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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Smart move. The TT should be a coupe. They already make sedans.
  2. smk4565
    They would not, which is why they are a global company. And as I said they are investing in the US market, investing in their own market, investing in China/India, etc. GM cut Europe, is cutting in the USA, they are in a 20 year cut mode.
  3. smk4565
    Ford Powerstoke 450 hp Ram Cummings 385 hp Chevy 445 hp Those are not 700 hp. And I know trucks use torque, but 700 hp is still 700 hp.
  4. smk4565
    Those are also Heavy Duty trucks with lower horsepower numbers. This truck does 0-60 as fast as a Corvette Z06, which is pretty insane. This Rivian will compete with Ecoboost 3.5 F150s. I'm sure if this company got going and comes up with an HD pickup they could have it tow 20,000 lbs or some ridiculous number. The new Tesla Roadster is supposed to have 7,000 lb-ft of torque, I would imagine they could fit that to the pick up they are planning. I wouldn't bet on diesel as the future.
  5. smk4565
    The problem with GM's plan is it is a continual cut. They cut Oldsmobile, then all the other brands during the bankruptcy. Granted a lot of those they didn't need, but in doing that it should have led them to be able to put more money into each brand to make them stronger and they didn't. They have given up on minivans because they couldn't compete there, now they are cutting maybe half their sedans because they can't make profit there. They cut European operations because they couldn't make money there. They are basically a China-North American player now that is by 2020 will probably be 80% trucks and SUVS. So what happens when competitors go after their truck business, because they will. We see Hyundai and Kia going into the full size SUV market, Tesla will go into pickups, etc. GM has been in retreat mode for 20 years.
  6. smk4565
    Mercedes makes money everywhere, USA is only their 3rd biggest market and they have been #1 luxury car company for a while here. They just built a new factory in South Carolina for the Sprinter with 1,300 new jobs. They are spending $1.3 billion to expand the Alabama plant to include battery production and that will add more jobs. They are investing in the USA, as the Detroit 3 bail out. Mercedes is also building a new factory in Germany to build the next S-class, which will be the most technologically advanced and greenest auto manufacturing plant in the world. They are building new factories and creating jobs. And chances are they will be next to last to the party in that zero emissions and autonomous car thing. They'll beat FCA there, and that might be it.
  7. smk4565
    The CT5 will probably flop like every other Cadillac sedan since about 2012 has, I agree there seems to be nothing game changing or improved there. Cadillac was about big sedans, but big sedans don't sell, and Cadillac also dropped the ball on the CT6 by not making it powerful enough, the V8 isn't even out yet. If you are going to build a big, expensive sedan it should have power and performance, not a torque less V6 or a turbo 4. And weak product and marketing for decades that has eroded Cadillac's image is why they can't sell for German prices. The people running GM are bean counters for sure. They get a $150 million tax cut this year, turn around and lay off 15,000 people and the stock price goes up 7% today. I bet Mary Barra's portfolio is looking good, probably a big bonus coming her way too.
  8. smk4565
    If the CT5 grows in size over the CTS then I think CT6 or any other large sedan is finished and they are going the Infiniti 2-Sedan strategy. But you are right on the CT5 spy photo, that won’t scare any Germans. And to the last point, this is why people buy imports. Aside from the German performance cars you can get a Veloster N, Mazda has some sporty cars, Kia Stinger, etc
  9. smk4565
    Ford and FCA dropped sedans mostly, I could see Chevy dropping the Cruze and just having an Asian built Sonic imported (depending on tariffs) for a cheap car and the Malibu being their only gas sedan. If the Volt is an EV sedan you sort of have enough sedans. I think future GM is going to pick and choose where they compete and not go head on with luxury brands. They may but Cadillac to 2 sedans, but I would be surprised if they didn't have a 3rd sedan. We probably have to see how big the CT5 is, if it is larger than the CTS, and the CT4 is larger than a ATS, then you don't need a CT6 or CT7. Anything outside of the S-class has horrible volume in that segment, the A8 exists because of China and the 7-series exists because of Europe.
  10. smk4565
    700 hp and 800 lb-ft of torque is insane, that is what I love about EV's. That crushes any V8 truck. I also like the flat floor in the interior, looks very spacious and the front trunk and storage is nice too. Hopefully they are successful with this, I'd like to see more options for EVs rather than small hatchbacks.
  11. smk4565
    First off, I feel bad for the folks that are losing their jobs. These big corporations lobbied for and got the tax cuts under the guise of "we'll bring the jobs and money back to the US" but we all knew that wasn't going to happen. As far as the products go, I would be surprised for the Volt to be totally killed, I could see the Volt becoming a pure EV sedan, something bigger than the Bolt and maybe not as big as a Malibu. I think the CT6 could move production to another plant, possibly even China and import. I don't think they will totally kill that product. The LaCrosse, Impala, XTS, Cruze I think are all dead. Buick can get by with 1 sedan and they'll probably just do a Malibu clone to replace the current Regal/LaCrosse, maybe they recycle one of those name plates.
