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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Probably could be named IQ-47.
  2. smk4565
    Yeah they are making an EV Hyundai Santa Cruze. The Santra Cruze starts at $29,500 and they are on pace to sell about 29,000 of them this year. And that with a gas powertrain that buyers tend to prefer over EV. This isn't a big volume segment and I imagine Ford is just going to cut into Maverick sales. What Ford should have done is said we are building a Rav4/Model Y competitor and it will be under $30k. Those are the 2 best selling vehicles in the world, they should have gone right after them and taken their sales. It won't be that bad. It won't bomb so hard, but also 60 years later people remember the Edsel. 25 years from now no one will remember the Ranchero, much like no one really remembers the Subaru Baja outside of a small cult following.
  3. smk4565
    I get they are using the Tesla idea to build 3 modules then snap them together, saving time and saving on wiring harnesses, etc. But I don't think they are really coming out with any super affordable vehicle, they say $30k, but the F150 Lightning was going to be $39,995 and it ended up like $60k. The ICE Equinox for the first half of the year sold 130,000 and the EV sold 28,000. Losing that $7500 credit for sure will hurt sales and that EV will be a weak seller for a mass market vehicle. Ford Ranger sold 33,000, Maverick sold 86,000 for the first half of the year. Even if this new EV truck sells half as many it is 120,000 sales, most of which will probably just be stolen internally off other Fords. And the Escape starts at $30k and sells 130k units now, they are just swapping product. What the Ranchero won't have is Rav4 build quality, Rav4 reliability or Rav4 resale value. Ford just announced their 96th recall of the year, there is zero quality control at this company. My work vehicle has 3 recalls on it right now, the left front door has needed replaced for a year because the door checks are faulty and pull out the spot welds, but they don't have doors to replace it. Same thing for a coworker of mine. What the universal EV may do however is give a 2nd life to an electric Escape and Explorer and the Mustang can move to this platform because there is no way the bean counters will be able to justify spending money on a new Mustang.
  4. smk4565
    There is no need for an EV mandate or regulation saying no ICE after 2035 or 2040 or whatever date. What will happen is China will build a Rav4 like crossover that is more reliable than a Rav4, costs less to maintain, has a longer warranty, has more horsepower, smoother and quieter motor due to being EV and it will cost $10,000 less than a Rav4. And at that point, no one will want a gas Rav4 and ICE dies for mass market cars. Some sports cars and enthusiasts cars will have ICE engines, long haul trucks will probably be diesel. There are use cases where gas or diesel make sense, but it might be 10-20% of the market.
  5. smk4565
    Stellantis could have sales drop 60% and they won't axe a single brand. Somehow these companies will get loans, investors or government bail out to stay alive. I don't t think Stellantis or Ford would go bankrupt, unless it is like what GM did in 2009, and it would allow them to cut the company in half. Ford would basically build only pick up trucks and commercial vans. Stellanis would be Jeep, Ram and Peugeot with rebadged versions as Opel and Vauxhaull depending on country. GM will be smaller too, they'll get driven out of China and South America mostly. The Chinese onslaught is coming and these guys (and Trump's government) are not ready. BYD just showed the Yangwang U9 Track Edition, it has 2,976 horsepower and costs the same as a Corvette ZR1. Dodge can bring back the Hellcat all they want, it is 2,000 hp less than a Chinese car. And China already makes an EV midsize pickup the size of a Ridgeline and it is $25,000. Legacy auto better innovate fast.
