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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    VW lost like $2 million per car on every Veyron sold. The Chiron will lose money also, but they don't care it is basically a marketing piece for them. I am not opposed to GM making a money losing hyper car, but it shouldn't be a Corvette. I also don't think the Corvette needs more capabilty or speed. I go back to my Miata example, they hold the price at an affordable level. Back in the late 90s or 2000 a Corvette was about $40,000, and a Cadillac Seville or Deville was about that. Now the Cadillacs are like $46k, but the Corvette is $60k. They are losing the bang for the buck argument when they want to charge $70k for a Stingray or $100k for a Z06. I still think Corvette should be a $50-80k car, sort of in Porsche Boxster price range. I'd like to see a V6 Corvette to hold the price point to mid 2000s level. I also think there is room for a sports car above Corvette at GM, just at Cadilac.
  2. smk4565
    The current Z06 gets ripped sometimes because it has too much power and can't get the power down or use it. Personally I don't think any Chevy needs more than 500 HP, maybe 550 for the range topping Camaro and Corvette. For performance above that there is Cadillac. Cadillac V-series should be the pinnacle of GM performance. I would go the other way with the Corvette and release a V6 model at $49,995. Even with the 335 HP V6 and 8-speed it would still be 0-60 in 5 seconds, the Corvette doesn't weigh that much, and it would probably be lighter and better handling than the V8 model. This makes the Corvette more attainable, which is what it is supposed to be. Really no Chevy should cost over $75,000 either, again Cadillac should have the $75,000 plus cars.
  3. smk4565
    Fallacy argument as the Z06 (as well the last gen. ZR1) are $100K and GM had no problem selling them. A mid engine will not change that. What percentage of Corvette sales were ZR1? A mid-engine Corvette base model could be priced where the ZR1 was. A mid-engine ZR1 could be $200,000. Way too high for what is supposed to be the "affordable" sports car.
  4. smk4565
    If Cadillac doesn't have sales volume, how do they justify making things like the Omega platform or Alfa platform or new engines, etc. It costs money to do all that, that is why Lincoln is a Ford badge job, because Lincoln doesn't have the volume to generate enough profit for Ford to give them their own platforms or engines. Cadillac's global sales are small, they rely on the USA, so if they can't grow here, they better find sales outside the USA.
  5. smk4565
    A mid-engine supercar should be a Cadillac. Why mess with the Corvette formula that has worked for 60 years. They also aren't going to draw in younger buyers with the price point of a mid-engine car. Look at the Alfa 4C, that is the cheapest mid-engine car on sale and it is about $65k with a 230 hp 4 cylinder. A mid-engine Corvette will be over $100,000 easy. Which is why it should be a Cadillac, Cadillac can support $100k pricing (or at least should be able to)
  6. smk4565
    As I said originally, a 650 HP Camaro is awesome for Camaro and muscle car fans, just like Mopar fans love the Hellcat Charger. But when you push further and further up in performance you lose the mission of the original car. This is why the Miata doesn't have a V8 and cost $50,000. At that point it wouldn't be a Miata anymore. I actually think the ZL1 is a good thing for the Camaro brand image as long as they still have the $25-30,000 model that regular people can buy. But every month in the sales thread people question why Camaro sales are down and it is because they are pricing people out of it.
  7. smk4565
    No. Because the Cadillac fans have a LT4 in the CTSV. Not only that.. The ATS-V is a car in and of itself. For your constant instigating questions I pose this.. f@#kin C63AMG or M3 fans have an issue that the ZL1 will have 200 more Hp than they? ATS and Camaro are closely related though, and while most ATS-v buyers probably don't care if it had 450 or 650 HP, there is the question of why any Camaro is more expensive than a V-series Cadillac, when Cadillac is GM's fop dog. They could put 1,000 hp in a Camaro and a BMW driver won't buy it because it says Chevy on it. But that goes back to my original point of Chevy being the value brand, having a value sports car, but they are moving away from that. The mid-engine Corvette I bet will cost over $125,000. How is that the every man's sports car, it will just turn into an Audi R8 which most Corvette fans think is a ripoff. I am all for a mid engine supercar at GM but it should wear a wreath and crest (yes bring the wreath back) and not a Chevy badge.
