smk4565

Lamborghini Urus global sales: 2019: 4,962 2020: 4,391 Mercedes G-class sales (USA, Canada, Europe combined as I couldn't find a global total) 2019: 17,302 2020: 12,433

And the Ferrari is coming soon, the test mules look like it is close to reveal. BMW X8 is close too which should be high performance. The GLS63 I'd say is in the performance category. Plus the Mercedes electric SUV's they'll get the same set up as the AMG EQS, the BMW iX, whatever Audi E-tron SUV shows up, it is going to be pretty endless. There will probably be more performance SUVs than actual performance coupes on the market in a few years, sadly.

That's right, they could have had a Urus, but got the G-wagon instead. Although although that looks like the 4x4 squared so maybe they actually go off road which the Urus isn't going to do. On the flip side they did buy an Aventator over the faster on the Nurburgring AMG GT Black series, but perhaps the Black Series wasn't on sale yet.

People aren't buying posters of that to hang on the wall. That dressed up Audi Q8 has maybe half the street cred of the G-Wagon. The G-wagon is the king of the baller SUVs, that's what all the athletes and celebrities buy when they want to show off. When sales drop off in 2023, they will put a Hellcat in it.

The GM 6.2 V8 is a good V8, even though it is old fashioned, they at least update it, they are pretty reliable (although maybe not as good as the Vortec 6.0 was), also thirsty but not as bad as the 6.4 Hemi. And the Escalade does have the diesel option also. I think Cadillac needs to do more with engine technology than they have, but if they are going hard into EV's and are going to be 100% EV in 5 years, then there is no point in putting any money into gas engines now, the ship kind of sailed already on that. That being said the Germans have better powertrains, as will Lexus with the new LX. The Escalade has been around over 20 years and has a following built up. the Grand Wagoneer is new, and has to conquest from these luxury brands, or hope that there are a lot of Grand Cherokee owners who suddenly got their income doubled while simultaneously needing to haul 7 people.

Many would say the G-wagen is the best looking SUV on the market. Used G-wagens are selling for $150-200k right now, that's the most sought after SUV right now. And because it has no rival really, it's midsize, way smaller than any other expensive SUV, and it is way better off road than any other expensive SUV, and it has the iconic look. They essentially made the Lamborghini Countach of SUV's, it is the most head turning USV, but unlike Lamborghini who killed the Countach off (only to bring it back 30 years later), Mercedes just kept on building it.

You can run the Grand Wagoneer up, it has 4 trim levels, the cheapest starting at $88k plus a $2k destination charge so really $90k is the starting price. I built one to $112k, I imagine if you try hard enough you can push an Escalade a little higher, but still, we are talking a Jeep against the top end vehicle in GM's top end brand. There will be people that pay over $100k for these I'm sure, but I don't quite get it, especially with a dinosaur engine that gets like 13 mpg. And maybe it sells well in year 1, but then I bet it fades. Audi is brining out a Q9 monster SUV soon, BMW an X8, there is a new Range Rover coming out for 2022 (although it starts at $111k for a long wheelbase 7 seater and a V8 Autobiography starts at $155k). Plus, Navigator, Escalade, GLS, the all new Lexus LX, massive competition in this segment from big time luxury brands. Also this shows Stellantis has no good luxury brand.

The Wagoneer isn't the top, this is the Tahoe/Expedition competitor, the Grand Wagoneer is the Escalade/Navigator competitor. This looks more minivan than it does Jeep. But will be curious to see how it sells compared to the other big SUVs, as this is price territory that Jeep hasn't been in. The Grand Wagoneer is priced $10k above the Escalade and Navigator. I don't know if the Jeep brand is strong enough to go north of $100k, but I guess we are about to find out if this is the next Escalade, or the next Chrysler Aspen.

They could do an E-ray with the LT1 V8, a Stingray hybrid if you will. And then also take the LT6 engine with turbos and add the hybrid system for the ZR1. Who says there is only going to be 1 hybrid, if I were them I'd be thinking 2-3 hybrid powertrains, especially if you can adapt one of those to another vehicle that isn't the Corvette like an Escalade or pick up.

