in Facebook's own fortifications over the years.

Armed executive protection officers stand on constant guard outside his gated homes in the Bay Area, at least one of which also features a panic room. If he goes to a bar, his team will sweep through ahead of time to make sure it's safe. They will vet new any new doctors, or trainers if he wants to take up a new hobby. He is driven everywhere, with the security team monitoring traffic and adjusting his route accordingly. (Back when he still drove, Zuckerberg was, in the words of one source, a "shitty driver.")

During company all-hands meetings, members of Zuckerberg's Praetorian Guard sit at the front of the room and are dotted throughout the crowd, just in case an employee tries to rush him. They wear civilian clothes to blend in with non-security employees.

Zuckerberg doesn't typically work in a cordoned-off office like a traditional corporate executive. Instead, his regular desk is on the floor of Facebook's open-plan office, just like everyone one — but executive protection officers sit near his desk while he works, in case of security threats. Facebook's offices are built above an employee parking lot, but it's impossible to park directly beneath Zuckerberg's desk, because of concerns about the risk of car bombs.

He also has access to a large glass-walled conference room in the middle of the space near his desk, which features bullet-resistant windows and a panic button. There's also a persistent rumor among Facebook employees that he has a secret "panic chute" his team can evacuate him down to get him out of the office in a hurry. The truth of this matter remains murky: One source said they had been briefed about the existence of a top-secret exit route through the floor of the conference room into the parking garage, but others said they had no knowledge of it. Facebook declined to comment on the rumor.

All told, there are now more than 70 people on the executive protection team at Facebook, led by former US Secret Service special agent Jill Leavens Jones. In July 2018, Facebook's board approved a $10 million security allowance for Zuckerberg and his family for the year.

And with good reason: The billionaire chief exec lives an extraordinarily public life, with 118 million followers on Facebook alone (making him both an icon of Facebook's ideals and, increasingly, a magnet for public ire following his company's recent scandals), and the threats he faces are severe.

He receives numerous of death threats a week, and the security team actively monitors social media for mentions of him and COO Sheryl Sandberg. The pair also have stalkers, who alternately declare their undying love for the execs or harbor worrying vendettas against them.

Zuckerberg and Sandberg are the only two Facebook execs with 24/7 executive protection, though others may get it for specific occasions like traveling. The pair also have amusing security codenames, which Business Insider is not publishing for security reasons.

The CEO has been forced to get restraining orders against people obsessively following and trying to contact him in multiple instances. In one notable incident in 2015, a local, William Gordon Kinzer, repeatedly turned up outside Zuckerberg's house over a period of weeks and aggressively harassed the security officers, according to court documents. "On May 30, 2015, at approximately 9:39 a.m., I was seated in my car … Kinzer stopped at the passenger side of my window, looked directly at me and yelled loudly, 'Stay in your car like a good little monkey and obey the law,'" one security officer testified. "Kinzer then turned and walked away. Kinzer appeared angry and aggressive. I was concerned for my safety."

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was once stalked by an employee who sent her a barrage of messages. Even after the employee was fired and blacklisted, she would still show up at campus occasionally, a source said. (Facebook declined to comment on this, any many of the other incidents detailed in this story.) Such stalkers are classified as "BOLOs," short for Be On the Look Out, a category of person banned from all Facebook property. If BOLOs use Facebook or the other apps the company owns, the security team may quietly use data drawn from these apps to monitor their location without telling them, as CNBC previously reported.

In one surreal episode, someone turned up outside Zuckerberg’s house with a love letter scrawled across the side of their truck, a source recalled. Security officers initially assumed it was directed at the CEO — but it was actually for the benefit of one of the housekeeping staff.

Pranks and political stunts are another concern: High-profile execs make prime targets, as Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates infamously discovered when he had a pie thrown in his face in Brussels in 1998. Any time Zuckerberg goes out in public, there are concerns he could be mobbed, and his appearances at events are carefully planned and mapped out in advance.

People will also send unsolicited presents to his home — everything from cookies to a gift from a rabbi after the birth of one of his children. (These get sent to the security team for inspection; Zuckerberg doesn't open them himself.)

In Facebook's offices, things are less intense, but employees will still rush to get the seats at meetings closest to Zuckerberg. Executive protection officers are instructed to be alert for employees and guests at the offices trying to take unauthorized photos of Zuckerberg, which is against the rules. Some employees, too, will try and give him gifts.

'Move fast and break things' isn't always the best approach to security

Today, Facebook has 40,000 full-time employees — but its total workforce is far higher.

More than 80,000 personnel across the globe (including contractors and contingent workers who don't necessarily get the same benefits as full-time employees) fall under the protection of the Global Security team's protection, across 160-plus facilities ranging from engineering offices to data centers to content moderation centres, in more than 100 countries across the globe.