  12. smk4565
    Wasn't today, but last week I got an oil change plus state inspection and emissions inspection, and no repairs needed for $180 total at dealer prices. Not too shabby for a 10 year old German car. (granted I did replace the front brakes and an air strut this summer)
  13. smk4565
    They probably should dump Fiat. Even in the 2nd world countries, I imagine VW, Skoda, Seat, Nissan/Renault or Toyota do way better and Fiat probably doesn't even do well in counties that crave cheap small cars. I don't really see the need for Maserati either. As a high dollar car it should have good margins, but it doesn't because they can't sell enough and you still have some amount of fixed costs to cover. Really you could transform the Ghibli into a mid/large Alfa Romeo sedan then Alfa has 2 sedans, give them another SUV and they have 2, give them an 8C $100k sports car as a halo product and that makes Maserati pointless. Jaguar to some degree is in the same situation. Just because Jaguar and Maserati are storied brands, doesn't mean they are relevant today. Blockbuster Video and Sears were successful, segment leading brands are one point, irrelevant today. I don't see any path in which FCA competes with the German luxury car brands. They are too good at what they do and too far ahead.
  14. smk4565
    Their problems are 100% product and not any pairing with Alfa Romeo. Maserati cars have poor build quality, low rent interior plastics and their whole deal is supposed to be performance, and any of the Germans will sell a better performing car and at less money. Case in point, Levante Trofeo is $170,000 base and the GLE63 which is dated itself is just as fast at about $125,000. Or get a Cayenne Turbo or the new X5 M. The most powerful Ghibli has 424 hp, you can get more than that in an E53, and the top Quattroporte has 523 hp, you get 630 in the AMG GT 4-door and the AMG GT is your Nurburgring lap record holder for a 4 door car. Maserati is just a disaster, only way to fix it is better product, and clearly they don't have the money or resources or engineering know-how to do it.
  15. smk4565
    Unfortunately for GM people do look at the label. And when ever people say "we beat the label" well maybe Ford or Ram beats their label too.
  16. smk4565
    Makes sense, they need another SUV. This lets them up-size the Pilot a little and not have to make the CR-V any bigger, because it has grown a bit in the past generation to two.
  17. smk4565
    It looks good on the outside, I'd be curious to see the inside and how big it is and what the powertrains are. Could be a strong contender though in the full size segment.
  18. smk4565
    Agreed then maybe you market the V6 AWD as the TRD performance, at least it would have that going for it. The new Altima has AWD but they left it off the top engine because they said the car would cost too much, which makes sense because they probably know a $35k+ Altima is a hard sell. Same with the Camry if you put too much on it gets near $40k and then that is Lexus level.
  19. smk4565
    A million up votes. And it would seem that you can be a financial genious if you lie about the numbers.
  20. smk4565
    So zero power upgrades for a "performance" trim. Also only about 7% of Camrys are sold with a V6 anyway. I wonder how much difference the suspension makes, you still have a nose heavy front drive car, and I can't imagine suspension tweaks make it fell all that much different than a regular Camry. So this is probably mostly a body kit and wheel package.
  21. smk4565
    What is a real SUV? Is a Wrangler going to last longer than a Cherokee or Compass? Does a G-class last longer than an E-class sedan? I don’t buy into a truck lasts longer than a car so it has better resale. I think crossovers are hot and the used market isn’t flooded with them yet to where 70% of used car lot inventory is a crossover/suv which will happen.
  22. smk4565
    I wonder how crossover resale value will be in a couple years when used car lots are flooded with them and Ford and FCA have quit on sedans. There is also a consumer falacy that an SUV is more rugged and longer lasted than a car is, when a Fusion/Edge or Camry/Highlander are basically the same chassis and power trains coming out of the same factories.
  23. smk4565
    GM’s marketing is bad across the board. The Chevy focus group guy is annoying and the ads are terrible, and how did they find people to be in these focus groups that have not watched TV in the past 5 years to know it is the Chevy guy conducting the focus group. “That’s not a Buick” ads are fired and played out and weren’t that good to begin wih, they are literally admitting that people have no idea what their cars looks like or stand for. Cadillac hasn’t had a good ad in about 10 years. Subaru does car advertising right, they are on point and on message and look what their sales have done over the past 10 years.
  24. smk4565
    So does every other expensive car. I like a car with strong acceleration and 0-60 is jus the best measure of that. In general I see plug in hybrid as low appeal. A hybrid or mild hybrid that can add some performance or fuel economy without adding a lot of weight or cost I like. But after that you might as well go full electric and get 0-60 in 3 seconds.
  25. smk4565
    4 cylinder hybrid is going to have a low take rate on any luxury car. People in the upper price ranges aren't going to care a lot about fuel economy, so electrification needs to be more about a performance play. And turbo 4 in a full size car isn't performance. Plus they priced this high, I remember when the CT6 came out thinking the hybrid was too expensive, they wanted close to turbo V6 money for it.
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