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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Seems like a good deal.
  2. smk4565
    Hydrogen fuel cell could kill of diesel in bigger trucks, electric will kill it off everywhere else. Combined with emissions standards. Personally I think diesel pickups even the heavy duty ones should be held to the same emissions standards as cars.
  3. smk4565
    If PSA can make money on small cars, they can easily make money on larger cars/SUVs or luxury cars. Everyone wants to dump on Alfa Romeo, and their sales do suck but they and Maserati are the only 2 luxury brands out of this mess of brands they have. Luxury brands are where money is at, so they have to make one of them work. They have DS but that isn't that high and and the sales are tanking on that brand.
  4. smk4565
    They were going to kill the G-wagen back in 2005 or 2006, in fact I think the decision was a done deal to kill it because the GL was coming. But the G-wagen fans lobbied for Mercedes to keep making it so they did.
  5. smk4565
    More horsepower is nice, but keeping price in line is more important because this isn't rear drive so real performance buyers aren't going to buy it. So they need to appeal to that conventional sedan buyer that isn't happy with 200 hp, the people that used to buy Camry, Accord, Altima V6's before they got killed off or will be killed off.
  6. smk4565
    PSA figured out how to make money on small cars, mid-size sedans and small crossovers. The stuff most people lose money on, so I think given the combined pool of R&D budget and overhead cost savings, they will be able to keep a lot of brands profitable. Some of these brands they don't need, I think a survival of the fittest may come into play.
  7. smk4565
    Of course there will be an electric G-class. Daimler has a plan to be carbon neutral in 20 years, so the whole line will have to EV by then, I imagine the G-wagon being one of their icons, will be electric to lead that change.
  8. smk4565
    He might not kill any brands now but “history” isn’t a reason to keep a brand it it doesn’t sell or turn profit. They are going to have to cut a few, Jeep and Ram alone are worth more than FCA so Fiat/DodgeChrysler/Alfa are worth negative money. I think what happens is Peugeot comes to the USA, Fiat leaves USA. And basically they come up with 1 product line that has an Opel badge in Germany, a Dodge badge in the USA, a Vauxhall badge in the UK, etc.
  9. smk4565
    I looks nice inside, most Aston Martins look good on the outside as well. The interior materials and quality look top notch. $189k isn't that bad considering most Aston Martins cost more than that and I don't think look this nice on the inside. This one has AMG V8 power, no V12. Wouldn't surprise me if they do a Lagonda SUV north of $300k, the millionaires and billionaires keep getting richer so the market is there. They had a Lagonda concept that will probably turn into an SUV to slot above the DBX, assuming DBX does well, and I bet the DBX is their #1 seller right out of the gate.
  10. smk4565
    Not successful companies, successful ones stay on schedule. Nissan-Renault is the 3rd biggest car company in the world. They should have money unless Carlos Ghosn took it all.
  11. smk4565
    With this merger things like Giorgio platform or some powertrains will live on no matter what, they might just live on in different brands. Jeep and Ram survive, Peugeot will come to the USA and they are going to call a lot of shots.
  12. smk4565
    That’s not much, especially when one is a rebodied GLA they were given in exchange for the X-class. Mercedes put out an all new E-class with 4 body styles, G-wagon, GLE, GLS, A-class, CLA, refreshed S-class, refreshed C-class, refreshed GLC since 2017.
  13. smk4565
    Very true, but crossover coupe = money to the marketing people. I am shocked there isn’t an Escalade 4-door coupe with a fastback roofline and a 4 seat configuration, they could sell that for $130k easily.
  14. smk4565
    That’s good since I don’t think they have had a new product in about 5 years.
  15. smk4565
    Because it is a coupe they can sell it for $10k more than the regular SUV because buyers are stupid.
  16. smk4565
    Crossover coupe = hottest segment ever!
  17. smk4565
    I feel like the turbo was a good move here, because before the only option was a 184 hp, 180ish lb-ft engine, which isn't a lot for an SUV when with people in it is probably 4,000 lbs. A lot of this segment is 1 engine choice, and maybe 2, but I don't get when when this is probably the largest segment in the industry now. You'd think car makers would have more choices for powertrain, interior colors, option packs, etc. Almost every vehicle in this segment should have a base 4, a turbo 4 and a hybrid option. There wasn't a question in there, but I guess I'd have to ask if the turbo is worth the extra money over the base motor? I tend to think the optional engine is always worth the money, unless it is a car where the base engine is like 500 hp, then different story.
  18. smk4565
    I would say that Mercedes and AMG build faster, more exciting product that BMW. Fastest SUV, fastest wagon, fastest 4-door car around the Nurburgring are AMG's. 6 consecutive F1 championships to Mercedes-AMG as well. BMW has gone a bit soft, they do have a 500 hp X3 M Competition now, so maybe they will turn things around. Need an X7 with over 600 hp. Mercedes is 5k units behind for the year, will be a close finish, although globally I imagine Mercedes will beat them.
  19. smk4565
    I remember when Prius sold over 20,000 a month, now it is down to 6,000 and outsold by the Rav4 Hybrid. That Prius is crazy ugly, I don't know they even bother, just pump up marketing of the Corolla and Camry Hybrid and let them take the sales. Or make Prius a Crossover coupe hybrid and the buying public will go wild. 4Runner is older than dirt and still selling strong, I don't get it. Lexus can kill the GS, RC, IS and just concede that market to the Germans, they lost.
  20. smk4565
    They are up 19% because they had a crappy month in October 2018, A6 and A7 combined last October sold 102 cars.
  21. smk4565
    Mercedes outsold BMW and the GLS outsold the X7, GLC outsold the X3/X4 combined and the GLE outsold the X5, even with the X5 being up 222%. E-class outsold the 5-series, S-class doubled the 7-series. It is kind of sad that people don't buy BMW passenger cars anymore, though. The Sheeple are just bailing on fun to drive product for boring bigger, heavier, slower, worse handling product, that costs more money.
  22. smk4565
    Nissan and Infiniti have stale, old lineups and it shows. I imagine GM and FCA are dropping seeing those gains at Hyundai/Kia and Honda. German luxury up across the board, Mercedes was up too, not surprising.
  23. smk4565
    Sounds promising, but these upstart companies usually fail because it takes billions to design, develop, engineer, build and market vehicles.
  24. smk4565
    When you spend near zero on new product, easy to post a profit. I feel like Carlos Tavares will overhaul FCA and those weak brands will be whacked. I would't be surprised if Ram and Jeep are the only 2 left, but Dodge could stay selling rebadged Peugeots and Opels and maybe Maserati stays because it is their top brand and in theory should have high margins.
  25. smk4565
    They can put this interior in an SUV though, and this sort of kills anything in the $30k range. They have a 12 inch screen and a 10 inch screen, night vision available, all the driver nannies, etc
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