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regfootball

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Everything posted by regfootball

  1. regfootball
    Where i worked about 90% of the sales were used, all makes and models, all prices, but was also part of a dealer group that had 2 massive Ford / Lincoln stores and Chevrolet. All the used was available to sell to anyone at any store. In general, and speaking overall based upon inventory sold in all the stores the used was very typical and consistent. Once you subtracted out Mustang sales, there was very little RWD business at all on the car side. When there was a car that was available that had AWD or RWD available, in most cases people were looking for the AWD version. However, some cars did draw in buyers. For example, I sold a RWD manual Mercedes sedan. One major reason it sold was the price was cheap. Usually if people were willing to go RWD on a car that both were available, the price had to be substantially lower to get them to bite (the same was true for pickups). The Chrysler 300's and Dodge Chargers were a car that people didn't really care much about if it was RWD, but at the same time, those cars had to be cheap to move them. G35 coupes seemed to have their stalkers, especially for ones with sticks, but that was also usually young punks or bad credit, or both, and they often were strokers. These are people who simply could not buy / cannot buy. You don't make money off these folks. The G35 sedan AWD's drew a lot more attention. Audis of any kind with quattros were unbelievable magnets and attracted many more buyers than just about any other German piece I could imagine consistently. The AWD Mercedes sedans did well also. BMW's were spotty, they did have their fans. But that mostly people looking for 10+ year old BMW's on the cheap.. If we had any newer BMW's then people wanted those to have AWD also. They expected it. We had a 128i M manual that went unsold for several months and after several price drops and ended up getting auctioned because the only ones who were interested were young punks without the credit or old 'car guys' who wouldn't pull the trigger but wanted to test drive it. Even Crown Vics and Grand Marquis ended up rotting on lots, winter or summer, unless the price was so low that you lost money. I had a pretty good survey of what sold not only at my dealership but also the big brothers. One of our Ford dealers was top 20-25 in the country. The whole group sold several thousand new and used vehicles a year. I'd say I have a pretty good idea of what the general population likes to see for affordable cars at least in a typical midwest state.
  2. regfootball
    Not all FWD 4 cylinder sedan. There will be some RWD and larger V8 coupes but they will not be cheap. Price will help limit the market is what the companies are looking at at some point. The prices will rise over the next 10 plus years to the point it will be difficult to afford anything with a large engine unless you have the means. The Chevy SS is a perfect response to this. It will be available to the 10-20k buyers who want a RWD V8 car. Between that, a Camaro, a Corvette, and a couple Cadillacs, the v8 market will be amply covered, at least as far as GM is concerned.
  3. regfootball
    Part of why manufacturers are rushing to turbo fours is the entire block + cylinders and heads is a lot less expensive. Two less pistons, 8 less valves, one less head, two less camshafts. Once the manufacturers learned how to tame the NVH of the four, got turbos semi reliable, get the needed power, mpg, then the added cost for a turbo vs. all that extra hardware is pretty cost effective. I am sure that is how the bean counters look at it. No way GM would ever move to turbo fours unless they could justify it versus the more popular engine options. But in the end it will be as you say, the advancements will filter to the 6 cylinders also and make a great alternative to v8's.
  4. regfootball
    Chrysler 300 and Charger with pentastar get like 300hp and 30 mpg with 8 speed auto and provide a driving experience very close to the hemi, which uses like 25 or 30% more fuel.
  5. regfootball
    CTS coupe is a striking car, but it still doesn't overcome the fact that is only has 2 doors, which is why it doesn't sell much. RWD too, I think i maybe had one customer ever that was looking specifically for a RWD car when I sold. ALmost exclusively people looking to fill the basic need of transportation wanted a car they could get around in winter with much easier. One of the most frequent questions I got was, 'it's front wheel drive, right?"
  6. regfootball
    The Chrysler CVT's are among the worst of CVT's out there. THere are some cars out there with livable CVT's.
  7. regfootball
    I have a hard time seeing why GM needs a 2800 pound coupe as an cheap corvette alternative. The c7 will only be a couple hundred pounds more. Anything like a code red basically eats into the exact same people Chevy would have looking at base camaros. Just make a cheap base corvette to bring in new buyers to keep corvette healthy for the future. Make the next camaro affordable too. Next camaro should basically be packaged like a 3 series coupe in size and room and weight. Camaro needs to lose pounds Ina huge way. To suggest it be between an alpha ats and cts would be about right. I hope gm doesn't get super obsessed with coupes again. They really don't sell. Camaro sells because it was off the market for 7 years and the design is unforgettable. I will say this, a code red Chevy might be as good a business case as a cruze coupe may be, and would be dynamically more fun, but it would be way too narrowly focused due to its RWD. BMW can't hardly sell 1 series coupes in great numbers and partially because there is a 3 series coupe. I sure hope they don't try a Buick alpha coupe. A regal coupe is maybe the only other coupes gm could justify building and I don't even think that would sell. Before any other coupes besides the ATS, GM would be far better off importing the Astra 3 door. 3 door Astra would resonate more with young buyers than practically anything else gm would build off alpha in 2 door form.
