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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    They could move Silverado production to the USA, but that is 250,000 trucks, they would have to retool a factory which costs a lot, and then kill off whatever was being made in that factory. Look at how it takes 4-5 years of development just to bring a new version of an existing model to market, getting one of these cars companies to build a whole new factory and relocate is like a decade endeavor.
  2. smk4565
    Bugatti should build a 250 mph SUV for sure. Mercedes will let them have that one, they have a real race car team to do their performance bragging and a whole line of cars to worry about. A Bentley Bentayga Speed makes sense, because someone will pay for it, so one billionaire can brag to the other billionaire that their Bentayga is a the sports model. I think Bentley could do a Mulsanne based SUV for $400k also. Then you really go after the elites, because someone out there wants to look down upon lowly Bentayga drivers. Plus, Mercedes did trademark GLS73, so an 800 hp GLS could be on the way, Bentley has to do something.
  3. smk4565
    When you have the Buick Envision and Cadillac XT4 with a turbo 4, you have to give Chevy something less, so here you go, 2.5 liter. We also don't know what this vehicle weighs, so hard to say whether or not the 2.5 will be slow, although my guess is this thing will have craptastic performance with the base engine, and they'll want too much money for the V6.
  4. smk4565
    The 2.5 liter is the new 3800 V6, it is the solution to every cars and SUV powertrain need and will be on sale in 2025.
  5. smk4565
    Chevy Silverado quad cab, 25% tariff, Dodge Ram 25% tariff, Buick Encore, Chevy Traxx, Chevy Sonic, Chevy Spark 25% tariff. Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger/Dodge Challenger 25% tariff. None of those are made in the USA. I bet adding $10,000 to the price of the Silverado and Ram will be good for sales. Dealership sells less, they lay off workers. Mercedes C-class, BMW X5, Mercedes GLE: 0% tariff. Honda Accord/Pilot/Ridgeline, Acura TLX, Toyota Camry/Highlander/Sienna no tariff. All those are made in the USA. This tariff garbage only screws the consumer, and will drop auto sales which in turns screws all auto companies. This isn't like 1960 when Americans made cars in America, Japanese made cars in Japan, etc. And if you export tax those BMW and Mercedes going to China, and China taxes them coming in because of a trade war and they sell less in China, then BMW and Mercedes lay off workers in South Carolina and Alabama. Lets kill some more jobs.
  6. smk4565
    To me it seems like all the recent Chevrolets have an Asian look to them, the Equinox from the back looks lie a South Korean car, this looks like it could come from Nissan or Mazda. It isn't bad looking, but it is just fort of forgettable right off the bat, the floating roof D-pillar is as played out as 4-door coupes. Same engines as the Acadia already has so nothing really of excitement there. I also see a lot of this in the new Blazer grille and front end:
  7. smk4565
    It looks good and has nice powertrain options, I think it is priced well too. The interior is clean and modern but I think there are better interiors in this segment too.
  8. smk4565
    I first said they should use the 2.0T with electrification to get under the 2 liter gas tax level. You said they should use the 2.7 liter, to which I said is pointless because you can use the 3.0TT which is taxed the same as a 2.7. With the new GLS I wouldn’t be surprised to see the newly updated turbo 4 gonin there for China, but they might not care if the 3 liter sells well.
  9. smk4565
    Luxury comes at a price but the GLS has a 2.998 liter engine or whatever it is to keep the displacement tax under the 3 liter level, which I think is 9% vs 20% tax on the Escalade. And Cadillac isn’t really in a position to sell at a price premium over a Mercedes or Audi which the Chinese love.
  10. smk4565
    Displacement tax still hits that, 7.5% tax on 1.6 to 2.0 liter engines, as high as 20% on 4 liter engines. The 2.7T would get hit with the same tax as the Cadillac 3 liter TT V6, might as well use that then.
