<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press</span></p><p class="caption">Lecture time.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> spent over an hour on the Recode/Decode podcast, talking about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla">Tesla</a>.</strong></li><li><strong>He offered what has become a familiar lecture about why <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> has struggled with its auto-manufacturing supply chain.</strong></li><li><strong>Everybody in the auto industry knows about the supply chain and takes it for granted. Musk, however, seems fixated on it.</strong></li></ul><p><br />Tesla CEO Elon Musk participated in a lengthy <a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/11/2/18053428/recode-decode-full-podcast-transcript-elon-musk-tesla-spacex-boring-company-kara-swisher">Recode/Decode podcast interview with Kara Swisher</a> this week. In over an hour, he covered a lot of ground. It's worth a listen. </p><p>I got through the whole thing, hearing all about how painful it was for Musk to work the 100-plus-hour weeks that were required to address the numerous problems with the fraught ramp-up for production of Tesla's Model 3 sedan.</p><p>I shared Musk's pain - because, honestly, it's agonizing to listen to him endlessly repeat the same tales of woe about how difficult it is to assemble an automobile while working with modern supply chains. I feel as if he's hit this talking point dozens of times at this juncture. He typically notes that whatever slowdown develops in Tesla's manufacturing process can be blamed on the company's most sluggish supplier. </p><p>That's certainly true, but it isn't anything new. Swisher didn't press him on this, and I didn't expect her to. She probably doesn't have a detailed understanding of the auto industry, and she doesn't need to. She's a technology journalist. But she could certainly say something like, "Great, sounds like a challenge - but isn't everybody else who makes cars also grappling with this? Or not."</p><p>She was just the lastest audience for this Muskian lecture. Don't get me wrong; Musk's lectures can be fascinating and important. They have genuine value. But his "Carmaking 101" spiel often gets trotted out for the more seasoned automotive media and for investment-bank analysts who have spent years covering major global automakers that wrestle with supply-chain management every single day.</p><h2>Musk is telling us something that everybody already knows</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Tesla</span></p><p class="caption">Tesla's factory.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The bottom line is that when Musk launches into this lecture, my reaction has generally been to ask, "Why are you being so strenuous in telling me something I already know?" It would be like if I spent 10 minutes informing him that gravity is a fundamental consideration in the design of rockets intended to deliver payloads to orbit.</p><p>The way that cars are now built is the result of widespread adoption of something called the Toyota Production System, developed by Toyota in the 1970s and 1980s. (Musk, by the way, has critiqued TPS, not without justification.) Essentially, TPS strived for "just in time" inventory management: a part is supposed to arrive at the vehicle-assembly point at the moment it's needed. Deft supply-chain management means that large and costly inventories don't have to be stockpiled. </p><p>Everybody in the car business is aware of this. It's a given. In fact, nobody except Musk ever talks about it. In more than a decade of covering the auto industry, I've enjoyed a few conversations with experts in "lean manufacturing," but supply chain is a background thing, the endless low hum of machine running around the globe.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-is-not-disrupting-car-industry-expert-2018-10">Tesla isn't disrupting the auto industry, according to the expert who created the theory of disruptive innovation</a></em></p><p>Serious issues do arise every so often. Ford had to dial back some crucial F-150 pickup-truck production this year due to a fire at a supplier. A number of carmakers have had to deal with the massive recall of airbags manufactured by Takata. And after the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, Toyota and Honda saw their supply chain disrupted for months.</p><h2>Why does Musk keep coming back to this?</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/855492052">Mark Brake/Getty Images</a></span></p><p class="caption">Misdirection or distraction?</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>So why does Musk so frequently revisit this rap? </p><p>Part of it is because Tesla hasn't always had access to the best suppliers, nor the top teams at supplier. That was simply a consequence of Tesla's scale. The situation has improved. </p><p>You might suggest that Musk is engaged in misdirection or blame-shifting. But I don't think he is. Rather, I think he dislikes expressing severe frustration and uses various flavors of lecture-y wonk speak as a way to avoid it. He adores technical detail. It calms him down. </p><p>Should I begrudge Musk his coping mechanism? No. But it's getting a bit old, and what Musk likes to call "production hell" is starting to look like something Tesla is having a hard time either avoiding or learning from. It's actually important that Tesla improve its ability to make cars, so that it can address impressive demand for its vehicles and achieve Musk's objective of accelerating sustainable <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="transportation">transportation</keyword>.</p><p>So it doesn't entirely matter if the lecture about supply chains is actually misdirection. It's turned into an annoyance at best and a distraction at worst. </p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-left-tesla-fired-2018-10">What would happen if Elon Musk left Tesla</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Elon Musk needs to stop lecturing everybody about how hard it is for Tesla to build cars

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p><p class="caption">Jeremy Clarkson with a Porsche 918 Spyder.</p></div><p></p></div></div>After more than a year on the sidelines, Jeremy Clarkson is back with a new car show on Amazon Prime called "The Grand Tour".</p><p>Clarkson, along with long-time co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May, launched "The Grand Tour" prior to the Thanksgiving holiday to rave reviews.</p><p>In fact, the first episode quickly became the most watch piece of programming in the history of Amazon Prime.</p><p>Incredibly, Amazon's second-best performing show could only muster 1/3 of "The Grand Tour's" ratings,<a href="http://www.thewrap.com/the-grand-tour-tv-ratings-man-in-high-castle-amazon/" target="_blank"> The Wrap</a> reported.</p><p>Recently, the bombastic TV host and long-time newspaper columnist sat down with Business Insider in New York while doing press for his new show. We had a brief chat about supercars, electric cars, and why James May should feel small and stupid.</p><p><strong>Benjamin Zhang</strong>: Let's talk about cars. One of our favorites this year has been the new Acura/Honda NSX. </p><p><strong>Jeremy Clarkson</strong>: I'm annoyed to have to say that James May has driven it for the show, Richard Hammond has been in it, and I've only been looking at it. I've haven't had a go in it, not yet, but I will very soon</p><p>It's a very good looking car, I just hope its better than Honda's Formula One effort. (In reference to Honda's recent struggles as McLaren's engine supplier in the Formula One racing series.)