Motor Mouth with David Booth Postmedia

Yes, it’s been a week or so since Tesla shareholders approved Elon Musk’s multi-billion dollar payday, but you’re never truly full informed on this or any other automotive-related topic until you hear from David Booth, aka Motor Mouth. As usual, he’s in fine form with a number of original takes on Musk, and then provides some interesting scenarios for the future of the man and his remarkable electric vehicle machines.
David then turns his attention to a couple of incredible new automobiles, the first the fire-breathing, 16-cyclinder Bugatti Tourbillon that is a showcase for a one-of-a-kind powerplant and with a reported top speed north of 400 km/h. And the second the Lotus Emeya, an all-new electric vehicle that is said to be the fastest charging EV on the planet. Yes, two very different kinds of propulsion systems, but each worthy of David’s attention, admiration, and as you’ll hear, astonishment.

David draws comparisons to the disastrous consequences U.S protectionism had on the Big Three in the Seventies, he wonders — as do we all — if Tesla is really serious (capable?) about building a $25,000 electric vehicle, he ponders will the economy or the environment decide the future of cheap EVs, and finally his opinion on the fate of all those 2035 EV mandates.

Trying to figure out what’s going on with Elon Musk, and by association Tesla, is always a challenge, but Motor Mouth has never shied away from offering his opinion on the motivations of Lord Elon. 
And with Musk’s somewhat erratic behaviour over the past few months roiling the good ship Tesla, it seems only sensible to question what might be behind some of those controversial moves. 
As usual, David has a fresh take, that while perhaps not a popular one amongst the Tesla fan club members, is worth listening to and one that you won’t find anywhere else. He also squeezes in his opinion of the 2026 Kia EV3, a just announced model that has piqued his interest.

On this week’s Motor Mouth podcast David recounts how a party weekend in Toronto turned into his first automotive writing gig 41 years ago. 
He tells some memorable tales from on the road, rattles off a number of ways the business has changed over the years, and finally, provides some sage advice to youngsters wanting to break into the automotive journalism business.

This week David Booth tackles some electric vehicle content, beginning with Motor Mouth channeling his inner Marshall McLuhan to explain that the problem with public skepticism about EVs isn’t so much the medium but the messaging.
Then we’ll switch gears, or at least powertrains, to find out why David has big praise, and high hopes, for the latest and coming-soon wave of plug-in hybrid models. PHEVs have been making headlines recently, with General Motors announcing they are getting back into the PHEV business, and other automakers doubling down on their efforts to bring all-new Plug-in hybrids to market. Possibly at the cost of new EVs.
And finally David will report on a recent trip to Southern California where he became one of the first automotive journalist in the world to drive the all-new Porsche Tie-con. And just as with his experience with the first-gen high-performance all electric sport sedan, he came away very impressed, particularly with some interesting advances in battery pre-conditioning temperatures.

We’re just a couple of weeks into 2024, so David Booth offers up some bold predictions for the year ahead on the hottest and most polarizing topic in automotive now and into the foreseeable future: electric vehicles. 
He glimpses into this crystal ball to opine if Chinese EVs will show up in Canada this year, if we’ll see a sub-$30k all-electric in the next 12 months, what a Donald Trump presidential win might mean for Canada’s burgeoning battery manufacturing industry, and what emerging battery technologies will make the greatest leap in 2024. 
And it wouldn’t be a Motor Mouth prediction list without a word or two about Tesla, in this case if the much-hyped and polarizing Cybertruck will be a success story over the next 12 months.