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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    This is ridiculous, the amount of badging on the back of the car will he put of control, I also think they want to be like AMG and have a 45 or 65 badge. Here is question what happens to a car with 390 hp? That isn't on their scale. Why don't they just put a sticker on the back of the car with the actual horsepower total.
  2. smk4565
    But I think smaller. And no doubt cheaper than a Colorado or Ridgeline. There is opportunity there, not everyone that buys a pick up needs to tow 10,000 lbs or haul ton of bricks in back. $40k for a Tacoma or Colorado isn't uncommon. If Hyundai can sell this at like $20-30k, look out.
  3. smk4565
    I read 4,079 lbs somewhere, then I see Road and Track has 4,255 lbs. Maybe the Euro market is first one, or maybe that was a mess up, I'd like to see what BMW puts on their website when it is all official.
  4. smk4565
    Why does the CTS-V use the same V8 as Chevy? A lot of companies use the same V8 or versions of the same V8 in multiple cars. This car is like 4,070 lbs, that is insane for a V8 all wheel drive mid-size sedan, and the 5-series is a big mid-size sedan. I still give them props for that weight reduction, the 0-60 time beats the E63 and CTS-V. They got some things right, depends on how it drives, the 540i had a poor showing in a comparison with the CTS and E43 last year. Batteries and electric motors would add weight, drive up cost, V12 would be too nose heavy, might not fit, etc. They did the right powertrain here, I am surprised they only got 550 lb-ft of torque, when Mercedes gets 627 lb-ft from a smaller engine. However BMW is know for under rating engines. I think the E63 will still beat this car in all the comparisons, the E-class kills it in interior, and the E63 won't be the fastest Mercedes sedan for very long. The M5 will probably always be the fastest BMW sedan.
  5. smk4565
    The problem with all that is the 200 wasn't competitive with a Malibu, let alone a Camry. To get the 200 competitive with an Acura or Lincoln is a huge leap. The other problem is FCA can't make a good interior. They could have taken the Maserati Ghibli interior and put it in the Dart, and the fit and finish and quality would have still lagged way behind an Accord. The current 300/Charger is beyond saving, that needs a clean sheet redesign, with a new engine line up, the Pentatar is 7 years old, that Hemi is pushing 12 years without a lot of updates. FCA has zero interest in spending the money to do upgrade all that. Sergio just wants to milk out whatever money is left in these dated cars with Hellcat engines. He either has to cut the fat first then sell FCA as a package or sell Jeep first, give Exor the $33 billion and let the of FCA rest collapse.
  6. smk4565
    A very good idea to sell this. I would assume this would be a whole size class below the Colorado/Canyon and like the size of the 80s S10. Which is huge opportunity because no one makes a small pickup.
  7. smk4565
    Sergio is set to retire in 2019, I thought I read somewhere and maybe it was on this site that he is in line for a pretty big bonus if he can sell FCA or parts of it. They spun off Ferrari into a $9 billion business so they aren't opposed to doing that. The problem with a single sale of Jeep is you are stuff with the rest of FCA. And Alfa/Maserati could never make it alone they are too small. I think Sergio is going to everything possible to find a buyer though.
  8. smk4565
    What is really impressive is this car weighs under 4100 lbs. It looks like the M division got some mojo back here. I think the interior looks the same as the previous generation though and even the generation before that. Thumbs up for the super car performance, thumbs down on that interior for $110k.
  9. smk4565
    To sell all of FCA, Sergio would first have to close Chrysler and Dodge. Ram trucks are useless in China or Europe, they probably make sense for a Chinese maker that wants US market sales. Problem with selling Jeep alone is the rest of FCA is worthless. If they sell Jeep now what do they do with the rest of the company? This is like when a baseball team trades a top prospect but makes the receiving team take a dead weight contract.
  10. smk4565
    Seems like a good idea to put it on sale, this could catch on again. Once autonomous cars get more common, a van makes the most sense. Because if you aren't driving and just lounging around or even sleeping until you get to your destination, a van has the space. And for autonomous ride sharing, a van could hold more people.
  11. smk4565
    Everyone ever looking to buy something, says they are not looking to buy it.
  12. smk4565
    Yes it is.