</p><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p><p class="caption">Jeremy Clarkson (L), Richard Hammond (C), James May.</p></div><p></p></div></div>BZ</strong>: In the past you haven't been a huge of fan of Tesla. Has your thinking changed at all?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: No, because I will never be a fan plug-in electric cars. You have brown-outs in New York already when you have people charging (phones) up, and running lights. America is barely coping with its demand for electricity. Same in Britain. We're 5% and you're 16% under here in the US. So, when people start charging their cars up, where's the power going to come?</p><p>Who knows.</p><p>You'll have to build more power stations. Is that environmentally friendly?</p><p>The answer is hydrogen. But the more plug-in electric cars that come along, the less demand there is for carmakers to get off their asses and start making fuel cell cars - which is where we must go. We must have fuel cell cars. The world has to have them.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: Back to something more traditional. What are your thoughts on the new Ferrari 488 GTB? Is it an awesome car or a turbocharged abomination?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: The 488 is fabulous car - make no mistake about that. And anyone who owns a 458 ( The 488's predecessor) now would feel small and stupid because they bought the wrong car... James May.</p><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Hollis Johnson</span></p><p class="caption">Ferrari 488 GTB.</p></div><p></p></div></div>BZ</strong>: Yes, James May was extolling the merits of his Ferrari 458 Speciale earlier today.</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: Yes I know, he's the man who once drove it 26 mph. He'd certainly never go any faster than that.</p><p>Ferrari- difficult company to deal with, but extremely good cars when you get ahold of them. They are really, really good. In fact, I know of nothing, really, as a driver's machine that gets close to that.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: What about McLaren?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>:  It does, but it's got these extremely clever electronic roll bars and matches Ferrari in terms of all of the outright figures. But I don't know. There's a <em>fizz</em>, James May calls it, (that you feel) when you drive a Ferrari. I know what he means and you just don't get that from a McLaren. The spirit of (long-time McLaren boss and well-known neat-freak) Ron Dennis is in every single thing you touch in there.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: Not for much longer I guess.</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: Yes, I know and that's slightly amazing. (Dennis was removed from is position of McLaren Technology Group's CEO last month)</p><p>There's this slightly antiseptic feel to the (McLaren). You know when you see someone with really neat hair and you want to lean over and just do <em>that</em>. (Clarkson stretches his arm out and pretends to mess up my hair.) It's what you want to do to a McLaren. You want to just rub mud on its face. It would make the car better and more human.</p><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p><p class="caption">McLaren P1.</p></div><p></p></div></div>BZ</strong>: On that note, what do you think of the new generation Audi A4?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: I haven't bothered with it. The last Audi I drove was the TT, which was excellent. I drive a different car every week, why the bloody hell would I make one of them an A4.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: Well, what about American cars? Have they gotten any better in your opinion?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: Yeah, much better. The new Corvettes are truly fantastic. You couldn't possibly have one in Europe because you'd look like a moron. But, it's a fabulous car. In fact, the last two generations have been extremely impressive.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: Even for everyday road use?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: Yeah. Very very good. And I'd also say that, for the same exact reasons I was discussing with you on the McLaren, the Mustang is also a really good car.</p><p>We a drove the Roush one in the opening scene (of the first episode) and that was a really good car.</p><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>BZ</strong>: You had a (Henrik Fisker-designed, modified Mustang) Rocket as well right?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: Yeah, but the Roush was better. The Roush was the best of those three.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: Even better than the Shelby GT350?</p><p><strong>JC</strong>: I thought so. The last Roush I drove - based on the last model Mustang - was (on the track) at Willow Springs. I was just absolutely bowled over by it. Roush are really good. Never met them. Don't even know who they are or where they are, but I've driven two of their cars now and both of them have been incredibly impressive.</p><p><strong>BZ</strong>: Thank you very much.</p><p class="tagline">Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cheapest-ferrari-california-luxury-cars-2016-8">The cheapest new Ferrari money can buy is absolutely gorgeous</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="JleHMzdjpIcJpld5dfaVynKzlNb_4V_q" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Jeremy Clarkson reveals why he loves and hates Ferrari and Tesla

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Honda's Acura luxury division has finally debuted its long-awaited NSX supercar at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The futuristic Acura is the culmination of a decade's worth concepts and design studies that gave fleeting glimpses of what the Japanese supercar could become.</span></p>
<p><span>Over the years, the NSX has built a cult following of supporters around the world. Celebrities ranging from comedian Rowan Atkinson of "Mr. Bean" fame to Oracle founder<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/larry-ellison-gave-acura-nsx-supercars-presents-2014-9" target="_blank"> Larry Ellison</a> are owners and true fans of the Acura.</span></p>
<p><span><span>In fact, during the first generation NSX's 15-year production, Ellison was known to purchase a couple of examples every year to give out as presents and bonuses to friend and employees.&#xa0;</span></span></p>
<p>Although, rumors of a V8-, V10-, or even a V12-powered car had been bandied about, Acura has instead chosen to take a page out of the LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 playbooks and settled on a hybrid powertrain.</p>
<p>The car that will eventually make it to dealer showrooms will be powered by a 3.5-liter twin-turbo charged V6 gasoline engine assisted by a trio of electric motors.</p>
<p><span>That's right, it's going to have one engine, two turbos and three electric motors. The new NSX should be a rocket.</span></p>
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</div></div>One electric motor will be placed between the V6 engine and the rear-mounted trans-axle to help boost torque. The other two electric motors will power the front wheels.
