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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Yep.
  2. smk4565
    I think a lot of sedan segments will only have 3-5 brands to pick from, as sedan sales drop off like they have only the top few will stay in there.
  3. smk4565
    Agreed, I think they have a strong entrant to this segment. Yes it basically looks like a Pilot/Ridgeline inside and out, but that works for them and Honda fans like it, no reason to stray away from what works.
  4. smk4565
    Why is the Passport gutless? It isn't even on sale yet, but the Pilot/Ridgeline/Odyssey seem to be pretty proven over time. The Passport interior looks better than a Blazer or Edge. I am not a Honda fan, but the Passport seems just as good as anything else in this segment.
  5. smk4565
    Yay, more crossovers.
  6. smk4565
    Except most Hondas and Acuras are built in Ohio or Indiana, while the Odyssey, Ridgeline and Pilot are made in Alabama. Buying an Accord or CR-V supports Ohio workers. Civics are made in the US and Canada. And if GM wanted people to buy the Cruze then it should have been a better car at a better price. They never offered a performance version, they offered a $28k diesel that was way over priced that no one was going to buy, that was just bad execution all around. As far as what products get cut you have look at market sizes. Mid-size car is still about 2 million units per year in the USA. Small car is less, large car is maybe 200k units a year and all 3 are shrinking. I can see GM competing only in mid-size sedan with Chevy/Buick, and giving Cadillac 2 sedans. The volume is in crossovers.
  7. smk4565
    Because Toyota was the pioneer for hybrids and their marketing was all about it. They should be moving to EV's and their Tundra has crap sales, because it has a V8 from 2007 that is super thirsty and not all that powerful. Plus the whole truck is dated. A 100% new pickup like this, with Toyotas billions of dollars behind it could really be a winner in the market.
  8. smk4565
    Likewise, I wonder if they will really get this off the ground. The concept and what it delivers looks great. Makes you wonder why one of the big guys isn't working on something like this. Where is Toyota with an EV truck?
  9. smk4565
    I point the finger of shame at Toyota for not being more competitive in the full size truck game. The Tundra is way dated, super dated powertains, etc. Let's not forget that the Tacoma basically helped put the Dakota and Ranger out of business. But Toyota should be embarrassed for not having a better Tundra that can sell 2500,000 units per year, they aren't going to top Ford or Chevy but they should be taking a bigger chunk. I miss cars with no grill. This 2 pull it off, the 2000 Monte Carlo and the late 90s, early 2000s Oldsmobiles were no grill. I like the all solid body color up front on these two, and that is a styling trend I wish would come back in some places. Almost every car now has the same trapezoid shaped mesh opening up front.
  10. smk4565
    Smart move. The TT should be a coupe. They already make sedans.
  11. smk4565
    They would not, which is why they are a global company. And as I said they are investing in the US market, investing in their own market, investing in China/India, etc. GM cut Europe, is cutting in the USA, they are in a 20 year cut mode.
  12. smk4565
    Ford Powerstoke 450 hp Ram Cummings 385 hp Chevy 445 hp Those are not 700 hp. And I know trucks use torque, but 700 hp is still 700 hp.
  13. smk4565
    Those are also Heavy Duty trucks with lower horsepower numbers. This truck does 0-60 as fast as a Corvette Z06, which is pretty insane. This Rivian will compete with Ecoboost 3.5 F150s. I'm sure if this company got going and comes up with an HD pickup they could have it tow 20,000 lbs or some ridiculous number. The new Tesla Roadster is supposed to have 7,000 lb-ft of torque, I would imagine they could fit that to the pick up they are planning. I wouldn't bet on diesel as the future.
  14. smk4565
    The problem with GM's plan is it is a continual cut. They cut Oldsmobile, then all the other brands during the bankruptcy. Granted a lot of those they didn't need, but in doing that it should have led them to be able to put more money into each brand to make them stronger and they didn't. They have given up on minivans because they couldn't compete there, now they are cutting maybe half their sedans because they can't make profit there. They cut European operations because they couldn't make money there. They are basically a China-North American player now that is by 2020 will probably be 80% trucks and SUVS. So what happens when competitors go after their truck business, because they will. We see Hyundai and Kia going into the full size SUV market, Tesla will go into pickups, etc. GM has been in retreat mode for 20 years.
  15. smk4565
    Mercedes makes money everywhere, USA is only their 3rd biggest market and they have been #1 luxury car company for a while here. They just built a new factory in South Carolina for the Sprinter with 1,300 new jobs. They are spending $1.3 billion to expand the Alabama plant to include battery production and that will add more jobs. They are investing in the USA, as the Detroit 3 bail out. Mercedes is also building a new factory in Germany to build the next S-class, which will be the most technologically advanced and greenest auto manufacturing plant in the world. They are building new factories and creating jobs. And chances are they will be next to last to the party in that zero emissions and autonomous car thing. They'll beat FCA there, and that might be it.
