Cruise control streams live every Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Watch us live on Facebook and YouTube. Details are in this podcast episode information. This is Cruise Control Your on Air Automotive Magazine with co-hosts French star and Les Jackson control everything you need to know about new and used cars. Industry news will fix a repair your car on the air. Fasten your seat belts and let us take the wheel. Your ride is about to begin.
It's cool because you're on cruise control controls. Control. Welcome back to Cruise Control. This is your automotive online automotive. If on the air or. Yeah, on the. Air. We've only been doing this for 20 years plus. Yeah, I'll get it. I'll get it eventually. Just keep going. Yes, you'll get it. Or it got got blurry. Anyway. Two big things in the automotive world. One is the Woodward dream cruise set up in Detroit. Big, big deal. And Monterey Car Week, which is which is the kind of.
Yeah. High dollar equivalent. Yeah. Huge events. Very, very popular. And we've been invited to Woodward a number of times. We really need to go. Yeah, well, we're going to go there virtually later on and talk about some of the things, the big going on in the world of Mopar. But first, let's talk about something that's going to be revealed at Pebble Beach. And, you know, in the old days, you wouldn't find a key being revealed at Pebble Beach, but it's going to happen.
And this is the Kia Ev6 GTI and it is a 576 horsepower electric vehicle, less top speed of 161 miles an hour. It has a 77.4 kilowatt hour battery with a 160 kilowatt front motor and a 270 kilowatt rear motor. And it has a drift mode. Isn't that crazy? It has a drift mode. So you can hoon this thing around if you want to. Yeah. Obviously, you know, an awful lot of people like to do that. You know, my feeling is not with my tires. I know you need a tire manufacturers to support you.
But. But, you know, that's your choice. This this thing is incredible. I'm sure it's electrically limited to 161 because, you know, with the song, you got battery power. You just keep going faster. Yeah, the tires are probably the limit. The tires. Well, the battery charge, too. You're going to use up an awful lot of battery. Yeah, going fast. And I. Yeah, you know, you tease the idea a little earlier that that horsepower is not going down. It just keeps going up.
I believe that the big goal is a thousand horsepower. I think it would be easily obtainable. Oh, yeah. But I think they want to do it in small steps each year. Well, there's one there's one vehicle that we're going to discuss next hour that has 1200. It's electric. I think I think you might see it go to 2000, 3000 horsepower. Yeah, but eventually it's not drivable. It's not.
Well. Well, I think the thing will be that these cars will accelerate so hard that people won't be able to physically handle it. You know. You'll get tunnel vision, but. Yeah. Or they'll just be surprised. They'll hit the throttle at the stoplight and. And they'll just keep going, you know? But it will cause a lot of crashes. Now, we don't know what this is going to cost. We only know some of the information about it.
It has a world first 800 volt multi charging architecture which enables ultra fast DC charging from 10 to 80% state of charge in under 18 minutes. We know about that horsepower. We know it has 400, £546 feet of torque, 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. As we said, top speed of one, 61, probably limited by the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires fitted on 21 inch wheels. So this thing is going to be incredible. It really is. And, you know, in some of the promo material, they show it doing a big burnout, I think.
I think that's got a lot of people thinking about, you know, electric cars and what they can do. You know, we saw this week that they revealed the challenger concept over at the Mopar Speed Week event. And we don't I don't think we know the horsepower on that. But let's just say it's a lot, right? It's adequate. It would be more than adequate. So. Well, we're going to talk about that later, too, because there's a lot going on there. Yeah.
And actually in these electric cars, you can do 0 to 60 and 3 seconds or less. That means you really could a sticky tape, a dollar bill on the dash in front of your passenger and then hit the accelerator and they won't be able to reciprocate. The G-forces will will push them back. Yeah. Can't do it. Yeah. All right. Well, when we come back plenty more cruise control. We're going to talk about Porsche not being able to complete some of their vehicles and why that is.
