smk4565

Fixed the styling in photo shop.

The EQE43 I believe isn't coming to the USA, so maybe the dual motor will be an EQE450 or something, I am surprised they even did an AMG43, that seems pointless when you could do the 350 rear drive, a 450 all wheel drive like pretty much every current Mercedes now. Also I have to imagine an AMG 63 is coming, otherwise why name the 600 hp car the EQE53. Having seen the EQS in person, it doesn't look as bad in person, although it doesn't look as good as the E-class or S-class, their gas cars look better than these electric ones. Curious to see how the EQE is priced, maybe that EQE53 will be priced around $90k like an E53 is (with options on it) and that will undercut the Tesla Model S by $5k as well, which this car is about Model S size, and looks more luxurious and better built.

They are selling the most luxurious, highest tech EV available. And plenty more coming. Plus the EQS isn't double the price of an S-class, like how the EV6 is double the price of a Sportage of which is of similar size.

Priced similar to a Ford Mustang Mach-E or VW iD4, but those don't sell too well, so I don't think this K - backwards N vehicle will do any better. $51k for the 225 hp, rear drive GT line, that is more than an all wheel drive BMW X3 or Mercedes GLC300, each of which have more power and aren't a Kia.

The Ford Escape rides poorly and handles poorly, so some car companies can get both wrong. Airmatic is standard on the GLC43, all the AMG 53's and 63's, GLS, S-class, EQS, optional on any E-class or GLE, optional on C300 up to this year but going away. As far as all the 2 liter turbo engines go, BMW probably is under rating their numbers, or else drivetrain witchcraft is happening that allows a 330i to do 0-60 in 5.4 seconds when all these competitors are around 6. The new C300 is 255 hp, 295 lb-ft plus the 21 hp and 184 lb-ft from the 48 volt mild hybrid, which I assume the E and GLE will switch over to later this year also. Audi and BMW should be making a similar move.

The Telluride I think has best in class interior, especially the higher trim version. But that doesn't mean Kia is ready to take on BMW, the worst vehicle in a hypothetical KLB would have to be better than the Telluride. I've seen the Genesis GV70 and GV80 inside and out in person, haven't driven one. They are nice, but I wouldn't put them above any of the German 3 in terms of interior, and they share an engine with the Santa Cruz, not exactly a world beater engine there, not even a hybrid or 48-volt system, no cutting edge technology. And oddly enough, I've written a few estimates on them, the parts cost on those is pretty ridiculous and you wait months for parts because they don't have them. For a brand that has only been around a few years, they do a nice job, but I wouldn't put them over Lexus or the Germans. And there is no reason they can't expand the Genesis line, Mercedes makes a hardcore off road SUV and the make the Nurburgring record setting sports car. Genesis can make an SUV with GV80 luxury and Bronco Raptor off road ability, they can make a Porsche 911 or Corvette competitor, a Rolls-Royce competitor, etc. There is no rule that their brand must be 3 sedans and 3 SUV's in small-medium-large as if they are soda and popcorn sizes at a movie theatre. And then what do you do with dealer network, they want Genesis to be stand alone I think, although in Wexford the Genesis are sold at the Hyundai dealer. Do you sell Kia luxury cars are Kia dealers, or try to launch another whole dealer network.

I think Genesis is enough for the Hyundai/Kia company. Genesis sold 200k units globally in 2021, that is 10% of what the Germans brands do, I don't know that they need a KLB to compete with Genesis (which they'd mostly be doing) and then try to fight BMW. The Stinger flopped, if it was the KLB Stinger, it would have flopped too, the interior wasn't that good, and the car was over priced, the Stinger should have been marketed to Mustang/Challenger buyers that want 4 doors or Charger buyers that want a smaller, more modern car, not against BMW buyers that aren't going to give Kia the time of day. I do think Kia should bring back the Borrego as a Wrangler/Bronco competitor, just like Nissan needs the Xterra back for the same segment. The problem Genesis will have, and a hypothetical KLB will have is they aren't going to have the halo products or racing pedigree to get the big time worldwide recognition. So their ceiling is basically what Infiniti/Lincoln are today. That isn't worth 25 years and billions of dollars to try to build KLB up to an also ran luxury brand. And if they made KLB EV only, then it has to out-Tesla, Tesla, and I don't see how they do that. Tesla was there first, they'd just be seen as a cheap copy. And if they put all that money into KLB and it bombs, what happens to Kia? do they start to fall behind, and competition starts to eat them up?

