smk4565

There is a lot of Bolt inventory, they shut down the factory because there is so much.

VW is huge. Audi is huge too, they sell 50,000 cars a month in China. This brand needs more Q's for the USA, good thing Q1, Q2, Q4, Q8 are on the way. They should make an QR8 spyder that merges an R8 spyder with an off roader to make a 2 seat convertible crossover super car.

Year to date Mercedes 118,272 cars 134,949 SUVs That isn't too bad compared to other luxury brands. Especially when Cadillac's whole line up has 98,316 sold

But Mercedes sells more sedans than any other luxury car maker, probably more coupes and convertibles too. Cadillac is on pace to be an CUV/SUV brand, they would have more sales if they killed ATS, CTS, CT6 and replaced them with XT3, XT4, XT7 front drive crossovers. Frankfurt Auto show is this month, Mercedes will get a lot of press from that and get the mojo going, they are only down 2.9% for the year on a record high year in the USA. And USA is their 3rd most important market.

MERCEDES-BENZ USA Sales -- August 2017 Mercedes-Benz Passenger Vehicles Aug-17 Aug-16 Monthly % YTD 2017 YTD 2016 Yearly % B-CLASS 58 57 1.8 % 456 417 9.4 % CLA 1,972 1,811 8.9 % 12,658 17,706 -28.5 % C-CLASS 5,304 6,125 -13.4 % 52,755 49,734 6.1 % E-CLASS/CLS 3,710 5,069 -26.8 % 32,345 32,752 -1.2 % S-CLASS 567 1,698 -66.6 % 9,620 11,974 -19.7 % SLC 178 346 -48.6 % 1,993 2,321 -14.1 % SL 210 443 -52.6 % 1,814 2,520 -28.0 % AMG GT 120 112 7.1 % 840 848 -0.9 % GLA 1,994 1,058 88.5 % 14,577 15,375 -5.2 % GLC 4,498 4,715 -4.6 % 28,227 31,517 -10.4 % GLE 3,750 3,756 -0.2 % 34,458 33,354 3.3 % GLS 2,610 2,912 -10.4 % 20,539 18,462 11.3 % G-CLASS 402 302 33.1 % 2,960 2,724 8.7 % TOTAL 25,373 28,404 -10.7 % 213,242 219,704 -2.9 % Vans 1 3,581 3,152 13.6 % 22,139 22,186 -0.2 % smart 229 353 -35.1 % 2,394 3,439 -30.4 % MBUSA Combined Total Aug-17 Aug-16 Monthly % YTD 2017 YTD 2016 Yearly % GRAND TOTAL 29,183 31,909 -8.5 % 237,775 245,329 -3.1 % The problem is the E-class is down a good bit, and the Coupe, Wagon and E63 should be at dealers, a new E400 sedan is coming which should help, but the E-class should be over 4,000. S-class is on a MCE change over, that number will probably shoot up next month because there is an S450 and a new 4.0 V8 to replace the 4.7. The GLE and GLS are dated, they are in their final year, and still hanging on okay, YTD they are both up. Sort of concerning that the SL is down and not moving many units, there will be another SL, but a lot of sports cars sell in lousy numbers, eventually manufactures will stop making them.

Mustn't have had a big fleet order on Savanas. The Impala having one last gasp before the curtain closes on fulll size sedans. Equinox could be GM's #2 seller behind Silverado this year.

The outgoing GT is way long in the tooth, this has a same as it ever was look, although it is improved, I like the larger grille, if you have a Bentley or Rolls, you want a big old school grille. I do like the inside and the W12 seems to be cranking out a lot of power and they'll have a Speed version with 700 hp I am sure.

The Pagani has an AMG engine, and the Lambroghini is owned by Germans. The LaFerrari will be no match for the Mercedes hyper car the LaFerrari is too heavy, too weak. But I suspect Ferrari will up their game and it will be game on. BMW and Audi aren't going to get to that level.

The A8 is in an un-winnable battle with the best car in the world, they can pump as much money as they want in, it isn't going to matter. BMW talked about a hyper car also but says it isn't in their budget. If you want a hyper car look to Mercedes.

They might as well focus on turbo V6 crossovers or an overboosted 4 banger with a 48 volt hybrid system for Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, whatever. They have the R8 because of Lamborghini, an why would they want to step on Lamborghini and Porsche's toes? And sure everyone wants a hypercar, most don't have the know how or guts to pour the money into making it.

