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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    If what is happening to BMW happens to all the others, you'll see a brand like Chevy with 5 cars and 10 crossovers. And there will be press releases claiming "no longer a business case" for some long standing models. The Hyundai Azera is dying, Taurus probably dying, eventually Impala, Avalon, Maxima will too. Camaro and Mustang will probably survive, since there are so few coupes left. I hope one day people get sick of these crossovers, but it doesn't seem to be happening.
  2. smk4565
    Mercedes cars are on a 7 year life cycle with a refresh after 4. The Corvette is on an 8 year cycle, the C4 ran for 15 years. The Silverado and F150 7-10 years before a new model comes out, yet people are still buying them. Most of the industry has cars on 6-8 year cycles, yet people still trade in for new, some people keep a car 10 years. Depends on the buyer's preference. If they lease, they will trade it in after 3 years, if they buy they'll probably keep it 10 years. That could hold as true for a Ford Focus as it does for an S-class.
  3. smk4565
    AMG doesn't hurt resale value, in most cases that would help it. Cars that cost $200,000 new are going to have $150,000 in depreciation in 5 years. Mercedes actually has one of the better residual values by % among luxury brands. And Mercedes also doesn't have a lack of demand for their V12 cars that tank in value. The people buying them have more money than sense, and last year they actually made a move to increase V12 engine production. Daimler's corporate mindset is not revenue above all else, the mission of the past couple years has been to get Mercedes operating margin to 10%, because that is where BMW and Audi are.
  4. smk4565
    Imagine never having to go to a gas station, never having to drive out of your way to get to one, or never having to stop on the way home from work and spend 5-10 minutes pumping gas, smelling fumes, stating in the cold in winter, etc. The electric car lets you plug in in your garage, and never need a gas station. The cost savings are big too, you can drive a Tesla Model S 10,000 miles a year for about $300-$400 of electricity. A V8 gas car would easily drink $1,000 more in gas. It is still possible that Tesla fumbles the ball here, but if they get it right, the Model 3 could be a huge hit, and each following car as technology gets cheaper and economies of scale increase, the scales tip in their favor.
  5. smk4565
    But will they sell? EV sales are not even half of 1 percent. EV's don't sell now because they are all bad except for the Model S. The Model S despite the $100k price outsells the Leaf and Volt. The EV range and charge time will improve and the technology get cheaper. Suppose 10-15 years from now Tesla (or whoever) has an electric mid-size sedan that has a 400 mile range, 0-60 time of 6 seconds and virtually no maintenance and it costs less than a gas powered Toyota Camry. It is game over for the mid-size gasoline car.
  6. smk4565
    Is Cadillac's goal to post profit? Cadillac should be producing more dollars of profit than Chevy. That is what luxury brands are for.
  7. smk4565
    One day Tesla will outsell GM. The technology will shift, GM will be too slow to respond to it, and they will be the Blackberry of cell phones wondering how Apple took 50% of the market out of no where.
  8. smk4565
    Their sedans are getting clobbered, but the crossovers are up. This is happening everywhere. What is sort of scary is that BMW is the brand for driving enthusiasts, and even they are struggling to sell sedans, coupes and convertibles. Pretty soon across the automotive industry you'll see more and more cars and performance cars die since they can't sell them, and in their place will be yet another crossover.
  9. smk4565
    Cadillac's global sales aren't that good though. The Audi A6 sells over 500,000 units a year world wide. Cadillac's whole brand doesn't do that. I am all for investing in global luxury cars, but Cadillac is nonexistent in Europe, and they sell like 75,000 cars a year in China, Audi sold 570,000 cars in China last year. But even the S-class which is the #1 selling large luxury car by far sells 80-100,000 units globally per year. Cars like the 7-series and A8 sell closer to 40,000 units per year globally. Lexus LS460 even less than that. So the full size segment is not where it is at. The mid-size and small segments are.
  10. smk4565
    It is very possible that in about 10 years the Chevy car line up in the USA is Volt, Bolt, Cruze, Malibu, Camaro, and Corvette. I could see them having 6 gas powered crossovers and two Volt-like or pure EV crossovers. If the crossover trend doesn't reverse, I think large sedans are dead, and the compact or subcompact cars are dead. Basically just the small to middle size sedans will survive.
