balthazar
-
Posts
40,855 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
583
Content Type
Forums
Articles
Garage
Gallery
Events
Store
Collections
Everything posted by balthazar
-
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
To clarify, I stated BE’s need to be at the median new vehicle price, or half of the common BE tag of $75K. In Dec when I stated that, the current info that that number is now $40K hadn’t come out. -
Yes; 2019; includes Mercedes and Daimler trucks (499K in 2019). I admit I didn't bother including smart.
-
Daimler isn't competing with Cadillac, it's competing with General Motors. GM is worth 15% / $10 billion more than Daimler, and sold 7.7 million units in '19, vs. 2.8 million. - - - - - Ya, I'm sure it was me who sent things down another track. Oopsie.
-
Nashville TN ~
-
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
Probably correct, but $14K isn’t half of $75K. -
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
Study was not about how many were bought, but how they affected the buyer’s motoring habits vs. the average motorist. With the reputedly average daily mileage people drive (is it around 30?), long range EVs - so I’ve read claims- aren’t “necessary”. I do expect the numbers to shift, but the point in posting it was how far off the policymakers were in their projections, projections they unfortunately use to determine far distant regulations. -
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
Static numbers at any point are silly, and as such; so are 'bans' arbitrarily set at a random year. -
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
An extensive study just released cross-referenced household electricity usage in 2014-2017 with BE vehicle registrations, and found a surprising result. Based on electricity usage increases, the average BE is only traveling 5300 miles per year, or less than half that of the average vehicle overall. This was much less than projected by CA regulators, raising concerns that widespread BEV adaptation would not address greenhouse gas emissions on nearly the scale desired. The paper stated that future research should explore possibilities for this including: • BEs may be complementing gas-powered vehicles instead of replacing them. • BEV buyers to date don't represent the 'broader vehicle-owning population'. - - - - - I struggle with how one needs to go much farther than past & current BE market share to instantly see the reasons posted above. I mean... right? https://www.nber.org/papers/w28451?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top https://www.yahoo.com/news/electric-vehicle-owners-drive-them-141024144.html - - - - - What have I stated all along? : THIS IS GOING TO TAKE FOREVER. -
Idlers aren't the problem, snaking the belt in & out was.
-
^ It’s fun, but hands-off driving features (or hands-on, like at Tesla) is stupid.
-
It did take me a bit of time to replace the serpentine belt on the Duramax, but my labor rate is fantastic. $285/hr is INSANE. I think my dealer is $140.
-
CT4-V Blackwing is better.
-
Those prices are INSANE.
-
Hollyweird does this all the time, especially with cars, but check this out. From the Denzel Washington movie trailer The Littlest Things... Voiceover states the perp's car 'probably has high miles', and they show a '68-70 Nova but they give it a 6-digit odometer. 'Movie magic'.
-
The reference starting point would be ATP per model (with some allowance toward how each is equipped... but I submit it does not have to be an exact match). That tells you what the consumer is willing to spend. Stripped with zero options and every box checked is irrelevant. IDK of those per-model figures are available. Yeah- the Maybach 1.0 was a rebadge with a 1970's 2-tone paint job. No coupe, no convertible, no SUV. It didn't compete. But more to the point- what a monstrous missed opportunity for MB; RR sold 5152 cars last year; there's a market there for sure. This is a huge feather in BMW's cap vs. Daimler. The problem here is two-fold; 'mercedes' doesn't have anywhere near the rep / clout as RR, and the name 'Maybach' now ranks up there with Edsel as a failed brand. It can never return as an independent brand. Frankly, Rolls needs to charge more, as they also lose money on every car (2019 profit / 2020 production), but half of what Daimler did building a cheaper car. When the news broke that Maybach was being eliminated, Daimler absolutely stated they would "expand the s-class, still hoping to compete with the likes of Rolls Royce & Bentley, aiming to capture more of the market that the 2 storied British brands have successfully expanded into with 'lower end' models that range between $180K and $300K." [ ~ WSJ] The '21 s650 Maybach starts at $202K and you can only build it up to $230K [ I said 'only'], so Daimler is leaving $70K on the table. Of course, they'd never get that in this segment. Maybach was a great opportunity, but it was a miserable, mismanaged failure.
-
Long but interesting read, would certainly have a negative effect on near-future electricity demand & sourcing... but the fish must win. Tremendous slush money, undoubtedly a significant amount of which will be lost, mismanaged, misappropriated, re-directed or simply never get to where it was earmarked to go. Some of the numbers are too incredible to believe; $75,000,000 for one city's tourism promotion?? My favorite take-away? "Managed demand" for electricity in the region. Oh well, SSDD. https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article248988810.html
-
Cadillac base prices are vapor- Cadillac doesn’t build a $36K CT5, just like Tesla doesn’t build any $37K Model 3’s. But to address the question; cross-shopping doesn’t happen going uphill, but give a -say- $60K shopper a better driving car at $48K in the same segment and yeah; cross-shopping does occur. Remember, Cadillac wasn’t in the lux sports sedan segment at all 20 years ago - it was all bmw & mb.
-
Benz couldn’t have “invented” the car when there were cars that pre-dated it, but keep swilling that kool-aid. - - - - - The point where everyone gets confused is; mercedes is akin to General Motors, not to Cadillac. Mercedes is a mass-volume mainstream corporation, not a brand. It’s certainly not a ‘luxury brand’.
-
Mercedes sold 75,000 FWD-based vehicles in the (down) year of '20 in the U.S. alone. Vast majority of these in both cases are AWD, but at least Cadillac isn't building FWD-based sports sedans.
-
^ I don't think those are all the options, as some Blackwings have been shown with 'naked' carbon fibre trim, and others with it body color. I saw that general pricing info posted elsewhere, sourced from Cadillac Society. Stated a fully-loaded CT4-V Blackwing would be $84,875, and the same spec for a CT5-V Blackwing would be $122,985. That's checking every option box... but that may possibly be combining thing where not possible or superseded from the V to the V Blackwing. Blackwing option plus all available options raises a CT4-V starting price by $23,450, and the CT5-V by $51,530.
-
Were that it were 70 tomm... and I was going here:
-
Drew, Camino, Sixty8 and Avant1963. Can’t remember if there were a couple others one year at Hershey when I was there.
-
David posed that he 'didn't see anything saying it was the CT5-V Blackwing', I was merely confirming... but now I see what you guys were seeing I was saying. ? ?
