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hyperv6

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Everything posted by hyperv6

  1. hyperv6
    VW builds a hatch is a small market few others put much effort in as outside of Europe interest is luke warm. In other words VW is a big fish in a small pond.
  2. hyperv6
    Yes they will focus on profits and then they will play with volume. They want enough volume to max profits but they want to control volume to help build image. They do not want to be a luxury car you see just anywhere driven by just anyone but they want to mine all the profit they can. Much of the volume will be SUV and CUV models.,
  3. hyperv6
    They are not going anywhere. They will dump their motorcycle company and some other low volume divisions to raise money if needed. VW is a large company and they will survive the Diesel deal.
  4. hyperv6
    The new Cruze does not match the Golf overall, sorry. Maybe in comfort, and close in refinement, but not even that close in driving dynamics and performance. So you have driven the new hatch? Let them get it out and lets just see what they offer as I suspect a sport chassis is in the mix at some point. I agree the VW chassis is well sorted but their refinement has been off and on spotty over the last 5 years. That may be, but it certainly isn't 'off' on the new Golf. All the automotive outlets are unanimous in saying it's interior and refinement levels feel multiple classes above the segment it is in. GM has a LOT of fine tuning to do to make the Cruze hatch as enjoyable to drive as some of the other players in the segment. And even then, it'll lag behind some other players in the powertrain department. Time will tell. They have not even intro's the car and have yet to offer more than one package. As for VW they make a nice car but they are far from dominate in America. I have an 08 Eco now with a factory tune that will walk all over a standard GTI. So I would not discount what could be offered if they feel it would sell. Right now only a few hatches sell and many by them because they like German cars not so much for many other reasons.
  5. hyperv6
    There is a lot of thing that need to be done here. Companies need to be held responsible for thing they did do wrong. Customers should be held responsible or in part in cases where they played a big part in their demise or injury. Too many cases are brought knowing they would never win out right but they know companies will settle just because it is cheaper to pay 3 Million to settle vs 20 million to win. Legal black mail is not kind to the consumer as we all pay in the end and the lawyers take most of it. I would love to see the loser pay when cased are brought and that way it would cut down on the bogus cases. As for what GM did here it was totally legal and used often as when many companies have a major legal issue it is the only way they survive. As to if it is right or not that is for each of us to decide. I see it as right or wrong depending on the case involved. Some times companies are not always the evil one as they are often made out to be and some times they are,
  6. hyperv6
    The new Cruze does not match the Golf overall, sorry. Maybe in comfort, and close in refinement, but not even that close in driving dynamics and performance. So you have driven the new hatch? Let them get it out and lets just see what they offer as I suspect a sport chassis is in the mix at some point. I agree the VW chassis is well sorted but their refinement has been off and on spotty over the last 5 years.
  7. hyperv6
    It is a big topic at other GM web sites and many like to predict doom and gloom. Many just equate selling a lot of vehicles is success and fail to realize volume is only part of this and profits are even more important. I find many are critical over the cutting of Fleet sales that are generally low or no profit and think GM has made a major mistake by take some of them out. Then they see the monthly drops this year but fail to rationalize that the drops will continue for a while when compared to last years sales and last months sales. You will have drops when you kill off low and no profit sales in fleets. This is what I have also pointed out with Cadillac. Volume is a part of it but how much profit per vehicle is where the luxury segment is won and lost. Cadillac may never sell as many cars as Benz but they can be much more profitable and be a big bonus to GM. Cadillac does not have to do it all like Benz does in Europe as it has Chevy and Buick to also fill in here for volume. These are things that you have to see the big picture to grasp and unfortunately many do not look at anything but what is in front of them. This is also why we will see GM pick and choose models carefully. As segments will not grow but you can make more money per model sold. Come models will not come to market because another model will be more profitable. Or a model may die as the profits are there but should or could be higher and will be replaced with a more profitable model. This goes back to the old saying work smarter not harder. .
