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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    New rumor says Hyundai is interested in buying FCA. No way they want Chrysler or Dodge. They will want the Jeeps, Ram trucks, and the Pacifica can be the Sedona/Entourage, so that saves them money on developing a new van. I could see them wanting Alfa Romeo as a sport luxury brand and Genesis can be a comfort luxury brand, Maserati seems worthless. If Hyundai is interested, Sergio needs to trim the fat fast to make FCA appealing.
  2. smk4565
    The AMG Project One (which is getting a new name for production thankfully) will beat the Rimac, and it isn't made by a man in a shed, it is made by Mercedes so you know it will work. Even though Richard Hammond did roll a Rimac and survive with little injury so perhaps it is safe. The AMG will stomp these cars in handling, it weighs nearly 1,500 lbs less than the Rimac. A Tesla Model S P100 D does 0-125 mph in 10.5 seconds (and won Motor Trend's World's greatest drag race), Project One can do that in under 6 seconds.
  3. smk4565
    Good price and good that at least someone remembers this market, even though it is sort of a small segment. But there are people that want new and can't afford a $26,000 Cruze or Corolla, or they can, and think it is insane to spend $26k on a Cruze or Corolla, which it is.
  4. smk4565
    Looks pretty good inside and out, and has a fairly potent motor in T5 trim for a little SUV. I think it should sell pretty well. It has a unique look that is rugged, but modern, almost art deco too with that color. The XC40 should stand out against some of the homogenous looking crossovers out there.
  5. smk4565
    "The G90 doesn't have twin turbos like an S-class" "The G90 doesn't have cameras to read the road or air suspension" "The G90 doesn't have a hybrid power train" "The G90 doesn't have autonomous drive technology" Translation is the G90 is slower, less powerful, less fuel efficient, and has worse ride quality than an S-class. Beirmann is trying to say technology and power and interior materials don't matter, because his car has none of those things. Probably why his car doesn't sell very well.
  6. smk4565
    Chrysler sales as a brand are down 24% this year and mostly due to the 200 being gone but the 300 is down year to date. Pacifica is still new, I imagine in 2019 the sales will decline from where they are now. Minivan and Full size sedan are shrinking segments and those are the only 2 segments Chrysler is in. Not a good business model
  7. smk4565
    Oh yeah, They will be lined up out the door to buy a Concorde. I mean this was a car that even rental car agencies didn't want. The market doesn't need another near luxury brand or car even because all the mainstream cars are offering electronic everything, driver assist tech, leather, moonroof, heated steering wheel etc. I don't see a place for Chrysler in the market, they have 2 products both of which are in sales decline.
  8. smk4565
    There is also rumor that the 300 will move to the Pacifica platform and be a front drive sedan. Although I wonder if the 300 even survives, Pacifica sales should slide off by 2019, I can easily see them closing down the Chrysler brand. That will make this mess easier to sell, which is the end goal by those in charge.
  9. smk4565
    But what if you want to drive your car through a lazy river?
  10. smk4565
    I don't get it really, why not make performance models that are hybrids? You can have performance EV's too. I think what it really comes down to, is a performance model G70 at $60-70,000 or a G80 N-performance at $85,000 isn't going to sell. I don't see the Genesis brand as having the bandwidth to get that top dollar price, and they don't really have the hardware readily available to do it either, so that is a lot of money to spend to get there too.
  11. smk4565
    Not moving to Giorgio means they want to kill these cars off or sell the band and not let the buyer get that platform. No doubt they'll do a Hellcat 300 to milk in some sales at the end. To move the Charger to the Ghibli platform that is a car that came out in 2012 or 2013 in 2021 means it is 8 years old to start with. You can tell FCA wants to get rid of Chrysler and Dodge.
  12. smk4565
    Hopefully it is a good car, and a fun to drive car. It doesn't have the interior as good as the Germans though, you can already tell from the photos it is closer to a Mazda 6 interior than a C-class or A4. As if they know they have to sell at a discount so they will cut corners somewhere. If they price this car aggressively I think it could do well, if that turbo V6 is $40k and it comes down to a G70 or a 4 cylinder ATS, C-class or A4, that is a compelling argument for Genesis. And since it is G-wagen day, I'll say that the GLE is no doubt better daily driver and probably has more cargo room too. But you aren't a baller in Beverly Hills without that G-wagen.
  13. smk4565
    G-wagen is a good vehicle. Probably the most capable off road SUV on sale right now, for sure it is on the 4x4 squared model. I think it is one of two 12 cylinder SUVs for sale also if you want that. The G-wagen had its best sales year ever in 2016 and is up in 2017, so they are building what the people want.
  14. smk4565
    Exactly and over half of G-wagons sold are AMG so that is a $140k starting price before options. On a vehicle that has been paid off long ago. This is the easiest money in the whole auto industry. And this because Mercedes is a desirable brand and the G is a highly desirable product.
  15. smk4565
    Right and the G-wagon is going to the MHA platform I think, it is getting a new chassis for the first time in 40 years with the 2019 model. There is a 5th platform for electric cars that will carry 10 models on it.
  16. smk4565
    I don't know how many BMW has, but the 7-seires platform is shared with Rolls, and a cut down version is used for the 5-series. Plus their inline 4 and inline six share a ton of parts. Mercedes has the MFA platform for A-class/B-class, which is also shared with Renault and the Infiniti QX-whatever the small one is. The MRA platform is under the C-class, GLC, E-class and S-class, the GLE/GLS are on another platform, G-wagen on a platform, SL, SLC and AMG GT are each on their own platform, but SLC is dying and SL and GT I think are merging to one platform in the next gen. They also are switching to inline six because it will share 70% of the parts with the inline 4. The Mercedes V12 is about a $60,000 option over an AMG V8 car, I would say the profit margin is sick on those. I think every VW, Audi, and Bentley share one platform. Well maybe not, but the VW Atlas full size SUV is built on a Golf platform. And that is true, I am not making that up.
