balthazar

"LeSleeper" quarter mile : 9.8 secs @ 133 MPH.

The 'reading between the lines' take-away from Musk's PRs is : '1800 new reservations for the Model 3 daily, 63,000 order cancellations to date'. Not as subtle a sleight of hand as perhaps Musk thinks. What is the daily rate of cancellations, and have they picked up or slowed once the official unveiling/pricing came out? Bottom line is there is an impending flood of EVs but the segment pool is growing very slowly. Perhaps for Model 3 buyers it's 'Model 3 or nothing', or perhaps it's not.

Jeep brand is valuable because of worldwide appeal, iconic & aspirational product and 1.4 million units sold last year. They are gunning for 2 million and will likely get there.

I am seeing Maseratis every other day- I think recently posting about the brand has made me notice the big chrome 1950's script Maser likes to slap on the butts of all their cars. I saw 2 yesterday alone (that I noticed). Sales runs about 12K in the U.S. and 36K globally. I have no idea what their parts sharing or profit may be tho. Beyond that I agree with DD- Jeep & Ram are likely the only profit centers, possibly Maser and Dodge. At this point I believe Chrysler, unfortunately, is probably in the red. That's a GD shame in my book.

Maybe it was the height difference. Looked quick at numbers, circa '06 Accord is 191", GP was 193", but it's over 4 inches lower. Maybe that what gave the impression, that and lower cowl/trunk. Accord looked fat.

'89 Grand Prix SE, minty shape, big bolstered saddle buckets. It was smaller than the Accord next to it.

^ And by this I'm actually saying using a very Buick-like grille is a massive dose of freshness on a mercedes!

• Clean mild resto-mod '64 Safari (road trippin'), 389 CI (A/C & OD added) • beater '66 GMC long bed (for work), 305 CI • '56 Eldorado Seville (for profiling), 365 CI • Maybe a '17 Stingray (for interstate flight), 376 CI • 40 Ford COE (for tinkering), replacement Merc flathead 254 CI

NASCAR allowed the Hemi back into competition for '66 (it went RPO that year), but the infamous 426 'Elephant' had to be downsized to 405 CI.

Strongly evoking Buick up front in the grille, and the Cadillac Escala in the lighting, Mercedes has revealed a striking concept 2-place convertible, to debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this weekend. The claim is 4 electric motors rated at 750 HP, and it rides on 24-in rims. - - - - - Personal opinion- tho of course it won't be produced, it IS quite imposing. It's like a modern day interpretation of the '58 Argonaut Smoke; an immense 2-pass convert. THIS is the sort of thing a brand does to stand out & make a name for itself; THIS say luxury like any s-class coupe or SL convert could never hope to. Years ago I used to draw cars with proportions like this. The GM-cribbed cues work, and although the drooping butt/long deck likely appears 'dated' to some, I'd give this exterior a 10/10. But, like I said- it'll never be produced. What a shame.

Must've taken you HOURS to type those 5 words.

GOTTA fix the extended rear bumper/continental kit (oh- and no orange paint), but otherwise; I'd drive it. BTW- this is not photoshop; it's an actual build.

Yet the beancounters killed off the unique-bodied Maybach 1.0 when it failed to make a profit.

Check out this CL ad for a Cayenne for sale, but be sure to check the 2nd pic of the interior: https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/cto/d/porsche-cayenne/6268201879.html

BMW is capable of producing some appealing concept roadsters- but they don't build them. Instead; rote regurgitation. This one is not bad for a BMW- could use a bit of refinement tho.

• I swear I just looked at the S550e on the website 2 days ago. Hybrid V6. Had it's own scrollable multi-page display. Did it come down in the last 48 hours then? Sales were higher in July than any other month this year. • RE plug-ins... sure; if everyone short-terms the expiration of ICEs, buyers will go with EVs / hybrids... but a short-term switch over isn't feasible, and it's also not desirable. OEMs have to adhere to a business case approach based off of data- and EV/Hs aren't pulling any weight yet. Any OEM executing a full-stop switchover is courting extremely high levels of risk, levels current numbers don't come remotely close to supporting. Too much money at stake. Again I'll interject: Tesla Model S sales thru July : 12,620. The car with the absolute highest level of recognition & consumer good will is struggling to move 21,000 units annually (it did 29K last year and 25K the year before). The MB e-class is on pace for 50K units this year... what is the internal projection for the model if it were suddenly and only an EV? Would it surpass the Model S's volume? I don't see it- the EV crowd is flocking to Tesla right now- why go to "a copy" when you can "have the original"? In other words, logically assuming a volume south of the Model S, an EV E-class might be looking at a best case scenario of 10K units initially, keeping in mind what the market is willing to bear short-term. Who's going to green-light an 80% production decrease?? Especially knowing how ravenous Daimler is for production volume. There is a very wide gap between topical discussion/journalism and what buyers are agreeing to sign for. These future announcements still come off as 'testing the feedback waters' to my ear.

That bugatti type 57 is abysmal. That pushed-in grille looks like it ran into a pole. No redeeming stylistic features, period.

People DO BUY THEM. I don't get how you DON'T GET this.

I realize Autocar is a Brit pub, but MAN they about scraped thru the bottom of the barrel on some of these. My suggested substitutions :

^ Right from the get-go, one can see it's a Euro love fest list. There are some unmitigated stinkers here, that don't even make 'mediocre', nevermind 'most beautiful'. If one is going to seriously suggest some of these, one cannot overlook the design flaws & shortcomings in them; just because you really really love it, doesn't make it beautiful. Then; the Gallardo / Aventador, the 2 '50s Bentleys, 3 modern Astons, ferrari 288/308 & the 2 Citroens are quite simply the same cars, named more than once! Fallacy; needs a LOT more diversity! TTD (Two Thumbs Down) on this list.

But I thought you said they were the 'exact same vehicle'?

Spotted this gorgeous hunk of industrial might and stopped, bought a sandwich, called my buddy, and spent 1.75 hours circling it/ commenting/ evalating/ bullshitting. Nice breezy warm day, nice diversion. Oh: $12K asking.

I like to pretend I don't remember that, so I can occasionally bask in the wonder of the short-sightedness of such a mindset, all over again.