  8. smk4565
    My 2 cents on these cars is that if you keep pushing the price up you lose the target buyer audience and the car isn't what it was. The Camaro and Mustang of the 90s were priced like a family sedan almost. Now $30k is about the start point unless you get these cars in rental spec, and they are ranging up to $60k or more. Similar with the Corvette, it isn't as affordable as it used to be. For die hard Camaro fans, a 650 hp car will will be awesome, but do Cadillac fans feel upset that their ATS-V is giving up 200 hp to a Chevy? And I if the Camaro is now costing what a Corvette cost 10 years ago, is it still meeting the mission the Camaro? Camaro and Mustang don't really appeal to me, but with the cost of these cars, plus insurance, they are pricing out the under 30 demographic.
  9. smk4565
    I think they combined it because it is the same chassis and wheelbase, but also since BMW combines 3 and 4 series, even though E-class is a different segment. I don't know why the combined it really, CLS sales aren't much, but they have other cars that only sell 250 a month. You can lease a rear drive 2016 E-class for $499 a month (36 months) and $5,300 down. A 2017 E300 4Matic ($55,575 MSRP) is $569 a month with $5,263 due. Not $329 a month. A Cadillac CT6 1SD package ($60k MSRP) lease is $579 for 39 months $4,719 due at signing. These are the advertised lease specials on the company websites, they are basically the same. To Sauv's point about raising prices, Mercedes is already the highest priced car in almost every segment they are in, no reason to go higher.
  10. smk4565
    So in this thread Mercedes was criticized for their sedan sales being down, and also criticized for selling too many E-class sedans!
  11. smk4565
    The ATS, CTS, XTS and CT6 combined for 5,285 sales, the E-class has 5,225.
  12. smk4565
    Year to date Mercedes has 102,301 car sales, which is 53.5% of their 191,300 total. I doubt any other luxury car maker has that much volume in cars or that high a percentage, except maybe BMW since they sell so many 3-series. Most luxury brands are SUV dependent, although Benz crossovers are the best also, so not surprising that they are all surging in sales.
  13. smk4565
    All time high. Enjoy 2nd place BMW.
  14. smk4565
    Camaro I imagine appeals to a bit of an older male buyer, and the Camaro is hard to get in and out of and to see out of. So those are big drawbacks to a purchase. Even still, 60,000 a year is pretty good sales volume for a coupe that mostly is in the $30-40k range. Sedan sales are in the tank because people want crossovers. I think the government could impose a 10% tax on all crossovers and crossover sales won't go down, it is just what the people want. I don't like crossovers, the the buying public does. I guess the 2017 XTS will have get more fleet sales, the 2018 XTS will probably be fleet sale only and they can dump that model. XTS sales I think are below the DTS sales when they killed it, and the car market is stronger now than it was then.
  15. smk4565
    The Compass platform is based on a Chrysler/Mitsubishi chassis, there is no Daimler in the Compass, even though Daimler did own Chrysler during it's development. The only Jeep that has Daimler in it is the Grand Cherokee ("the most awarded SUV ever"), as the 2011 Grand Cherokee and Mercedes ML had most of their development work done while they were still merged. Mercedes has a new chassis coming for the GLE/GLS in a year, Jeep has nothing because FCA is at the helm now, in 2025 the Grand Cherokee will still be using that 2011 ML chassis.