  8. hyperv6
    I think what many have missed is GM has cut lower and non money making models and have dropped in sales but now are making more money per unit sold. What is key moving forward here is that it is expected that the Automotive market is going to slow to stop growing so the only way to make more money is to make more per unit. GM has carefully improved cost and has cut models that make little to no money like Fleet Sales etc. I see people in a panic with the monthly sales numbers declining but they fail to associate it with the fact that fleet and some of the models cut may have made money but little if any. Anymore it not just about making any money but about making good money on everything sold. Profitability is more important now than just volume alone. Note GM stock has been gaining traction again and the market is watching them as they are making all the right moves for where the market is expected to go. To win at this game it is about more than just selling the most cars it is about making the most money per car sold possible. As the market slips into low growth the winners are who have their cost strutured right and those who are getting the right prices on each model sold. Large rebates and low profits are no longer acceptable.
  9. hyperv6
    Note when I say Tuned By Corvette I do not mean to whore it out like Cutlass was and how some companies are using the name. First off you can not compare this to Porsche as Porsche is a brand not a model or sub model. GM would have to do this differently. In other words no full on Corvette SUV like a Cayenne. But I would be fine with taking existing Chevy models and using a small badge on the cars to denote the engineering of that said models. Corvette is a sports car and no other kind of vehicle can carry a name of Corvette as a primary name if it is now a sports car. But you can denote it as tuned by Corvette of Engineered by Team Corvette. Remember the Corvette engineering team is a entity to themselves. Follow the same thing as the GM Performance division did and since it is only going to be on Chevy make it Corvette Engineering. I am driving a GM performance vehicle with the GM performance badge under the hood that was only given to the top form of each vehicle they did. Their work is now legendary. Many of their members are now intergrated into the engineering of the cars from the start and not just fixing what others did. That is why even many base cars now handle and ride so well. But just to make it clean any car called Corvette has to be a two seat sports car and nothing else.
  10. hyperv6
    No if you make a SUV and call it a Corvette that dilutes. If you cal it a Tahoe and make a limited number with a small badge like the GM Performance Division used that just says tuned by Team Corvette on their cars that enhances. Hell Isuzu sold a hell of a lot of Tuned by Lotus cars and it brought the Lotus name more front and center with no damage.
  11. hyperv6
    The gate in the Avalanche that used to open the smaller bed up and into the cab. You could remove the wall and window in the back of the cab to expand storage. It made a small bed large enough to carry ply wood, 2x4 etc. It was only used on the Avalanche and I ponder that there may have been some issues as it was a great idea but never used on anything else. It would be great on a Colorado crew but never used. It has to be a structural thing or warranty issue. I never heard of one but it is crazy they never used it for anything else with no explanation. I do not believe the Suburban issue was a big deal as Suburban sales are no where near what they used to be.
  12. hyperv6
    What I would love to see is a full size truck, mid sized truck and Tahoe with a sport package that is called Tuned by Corvette. My vision is to take these vehicles and let the Corvette guys put some brakes on them and tune the suspensions and let them be real handlers. This way GM could enjoy the sport tuning of a sports car but not call them Corvettes. It is a good way to leverage the name and you know the Corvette guys would not take long to tune these models.
  13. hyperv6
    Well Fiat did do it like GM but they did it ass backwards. They should have done it like you said with Chrysler first and then make it an Alfa. Now they have a inferior platform to make the new Chrysler on. They already have had issues here and I do not see this car doing much to dent the market it is in. Alfa's are like Saab's only their owners are willing to put up with Quality issues. As for saving Hummer, Pontiac and the like that was just not going to happen. Giving Pontiac more money was not going to fix their global issues. Or should I say lack of global presents. Holden and Pontiac suffered the same fate. Too small of a market and no global partners.
  14. hyperv6
    My question is was there an issue with the mid gate. GM has run from it like a seal from a killer whale and no one else has even tried it. Is there rattle issues? Roll over roof issues? There has to be some reason they walked away from it. I liked the idea and would have loved to see more of it but something tells me there is an issue some place. A solid back wall creates so much rigidity in a cab. They already killed the reverse doors for more stiffness on the extended cab. Also have you ever seen how much a roof moves with no windshield. The glass is now part of the structure. I suspect there is a good reason for no mid gate. Cost, weight, safety etc.