  11. smk4565
    They should build a Wagoneer 7 seat SUV to compete with the Pilot/Traverse/Explorer, and a Grand Wagoneer to compete with the Escalade and Navigator and an Ultimate Wagoneer priced at $150,000 with Wrangler off road capability and Maserati level interior with a twin turbo V6, and offer a Ultimate Wagoneer Hellcat for $200,000 and an Ultimate Wagoneer Enzo with a Ferrari V12 for $350,000. The demand is so high for SUVs all 3 will sell out.
  12. smk4565
    Maybe they could bring back Mariner. Then you have a land, air and sea approach with Navigator, Aviator, and Mariner.
  13. smk4565
    I think it will continue in China because of the Displacement Tax. I imagine one day they will just jack up the displacement taxes sky high combined with their EV mandate to rid the country of ICE cars. Agreed. Get ready to laugh but they should probably put the 2.0T in the Escalade and sell it there. Preferably with some electric boost.
  14. smk4565
    Well I did say base V6. Brits, French, Austrian, Swiss, and Scandinavians seem to buy German cars too. Cadillac and Lexus never could crack the code to beat the E-class in Europe, and with the heavy taxi use it should be easy to have more status and image. But the truth is the E-class is a much better car than the Lexus GS ever was, or the CTS/STS ever were, likewise for the Infiniti M35/Q70, and that is why the E-class is still the #1 selling mid-size luxury car and those other cars are dead or about to be cancelled.
  15. smk4565
    And yet the E-class still has more status or brand appeal than a CT6. They have had E-class taxis for 40 years and that hasn’t hurt Mercedes image one bit. The huge volume keeps the dollars rolling in to support Daimler’s massive R&D budget. Agreed, I could see the CT6 being Cadillac’s Dodge Charger/Challenger. You advertise the high trim V8 model but in reality 80-90% of the sales are the base V6 with little equipment.
  16. smk4565
    So you want a car that is 10 inches longer than a CT6 at like $75k? They are going to run into the same product overlap problem they now with sedans. They would have to go to $100k to clear the CT6 V8.
  17. smk4565
    I like the real names, and Corsair sounds good but reminded me of Corvair, which sucked.
  18. smk4565
    I can't imagine they still make a diesel, I think every car company will drop diesel fast and put money into EVs.
  19. smk4565
    But the CT6 is a 2 country car, USA and China, so we are talking like 20k units a year and that is with a $56k starting point. If they go over $100k, how much demand is there for a Cadillac at that price point? The E-class outsells the CT6 about 5-1, CT6 also sells a bit like an Audi A6 in the USA, if you put a Cadillac in the $100k+ range and is outsold 5-1 the way the S-class outsells the A8, then you are talking like 300 cars a month maybe, another 200 or so in China. There isn't a lot of volume to be found. I think they are better off with an SUV above the Escalade if they want to do a $100,000+ vehicle.
  20. smk4565
    I suppose Cadillac could do a Phantom or even Ghost sized car for $150,000 but who is going to buy it? I just can't see them finding a business case for something like that.
  21. smk4565
    2017 sales volume in the US, (China and Europe could be a whole other story) These are the top sellers from each brand Lexus RX: 108,307 BMW 3+4 series: 99,083 MB C-class: 77,447 Cadillac XT5: 68,312 Audi Q5: 57,640 Acura MDX 54,866 Infiniti Q50: 40,749 And as honorable mentions, the RDX, E-class, GLE and Lexus ES and NX all topped 50,000 units. So of the top 12 you have 3 small sedan, 2 mid-size sedan, 3 small crossover, 4 mid-size crossover. The MDX is the biggest thing on this list, if I were a luxury brad I wouldn't be pouring money into full size product, unless it is something like an Escalade or S-class that is a cash cow.
