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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    X8 is a waste of developmental budget. BMW's growth is on their bottom end, not their top.
  2. balthazar
    We've had plentiful examples of 'normal looking' hybrid variants of 'regular' models, they don't sell. Looks didn't hold them back at all. Most of the EVs out, IMO, look fine (well; prius aside). They don't sell comparable to IC variants. Do you think that a -say- RAV4 is 'good (or normal) looking', and a -say- Bolt is not? Car manufacturers are in the business of (manufacturing &) selling. 'Company suicide' is determined, not by individual opinion; but the balance sheet (the reason for manufacturing & selling). Teslas are, as a whole, furiously expensive (and getting moreso WRT the raising of the S & X MSRPs). They sell semi-decently, but the company makes no money. Most of the recent & proposed full EVs are likewise furiously expensive, and they make no money. VW is between a rock & a hard place, and is doing high stakes gambling. If they think their customers are going to switch unilaterally to full EVs (and at what price levels??), I'd also like to know what data they're basing this on.
  3. balthazar
    The accord & camry may be, but I note the Accord is fully 25% off it's peak volume, and the Sonata is about 55% off it's peak, which was only SIX years ago. We bemoaned GM getting out of minivans, and now the segment is almost dead. Sedans are dying faster than any segment in my memory; Ford & GM may be ahead of the wave here. While I hear the '1 egg' sentiment, I note a number of brands that have or are doing just that (Jeep, Land Rover, ferrari, porsche-before-SUVs, etc). Yes- they are singular brands within a portfolio of brands, but no corporate heads wish/plan to have any of their brands fail due to a '1 egg' approach. It can and does work in some instances (in other cases, you have Mini…). The first OEM to bring out the 'hybrid sedan/CUV' is going to pave the segment into the future.
  4. balthazar
    The 8-series JUST CAME OUT! Of course, a markedly more expensive re-dux of the failed 6-series was doomed to fail; I called that way back. Regardless of USDM AND global industry health, just about all OEMS have overextended themselves with the borderline ridiculous array of models. Even if we were looking at a 19M USDM year, the cost of development has only gone up on already thin margins. Within-brand consolidation is inevitable.
  5. balthazar
    OK, but is that 'data'? Trucks (and SUVs) have been taking an increasing share of new vehicles sales for like 50 years running now. That's far too long to be in a cycle. Sure; trucks sales dipped more than cars when gas spiked at $4/gal+ (for 6 months), but trucks now are reaching solidly into the mid 20s in FE (and beyond) - already a far cry from where they were 10 years ago. Add to that trucks in general have evolved much farther from where they were -say- in 1990, than cars have (IMO), and you have multiple 'insurance' factors that IF another huge upswing in fuel costs comes (I personally don't see the metrics for it), that trucks will retain their percentages better than a decade ago. That scenario aside, they aren't fads and they are not part of a 'cycle'. The 'CUV-ing' of cars is measurable proof of that. At the very least, "when" is an reach.
  6. balthazar
    I gotta ask: what data are you basing this prediction on?
  7. balthazar
    Olds442 has apparently left the building. ? RE EVs: the industry has 20 years of electrification in the books, and while the EV talk is ever-present from every corner, the consumer take rate is miniscule. It will be interesting to watch scenarios like VW, where they are swearing they'll be 100% electric in a few years. When your a start-up, that position is super easy to take (the books aside), but when you're one of the worlds largest; not so much. In today’s industry, that’s akin to corporate suicide. An EV is not for me but I’m fine with them co-existing. But I have no concerns that IC vehicles are going to disappear in my lifetime.
  8. balthazar
    Leaf is down 10% YTD?? Don't folks recognize progress when they see it? 6000 units out of 654,000 units is 9/10ths of 1 percent. Perhaps it needs to be circled in red too.
  9. balthazar
    It was a conversion from Chinese market projected price. I had thought that porsche made no money on their cars; that all profits came from their SUVs. If the panamera starts at $86K and makes no money, how in the world would porsche be able to hold a $90K price on an electric sedan? $130K is much more likely if they want to turn any profit.
  10. balthazar
    An Encore is 168" long- there's no one for whom that CUV size is 'too big'.
  11. balthazar
    Porsche is projecting 40,000 sales of the Taycan, but it's rumored target price is $218,000 (a July estimate, up from a December estimate of $130K). That'll combination of 'opposing' numbers will be REAL interesting to watch.
  12. balthazar
    Minivans are all but dead- there were over a dozen now there's 3-4. Sedans are slipping every single year; the pie anyone is stealing from is smaller every year. IF a major industry downturn is looming (we'll see), thinning sedan offerings beforehand is probably a smart move. Eventually, you run out of places to fleet/fire sales sedans to.
  13. balthazar
    That's what 'they' said about pickups… in 1970. Hyundai was 100% cars when it arrived here, it's now only 56% cars (by volume YTD) and that number has been slipping for years (both at hyundai/kia and industry-wide). CUVs / SUVs are firmly-established; calling them a 'fad' ignores decades of consumer data. Objectively speaking, the industry at large would be best served morphing a combination of the family sedan and the CUV (which is already the same underneath). All the brands have too many physically different models- with a morphed FutureKar, developmental costs would come way down and perhaps -just perhaps- some degree of control on runaway prices could be realized.
  14. balthazar
    I threw together this collage to show a long-running & widespread practice for a number of decades. You have your Chevys, Fords, Dodges, Internationals, Studebakers & Jeeps commonly doing the same thing on multiple truck lines : painting grilles (and sometimes also bumpers & headlight bezels) white versus the higher trim's chrome pieces. Looking back, it's interesting to me that it was pretty much universal. White is usually the cheapest paint, but in my opinion; it looks a lot better than unpainted black plastic. Wonder how a 'stripper' trim modern truck would look done up in a similar manner?
  15. balthazar
    I have always agreed with Brother 'blu on this one ; even tho I seldom gravitate towards Chevy cars, this Mitchell-overseen design is one of the most beautiful coupes ever penned.
  16. balthazar
    Tough AC ~
  17. balthazar
    Ugh- I hit 18+ (highway) with a crewcab 6.6TD DuraMax.
  18. balthazar
    Maybe the homeowner wasn't home. Maybe there were no windows on that side of his house and he was hunkered down in the A/C. Maybe he was ill & in bed. How often do you do a perimeter sweep? Whether the homeowner was aware it was going on or not (obviously he wasn't for 12 hrs) is immaterial to the theft of power.
  19. balthazar
    If someone breaks into your house, steals a bunch of valuables, trashes some of the interior, do you expect -as the homeowner- to be charged with breaking & entering, vandalism and larceny??? If I straight up claim that your 75-in flat screen belongs to ocnblu, do you -as the homeowner- expect you’ll have to give it up? - - - - - If a person buys a plug-in car with zero ability to plug it in at home, they’re not very intelligent. And if an online directive tells him an outlet on a private home is ‘public’, he’s far beyond unintelligent.
  20. balthazar
    What IS it with Tesla owners? Again I note I regularly see Teslas at the supercharger station at the Panera near my house, at like 10AM- didn't they charge overnight at their own house?? This reminds my of when having a locking gas cap was pretty common, because high prices had some people syphoning gas out of other people's tanks.
  21. balthazar
    This kinda renders the mid-size trucks irrelevant.
  22. balthazar
    ^ WTH - did someone RAISE the roof??
  23. balthazar
    ENORMOUS tire scrub would wear the tires worse than burning out hard. Re the turn, it would be encountered far less than one would think, IMO. It was done on a car of the 30’s but there never seemed to be any call for it.
  24. balthazar
  25. balthazar
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