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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    See, I don't think truck buyers will be that loyal to Detroit if a better option came along. The Tundra isn't good and it like a 2007 time capsule being sold in modern times. But Toyota put Detroit our of business in sedans (for the most part) and minivans save for the Pacifica, Toyota outsells the Ranger and Colorado. The RAV4 and Highlander took a big chunk of Detroit's SUV market. So all those buyers were not loyal to the Detroit 3, I don't think truck buyers are all that different. Yes some will only buy Ford or only buy Chevy no matter what, but if Toyota came out swinging with their massive cash supply, they could pump $2 billion into an all new Tundra that mops the floor with the competition. I don't think they'd outsell Chevy, but I bet they could sell 250,000 Tundras and steal 50,000 sales from each of the Detroit 3.
  2. smk4565
    Which is why pickups aren't a luxury vehicle, the high power versions were short lived and done, the 2 Lincoln attempts and 1 Cadillac attempt didn't work. People aren't going to pay above a certain level for a truck like they will for an SUV or car. Tesla has fans that will support anything they build. And the Cybertruck won't sell just because it is fast, but it will sell by having the front trunk, that ramp in the tailgate, crazy styling, etc. It will do stuff no other truck can do because of the electric drivetrain and how that is packaged. The Tacoma is the best selling mid-size truck and the Land Cruiser proves they can build an off roader. Problem is the Tundra is old as dirt, and not competitive. And look at the rest of what Toyota does: Corolla- near top of its segment Camry- benchmark in its segment RAV4- benchmark in its segment Lexus RX- most popular in its segment and benchmark front drive crossover. Avalon/Lexus ES- pretty much the last man standing in their segment Prius, the benchmark hybrid until the RAV4 became the #1 selling hybrid in America Wherever Toyota puts effort they are successful. But they put zero effort in the Tundra.
  3. smk4565
    China keeps Audi afloat. Audi sells about as many cars in China as Chevy sells Silverados in the USA. GMC Sierra Denali is probably the nice truck out there, the new Ram has a nice high trim, and the F150 I'd say lags behind both. So buyers don't really have another choice if they NEED a pickup and want the nice one. This is where Toyota totally misses in the full size truck game. The Tundra is dated as can be, has a V8 from 13 years ago that has seen no updates, the truck is a joke. I know an all new Tundra is coming, but there should be an all new Tundra ever 6-7 years. They should sell easily double the number of Tundras that they do now. They can sell 500,000 RAV4's but they can't sell 100k Tundras a year? And there should be a Lexus Truck that is a hybrid turbo V6, 450ish hp, that has all he off road capability of the Land Cruiser (which would make it the most capable truck) all the luxury and tech of an LS or LC plus Lexus-level reliability. This should be such a no-brainer. Toyota has nearly endless cash, they could outspend Ford's F150 program any day of the week if they wanted to, and they have one of the premier luxury brands and premier reliability and resale value brands in the stable. They could easily sell a Lexus pickup starting at $75-80k, with options up to $100k. I think that would outsell the LS500 at the same price point and most of the tooling is already paid from the Tundra that they already have that is a volume product.
  4. smk4565
    Cost doesn't equal luxury. A Freightliner Cascadia is $150k base model, doesn't make it luxury. Sierra's with the 6.2 upgrade or the diesel and Allison transmission or the 2500/3500 level are expensive because of towing/hauling capability. Look at a Terrain or Acadia, interior, powertrain, ride/handling, etc, compare that to an Acura or Infiniti even and GMC loses, compare to an Audi or Mercedes and it isn't even a discussion. Heck the Terrain and Acadia aren't even nearly as luxurious as the Cadillacs that share mechanical bits with them. And that $153k is for a Sierra Denali, what about a Terrain Denali, what is the household income of that buyer? Good for GMC for attracting higher income buyers, I would say why don't they raise the price higher? A GMC Sierra has a base price of $29,600. Why not just make it start at $49,600, and charge $100k for the Denali if this buyer pool is so wealthy? And it comes down to even if the avg Denali household income was $10 million a year, they aren't going to spend $100k on anything that says GMC on it.
  5. smk4565
    GMC, even the Denali isn't a luxury brand, Cadillac is nicer than anything GMC has and Cadillac themselves are tier 2 brand. No one thinks a GMC truck is nicer than an Escalade, and half of Audi's lineup is more luxurious than an Escalade is. The Genesis G80 is nicer than any GMC Denali product on the interior and the G80 is going to struggle to sell. GV80 might do okay to the less discerning crossover buyer. GV80 is undercutting the XT6 and Aviator in price, it is $4k more than an Acura MDX, so it is right in the meat of the segment there, it could do fairly well if it cleans up on the dated Acura and Infiniti models and the lackluster XT6.
  6. smk4565
    Some original MSRP's from 1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur $42,000 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 $39,377 Mercedes 450SEL $25,241 Mercedes SL $22,601 Mercedes 280E $17,114 Mercedes 240D $11,920 (the cheapest Mercedes sold, a 4 cylinder diesel E-class) Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham $11,546 Lincoln Town Car $9,636. They broke in with higher prices and still won, plus Karl Benz invented the car 70 years before they sold a car in the USA, where as Genesis is a total upstart from a car company that itself isn't all that old.
  7. smk4565
    Right, they build for work and utility, not luxury.
  8. smk4565
    A 420 hp Sierra or Silverado does 0-60 in 5.7 seconds vs like 4.7 for a G80. Also trucks have sloppy handling. Let me know when the Silverado beats a CT5-V around a race track.