<p>Although Acura has yet to announce official performance figures, &#xa0;media reports indicate the hybrid NSX is expected to produce more than 550 horsepower. That's a significant boost over the 290 horsepower 3.2-V6 engine that powered the final examples of the first generation cars.&#xa0;</p>
<p>All of this power will be harnessed by a 9-speed dual clutch gearbox.&#xa0;</p>
<p>"<span>Our commitment was to create an all-new NSX that is true to the heritage of NSX - a supercar that delivers a new driving experience, one where every part of the vehicle is respectful of the smartest part of the car, the driver," said senior vice president and general manager Mike Accavitti in Detroit.</span></p>
<p><span>"The soul of a car is the emotional connection it makes with the driver. With the NSX, that connection will be intense and immediate."</span></p>
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<p>In what could be the most protracted automotive teasing in recent memory, the car's existence has long been rumored since the first generation NSX was discontinued in 2005. In fact, for a while the new Acura supercar seemed to be an automotive white whale of sorts. Many fans had given up hope of its return and begrudgingly accepted that the NSX would be lost to automotive history like its Japanese compatriots - the Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, and Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4.</p>
<p><span>The musical equivalent would be Dr. Dre's "long-delayed" follow up to his iconic "Chronic 2001."</span></p>
<p>Fortunately, the dream of a new NSX was rekindled when Acura introduced the concept in 2012 that would spawn the new generation.</p>
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<p>Although the new production NSX is a product of a Japanese brand, its American roots are undeniable. The new car is a completely original design, whose <span>global&#xa0;</span>development was headed up by engineers at Honda's development center in Raymond, Ohio. The NSX will be produced by a 100-person team at the company's Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio.</p>
<p>For&#xa0;Ellison and his fellow fans, the Ohio-built supercar is expected to hit showrooms <span>in all its glory&#xa0;</span>&#xa0;later this year. Official prices for the NSX have not been announced, but reports from Detroit peg the sticker at more than $150,000.&#xa0;</p>
<p>Here's a up close look at the production Acura NSX courtesy of the good people at CNET:</p>
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The Acura NSX Supercar Has Returned - And One Billionaire Is Going To Be Very Happy

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>With "Furious 7" - the &#xa0;latest installment of the "Fast and Furious" series - &#xa0;out in theaters on Easter weekend, we now know what car the film's villain will be driving.&#xa0;<p>It's a Jag!</p><p>Jason Statham is the bad guy, and his character - the sinister Deckard Shaw - opens the film behind the wheel of a white Jaguar F-Type.&#xa0;</p><p>Previous "Fast and Furious" villains have driven everything from a Honda S2000s to an Aston Martin Vanquish.</p><p>But those who've been watching TV for past year shouldn't be all that surprised to find the "Furious 7" baddie behind the wheel of a Jag.&#xa0;</p><p>Jaguar kicked off its "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jaguars-super-bowl-ad-explains-why-all-the-best-movie-villains-are-british-2014-1" target="_blank">Good to be bad</a>" marketing campaign last year with a gloriously sinister Super Bowl ad.</p><p>The ad, featuring such British movie villains as Sir Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong - and Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston - plays on why Brits make such great evil dudes. Interspersed with the actors' speeches are shots of Jag's F-Type driving through London.</p><p>The campaign is meant to position the Jaguar as a sleek and attractive, yet naughty, alternative to the straight-and-narrow Mercedes and BMWs that dominate the luxury car segment.&#xa0;</p><p>And it seems to have worked, with Jaguar Land Rover notching its <a href="http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1096304_jaguar-land-rover-sells-record-462678-cars-in-2014" target="_blank">best sales year ever</a> in 2014.&#xa0;</p><p>Like his fellow "Fast and Furious" characters, Statham's Shaw won't be confined to just one car. Throughout the film, Shaw will also be behind the wheel of a modified Maserati Ghibli and an Aston Martin DB9.&#xa0;</p><p>And this isn't the only badness on film that we'll be seeing from Jag. The carmaker's terrifyingly gorgeous C-X75 will provide a wicked set of wheels for the villain in the upcoming <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bond-24-spectre-james-bond-aston-martin-db10-versus-jaguar-villain-2014-12" target="_blank">James Bond flick</a>, "Spectre."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The Jaguar F-Type sports car is the company's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-beautiful-cars-on-sale-today-2015-3" target="_blank">highly praised follow up </a>to the legendary E-Type of the 1970s. With power coming from an available 5.0-liter, 550-horsepower, supercharged V8, the sleek cat can rocket to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds, with a top speed of 186 mph.<p>In addition to the top-of-the-line V8 coupe, the F-Type is also available in convertible and supercharged V6 variants.&#xa0;</p><p>Business Insider got the chance to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jaguar-f-type-r-coupe-review-2014-10" target="_blank">spend a few hundred miles behind the wheel of both the coupe</a> and convertible versions of the Jag and came away duly impressed by the sports car. We found the F-Type to be a capable high performance machine that's both luxurious and comfortable to drive, with an exquisitely styled exterior.</p><p>"Furious 7" hits theaters in the US April 3.&#xa0;</p><p>Check out the official trailer here:</p><div><div></div></div><p class="embed-spacer"></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/film-cars-falling-airplane-furious-7-skydiving-cinematography-2015-4">Cars fall from the sky in the new 'Furious 7' movie</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9kYXRhdDpP_bhLtOYYisdnNj8V1A6K7R" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

This is the sports car villain Jason Statham is driving in 'Furious 7'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Bobby Yip</span></p><p class="caption">Can he do it?</p></div><p></p></div></div>Failure is considered a badge of honor in Silicon Valley. If you aren't failing, you aren't trying. And if you aren't failing big time, you aren't aiming high enough.</p><p>But even by the standards of Silicon Valley, what Tesla CEO Elon Musk is approaching would be failure on a whole new scale. </p><p>Tesla reported first-quarter earnings last week, and while they were better than Wall Street expected, the earthshaking news that emerged was that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-mind-blowing-change-strategy-2016-5">Musk is taking the car maker in a new strategic direction</a>.</p><p>Tesla's, which delivered about 50,000 vehicles last year, is aiming to deliver 500,000 in 2018. The production target isn't new, but the timeline is. Tesla had previously said it would build half a million cars a year by 2020. </p><p>Prompting this change was the 400,000 pre-orders that Tesla has taken for the Model 3 mass-market vehicle, set to be priced at $35,000 and due to arrive in 2017. At $1,000 a pop, these pre-order represent a nice no-interest loan for Tesla, but also a daunting challenge for a company that barely managed to deliver 50,000 vehicles in 2015.</p><p>No one thinks Tesla can pull this off. It would be the fastest ramp-up in production in a century, since Henry Ford used mass-production to roll a huge number of Model Ts off his assembly lines.</p><h2>Only hard for Tesla</h2><p>Bear in mind that going from a 50,000 production pace to 500,000 wouldn't be that difficult for an established automaker - a Ford or Toyota or GM or Honda, with numerous factories spread around the globe and decades of manufacturing experience. A traditional player could be hitting Tesla's marks in six months, if necessary.</p><p>But for much of its history, Tesla was building one car, the Model S sedan, in one factory located in Northern California (it now has some additional manufacturing capacity in Europe). Last year, it graduated to building two cars. And that second car, the Model X SUV, has been beset with quality control problems and has already endured a voluntary recall.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">The Model X has had some problems.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Tesla is an impressive company and Musk is a visionary, but the automaker's inability to get better at building its cars is alarming. Musk knows this and repeatedly stressed to analysts last week that as awesome as Tesla is a design and technology, it must become a premier manufacturer of "large, complex objects."