To handle this, the company has a literal army of security officers.

There are more than 6,000 people working in Global Security (500 of those are full-time employees; the rest are contractors and contingent workers), with more than 1,000 security officers working at the Bay Area officers alone — patrolling on foot, in vehicles, with sniffer dogs, and on bikes ("Fox Units"). By way of context, Snapchat parent company Snap has only 3,000 employees total. Twitter has just under 4,000.

Among the third-party contractors it leans heavily on to provide security officers and intelligence analysts for its workforce are Allied Universal, G4S, and Pinkerton. Facebook also funds a Menlo Park Police Department substation near its offices, and works closely with local law enforcement and emergency services.

There are five key strands to Facebook's security efforts. Most visibly, there's Global Security Services, Facebook's legions of security officers ("blue shirts") and its global security operations centres (more on those later). And there's Global Security Intelligence and Investigations, which handles, as the name suggests, investigations and studying streams of intelligence.

Then there is Global Security Strategic Initiatives, that looks at risks as the business grows (is this a high risk area for expansion? Is building here really a good idea? And so on); Systems and Technology (think keycards, security cameras, and the software that keeps it all humming along); and, of course, the Executive Protection team.

Like the rest of Facebook, Global Security is a ravenous consumer of data, slurping up vast streams of intelligence, which range from from open source information to third-party data streams, from media reports about breaking news events to dark web marketplaces that might be selling the company's intellectual property — and, of course, users' posts on Facebook itself.

It's an "intelligence-based organisation," trying to sift through a flood of noise to identify and mitigate potential issues ahead of time, and it identifies millions of "threats" to the workforce every year, from natural disasters to threats of violence against employees, of varying levels of credibility.

Atop it all sits Nick Lovrien, a former CIA counterintelligence officer who serves as Facebook's chief global security officer. Lovrien, who worked to tackle foreign fighter pipelines in in the Middle East, credits the early-2010s upheaval in the region as opening his eyes to Facebook's capabilities.

"I was in Iraq ... we were doing missions, three, four a night, trying to cut [the foreign fighter pipeline] off and during this time ... it was the start of the Arab Uprising, and [I] saw the power of social media," he told Business Insider in an interview.

(Lovrien in turn reports to John Tenanes, Facebook's vice president of culinary, facilities, and security, who reports to CFO David Wehner.)

"[Facebook] is the critical infrastructure for modern-day democracy, and that's why we're so focused on the integrity of the platform, the safety and security of that platform. What that does is bring unique risks to Facebook as well," Lovrien said.

In short: Protecting Facebook is a monumental task — and not always one that's been made easier by the company's internal philosophy.

Though it has moved away from it in recent years, Facebook was historically famous for its motto of "move fast and break things." The company emphasized speed and initiative; if something didn't quite work out, it could always be fixed later. But while this attitude might work effectively for developing apps, it doesn't fly in the rigid world of physical security, multiple sources said.

When Facebook built its new headquarters, some of its entrance points had to be locked up after the team realised they posed a security risk, allowing people to bypass the checkpoints at the main reception desks, a source said. Security projects could become derailed because an engineer didn't like some aspect of it. Across the company, different teams took very different approaches to handling investigations, hiring people with varying levels of experience and qualifications (Facebook says it is "intentional about hiring people from non-conventional backgrounds" in addition to hiring traditional security professionals).

"I know Facebook's culture is we’re all friends and there’s no friction … the reality is sometimes security requires a certain amount of friction," one source said.

Lovrien conceded this was the case, but said Facebook has since evolved. "I think that's an accurate statement in Facebook six years ago, when I first started," he said. "Over the last six years we've really focused on taking those [old] programs offline and introducing new security systems."

Since then, Lovrien said, "I’ve been able to hire the strongest leaders that are out there, and the level of expertise that we have is just not found in any other corporation, so [I'm] very proud of the teams that are here."

In recent months Facebook has been faced with some allegations of racism in its workplace, stemming from an open letter shared by a former employee, Mark Luckie. Two former security officers also said they saw discrimination at the company.

"I'll give you a rundown — Black guards being given the shit posts. Blacks guards being passed over for promotions. Incidents where white drivers were given leeway in an accident when Blacks under similar situations were strictly penalized. Uneven discipline regarding hair color and visible tattoos," one said.

Facebook says it sets clear guidelines for contracting firms it works with and jointly investigates any such allegations. Reached for comment, Allied Universal, which provides security officers for Facebook in the Bay Area, said it "is committed to diversity and fostering an inclusive work environment. Our goal is to represent the many and diverse communities that we take pride in serving because a diverse population of security officers creates safer environments and stronger communities. To this end, we have comprehensive standards of conduct and a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, retaliation or harassment of any kind. At all organizational levels, we actively promote an inclusive culture to help expand opportunity for all in the communities that we help safeguard."

