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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    You could argue the Corvette better off with a twin turbo DOHC V8 though, and Cadillac could use one for sure. If there is a mid-engine Corvette (which should be a mid-engine Cadillac supercar) a high revving DOHC unit would be better there too. It is possible by 2025 the the Silverado, Sierra, Yukon, Suburban all have a V6 as their big engine, the Camaro SS will be a V6 by then, probably the only V8 Camaro will be a ZL1. I don't think GM will have a V8 for sale for less than $60-70,000 come 2025. CAFE just won't allow that. So if they keep the LT series, it is for Corvette and big Cadillacs, plus it wouldn't parts share with their DOHC V6. It probably makes more economic sense to have a 4 liter V8 sharing a block with the 2 liter 4 or 3 liter V6.
  2. smk4565
    You need a twin turbo V12 to be a luxury/sports car maker of the highest level. Turbo/super charged V8 to be in the luxury game. However EV's are going to infiltrate that space, and then it will just be an argument of 500+ hp with no noise and that will be a new form of luxury. After 2020, EV luxury is going to become more and more common. I do think it makes sense Jaguar/LR and BMW team up on a V8. Most Jaguars have a supercharged V6, only the R models have a V8 and they can't sell that many of those. Likewise with Land Rover, pretty much just the Range Rover uses the V8, and that has a base V6 also. Over at BMW you have the 7-series and M vehicles. Combined they probably produce less than 100,000 V8s worldwide per year and shrinking, so might as well co-develop one.
  3. smk4565
    I think I read about a 2 hour recharge time for this truck. 126 miles doesn't seem like a lot, but I guess if that is enough to run 5 hours, then theoretically in 12 hours this truck could do 2 shifts of deliveries with a recharge halfway through. I love the idea of an electric truck for city use to cut down on noise and exhaust. And some cities are already starting to have emission free zones, I think in China that will happen with how bad the air is there, they'll just ban diesel trucks from cities, so this truck could be in high demand.
  4. smk4565
    "Imported from Detroit" can change to "Imported from Mexico" As I have said on other threads, I don't really care so much what country the car is made in, or where the corporate office. But for those that want the "buy American" run away from this company. The product is made outside of the USA, the money goes to Italy, so Sergio can can live out some fantasy of Alfa Romeo competing with BMW and the Ferrari F1 team beating Mercedes. More info on those stories at www.nevergoingtohappen.com
  5. smk4565
    Daimler made $2.6 billion in profit last quarter. Mercedes cars make money, and they are on pace to sell 2 million cars this year, and only 350,000 or so will be in the USA. So I doubt most of that is coming from American car sales. We are only 20% of their volume. Daimler probably makes a nice profit on Freightliner trucks and Detroit engines and transmissions sold in the USA though. The S-class is where the money is really printed from a global standpoint.
  6. smk4565
    Congrats, you are fortunate to love what you do. Sounds like an an exciting job, and you have to start somewhere, never know where it will lead.
  7. smk4565
    Crossovers and trucks make money. As long as those keep selling the money will keep rolling in.
  8. smk4565
    "New" GM should be responsible for anything done by "old GM". Bankruptcy filings don't mean you are not responsible for breaking the law in the past. To put VW in this scenario, they could split Porsche, Audi, Lambo and Bentley into "new VW" and file bankruptcy with "old VW" and say they can't pay the fines. Doesn't work that way. These companies are responsible for their past. They chose to cut corners or cheat or break laws to drive profits. So If you do that and get caught you pay up.
  9. smk4565
    Good for MT for calling out Ford for not supplying a car. Does Ford not have confidence in their own product? If they refuse to show up sounds like they know they have an inferior car. Car and Driver just did a small car comparo, the Mazda 3 I think was the most dated car in the comparo and still won. Car companies should have faith in their product.
  10. smk4565
    They should try to sell 1 sedan first before they worry about a 2nd. Wasn't the Gulia supposed to be on sale like a year ago? Still waiting...
  11. smk4565
    50 is still pretty high, but at least more attainable than 54.5. If they really want to cut fuel consumption a higher gas tax will do it. CAFE is pretty pointless.
  12. smk4565
    The original 128i and 135i sold here were rear wheel drive. They were cut down 3-series chassis. The current 2-series as it is now sort of caters to that buyer that loved the late 90s and early 2000s 3-series, because it is that size, and the M2 version is pretty fast, the 0-60 time is 4.0 seconds, 163 mph top speed and .99 g skidpad rating, 3500 lb with 365 hp. Those are pretty major league numbers for a $55,000 car.
