Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Karma Automotive Sues DeLorean Over Alleged Trade Secret Violations
Just when you thought the saga of the new EVs with DeLorean badges couldn’t get weirder, the project gets embroiled in new drama. Automotive News reports that Karma Automotive is suing “DeLorean Automotive Reimagined” over alleged intellectual property theft, a fairly serious allegation. The lawsuit names heaps of people in DeLorean Motors’ C-suite as defendants. The full list of defendants goes as follows: DeLorean Motors CEO Joost de Vries, COO Alan Yuan, Vice President Neilo Harris, and Chief Marketing Officer Troy Beetz, along with Reimagined Automotive and DeLorean Motors Reimagined. The suit then claims that the defendants soon left Karma to form Reimagined Automotive, inked a deal with DMC Texas using Karma’s “trade secrets or other confidential information,” and breached fiduciary duties. If these allegations prove true, the defendants could be in violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act and the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act. These are some serious allegations, and one defendant fired back with a statement that alleges some serious issues with Karma. With parties trading barbs this early, I have a feeling that this saga could get messy. Karma Automotive has previously filed suit against Lordstown Motors alleging trade secret violations, so it’s not like the suit against DeLorean Motors Reimagined came out of nowhere. We’ve reached out to DeLorean for official comment and will update this post as soon as we hear back. Whether or not this suit has merit, we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, would anyone care for some popcorn?
The Infiniti Q60 Will Reportedly Die Next Year
It’s no secret that consumers prefer crossovers to coupes and it looks like Infiniti is taking this market shift seriously. Car And Driver reports that the Infiniti Q60 coupe will exit production in 2023 as the marque refocuses on vehicles with more mass appeal. With the new Nissan Z sharing an engine and platform with the Q60 and taking over the role of halo car for the Nissan and Infiniti family, I can’t say I’m surprised that the swoopy coupe’s days are numbered. It’s particularly hilarious to see that Infiniti expects supply to last well into 2023. Either they’re ramping up production to get units on lots, or Q60 coupes trickle out of showrooms slower than molasses flows down an iceberg. Pour one out for a great-looking car with an awesome engine, hampered by an outdated gearbox and an appalling optional steer-by-wire system.
U.S. Transit Authorities Get Big Grants For Greener Buses
Let’s give it up for buses, the humble workhorses of public transportation. While they aren’t as ideal as rail transit, buses can be run along existing infrastructure and enable some rather wonderful things. I’m not just talking about affordable transportation, I’m talking about backup for when your unreliable car breaks, cheap pub crawl transportation, and increased commuter density. In an effort to clean up America’s bus fleet, Reuters reports that the U.S. Transportation Department is offering $1.66 billion in grants so transit authorities can buy cleaner, greener buses. I’m going to give this bit of news a big “hell yeah.” Newer buses are always nice, as old units can feel a bit janky after years of heavy use and unruly passengers. Plus, fewer urban emissions means cleaner air for everyone, definitely not a bad thing by any means. Electric buses are also massively quieter than diesel buses which is really nice for riders and pedestrians. Cheers to greener buses that help us run to the auto parts store on the oft chance that none of our cars are running. Hey, it’s cheaper than ordering an Uber. The funding for 150 bus fleets from the $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure law will help cities and states retire older polluting buses. The funding will also buy 700 buses, which include hybrid-electric, natural gas and diesel models. “These grants are going to be used in every corner of this country,” White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu told reporters.
Porsche Production Held Up By Headlights
Headlights are supposed to light the way, but a supply chain shortage is leaving Porsche in the dark. Automotive News Europe reports that Porsche production has been stalled by component availability troubles including high-end matrix headlights on the Macan and Panamera. Matrix headlights are great, so it really sucks to see availability issues at Porsche. For some, this issue is easy to brush off as a concern of the rich, but there are real people from supply chain factory workers to retail-side employees who may be affected by these vehicle completion issues. Let’s hope that for the sake of everyone, the supply side of the industry picks up soon. Reimold said that in Leipzig, Germany, where the Panamera and Macan models are produced, several hundred vehicles on the factory floor cannot be completed because of the supply bottleneck with the headlights. Reimold said the situation was still tense in the supply chain: “At the moment it is really very tense because we have to be constantly vigilant,” he said. “It is difficult to forecast when the situation will fundamentally improve.”
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. I’ve recently realized that today marks the longest I’ve ever owned a car, which begs a question: what’s the longest you’ve ever owned a car, and what was the car? Maybe you’re in it for the long haul, maybe you’re like me and get bored every few years. In any case, I’d love to hear what your long-haul ride is and why you’ve kept it around for so long. Lead photo credit: DeLorean Turns out I got a total rustbucket, but I’ve kept it going all these years including a full engine rebuild (first time for me) a few years back. Tried my hand at bodywork when I was 17 and realized I’m no good at it, but the $800 paint job still looks good 12 years later. I even had it at college with me for a couple years. While never a daily driver it’s been driven every week or so (when not down for repairs or when the roads are salted) for the last 18 years. I learned to drive in that car, and refused to drive an automatic until I had first mastered a manual. I gave God knows how many friends driving lessons in it back in high school. Anyway, all that to say, I love my little car. One day, I’ll be able to afford the serious metalwork the car needs. Due to its very rusty status it’s mostly my around-town car, which is a bummer. And it needs to much metalwork for me to feel comfortable trying to learn welding on it. I’d never finish. It’s kind of rare I sell a vehicle, although I’ve sold a few this year, but I like fun new projects, and then eventually they end up inconveniencing me, which they devolve to parts cars, and then I scrap them. I currently own 10 cars, but I think that’s mostly manageable, I don’t see myself getting anything new, and I see some of the ones I have moving on.