In August 2018, Facebook's security officers negotiated a union contract. However, sources say some officers remain unhappy with the concessions it secured. And hiring new security officers can also be difficult, due to ongoing low unemployment rate in the United States — though that's not unique to Facebook.

Facebook has its hands full keeping the masses out

Another key challenge for Facebook: Managing guests, and keeping out people who aren't supposed to be there.

The sheer scale of the number of people coming through Facebook's doors is staggering: In June 2018, for example, the company had 140,000 invited guests globally, not including employees themselves — from job applicants to business meeting attendees and friends of employees. (Nearly 54,000 of these visitors were at Menlo Park alone.) It had 1.5 million across the entire year.

But uninvited visitors also swarm to Facebook in astonishing numbers. The company has to turn away around 1,000 people from its offices every week (classified as "visitor turnaways, or VTAs): Sightseers, people hoping to pitch the company on business proposals, and so on. And there's a steady stream of angry users and protesters who come to cause a fuss.

Facebook's security team sees dozens of "incidents" a day, which range from people angrily demanding to know why their accounts have been banned to internal issues like staff injuries requiring medical attention. If someone uninvited is hostile, they may be made a BOLO. Some individuals are also classified as a Person Of Interest (POI).

Facebook would not say directly whether a journalist has ever been made a BOLO, or if the company has ever accessed the location data or other personal information of a journalist (whether a BOLO or not) as part of an investigation. "No person would be subject to the above-mentioned procedures without credible cause. A person — whether a journalist or not — would only be added to a list following an assessment that they constitute a credible threat to Facebook or its staff," spokesperson Anthony Harrison said in an email.

"Our physical security team exists to keep Facebook staff safe. They use industry-standard measures to assess and address credible threats of violence against our staff and our company and refer these threats to law enforcement when necessary. We have strict processes designed to protect people's privacy and adhere to applicable laws and regulations. Any suggestion our onsite physical security team has overstepped is absolutely false," Harrison continued.

Business Insider previously obtained 911 call records from Facebook's campus, which provided insight into the kind of extreme incidents that can occur: A mace attack on a security guard, a user who had been scammed after being told he'd "won the Facebook lottery," an angry confrontation over a "non-injury accident," and so on. But only a tiny fraction of incidents are severe enough to reach the point where 911 is called; the overwhelming majority are handled in-house. In April 2018, for example, there were more than 2,000 "incidents" at Facebook's offices around the globe — 124 of which were medical incidents.

In one notable incident in London in 2017, YouTubers were able to sneak into Facebook’s offices in the city and helped themselves to the free food and candy, subsequently making a video about their experiences. As a result, "when those individuals traveled to the US, we upstaffed and made sure every officer was aware of what they looked like in case they tried to access our buildings while they were here," a source said.

At least one person has managed to sneak past security in an effort to pitch Mark Zuckerberg on an idea, and was only discovered after being noticed asking other employees for directions to the CEO’s desk. Another time, an outsider was turned away multiple times after lying about a meeting, only to be let in via a side-door by an unwitting employee heading for lunch, a source said. The infiltrator picked up a Facebook-branded t-shirt to blend in, and was only discovered when they tried to survey Facebook employees.

Controversy swirling around Chinese tech giant Huawei means concerns about corporate- and state-sponsored espionage have been headline news in recent weeks. Facebook has never detected anyone infiltrating the company to steal intellectual property or for political reasons, Lovrien said, but it is an issue that the security team actively worries about, and it has put counter-measures in place to try and "mitigate those potential risks."

And in December 2018, Facebook temporarily evacuated its headquarters after a bomb threat came in targeting the office. No-one was hurt, and no device was found. Lovrien declined to provide more information on the incident.

There will also occasionally be unauthorized drone fly-overs, as pilots try to get a glimpse of what's taking place inside Facebook's hallowed walls.

Of course, the majority of activity isn't malicious. Tourists also flock by the busload to the campus of Facebook — and other Silicon Valley firms — to try and get a glimpse of the world-famous companies or just get a photo next to the iconic thumbs up sign, adding to the deluge of visitors the security team has to keep track of. ("99% of [visitor turnaways] is primarily tourists," said Lovrien.)

The company employs technological solutions to help them with all this. It utilizes license-plate scanners to check the vehicles of visitors, and see if they’re on any blacklists or belong to BOLOs — something that has helped identify stalkers prowling the grounds. And the company has explored using facial recognition cameras to monitor who’s coming and going, but says the tech hasn't been implemented.