  13. smk4565
    Probably they can put a 1.6 liter turbo from Mini in there to avoid the displacement taxes. It is a car that will sell in China. I don't think it would sell much here.
  14. smk4565
    Why doesn't Cadillac have Porsche-like profit margins? Or even Audi-group-like profit. They have help from GM platforms. Cadillac run correctly could generate 50% of GM's profit.
  15. smk4565
    But a car like the Fusion has gone up in price to where the Taurus was. And people are turning away from larger cars. I do agree that car prices are rising faster than salaries, which really puts a boom on cars like Escape, Soul, Elantra, Rogue, Fusion, etc. A lot of those used to be bare bones model cars, but now have the power heated seats, nav-system, apple car play, and upgraded stereo that used to be on the luxury cars. I can't tell if you're agreeing with me or not. People want those features you listed and are willing to downsize to get it. Just like someone who bought a C-class in 2006 probably is going for a CLA today because the C-Class is out of their range, and clearly coming from an '06 C-Class interior quality isn't a deciding factor. I partly agree. There are some trading down. I am sure there are people that had an 06 C280 and for them the CLA is enough car and meets their needs and it is sized like their C280, and the C300 is now $45,000 with some equipment, maybe that is a shock since they paid $36,000 for that C280. But the C-class in 2015 sold better than it did in 2012. C-class sales are higher now than they were before the CLA was on sale. The best year ever for the E-class in the USA was 2013 with 69,830 sales, they sold 55,683 in 2003 during the first year of the W211 model. So the C-class hasn't really stolen from the E-class, it is a rising tide lifts all boats scenario. The E-class is doing better now than it was, in 2008 they only sold 38,576 as the economy slowed and that was near the end of the W211 life cycle. I think as size and price creep pushes a car like a Fusion to 194 inches long and $36,000, some past Fusion buyers will buy a $25,000 Focus. They traded down on the name plate, but the 2016 Focus probably has everything their 2009 Fusion had and more. I think these compact luxury segments come from part trade down, and but mostly trade up from a compact non-lux car.
  16. smk4565
    To go with this..kind of.. Personally, I would rather have a loaded up smaller vehicle than a stripped down larger vehicle. I could have bought an Edge when I bought my escape but it would have been a lesser trim, 2wd(not like I NEED AWD), and it would have literally only been a larger vehicle. This trend is exactly what is fueling the sub-compact crossover market. When the Encore first came out it was really the first of its kind. The Nissan Juke was there, but it doesn't really have any usable space or rear seat room. Buick was very specifically targeting people coming out of Explorers, Volvo XC90s, Highlanders, etc, who no longer wanted to wheel around such large vehicles and no longer needed that sort of room. People trading down is exactly why the GLA, CLA, A3, Q3, X1, 1/2-series, Encore, Trax, etc exist. Or are they trading up from a CR-V or Rav4 into X1, GLA, etc? People want luxury brand names, and compact SUVs like Escape, Rav4 and CRV together can sell nearly a million units a year. Even if 5% of those people go to a luxury compact crossover, that is 50,000 new buyers. Size creep plays a role here too, a CLA is larger than a 2007 C-class, look at a 90s 3-series compared to today's 3-series. Look at a 90s Accord compared to the near full size Accord they sell now. If you had a 2005 Malibu and liked that size car and walk into a Chevy dealer, the Cruze is closer to that size than the current Malibu is, so maybe you just buy the Cruze that has enough room and a lower payment.
  17. smk4565
    General Motors first quarter this year posted a $1.95 billion profit. Porsche for the first quarter had a $992 million profit. GM sold 9.8 million cars per year, and Porsche sold 225,000. GM sells 44 cars to every 1 Porsche, beats them only 2 to 1 in real profit dollars. Porsche makes more total profit dollars (or Euros in this case) per year than VW brand, and VW brand sells 5 million cars a year.
  18. smk4565
    But a car like the Fusion has gone up in price to where the Taurus was. And people are turning away from larger cars. I do agree that car prices are rising faster than salaries, which really puts a boom on cars like Escape, Soul, Elantra, Rogue, Fusion, etc. A lot of those used to be bare bones model cars, but now have the power heated seats, nav-system, apple car play, and upgraded stereo that used to be on the luxury cars.
