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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    So you think an Electric Jeep is a bad idea but love the Bolt and I assume think the Buick SUV Bolt will be a hit? The first brand FCA should look at for EV's is Jeep. Jeep is their best brand image name plate and their most profitable. It is also global and has volume. Spending a couple billion to make EV Maseratis with no sales is asinine.
  2. smk4565
    Amazon had almost no total profit their first 10 years, most years they had losses. Now retail powerhouses like Sears, JC Penny, Macy's, are going out of business and even Wal-Mart is hurting. If Tesla becomes the Amazon of cars, then they aren't over valued at all, they'll put half the brands out of business.
  3. smk4565
    I think there are a lot of young people that buy Wranglers though, and you'll have more success selling EV's to millennial than "old school" buyers that want a full size sedan with a V8. I could see electric Renegade, Compass, Wrangler type vehicles doing well. Small to mid-size SUVs. They will sell a crap ton more of those than EV Quattroporte's and Ghibli's, no one buys those cars now. Not sure why Maserati is still around, other than Sergio loves them since they have a Ferrari derived V6, but they don't even own Ferrari anymore.
  4. smk4565
    ATS and CTS are getting killed off. That isn't doing just fine. And we know nothing about the CT5 yet, so we don't know if it is an upgrade or how that will play out. Musk's house of cards is worth more than all of GM, it could crumble, but if the Model 3 is a hit, he is on his way. The one thing Tesla has going for it, is a passionate leader. GM is run by finance people and accountants that are care takers of a shrinking empire. Musk is relentless and takes this all personally.
  5. smk4565
    Charger sells like 50% fleet.
  6. smk4565
    The optimism for the Bolt is reminiscent of how the ATS and CTS were going to challenge the Germans and take them down. And here were are with ATS and CTS going to the grave, and the Germans still going strong.
  7. smk4565
    This is a good idea and if it is larger than the Bolt, say 173 inches long it will be in the middle of the Encore and Envision in size. Pricing I imagine would mirror the Enclave.
  8. smk4565
    The Electric B-class is a bad car. The gas B-class I imagine is fine for an entry level people mover but I still don't like the body style. A GLA even looks better and does the same thing as a B-class, they have a GLB coming which could be cool, the current B-class I think they should dump world wide. A lot of the funky looking EV's don't sell but the Tesla Model S sells partly because it is a good looking sedan. I think if you want to sell an EV you make it a sedan or crossover. The Bolt is the size and shape of a Honda Fit, that isn't a winning formula. I would prefer that GM made the Bolt a Cruze or Malibu size sedan, but they didn't since they have the Volt. I wouldn't mind seeing Cadillac go all EV and making the CT5 a mid size sedan that did 0-60 in 5.5 seconds with 250 mile range and $45,000 price point and do a CT4 small sedan at $35k with a 200 mile range, rear drive on both.
  9. smk4565
    i think they will top 100,000 Model 3 sales in the US for 2018. That is nearing 10,000 units a month which is huge for a $40k car.
  10. smk4565
    They didn't do electric vehicles before for the same reason they haven't updated the 300 and Charger or brought out a capable mid size sedan, they have no money. Maserati sells no cars now making them electric will not get them anything. Why don't they do an electric Jeep Wrangler, something that people buy and could benefit from low end torque.
  11. smk4565
    The $59k price includes the extended range. The $35k Model 3 and $38k Bolt in base from both have 60 kWh batteries. At $40k the Tesla has the same stuff you get in a Bolt Premier for $42k, add $1,000 to the Tesla for metallic paint if you want. So they cost the same with similar options, the Tesla is a rear drive sedan, the Bolt is a fwd Hatchback, buyers can choose which body style they prefer. You can't compare a 310 mile Tesla with a 5.1 0-60 to a 235 mile Bolt with a 0-60 of 6.5 seconds and say the Tesla should cost the same as the Bolt.