There's also a Red Team, a "penetration testing" unit in the organisation that tries to break into the company's facilities in creative ways to test its defenses and keep security on its toes. Execs will sometimes to enlisted to help with these tests, swapping entry badges and attempting to gain access as someone else. (Facebook's security officers are provided with photos of the company's leadership so they can learn their faces, in much the same way lists and images of of BOLOs circulate in preparation ahead of events.)

For the worst-case scenarios Facebook also has its off-duty officers armed with firearms, though their very existence remains unknown to many employees.

Facebook's security nerve center needs to keep tabs on 80,000 people

In November 2015, when terrorists attacked the Bataclan theatre and other sites across Paris, France, Facebook's GSOC sprang into action.

The GSOC — short for the Global Security Operations Center — is the nerve center of the social network's physical security infrastructure, monitoring threats, managing issues, and analyzing reams of data. A large room with dozens of computer stations and screens on the wall, it keeps tabs on all its employees' overseas travel, and as the attack unfolded the team quickly worked to assemble data on Facebook employees in the area, to see if they were in harm's way, and asking them to check in with notification software Everbridge.

No Facebook employees were ultimately harmed in the attack, but it highlighted the GSOC's role as a key node in Facebook's efforts to keep its employees safe and secure, especially in times of crisis.

Open 24/7, the GSOC also employs its monitoring capabilities closer to home — keeping tabs on everything from video feeds of Mark Zuckerberg's home to local shootings or incidents that could potentially impact Facebook employees in the area. One of the most significant day-to-day challenges it handles, Lovrien said, is issues caused by the weather — pointing to the recent deadly tornadoes in Alabama and the need to protect employees and facilities from them as a recent extreme example.

GSOC also has three outposts elsewhere in the world to provide round-the-clock coverage: one in London, England to cover EMEA; an Asia-Pacific base in Singapore; and a third in São Paulo, Brazil for Latin America. And it produces the "Daily Brief," a regular intelligence document that collates recent security issues, potential emerging issues, employees in high risk locations, and other data points for company leadership. (Some investigations and research are also conducted by GSII, Global Security Intelligence and Investigations.)

It also handles some Facebook user-focused features. It helps run Safety Check, Facebook's feature that lets users mark themselves as safe to their friends after terror attacks, natural disasters, and other crises — including the Paris attacks in 2015 — as well as the AMBER alerts that go out on Facebook to help locate missing children, and Facebook's blood donation tool. There were more than 690 Safety Check activations throughout 2018, with more than 37 million users marking themselves safe as a result.

Global Security has extensive plans and best practices put in place for various possible security incidents. Executive kidnapped? Notify law enforcement, get proof-of-life, contact the kidnap and ransom insurance company, and go from there. Active shooter? Gather critical information about the location and description of the shooter, call local law enforcement, send out emergency notifications, lock down or evacuate the buildings as necessary, and so on.

Unexpected package sent to an exec's house? Get information about who dropped it off, make an incident alert, and send the package to the GSII without opening it. Media turned up outside Zuckerberg's residence? Figure out who they are, why they're there, send a mobile unit to meet them, and notify police if requested by management or the executive protection team.

Protocols like these are by no means unique to Facebook; they provide a clear agreed-upon framework to follow in times of crises. But they're indicative of the disparate challenges Facebook now faces in protecting its global workforce, from civil disturbances to safely handling the firing of "high-risk employees."

Facebook has to similarly prepare whenever it constructs a new facility: When it built its new Frank Gehry-designed headquarters in Menlo Park, the security threats it was forced to consider involved everything from the risk of earthquakes to the possibility of a plane from San Francisco International Airport falling out of the sky onto the campus, causing carnage.

Thefts, fights, after-hours trysts: The challenges of managing Facebook's workforce

And in a organization as large as Facebook, whose tens of thousands of employees rival the population of a small city, maintaining order means both protecting the perimeter from outside dangers and staying on top of inside threats.

When numerous employees' headphones were disappearing a couple of years ago, the company installed a covert mobile camera to monitor desks, a source said. The sting operation caught an employee stealing them to sell online. A Facebook spokesperson said items are sometimes misplaced during office moves, and then misreported as thefts.

But Silicon Valley's tradition of openness can complicate things, such as the time when an old prototype of an Oculus virtual reality headset was stolen from a conference room. Facebook — like many companies — doesn't have surveillance cameras inside its offices, and the enormous, open-plan design of the office meant that the pool of suspects would likely be hundreds of people, with no way to narrow it down. There was nothing security could do; the prototype was never recovered.

