Free Republic

Cadillac is testing the limits of its brand allure and pricing power with the 2024 Celestiq – a large, bespoke electric car that will start at more than $300,000. The vehicle – unveiled Monday night – launches the General Motors brand into the ultra-luxury segment against the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce. It’s something no American brand has successfully done in modern times. Executives say the vehicle is more about creating a “halo car” that helps burnish Cadillac’s image, rather than fueling overall sales or profits. But, if successful, it could create a new two-unit business model for the company:...

General Motors’ venture capital arm has invested in a California startup that’s making imitation leather from mushrooms. The material is made by MycoWorks using the root-like structures of mushrooms, called mycelia. It could provide an alternative to both traditional leather made from animal skins, usually cattle, and artificial leather made from plastics. The auto industry is the largest user of leather other than for shoes, according to 2015 data from International Council of Tanners. MycoWorks grows these threadlike mycelia into flexible, leather-like sheets. The resulting material feels like leather, has similar durability and can be colored using processes that do...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday fended off a challenge to her long leadership reign, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a closed-door vote prompted largely by Donald Trump’s unlikely ascension to the White House. Pelosi got 134 votes to Ryan's 63 — winning 68 percent of the votes after declaring before the election that she had the support of two-thirds of the caucus. The victory sends a message that while there's a growing appetite for major changes in the party's leadership structure and messaging tactics, it's not strong enough to loosen Pelosi's grip on a liberal-heavy group...