  15. hyperv6
    Well they also need to put in the new Camaro V6 as not everyone wants the diesel or price. As for price it will be interesting to see how they price this with the present ZL1 is close to over $50K for a fully loaded crew. There is a limit on what people will pay before moving to a full size truck. $55K will get you a decent crew with a V8.. I would be fine with a SLT GMC but I need a power Sun Roof.
  16. hyperv6
    The Transmission even with no racing were very limited. GM did suffer many failures in all the FWD 5.3 models. The only thing that made them live as long as they did was the engine managment. This really cut the true performance of the car. I know people who had the transmissions rebuilt and up graded to take more punishment and removed some of the engine management and these things could really run. Too bad it was FWD and struggled to hook up.
  17. hyperv6
    FYI now that is getting a little creepy. LOL! Just trying to be an effective commenter! I have seen you do better than that one. LOL!
  18. hyperv6
    FYI now that is getting a little creepy. LOL!
  19. hyperv6
    Companies fail for many reasons. Some for a near term bad decision or long term. GM made a long history of bad deals with the unions and paid the price for it years later when they could not support the deals that they made. Hostess bought up bakeries for 90 years regionally and ended up with something like 90 different unions and many bad deals that in the end with higher cost and lower profits could not be sustained. Other companies like Rubbermaid were built on contracts that were sustainable when they sold much of their products everywhere but when Walmart became their main retailer the push for lower prices did a lot of damage. The trick anymore is to not make long term deals and to keep a company to where they can react to changes fast. Too often anymore things happen that unlike a legacy issue they can not always see a market change coming or the way that business is done. In the case here they were working with higher legacy cost and the fact that GM pressed them for lower prices. They were screwed if they said no and if they said yes it just pushed out the end a little farther. The deal GM did here is all that could be done as GM needed them badly and odds are things will get worked out. The company will go bankrupt and get a new start and new deals will be struck that will make things better. We saw this a lot in the trucking industry as many went under and came back under different names with new better Teamster deals.
  20. hyperv6
    The real issue here is that Musk has built up the EV expectations to such a great level with some of the mindless public that a major failure at Tesla will be felt by all automakers in their EV products. They would associate the failure with all EV products fairly or not. Like it or not the EV has to become of the mix for the future. While GM would continue to build better and better EV products the failure of Tesla would make their task even more difficult. I am anything but a Musk fan but I do not want to see them totally crash and burn. If anything I would like to see them go to someone else that would be able to run them and fund them in the fashion they need to be funded.
  21. hyperv6
    Well with all the negative news on Tesla this wheel it is time for Musk to have some new major comment or idea. The dropping of the Resale guarantee is telling of a company that is low on funds. The public statement of changing the autopilot name by CR is blistering to a guy that embraced them so. The announcement of another discounted car reeks of more fund raising at the cost of lower profits. The deliveries still being down is not also helping. Elons had a tough week and I expect he will see more as there is more going on that he has little control over. Hmm it might be a good time to say he will shoot people to Mars in a Tube or something.
  22. hyperv6
    I believe it was "part two" not a new plan. I believe it was a new crisis and he needed a new deflection. He is already still having issues with the X and the doors along with Quality issues. Next he needs to get the 3 out and sort it with just barley the money to get it into production. The late start and issues on the X have really hurt the 3 as it did not provide the seed money needed. Now they discounting a cheaper S to try to raise more money. Musk would be more honest to call these plans dreams. Living from hand to mouth is a tough way to build a car company. You have even small set backs like door issues and late introductions and it hurts the whole company. This is why the other companies have an advantage. They can survive set backs and delays or even no profits when the ICE models are paying the bills.
  23. hyperv6
    I had seen prediction of $50-60K as being the real world price. Even Musk said the $35K would not be a base by the time it reached production. That is why I never counted it as a Bolt competitor from the start as the Bolt will be pretty much loaded at the $40K mark.
  24. hyperv6
    Anyone notice Elon right before the story dropped about another investigation announce he has a new plan now! Elon has been a master of controlling news on the web with his well dropped stories and announcements. But you have to wonder how long can he get away with that. I note now that he has plans for an affordable car and an even more affordable car. Gee I though that was what the 3 was? So is my expectation the 3 when loaded up with the most common options coming in at $50K realistic?
  25. hyperv6
    FYI I was not the negative here. I may disagree in our debate but I never took it personal.
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