  17. smk4565
    No doubt GM has massive economies of scale on front drive. On rear drive they have Camaro/ATS/CTS on one chassis and CT6 on another. That isn't a lot of volume on those platforms. Sure they can share the transmission with the pickups, but the 3.6 is outclassed by Cadillac's competition so that leaves them with turbo V6s that get criticized in a lot of reviews and no V8, because there is no volume to justify a Cadillac only V8, let alone a V12 or hybrid drivetrain. Mercedes might build B-class taxis but they build $150k sports cars and S-class sedans and $240k V12 G-wagens. They have the top end, Buick and even Cadillac don't have that high end. Although I would love to see Cadillac make a $150,000 car, at this point I don't even care if it is coupe, sedan, or SUV, just do something.
  18. smk4565
    VW outsells Buick in China, so what? Buick doesn't sell their cars at Mercedes price point in China, or here. No bar has been moved. I made a Cadillac vs Lexus vs Mercedes comparison. If Buick was a luxury brand, GM wouldn't need Cadillac, but Cadillac is still here, because they need a luxury brand.
  19. smk4565
    So front wheel drive is bad for sedans, but good for crossovers? You seem to hate on Mercedes front drive entry level car, but defend Cadillac's move to use it in mid-size crossover. Personally I wouldn't even consider a front drive car, but I won't consider buying a CLA/GLA either. The market in the $30-40k space doesn't care though as most buyers don't notice the difference. Chevy makes the Spark and Sonic, does that somehow hurt the Corvette and make it crap because the Sonic is a 138 hp front driver? Mercedes makes like 20 models with a 500+ hp V8/V12 if they make 2 with a 208 hp fwd 4-cyldinder I don't think it a big deal.
  20. smk4565
    Oh right, I forgot that Buick is a luxury brand even though the $16,700 Excelle and $20,600 Verano where 547,000 of Buicks 1.2 million Chinese market sales came from. By that measure, the VW Jetta is a luxury car too.
  21. smk4565
    Envision is a bit cheaper than a GLC or Cadillac. But I brought it up because of economies of scale. Mercedes has plenty of economies of scale. Once upon a time the Deville outsold the E-class and C-class combined in the USA, and in time the front drive luxury sedans have basically died off. One day these front drive luxury crossovers will fall too, except maybe for the sub $45k market, they'll hold on, but in the end the rear drive always wins in luxury. Speaking of economies of scale, if Cadillacs crossovers are all front wheel drive, where do they get economies of scale on rear drive cars? The Camaro is a shrinking market, this 3-series segment has a dozen entries in it, and the mid-size luxury sedan segment is shrinking.
  22. smk4565
    The RX and XT5 are mid-size at small price. If an RX was $56k base like the similarly sized BMW X5, Lexus RX sales would be in the dump, like the GX and LX are. For a $35-45k crossover front wheel drive is fine because you don't have more than 300 hp in any of them, and you have awd to route it around and the people buying them don't care about performance. When you go north of $50k and start going after buyers that want more power, more performance you need rear wheel drive. As far as economies of scale go, Mercedes sells about 9,000 GLC a month in Europe, Cadillac sold 761 total cars in Europe last year and Lexus whole brand sales were 44,287. In China XT5 has sold 34,116 units YTD through July, Lexus RX sold 17,023 and GLC has sold 57,670. Oh, no, GLC outsells XT5 and RX combined!
  23. smk4565
    Until the Mustang got independent rear suspension a couple years ago, there was no chance or going a Lincoln on it. While a Lincoln sedan or Mark 9 coupe could be a cool car, who will buy it? It would have to have a Navigator level interior and ecoboost V6 to even get sales at $45k. The Continental hardly gets any sales and that starts at $46k. The Lincoln brand has a trashed image and I think even the Continental has a mediocre interior for it's price, a Volvo S90 is nicer, an A6, 5-series or E-class nicer still, and the Continental doesn't even have any performance attributes to sell. In theory a Mustang based Lincoln would be great, but they would never execute it right, and it would be like Cadillac Allante part 2. When is the last time Lincoln had a home run product? Late 90s Navigator is what comes to mind, and they were the first in that segment and now everyone else passed them up.
  24. smk4565
    If you put that list in size order it is, Infiniti QX60, Acura MDX, Lexus RX, BMW X5, Cadillac XT5, Mercedes GLE, etc. The bigger vehicles are selling better than the small ones. I do think the Mercedes GLC should sell better, it shouldn't lose to a Q5 or RDX. The other thing about that list, is only 2 of those vehicles have a base price over $50,000 that can be optioned up over $100,000. So we can guess which two are most profitable. And for decades they have had eroding market share and brand image, to the point some higher ups in Ford wanted to kill the brand altogether 3 years ago. The Continental is basically for the 75+ crowd and Classy Cab, which even then Uber will put taxi companies out of business anyway.
  25. smk4565
    Benz has one front drive crossover and 4 rear drive utilities. But one is plenty. Oddly enough on the Mercedes product plan sheet kept says A-class sedan but CLA is not listed. CLS, GT sedan, and GLC fuel cell are listed so it seems like a detailed chart. Maybe CLA is done.
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