"The business has identified that we really need that open office environment that promotes our collaboration, and so that's the risk we're willing to accept inside an office is that open office environment," Lovrien said about Facebook's approach to openness. "So what we then look at is how we mitigate that risk," from proactively sifting through intelligence to putting physical checkpoints in place and manning the perimeter of the offices.

Facebook also provides employees with access to free vending machines that provide spare charging cables, headphones, computer mice, and other items — which can be another source of thefts. (Lovrien said these thefts are rare.)

Employees sometimes try to use video-chat apps to give their friends virtual tours of the office, which is against the rules. And at least one employee was caught letting in tourists who wanted to take unauthorized tours of the facilities.

The fact that the office is open 24/7 also means there can be NSFW incidents: Employees are caught having sex in the offices about once every three months, on average. (HR may be alerted, but the couple aren't typically fired.) On the other end of the spectrum, domestic disputes can have workplace consequences: At least one couple working at Facebook had a restraining order between them, forcing the two to work at different locations.

There's one persistent problem that plagues security teams at companies around the world that is almost completely absent at Facebook: Lunch thefts. That's because Facebook provides an extensive selection of free lunches and snacks for all its workers.

Still, even cafeterias with free meals can have problems.

In August 2013, after Facebook's beloved head chef died in a motorcycle crash, the company threw a blow-out party with free booze on a weekend to commemorate him. The memorial descended into chaos, with multiple fights breaking out among kitchen staff, which security staff believed were gang-related. The event culminated in one kitchen worker being beaten so badly on Facebook grounds they were hospitalised.

The assailant was subsequently blacklisted — but he continued to sneak onto campus afterwards to visit his mother who still worked there.

Do you work at Facebook? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at [email protected], Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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from Legal News https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-facebook-physical-security-protect-mark-zuckerberg-employees-2019-2

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savetopnow · 7 years ago

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2018-04-03 11 CAR now

CAR

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jobsearchtips02 · 4 years ago

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Is Elon Musk Wrong About An Under-250-Mile Range Model Y?

Batteries

Published on July 25th, 2020 | by Loren McDonald

July 25th, 2020 by Loren McDonald

Elon Musk was recently at it again on Twitter sharing upcoming plans about the Tesla Model Y as well as Supercharging speeds for the Model S and X. But it was his comment that a range of less than 250 miles would be unacceptably low that got the attention of the EV and business press.

Below is the full Twitter exchange with someone using the Twitter handle of Jason.

Image Source: Twitter

Tesla had originally planned to launch a Standard Range Model Y — as it has done with most of the Tesla models over the years. But in this case, Musk argues that the “range would be unacceptably low (

Musk didn’t share what the EPA range of a Standard Range Model Y would come in at, but I’m going to pick an arbitrary 235 miles as my assumption for this article. If the Short Range version was actually rated at literally just under 250 — let’s say 245 or 247 miles — I would assume that with software adjustments, battery improvements, and tire combinations, Tesla could easily bump that range up to the magic number of 250 within 3–6 months. And everyone would forget the initial range, just like no one cares about the initial range of the Model S.

So, assuming a range of about 235 miles, why does Musk believe that is unacceptable? And to whom is it unacceptable — himself, company leadership, the brand promise, or customers?

After I drafted and submitted this article, Musk stated on the Q2 earnings call: “The thing that bugs me the most is that our cars are not affordable enough. We need to fix that. We want to be slightly positive and maximize growth, and make the cars as affordable as possible.” On the same call he also stated: “With regard to passenger vehicles, I think the new normal for range is going to be, just in U.S. EPA terms, approximately 300 miles. So I think people will really come to expect that as some number close to 300 miles as normal.”

But is Musk simply wrong? I believe he is both right and wrong, as there are multiple compelling arguments both for and against an under-250 mile Model Y.

Keys To Tesla’s EV Leadership Through the Minds of Consumers

Tesla and Elon Musk have done many things to generate excitement and interest in electric vehicles that have led to the company being the dominant automaker in terms of sales volume of EVs. Three of those keys are:

Aspirational: Prior to the Model S, EVs were often thought of as ugly, overpriced, glorified golf carts. The performance and style of the Model S (and subsequent models) made the company’s EVs aspirational for many buyers.

Range: Anxiety over the battery’s driving range was an issue for many of the early EVs that only had +/- 100 miles of range, and still is. The first versions of the Model S launched in 2012 had an EPA range for the 60 kWh battery pack model of 208 mi, and the 85 kWh battery was rated at 265 miles. Now the Model S Long Range Plus has a range of 402 miles, and most models have a range near or above 300 miles. The exception is the Model 3 Standard Range Plus at 250 miles (more on the off-menu Standard Range version later).