</p><p>But Musk is also showing a touch of arrogance by continue to push Tesla toward a vertically integrated production Model, avoiding the "lean" or "just in time" processes that the rest of the auto industry adapted in the 1980s and '90s - and which Tesla's factory, formerly a joint venture between Toyota and GM, was created to explore. This gives Tesla more control. But it also exposes the company to the critical issues that continues to bedevil it: complexity.</p><h2>Cars are hard, right?</h2><p>Musk has also begun to fall into a rather didactic pattern of reminding analysts how difficult it is to put cars together. </p><p>"[T]<span>here are 6,000, 7,000 unique components in the Model 3," he said, by way of explaining why supplier issues can prevent a car from being built on time. But of course everyone who follows the auto industry knows that cars have a lot of parts - and that established automakers can handle that complexity. </span></p><p><span>And Musk's fixation on this point undermines one of the factors that's supposed to make Tesla different: electric cars are supposed to be much more simple and easy to assemble than their gas-burning counterparts.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Building Teslas.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Musk isn't afraid of failing. He could have played it safe when he and his partners sold PayPal to eBay, but instead he took his many millions and sunk them into Tesla and SpaceX, simultaneously risking everything on cars - a business that seems designed to obliterate capital - and rocket science. </span></p><p><span>He's also gambled and won again and again with Tesla: when it was on death's door in late 2008, just weeks from bankruptcy; when he sold stakes in the company to Daimler and Toyota, who would be eventual competitors; when he gave away Tesla's patents to spur moribund electric-car development; and when he committed to building a massive battery factory in Nevada.</span></p><p><span>But Musk is also used to his flirtations with failure not being fatal.</span></p><h2><span>A tall, tall order</span></h2><p><span>Prior to last week, if you'd asked me if Tesla could hit 500,000 by 2020, I would have said that the goal was ambitious given Tesla track record, but not impossible. After all, GM can build that many cars in a few months without breaking a sweat.</span></p><p><span>Accelerate the schedule by two years, however, and I have to predict that Tesla is going to run itself until it potentially breaks to make it happen. Even if we do give Tesla the generous benefit of the doubt that it can improve its manufacturing pace, there's still the question of whether the Model 3 can be assembly-line-ready by 2018. So far, we've seen a very pre-production version, at its unveiling in California earlier this year. A prime-time car is a long ways off.</span></p><p><span>The skeptic in me does need to be reminded that I've underestimated Tesla before and been proven wrong. And we are talking about manufacturing here, not, say, landing a rocket on a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. American companies have taken manufacturing from 0-100 mph is very short time periods before. World War II leaps to mind. It can be done because it <em>has</em> been done.</span></p><p><span>But boy, has Musk ever set himself a humdinger of target with this one. </span></p><p><span>Then again, if you're going to fail, epic failure is probably better than a slow fade. I just hope Tesla's investors, who have rewarded the company with a $27-billion market cap based on expectations for a prosperous future, know what they're signing up for.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-not-prepared-for-model-3-preorders-cars-tech-transportation-elon-musk-2016-4">Elon Musk admits that Tesla may not be prepared to meet demands for $11 billion in preorders for their new Model 3</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="pia3hrMjE6ro9GDixgYAmFkl0ugAeKAe" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Elon Musk is setting himself up for an epic failure

<p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p>There's no better way to celebrate the the birth of the USA than with the mighty Corvette.<p>Business Insider readers already know that we like the Chevy Corvette Stingray.</p><p>We named it our 2014 Car of the Year, concluding that although it might not be the mythical Corvette of the Mind - that honor goes to the second-generation version of the car from the early 1960s or the third-gen Vette, built from 1968 to 1982 - it was certainly the best Corvette to yet emerge from the storied bluegrass assembly line in Bowling Green, Kentucky.</p><p>But you should know something. There's actually a better Vette.</p><p>A <em>much</em> better Vette.</p><p>There's just one drawback. While the Stingray (technically the C7, or seventh generation of the all-American sports car) is a deeply compelling motoring experience, the better Vette is a way of life.</p><p>It's the Z06, and it's a living, breathing supercar.</p><p>The stats: 650 horsepower, 650 pound-feet of torque. You'll know this because Chevy has included a small plaque with the data, located on the center console. Other stats: 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, according the manufacturer. And one more stat: Just look at it!</p><p>For comparison, here's a first-generation Vette, a charming little thing:</p><p class="source"><span>GM</span></p><p>And here's the Z06:</p><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p><p>You've come a long way, baby.</p><p>GM let us borrow a Z06 for a weekend, and we took the car and its supercharged V8 engine and its groovy targa roof all the way out to eastern Long Island, then back across Manhattan and into New Jersey. If this sounds like fun, it was.</p><p>But it was also an exercise in personal discipline and focus. The Stingray is a Corvette through and through and therefore not a well-mannered Buick either in town or on the highway. But driving it is like piloting a Honda Civic when compared with the Z06's snarling mechanical dragon, which quite often feels as if it's powered by a Saturn V rocket that woke up on the dark side of the Moon.</p><p>The performance is dismaying and actually rather difficult to properly assess without access to a track. When we reviewed the Stingray, we pointed out that for its sub-$100,000 price, you get a car that, although front-engined, could be every bit as much the track warrior as a mid-engined, $270,000 Ferrari 458. A street-legal race car for the budget-minded. That argument still holds now that the 458 has been replaced by the 488.</p><p class="source"><span>Hollis Johnson</span></p><p>The Z06 also comes in at less than $100,000. High-performance Vettes are nothing new. This Z06 can trace its heritage back to the 1960s, when the designation first emerged. Corvette's role at GM is to push the envelope.</p><p>That monumental LT4 eight-banger is a good example; General Motors says it's the most powerful engine it has created in its more than 100-year history.</p><p>In my case, it was mated to a seven-speed manual transmission (you can also get an automatic) equipped with a nifty rev-matching feature that will rhyme your engine speeds with your downshifts and match them better than you can with your left and right foot. You don't need to flirt with escape velocities to derive gobs of unholy human pleasure from that powertrain setup.</p><p>True, the entire arrangement is specifically designed to take gasoline and transform it ruthlessly and rapidly into raw speed and a sound that will make you curse the quiet. But in mild-mannered freeway cruising, you can get the Z06 up around 20 mpg, which is sort of mesmerizing when you consider that while I was doing this on the Long Island Expressway, a Lamborghini Aventador came screaming up alongside and I thought, "Well, it's pretty much you and me, bub, on this stretch of road - nothing else can touch us."</p><p>And, for the record, I didn't act on that knowledge as the Lambo wailed off into the distance, achieving something like 12 mpg for its exertions.</p><h2>More Stingray</h2><p>The design of the Z06 is best described as the Stingway with just MORE. More pronounced angles, more aggressive adornments, and more aerodynamic elements. More, more, more. The overall package does feel completely different from the Stingray, even though the bones of both cars are effectively the same. When underway, the Stingray, with a mere 505 horsepower, feels light and flicky. The Z06 feels like it could blot out the Sun with violent combustion. In the Stingray, you smile. In the Z06, you furrow your brow and tighten your grip.