  11. smk4565
    This will be the go big or go home edition. Bugatti Royale with 12.7 liter straight 8. Any Duesenberg, preferably supercharged, they all used a 7 liter straight 8 with DOHC. Mercedes 770k Grosser, 7.7 liter supercharged 8 cylinder. Hitler's car. Obviously a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible with the 500 cubic inch V8, the end of an era. Lastly for something more modern, I'll go with the SL73 as was earlier mentioned.
  12. smk4565
    198,000 orders so far. How many does the Bolt have?
  13. smk4565
    They became "cheap ass" by offering more high trim and higher cost models? First the CLA and GLA were too cheap and hurting the brand, so they roll out 10 premium trim models and that hurts them. Every model they have has an AMG trim that adds $20,000 or more to the price of a base car. The "43" models aren't priced yet, but I'd imagine a C43 will start around $50k, an E43 around $65k, so they are still pushing prices up. Mercedes is making use of an advantage they have. Their crossovers are built on rwd chassis, their architectures are flexible, and made for different body styles and to fit 4, 6 or 8 cylinder engines. Lexus can't put a GS-F engine in an NX crossover, Cadillac can't put a CTS-V engine in an XT5. Lincoln, Acura, Cadillac, Lexus all chose to buld their crossovers on fwd sedan platforms, now they are going to get hammered with horsepower and be irrelevant in the performance crossover market.
  14. smk4565
    Up to 180,000 orders in the past 24 hours for the Model 3. Total EV and plug in hybrid sales in the USA in all of 2015 were 116,000. And 25,000 of those were from Tesla Model S.
  15. smk4565
    Fiat down 24% is just some sort of April Fool's joke right?
  16. smk4565
    150,000 people already put down a $1,000 refundable deposit for this car. I am curious to see the cost of the Insane mode car or whatever they will call it. If it is like $55k with M3/C63 performance that is a pretty good deal.
  17. smk4565
    The shape is a bit previous gen Mazda 3 and the headlights a bit like an Infiniti G37. But overall it has the Tesla look after seeing the offical photos. The Specs are awesome though. $35,000 before tax credit, 215 mile range, 0-60 in under 6 seconds and autopilot is standard. The upgraded model is supposed to do 0-60 in under 4 seconds, that is Corvette fast, but cheaper than a Corvette and a sedan with space and hardly any maintenance costs. This car could be the tipping point. Right now electric cars like the Leaf are just too costly, too slow, too low a range, etc. They can't compete with a gas powered car. But the day will come when a gas engine car is more expensive and slower than the electric car. Might take 10-15 years, but it will happen.
  18. smk4565
    I think a year or two ago I made an argument for a RWD Impala, since why do they need a Malibu, Regal, Impala, LaCrosse all sort of on top of each other. Sending the Impala to rear drive (with awd option) makes it more classic American and rwd is a superior platform. You'd probably have to use Omega, an Alpha car would be too small, and no bigger than a Malibu or CTS. But you can't make it a $40-50,000 car, that is to expensive for a Chevy. If they made an Omega Impala about 202 inches long, with an NA 2.5 liter they could probably get weight to 3,600 lbs, in which case 200 hp and an 8-speed auto can move the car just fine. That is a better power to weight ratio than the new Acada has. Then offer a 2 liter turbo OR a V6, the Impala buyer would probably prefer the V6. But if you start putting Corvette engines in it and selling it for $55,000 then it isn't an Impala anymore. This is partly why the G8 and now SS have failed, there is just hardly any market for a V8, full size rear drive sedan. They need an Impala that can cater to the masses or it will be dead. And stop making Cruze and Malibu bigger forcing the Impala to extinction. Kill the Spark, and downsize the Sonic, Cruze and Malibu.
  19. smk4565
    I like their commitment to power and performance. I still think I favor E450 vs E43, but it is the same car, and in a way giving it the AMG treatment for styling and suspension and steering set up makes more sense. This also lets them batle BMW and S4, S6, S7 Audis, because Audi has RS cars too. 48 models sounds like a lot until you think C43, C63, C63 S and apply that to sedan, coupe, convertible. That is 9 "models" but all a C-class.
