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smk4565

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Posts posted by smk4565

  1. I think it looks kind of dated because they are stuck with an old frame and body, they can put a lot of new on top, but the old bones are still in there.   I don't see this as jump starting the brand, Infiniti looks more dead than Nissan is, because neither brand has anything new or exciting.  It is a lot of carry over powertrains, carry over chassis, that they just keep trying to dress up.

     

    And I wonder if in 5-10 years time, luxury cars will have physical buttons, and not all these screens.  Because sub $30k Kia's are loaded with touch screens now, the cheap cars are all screens all over the place because they are cheap.  Designing and having actual physical buttons and tactile things you can touch costs money. 

  2. 3 minutes ago, David said:

    Your acting as if Rivian is Tesla. Yes they over promised, under delivered in their initial EV, but I think they have this pretty well sorted out. Will be interesting to see what the price is in 2026, could be less as battery prices drop.

    Sadly Rivian is a NO GO for me as any auto I purchase has to support Android Auto and Apple Carplay.

    Not just Tesla, but the F150 Lightning and Silverado EV were going to be $40k, then were like $70k.  The Ford Maverick was $19,995 promised and is now about $25k with destination.  Car companies like to create buzz at a launch, and promise one thing, then deliver another.    

  3. Potential home run if they really do charge $45,000 for it and it gets the $7500 tax credit.  Then we are talking $37,500 starting price, that will undercut a well equipped Ford Escape or Toyota Rav4.   But not available until 2026?  2 years away so I wont' be surprised if the price is $50k by the time it comes out because all these companies oversell the base MSRP then the price skyrockets.

    • Agree 1
  4. Dodge CEO said a police version is “on their radar.”  So it sounds like they will do another police version, they probably need to poll departments and see how much demand there is and whether they want to do it as EV or ICE.  Personally I would think EV so these police departments can save on gas and the Explorer kind of corners the ICE market but the EV police car market isn’t really tapped.

  5. Jaguar is dead, I don't know how the dealers go 1 year with just the I-Pace in production even if they have old stock of ICE cars lingering around a while.  And I feel like EV launches are always delayed, so mid-2025 could be fall 2025, and a GT car like the Taycan probably won't sell because no one wants a big Jaguar sedan and it will probably cost twice as much as a Tesla Model S and half half the range and performance.  I just think the product planners are Jaguar are clueless and the brand hasn't really been relevant for 10 years.    They brand will be gone in 5 years.

  6. I think the front looks a little off, like if you put a red light bar across the front it would look like the back of the car.  Kind of looks like a rear bumper on the front of the car.  

    Overall it looks like it would appeal to Charger fans, the interior looks on par with the price point they are going for in a large car.  This is a pretty large car though over 206 inches long I think and over 5800 lbs for the EV version.  I don't know how much appeal there is for a huge, 3 ton sedan but I guess we will find out.

    I imagine they'll come out with a turbo 4 version in a year or two for the fleet sale crowd, or a the 4XE powertrain for the police package to help drive some volume.  

  7. Rivian is probably the last EV start up that will make it.  I doubt Lucid makes it long term unless the Saudi's want to keep wasting money on it.  Fisker and anyone else moving forward is too late to the game, and won't be able to scale fast enough to be profitable.  To be profitable you either need to be making $250,000 cars or be selling a million cars a year.  

  8. Total waste of time and money to develop this.  There is no Hydrogen network and people aren't ever going to buy Hydrogen power cars.  The only case a Hydrogen fuel cell may work is on class 8 semi trucks in a fleet operator where the home base could have a hydrogen refueling area or a sea port or shipping port where the trucks only run in that port and you can refuel in the same port.  And in either case, Honda isn't Freightliner.

    • Agree 2
  9. I imagine in 5 years time, all the big hotel chains will have charging, we see Wal-Mart doing it, Target and other big box stores will do it, McDonalds I think is putting chargers in.  Plus the Ionna charge network should be up and running by then.  I don't think range anxiety is an issue, it is charger anxiety, and soon that will go away.  Plus there will be EV's that aren't super expensive and I think the flood gates open for EV sales.

  10. People are leaving sedans because they aren't as practical as SUVs, so some car makers like this Chrysler see the answer to make a less practical, swoop sedan that is going to have even less interest.  The Mercedes CLS is dead, and I feel like the BMW 8-series grand coupe and Audi A7 won't be far behind it, they are just behind the curve.  And here comes Chrysler, 20 years after the original CLS trying a sweeping roofline coupe, sort of looks like he Mercedes EQXX concept.  

    I doubt they actually build this, and it won't have level 4 self driving tech since the only car with level 3 tech is the S-class (and EQS) and Chrysler is probably a decade behind the S-class.