  13. smk4565
    That was a W140 chassis car, they were still selling when the W221 S-class was on sale with the same V12 and the Maybach was double the price. I bet they had profit on the Maybach, but they had no reason to keep it going. It was a failed experiment, and over reaction to BMW having Rolls, and VW having Bentley. It made more sense to dump the Maybach brand rather than do another $400,000 sedan that won't sell and doesn't bring any cache to the Mercedes logo. It is better to focus on the S-class as their ultimate sedan and offer the Maybach trim to bolster the S-class and the 3 point star.
  14. smk4565
    Seems like most of FCA is skipping out. Mercedes has a lot planned for this show. I imagine BMW will push the 8-series and Z4, and maybe X7 concept or something. They should have some stuff.
  15. smk4565
    Z8's now cost double what they did 15 years ago.
  16. smk4565
    Not every car Mercedes makes has to be profitable though. They can build low volume one offs or loss leaders just for the sake of doing it. At most car companies the bean counters will kill off a 6 wheel drive SUV or a Laundelet limo or a hyper car well before it even gets off the sketch pad. And the hyper car might not even lose money, the powertrain development is already paid for and the $2 million price might cover the materials and production cost. If it doesn't, Mercedes obviously doesn't care.
  17. smk4565
    EV's for all. This band wagon will start to fill up fast, the technology is just coming to where it is affordable and scaleable.
  18. smk4565
    Yes but they don't have to design something new, they already have most of that work done from the F1 car. Speeds up the R&D time. If they want to make an 800 hp AMG GT sedan, or an e-turbo C300 that is more efficient than the current car, it won't be that hard to do.
  19. smk4565
    I thought Solstice right away from the rear, and there is some Corvette and Jaguar F-type vibe in it too. I think it looks good overall, but needs more BMW like headlights. It doesn't really scream BMW. Cool looking car though, and Mercedes is dropping the SLC so, the Z4 has that space more to itself.
  20. smk4565
    275 already sold out, I don't know why they don't make 500, why stop when you have people in line to buy it. What does become a business model is taking that hybrid system, and applying it to a more conventional engine, or taking the electric turbo from that car and putting in the E53 that is supposed to replace the E43.
  21. smk4565
    AMG has already released those specs on the hypercar that goes on sale in 2018. In almost any comparison test the C300 is near the top of the class, C63 has beaten ATS-V and M3 head on, the E43 just won a comparison test, I remember the E300 beating the CT6 in a Motor Trend compare last year. Those 2 cars regardless of trim level are class leading.
  22. smk4565
    Cheap performance is always nice in the marketplace, but I hope this car is actually cheap. 246 hp is what is in a Sonata 2.0 Turbo that is like $27k and a larger, more luxurious car.
  23. smk4565
    They aren't competitive. If they were people would buy them. Cheap, cramped interiors and a HUE, (Horrible User Interface), torqueless V6, refinement issues, etc. The CTS back in 2006 sold better than what the ATS and CTS combined are selling now. The competition passed them by. The AMG cars constantly beat Cadillacs in magazine comparison tests, and AMG is just getting warmed up. BMW better get their M division up to par, AMG is stomping them too and is now on to Porsche and Ferrari. Let's look at the next AMG car: under 2800 lbs 1.6 liter bi-turbo V6 hybrid 1000+ horsepower 11,000+ rpm redline 4 electric motors F1 pushrod suspension BMW, Cadillac and Audi will never get there.
  24. smk4565
    Before this Custom trim the Tahoe and Yukon were $1,000 apart. Too close.
  25. smk4565
    But in this case the Tahoe is positioned as a luxury SUV, while the GMC is positioned the same way. The Tahoe, and ever Chevy truck for that matter should be cheaper than the GMC. I have long said the base model GMC anything should be priced the same as the Chevy LTZ trim. The Yukon starts at $48,500, a Tahoe should be $43,500 base, so I like that they dropped the Tahoe price, I think it could drop another grand, or maybe up the Yukon base model to $49,950 and make more standard, then you have a $5k gap at least. Mercedes doesn't sell 2 of the same of anything like GM does. Even GLE and GLS which are the closest 2 products they have don't share any body panels.
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