We'll also look at some pricing on some other new vehicles. And stay tuned because we have that great interview coming up with Lincoln's head of design, talking about the L 100 and what it's like to design an interior for an autonomous EV. Stay tuned. Cruise control is your on air automotive magazine. Check us out at Cruise Control. Radio.com. Cruise Control. And welcome back to Cruise Control your on air automotive magazine. I'm Fred Starr. He is last Jackson.
We're talking about Porsches leaving the factory unfinished. My idea was they ran out of screwdrivers, but I don't think that's the case. Liz Jackson. No. Looks like they're going to have to retrofit headlights. This is embarrassing. Yeah, there's no it's a supply chain problem. And they are awaiting their matrix headlights for a number of different models, including the Panamera and the on.
They just are under supply chain issues and they have to get the cars out at least unlike certain chips that is possible to put these things in at a later date, isn't it? Well, that's right. And you know, here's where the war came in. The Ukrainian contractors who make wiring harness for them. Right. Yep. Well, gee, imagine imagine delays there. Yeah. This is just nasty stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. So I believe they were holding these things at the Porsche plant and not delivering them without headlights and say don't. Don't drive it during the day, only drive it during the day. How do you drive it when you get it? Yeah. Yeah. So delays are out there. You know, that's people say they want to do they want to order a vehicle so they don't have to pay the big markups? Well, that's you know, you might get it, but it might be missing a few things, right?
Well, I have a cousin who has a best friend who said that he ordered his Porsche and he didn't get it for almost seven months. Wow. Did it have headlights? So when it came it all right. I didn't know to ask. Yeah. So it's this is just a, you know, a recurring theme and it's not it's not just cars. It's it's everything, really. It's everything. Yeah. Yeah. So many. I often wanted to track many of the vehicles we've talked about here on cruise control.
I wonder if they've actually ever been built or have. Well. And we kicked around every week saying, well, here's this vehicle if you can find one. Yeah. And we're sort of not kidding. It's it's a real problem. Yeah, it sure is. It sure is. So. Well, we'll keep you up to date on that. You know, it's a real problem to sometimes keeping your vehicle. And we've got to list the hot Wheels theft report.
Most stolen vehicles in the U.S. and number ten, Toyota Corolla, Jeep, Jeep, Grand Cherokee, number nine. Sort of understand that. Yeah. And then we've got Honda CRV at number eight. Number seven is Nissan Altima. Uh, six GMC pickup, full size five Toyota Camrys. Hmm. Must be the. There's a there's a there's a there's a pattern here.
Yeah. Okay. And then Honda Accords number four is is it comes in at 30,274 Honda Civic, 31,000 673 Ford pickups, 47,009, 99 and Chevrolet pickups at a very close 48,206. I have some theories on this. Pickups, maybe they're being used at a worksite or whatever. People leave the keys in them. You know, maybe they maybe they're more prone to have the keys left in them. What do you think? I don't know. I think maybe that's true. Plus, they all look alike, you know, in a way.
Yeah, you need someone just drives it by mistake. No, I think people take it because they know. They know they could drive in plain sight and not get caught. Yeah. Also, they probably want the parts that are painted the correct color. Which brings up the cars, the civic accord, Camry. Altima. I think they're stealing these for the parts market. Okay. Okay. I think it could be true.
And of course, then there's that strange story of social media platform, which I won't mention, that shows people ripping off IKEA's inexpensive keyless. Yeah. Which is, you know, not not a great thing. It's kind of a stupid thing to do, but of course, this is from 2021 and that sort of happened this year. So we'll see more about that. I'd love to have the the data on per state. Yeah. Per state, yeah. If there's a geographic component.
Yeah. Yeah. Hey, coming up, we are going to talk about an incredible vehicle and it's incredible the way it opens up. It's the L100 from Lincoln and it's kind of an the design of the interiors, really. Talk about clean sheet. It is. This is an autonomous car, autonomous self-driving car. Electric car. And the interior designer who we're going to talk to after the break. His name is Michael Thompson. He's the Lincoln Interior Design chief. And Lincoln has always been known for great interiors.