    Best to move the Pacifica to rename it Dodge Grand Caravan, close up Chrysler.  

    • Agree 1
  11. I did read that Ford is working on a low cost EV platform.  That is what they really need, because you need volume to make EV's work, and you can't get volume with $100,000+ products.

     

    What about domestic built SUVs?  The BMW X7, Volvo XC90, Toyotas, Mercedes GLS are made in the USA, Stellantis makes SUVs in the USA.  But Toyota or Volvo would never put that kind of power in anything, and Mercedes is going to axial flux motors, and ditching the radial motors it seems, so that rules them out.

  12. 20 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

     

    Jeep killed the Renegade and Cherokee because they are trying to force Jeep up market and because Jeep has failed in China.  Part of the economies of scale for Jeep included China sales, and for the first few years of the Renegade it was selling well there.... until it wasn't.  The other problem is that the platforms the Renegade and Cherokee are on are being phased out without Fiat support. Compass is next.

    The upmarket Jeeps aren't selling either.  The Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale are on the Compass platform, which neither of them are selling, but I wouldn't be surprised if they keep those around for another 8-10 years.  

    • Disagree 1
  13. 2 minutes ago, David said:

    AWD with proper snow tires is far superior to a 4x4 or 4x4 with snow tires and especially FWD or RWD with snow tires.

    But most AWD "SUVs" are operating 90-95% FWD and sending maybe 10% of torque to the rear wheels, a lot can't even send more than 50% power to the rear.  That AWD Kia Seltos is probably not any better in snow than a FWD Malibu with snow tires.   Different story if the AWD system can send 100% power front or rear and has diff lockers and things of that nature.  

    But it is still 4 wheel drive, not 4 wheel stop, and it seems like when it snows, it is the pick up trucks you see sliding off the road more than cars do.

    • Disagree 3
  14. That's actually too much power I think for the rear axle because you'd have to have a front motor would a few hundred horsepower for all wheel drive.  I heavy SUV with even 700 hp, let alone 900 will go through a set of tires every 5,000 miles.  But everyone wants to win the EV horsepower wars and have 1,000+ hp.

    Hopefully the horsepower wars end soon and they put their effort into developing lighter weight and lower cost batteries.  Ford has an almost 8 month supply of Mach-E's sitting on dealer lots right now.  They don't need bigger, more powerful, more expensive EV's, they need cheaper ones.

  15. 3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

    Same. I find the Trax kind of pointless since I can't buy it in AWD, and for my area I really need it.  If I'm going to buy a hatchback, I'll buy a hatchback, not a wannabe crossover. The saving grace for the Trax on this list is that is one of only two that doesn't have a CVT.

    The Jetta will be the comfort king here. They're the most spacious of the bunch, ride really well, have a pleasant powertrain, and I wouldn't even mind rowing my own gears for once.

    AWD is over rated, what you or other people need are snow tires.  But we hardly get snow here anyway.  Agree though on the Trax is just a slightly lifted hatchback, it may become the new Cruze that gets the reputation for just being cheap junk.  Probably a Civic or Mazda 3 hatchback is a better play at that price point.

    • Disagree 2
  16. 5 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

    Ford killing the Escape is a dumb move, but they're doing it because they think they can move those drivers to the Bronco sport, which is less car for more money because it's "cute".  The Edge is just the last vestige of that platform.  I do think it will come back as the Nautilus clone. It's the same platform as the current Escape and the R&D is already done.

    K5 was just a rename of Optima. That said, I am 190% sure that it will have a direct EV replacement based on the Ioniq 6. Hyundai will try to move Sonata buyers to Ioniq 6 also.

    The problem with that is the Ioniq 6 is $15,000 more expensive than a Sonata.  Much like the EV6 is $15-20,000 more than the Sportage of the same size.   If their plan is to replace all the ICE cars with $40,000+ EV's, good luck with that.  

    And I wouldn't even be surprised if the Bronco Sport gets stale and Ford kills it like Jeep killed the Renegade and Cherokee.  They are probably scheming In Dearborn on how to make the Ranger the entry level Ford at a $39,995 starting price.  

    • Facepalm 1
  17. I  think the Soul dies after this generation and the K5 is dead too, that one didn't last long.   And the Nissan Versa and Altima die after 2025 model year as do the Ford Escape and Edge.    Because all buyers want $50,000,  3 row crossovers according to car manufacturer market research.

  18. I sort of forgot the Kicks was still around.  I think the Soul, Versa and Mirage are due to be discontinued in 2024.

    Also if Tesla really does deliver on a sub $30,000 car that has a point of sale $7500 credit, I think a $22,500 Tesla will sell in ridiculous volume when you look at some of these cars are about that price.

    • Facepalm 1
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