Mercedes-AMG has the E-performance hybrid that works like an F1 car, it’s already on GT63S, it will be on the C63, S-class and SL next year and GT coupe the year after when the new model arrives. That’s 5 hybrids by the time the E-ray is on sale or roughly at the same time depending when all this stuff hits dealers. I think performance hybrid is a great idea though, will be interesting to see how they package it on the Corvette. Whether it be EV front axle and gas on the rear axle or EV integrated into the drivetrain. Hybrid won’t be the entry level, but there could be multiple hybrids. You could put a hybrid system on the 6.2 V8, the 5.5 V8, on a turbo V6 or V8. You could potentially make all Corvettes hybrids and still have 3-4 power levels.

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of racing. LeMans prototype is like college football compared to the NFL. Everything else is like JV High School ball.

All I am saying is in GM’s promo video they talk a lot about race cars, super cars, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche are mentioned by name, the best of Europe are mentioned. If GM’s marketplace machine is saying that, then the car better back it up. And I imagine a turbo and hybrid versions are in the works, but I would hope it isn’t too long a delay, because the aftermarket crowd will turbo or supercharge the current Stingray I’m sure, GM is missing out by being able to sell that direct from factory.

BMW did the high rev engine thing, Audi and Mercedes never really did, and they all went heavy on turbos 10 years ago and are going into electrified now. They don’t sit still with one idea, they keep advancing. Lamborghini had the Urus the past 2 years also. Sales are up because the existing models are up. Mercedes still has the team lead. Max is a phenomenal driver. We’ll see what happens in the final few races, Red Bull and Honda brought the fight this year, Mercedes biggest challenge in 8 years. But you could have a Miata race series and a stock Ferrari would smoke that race car. A CR8 compared to an F1 car is not even close.

Not defensive at all. I like the idea of a DOHC V8, if I were GM I would have put twin turbos on it and given it all wheel drive. And I might have made it 3.99 liter to skirt the displacement taxes in international markets that they want to compete in, but given the Corvette's price advantage to other mid-engine sports cars, maybe the displacement tax wouldn't be that big a deal and they could just roll with the 5.5 V8. My car has a 5.5 liter DOHC V8 and I like it a lot, I am sure a 5.5 DOHC V8 in the Corvette will be great there too. It sounds good in the video. Although to be clear, I wouldn't buy any of these track focused sports cars, I'd rather have a Mercedes SL than an AMG GT or a 911 GT3 RS, give me luxury and comfort over track performance. It's plenty fast. But the M5 comes in standard, Competition, and CS. The CS is what I was referencing as it is the top M5. But on a track, I'm sure the Z06 will easily beat an M5 because of weight, grip, aero, etc. The M5 CS is faster than a Stingray around a tack, but I would expect the Z06 to make that up. A Tesla Model X can do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, I am sure that is garbage on a track, probably garbage on a country back road, so that is why I think straight line speed isn't really going to matter anymore, because everything is getting fast in a straight line.

The M5 CS is faster than the Competition, it does it in 2.6 seconds. But tons of stuff is fast 0-60 and EV's will make 0-60 a meaningless number because everything will be fast in a straight line. So what will matter is handling, brakes, grip, aero, the stuff that actually makes you fast on a track. It is just hard for the marketing people to advertise grip and handling because there isn't an easy to understand number like 0-60 to use as a measuring stick. I think this C8 offers a crap ton of performance per dollar, in that regard it is an amazing value. Chevy is comparing it to super cars, which is a loose term, so sure you can call it supercar performance, but there is a lot of cars with supercar performance now too. Mark Reuss said in the video they want to target BMW, Mercedes and Porsche, maybe he means on a performance level, because the Corvette isn't there on a luxury level or dealership level. But if he is just talking performance, then they better bring it. Also a lot of "race car" talk on the promo video, "race car" can be another ambiguous term, because if I hear race car, I think Formula 1 car, and no road car even holds a candle to an F1 car. They are over selling a bit here, but I get it they are trying to get people excited about it, I'm sure it's a thrilling car to drive, but it isn't a race car.

I think Corvette fans will like it, but funny that they went with an Italian or Japanese style high rev NA engine when for years Corvette fans bashed that same thing. The Germans are about twin turbos, at least recently, BMW was making an 8400 rpm NA V10 16 years ago, and I don't remember Corvette fans calling for an engine like that in 2005. Lamborghini sales are up 20% this year, on pace for their all time sales record. So they aren't hurting or losing business.