And they have some incredible vehicles out there now that have super interiors. But this one, they really started with a fresh approach. And we want to know what is kind of what is it like to design an interior for an autonomous car? It's really a clean sheet. You're not saying, well, I got to put the steering wheel up front and then I've got to, you know, have the passenger sitting here and the seats will always be facing forward. So this is exciting stuff, folks.
And what I love about it and and we're going to ask Michael about it when he comes on after the break. Is the the carpet where you would find carpet is actually some kind of a liquid crystal display, which is really unique because normally carpet just lays there and you don't you don't think about it. You're it's just there. But here it's an actual moving part of the vehicle.
And then you also have to deal with the fact that the front seats, you know, they're not going to be used all the time for a driver to sit in there. So this will be an interesting piece is going to be coming up after the break. Once again, it's going to be Michael Thompson, Lincoln Interior Design chief. And it it really has to be exciting time for him and his team because this is just it's like designing a living room, basically.
Yeah. And this is going to become much more prevalent as as autonomous cars make their way into the into the world. But Lincoln has some incredible interiors right now. I really do. I always thought interior was perhaps the most important area of any vehicle because it's the one you see the most. I think so. I that's what I choose a vehicle for. And yeah, and. I make a choice.
And there was that period of time where some manufacturers sort of, you know, used the interior as the cost cutting approach. And I remember that in the eighties and I was like, wow, really, this is it. You know, I, I have a plastic model that looks better than that, but you can't do that anymore. People people expect great interior design and great interior fit and finish. And that's one of the worst things in a vehicle.
If you start moving around the controls and they feel ratchet or they're going to come off in your hand, I would think that that is the way to really, you know, make something that people will feel like this. This just doesn't. Nothing turns you off to a vehicle more than the rapid aging of the controls. Yes, yes. It's also one of the areas of a vehicle that I think ages even quicker than the exterior, as far as the design and certainly like entertainment systems and and things like that.
But Michael's coming up after the break. Don't forget to check us out at Cruise Control Radio.com Red Star. But he is less Jackson. And this is one busy week in the world of the automobile, let's just say. And it's always one of my favorite weeks because it is a true contrast. You have the Woodward dream cruise and then you have, of course, Pebble Beach, where we're going to next for some of the higher end cars.
So we will be right back and talk about this incredible Lincoln L 100 with the interior designer Michael Thompson. Stay tuned. We are live every Saturday at 10 a.m. Eastern. Watches on Facebook and YouTube. The details are in this podcast episode information. And welcome back to Cruise Control Radio your on air Automotive magazine.
I'm Fred Staab he is less Jackson and we are going to talk about this incredible vehicle, the L100 which was shown at Pebble Beach at the Monterey, I believe they call it the Monterey Car Week. But we can ask our next guest, who is Michael Thompson, who is the Lincoln interior design chief? Michael, it's great to have you with with us. And tell us a little bit about this L100. It it actually is a historic name when it comes to Lincoln, right? Yeah, it is.
And thank you for having me, by the way, and allowing us allow me the chance to explain the L100. So you're absolutely right. In 1922, Lincoln had a Model L, and of course it was the first step towards a luxury. Lincoln, 100 years later, the Model L 100. So we're trying to celebrate a similar theme here, right? So it's a vehicle that is a state of the art technology and it's really an experience based type of car. We did launch it the day before yesterday.
We were in the Monterey Car Week from the Concord Village. We were really yesterday going to the concert long right now to morrow it will be actually parked right next to the original 1922 Model L. So it's going to be great to see 100 years of cars message and I guess you're going to be celebrating our first read this vehicle. Yeah this is this is incredible and I mean of course interior design you've probably heard us enjoying this segment, Michael, but we think less.
And I think interiors are that one of the most important parts of the vehicles because that's that's your interface. That's your user interface. Right. And you had the design you kind of threw out, you know, you started with a clean sheet here because you had to design a vehicle that is autonomous, which means the steering wheel might not always be there. And the front seat may not always be there. And you kind of had to turn it in many ways into sort of a lounge or living room, didn't you?
