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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Well Sergio's mission is to make money for stock holders, and thus pump up the value of his stock options and then also cash out and retire for sure. Selling off pieces is a good way to make quick cash and basically play role of corporate raider.
  2. smk4565
    I agree. If he sells Jeep off, we don't know if that means to another car company or just to make them independent. Or as a temporary independent with intent to sell to someone else later. But I bet there is some way that if he makes them independent, he can re-write dealership franchise agreements, and throw out the Jeep-Ram-Chrysler-Dodge package of dealerships. The ultimate goal here is to get rid of Chrysler and Dodge, and have Jeep and Ram only left, possibly with Ram and Jeep as separate companies, then he can sell either one to another company.
  3. smk4565
    I just stumbled across this thread, yawn, I like car talk. A debate on which is better between a Kio Rio and a Honda Fit is more interesting. The name calling, trolling, polical BS or stuff people do just to stir the pot is boring. This site is about cars and the endless debate of pushrod vs DOHC, foreign vs domestic, displacement vs horsepower per liter, etc.
  4. smk4565
    Net worth I assume, it is whatever Forbes or one of those lists had him at. His salary is $1 a year.
  5. smk4565
    $59k for a Honda Pilot? No thanks. And 290 up and 267 lb-ft is all they can muster? What hurts Acura is having the exact same engine as Honda. At least Lincoln has a more powerful ecoboost V6 than the Ford. Infiniti, Lexus and Cadillac have the same problem with their crossovers, it is a corporate V6 you get on a car costing 50% less. And Infiniti and Cadillac both have a turbo V6 but yet it isn't put in the crossovers. Meanwhile the Europeans will put 500 hp in a compact crossover, they don't care.
  6. smk4565
    This could pay off for them. In theory if the tooling is right from the start then all should be fine and allow them to ramp up production volume. Tesla needs volume to get some money rolling in. I knew he was a billionaire, but I didn't realize til last weekend that is worth 14.5 billion.
  7. smk4565
    Pathfinder NISMO with 328 hp!!!!!!!!! It would be insane performance!! Related to that, how come the Infiniti QX70 has the Pathfinder's 3.5 liter V6 instead of Infiniti's 3.7 liter V6? That just seems so lazy, if you pay Infiniti money, shouldn't you at least get the Infiniti 3.7 liter V6 that came out in 2008, it is 2017 after all.
  8. smk4565
    Not only does the manual get beat in about every performance metric by the automatic but consumers aren't buying manuals either, so why spend development dollars on them. It is like diesel, the take rate gets so low you can't justify designing and producing it.
  9. smk4565
    Hybrid CR-V is a no brainer when it is probably going to be their top seller for the near future. Really crossover market is where to go with hybrids because you have a larger vehicle that you can charge more for easier to sell a hybrid CR-V than a hybrid Civic. Rumor is they are doing a 5 passenger Pilot too to slot in between CR-V and the current Pilot.
  10. smk4565
    Why not build Porsche 911 with no gas engine, just put a 450 hp electric motor in back and a battery in the floor.
  11. smk4565
    Good points all around, the EVs are coming. The air quality problems in china will push them to EV, Europe is going there too. And one the EVs are more viable in 5-10 years I bet the displacement taxes go up in China to kill off engines over 2 liters. Porsche needs to get on the electric SUV bandwagon and they can share engineering with Audi and Bentley which makes it pretty easy. The 911 can work as an electric car too they can still put the motor in the back.
  12. smk4565
    I think a smart move would be for them to go heavy on the luxury side and less so on the performance side. They will never out performance the Germans, so better off to focus on luxury and go after buyers that don't care about performance. Lincoln is trying to do that, but with Ford front drive chassis, Hyundai actually has some rear drive platforms that they can give a good ride quality too.
  13. smk4565
    I am not writing them off, I liked the original Genesis a lot. But you have to have some sales volume to gain traction and look desirable. Hard to judge them when they only have alt a line up, but their interiors aren't as good as European competition and they don't have turbos on their V8. They still have that nice Hyundai vibe but they aren't charging Hyundai prices.
  14. smk4565
    Well yes, every Audi, BMW and Mercedes is all wheel drive around me (except mine is rwd). People gobble up all wheel drive luxury sedans, and Subaru does well in Pittsburgh too. But for mainstream cars people want the crossover.
  15. smk4565
    I don't like the headlights and front end on the A-class concept, it looks too much like an Audi or Kia, and I don't care for the vertical bar grille, the horizontal grill worked pretty well the past 60 years. I do like the S-class, not much changed but I think it looks good how it is. I like the 4.0 V8 replacing the 4.7 and 5.5 liter engines. I wanted to see the inline six debut here, rather than use the 3 liter V6. The car does need a 6 cylinder option in the US, I think they miss out on sales by starting where the others have their top end model.
  16. smk4565
    Hard to build any credibility if you don't sell any cars.
  17. smk4565
    People in the snow belt buy all wheel drive in the form of a crossover. I have heard multiple people they say they bought a crossover for the snow, and they probably didn't even consider an all wheel drive car. Also remember back when the Regal GS had a supercharged V6 it had 240 hp. A turbo 4 easily beats that. And back then a Cadillac had a V8, now they even have turbo 4's and V6s. And the large car segment everywhere is down, as every brand made their mid size car bigger and more luxurious it made the large sedan pointless. Plus a mid size crossover replaces a large sedan just as a small crossover is replacing mid size sedans.
  18. smk4565
    Not to mention the 3.6 has no torque unless you wind it up to 5,000 RPM. But in a Regal or any other front wheel driver car, over 300 hp is pointless. Which is going to make front drive V6 cars obsolete around 2022 (maybe sooner) because turbo 4s will be able to max out what a front drive car can handle very soon. Now if they want to make a Buick on Alpha or Omega, then different story and bring on the turbo V6. I think Cadillac should drop the 3.6 like a sack of dirt, and go with all turbos. And really they should have e-turbos on the way.
  19. smk4565
    Yes, all true. And that was back when sedans sold, and now sedans are like 25% of the total market.
  20. smk4565
    Probably going after the Acura TLX and Maxima that offer a V6. Eventually I bet they merge Regal and Lacrosse into one sedan, they are awfully close to each other at this point and the sales of either won't be that high. Especially when they lose input from Opel, Buick might just go with 1 sedan and 3-4 crossovers post 2020, or maybe add a version of the Volt as their 2nd car.
  21. smk4565
    Not sure that would fit under the hood of an E-class or AMG GT.
  22. smk4565
    Basically all of Mercedes gas cars will be light hybrids with a 15 or 20 hp electric motor and no more alternator or tradional starter motor. I am not sure how it is all going to work but the 2018 S-class is supposed to be the first car with it.
  23. smk4565
    Every car maker will go to 48 volt eventually because they will need the gains to hit CAFE. They will have to do it to get over that 50 mpg number, gas engines alone will never do it and the EV take rate is too slow to pull the average up fast enough. Mercedes spends over $1 million per hour on R&D. It is costing a fortune but if they are ahead of the game in 2020 it will pay off.
  24. smk4565
    Well, they could probably sell 5 Maseratis a month and Sergio would keep the brand around.
  25. smk4565
    Yes, inline 4, inline 6, V8 gas, and inline 4 diesel which looks like it won't make it here. Four engines, all with 48 volt system. Which will clean up the number of engine offerings and get fuel economy up about 15% across the board.
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