  12. smk4565
    Because the B-class is a bad car, and despite having more cargo capacity than an i3 or Bolt or Model 3, no one shops on cargo capacity. And the B-class prouduction is ending by September and will no longer be offered. The B-class and i3 are the wrong shape, I don't get why GM copied it for the Bolt. And since Surreal says Tesla doing a sedan was a mistake he will be happy to know that Mercedes next EV will be a crossover. Back to Cadillac, question is, what do people want the CT5 to be? How should it be sized and priced? What platform, what engines? Is the Alpha platform staying for the CT5 and Camaro?
  13. smk4565
    $59k includes $8,000 worth of self driving hardware to make this car fully autonomous, which isn't even available yet. Even at $56k, the Model 3 is more advanced than GM's Super Cruise and has more range than any EV outside of a $135k Model S P100D. So I question why doesn't the Bolt go 0-60 in under 5 seconds, why doesn't the Bolt have all wheel drive (which the Model 3 will), why doesn't the Bolt have over 300 mile range, why doesn't the Bolt have Cadillac's Super Cruise now before even Cadillac gets it on the CT6. Oh right, because of cost and they don't want the Bolt to cost $65k. The Model 3 has to have some compromises to sell at $35k, even fully loaded it is $59k which isn't a bad price for an EV with that kind of range and ability to drive itself. And Motor Trend says the Model 3 handles better than the Alfa Romeo Guilia which is the best handling 4 door car on the market right now.
  14. smk4565
    Hatch would be nice, but also costs more. And it isn't like the ATS, 3-series, A4, Prius, Volt, C-class or whatever else people might cross shop with has a hatch back either. They all have a trunk too. And they can't make it longer, it is a small car. That is like saying the Cruze has a small back seat, so it should be 6 inches longer, because then it is a Malibu. The Model 3 has 180,000 orders, it only will outsell the entire Cadillac brand in 2018, and all wheel drive and a performance variant are coming next year. I don't think the trunk size is of any concern when they are probably going to sell 200,000 of these next year.
  15. smk4565
    The Bolt isn't a performance car though and the Model 3 is a sports sedan. The Model 3 seats 5 like other small sedans and has similar cargo space to other small sports sedans. It has plenty of attributes to attract buyers. The Model 3 is faster than a Bolt, I would take performance over truck space every day of the week. The Mercedes B-class has more cargo room than a Bolt, does that make the B-class the better than the Bolt? CUVs are being picked over sedans for a lot of reasons. I personally hate CUVs, but the market wants them and I get that is why car companies are offering 5 CUVs and 2-3 cars. It also makes me thankful that the brand I like still makes cars and doesn't have to merge 3 of their sedans into 1.
  16. smk4565
    The Model 3 has a rear engine, err motor, so obviously they can't have a huge trunk. What they have is adequate enough for a couple suitcases or groceries, it isn't going to stop people from buying the car. And they will have a small CUV for those that want a box on wheels. It isn't like the 3-series, ATS, A4, C-class have turns that hold 6 suitcases. The Volt as a 10.6 cubic foot trunk, and seating for 4 not 5. Where is the outrage over the Volt's cargo capacity and passenger room? Because most of the buyers don't care, they drive alone or with 1 passenger, put some groceries in it, and that is about it.
  17. smk4565
    The Model 3's cargo room and interior space should match up well with any other small sedan, the Model 3 has exactly the same rear legroom as a C-class, and has about an inch more head room, an inch less front head room. And there is a Model Y crossover coming for those that want an SUV. Tesla I think can cause a rather big disruption to the market, and the pie is only so big so Tesla's gain is someone else's loss.
  18. smk4565
    The Bolt isn't really a CUV though, it is a hatchback. It is also 20 inches shorter than the Model 3. The Model 3 has 15 cu ft of cargo space, the Bolt has 16.9 cu ft. That isn't a huge difference, and the Bolt has 95 cu ft of passenger space, I imagine the Model 3 can meet that, they haven't put out the specs yet. The Bolt stopped production because they have a 110 day supply on dealer lots, there isn't demand for it.