They don't need an Escalade above the supercharged V8 V-series, a Blackwing makes no sense if Blackwing are supposed to be vehicles with handling or track ability. What they could use is a higher luxury 4-seat version of the Escalade for the chauffeur crowd, although that is more a Chinese market thing, where I don't think they sell the Escalade, but the Maybach GLS and Rang Rover Autobiography 4-seater get gobbled up in these chauffeur markets.

Escalade sales went up like 30 or 40% last year, it is Cadillac's #2 seller I think behind only the XT5. So is it not luxury anymore because they sell too many? Especially since when you combine Tahoe, and Yukon, that sheet metal is like a couple hundred thousand units a year.

The X5 outsold the 3-series last year (in the USA), the X5 starts at $60k and the M is over 100k. So it isn't like they are just selling cheap cars. The X3 was their top seller, but Lexus and Cadillac's top sellers are the SUV's of the same price also. 20% gain last year for X5, up 32% for X6, up 12% for X7, up 20% for 7-series, brand was up 20% overall. So their expensive stuff is gaining just as much as any of the low cost stuff. Worldwide BMW sold 163,542 M cars, up 13.4% for a record high. They didn't water anything down, they are just selling more, so the consumer must like what they are building.

And yet they were #1 in the USA last year and #1 in the world in sales. So people seem to like what they are building.

I think the Atlas I-6 got a reputation for not being that reliable, although maybe that could have been engineered out over time. Also that engine was probably too big and thirsty to continue on past 2008 when gas prices spiked and the economy tanked. Although they could have downsized it for fuel economy maybe and done other engineering tricks to get the MPG up. I think the big problem though is GM (especially in the mid 2000s) didn't do much long term planning. They introduced G5, G6, Solstice, G8, renamed the minivan, replaced Aztec with the Torrent and redesigned the Grand Prix, only to kill Pontiac within 5 years of all that. Cadillac had CTS, STS, SRX sharing the sigma platform, the XLR on a C5 platform, the Escalade and the DTS they planned to kill off which would have been a 100% rear drive line up by around 2010. Instead they kill the sigma platform cars, move SRX to to FWD, come out with the XTS (a rebodied Impala) to replace the STS/DTS combo, then bring out 2 more FWD SUVs. They change their minds on products every 5 years, so all this stuff is thrown out and restarted. Compared to BMW that has been doing straight 6 and 4 cylinders for like 40 years, and just improves and refines the formula, because they know every car and SUV they build will be able to accommodate a straight 6 (or 4 since it is the 2/3 of the same engine block).

Mercedes is going to performance hybrids based on their F1 car. I think BMW and Audi want to milk their V8 as long as they can until that gets replaced with EV's and then probably same for their 6 cylinder. Really, this might be the last ICE Escalade, this generation probably gets them to 2026-27, they want to make Cadillac an EV only brand, I'd imagine the next Gen is just an EV.

The Blackwings just recycled the engines from the ATS-V and CTS-V. It isn' like they took the CT6 turbo 4.2 V8 and put it in the CT5 or CT4 which was at least an engine designed for Cadillac. And they didn't do a performance hybrid or anything new. Which is why I think they'll recycled the supercharged 6.2 for the Escalade-V because GM probably doesn't want a spend a dime on ICE engine development anymore, basically what they have now is what is going to exist to 2030.