</p><p>You simply can't relax in the Z06 - an understandable state of affairs given that this car is completely and totally too much for everyday living. It commands your attention. But the thing only costs about $90,000. This definitely should not be. But there it is.</p><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p><p>So only thing standing between a lot of folks and a Z06 is the stigma associated with Corvette ownership. In this respect, the Z06 is meant to be something of a trans-Vette. Yes, it's a Corvette. But it's a Corvette that hangs out with Pagani Huayras and drinks good tequila. The words "singles bar" aren't printed in the owners manual. The word "Nurburgring" is.</p><p>And believe me, the Z06 is truly a machine that longs for the race track: Last year, I watched the competition version tear around the Rolex 24 at Daytona, being chased by Ferraris and BMWs and the new Ford GT. The car I saw was the C7.R, the GT racing version of the Z06, and at Daytona Corvette Racing finished 1-2 in 2016.</p><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p><h2>New mindshare for the legendary Vette</h2><p>Ever since the "Boogie Nights" third-gen Vette established itself in the collective imagination as the preferred vehicle of the male midlife crisis, Corvette has been trying to modify its reputation. The effort has always been honest and determined, but the fact is that it's taken literally decades. The current Z06 stands at the pinnacle of that undertaking.</p><p>That said, it's hard to tell if it will actually work. When Vettes were for guys going through changes, Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, and Lamborghini were exotic imports. But now the competition is everywhere. It used to be rare to spot a Porsche 911 in the American wild. Now you can't swing an old crankshaft in Los Angeles without hitting one.</p><p>So even thought it's <em>easier</em> to justify buying a Vette now than it used to be, it's <em>harder </em>to convince yourself that the car is really as good as it looks on paper. And so those creeping doubts combined with the Vette's, um ... reputation lead you naturally toward Porsche.</p><p>However, the Z06, if experienced under proper conditions (that would not be on a 10-minute test drive) is adequately mind-blowing to alter this familiar psychological dynamic.</p><p>It's too early in Corvette's Generation 7 to tell if we've crossed over into truly new territory. The Z06, however, is a departure, and not simply because this is both the most powerful and most technologically advanced Vette GM has ever created. Inside and out, it was designed to <em>mean something new. </em>General Motors examined the epistemology of Corvette, found it wanting, and took the steps necessary to change hearts and minds.</p><p>With the Stingray, the steps were huge. With the Z06, they're <em>gigantic.</em></p><p>Honestly, I think the engineers doth protest too much with the Zo6. They didn't really need to stretch quite this far, to reach for distant supernovas and figure out a way to reshape them as a drop-top two-seater that sounds like it has eight live volcanoes under the hood.</p><p>But then again, you don't change hearts and minds by holding back.</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-ford-replacing-ceo-mark-fields-short-termism-on-wall-street-2017-5">Ford replacing its CEO points to the short-termism on Wall Street</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

There's no better way to celebrate the USA than with the Corvette Z06

<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/855492052">Mark Brake/Getty Images</a></span></p><p class="caption">Tesla CEO Elon Musk.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><ul><li><strong>Since <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla">Tesla</a> CEO Elon Musk arrived on the scene, he's been called a visionary.</strong></li><li><strong>Recently, however, Musk has shown that he prefers short-term thinking.</strong></li><li><strong>The upsurge in Musk's Twitter activity is the most alarming evidence that he's backing away from long-term thinking.</strong></li></ul><p><span><br />"Musk is a long-term thinker in a short-term world, but his runway is running out."</span></p><p><span>That's <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/17/technology/business/elon-musk-pacific/index.html">Dylan Byers at CNN</a>, offering some insight into why <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has seen Wall Street and the media shift from praising his every utterance to questioning his (often broken) promises.</span></p><p><span>I've been writing about Musk for more than a decade and have frequently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-think-elon-musk-only-does-cars-and-rockets-youre-not-thinking-big-enough-2015-4">credited him with being a visionary</a> who's in business for the human race. My argument has been that you either accept this about the guy or don't. </span></p><p><span>I've lately been rethinking that position, in light of Tesla's inexcusable inability to competently mass-produce cars and Musk's refusal to see himself as a business leader who owes something to his investors. </span></p><p><span>I don't think long-haul stockholders have gotten a bad deal: Tesla shares are up nearly 1,000% since the company's 2010 IPO. But why have they outperformed pretty much everything in sight, as Tesla has lost billions, missed deadlines, and passed on opportunities to create a steadily profitable, if much smaller than predicted, business?</span></p><p><span>Faith, pure and simple. The belief that Tesla will somehow vindicate that lofty return with massive profits and huge market share relies on Musk's sales pitch - a pitch that is supposed to be studiously long-term, but that's often reliably vague. </span></p><h2><span>Maybe Musk is a short-term thinker who's good at change</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Noah Berger</span></p><p class="caption">Musk has refused to see himself as a business leader who owes something to his investors.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>This raises a troubling question: Is Musk truly a long-term thinker? Or he is a short-term thinker who has the crucial skill of changing his story on a dime to suit his audience, thereby generating the illusion of long-term thought?</span></p><p><span>I'm starting to worry that Musk is the latter. For someone who has composed two "Master Plans" for Tesla, he doesn't seem to have a particularly coherent vision that can be broken down into details that actual people can execute (hence his flawed preoccupation with automation and his disdain for auto-industry best-practices in manufacturing).</span></p><p><span>Years ago, I gave Tesla credit for thinking beyond the goals of many startup electric-car companies. Tesla had a multi-vehicle strategy, following its first car, the Roadster: Model S sedan, Model X SUV, Model 3 mass-market vehicle. More recently, we've seen a Model Y crossover added, along with a Semi, and a new Roadster. There might be a pickup on the horizon.</span></p><p><span>Taking the Semi out the picture, that's still not very many vehicles for a 15-year-old carmaker aiming to deliver a million units annually in the coming years to be contemplating. So where's the real vision? Alarmingly, is there one?</span></p><h2><span>Musk's vision peaked in 2015</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Screenshot</span></p><p class="caption">Musk's Paris speech on a carbon tax.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Musk's visionary tendencies peaked in 2015, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-just-demanded-a-carbon-tax-in-paris-2015-12">when he gave an influential speech in Paris demanding a carbon tax</a>. This brought all his enterprises into focus: Tesla, SpaceX, and then-independent SolarCity (Tesla merged with that company in 2016).  He presented a three-pronged effort to get humanity off fossil fuels and alleviate global warming.</span></p><p><span>That speech took place before Donald Trump was elected President and before Tesla went from being a niche purveyor of luxury all-electric vehicles to a carmaker with mass-market ambitions. </span></p><p><span>Neither development has been a positive thing for Musk. He's clearly studied Trump's Twitter obsession and realized that he can circumvent the automotive and business media by speaking directly to his millions of social-media acolytes. From where I sit, this has undermined if not destroyed the long-term thinking he used to be good at, reputedly. </span></p><p><span>If Musk has a critical flaw, it's unearned didacticism. And that flaw has been more on display over the past six months than at any time in Tesla history.