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CHICAGO AUTO SHOW 2020
SUPRA IS BACK
Tomato tomahto, potato potahto, super Supra! Yes, it is back, in 2020 Toyota brought back the legendary Toyota Supra. You might remember it from the Fast & the Furious the bright orange car Paul Walker drives, well it was discontinued in 2002, leaving the car as a collector’s item and at legendary status. Eighteen years later the legend is back on the streets starting at $50k for the 3.0 model. The Chicago Auto Show featured multiple cars from many car companies, showing Lamborghinis, Bentley’s, Maserati’s and many expensive vehicles but taking everyone by surprise was the return of Toyota’s proud and joy, the Supra. “I think people just wanted a sports car and it made us want to bring back the classic, so we started with the release of the 86 model which was due to Scion folding back into Toyota”, Cindy a Toyota expert at the Chicago Auto Show explained why Toyota decided to bring it back. The models at the Auto Show included the production vehicles which are out on the road, the Sema concept Supra’s to showcase what you can customize them with and aftermarket upgrades, and the 86. The 86 model which is just a Scion FRS in disguise is not really referred to as the Supra, but looks much like it, this causes a bit of confusion. With 335/hp and 365p lbs. of torque, it’s one of the fastest and affordable sports cars on the market right now. The stunning body will turn heads, and the classic Supra logo will put people in awe. Brian one of the spokesmen for Toyota, mentioned the reason he was so enthusiastic in his Supra panel was because, “When I was a kid my dad had the 1994 Supra and I would pretend to drive it as a kid because I loved it, but he sold it right before it got discontinued, and then it was all a good memory so I am thrilled to be talking about the return of the icon”. Brian himself owns a yellow Supra, being a rear wheel sports car, he chooses to keep it in prime condition, in his words “Its my hot date car”. The Toyota brand will again be resurfaced as a force to deal in the sports car industry, as this just the first year of the new launch of an old legend that’s back on the streets of Chicago and the rest of the world.
Boy Scouts in Shame.
What do you think of when you hear boy scouts? Kids learning survival techniques, doing campfires, smores, and developing a bond between brothers. That’s what you typically think when mentioning the 110-year-old organization the Boy Scouts of America. That perception may change in the coming times. A cascade of sexual-abuse lawsuits are filed against the Boy Scouts of America, over hundreds of cases which they cannot avoid, or could they? Boy Scouts of America decided to file for bankruptcy protection in attempts to working out a victim compensation plan which will still allow the organization to still carry on in the future. The organization has filed one of the biggest bankruptcies through the Chapter 11 process in Delaware which proposes to provide equitable compensation to all victims, which has everyone wondering if it will be possible. With over 12,000 reported victims, this is one of the biggest controversial bankruptcies in recent times.
(Mario Martinez 28, Food Truck Vendor)
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When explaining the situation of the bankruptcy, Mario, a food truck vendor in Chicago had an interesting take on the organization, “I think they should face the consequences, though it is a good program to help build a future for kids”, When asked how the future looks for the organization he said, “maybe its time for a new organization to come in”.
(Jeremy Lindenfeld 23, University of Chicago)
Jeremy, currently a senior at the University of Chicago studying finance did not know about the Boy Scouts of America scandal, when informing him about it, he didn’t seem too surprised, “There’s lots of shady organization stuff going on right now… if the Boy Scouts are going to succeed and move forward then they must dismantle the hierarchy that’s involved and fix this the right way”.
(Ayesha Syed 22, DePaul Student)
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Ayesha, currently a junior at DePaul University was upset about this issue but said, “the saddest thing is it’s an ongoing issue, and seems like it will go on for a while now, very unethical how they approached it”.
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Unfortunately, the organization had internal scout records which involved close to 5,000 men which were put on a blacklist known by them as the “perversion files” with sexual allegations against troop leaders, and some dating back a century. This information was kept secret amongst the organization leaders from the public, scouts, and parents. Having these records a secret and not educating scouts and parents, knowing pedophiles as scouts in their ranks and still failing to take action and most importantly failing to protect children, it seems the future is very unsettling for the Boy Scouts of America as trust will be stripped away from the organization. The Boy Scouts of America are in a turmoil which may slow down traction of new scouts, the issue with this move is the lack of sincerity they have for the victims, issuing a public statement by the CEO or filing bankruptcy to make compensation for victims without the court process to take place for each lawsuit is unsettling.