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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    But who buys all these sedans, especially large sedans? Large sedans are a dying breed. The sheeple want crossovers. The CT6 will be a sales dud, so why make a CTS bigger and wider to make it more like a CT6? Mid size and small cars still sell in both mainstream and luxury segments. That is the space to play, and any carmaker could run a 4-5 crossover line up out there and probably sell all of them.
  2. smk4565
    But in the case of Impala, since it is Chevy's best sedan name, and longest running, why not make that the Camry/Accord fighter. Make Malibu a Corolla/Civic/Focus competitor. The Malibu nameplate has proven it can't win against the Camry and Accord, maybe it will have better luck against Civic. Cruze then becomes the Fiesta/Accent/Versa competition. Wouldn't an Omega platform Chevy cost as much as a CTS? What is the point in that? My guess for Cadillac is the ATS grows to 185 inches long, so a car at 180 can go in below it. CTS stays the same size it is. They can't make CT6 any bigger, or it will be bigger than an S-class and a CT8 won't be needed, and we know they want a CT8.
  3. smk4565
    That it is, but the E-class has only grown about 4 inches in length in the past 25 years. The late 80s E-class was 187-188 inches long, a 1996 E-class has length of 189.4 and a 2016 model is 192.1. Height is up an inch and width up 2 over 20 years. Small growth The 1991 S-class was 205.2 inches long, the 2016 is 206.5 inches long. So it also grew slightly over time, it actually downsized in 2000, then went back up in 2007. But look at a 1990 Civicor 3-series and compare it to today, it isn't even close.
  4. smk4565
    There is a market for Minivans that is 100 times larger than the V8 rear drive sedan market, yet I don't see GM in the minivan market. They can't worry about 200 Chevy SS a month when they need to sell 250,000 cars a month to utilize capacity and cover costs.
  5. smk4565
    They could make an AWD Impala police car, that is easy. They could put a diesel in it that would have higher durability and lower operating cost if they wanted. As far as global rear wheel drive, that is what Cadillac is for. They aren't selling an Opel rear drive sedan, nor a rear drive Buick sedan in China. So we are talking about a small number of cars in Australia. I am pro-rear wheel drive, but making a rear drive V8 Chevy performance sedan makes no sense. I have actually said before I think the Buick Regal should be rear drive to be different, with a 200 hp 4-cylinder and 270 hp turbo 4 option. There is no mid-size rwd car that is like $30k.
  6. smk4565
    The size creep of low end models could kill off the larger sedans, especially as larger sedan sales are tanking anyway. Consumers are moving away from large cars, but manufactures keep making cars bigger? Hmmm. You'll all realize it when the Impala dies in the 2020s and the Cruze is a mid-size car for $30,000 and not selling because no one wants to pay $30k for a Cruze.
  7. smk4565
    The SS is dead next year in my opinion. The Caprice and SS were ways to extract some money out of the Zeta platform after Pontiac died a sudden death. They only sell a couple hundred SS sedans each month for a company that sells 200,000 cars we are talking .1% of sales. They can't be bothered to have such a slow seller. It is like Mini with the Roadster that sells 39 cars a month, that is bigger % of Mini sales than the SS is of Chevy sales. CAFE will also kill the V8 Chevy sedan idea, they are putting turbo 4s in full size Cadillacs, in the 2020s I think you'll see a turbo 4 in a full size pick up. And GM has an answer for people that want RWD and high perofmance sedan, you buy a Cadillac. This is why the Nissan Altima or Maxima isn't rear drive with a 400 hp V8, they make you buy an Infiniti. As far as police car use, the Impala could serve as a police car easily. The W-boby Impala was a police car, so FWD is fine, and prefered in some snow belt states. Also a 300 hp V6 Impala is 60 hp more than a Crown Vic ever had, and the Impala weighs less than that beast. So all those factors would lead me to believe, no RWD Chevy sedan.
