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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    There is a lot of red this month, mostly at FCA.
  2. smk4565
    At least there is hope for humanity that the AMG GT is their hottest car and not some crossover. Someone out there still likes performance.
  3. smk4565
    I don’t care so much about the horsepower on these hyper track cars, the lap times depend on weight, brakes and suspension because all these cars have 800-1000 hp. The AMG One is like 2,800 lbs with F1 suspension, brakes, steering, transmission, etc. It is way faster than a LaFerrari or a SPF90 or whatever the new one is, I think it named after sunblock. And Mercedes has beat Ferrari the past 5 years in a row in F1 and Mercedes is undefeated this year, I am not worried about Ferrari beating them, Tesla Roadster with its rocket thrusters could be the challenger but I think it will be too heavy. I am also not ignoring what GM performance can do, the rumored specs of the C8 are impressive, I would just put my ultimate performance car in my high end brand not my value brand. 7:04 for the GT R Pro is their fastest ever, which is what makes AMG One so impressive that it can talks a minute or two off that.
  4. smk4565
    That very well could be. I am not a fan of that naming scheme, Audi has something similar, but I could see Cadillac doing that and you could have multiple V’s.
  5. smk4565
    I am not saying one is better than the other it is just what they each have. I actually tend to think a 2 brand strategy works best, like Toyota-Lexus or Ford-Lincoln, it gives you a mainstream and a luxury, and I don't think you really need a tweener brand in between. The exception would be VW, that instead of VW-Audi has stuff like Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini but those are super low volume brands. Really it comes down to strategy execution. GM has a 3 dealership channel strategy, so they have to execute on that. And it isn't just the Corvette, I think the Corvette should be a Chevy, and not a Cadillac, not its own brand. But For Cadillac to build the V-brand I think they should have the ultimate GM performance car at Cadillac. A Cadillac Brougham line that is like an ultra lux trim I think would be a good idea too. The real problem is they need to get Cadillac up market, and they can't do that if all of GM's best stuff isn't at Cadillac. Cadillac could have XT4, CT4, and CT5 all starting in the $30-$40k range with XT5 around $42k starting, and that is where Buick and GMC are supposed to be. There is way too much overlap. Which in the past I have said if Cadillac is going to that price point, why have Buick or GMC, just badge all that stuff as Cadillac and charge more for it and make more money. And go to the 2 tier set up like Toyota-Lexus, Honda-Acura, Ford-Lincoln.
  6. smk4565
    The Aventador SVJ and Hurcan Performante both do the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes, I would say that makes them track cars. The Aventador may have been around a while, but it is still wicked fast. I am not a Lambo guy, although I would prefer them to Ferrari who hasn't designed a good looking car in 20 years.
  7. smk4565
    Oldshurst442 said the Corvette would be nipping at its heels. They aren't even remotely close, as pointed out the Aventator SVJ isn't even close. Mercedes doesn't have multiple tiers. I am lost there. It is one brand so they have to have a $3 million dollar car and a $35k car in the same place. GM has 3 tiers, so the cheap stuff should be at Chevy, the middle at Buick, the expensive at Cadillac. That is why I thought Corvette should stay where it is, and the mid-engine car make $100k or more and sell it at Cadillac.
  8. smk4565
    Nurburgring production record holder: Lamborghini Aventator SVJ: 6:45 Tobias Moers thinks the AMG One can do it in 5:19 or better to beat the Porsche 919 prototype car, which is not road legal.
  9. smk4565
    On a Cadillac sure, not on a Chevrolet. Why not make a $120,000 luxury Suburban, or a $85,000 Impala? GM has tiered brands for a reason, but they seem to forget that. Although if they can sell $130,000 Corvettes, then good for them, take the money, absolutely. If they wanted to make Corvette $200,000 to reap profit margin, I don't care. But the point of a 3 tier brand system is to have 3 distinct tiers, which GM doesn't have right now.