Superchargers and Destination Charging: Tesla is the only automaker that invested in building out its own DC fast charging (Supercharging) and Level 2 charging (Destination Charging) network. (Other OEMs have of course invested in charging networks, just not their own.) While Tesla’s connectors in the US are currently proprietary to Tesla vehicles — similar to the closed model of Apple — owners of Tesla EVs in the US generally have little to no concern (with a few exceptions in some remote or less populous areas) about not having enough range for getting to the next charging station. With the growth in popularity of the Model 3 in markets like California, however, the concern has now switched to “charging anxiety” — wait times and charging speed.

The importance and catch-22 of the above is that the Tesla brand has set the bar on EV range. The Tesla brand in essence is all about more range being better and its lead over competitors in this area continues to be a key bragging right. The 300 miles of range available on variants of all 4 models, combined with its charging networks, means never having range anxiety.

But, does every potential driver of an EV want or need 300–400 miles of range? For many households and use cases, a Tesla may in fact provide more range than actually needed. Of course, buying a car or truck that has more than you need (horsepower, top speed, interior luxury features, range, seating capacity, size, 4-wheel drive, etc.) is nothing new, especially in car- and truck-loving America. Elon Musk understands this and has always focused Tesla on the “wants” rather than “needs” of auto-buying consumers.

But with DC fast chargers getting faster, charging stations getting more available, and many EV-interested consumers becoming more comfortable with the concept of “refueling with electricity,” is Tesla potentially giving up a segment of the market to competitors by not offering a lower-range, lower-priced Model Y?

The Case For A Less Than 250-Mile Range Tesla Model Y

Why does Musk think less than 250 miles of range is unacceptable? The following are several reasons why a Model Y Standard Range would make sense for Tesla:

300–400 miles of range is what most Americans want — but they don’t actually need it: While the average range of fully electric vehicles (BEVs) has increased significantly in the last 10 years, range anxiety remains a concern of mass consumers who have yet to drive an EV or understand how to manage range and charge your vehicle. Of the current 13 BEVs available in the US (note that some, like the Fiat 500e, are only available in 2 states), the average battery range is now 253 miles, while the median range is 254 miles. If weighted by sales volume, the average range would approach 300 miles due to Tesla accounting for about 60% of EV sales in the US.

Many studies, such as the Volvo/Harris Poll below, confirm that range anxiety and fear of not finding a place to charge are top concerns for potential buyers of EVs. And several studies have pegged 300 miles as the magic threshold that a majority of US consumers want before considering an EV.

Image Source: Volvo/The Harris Poll

Price competitiveness without the federal EV tax credit: Tesla and GM are the only OEMs that no longer qualify for the federal EV tax credit, which is $7,500 for BEVs and plugin hybrids (PHEVs) with a battery pack of 16 kWh or more ($6,843 for the Ford Escape PHEV). Since the federal EV tax credit doesn’t actually reduce the price of an EV (unless you lease and it is incorporated into the lease with lower monthly payments), I’ve always been annoyed at the use of EV prices that subtract the federal tax credit. But it is common practice to incorporate the incentive, so I’ve included it in the table below.

As you can see, there are several BEVs and PHEVs that are either available currently or are scheduled to be available by the end of 2021. And all of these electric CUVs/SUVs will have an effective cost lower than the various Model Y variants, except for the Volvo XC40 Recharge and Ford Mustang Mach-E GT. Many of these models will be $5,000 to $10,000 less than the two variants of the Tesla Model Y Long Range.

So, while Elon and lots of EV and Tesla fanatics believe that Tesla vehicles are superior to EVs from other brands (software updates, battery efficiency, performance, Autopilot/FSD, etc.), with as many as 10 EVs available in roughly the same category, many buyers may opt for a brand other than Tesla with a lower price.

Now, Tesla fans love to argue that the company’s BEVs are light years ahead of EVs from the legacy OEMs and that their offerings simply aren’t competitive. For me, access to the Supercharger and Destination Charging network are Tesla’s biggest competitive advantage and likely has a brand value to potential buyers of several thousand dollars. But, for someone who isn’t a Tesla fanatic and is considering, say, the Nissan Ariya, VW ID.4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Toyota RAV4 Prime, or Ford Escape PHEV, many of Tesla’s advantages simply aren’t that important.

Consumers consider many factors when buying a car, including quality, service, comfort, brand loyalty, and price. If the car with the best specifications was the top consideration, then there would eventually be only one car in each segment, as no one would buy any car without the best specs.

Weak economy/Job insecurity: The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the economy (a recession was likely even before COVID) and millions of Americans are now either unemployed, underemployed, or nervous about their job stability and future paycheck. Under these circumstances, someone considering a new car purchase may look for ways to lower their monthly payments through leasing or opting for a cheaper model, one without all of the extra features. A Model Y Standard Range could potentially be much more attractive to consumers on a tighter budget.

