Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close

balthazar

In Hibernation
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    40,855

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    583

 Content Type 

Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    Sprinter has been in production since '95, it should be the 'F-Series' of Eurovans by now. Ford Transit has only been in the USDM since 2015, but Ford knows how to built/sell LD trucks better than anyone. Transit sales could drop off 75% (they won't) and it'd still outsell the sprinter. Mercedes has to benchmark the Transit if it wants to be a player in the segment.
  2. balthazar
    Fully 36 states are net recipients, only 14 put more in than take out, and they're pretty much spread across the nation. CA barely squeaks in under the break-even point- there's a lot of welfare programs getting tapped in CA. The Golden State gives the Gov't about $1.02 for every dollar they receive. The other 13: Mass, WY, OK, NJ, UT, CO, NY, Kan, OH, Neb, ILL, Minn & DE.
  3. balthazar
    Notice anything anachronistic?
  4. balthazar
    Yeah, but the Company is going to bring back the Freightliner nameplate, effectively splitting the sales report into 2 brands. A rebadge now when they should be focusing all their energies and advertising behind one nameplate in a massively uphill sales battle makes no sense.
  5. balthazar
    Ford is killing Freightliner/mercedes in vans tho, and the Sprinter was here first in Eurovans (with 3 rebadges, too) Transit Connect : 23,216 Transit : 106,463 plus they are still seeing demand for the E-Series : 36,549 (that alone is killing MB's vans). That's 166K to mercedes' 28K. A bloodbath; MB ain't kicking no one's butt.
  6. balthazar
    Year to date ~ X3 : 41,825 XT5 : 46,983 Go AWD! Or... neither FWD/AWD or RWD/AWD is a factor. Hmmm... GreatLittleCar : 50,585. Watch out behind you, GLC!
  7. balthazar
    July : down 5% August : down 20% September : down 10%. Are they worrying yet?
  8. balthazar
  9. balthazar
    How does BMW realistically think they're going to surprise ANYONE with this car when it's the exact same stylistic concept running for -IDK- 15 years now? 'Leaked pics'; c'mon!
  10. balthazar
    ^ You certainly are... unique. ;) I vaguely remember the '77 intro's (I was around 10), but I was already grooving on the much more tasty mid '50s to mid '60s stuff. - - - - - 3 cars lengths ahead of me this morning, enjoying a nice top-down cruise and 'gettin on it' from every stop; a dark blue Shelby Cobra 427 replica. Sounded great even from that distance.
  11. balthazar
    The competition isn't standing still. BMW has some gaping sales holes in it's lineup- holes that absolutely need to be changed up in the battle for '#1 luxury mainstream volume brand' with mercedes.
  12. balthazar
    MoPar Slant Six was one of the most incredibly reliable engines ever built. Not exciting or smooth, but they just. kept. going.
  13. balthazar
    But you shall.
  14. balthazar
    no no No No NO NO NO NO!! Encore is offensively small as a Buick and far too small as a Cadillac. Cadillac's volume and position MUST be taken into account as far as product planning goes. There is no need whatsoever for a teeny tiny Cadillac CUV- there's no business case for it. Thinking that Cadillac can be 'fixed' by slotting 48 different vehicles into their showroom just because another brand or two tries to is absolutely the wrong approach. No CT3, no XT3.
  15. balthazar
  16. balthazar
    Cadillac knows exactly what it is, which is what it has been most of its existence. I question brands moving into entire tiers of segments they've never been in before as 'having no direction or identity' far more readily than Cadillac. I also call 'significant bullshit' on the whole 'following others', as every brand 'follows' what other brands do in countless ways. It's otherwise known as 'competing'.
  17. balthazar
    My local BMW dealer has 21 2019 X5's in inventory and 21 are AWD. FWD/RWD is a non-factor. Nearly all SUVs are all AWD. If RWD was so great in SUVs (because assumedly people were road racing them or something), wouldn't most BMW SUVs be RWD INSTEAD of AWD??
  18. balthazar
    Aaaaaaaaand; there it is. My local dealer has 14 2019 XT5 in inventory and 13 are AWD. FWD/RWD is a non-factor.
  19. balthazar
    That's purely sales-focused, not where I want a luxury brand to circle around. There's no response to such an inane comment.
  20. balthazar
    It's not individual "reinventions". The brand builds American luxury / well-performing (or scorchingly so) vehicles, as it has for most of it's history (not all, of course). These public statements aren't supposed to indicate 'difference'; they are a remnant of Corporate-think where sales were the be all, end all. It's outmoded, and frankly, consumers don't know or care. One of my 'mandate wishes' for Cadillac has actually happened already; the discontinuance of monthly sales reports. Hopefully, future sales projections will likewise never be released again. Add to that, there should never again be public declarations of 're-' anything; invention, investment, dedication, etc. Cadillac should only speak of what they actually are doing : a evolutionary strive forward to be among the best. God- I would love to run Cadillac for a few years. Unless it's a mid-size SUV; then they do want a Cadillac. Your metric; sales - isn't the XT5 #2 in it's segment? No model is ever a 'savior' for a brand (well; maybe the cayenne/macan for porsche), but the XT4, especially in light of recent reviews I've seen, should perform very well for Cadillac volume-wise (not that I care about high volume). Were it to also get to #3 or #2 in its segment, that's a very significant statement that people want Cadillacs.
  21. balthazar
    Tesla has LOST 21 Billion in market cap from its peak (and with the stock market at it's historical high). Where is the company's 'growth', exactly?
  22. balthazar
    ^ Lutz just damned Cadillac advertising because in a number of instances they 'didn't even show the car until the ad was half over', yet the Cadillac korea instagram site has a huge majority of pic links not showing any product, just anonymous people. Which way do you want it?
  23. balthazar
    '10-15s are too safe and BO-RING. '10 looks good above the bumper, but the bumper with those cinder blocks on either ends just doesn't look integrated. Also always looks like it's tipping forward/loose. I have no complaints about the '15, but it's time to stir things up. Remember the Silverado MCE recently where people were wondering if 'Chevy went far enough / won't look new' to too many people? Ta-da!
  24. balthazar
  25. balthazar
    Stock PLUNGED $42.75 today, a 14% decline.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

I've whitelisted
Continue without support

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search