</span></p><p><span>Anyone who has listened to him <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-slams-boring-bonehead-questions-in-tesla-q1-earnings-call-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joust with Wall Street analysts on quarterly earnings calls</a> is familiar with a favorite tactic. Musk will drop out of nitty-gritty discussions of financial results to engage in ad-hoc lectures about math, physics, and engineering. It's classic misdirection. His audience already knows this stuff because it's all a given in the auto industry and has been for decades. But he isn't talking to his audience - he's riffing for his loyalists, who know nothing about the automobile business but believe Musk is a once-a-generation genius who has self-taught his way into revolutionizing rockets and road cars. </span></p><p><span>The most recent example of this has been his <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/998987396870950912">Twitter attacks on the United Auto Workers</a> and those at Tesla who tried to reorganize the company's Fremont, CA factory, apparently in an unsuccessful effort. </span><span>The factory was, however, once a union shop when it was jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota prior to the financial crisis.</span></p><h2><span>Musk is often more wrong than right</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Tesla's factory.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Musk's rap here might look fresh if all your Elon information comes from Twitter, but he has dissed the UAW before in the context of arguing that the union bailed out on its workforce in Fremont during the financial crisis and that Tesla swept in to rescue it. </span></p><p><span>Tesla was able to buy Fremont - known as NUMMI when GM and Toyota ran it - for a fire-sale price largely thanks to the global financial meltdown and the bankruptcy of GM: the bill was $42 million, for a plant that was worth over a billion on paper. NUMMI was at one time called Fremont Assembly, but it was reinvented in the 1980s so that GM and Toyota could learn from each other; GM would gain insight into the vaunted Toyota Production System, and Toyota would gain a better understanding of the US market. </span></p><p><span>The California location made sense, given Toyota's popularity in the Golden State, but in the end, having a plant west of the Rockies didn't compute for GM, and in any case, the factory had been an albatross pre-NUMMI and GM only got two vehicles out of it, the Pontiac Vibe SUV (a rebadged Toyota Matrix) and a Chevy version of the Toyota Corolla. The entire Detroit car business is concentrated in the Midwest, and the foreign "transplants" have built nearly all their new plant on the US South. </span></p><p><span>Fremont was an idiosyncratic outlier before Tesla showed up - and it still is. It's not even clear that the UAW is all that enthusiastic about the organizing effort there, which has been rumored for years. It seemed to pick up speed in late 2017, but now looks to have petered out. </span></p><p><span>Nevertheless, Musk has tweeted about how Tesla both can't do anything about Fremont organizing while simultaneously arguing that his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-tesla-employees-dont-want-to-join-union-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">workforce doesn't want to</a> and insisting that the UAW sought to destroy both GM and Chrysler during the Great Recession, a nonsensical allegation that's really little more than a rehashed anti-labor talking point from the gang that wanted to pull the plug on Detroit back in 2009 so that the UAW could be finished off.</span></p><h2><span>Wasting time on Twitter</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Musk at Trump Tower.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The dreary exercise of parsing everything that's wrong with what Musk thinks - or doesn't think - about automaking, running a car company (he says he actually hates management), and labor is evidence of just how far from being a visionary the man has marched. </span></p><p><span>He has to have better things to do than tussle with random interlocutors on Twitter, even if he thinks he can leverage the platform to override negative press and constant pesky questions about why <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-terrifyingly-different-from-ford-gm-fca-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tesla has failed to make any money in 15 years</a> while burning through billions in a surging auto sales market that has set new records in the past three years.</span><span></span></p><p><span>If short-term thinkers didn't have Twitter, they might need to invent it. It's an ideal format for half-truths and outright deception because it lacks anything that resembles argumentative structure. Rhetorically, it's guerilla warfare or punk rock: thrilling, but also the opposite of anything strategic. </span></p><p><span>Musk plays it like a fiddle because it's the communication equivalent of what has always been one of his most impressive skills: getting people to give him money. If you're looking for the<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-is-the-greatest-car-salesman-who-has-ever-lived-2016-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> greatest pitchman in the history of American business, Musk might be your guy.</a></span></p><p><span>Then again, even the greatest pitchmen can have their promises scrutinized, once they haze of misdirection clears. That other person who loves Twitter and who now occupies the Oval Office pumps out an endless stream of Twitter propaganda because his longtime calling card - Master Dealmaker - is obviously a ruse. Trump has been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-loses-in-deal-with-automakers-2017-1">hustled by everybody from the Detroit Big Three</a> (on rising fuel-economy standards) to the North Koreans. </span></p><p><span>The tragedy of Musk sacrificing vision for cheap thrills is that much of the good news about Tesla is getting lost in the process. The forthcoming high-performance version of the troubled Model 3 will be a $78,000 luxury sedan to join the $100,000-plus Model S and Model X vehicles in the Tesla lineup. Tesla could now build 200,000 to 300,000 of these annually and probably become quite profitable by 2020 with a "rightsized" premium business.</span></p><p><span>That's just one positive development. Not that you knew about it if you've been avidly awaiting Musk next distracting tweet.</span></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> <strong>here.</strong></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/teslonda-tesla-motor-honda-accord-hot-rod-restore-2018-5">This Honda Accord has a Tesla motor</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Elon Musk is supposed to be a visionary - but he hasn't been acting like it lately

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>A US consular official was shot while driving out of a parking garage in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Friday a little after 6 p.m. local time.</p><p>The official, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/07/us-consular-official-shot-mexico" target="_blank">identified</a> as <span>Christopher Ashcraft, 31, a foreign-service officer on his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/07/video-captures-shooting-of-u-s-consular-official-in-mexico/" target="_blank">first posting</a> with the US State Department, was struck on the upper right side of his chest but is in stable condition, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-consular-official-shot-in-mexico-in-stable-condition-2017-1" target="_blank">according</a> to Mexican authorities.</span></p><p><span>Ashcraft works as&#xa0;a vice consul, a US government source <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4097636/Gunman-wounds-US-consular-official-western-Mexico.html" target="_blank">told</a> AFP.</span></p><p><span>"According to the four videos, it was a direct attack," Jalisco state attorney general Eduard Almaguer Ramirez <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4097636/Gunman-wounds-US-consular-official-western-Mexico.html" target="_blank">said</a>. Almaguer also told AFP that Ashcraft interviewed visa applicants at the embassy in the city.</span></p><p><span>The US consulate in the city, which is Mexico's second largest, released footage of the shooting as well as photos of the assailant. No motive for the attack has been established.</span></p><p><span>One clip of security-camera footage posted by the consulate on its Facebook page shows Ashcraft getting a ticket from a parking-garage machine&#xa0;while dressed in gym attire, then walking to his car with the suspected shooter not far behind him. </span></p><p><span>Another clip shows the suspect loitering by the street, waiting until Ashcraft's vehicle, a black Honda Fit, exits the parking garage, then taking a gun from his pocket and firing a single shot through the windshield.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Another clip shows the suspect, clad in white shoes and purple pants and shirt possibly meant to&#xa0;appear like a nurse's uniform, running behind a van after the shooting. He was also wearing sunglasses and a dark-colored wig.