  20. smk4565
    Volume my son that is how it will not be that cheap. Besides no one buys the base cars anyways. That has been clearly pointed out to you on the ATS already. Also I would never put a 200 HP 4 in this. The base engine would be the Camaro Turbo 4. How many $27K Impala's do you see on dealer lots? None as most are well over $30K sticker and closer to $40K. Don't be a Fish on the marketing prices. Well GM already has a Colorado based SUV platform and Chevy models always sell well. The 4 runner did not sell because it was a Toyota and secondly it was a crappy vehicle. It had many flaws from what I saw on my friends. Premium fuel required and a sun roof you could not open unless you removed the useless basket on the roof. Then the rust. As for the real possibility for Ford to bring the Bronco back as a RWD SUV and the Ranger I would expect GM is already at work on a Blazer or what ever they will call it. If they can make a Camaro with a turbo 4 starting at $25k, I am sure they could make a N/A 4-cylinder Impala at $28k. Especially since the current Impala starts at $27k. I didn't say $28k was the top, I would start at $28k and go up to $40k. But no Chevy sedan should ever top $40k, Chevy is a value brand. In a hypothetical, if they did make a rear drive Impala with a turbo 4 base and say and LT1 V8 option, how justify a CT6 costing $30,000 more with the same turbo 4 engine and a weaker turbo V6. It wouldn't make sense. I'd like to see GM make a mainstream rear wheel drive car, but then it also has to have horsepower, interior and features like a Malibu would have. Performance and luxury is Cadillac, Chevy is for value.
  21. smk4565
    a BOF rear drive SUV like the Toyota 4Runner won't sell to the masses. So I'd expect another FWD crossover. Chevy needs at least 4 crossovers, maybe 5. If they can sell the Impala now for $27k and sell a rear drive Camaro for under $25k, I don't see why an Impala rear drive sedan would be more than $28,000 starting. This could have a 200 hp, 4-cylinder.
  22. smk4565
    I agree that Chevy needs a cheaper, more fuel efficient SUV to market to police deparments. But that vehicle is also going to be a front drive unibody vehicle with the same engine and transmission from an Impala. Assuming Terrain and Equinox move to D2XX and shrink in size, that leaves space for a mid-size Chevy on C2XX similar to the Acadia. I am all for rear drive cars, but if Chevy wants a full size rear drive car, that means the Impala has to be it, and the FWD car has to die, and that rear drive Impala also would need to start around $28,000. The brand can't support 2 full size sedans. I just don't think GM will scrap the FWD Impala when it is too easy to make it and platform share with Malibu, Lacrosse, etc.
  23. smk4565
    The German cars have adaptive lighting and high beams that can curve around oncoming traffic so you can leave the high beams on in all driving situations. Problem is they aren't allowed to sell it here because of our stupid laws. So when the government limits what kind of lights a car can have, you get poor results. They do talk about visibility and stopping distance. But something like a BMW 3-series is going to have al to better braking than a Prius. So that method of saying you can see X number of feet forward in the Prius, so the Prius is safest isn't necessarily true.
  24. smk4565
    Buick could build a crossover coupe convertible version of the Encore and it would outsell the Adam here. No one is buying a subcompact car, that is why the Honda Fit is basically dead, but the HR-V sells even though it is the same chassis with the same engine, crossover = sales.
  25. smk4565
    First off, Chrysler went bankrupt with the LX cars, the only reason that company is still here is Jeep and Ram pickups. And they have no money to spend on new products, so they just leave the LX cars on the market with some new headlights and interior trim pieces to try to keep them selling. As far as the Impala as a police car, and not being durable enough, etc. Why is a Zeta car more durable are more reliable than an Impala? And Ford sells plenty of Taurus police cars that are FWD, they even sell a turbo 4 engine in them. Nothing is stopping GM from putting all wheel drive on the Impala, I have said before all wheel drive should be offered on Malibu and Impala. The #1 feature consumers want on a car is all wheel drive, that is why all these crossovers sell. Related to police cars, why do you think there is a Fusion sport with awd and a 325 hp V6? When the Taurus dies I would bet $100 to a donut that there is a Fusion police package put on sale. If Chevy needs police market sales, you see the Explorer selling, when Chevy gets the Trailblazer or whatever fills the gap between Equinox and Traverse, that is something that could be marketed to police departments. Chevy should have a 5 crossover line up, surely one of them could be a police vehicle. Large sedans are dead, GM putting money into them would be a mistake, especially when Cadillac needs 3 more crossovers, Chevy needs 2 more in addition to redesigns of the 3 they have, plus Enclave redo, GM needs about 10 new crossovers in the next 3 years. That is the market now sadly. I up voted Reg twice because I agree with his points.
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