  10. smk4565
    If they want more performance form the Corvette and want to use over 600 hp then yes it needs to be mid-engine. I would still argue that the Corvette could be front engine with 400-600 hp and still cost in that "affordable" range. The C8 isn't just going to go up a little in price, mid-engine cars are expensive. GM can say it won't go up much, but we'll see. I am not going to buy a Corvette, they don't appeal to me, so I don't really care if it costs $50,000 or $500,000, but from a marketing/sales standpoint I think they are better off in that $50-80k range. And the C8 even in top trim on its best day won't hold a candle to the Mercedes-AMG One. No Corvette ever has cracked the 7 minute mark on the Nurburgring, the production car record is like 6:42 and the AMG One will be running it in under 6 minutes, maybe 5:30 range. I can't wait to find out. No road car on the planet is going to beat the AMG One around a track.
  11. smk4565
    Correct, which if the C8 is in the $100-200k range, then it isn't "everyman" anymore. And I get that new cars in general are not "everyman" anymore when the average new car is $35k and the median income in the USA is not going up much but healthcare, education, food, and everything else goes up and up. But for the purposes of using the everyman sports car term, the Corvette is that and should stay that. If GM wants hypercar performance and high priced super cars, ship that over to the Cadillac brand. Unless the Cadillac brand is not about performance, but GM says it is about performance with these Super V-series coming.
  12. smk4565
    First off the Corvette in the 60s was a $4,000 car which is like a $32k car now, in the 70s Corvettes were around $6,000 which is about $30k in today's money. A 1974 Cadillac Eldorado was double the price of a 1974 Corvette. Because the Corvette was an attainable car. In the late 80s a Corvette was about $30k, A Cadillac Seville was $28k a Mercedes SL was $61k, and a Ferrari Testarossa was $134k. The Corvette was always about a lot of performance per dollar, that is what the fans love. Even in the late 90s a Corvette was about $39k, and Cadillac Seville was $42k. Today's Seville equivalent is probably like a CTS, which is why I think Corvette should be in that $50-80k range. And that is the mission, a sports car that is within reach, not $100,000+ car like an Audi R8 that they sell 200 of a year. Mercedes has one brand. If GM was to kill Cadillac and sell $100k Chevy luxury sedans and $200k Chevy super cars, I don't care. But the whole reason of a Chevy-Buick/GMC-Cadillac 3 tier set up is to have 3 tiers. If Chevy's cost more than Cadillacs you don't need 3 tiers, just sell everything out of 1 dealership channel. I would say the same thing about VW or Toyota, a $80-100k VW or Toyota sports car would make zero sense because they have Audi and Lexus for that.
  13. smk4565
    Well these new Shelby Mustangs are too high like in price, the 4 cylinder ones and even the 5.0’s that are $40k are in line with where Mustang should be. Trying to sell Mustangs for Corvette or 911 money is stupid, at that point make a Shelby sports car that competes with the Nissan GT-R and that crowd.
  14. smk4565
    I don’t think the Corvette should stay at the same price I think it should stay in the same place in the market. Much like the Miata or Mustang since they came out have been in the same place in the market. Prices obviously rice over time. What I don’t think they should do is move the Corvette up market into the $100k plus range into Audi R8 or Aston Martin pricing because the Chevrolet dealership experience isn’t going to be the Audi or Ferrari or Aston Martin experience. And it would go against the Corvette’s mission. Cadillac exists for a reason, expensive cars should go there.
  15. smk4565
    I think they should build a Cadillac sports car above Corvette even if it doesn’t sell just for brand image. I would build it if I were in charge at GM but I am not. My point isn’t hat statement was more about how many V8 CT5’s would they sell in today’s market where sedans aren’t selling. I also said the CT5-V should have the blackwing V8. But they might sell 500-1000 Blackwing CT5 per year, and I think GM just doesn’t care about selling that little of volume when they can put money behind the crossover of the month and sell 100,000 of those per year. Which is why Cadillac needs rear drive crossovers because a Blackwing V8 SUV would out sell a Blackwing V8 sedan.
  16. smk4565
    Which Corvette was priced even money with a Ferrari or Lamborghini?
