GM's Cruise Self-Driving Unit Faces Some Big Hurdles

Yeah...Rolex too.  *sigh* I am not enraged by this kind of business model, though. I understand the reasons as to why some brands go for this.  If the marketing and the sales tactic itself is done correctly, it ensures that the brand is viewed as prestigious and in turn desirable and the limited object that is sold is  therefore rare and exclusive.  Which in turn makes more money than brain folk think they have an object that nobody can have and makes those that do not have it wish that they did have it which in turn creates a must obtain it before the other guy obtains it.   Ferrari has perfected this formula.  No matter what limited car they come out with next, anybody with some money and clout and obviously more money than brains will always feel like they need to own the next big thing Ferrari.  Ferrari has been doing this since forever.  Porsche and Rolex only figured this out recently.  They have some bugs to work out with their marketing though. Ferrari's marketing is unbelievably excellent in preserving the prestige it has created for itself.  The question of the the sales tactic itself?    Well... its a private club that the company wants to create for itself.  And that is all that it is.  The company wants to control who is to own their product. The company protects their image this way. At least in theory. It also protects the current club members ensuring that if they want to depart with their older classics, they will get top dollar for their purchase to buy the latest new desired product, instead of the top dollar money going to scalpers of you will...  This also prevents depreciation of the older product, increases desirability for the older product AND the newer product. It ensures that the older club members continuously buy newer more expensive product  ensuring the company have future sales of future newer products.   Creating desirability and creating new members to join that so called exclusive club.     Does this create brand loyalty? That is the hope. But it does create, if done correctly, brand desirability and prestige. 

Hyunfias and Toyotas are $50k now.  The price of these cars is nuts.  I am surprised the Chevy Trax isn’t the #1 selling car.

This sounds EXACTLY like what Rolex does with their watches. I hate it so much.  Neither one is very good looking, IMO. However, they do look surprisingly similar.  As for the Cayenne EV: I think the overall package really couldn't be much better with the available technology right now(for mass production vehicles). It's efficient. It's EXTREMELY quick. It has great range. It charges faster than any chargers can deliver right now. It really is a near-perfect package as of today. 

This better sell for Porsche because it will be lights out in Stuttgart.  US tariffs are messing up with their sales in the US.  EV sales have also stalled in China.   On top of that, some buyers of their real cars, the sports cars like the 911,  are frustrated with Porsche's exclusive sales tactics of their dealership network that force would be buyers of limited edition 911s to buy their CUVs and SUVs before being awarded to own a limited edition 911.     I guess I was wrong.  I said that nobody complains about Porsche's sales tactics that emulate Ferrari's tactics like they bitch about  Ferrari. Well...only auto journalists, youtubers and a handful of internet posers bitch about Ferrari.  These guys do not bitch about Porsche.  However, Ferrari owners comply with Ferrari's demands. It looks like Porsche would be owners are talking with their wallets.   Ferrari does not produce Ferraris by the boatload and THAT is why that tactic works. Porsche builds all the 911s they can sell making a 911 not that rare to begin with.  Ferraris are rare even though Ferrari sells more vehicles today than they EVER had.  Ferraris are more or less exclusive.  But I wonder, what will the US automobile market will look like when average americans wont be able to buy bread let alone 50 000 usd Porsches and Genesis vehicles?    

Pretty soon everything will have 1,000 hp.