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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    But Toyota leaves a lot of stuff out to rot on the vine, the Tacoma and Tundra had 10+ year model runs, ditto for 4Runner, Lexus GX, Lexus LX, etc. And also, G-wagen sales rose consistently from 2009 through 2017, the older it got the better it sold, LOL. Mercedes constantly put out other new product, with the G-wagen they were building what those buyers demanded.
  2. smk4565
    Maybe except the new G is about 3 inches wider so that old hood would not fit, the wheelbase is longer but I don’t think overall length is up more than an inch or two. The new one is 190 inches long I think the old was 187 or 188.
  3. smk4565
    The door handles/latches spare tire cover and headlight washer nozzles are the only carryover parts. Although the 4 liter V8 went in the old G550 a couple years ago but the AMG’s has the old 5.5 liter.
  4. smk4565
    Maybe the $50k price makes it a smarter buy, but the G-wagen is better off road, has more power, 9 gears, probably gets better fuel economy even though both suck in that regard, and the G is way more luxurious. Plus the G has a chassis developed in 2018, no more 1979 chassis. I have seen 2005-2006 G-wagens with over 200k miles even near 300k miles that sell for $20-25k still. The resale value is huge on those too. I wouldn’t buy either personally, I am a car person.
  5. smk4565
    Aren't they all the heritage edition? This version has been on sale since 2007, we are entering the 13th model year without an update. That is pathetic. Toyota isn't strapped for cash, update your vehicles.
  6. smk4565
    Daimler is the equivalent to GM as Daimler has vehicle brands under it and you can't buy a Daimler brand car or truck just like you can't buy a GM brand car. These 2 are actually quit similar and different from others such as Ford, Toyota, VW, where the parent company is also the brand name. Daimler brands are Mercedes cars, Mercedes Vans, Mercedes trucks, Mercedes bus, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Buses, Fuso and Smart. Mercedes-Benz cars sells about 2.3 million units per year, thus my original point was they don't really need BMW's help for economies of scale, they are bigger than BMW and they have enough economy of scale on their platforms. A CLA costs about the same as an A3, Q3, 1-series, S60, XC40, ATS, XT4, MKC, Lexus NX, Acura TLX, etc, so if none of that is a luxury car, then I guess a CLA isn't either. But for a lot of "luxury" brands a lot of their volume is from sub $45,000 product, Mercedes main volume comes from the middle of their line. As far as the AMG One goes, they will get it right, their goal is to get the car right, not put it on sale ASAP. And it will beat any Ferrari road car ever made, and any other road car for that matter. And if Ferrari was so great, they wouldn't have lost to Mercedes 5 years a row in Formula 1. Ferrari are supposed to be the racing experts, the most legendary racing team of all time, it is what their business revolves around, and yet Mercedes beats them every year.
  7. smk4565
    The Sierra Denali does not touch $100,000, nor does it have the tech wizardry of an S-class. If Exclusivity = luxury then Smart is the most luxurious vehicle in the world. If a million dollars or even a half million is the measuring stick for luxury then we are saying only top end Rolls and Ferraris and Bugattis, McLarens and the Mercedes-AMG One are luxury cars. So in that regard GM sells no luxury priced vehicles. It is windy considered by pretty much everyone that luxury brands are Infiniti, Acura, Lexus, Cadillac, Lincoln, Tesla, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar/Land Rover, Rolls, Bentley and the other high end super car brands I already mentioned. Of this group Mercedes is #1 selling in the world. GM isn't a car brand, if you want to compare "luxury priced" vehicles that GM sells vs what Daimler sells, I am sure Daimler would win that easily.
  8. smk4565
    Mercedes is referred to as the #1 selling luxury brand in the world since they outsell BMW, Audi, Lexus, Cadillac, etc. They sold about 2.3 million cars the past couple years, about 400,000 of that are A/B-class platform so you are still talking about 1.9 million C-class and up which would be about $45k + cars. Mercedes has a full truck and bus line, those are $250,000+ vehicles but obviously not luxury cars like a Silverado is not a luxury truck.
  9. smk4565
    He was still Chairman?!? Although really I thought he would just run Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault all from his jail cell. Seems like something he would want to do. This guy is a piece of work. I think my all time favorite Ghosn move was when he "stepped down" as CEO of Nissan, only to pick his successor and make him self that guy's boss as chairman of the Nissan-Mitsu-Renault alliance.