  22. smk4565
    Cadillac is supposed to get a small car, so they would have a 3 sedan line up, I don't see any reason for a car bigger than the CT6, which already has the footprint similar to the Escalade, that is a big vehicle, and the CT6 isn't lighting up any sales charts, why make something bigger. If you want to load up content and make it nicer and more expensive great. CT5 is already testing, we'll see in a year or two what it is. Chevy I feel becomes the Cruze and Malibu, I can't see the Impala surviving Sedan-ageddon. Unless they downsize the Cruze to like 176 inches long, and make it replace the Sonic and be competition for the Accent, Versa, and cars like that. Then make the Malibu 185 inches long, sort of like Pontiac Grand Am size where it is a little bigger than a Corolla or Civic but similar price point and then make the Impala like Honda Accord size, or current Fusion size of 195 inches long. I prefer that plan because you keep the Impala name plate and you keep an entry level car. Buick I think its possible they have no sedans past 2020. If they do, then I imagine it would be a larger mid-size, in between the current Regal and Lacrosse, those 2 can merge into one product.
  23. smk4565
    See my other post, but the 2 of the top 3 selling luxury vehicles in the USA are small sedans, with a mid-size crossover being the 3rd. And the XT5 is up there too, a mid-size crossover. Look at CTS and CT6 sales or Continental sales, all dead in the water, Infiniti Q70 and Lexus GS, dead in the water with one foot in the grave. The only full size luxury car that consistently sells over 1,000 units a month is the S-class, and most of the mid-sizers struggle to hit 2,000 a month unless it is a an E-class or 5-series. Disregarding small luxury cars is a horrible idea.
  24. smk4565
    The X-class I feel like is putting their toe in the water, it is obviously designed in a way to cut development cost by using the Navara platform and Renault diesel, but you can get the Mercedes diesel V6 also. That is also a truck not designed for America, it was designed for Europe and Middle East, where you have some people that want a pickup and want a German brand. If Mercedes built a full size pick up from ground up, they absolutely would have a better truck than the F150. They wouldn't start at the work truck level, they would probably start at $50k (or more) and compete with the Platinum and King Ranch trucks. They have a ladder frame from the G-wagen, make that bigger and they have a body on frame chassis, plus one of the best 4-wheel drive systems there is, and they can make optional the locking differentials off road suspension. They have a 9 speed auto that can handle 630 lb-ft of torque, so they have the transmission. Engines: 429 hp 384 lb-ft inline six vs 2.7 ecoboost 325 hp 400 lb-ft 463 hp 516 lb-ft V8 vs 3.5 Ecoboost 375 hp 470 lb-ft 621 hp 738 lb-ft V12 or 603 hp 627 lb-ft V8 vs Raptor V6 450 hp, 510 lb-ft And since they need a diesel, they can just borrow the Detroit DD5 engine 5.1 liter 230 hp, 660 lb-ft with 45,000 mile service interval, much more durable than anything in an F150. Interior to the level of a GLC or would be enough to beat any pickup on sale now, if it was E-class level then goodnight. This would be really easy to put together. So Chevy should dump the Cruze, Sonic and Spark and put all their efforts behind the Impala and Malibu? 2 car lineup? Tell Chevy dealers they are losing the Cruze and see what happens. The problem Cadillac and Lincoln had is they never had their "Cruze" and they didn't miss what they never had, until the German brands squashed them, Cadillac and Lincoln were 1-2 in luxury sales about 20 years ago, now they are like 7th and 8th place.
  25. smk4565
    That is odd because the top 3 selling luxury products in the USA last year were the Lexus RX, 3-series and C-class. And small sedans as a segment were about flat last year, while mid-size sedans dropped and large sedans got crushed. Small crossover is the fastest growth segment. So I am not buying into people don't want small cars, people deemed the CR-V and Rav4 too big so they had to get products smaller. I don't see Honda or Toyota putting out stuff bigger than the Pilot or Highlander due to demand for big vehicles, and Toyota has let the Sequoia die on the vine because there is no point dumping money into a dinosaur that CAFE will kill off.
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