  8. smk4565
    But how big do these cars get? Does a CTS or CT5 become the size of a Chrysler 300? Does the ATS become the size of Infiniti Q50 or Acura TLX? BMW is just as guilty, they have had some bad size creep on the 3 and 5-series as of late. I don't get the notion of forcing low end cars up market such as was done with CTS. Making the car bigger could hurt sales, not help. Even Chevy and Ford are doing it. The Cruze is way bigger than a Cobalt was, the Malibu has grown, pretty soon the Impala will be pushed out. Ford is making the Focus larger, the Fusion longer, killing the Taurus. These brands are killing the nameplates of their larger, more profitable vehicles to push low end models up. In Chevy's example, they shoudl drop the Spark name plate, make the subcompact the Sonic, what is currently the Sonic becomes the Cruze, the Cruze becomes Malibu and the current Malibu/Impala merge into one car that is an Accord/Camry fighter. This lets Chevy sella $17,000 Malibu which seems like incredible value, but really it is the same car a $16,000 Cruze would be, yet GM pockets $1,000.
  9. smk4565
    I read 1/3rd in 2015. European market S-class sales are only about 17,000 a year, 20-25,000 a year in the USA. They were on pace for 35,000 in China in 2015, but the S-class sells around 100k a year, so that would be 35%. If Europe or other parts of the world have economic down turn and the S-class drops to 80,000 but China stays at 35,000 the % gets bigger. Interestingly enough Audi who sold 570,000 cars in China in 2015, led the way with BMW in 2nd. The S-class sold as many units as the A8 and 7-series combined there. It outsells the A8 and 7-series combined in Europe too. S-class is the global champion, it isn't designed for one country it is designed to win in 200 countries.
  10. smk4565
    The S Class does very well in China well also being made there.The S-class does well everywhere, and it has to be made there to sell there because of the import tax laws in China. If you buy an S-class or E-class in the USA it is made in Sindelfigen, Germany. . That's not what I'm talking about but thanks for playing. We already know that if you had to live in China that you would not buy one that was made there. We've talked about this. If I had to live in China, I would still buy a Mercedes, which in most cases would be made in China. Just like people that live in the USA and buy a GLC or C-class or GLE are buying a Mercedes made in the USA. They are often built in the region of the world where the car is sold. Certain cars with lower volume are only tooled up at one factory though, such as the SL. High volume like a C-class is built in 3 or 4 different factories. Every car maker does this.
  11. smk4565
    They don't need the Adam. Even the urban hipsters aren't buying the Mini Coopers and Fiat 500s, those little cars don't sell. The demographic that shops for Buicks surely isn't looking for a car that small. Better to focus on crossovers, that is what selling.
  12. smk4565
    The S Class does very well in China well also being made there. The S-class does well everywhere, and it has to be made there to sell there because of the import tax laws in China. If you buy an S-class or E-class in the USA it is made in Sindelfigen, Germany.
  13. smk4565
    1/3rd of S-class sales are China. But when Mercedes sold 373,000 cars in China last year, that beat their US sales so that makes sense. They sold 738,000 cars in Europe, I think they are more worried with the European market, and the S-class has had the same grille for like 25 years, I don't think they are styling the car for the Chinese.
  14. smk4565
    I bet "right size" means bigger. The CTS is already the biggest car in its segment, hard to make it any bigger. If the ATS gets bigger it becomes the size of a 2nd gen CTS, then you get back to that 5-series size at 3-series price problem. I don't think the size of the car is the problem, packaging is. I also hope they don't start styling Cadillacs to suit the Chinese market, because that will spell problems here.
  15. smk4565
    That W211 E63 is a good idea. Here is my list: Have to have an AMG S65. I like the AMG 6.3 idea, and need a convertible so and SLS Roadster Although I might go with the Gullwing doors on the SLS, because I have another convertible, Phantom Drophead Need a Mercedes 600 Pullman Landaulet, the #1 Dictator car of all time. McLaren F1 for a supercar.