Monthly payments: Tesla just launched a leasing option for the Model Y Long Range for $499 a month, and the Model 3 Standard Range Plus lease option starts at $371 per month. Tesla could potentially offer a $399 per month lease, which would generate lots of publicity and drive a lot of test drive traffic into Tesla galleries and showrooms, all resulting in increased sales volumes of all Model Y variants.

Volume rankings: The Model 3, which is in a category rapidly losing popularity, sedans, was the 26th best selling vehicle in the US in 2019, according to GoodCarBadCar. A Model Y priced at or near $40,000 could be a huge seller in the US, and could likely crack both the top 20 sales chart and possibly rank #1 in a category such as “midsized luxury SUV” — giving Tesla some bragging rights and great press coverage. There is safety in numbers, and the better the Model Y sells, the more people will be comfortable buying it, spurring even more sales. And many people may opt for one of the more expensive variations of the Model Y.

Competitiveness of similar range EVs: Of the non-Tesla BEV small/midsized crossovers/hatchbacks currently available in the US, only the Nissan LEAF offers different range options — 149 or 226 miles of range. But in the coming 12 to 18 months, the Mustang Mach-E and Nissan Ariya — two BEVs expected to go head to head against the Model Y — will be available in two or more battery pack options. There will also be 6 BEVs available with expected EPA ranges of from 210 to 250 miles.

For consumers who place a higher priority on some combination of price, build quality, existing brand preference, or service over longer range, Tesla would be giving up this market segment to competitors.

Shortsighted thinking: Tesla continues to improve energy efficiency of its batteries, and just in the last 12 months or so, the company increased the range on the Model S Long Range from 335 to 370 to now 402 miles. So, I would assume that within 3 to 6 months of launch, Tesla could increase the range of a Model Y Standard Range to 250 miles from ~235, as it has done with every other model recently.

This approach provides more proof of Tesla‘s leadership in batteries, and then also positions its cheapest and shortest range Model Y ahead of the others in the crossover category.

200–225 miles of range meets 99% of most households’ driving needs: For most American households, a range of 225 to 250 miles meets their needs for daily commutes and errands and weekend trips to the beach, the mountains, or to visit relatives and friends. What that range isn’t ideal for are the 2–3 long road trips (1% of trips for most) that they might take each year. (I will cover solutions for the “1% challenge” in an upcoming multi-part series.)

As of 2017, 58% of US households had two or more vehicles. So, roughly 6 out of 10 households potentially have a second vehicle they can use for these few long trips per year if they don’t want to use their shorter-range EV.

Europeans need less range: A lower range Model Y could be a massive hit in European countries where trains and regional flights provide a convenient alternative to long road trips in a car. With access to great train systems, most Europeans clearly can get by with a shorter range BEV. Although, surprisingly, they expect more range than North Americans, according to a recent CleanTechnica survey.

[Editor’s note: Having lived in Europe for more than 10 years, and having listened to many Europeans on this matter, I think there is a bit of a misconception about this. Europeans, on average, drive a lot less than Americans. However, that is mostly because they tend to have shorter commutes, commute more frequently via urban transit systems, and do not have to do so much driving across sprawling suburban areas for shopping and routine activities. When it comes to road trips, Europeans with cars do tend to go on far away road trips in their cars — if they don’t fly or, less commonly, take a train. Those further north like to vacation in the south, for example, which means a very long drive/trip. Additionally, since they have longer vacations — much more vacation time — it is not uncommon to want to have your car with you on vacation, stimulating a drive instead of a flight. So, all in all, I think it is a little bit of a myth that Europeans care less about range. Maybe for daily commutes and errands, yes, but not for those occasional road trips. Lastly, Europe is typically colder than the US, so they also have to think more about the hit the range will take for several months in winter, fall, and even spring.]

Why Is Musk Saying No To A Model Y With Under 250 Miles Of Range Model Y?

The case for a less than 250-mile range Model Y is very compelling in my opinion, but if I wear my brand hat from being in marketing for 36 years, I can also make the case against it. The following are several reasons to not offer a Model Y Standard Range:

Additional production complexity: Producing another variant of the Model Y adds additional complexity to the manufacturing process and has the potential to impact production of other Model Y variants. Musk has often talked of the need to simplify vehicle manufacturing and reduce the number of model variants. A Model Y Standard Range, however, would presumably use the same 50 kWh battery pack as the Model 3 Standard Range Plus, so that would eliminate the need for a different battery pack or the need to limit range via software. And recent rumors are that the Model Y and Model 3 will soon share the same universal battery pack.