Exactly. So this is what and I love, by the way, seeing that the interior very important, I've been a product of my exterior. You know, what we've tried to do for the interior is say, okay, so what is a sanctuary space, right? And what could it could really be, especially now that we have this model 100 as a possibility to show our vision. So we started off with what we call the King Quincy, which is the big seat at the back.
There's a Lincoln is also about being driven as much as it is by driving. And then we said, okay, so the foot rest came in to to really get that laid back feel. But, you know, there's multiple people in the car. So we actually made sure that there is a flexible seating, as we call it. So from underneath the ship, there is a a portion that comes up which creates a backrest, then it rotates open. So you create an even more of a traditional driving position.
So it's actually easier to the social seating as the driving position and there is to the solo delight and use became more flexibility is something that that's you know we we want to show our stuff loved Lincolns have another thing is that we wanted to use the technology in a whole different way. When we created this interior, we said, okay, does that really need to be a big screen in front of you with Netflix when you have such a beautiful car?
So we took the technology and actually place it on on the floor because we found out there you can really change the mood of the vehicle, right? So you see a digital floor and much like the seating, it allows you to change for occasions like Lincoln is is a brands about the location so whether it's the red carpet these and or whether it's a wedding or just a sanctuary moment, the floor changes from the water underneath you to personalize pictures to my personal favorite one, which is the clouds.
Right. So you can adjust it and personalize it. So this interior is very flexible as far as we are saying, okay, it's autonomous, but you can still drive it in these images here you see what we call the chess piece because we said let's let's really look at what a steering wheel is and change that metaphor. Right. So it's a device to control the car, but we didn't want to do a traditional steering wheel also because of the flexible seating partner. So we test our designers to to think about it.
And one of our designers, CEOs and was watching his little son play with cars and he said, that's it. You know, that's it. Just a moment. You have a little cars are driving and it's the first interaction almost most people have with a car is two toys. Sure. So we said, okay, let's keep that that you wouldn't touch for that but make it actually possible.
So with our technology already a digital touchscreen collection, we are actually able of of doing that and that way we can place a car strategically so that the autonomous mode knows where to go or you can actually hook it in, in the in the front where it becomes almost like a joystick and you can still take control over the car. So I think that's something that makes its interior so unique that it's not only flexible, but it's it's almost human.
And just to touch on that, the moment you enter the vehicle, the doors open up in a certain way. And the way the doors open up is it's like a human embrace, right? You haven't seen somebody in a while. You open your arms and you're happy to see them. And every time you approach this car, it does that for you right. So there really is this this this you and warmth to this this vehicle that is inviting and allows you to come in.
When when you're designing, you're tasked to design the future autonomous vehicle. And by autonomous we're all agree this is fully self-driving. It takes care of everything for you. So it's. Yes. It's a conveyance instead of thinking, it's a piece of hardware.
It's a it's it's really transporting you through wherever and when you start to design this, are you are you expected to to think what people should have or are you trying to figure out what people expect without actually ever having experienced it? I would say that it's more towards a smart right because we we tend to look years into the future. So what people expect is this kind of for this tomorrow.
But what is next week is something we have to determine and based on our our gut feeling but also our information that we have, we can say, okay, this is what the customer, not only in the future, but actually expects, right? We didn't even know. So the autonomous things that we do the way we do it is we start out with storyboarding, right? So we actually create these scenarios almost like a movie and say, okay, this is realistic, but what's going to happen around there?
And then we start problem solving because normally after a storyboard, a lot of problems actually show up and say, okay, how are we going to tackle this? And after that the design process kicks in. So we really start with the user and the expectations of it, and then we follow through until the product. Now obviously for the Model L 100, there was another thing that would be added to it, which was the celebration of the brand, and they also needed to have that impact, right?
Because our customer heritage have had many times use Lincolns for for occasions in their lives to celebrate. So it was a great opportunity for us to say, okay, let's, let's do that now and do what we do. That is to celebrate the optimism needed in the car. The customer always comes first through extensive research and then to use the case storyboarding and vintage design. Yeah, we are talking.