  19. smk4565
    The Bolt doesn't have a 310 mile battery or autonomous driving. And Model 3 is larger and faster than the Bolt. If you take off the $9,000 battery pack and $8,000 autonomous drive which Bolt does not offer the Model 3 is $42k even with paint and wheel upgrade. And a Bolt Premier is $42k.
  20. smk4565
    Mercedes has 1 EV and if the retro fitted B-class compliance car for California. I am not counting their hybrids if it has a gas tank it is not an EV. I believe their pure EV's will get the job done. They are looking at 300 mile range and 400 hp, that seems pretty desirable. Mercedes is also joining Formula E, so they can learn more from EV's there.
  21. smk4565
    They probably don't need one, the A3 and CLA are like 1,500 unit a month sellers, maybe not even that, it isn't a big segment. An XT3 crossover would sell better than a small sedan. Lexus has a crossover below the NX coming, Cadillac could put the XT4 against the NX and then do a XT3 against the new Lexus sub-compact, and I imagine Acura will do an HR-V clone, and Infiniti has their GLA clone, Audi has Q3, and a Q2 coming. So if I were Cadillac I would do CT3 long before another sedan, 2 sedans is enough.
  22. smk4565
    No because the CT5 will operate a price level below 5-series/E-class. Cadillac has to give up this segment, the STS failed, the CTS failed, and the segment is shrinking, time to bail. CT5 will be priced against the C-class, CT4 would be like $31k Audi A3 competitor. According to what Johan has said. I agree with OldsHurst's assessment. I think CT6 is the top sedan, it is full size sedan at German mid-size prizes and Cadillac will try to play up on that as a value, and appeal to those who just want a large car. The Acura RL will probably drop out of the market along with the Infiniti Q70, so that could help the CT6, and I think they'll keep it low $50s base price so that is is attainable by those that had XTS or DTS in the past.
  23. smk4565
    First I said the CT5 will probably be priced lower than the XT5 because it is common for a sedan to cost less than the same size crossover. Then you said, CT5 will cost $40,000, same as an XT5. To which I said, I could see them doing that, and I agreed with you that CT5 and XT5 could cost the same because Mercedes uses this strategy. I don't really care how they price the CT5, I was just predicting that they would go after those $35k sedans for sake of volume, and that is sort of where the CTS had success back in Gen 1. Mercedes will have more EV's than Tesla by 2022. Tesla is going to be strong player I think, but Mercedes has the manufacturing capability Tesla does not, and Mercedes can design and engineer cars. They will be able to take the fight to Tesla too, the ones that need to worry are the Lincoln, Cadillac, Acuras of the world that don't have an EV coming soon, and the low volume guys like Jaguar and Alfa that can't afford another player coming into the segment to slice down the pie even more.
  24. smk4565
    I am not a fan of no speedometer or gauges in front of the steering wheel, and the interior is plain, but other than that I think they nailed it. They had to keep the cost low somehow. For $40k you get the luxury package and a solid performing car. The MT write up was quite good. If you don't care about auto pilot it is easy to keep the cost down. Even with 220 miles per day driving, that is 80,000 miles per year. Even the base car has enough range for 99% of driving. Suprcharge it if you have to drive more than 200 miles in a day. I think they can easily sell 5,000 cars a month, probably even 10,000 a month, I expect this car to sell like hotcakes.
  25. smk4565
    I think $45k will be common because the luxury package is $5k, and Auto pilot is $5k. So that puts it at $45k which still seems like a good deal. A Bolt Premier with the driver package and infotainment package is about $43k and it is a smaller, slower car and doesn't have Super Cruise. If you don't care about autonomous driving though, you can get the luxury package and the bigger battery, have a car that goes 310 miles and does 0-60 in 5.1 seconds for $49k. That is a heck of a deal and without the tax credit.
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