The Blackwing V8 is dead, they won't use a twin turbo V6, so that leaves the Supercharged 6.2 or the Corvette Z06 DOHC V8, which they won't use that. I can't see them doing a performance hybrid either, easiest thing is to slap a supercharger on the existing engine and call it a day.

That’s all they released???? Some tweaks to the fascias which I can’t tell the difference between the V and the Sport trim, other than some V badges. I didn’t expect much styling change but I would have thought they would reveal the engine and specs. I don’t see the point of showing a few exterior shots when we all know it is a 6.2 supercharged V8 because GM doesn’t have any other engine to put in it.

You'd think a supercharged 6.2, but also I would think it would be all wheel drive, so it depends on what GM's all wheel drive system can handle. The Camaro has like 650 hp at the top end I think, I would expect something around 650, and I wouldn't be surprised if the exact same powertrain is in an Silverado and Sierra as a competitor to the Ram TRX and Raptor R. I don't think they really need out out-hellcat the Hellcat, because let's say you are a die hard Ram fan, you aren't going to buy a Silverado Trail Boss ZR1 just because it has 755 hp and the TRX has 707. But what GM probably wants is to get people willing to spend $100k on an Escalade, to spend $140k on that Escalade, or people willing to spend $70k on a Silverado to spend $100k on that same Silverado because they put a supercharger on it and a ZR1 badge. You can probably eek out an additional $20k in profit on top of the $10k in profit they are already making on these big trucks.

420 hp, but regardless. An Escalade-V will still handle like crap, but people will pay for it because it is the V. It is easy profit margin for GM, they can put a supercharger on, beef up the brakes and suspension a little and charge an extra $30,000 for it. And people will pay it because it they'll want bragging rights that they have the V and the other guy just has a regular one. All those Hellcat vehicles make no sense, but people are paying $80k for a Charger which is an otherwise terrible car. This is easy profit margin for GM, that is why they should have done it 10 years ago.

Should have done this 10 years ago, but better late than never.

I had Moderna with booster, didn't have any side effects, just a sore arm for a day or so each time. A moron. It's expensive to be stupid.

These semi-autonomous systems that are level 2 and 3 I think have really little value to the consumer, especially not what Tesla wants to charge for it (when all the level 2 self driving stuff is standard on and S-class). They do have crash avoidance, which should help reduce accidents, but at the same rate 2021 was a record year for accidents and traffic fatalities, even though cars are putting all this tech in. Mercedes Drive Pilot is the first UN certified level 3 system, it is cleared for use in Germany, looks like they are working on America and other markets, but need regulatory approval. I couldn't find a price for it, or if that will be standard, I am sure it won't be $12k like Tesla charges for a level 2 system. If Ultra Cruise can deliver, this is a chance for GM to make it standard on all Cadillacs and stick it to Tesla. At the least Super Cruise should be standard on all Cadillacs, and Ultra Cruise not a $12k option. And Super Cruise has a monthly fee, I think they need to get rid of that, OEM's can get data and utilize that for profit like Google does. I don't have to pay google to use their search or email, because they know how to monetize data and make money of things there are free to the consumer.

And if you sell the car to a new owner, it gets disabled. Which seems like a total scam to me. If you pay for a feature on a car, it should be there forever.

Explorer was the "it" SUV, but now it is the Rav4 and Highlander. Ford lost their edge (and will lose the Edge next year). The Jeep Grand Cherokee was popular in the 90s, still is today, they were able to maintain with new competition. Side note on that Ford sold over 400,000 Taurus's a year in the 90s, Fusion and Taurus both gone now. Camry became the #1 selling car I believe in the 90s, in 2021 it was the #1 selling car. So others have maintained their leadership.

The German brands each sell about 700,000 units per year in China. Lincoln is about 600,000 units a year behind, a non-factor. And Mercedes EV's aren't too expensive, their full size EV sedan costs less than their gas full size sedan.

The fanboys will still wait for it.