We are talking with Michael Thompson, who is interior design chief for Lincoln, about what goes through his mind when asked to design these vehicles and, you know, I guess like everything, Michael, sometimes you have to make some compromises and it's hard. And sometimes when we drive vehicles, we say, like, why did they do that? But that's got to be difficult for you as an interior designer.
You know, you want something to look a certain way, like, for example, you look at that beautiful screen and the L100 that is the floor. Someone might say, Well, that's great, but you know what? If I put floor mats on it. Well, you can do this. The floor mats, which is actually easier. Or someone might say, Oh, we don't have budget for that, you know, just painted white or something. Yes, I think there's a difference between a car that is efficient models versus a car that is actually in use.
Right. So when we're when we're trying to say is that we are having a good look at technology and say, should it only be about information or can we actually use it to rejuvenate? And, you know, in this case, we use it as a digital floor because we want to show that we're not limited in our spots and we're not limiting our creativity. Yeah. So if we're saying, okay, the technology can only be to tell me which parts I'm going, what my battery charge is. That's pure informational and it's good.
It's great that we have that, but it can't be the only thing. Michael, we are going to take a break and be right back and talk more about interior design and this wonderful Lincoln L100. So stay tuned to Cruise Control. I'm Fred Stobbe. He is Liz Jackson and that other guy from Monterey is Michael Thompson. We love talking design and we will do more about it when we come back. Cruise control is your on air Automotive magazine. Check us out at Cruise Control. Radio.com Cruise Control.
Welcome back to Cruise Control. I'm Fred Starr. But he is none other than less JACKSON. And we are joined by Michael Thompson, who's the Lincoln interior design chief, having a great discussion about this incredible vehicle, the L100. Really looking into the future. It is a actual concept that you can drive. Mike was telling us a little bit about it during the break and we were going through a couple of things, just chatting among yourselves.
Michael and we should talk about them because I think our audience would love it less. Asked about the wheels of I know it's I know you're an interior guy, but the wheels on the exterior, they look like they're rotating. It's really LED lights right? It is, yes. We actually reinventing the wheel is a great, amazing job. And, you know, the energy these the they they have a function as well.
They're not just eye catching and gorgeous, but they also show the state of the battery and how fast charge three right. We can respond or make sure that the dynamics are as good as Sandy and as we follow it, it's just like so these wheels are absolutely gorgeous. And then we you. Yes. He's Michael's breaking up a little bit. But as he was saying, those LED wheels are are show the state of charge of the vehicle, which which is really great. So they have a function.
But, you know, Michael, we talked about this during the break and there are a lot of aerodynamic cars coming out now. Mercedes has done them, many manufacturers have done them. And they all kind of getting that shape where they kind of swoop down in the back. Once again, this is an exterior question, but you're a designer, so you're deeply involved in all aspects of it. Is that going to limit automotive design in the future?
Because people will want to hit that coefficient of drag number and maybe they say, well, you know, it's going to have that kind of boat tail back and it's going to have that kind of swoop in the back to hit the aerodynamic number, too, to really get good range, electric range, you know, as is that limiting as a designer or is that something you just have to work with? It is something that we have to keep in mind for sure, right.
I mean, we we have to make sure that our cars are everywhere efficient as possible, but there's different requirements. So it's not actually an exterior question. It's an interior question because it's a it's a balancing act between the best around, plus what people expect from the interior.
Right? So in this age of 100, we have more room to do both of them for a lot of other vehicles and say, okay, if there's a request for a three row or a second row accommodation and how much headroom that that's going to be involved in the overall design of the vehicle. So I think it's it's you know, where do you place your resources? Is it going to be on Arrow or is it going to be about interior roominess or packaging? And what does that do? So therefore, it changes from vehicle to vehicle.