  8. regfootball
    the solstice was a mini vette. look at how many hundred thousand that sold.
  9. regfootball
    coupe RWD =no sales. niche model. maybe 15-20k units, and cannibalize camaro sales too. Chevy needs to fix their malibu line, the equinox line soon, and needs a small crossover. they need to make those products top notch. chevy would do best to downsize the camaro a bit, keep the base car priced right, make it habitable inside, and make it right with the times. build on the equity they have of the camaro line. i would go so far to say that AWD should be an option on a small percentage of camaros. chevy already has the camaro and corvette and soon the SS. Gearheads and RWD fans don't need much else. There really is little demand for cheap chevy versions of BRZ's, 240sx's, 1 series. EXACTLY. They need to knock the Malibu out of the park, preferably with an all new chassis and platform. GM has never demostrated that they can build a top in class car in the best selling segment in the US.
  10. regfootball
    i thought it was a nice campaign, but maybe it's shelf life is not long. it's probably too touchy feely for chevy. i see more and more ad campaigns that are successful are less about the actual product, and more about creating an icon or entertainment. for example, flo and progressive.. and now toyota has the jill chick or whatever who sits at the greeting desk.. so harmless, so friendly, so likable. Chevy's under the blue arch is sort of that type of campaign. But they need to have ads that show the cars.
  11. regfootball
    disposable car
  12. regfootball
    I've seen 3 or 4 this past week. Admittedly, haven't really seen any prior.
  13. regfootball
    I do think a v6 corvette would be interesting. But I think simply a downsized v8 like a 4.3 or a 5.0 would probably keep the persona more. Me thinks that a v6 Camaro's EPA numbers when projected in a much lighter Corvette could be something quite outstanding. If the Camaro gets 30mpg highway (can't remember off the top of my head) and is 20% heavier than the Vette, it's possible with an 8 or 9 speed and 20 percent less weight we could be mid thirties for highway mpg on a car that might still have a chance to crack 5.0 0-60. For a cheap base Corvette to bring in younger non AARP buyers, that could be quite attractive. I sort of wonder if the C8 won't be engineered for a Volt like powertrain option. NOW THAT would really bring the Corvette ahead of the curve in terms of innovation. Imagine an EREV Vette with a sub 4.0 0-60 time and crazy gas free range. To be honest, I'd like to see what kind of numbers a really souped up turbo 4 would get in a corvette. Like a 2.3 litre four turbo with numbers in the 300's.....
  14. regfootball
    This. and this.
  15. regfootball
    Pointless. No one will ever buy a V6 Corvette. Oh they will, when the government mandates that that Corvette has a v6. The poison in office just gets more poisonous.
  16. regfootball
    is that badge engineering?
  17. regfootball
    that Code car is dreadful ugly.
  18. regfootball
    no car payments.
  19. regfootball
    Motor trend said the 3.6 may be being prepped for use in the C7 likely because of CAFE. That could top 30mpg highway I bet. But it would probably be a mid 5's 0-60 car then.
  20. regfootball
    My dad really wants a TDI passat. He loves diesel though. Used to wrench em. He's pretty much had all GM and Cadillacs his entire life. He really wants that Passat TDI.
  21. regfootball
    How does huge pushrod 90 degree v6 sound? I assume it's 90 degree since its based off the v8. I very well could be wrong. It will likely be a good engine, it just doesn't come with marketing tag lines that are currently popular built into it.
  22. regfootball
    Cadillac already has 3 sedans...a 2dr is a good idea for something distinctive. a far more suitable 2 door caddy is an ATS coupe. that is not here yet.
  23. regfootball
    there is a pretty cool design speculation rendering on GMI with a much more interesting interior theme. And its not 1994 half baked over again.
  24. regfootball
    and if they make a turbo standard for the camaro, it will be the 2.0, not the 1.6. Not exactly sure why they say the 2.5 don't have grunt, it's a pretty lively motor. The 1.6 might have more torque, but that small of displacement will really put off a musclecar buyer. 2.5 is already adapted for RWD and Alpha chassis. There is some precedent for the four cylinder Camaro, a 2.5 would only make about 5% of production. Perfect for airport rentals and cheap loss leader ad specials. They won't bother making the 1.6 work in it if the 2.0 is all good to go. If they put a 1.6 in it, then folks will start comparing the Camaro to Velosters and such. Chevy does not want that. I doubt Chevy wants to even be compared with Genesis coupes and these Toyota / Subaru dungpiles.
  25. regfootball
    2.0t before the 1.6 in the camaro. ats has the 2.5 standard, i see them continuing that with the stablemate. the 2.5 might only be 5% of production for a loss leader ad car. the 2.0t will likely be 30% or more of Camaro production. I could see the 3.6 still being pretty large. Alpha Camaro might only have 30-40% of sales as a v8.
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