  10. smk4565
    Daimler doesn't have a money problem though. They are the #1 commercial truck maker in Europe, Freightliner is #1 in USA, Mercedes is #1 selling luxury car, etc. They have a lot of sources of income and they don't have a profit problem. That being said, the people buying a 1-series or A-class probably aren't going to care about the chassis that much, and BMW and Mercedes would probably use their own engines and transmission and make the cars feel different enough. Also funny that Infiniti doesn't want to partner with Mercedes anymore but BMW wants to join in with them.
  11. smk4565
    I feel like this is unlikely to happen. This would be like the unholy alliance. Mercedes can get enough scale off their FWD platform that they don't need BMW to share cost on, why help them out. I think it more likely the combine efforts on autonomous driving systems.
  12. smk4565
    Okay, so even not taking into account when any platform was made. How competitive are the Charger/300/Challenger to a Camaro or Mustang? Or the 300 to a Maxima or Avalon or Impala? All those big sedans are dying off anyway, but Chrysler sales are down. Challenger sells well for a coupe but a feel like a lot of Challenger/Charger sales are fleets without a lot profit behind it. And they are probably facing CAFE issues post 2020 but that is a powertrain issue.
  13. smk4565
    VW group might do 50 EV's. Spread that out over VW, Skoda, Seat, Bentley, Audi, Porsche, etc and 50 would be easy to hit. They have a ton of brands to spread that over.
  14. smk4565
    I am sure for the right price Mercedes will sell them a mid 2000s E-class platform if they want something newer. That LX platform is way dated now, they have to do something, and Giorgio is a good platform I don’t see why they couldn’t just use that. As far as electrification goes, Tesla is now American muscle, though not a muscle car, the American performance car is a Tesla. Especially with the new roadster that “will accelerate at the limit of what humans can withstand “ and do 250 mph.
  15. smk4565
    “Sold out” of 80 cars isn’t much to get excited about. I don’t know why they don’t build every Continental with suicide doors to generate a little excitement. This car is probably dead in 2 years anyway, might as well go out with a bang.
  16. smk4565
    Well I don't know how long this brand or its dealers will stay in business selling hundreds of cars a month. You can't spend hundreds of millions on R&D and tooling to design and manufacture the G70, then sell 500 a month and have it stick around for another generation. Hyundai has really botched things with this brand launch.
  17. smk4565
    Might be but Tesla probably sold more Model 3 in December than Genesis sold all year. Those Genesis cars are like unicorns, you never see them.
  18. smk4565
    Mark Reuss has spent his whole career at GM. He has been at the helm a good while, he hasn't helped to save Cadillac yet, so I wouldn't exactly bank on the cast of characters that led Cadillac to where they are, getting them out of it. And yes Johan and Bob Lutz are gone, but once upon a time GM thought those guys were saviors, then they dropped them to have someone to blame for Cadillac's failures. EV is the future, they have to go all in on it. But you still have a brand image issue, BMW and Mercedes are still BMW and Mercedes and Tesla is the hot brand. They can build EV's but you have to convince people to buy Cadillacs still, and we are nearing 20 years of "renaissance" and no improvement in sales, mostly everyone else has grown while they shrank.
  19. smk4565
    I imagine he M760 will be quicker than what they state. It has all wheel drive, with V12 power is has to be quicker than that. 3.9 seconds for the V8 seems right, the V12 has to be better than .3 seconds faster, although the bigger difference is going to be in the 100-150 mph range where the V12 torque can go to work.
  20. smk4565
    What if he buys them the finest, most luxurious spread of great American fast food? That is a good way to solve problems...
  21. smk4565
    Kind of a boring car, but I am glad they offer a turbo in there. It is nice that if you are looking for a small car and don't have a big budget you can get something with some power and don't just have to pick from a collection of 160-170 hp NA 4-bangers.
  22. smk4565
    G70 might be a nice car, I have never been in one, but there just isn't much to make me excited about it. They are nearing Tesla Model 3 money and one is a Tesla, one is a fancy Hyundai, we know which one people are going to pick.
  23. smk4565
    Twin turbo V8 in the G70 or go home.
  24. smk4565
    It looks more obnoxious which is probably a good thing for the type of people that buy this car. I don't really mind the big grille because it is different, a lot of cars have the same shape grille or smaller size grille, and this car will stand out. Nice power bump to the V8, that is cranking a lot of power for a mid-range engine. S-class is still a much better looking car inside and out. The late 90s 7-series is still the best looking 7-series ever.
  25. smk4565
    Nope and the GLA is an ugly looking vehicle that doesn’t seem too practical. I never drove one but have driven the CLA which is pretty average. The chassis isn’t the reason people don’t buy a QX30, no one in this segment cares about a chassis. I think the GLB will be a big hit coming off the new version of this chassis and probably outsell any Infiniti with ease.
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