  16. smk4565
    First off, the G-wagon would beat any production Jeep off road. Secondly, I doubt a Pentastar V6 is any easier to work on than a Honda V6, GM V6 or anything else. Then you have the Renegade with the Fiat 1.4 multi air turbo which I doubt it easy to work on or reliable. And lastly, the G-wagen had the very reliable 5.5 liter V8 for years, now they have the new 4.0 V8, but that is detuned version of the AMG engine, and based off the 2.0T so the bugs should be worked out by now. Mercedes is almost always in the top 10 in reliability, Jeep almost always in the bottom 10 going back 15-20 years. And I don't even blame Jeep so much, it is the fact that Jeeps are made with Fiat, Dodge/Chrysler engines. Their best vehicle is the Grand Cherokee that is based on the mid-2000s M-class platform. Jeep has really strong brand image, good marketing and loyal fan base. I am not against Jeep, they have a focused brand and do many things right. But Jeep would be better off if it wasn't owned by the worst car conglomerate there is. Jeep would build a better product if it was owned by GM, Ford, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, take your pick.
  17. smk4565
    Well yes customers like Jeep how they are, I am saying keep the look of Jeep, but Jeep is often a bottom 5 brand in reliability and isn't really know for fit and finish or gas mileage. Imagine how much better a Jeep would be with a Honda 3.5 V6 that never breaks and is buttery smooth.
  18. smk4565
    FCA needs to sell Jeep to someone else, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, GM, anyone. We'd have more reliable Jeeps with more modern powertrains, which is a win. And then the rest of FCA can just close up shop and go away. Come 2018 Chrysler will have the 300 and Pacifica, Dodge will have Charger/Challenger. And 3 of those vehicles are dated already. I don't see why they have those 2 brands around to sell 4 products total, half of which are going to Alamo and National.
  19. smk4565
    These semi-autonomous driving systems and automatic braking or lane keep assist also save a lot of lives. How many times have these driver aides prevented a crash because the idiot driver was't paying attention. So yes there are some times when the auto-pilot fails and there is a crash like with the recent Tesla crashes. But there are probably more cases that the system saved a life that we don't hear about. Either way though the driver still needs to be aware of what is going on and pay attention.
  20. smk4565
    Pagani gets their engines from Mercedes-AMG of course. Aston Martin will get them from there too. But those brands are far lower volume than Jaguar.
  21. smk4565
    Jaguar or BMW drivers wanting a V8 should just buy a Mercedes anyway.
  22. smk4565
    Audi, Jaguar, and BMW all use the same transmission though. I don't know if it matters to Jaguar buyers if the engine comes from BMW, there used to be a Range Rover with a BMW V8 in it in the early 2000s. The exterior styling, interiors and infotainment systems are way different on a BMW and Jaguar. If you want exclusive engine and transmission in a luxury car though, there is only one place to look.
  23. smk4565
    From what I have read about the new Ridgeline, it's ride and handling are light years ahead of the Colorado/Canyon, Frontier and Tacoma. Autoline had a review of it and said it wasn't even close. I think the inked trunk is pretty innovative, and the way the rear seats folds up to make storage space back there. The General should get a unibody pick-up to market, perhaps a size smaller than the Colorado since the Colorado is rather big, especially compared to what the S10 was.
  24. smk4565
    There was talk from within Mercedes of an AMG hybrid around 2020, possibly every AMG model being a hybrid at some point. There is also rumor of a 1,300 hp hybrid hyper car that weighs under 3,000 lbs under development, but Mercedes denies it. AMG feels that their customers want a V8 and they want that noise, so I think that will have to stay in play there, but for the regular cars, I could see the plug-ins taking over by 2020.
  25. smk4565
    Exotic cars have V12s, there will always be a place for that sound among the supercars. Luxo barges like Rolls and Bentley could easily go EV. The LT series V8 is good now, but I wouldn't put much money into developing a replacement for them since the next generation Silverado will probably have V6 power. A twin turbo V8 would be good for high end cars the next 10 years, then around 2025 maybe even Corvette is a electric car and that need for a V8 goes away. The Corvette engine could be useful in the CTS V-sport or CT6. I would like to Cadillac have its own V8, but since they don't have one better to use the Corvette engine than have no V8 at all.
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