  16. smk4565
    Tesla posted a $74 million loss in 2013, $294 million loss in 2014, and $889 million loss in 2015. I get that they need to increase spending to get the Model X and Model 3 out. But losing close to $1 billion when your total sales are $4 billion is a dangerous position to be in. And they could turn that around, but I wouldn't crown them champions just yet.
  17. smk4565
    I am a fan of Tesla, I like the product. But they don't make money as a company, and they are the only game in town. So what happens when 10 others enter the electric car space? I think one day EV's could put an end to gas powered cars, but it will take years, maybe decades for the batteries to get to where you can have 300-400 mile range and 0-60 of 7.5 seconds in a $25,000 car. The EV has to cost the same or less than the gasoline counterpart to take over. Eventually it will, but not today, and if Tesla don't start turning a profit they won't be around in 2030 when it does happen.
  18. smk4565
    Well, as long as you have yet another excuse for Mercedes. It isn't an excuse, Tesla sold 25,000 Model S in the USA in 2015. That is a good number for a $100,000 car, but there aren't any other pure EVs anywhere near that price range, and Tesla as a company had one model. The the Leaf was the only $30,000 EV and the Volt, i3 and Ford EVs didn't exist, Leaf sales would triple. People like to say how the Model S outsells the S-class, that means it outsells many other cars too. The Model S outsells the XJ, A8, 7-series and Quattroporte combined. The big difference is the Model S doesn't make any profit, the S-class does.
  19. smk4565
    I was more thinking of base price over $100,000. Cadillac isn't going for volume, but ATS, CTS, XTS, XT5/SRX all start under $46,000. And we know there is at least one, maybe 2 crossovers below XT5, and a sedan below ATS. Cadillac is going right into CLA/GLA and X1 territory just like Infiniti and Audi. They are all doing it. If Cadillac didn't want volume they wouldn't be planning an XT1 or CT1.
  20. smk4565
    I would trade my 5.5 liter naturally aspirated V8 for the twin turbo version in the CLS63 for the daily driver. McClaren Mercedes SLR which is one of my all time favorites Aston Martin DB9 convertible 1936 Mercedes 540k Spezial Roadster Baroness von Kriger 5th car would be a Tucker Torpedo, with honorable mention to the Hudson Hornet, which had a 5 liter straight 6.
  21. smk4565
    Good choice on the Tucker Torpedo, that was going to be one of my 5 also. I also was going to pick a CLS63 since it is a bit more special than an E63. And even though I picked the S550 in the 4 liter thread, the problem with the S63 is one day you'll pull up next to some one with an S65, and wish you had the top model. I need to think about my other choices to round out my list. CLS63 and Tucker are probably in my top 5 though.
  22. smk4565
    I think it is a good idea to offer 3 versions so they cover everything from basic hybrid to pure EV. Covers all he bases. Looks sort of like a large mouth Elentra though, it isn't a very good looking car, better looking than a Prius, but not better looking than other $20 thousand something cars.
  23. smk4565
    Pssst!! Cadillac is NOT, repeat: NOT racing mercedes to sell millions upon millions of vehicles in every price class. How about just 1 car over $100,000?
  24. smk4565
    So they are just doing putting out the same cars with different skins. Sounds about right. This is what will lead to both MB and BMW ending up loosing their luxury status as they become a true Chevy, Ford or Dodge to the US market. They are loosing that Luxury status as now they are just an anyone auto. Why bother buying an auto that anyone can have? Poor fit n finish and reliability to boot. And Cadillac can't beat them why? You do realize CLS and GLE coupe add about $10,000 to the price to what an E-class or GLE. They are putting out higher end models, with greater status (even if just perceived) with higher profit margins.
  25. smk4565
    The cost probably isn't that high to do what Mercedes is doing. The C, GLC, GLC coupe, E-class and soon CLS all ride on the same MRA platform, the 2 liter 4 and 3.0 V6 and 4.0 V8 are used in all (or will be soon). They all have the same transmission. So the cost is just in body styles, it no different than ATS, CTS, Camaro. If Mercedes is going to make a c-class coupe and convertible, making a coupe body style on a crossover probably makes sense.
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