  6. smk4565
    Stellantis is in trouble for sure since they have a lot of imports and their product line already isn't great. And they can bring back the Hemi, but it makes 360 hp in 5.7 liter trim, there are 4 cylinders nearing that now. And the 6.4 Hemi is 470 hp, it is less than the Hurricane high output and is thirstier. The Durango is older than dirt, that just has dwindling sales. V8 in the Charger won't really sell any better than the 6 and the new Charger is $52k base with destination charge, with options probably $55-60k, I don't see that selling well. Hornet is gone for 2026, Pacifica is old, Alfa and Maserati are dated and undesirable and will be hit with tariffs to make it even worse. Ford will survive on F150, Transit and commercial business. They make money there. Lincoln is losing Corsair, the Nautilus is from China so tariffs with shut that down. Bronco Sport and Maverick from Mexico, tariffs are making those not so cheap anymore. I think a sales decline is looming for Ford. The universal platform maybe saves the Mustang, because the Mustang sales are in the toilet, I don't see how they keep justifying a vehicle with low volume that doesn't have a platform share.
  7. smk4565
    They didn't even show a vehicle though, just said that in 2 years we'll have a pickup around $30,000. Which probably means $30,990 plus a $1995 destination charge and you are at $33k before any options which will quickly push it to $40k. They already have the Maverick in this same space. I don't see this as a "Model T" moment. It would have to be $5k cheaper than the Maverick to get people to really start buying EV's en masse. And where do they go with this, the Chinese already make midsize EV pickups for $25,000, so you can't see it overseas because the Chinese will win on price. The Model T had years where it sold over a million units. If Ford wants their new age Model T, then the vehicle has to be so good at such a price that you can't pass it up for a Rav4 or CRV. This will be like the Equinox EV that was going to be $30k, but ended up more like $35k base and $40k for most of the ones at dealers and when the tax credit goes away sales will dry up.
  8. smk4565
    $60k SUVs with 4 cylinders is what will bring on the era of EV's. That and batteries getting cheaper. Once you can get a 400 hp EV for the same cost of a 200 hp 4-banger, ICE dies.
  9. smk4565
    I think they should have just made Denali's nicer instead of doing this Denali Ultimate. Half the trim levels are Denali now. is a Buick Avenir Ultra next? I feel like the Traverse/Enclave/Acadia is kind of a weak spot in GM. Grand Cherokee is same money (not that I'd trust Jeep reliability) Toyota has Highlander, Grand Highlander, Lexus TX, Land Cruiser, that Palisade and Telluride are good, the competition seems to have GM beat here and the GM trio is pretty new to market.
  10. smk4565
    Well all the MB-tex colors are no cost option, going to leather or Nappa leather on a GLC or GLE is an upcharge. So it does give the customer choice and also give Mercedes and opportunity to make extra profit. Even looking at the Escalade and Escalade IQ, there are 2-3 seat color options depending on the trim and the Escalade IQ is only faux leather. An Escalade should have 10+ interior colors to pick from. They have offer more customization, kind of like the Celestiq customization but in Escalade, Vistiq and Lyric. That's what Porsche does.
  11. smk4565
    Home run on the power and performance at that price point too, with the tax credit while it lasts this is a 3.5 second 0-60 car for like $61k. There is lot to like here. 300 miles would have bene nice, I don't know if they could make an eco mode to decouple a motor to increase range. Faster charging would be nice, but I think most people charge at home and won't care about that. Where this car misses, like David said is the interior choices. There are only black and that light gray leather and the dash is the same on all of them. This is a problem with a lot of Cadillacs. Every Cadillac should have 5 leather colors, 5 different dash trim options, 5 different wheel options. You have to give luxury buyers customization choices. The Lyric-V is black interior only, unless you get the Premium trim you have an option or tan. Can't have 2 choices only on an $85,000 car. The Mercedes GLC has 10 wheel options, 6 MB-tex seat options, 7 leather choices, 6 dash trim choices. And that is a bottom end Mercedes, on par with Optiq. Even if the Optiq offered 10 seat covering choices instead of 2 they still have less than the competition.
  12. smk4565
    I think that is with Employee pricing and not including the $1695 destination charge. $29,840 + $1695 destination is the new price without the employee pricing.
  13. smk4565
    The Maverick has been a hit, but the base price of the XL model was about $25k last year and is up to $31k after the first round of tariff price adjustment and I suspect the 2026 will go up again. I think in that $25-35k range the Maverick is a hit, when it gets over $40k it gets a bit steep. Much like it's Ford Escape sibling, in the low $30s it is a good deal, but not at all at $40k+.