Competition/Bragging rights: More range is better. Lots of range is even better. 400 miles is awesome. Tesla has not only led the auto industry in delivering BEVs with more range than competitors, but in so doing, the company and Musk have also promoted the idea that whatever their models achieved at the time (250, 300, and now 400 miles) was the EV range that consumers needed (or wanted).

A Model Y with 235 or so miles of range suddenly becomes ho hum, and would be surpassed by several CUVs, including the Mustang Mach-E, Chevrolet Bolt, Hyundai Kona EV, Nissan Ariya, and Volkswagen ID.4. (My counter, however, is that Tesla would still have Long Range models that would surpass anything the competition offered in the category.)

Undermines the Tesla range advantage: If Tesla now in 2020 released a Model Y with ~235 miles of range, the company by default is validating as acceptable the EV range of competitors in the 200–250 EPA mile range.

By making available a ~235-mile range Model Y, consumers may now start placing less emphasis on the importance of range and place a higher priority on quality, service, comfort, interior luxury, and other factors where Tesla tends to not have either a real or a perceived advantage.

Price competitiveness/Vehicle margins: While I’m not going to delve into estimating margins of the Model Y (I’ll leave that to other CleanTechnica writers), the higher the sales price of a vehicle, the greater opportunity there is for higher margins. So, a lower-street price of a Model Y would likely cut into the margins of the portfolio of Model Y battery pack variations.

And that is okay if there is unlimited demand for the higher end Model Ys, but there is clearly a cap. And the fact that Tesla just added a lease option for both the Long Range and Performance versions of the Model Y suggests that demand could be waning, especially as the economy struggles. [Editor’s note: Musk said on this conference call this week demand is definitely not an issue — they have far more demand than they can supply.] Musk is known to not be a fan of offering the lease option, and holds off on leasing until market demand necessitates it. In 2019, Elon Musk said, “We’ve been reluctant to introduce leasing on Model 3 because of its effect on GAAP Financials… Obviously, leasing is a way to improve demand, but it makes our financials looks worse.”

That said, according to this Forbes article “While Tesla’s leasing program is hurting the company’s revenue growth to an extent, it is helping the company’s margins as its leases appear to be more lucrative to the company.” [Editor’s note: Tesla may be less concerned about how their financials look now that Tesla has shown 4 consecutive quarters of GAAP profit. Perhaps that is one reason it recently started offering Model Y leasing rather than waiting longer.]

Tesla does not want to compete on price: Nordstrom doesn’t want to compete with Walmart on price, and nor does Tesla does want to compete with other automakers on price. It hurts its brand reputation, but also opens the door to brands like Hyundai, Kia, Chevrolet, Nissan, and Ford to aggressively compete with and undercut Tesla. And if potential Tesla buyers begin to place price as a much higher factor in their purchase decision, then Tesla’s real or perceived advantages in range, performance, software, etc. are diminished.

But the counter is that we are in a tough economic period and Tesla also needs to support its growth story and scale volume in the US. A lower price Model Y in the hot CUV segment could put it at the top of the sales charts. Higher production volume should also lead to better margins overall with increased scale.

SUV/CUV perception versus sedans: Musk seems to be okay with a sedan, the Model 3 Standard Range Plus, having just 250 miles of range. And while it isn’t listed on the Tesla website, you can special order from Tesla showrooms the Tesla Standard Range, which has only 220 miles of range.

Perhaps this gives us the most insight into Musk’s thinking. It seems he believes that 300 miles is the standard to be measured by for BEVs, but anything less than 250 miles is an embarrassment, or in his words, “unacceptably low.”

Because the sedan segment is rapidly declining in popularity and primarily being left to Toyota and Honda to compete over, Musk knows that the SUV/CUV segments (and pickup segment) are where automakers will win or lose in the US in the coming years.

And because SUVs/CUVs are thought of as perfect vehicles to take the family on long trips, Musk clearly believes that a range less than 250 miles will not win over customers.

In the end, the right answer is likely a battle between those at Tesla who believe the brand is everything and those in sales and finance who see how many more Model Ys the company might be able to sell.

What do you think — should maintaining the brand superiority outweigh the opportunity to potentially reach a new and much larger market? Let us know in the comments.

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Tags: EV Range, Tesla, Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model Y range

About the Author

Loren McDonald writes about the factors driving adoption of electric vehicles and the opportunities and challenges the transition to EVs presents companies and entrepreneurs in the auto, utility, energy, retail and other industries. His research and content are published on CleanTechnica, his own blog/site, www.EVAdoption.com, and in his upcoming book “Gas Station Zero” about the huge shifts and changes in multiple industries driven by the transition to battery electric, autonomous and shared vehicles.

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