  17. smk4565
    Mercedes isn’t doing what Lincoln, Rolls do or what 90s Lexus did in being all about comfort. They have always been about engineering, safety, technology and they mostly built Autobahn cruisers. Buying AMG 20 or so years ago and now having the best racing team in the world has let them make performance cars in addition to the same car they always had. Cadillac doesn’t have a brand identity. They have a 5800 lb truck as the symbol of their brand then make a compact rear dive sedan and claim every gram of weight matters and weight savings was #1 goal, huh??? Why aren’t their sedans roomy and comfortable with a lot of torque like an Escalade is? This strategy of cloning a 3-series and cloning a Lexus RX hasn’t worked because it leads to no focus, no brand mission.
  18. smk4565
    If Cadillac goes all luxury (like Lincoln) then they don’t need a sports car. But if they are going to play the performance luxury game like the Germans then they should have a sports car. And yes the Corvette has been expensive, $30k in the late 1980s and $39k base in 1999 which both are like costing $60k today. I get they aren’t attainable for all, $60k is an expensive car, heck $35k is a lot for a car. But the Corvette was never priced like an exotic, they were always in range for middle or upper middle class, you didn’t need to be in the top 1% to afford one.
  19. smk4565
    We shall see, but I have said for over a decade that Cadillac should have a sports car above the Corvette. I am also a believer that the Corvette should be front engine, rear drive, turbo V6 base, V8 Stingray/Grand Sport and 600 hp V8 Z06 as the range topper and that would live in the $50-90k range against Supra, Boxster/Cayman, Jag F-type, etc. Corvette should be an attainable sports car as has been it's mission since the 1950s. Then give Cadillac a $100k + sports car that is above the Vette, give them 2 if you want, but the ultimate GM performance car should be at Cadillac. The one way I would disagree is if Cadillac were to go to a Rolls-Royce style mission where they are not about performance and don't want to be "sporty" and are solely focused on being about comfort and luxury and pillow ride. If that was the brand mission then a Cadillac sports car would make no sense. I also think Performance crossovers will be on the rise because crossovers are what people want, but people will still want horsepower and performance. That is where the market will go, millennials won't buy sports coupes when they get older and have the disposable income, they'll buy stuff like a Macan or Cayenne because want a sports car, but they need "active lifestyle" crossovers to never haul crap they don't have or need a 3rd row seat for that 1 time a year they have to take their 1 kid's friends to Cheek - E- Cheese for a birthday party.
  20. smk4565
    CT4-V and CT5-V should be the blackwing V8. The "V" cars they introduced the other day should be V-sport or the sport trim engine, although I hate the term "sport" as a trim level (at least when written on a car), that is something you see on a Camry or a Crossover, you don't see a Mustang Sport or a 911 Sport because people know it is a sports car, they don't have to advertise it.
  21. smk4565
    Me thinks that GM thinks Chevrolet is the performance brand at GM. I don't expect much from these higher performance V cars, because GM plays everything really safe and how many high performance Cadillacs would they sell? I think they just want to build more crossovers like Trailblazer and Encore GX instead because that is what people buy.
  22. smk4565
    Good post. And I think a lot of the current Cadillac line looks like it was designed by the same people that design Chevrolets. And they shouldn't look anything alike.
  23. smk4565
    Well SUV is the bulk of the market. You have to do more to stand out in the SUV crowd when there are so many. I think it will actually be easier to sell sedans in the 2020s from a competition stand point because most brands will only have maybe 2 sedans and 7 crossovers, so if you want a sedan, the choices will be much less, they'll get sales by default.
  24. smk4565
    This country has plenty of our own problems, drug addictions, gun addiction, I could go on and on. And central American countries have problems too, yet I don't see us spending a trillion dollars there to fix help fix them like we did in Iraq so weapons contractors could get wealthy and we can save 50 cents a gallon on gas. Blaming Mexico for problems is a lazy excuse for our own issues. And I haven't seen any joint plan by USA and Mexico to clean up all the drugs, gangs and mess in central America in the past 20 years either.
  25. smk4565
    And what about XT4, XT5, and XT6, which is the volume of the Cadillac brand? Those are front wheel drive. Although I do think they can drop the CLA, it is too similar to the sedan. The GLB will be where the volume is, since crossovers are what sell.
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