Canadian GDP Plummets, Contracts; WTI Ends The Month With Worst Monthly Loss In A Year -- July 30, 2016

For the archives: Canada's GDP for the month of May, 2016, dropped the most since 2009 due to wildfires out west. Wow, this is bad. Not only did the GDP "drop," the entire Canadian economy contracted 0.6%. A negative 0.6% GDP. And April was not much better: the Canadian economy expanded -- if one can use that word -- 0.1% in the month of April.

The contraction in May was due to the record 22 percent plunge in non-conventional oil production (i.e., oil sands). Excluding oil sands, Canadian output shrunk 0.1% in May. Manufacturing fell 2.4%, the fastest since 2009; and a 15% drop at oil refineries.

Oil ends July with the worst monthly loss for WTI in a year. Reuters reports. WTI was down 15% by the end of the month from where it started at the beginning of the month.

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Porsche Marketing With Better Gas Mileage

Really?

I wonder how many folks know that the Porsche 718 Boxster S runs on a flat four-cylinder engine. From Dan Neil, the car guy over at The Wall Street Journal:

The 2.5-liter turbo four in the new Boxster S produces 35 more hp (350 hp), with two fewer cylinders and nearly a liter less displacement than the naturally aspirated 3.4-liter six. Porsche says the flat-four cars get on the order of 15% better fuel economy on the European driving cycle.

The specs show EPA fuel economy: 21 / 28 / 24 mpg, city / highway / combined.

Yes, I have never considered a Porsche due to the poor gasoline mileage but I guess I can't use that excuse any more.

Price? Well, it will compete with the current Tesla models available. The 2017 Porsche Boxster S: base price of $73,000; as tested by Mr Neil, $93,000.

I have trouble believing anyone buying an entry-level Porsche for $100,000 is seriously concerned about mileage, especially now that gasoline is well below $2.00/gallon in many parts of the US.

Mr Neil says the better gas mileage "bends the curve of Porsche's CAFE numbers." Wow -- at 24 mpg, one wonders how "awful" the flat-sixes are.

The article can be found in today's WSJ. It explains why Porsche is gong to flat-fours for all of its "starter sports cars": Cayman and Boxster.

By the way, I never knew "Caymans" were "starter cars for Porsche. That puts things into perspective around here where I see a lot of Caymans. Just like the BMW 3-series, I guess. When we were in Europe for 13 years, no one was caught dead in a BMW 3-series; if one had a BWM in Germany, it was a 5-series or a 7 series. But here in the states, folks settle for the 3-series much more often, it appears. I didn't realize that until I returned back to the states in 1996. I'm not sure I even knew the BWM 3-series existed until I got back to the states. A starter car. LOL.

By the way, my second car, a 1973 Chevy Nova SS, with a base price of under $3,000, would have compared nicely to the Porsche starter car, if comparing "bang for the buck."

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Fastest EV Is Not A Tesla

It's a Corvette EV at this link: https://thescene.com/watch/wired/an-all-electric-corvette-breaks-a-world-record?source=player_scene_logo.

A 2006 Corvette Z06 has been converted to an all electric drivetrain and it just beat the land speed record for an street legal EV at 205.6 mph.