  9. smk4565
    Pickup trucks don’t have performance and won’t until the Cybertruck arrives. Also a King Ranch or High Country truck is still a far cry from an Audi A6 in terms of interior and technology let alone the higher luxury vehicles. I mean the Kia Telluride has a better interior than a Denali pickup, can’t get Super Cruise in a Silverado or Sierra either and Audi A8 has a system more advanced than Super Cruise. Trucks are expensive (and do well on resale) but that doesn’t make them luxury.
  10. smk4565
    Mercedes in the 70s and 80s cost more than Lincoln or Cadillac did. Granted they also mostly had SL, S-class and E-class so they started with their top cars and worked down. But high prices didn’t stop them from taking the market because they had the best engineered products. I don’t know if G80 and even GV80 are up to the task of taking on E-class, 5-series, GLE and X5. All 4 of those offer a 600 hp option Genesis might stop at 375, and if the chassis was built to only 375 hp, it probably isn’t as good as the one built to handle 600 and get around the Nurburgring. Genesis really needs a GV70 more than anything. Genesis is practically sales proof, they sold under 4,000 cars in Q1. 2 of them have an inline 6 that will win on smoothness all day. Mercedes and Audi will soon have mild hybrid on ever car. I doubt Genesis does any hybrids, plug-in or electric for years. There are going to be Audi drivers racing these Genesis’s saying “E-tron just kicked in, yo!”
  11. smk4565
    And yet the G80 currently starts $12k lower than a 5-series or Eclass and is still outsold 3 to 1 by them, maybe more than that. The new G80 is nicer but Genesis has no brand image at all. They undercut the S-class by $40,000 with the G90 and still can’t sell them.
  12. smk4565
    The Germans engineer cars for performance, ride, handling, etc. I’m not convinced that a G80 can match a 5-series on that front or an E-class on interior materials. The German cars aren’t over priced they are priced correctly for the market since they sell the best. An overpriced car would not have demand. I think the G80 looks sharp and I like the interior. It stomps an Acura or Lexus GS that is as old as dirt at this point. On the surface the G80 looks like a strong competitor but how well will it drive? And what will the price be? This car is dead in the water if it is 5-series money, needs at least a $10k discount.
  13. smk4565
    They'll sell a few, but they will probably price it at 95% the cost of a BMW or Mercedes, and people aren't going to pick a Genesis over the German options. We see that with the G70, I think the challenge gets even harder the farther you go up the ladder.
  14. smk4565
    But the CT6 is gone and I wonder if this G80 is more CT5 size. The G90 would be the CT6 competitor. GV80 however sizes up well with the XT6.
  15. smk4565
    I read recently that the CT5 and XT6 were going to be on Omega, but were switched to Alpha 2 and the Acadia platform to cut cost to pay for EV development. And they built it, Cadillac did not.
  16. smk4565
    Haven't sat in one in a while, but I seem to remember it was tight. I think Mercedes is going to kill the CLS after this generation.
  17. smk4565
    At 6’2” I could sit in the back seat of my Aurora and had enough head room, I can sit in the back of my E-class and have head room. I doubt I could sit in a G80 without my head hitting the roof
  18. smk4565
    The Aurora was never coupe like, and I had a 2nd Gen Aurora. I thought the Aurora had pretty unique styling with no grille. Also if people leave sedans for SUV’s because they want higher rooflines and more space, I don’t see how chopping headroom in the back seat helps them sell sedans.
  19. smk4565
    I think it looks good from the front, and I liked it 9 years ago when Mercedes made it. I can't imagine how Genesis came up with those 5 spoke wheels, pickle fork headlights and coupe-like body. The rear end of the Genesis breaks down a bit, looks like they tied to make it look like an A7 but an A7 looks better. I think the interior looks nice, it is a bit different than the others, would have to sit in it to compare it to others in the segment. The engines are good for base and mid-level and nice to see some new engines at Genesis. But what about a level about this? My guess is they stop with the 375 hp engine, and the big boys have 600. I still can't take Genesis seriously, I don't think the G70 is better than anything in that segment from Germany and the G70 isn't really cheaper, so what is the point?
  20. smk4565
    Nice that Magnetic ride is a stand alone option.
  21. smk4565
    Had to make this move. Even if things got better and they say it is okay to go out, who wants to be in a huge crowd of people? And more like the importantly they are going to need TCF Center to be set up as a hospital. Hopefully they don’t need it, but they are going to have to plan for the hospitals to be over run. Hopefully we get a slew of online presentations of new products. Since New York auto show was cancelled too, these auto makers should have some new stuff to show this spring that they can just do online and not wait til June.
  22. smk4565
    All new cars are really expensive. You could pick up a 3 year old Lexus for the price of the Corolla. But people don't always shop price, they shop monthly payment, so that is where the finance people get creative.
  23. smk4565
    Charge at home, spend zero time ever at a gas station.
  24. smk4565
    The money to be made is by the fast food and fast station hybrid business that exist now like Sheetz or Wa-Wa. If you have a coffee bar, soda fountain , fast food restaurant, convenient store type set up that draws traffic anyway, where as before maybe half the customers get gas and leave, now they have to let their EV charge. So Sheetz can charge whatever per KWH or electric the person puts in their car and has them there for 20-30 minutes with nothing to do except spend money on coffee, lunch, etc. Although I think 80% of EV charting will happen at home, if not more. The vast majority of cars sit for 12 hours consecutive every day, plenty of time to charge at home.
  25. smk4565
    I don’t see why an auto maker needs their own charging network when they don’t have their own gas stations. You’d think there would be monopoly or anti trust law issues is a car maker owned gas stations. Current gas stations will put in EV chargers or restaurants and malls will, etc. And I imagine a lot of gas stations as we know them today will be gone in 10-15 years.
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