</span></p><p><span>After the assailant fires and runs away, the car moves forward and stops, as people run over to the driver's side of the vehicle. Ashcraft was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/07/us-consular-official-shot-mexico" target="_blank">taken</a> to a local hospital for treatment, where he is under protection.</span></p><p><span>Footage of the shooting is below, but it may be disturbing to some viewers.</span></p><p>According to the consulate's Facebook page, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/USCGGuadalajara/videos/10154616171290129/" target="_blank">FBI is offering</a> a $20,000 reward for information leading to the identification of the shooter.</p><p>The shooter was apparently targeting Ashcraft. He asked for the US official by name at the gym reception desk and then followed him to his car, a friend of Ashcraft's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/07/video-captures-shooting-of-u-s-consular-official-in-mexico/" target="_blank">told</a> The Washington Post.</p><p>In the footage below, Ashcraft can be seen retrieving a parking ticket and then walking to his car, with the suspected assailant following.</p><p>The friend said Ashcraft was recovering but planned to return to the US. "<span>He has no idea what happened," the friend, who has been in contact with Ashcraft since the shooting, told The Post. "But it wasn't random."</span></p><p>A source within the Guadalajara police department <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/07/us-consular-official-shot-mexico" target="_blank">told</a> The Guardian that authorities found US Drug Enforcement Administration credentials in Ashcraft's name, though&#xa0;the US consulate declined to comment on his position.</p><p>The source also said the attack was likely the work of a professional. "<span>That's not an easy shot," he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/07/us-consular-official-shot-mexico" target="_blank">told</a> The Guardian. "He was probably aiming for the head but he missed as he leaned over to put his ticket in the machine."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>While it's not yet known who the shooter was or if he acted on behalf of a Mexican criminal organization, Jalisco state, an economic center, is a hub of cartel activity. </span></p><p><span>The state is the home base of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which is widely regarded as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-carnage-and-corruption-upstart-mexican-cartels-path-to-top-2016-10" target="_blank">one of the country's most powerful cartels</a>. And in mid-December, the alleged leader of the once powerful Beltran Leyva Organization cartel <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alfredo-beltran-guzman-beltran-leyva-sinaloa-cartel-fighting-in-mexico-2016-12" target="_blank">was arrested in a Guadalajara suburb</a>.</span></p><p><span>The CJNG has proven itself willing to take on Mexican authorities. In May 2015 cartel&#xa0;gunmen downed a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-consular-official-shot-in-mexico-in-stable-condition-2017-1" target="_blank">killing six</a>. Jalisco's southern border <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-consular-official-shot-in-mexico-in-stable-condition-2017-1" target="_blank">has also seen fighting</a> between the CJNG and remnants of the Knights Templar cartel, based in neighboring Michoacan.</span></p><p><span><span>"I think that the Mexican cartels, the drug traffickers, have exceedingly become more brazen, and I think that US officials are in danger, very much like we were back in the '80s with the Guadalajara cartel when they kidnapped and assassinated Kiki Camarena," Mike Vigil, a former chief of <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> operations for the DEA who was stationed in Mexico, told Business Insider, referring to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/1-year-the-rise-and-fall-of-worlds-most-ambitious-drug-lord-2016-7" target="_blank">the case of Enrique Camarena</a>, a DEA agent who was kidnapped and killed by members of the Guadalajara cartel, then Mexico's strongest cartel, in 1985. </span></span></p><p><span><span>The killing strained US-Mexico relations and triggered a massive crackdown on the Guadalajara cartel, leading to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/1-year-the-rise-and-fall-of-worlds-most-ambitious-drug-lord-2016-7" target="_blank">the arrest of its top leaders</a> and knocking it from atop the narco hierarchy.</span></span></p><p><span><span>The US State Department has issued <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html" target="_blank">a travel warning</a> for Jalisco, barring US government personnel from "intercity travel after hours" and from using other roads in the area "<span>because of continued instability" in the region.</span></span></span></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p><span><span><span>"The Jalisco New Generation cartel, which operates in that area, is highly violent," Vigil, <span>author of "</span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Coffins-Alliance-Cartel-Miguel/dp/0991582195?tag=bisafetynet-20" target="_blank">Metal Coffins: The Blood Alliance Cartel</a><span>," added.</span> "They don't respect US officials, but what they don't understand is that when these things happen, the full weight of the US government will be brought to bear on them."</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span>Investigators from the US and Mexico will now to tap into a pool of contacts in the region in order to ascertain the identity and motive of the shooter.</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span>"They will activate the large network of informants to make a determination as to whether or not they have any information as to who was responsible for the killings," Vigil told Business Insider. "And there'll be coordination obviously with all US agencies, to include DHS, ATF, the US Marshals, the DEA, because all of them have their own distinct informant network, and ... they'll coordinate with the Mexican federal police, because they'll have jurisdiction."</span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>"But this investigation is not going to go away, and what's very critical in these types of situations is that the Mexican government will be given a lot of support," Vigil added. </span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span>"They sometimes lack the expertise, but with the US government involved, I can assure that this investigation will move forward in a very focused way."</span></span></span></span></span></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Attacks on US officials working in Mexico have happened in the past, though in some cases the attackers have said the incidents were the result of mistaken identity.</p><p>In 2014, Mexican gang leader Arturo Gallegos Castrellon was sentenced to life in prison for his role <a href="https://apnews.com/a5f8d1b69237482e9c58850f74b4ea3d?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP" target="_blank">in the 2010 killings</a> of US consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband, Arthur Redfels, and Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another consular employee, in a shooting in Ciudad Juarez.</p><p>The killings came during <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rising-violence-in-ciudad-juarez-reminder-of-cartel-fighting-2016-10" target="_blank">the peak of bloody fighting</a> between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels for control of Juarez.</p><p>Prosecutors <a href="https://apnews.com/a5f8d1b69237482e9c58850f74b4ea3d?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP" target="_blank">alleged</a> that Castrellon was part of a team of assassins working for Barrio Azteca, an ally of the Juarez cartel, which had ordered the hits. Several gang members testified that the killing was an accident, as the trio was in a car similar to that of members of the Sinaloa cartel.</p><p>In 2013, a Mexican drug-cartel lieutenant pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder in relation to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jaime-zapata-special-agent-killed-mexico-zetas-cartel-2016-11" target="_blank">the February 15, 2011, attack on ICE agents Jaime Zapata and his partner, Victor Avila</a>, who were driving back to Mexico City after a work-related trip to northern Mexico.</p><p>Court documents in the case stated that a Los Zetas cartel commander attempted to hijack the agents' government-issued armored SUV while they were driving on Highway 57 in San Luis Potosi state. After Zetas gunmen forced the SUV off the road, the commander ordered the two agents to get out.</p><p>They refused and tried to identify themselves as American diplomats, but the gunmen opened fire, killing Zapata and wounding Avila.</p><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-ford-factory-mexico-us-louisville-kentucky-assembly-lincoln-2016-11">Trump said he prevented a Ford factory from leaving the US - but the company says the move was never planned</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="J3MHJvNzE6fxnFj_lloyp1iFPtNCE5yy" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

