smk4565
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Everything posted by smk4565
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Let’s just complain about the CT4’s trunk space now to get it over with.
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GM News: The Possible Sale of Lordstown Is Raising Skepticism
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in General Motors
No way a company that loses $40 million a year with very small revenue can buy a factory that costs millions to run. GM has lost money in factories making 300k vehicles or more in a year, these big factories need to be up near capacity to cover all the overhead. -
The trunk may be small but I don’t know if sales are won or lost on trunk space of a small to mid size sedan. There are other bigger factors that decide where buyers go.
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I like that they are showing the V-series right away. The last go around the V-series cars came about 2 years after the standard model and I complained about that. Much better to get them on out there sooner rather than miss 2 years of sales opportunity on a high margin product.
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Any Mercedes or Porsche CPO is unlimited mileage warranty but there is a limit on years. Those could be trades or off lease. I imagine they do that all over the world.
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Mercedes also has an unlimited mileage warranty on all those off lease CPO cars which makes for easy resale then they and their dealers make money twice of the same car. And the 2nd owner gets warranty to 5 years after in service date with no mileage restrictions. Porsche CPO also has an unlimited mileage warranty for 2 years past factory warranty.
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Cadillac can’t offer as good of lease deals as others because their cars depreciate too quickly. That has long been a Cadillac dealer complaint about not being able to compete with BMW’s offers.
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A lot are leased but what is the difference? It is quite possible that leasing is more profitable because dealerships don’t make money selling new cars, they make it on financing, serviced and used cars. Leasing is manufacturer financing and let’s you sell a CPO car 3 years later.
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Quality is only one small piece of the puzzle. Lots of things get a car to sell. I think for CT5 exterior styling, interior and price will matter a lot. Engine probably doesn’t matter as much because it is class competitive power especially vs an ES350 or TLX or the MKZ while it is still here. The complaint was brought up about the 2.0 being too weak, but they could make the Blackwing V8 standard in the CT5 and the C-class would still outsell it. So horsepower isn’t the issue.
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All cars have plastic in them. The C and E class in most comparison tests and reviews are said to have the best interiors in their class. The A6 is nice too, that is on par with the E-class.
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YTD 3/4 series has 20,483 to 19,056 for the C-class. It isn’t too bad right now, last year 3/4-series beat the C-class about 75k to 60k. Which I agree is not good but Mercedes beats them in almost every other segment.
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Well I guess we'll see how the CT5 sells against the "low quality" C-class.
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I think the styling will impact sales more than the engine in this case. And the interior and the price.
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BMW was never class leading, they have been in 2nd place (or worse) for the past 100 years and were almost bought out by the leader.
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I don't know where all the hard plastics are on a Mercedes unless you are talking about a Sprinter or the wheel cladding on some SUVs, which isn't even on all of them, because most SUVs have body color fender guards. But the E-class does compare very well to a Camry, just as the GLS compares very well to a Tahoe, so compare away, Mercedes wins those all day.
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Since BMW doesn't make their own transmission and they buy ZF units, I guess they will get 10 speeds when ZF makes it. Mercedes ran 81 billion simulations in 2015 and found that a 10 speed has no benefit over a 9-speed however. So they have already done ZF's work for them, no reason to make a 10-speed.
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Cadillac needs to start comparing that CT5 to the ES350, MKZ, and Q50, hell maybe a Kia Stinger or Acura TLX. Change the narrative, they look bad in any comparison they do with BMW and Mercedes. And plastic on the C-pillar a la the Cruze is just terrible and shouldn't have black plastic on a pillar of a luxury car.
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GM News: GM Selling Lordstown to Electric Truck Maker Workhorse
smk4565 replied to Drew Dowdell's topic in General Motors
GM probably would sell it for $1. The building anyway, GM May want the equipment inside of it. But the maintenance, upkeep, security, utilities and property tax bill on Lordstown has to be huge. They are probably spending a million dollars a month just to hold on to it, which granted isn’t a lot by GM standards but still I am sure they want to off load it fast.- 18 replies
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GM News: GM Selling Lordstown to Electric Truck Maker Workhorse
smk4565 replied to Drew Dowdell's topic in General Motors
That is a big factory having driven past it many times, it can probably produce 500k units per year if it was running at full capacity. I don’t see how Workhorse would sell that many vehicles, even if they add a van to the mix with the pickup. That isn’t a good looking truck, it has a low EV range and a high price. If they make that truck $34,000 before tax credits, game on. -
Only the first car, the first truck and first van. Maybe the first supercar with the 300SL. The ML55 perhaps the first luxury performance SUV, Range Rover is really the first luxury SUV and there was the GMC Typhoon for putting a big motor in an SUV. Some props to the Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited too. BMW X6 started the crossover coupe game.
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Benz doesn’t think they can sell Benz diesels here, not sure why FCA wants to make a go of it. I am sure Mercedes would be happy to sell them engines though, I think their diesel sales in Europe are down, there is probably some factory capacity available.
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I think that looks like a Mazda or Toyota. Almost looks like a Blazer which I think is trying to look like a Japanese crossover despite the claimed “inspired by Camaro” statements.
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What is missing is a crossover coupe with a pickup bed behind it, like a Honda Ridgeline but with a 4-coupe front half. Even better if they make it mid-engined, which Honda could easily do a mid-engine Ridgeline with the engine in the bed area.
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But they aren’t cool. Once Mercedes and Audi do it, the band wagon will start.
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High riding sedans will probably become a thing.