  14. smk4565
    The problem with Infiniti (aside from they have no performance like the old days), is this car when this car is 5 years old, it will be worth about $20k, and when it is 10 years old it will be worth about $7k. So you have to be nuts to spend $50-60k on one of these.
  15. smk4565
    Staying pretty true to formula here which is smart since they sell 475,000 of these a year. And the price will go up since they are all hybrid now, but that won't slow down the sales.
  16. smk4565
    The Lexus ES is getting a FWD EV variant with about 215 hp and an AWD 338 hp EV variant. So it looks like they will use same EV powertrain for a lot of Toyota/Lexus products.
  17. smk4565
    I don't think they care about losing investment in red states, they want to cut medicaid to people in red states. They can just say the tariffs will bring back manufacturing and use that as the excuse. I think the Chinese car companies can set up factories in India or Mexico or Africa and get the same 25% tariff that Toyota, Ford, GM, etc are paying and then it is probably game over. I think the 400 volt vs 800 volt matters less for Tesla as having dated designs and bland interiors will. Tesla was the hot new item for a while, but their product is kind of stale and everyone else has fresher product. Then there is the Elon issue, I saw a Tesla today with a No Elon sticker on it, I imagine a massive amount of their current owner base isn't going to buy another. A couple years ago Tesla had like 70% owner loyalty, if that swings the other way to 70% leave, I don't see how they ever grow.
  18. smk4565
    Agreed. If this is $30k or even low $30s, and maybe a FWD only follows later for $29,995 this pretty much kills Tesla's sub $30k model they hyped up but will never come out. Especially if GM brings back a Chevy Bolt for $30k. Although if the tax credit goes away next year, then the CHR at $32,500 is way less appealing than $25,000. And if they do take the tax credit away, I wonder how long before the low cost Chinese EV's show up and just take over the market.
  19. smk4565
    If pricing stays the same as 2025, this would probably sell well. This is probably the 2nd fastest Toyota after the Supra which really is a BMW anyway.
  20. smk4565
    Mini and Rolls is probably 30k units a year. Land Rover is the most since Jaguar is near zero at this point. It could create a weird race for BMW to push out a year's worth of Mini's in Q1 to try to beat Land Rover to get the lower tariff.
  21. smk4565
    First 100,000 total cars or first 100,000 per manufacturer? Still 10% is higher than the old 2.5% so prices will go up, from before. And if this is foreshadowing, are they going to put a 10% tariff on the first 100k cars from Mexico and Canada? And it used to be 0, so no matter what, the 2026 car prices are going way up.
  22. smk4565
    Ford Maverick, Bronco Sport and Mach-E prices all went up $1100-2000 today. The 2025 Maverick is now $5000 more than a 2024 Maverick. That's a 20% increase in 1 year.
  23. smk4565
    Raising the gas tax also hits low income people the worst. Although if they are going to make the EV fee a thing then they should raise gas taxes also to balance it. They can let the 2017 tax cut expire, that will create a trillion dollars and do a lot more than trying to discourage EV purchases with a $250 annual fee.
  24. smk4565
    I could see maybe if they add a $250 federal tax on all new car purchases as a 1 time fee. But to charge it every year is both a ripoff and unfair. Fast forward 20 years and 90% of cars might be EV, so the fund roads through gas tax will be totally obsolete. And it will be a tax more so on lower income and working people. And the gas tax basically works that the college student driving a 10 year old Corolla because that is what they can afford, will pay the same road tax as a pro football player in an Escalade.
  25. smk4565
    Bad idea for 2 reasons. First the avg amount paid in gas taxes for a person is about $100 a year, so you are penalized for a hybrid or EV. Second, if you are someone who doesn't drive much, or has a couple cars, maybe a fixed income senior with a Chevy Bolt that drives 4,000 miles a year, now you are paying $250 to drive 4,000 miles vs about $20 in gas tax.
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