A BMW M5 does that and it's a big sedan. Lots of things can go fast in a straight line now. The Z06 has 10 less lb-ft than the Stingray, and at a higher RPM, that is what I meant about Z06 being more for the track than the road. That being said, on a track 0-60 doesn't really matter, because you aren't doing it, the 60-120 mph and 100-150 mph pulls are what matter more, and I would assume this engine up in the 5-8,000 rpm range will be really good in track environments. Still waiting on that Nurburgring lap time on this one.

I think this will be really good on a track where you can keep that engine in the 4,000-8,000 rpm range. The stuff they did here to make it better on a track, will probably make it worse in day to day driving, because it won't have the low end torque, but that isn't the point of this car either. For track days I am sure this will deliver what the owners expect. This more of a Ferrari-style or Honda V-tech style rev the hell out of it motor that you have to keep at high rpm, I wonder if Corvette fans will like that or not. I assume GM is trying to attract new buyers with this strategy.

I think they should target 200k. Toyota could be profitable selling zero pick up trucks. But Toyota has the size and resources to compete everywhere so they should.

On the current generation, a fairly loaded Tundra is about $55k, if they price the new one like that, and you can get a well equipped Tundra at that price, that is going to be crazy competitive in a world of $75k trucks.

Well that is why they have Lexus.

First off, Toyota brand doesn't have any $75,000+ vehicles except the Land Cruiser, which they are killing in the USA (I assume for a Lexus Version). Lexus then does have SUVs and the LS/LC up in that $75k+ range. But I can't imagine Toyota brand is really going to lose customers to Rivian, sure a handful, but it isn't like Toyota/Lexus sales are going to drop 10% because Rivian and Lucid arrive on market. Toyota is also a company of 366,000 employees and have $52 billion cash on hand. If the market demands a lifestyle electric SUV, I am sure they can come up with 1 or 7 of them if they want. Toyota is a very low risk taking, methodical company. Maybe that is good, maybe it isn't, but that is how they operate, and it has worked so far for them.

Yes, it is good to be #1 in any segment. Sedans won't disappear from the market. Others will give up, and the Camry and Corolla will still be there. Plus Toyota has 5 crossovers, 1 minivan (another segment most are giving up on) and depending on what happens with the full size SUV's, lets assume 2 BOF SUVs. 7 SUVs 2 pickups and a van seems like enough to cover the growth segments. And look at Ford, they wanted to focus on just SUVs, now they are killing the Ecosport due to slow sales because that market is flooded. Edge is dying in another year too. Stuff like the Venza, Sorrento and Santa Fe are better options.

Toyota has penetration in a lot of global markets. But just looking in the USA, the Rav4 is the #4 selling vehicle in the country. And when you go by segments, the Camry is the best selling car, Rav4 the best selling SUV, the Highlander probably is the #1 selling 3 row SUV, if it isn't it is close, the Civic beats the Corolla, that is an area Toyota needs to improve but the Corolla Cross is now there, so maybe that is their answer. But then Toyota has the #1 selling mid-size truck, the 4Runner still sells decent despite being ancient. The Lexus RX is the best selling luxury SUV, the ES350 still sells pretty strong. Toyota is strong in a lot of key segments, and much of the competition is giving up on some of those segments. Mazda dropped the 6 and the CX-3, Ford has dropped all cars but Mustang, and they are dropping Ecosport in 6 months, GM seems to be dropping every car they have at the end of the life cycle except for Corvette. I feel like a lot of car companies are giving up on segments and making Toyota's job even easier.

I think Toyota will still be #1 in 2030, maybe VW overtakes them and Toyota is #2, but they'll be close. And assuming there isn't more merging, and something like Honda and GM merge to make a real big company or something. Hydrogen isn't going to catch on, maybe that works for trucks in a shipping port or something in a specialty use, but not for general public, because there isn't a hydrogen fueling infrastructure. BEV is going to replace fuel, end of story. Toyota will need to get more EV's going in the 2020s, they hybrids will be good til 2030, but after that they better have BEV's or else they will start to get over taken by VW, Stellantis, Renault/Nissan, GM, etc.