'It wasn't random': The FBI is offering $20,000 for information on the shooting of a US consular official in Mexico

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Business Insider readers already know that we like the Chevy Corvette Stingray.</p><p>We named it our <a href="Business Insider's First-Ever Car Of The Year Is The Corvette Stingray">2014 Car of the Year</a>, concluding that although it might not be the mythical Corvette of the Mind - that honor goes to the second-generation version of the car from the early 1960s or the third-gen Vette, built from 1968 to 1982 - it was certainly the best Corvette to yet emerge from the storied bluegrass assembly line in Bowling Green, Kentucky.</p><p>But you should know something. There's actually a better Vette.</p><p>A <em>much</em> better Vette.</p><p>There's just one drawback. While the Stingray (technically the C7, or seventh generation of the all-American sports car) is a deeply compelling motoring experience, the better Vette is a way of life.</p><p>It's the Z06, and it's a living, breathing supercar.</p><p>The stats: 650 horsepower, 650 f00t-pounds of torque. You'll know this because Chevy has included a small plaque with the data, located on the center console. Other stats: 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, according the manufacturer. And one more stat: Just look at it!</p><p>For comparison, here's a first-generation Vette, a charming little thing:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>GM</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And here's the Z06:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>You've come a long way, baby.</p><p>GM let us borrow a Z06 for a weekend, and we took the car and its supercharged V8 engine and its groovy targa roof all the way out to eastern Long Island, then back across Manhattan and into New Jersey. If this sounds like fun, it was.</p><p>But it was also an exercise in personal discipline and focus. The Stingray is a Corvette through and through and therefore not a well-mannered Buick either in town or on the highway. But driving it is like piloting a Honda Civic when compared with the Z06's snarling mechanical dragon, which quite often feels as if it's powered by a Saturn V rocket that woke up on the dark side of the moon.</p><p>The performance is dismaying and actually rather difficult to properly assess without access to a track. When we reviewed the Stingray, we pointed out that for its sub-$100,000 price, you get a car that, although front-engined, could be every bit as much the track warrior as a mid-engined, $270,000 Ferrari 458. A street-legal race car for the budget-minded.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Motor Authority</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Z06 also comes in at less than $100,000. High-performance Vettes are nothing new. This Z06 can trace its heritage back to the 1960s, when the designation first emerged. Corvette's role at GM is to push the envelope.</p><p>That monumental LT4 eight-banger is a good example; General Motors says it's the most powerful engine it has created in its more than 100-year history.</p><p>In my case, it was mated to a seven-speed manual transmission (you can also get an automatic) equipped with a nifty rev-matching feature that will rhyme your engine speeds with your downshifts and match them better than you can with your left and right foot. You don't need to flirt with escape velocities to derive gobs of unholy human pleasure from that powertrain setup.</p><p>True, the entire arrangement is specifically designed to take gasoline and transform it ruthlessly and rapidly into raw speed and a sound that will make you curse the quiet. But in mild-mannered freeway cruising, you can get the Z06 up around 20 mpg, which is sort of mesmerizing when you consider that while I was doing this on the Long Island Expressway, a Lamborghini Aventador came screaming up alongside and I thought, "Well, it's pretty much you and me, bub, on this stretch of road - nothing else can touch us."</p><p>And, for the record, I didn't act on that knowledge as the Lambo wailed off into the distance, achieving something like 12 mpg for its exertions.</p><h2>More Stingray</h2><p>The design of the Z06 is best described as the Stingway with just MORE. More pronounced angles, more aggressive adornments, and more aerodynamic elements. More, more, more. The overall package does feel completely different from the Stingray, even though the bones of both cars are effectively the same. When underway, the Stingray, with a mere 505 horsepower, feels light and flicky. The Z06 feels like it could blot out the Sun with violent combustion. In the Stingray, you smile. In the Z06, you furrow your brow and tighten your grip.</p><p>You simply can't relax in the Z06 - an understandable state of affairs given that this car is completely and totally too much for everyday living. It commands your attention. But the thing only costs about $90,000. This definitely should not be. But there it is.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>So only thing standing between a lot of folks and a Z06 is the stigma associated with Corvette ownership. In this respect, the Z06 is meant to be something of a trans-Vette. Yes, it's a Corvette. But it's a Corvette that hangs out with Pagani Huayras and drinks good tequila. The words "singles bar" aren't printed in the owners manual. The word "Nurburgring" is.</p><p>And believe me, the Z06 is truly a machine that longs for the race track: A few months back, I watched the competition version tear around Watkins Glen International in impressive fashion, being chased by Ferraris and BMWs. (It was the C7.R, the GT racing version of the Z06.)</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Matthew DeBord/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>New mindshare for the legendary Vette</h2><p>Ever since the "Boogie Nights" third-gen Vette established itself in the collective imagination as the preferred vehicle of the male midlife crisis, Corvette has been trying to modify its reputation. The effort has always been honest and determined, but the fact is that it's taken literally decades. The current Z06 stands at the pinnacle of that undertaking.</p><p>That said, it's hard to tell if it will actually work. When Vettes were for guys going through changes, Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, and Lamborghini were exotic imports. But now the competition is everywhere. It used to be rare to spot a Porsche 911 in the American wild. Now you can't swing an old crankshaft in Los Angeles without hitting one.</p><p>So even thought it's <em>easier</em> to justify buying a Vette now than it used to be, it's <em>harder </em>to convince yourself that the car is really as good as it looks on paper. And so those creeping doubts combined with the Vette's, um ... reputation lead you naturally toward Porsche.</p><p>However, the Z06, if experienced under proper conditions (that would not be on a 10-minute test drive) is adequately mind-blowing to alter this familiar psychological dynamic.</p><p>It's too early in Corvette's Generation 7 to tell if we've crossed over into truly new territory. The Z06, however, is a departure, and not simply because this is both the most powerful and most technologically advanced Vette GM has ever created. Inside and out, it was designed to <em>mean something new. </em>General Motors examined the epistemology of Corvette, found it wanting, and took the steps necessary to change hearts and minds.</p><p>With the Stingray, the steps were huge. With the Z06, they're <em>gigantic.</em></p><p>Honestly, I think the engineers doth protest too much with the Zo6. They didn't really need to stretch quite this far, to reach for distant supernovas and figure out a way to reshape them as a drop-top two-seater that sounds like it has eight live volcanoes under the hood.</p><p>But then again, you don't change hearts and minds by holding back.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-s-p85d-breaks-score-ratings-best-car-consumer-reports-tested-2015-9">This new Tesla just broke Consumer Reports' rating scale </a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="B5dDVkdzoA5nlQSCSIQtj5NW5KvGeOUn" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "honda rockets" and got 11 results

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'It wasn't random': The FBI is offering $20,000 for information on the shooting of a US consular official in Mexico

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