That little performance boost is nice and all, but what is the range? I also think if you want to sell electric cars, don't make them look like quirky odd ball cars. Make it look bland like a Honda Accord and watch the sales take off.

It looks a lot like a Macan, maybe that is a good thing since it is sleeker than before, but I feel like it doesn't look all that special either, since it looks like the lower end SUV. Inside looks mostly good, pretty clean, simplistic design, no doubt has the Porsche build quality. Doesn't really look fancy enough for $83k, but Porsche doesn't really do fancy, and their buyers seem to like it. Where is the V8? The $66,750 Cayenne has the exact same 0-60 time as the $67,750 Mercedes GLE43. But an all new GLE comes next year, so game on in Stuttgart.

From November 2015 Autoblog story "According to NADA data cited by AN, trade-in prices for a 2012 FJ Cruiser are holding at over $25,000, compared to their $27,840 sticker price when new. That amounts to a rather incredible 90.8 percent resale value. Some low-mileage examples are even listing for upwards of $50,000; compare that to a Wrangler from the same year that holds a trade-in value of 68.1 percent of its original list price." And Forbes Magazine rated the FJ cruiser as the #1 resale value car in 2015 also.

A smaller than Terrain crossover should have been here already. I do think GMC has huge missed opportunity on an off roader type SUV to compete wth Wrangler or to fill the void left by the FJ Cruiser. The FJ Cruiser holds like 90% of its value when 3 years old, those are still in high demand, because no one builds off roaders.

They need something smaller than Terrain for sure.

MISTAKE! This is a decent looking little crossover, and it would probably outsell the Golf and Jetta if they brought it here. And VW wonders why their sales in the USA are terrible.

GM has bigger holes to fill than crossover coupe, which I myself think is a dumb body style, but crossovers are what people want. I would look elsewhere as I said, but I am just saying Buick could do a 4th crossover, but it would have to be different than the 3 mid sizers GM already has. There are a dozen companies with a crossover at 181-184 inches long and another around 190-192 inches long. Mercedes, BMW and Lexus being 3 of them. Cadillac will soon be one of them, and I bet they want something under XT4. Jeep has 6 SUVs between 166" and 191" and they make it work. They could have like 8 in the space that Buick does Encore to Enclave if they get the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer in production.

80% of GM's sales are crossovers and trucks. By math, if Buick has 2 sedans, they should have 8 crossovers. 8 would be crazy, but Buick could add a Blazer/Acadia/XT5 size vehicle easily, but it would have to be a coupe style crossover, since they already have 3 crossovers that size. I'd build more Cadillac crossovers first though, they need crossovers and go where the margin is.

They could do a Buick version of the Blazer in a coupe-like SUV. There is a lot of space size wise between the Envision and Enclave. And a coupe-like crossover that is Blazer size could fetch Enclave prices, they could even call it Riviera. 2.0T base and 3.6 liter optional, then you get the Regal and Regal GS powertrains in a coupe crossover. Then when LaCrosse dies, you still have 5 products over at Buick.

CUV buyers don't really care about space, they care about sitting higher up and having the image of driving an SUV. Toyota is going to sell 450,000 RAV4 this year, and it isn't like the Rav is winning any cargo capacity or hip and leg room competitions.

Pilot is sorta big, they need something in between CRV and Pilot. Or to downsize the Pilot and do a 3 row full sizer. When you look at Ford they have Ecosport, Escape, Edge, Explorer, Flex, Expedition, Bronco coming soon. They could have 7 SUVs, and they all sell pretty much.

FCA has pension and debt liabilities still too. Something a Chinese car maker probably doesn't have to worry about. Which is what makes the Jeep brand by itself so valuable.

No brainer move, they need another crossover, and mid-size crossover is a huge segment. I think they could get another crossover in between Traxx and Equinox if they really wanted to.

I doubt Dodge or Chrysler get a new product ever again, the Pacifica was probably the last one. If they are still around past 2020, they'll probably get a mild refresh with new trim pieces and the Alfa Romeo turbo 4 as the main engine. Rumor is they can spin off Alfa/Maserati though for $8 billion, if the tis true and Jeep is worth $33 billion, then Chrysler/Dodge/Ram is worth negative $9 billion, which I think is true and why FCA isn't sold yet.

It is possible that they could end up with two R8 70 tsfi with different engines if they had a 536 hp turbo V8 and a 620 hp turbo V10. I think the current R8 is under 500 hp though. Good luck having people tell he difference between an SQ7 55 tdi and an SQ7 60 TSFI.