It's it's the reason you can make the best old car, but you might not get this as good of a second row out of it and the other way around as well. So it's not just make sure your question is more of an overall vehicle question, but we are doing an amazing job right now actually with the drag as far as I was told for a few minutes on this one. The seating itself, it looks beautiful and I'm sure it's very comfortable. Does it do the seats do anything else that maybe aren't being done now?
I'm sure they they probably heat and air conditioned and all of that. Yeah. Massage but have you thought about or maybe you already did that the seats actually move or rotate or change. Okay. So in the new model 100, they differentiate actually going into the three layouts, right? So it becomes from a foot rise to actually a social seating and it comes from underneath the app.
It creates a social seating and where you can face each other, which is one of the benefits of autonomy, and then it actually rotates open for a more traditional driving position. And that's where you can also take control of the car. So within the same interior, we have three layouts, which is pretty unique.
But like I said, that's that's kind of showing the flexibility of our interiors and what what is possible now as far as should or closer, I should say, to to to reality, the seats are a crucial part in, let's call them, a rejuvenation orchestra. Right. So the massages by themselves are one thing.
But what is displayed on that screen and what is still, you know, the sounds, the way we're capturing all these senses in there and saying, okay, this is what creates the most sanctuary, the interior and the seating of that is a crucial part of that. Wow. It it really is it really is incredible. We should also mention, Michael, that that center console is actually a chess board or can be used as a chess board. Right.
Well, I think it actually chessboard chessboard is the working title that we use here. So the thing is that one of our designers saw his son play with this cart. Right? So we said, okay, this is how we're going to control the car. And it almost felt like a chess piece on a chess board. Yeah. So we have this this digital, this touchscreen and as a console, you could see, you know, you need information. And that's the one.
And this beautiful sculpted crystal piece, which is a feature of the vehicle, it interrupts. So you can actually place that, let's say, okay, this is my look is where you place it on the chessboard. So that's strategically placed, if you like, and the car will take you there. But the interaction with this is great.
So while we use the floor as ambiance type of lighting, screen or technology, the console board still is your source of information but can also still adapt to whatever sport graphics you have. Wow. Very, very neat. Very, just really, it just makes you want to get in it and try it out.
And the other thing, too, Michael, you know, I've read a lot on furniture and people potentially living in smaller spaces in the future and what you've done with the folding seats and how they kind of reconfigure and become kind of multiple pieces of furniture is is certainly something I think we're going to see even in home design for smaller apartments in the future.
So, you know, you're not having endless pieces of furniture, you have configurations of furniture and, you know, really using a small space efficiently. So that that's great. That is really it's not only wonderful artistic design, it's also great engineering to to make that all work and look great. And yeah, we really appreciate it. How did you choose interior over exterior or did that just happen for you when it comes to design?
Yes, I did exterior for a while and then one day and I think I, I kind of felt like I went to interior and honestly, to me, that was a part where I, I felt directly very comfortable with and I felt comfortable that series, too, of course. But the interior, the possibilities that are there and every time each quality changes and I'm not just talking about screens, I'm talking about materials. Right? Right. The toxic of all the materials, which means just the whole interior.
Yeah. So it it's moving so fast that up to me is where the the the challenge lies. And that's why I'm so happy to do interiors because, you know, whenever somebody comes up with something, we can start all over again and incorporated and think about. So it's it's so challenging and I absolutely love it. Yeah. I'm sorry. One, one thing I know you just mentioned it and I think it's great that you did the engineering team to make it all possible.
I want to give a good shout out to that because, you know, my guys, I mean, we can drive all day long, but they actually made it and somebody. You're right. Somebody that. Is. Yeah. Well, Michael Thompson, Lincoln Interior Design Chief, we'll have to have you back on this. A great conversation about the L 100 beautiful vehicle. Thanks for being on the show. It's time for me to say I'm Fred. Stop. I'm last. Jackson, we're going to see you down the road. Take care. Bye. All right.
Thanks, guys. Bye bye. Thank you very much, Michael. Cruise control streamed live every Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Watches live on Facebook and YouTube. Details are in this podcast episode information.