  16. smk4565
    The CT5 will probably flop like every other Cadillac sedan since about 2012 has, I agree there seems to be nothing game changing or improved there. Cadillac was about big sedans, but big sedans don't sell, and Cadillac also dropped the ball on the CT6 by not making it powerful enough, the V8 isn't even out yet. If you are going to build a big, expensive sedan it should have power and performance, not a torque less V6 or a turbo 4. And weak product and marketing for decades that has eroded Cadillac's image is why they can't sell for German prices. The people running GM are bean counters for sure. They get a $150 million tax cut this year, turn around and lay off 15,000 people and the stock price goes up 7% today. I bet Mary Barra's portfolio is looking good, probably a big bonus coming her way too.
  17. smk4565
    If the CT5 grows in size over the CTS then I think CT6 or any other large sedan is finished and they are going the Infiniti 2-Sedan strategy. But you are right on the CT5 spy photo, that won’t scare any Germans. And to the last point, this is why people buy imports. Aside from the German performance cars you can get a Veloster N, Mazda has some sporty cars, Kia Stinger, etc
  18. smk4565
    Ford and FCA dropped sedans mostly, I could see Chevy dropping the Cruze and just having an Asian built Sonic imported (depending on tariffs) for a cheap car and the Malibu being their only gas sedan. If the Volt is an EV sedan you sort of have enough sedans. I think future GM is going to pick and choose where they compete and not go head on with luxury brands. They may but Cadillac to 2 sedans, but I would be surprised if they didn't have a 3rd sedan. We probably have to see how big the CT5 is, if it is larger than the CTS, and the CT4 is larger than a ATS, then you don't need a CT6 or CT7. Anything outside of the S-class has horrible volume in that segment, the A8 exists because of China and the 7-series exists because of Europe.
  19. smk4565
    700 hp and 800 lb-ft of torque is insane, that is what I love about EV's. That crushes any V8 truck. I also like the flat floor in the interior, looks very spacious and the front trunk and storage is nice too. Hopefully they are successful with this, I'd like to see more options for EVs rather than small hatchbacks.
  20. smk4565
    First off, I feel bad for the folks that are losing their jobs. These big corporations lobbied for and got the tax cuts under the guise of "we'll bring the jobs and money back to the US" but we all knew that wasn't going to happen. As far as the products go, I would be surprised for the Volt to be totally killed, I could see the Volt becoming a pure EV sedan, something bigger than the Bolt and maybe not as big as a Malibu. I think the CT6 could move production to another plant, possibly even China and import. I don't think they will totally kill that product. The LaCrosse, Impala, XTS, Cruze I think are all dead. Buick can get by with 1 sedan and they'll probably just do a Malibu clone to replace the current Regal/LaCrosse, maybe they recycle one of those name plates.
  21. smk4565
    Wasn't today, but last week I got an oil change plus state inspection and emissions inspection, and no repairs needed for $180 total at dealer prices. Not too shabby for a 10 year old German car. (granted I did replace the front brakes and an air strut this summer)
  22. smk4565
    They probably should dump Fiat. Even in the 2nd world countries, I imagine VW, Skoda, Seat, Nissan/Renault or Toyota do way better and Fiat probably doesn't even do well in counties that crave cheap small cars. I don't really see the need for Maserati either. As a high dollar car it should have good margins, but it doesn't because they can't sell enough and you still have some amount of fixed costs to cover. Really you could transform the Ghibli into a mid/large Alfa Romeo sedan then Alfa has 2 sedans, give them another SUV and they have 2, give them an 8C $100k sports car as a halo product and that makes Maserati pointless. Jaguar to some degree is in the same situation. Just because Jaguar and Maserati are storied brands, doesn't mean they are relevant today. Blockbuster Video and Sears were successful, segment leading brands are one point, irrelevant today. I don't see any path in which FCA competes with the German luxury car brands. They are too good at what they do and too far ahead.
  23. smk4565
    Their problems are 100% product and not any pairing with Alfa Romeo. Maserati cars have poor build quality, low rent interior plastics and their whole deal is supposed to be performance, and any of the Germans will sell a better performing car and at less money. Case in point, Levante Trofeo is $170,000 base and the GLE63 which is dated itself is just as fast at about $125,000. Or get a Cayenne Turbo or the new X5 M. The most powerful Ghibli has 424 hp, you can get more than that in an E53, and the top Quattroporte has 523 hp, you get 630 in the AMG GT 4-door and the AMG GT is your Nurburgring lap record holder for a 4 door car. Maserati is just a disaster, only way to fix it is better product, and clearly they don't have the money or resources or engineering know-how to do it.
  24. smk4565
    Unfortunately for GM people do look at the label. And when ever people say "we beat the label" well maybe Ford or Ram beats their label too.
  25. smk4565
    Makes sense, they need another SUV. This lets them up-size the Pilot a little and not have to make the CR-V any bigger, because it has grown a bit in the past generation to two.
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