  19. smk4565
    In 2015 SUV was the #1 selling body style in Europe at 22.5%. Subcompact car was 22%, compact car was 20.6%, and MPV was 4th with 10.5%. MPV would be your B-class, Ford S-max, Fiat 500L, VW Golf Sportvan, etc. So those are close to crossovers, sort of Europe's minivan. Mid-size sedan and station wagon are 9% of European car sales, and most of that is sedan, so the wagon market in Europe is even pretty dead at this point.
  20. smk4565
    They don't all trade up to an M3 obviously. Most could not afford too. But you have to offer that high end option for those that want more. It is why there is a V-series. High trim levels are where the profits live. Porsche is the classic example. I went on the Porsche website and built a 911 Carrara 4S and was able to put over $72,000 in options. $3,000 was PDK transmission and there was no engine upgrade. That is $69,000 of paint, trim, equipment, wheels, etc, crazy profit margin.
  21. smk4565
    Think of this, Cadillac could sell 50-60,000 XT5 in a year. If it had an LT1 Corvette engine in there for $65k, they couldn't get 5% of XT5 buyers to buy that? That is 3,000 sales at a good profit margin. CTS sells about 15,000 cars a year, even if V-series is a 15% take rate (which is generous) that is 2,250 high margin sales per year.
  22. smk4565
    The very demonstrable problem with this theory is car buyers DO NOT do that. They don't continually trade up & up on models, it's an anomaly if it happens. Look at BMW: 5 series sales are 50% of 3-series, and 7-series sales are 20-25% of 5 series sales. Where did all the trade up consumers go?? Answer: they keep buying the same class for the vast majority. People aren't buying a 300HP Class X, then a 450HP Class X, then a 600HP Class X. That is sort of my point, they aren't trading up to a bigger model, they trade up within the model line. The 328i driver trades up to a 335i or 340i, the 340i driver trades up to an M3 or a 440i Grand Coupe which is just a 340i that he paid more money for since it says "grand coupe" on the trunk even though it doesn't look like a coupe and it isn't grand. That 340i driver that wants more doesn't want a 7-series size car, so the M3 works better for them. If there was no high performance 3-series, BMW would lose that customer. Now in Mercedes case, the GLE outsells the GLC, and the E-class years ago outsold the C-class, but the C-class has really grown its numbers recently. GLC and GLE only have 6 inches of length difference between them, that is an easy trade up, but for an XT5, where do you trade up to? The full size truck Escalade? No you don't, you trade for a BMW X5 or Mercedes GLE and never go back. Cadillac loses a customer.
  23. smk4565
    The Volvo V60 and V60 cross country combined sell like 350 a month. Even if Buick steals half of Volvo's wagon sales they are maybe getting 200 Regal wagons a month sold. The Subaru Outback is the only wagon that sells well because it is not that much like a wagon and Subaru has a bit of a cult following. And the Outback starts at $25,000, I don't think Buick is going to price a Regal Wagon like that. This is a really small niche market, and it isn't a high margin niche. I am not against wagons either, they have the cargo capacity of a crossover, but still drive like a car. But the market place doesn't buy wagons.
  24. smk4565
    So why is Jeep putting a Hellcat in a Grand Cherokee? There are people that have a Grand Cherokee with a Hemi, that will want more. Why isn't that Grand Cherokee SRT buyer buying a BMW M3 is they care about performance? Because someone out there is buying SRT Grand Cherokees. And some people don't want to go up in size. Someone driving a 535i or GLE350 when they trade up, they might not want a 7-series or a 3-row GLS, they might just want more power, performance, features and go to an M5 or AMG version of the GLE. This is a void Cadillac misses, if you have an SRX or XT5 and want a more luxurious, or better performing vehicle, and don't want a full size SUV, then you have to leave the brand. Not everyone wants to trade up in size, this is easily shown by how full size sedan sales are falling off the map. Full size SUV/crossover are flat for a lot of models, but small and mid-size crossover are on fire.
  25. smk4565
    And then that BMW X3 M driver will realize that a straight six with massive boost isn't enough, and they will say... And they will go to the local Mercedes dealer and say And trade that X3 M in on an AMG GLC63 with a 503 hp V8. Then 5 years later they will go back to the same Mercedes dealership and say... And then they will buy a GLE63 with 612 hp, and the cycle continues.
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