smk4565

To be a true MR2 it would have to be mid engined and I don't see Toyota doing that.  And as mentioned sales of 2 seat cars are drying up fast.  And I don't see how you build it at a low price point given the cost of developing a mid engine hybrid and I don't think anyone would buy it.

With Scion dead it would be easy as can be to take the Corolla and make a 2 door version with different front and rear fascias and call it the Celica.  That gets the fwd Celica back on sale with virtually no development cost.

Lots of things will go hybrid, and more and more as costs drop.  Combined with increasing regulations on fuel economy and emissions.  Really you could have a 2.0 liter turbo 4 hybrid making as much horsepower and torque as a Hemi V8.  Hybrids are the performance cars of the future too, just look at the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918, that philosophy will trickle down, it will just take time.

We don't know what Alfa Romeo reliability will be like. Ow since it just went on sale.  The problem is neither do the potential buyers.  People buying sport sedans and soon Alfa will be in sport crossover, trust the Germans, they know what they are getting.   If you buy a Jaguar or Alfa Romeo it is a gamble, you aren't sure what you are getting.

Alfa has the Stelvio too, that may sell.  And the number of 500 hp small crossovers can be counted on one hand, and that is even after the F-Pace V8 and GLC63 go on sale.

44 minutes ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Why is it so hard to believe when its pretty much already done with the ATS-L and CTS interiors? 2018-19 is gonna put U in your place again. OH.. and f@#k Benz.. and anyone who likes them

FIX

IT

AGAIN

TONY

Because the because the CT6 interior is worse than the C-class or most Audis, unless you only judge by rear seat legroom.  So unless the ATS gets a CT6 beating interior, they aren't being a game changer.  The Alfa Quadrafiglio is like 20 seconds faster around the Nurburgring ring than a CTS-V.  I don't see them making an ATS-v faster than a CTS-V so again no game changer.  Mercedes is for some unknown reason building a C63 R that will drop weight and have 577ish hp, Cadillac isn't that ballsy because there is next to no market for cars like that.  I don't think Mercedes should even bother with it.

49 minutes ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

ATS has been out since 2012. The update will be a game changer and its literally just around the corner. Plus.. I call it today.. Mags will be in love with the Alfa JULIETTE.. bitch ass car.. til the lil muthaf@#ker breaks them down in the middle of nowhere

ATS will have to make a quantum leap to change any games, I don't think Cadillac has it in them to get the ATS interior to class leading, while also increasing performance and refinement and space.  The car Mags already like the Alfa more than the C63, it is the darling of the journalists, although it still doesn't sell.  The fact that the Alfa Quadrifiglio V6 is 75% of a Ferrari V8 gives it some solid cred though.

If all these FCA products were such great cash cows, Sergio wouldn't constantly be looking for merger partners.  FCA is spending almost nothing in on new products, so what do they sell in 2020 with so little in the pipeline?  And one global downturn, recession or gas spike could be 2009 all over again for them and he knows it.  They are making money now because the auto market has had back to back record sales years, that won't last forever.  

Maybe he should contact Carlos Ghosn, he like alliances and mergers, and he took on Mitsubishi so apparently no car maker is too far lost for him to take on.  Nissan would get the full size truck they want, Renault can absorb any Fiat models worth keeping, they could sell Renault in USA at existing dealers (the new Renault Alpine 110 looks pretty sweet), they can kill Chrysler and sell the Pacifica at Nissan or Dodge or both, they'd keep Jeep as is.

VW looks at things globally, the only global brand at FCA with any value is Jeep.   I am sure VW would love to have Jeep in the arsenal, Ram trucks would make profit in USA would would help them, but isn't like something they really need.  I don't think the value of Jeep offsets the worthlessness of Dodge/Chrysler/Fiat/Alfa/Maserati to VW.  

If GM put a ban on wearing black sweaters at work, Sergio would leave them alone forever.

He should try to merge with PSA, no one wants cars "Imported From Detroit" he could try some imported from France and use Citroen to fill Chrysler dealerships.   And they can consolidate some of the other brands.

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

It is funny on the north end of Seattle up in my neighborhood you find lots of riced out Civic's and they try to race everyone. I enjoy letting them off the line at the green light first before flooring it and blowing them away in my SS.

The reason there are a lot of riced out Civics and have been since the late 90s, is they are cheap 2nd hand cars, easy to upgrade.  I don't know of that tuner market wants to pay $40k for one.  

781 Cadillacs sold all year?  Ouch.   Not really even worth trying.

Dumping Opel/Vauxhall was the right move though.  Shed those brands and legacy costs, focus on other markets where you make money.

Desperate for American market sales I mean.  

The new VW looks better than the CC I think, but this 4 door coupe trend seems way over.  The Mercedes concept doesn't look good it looks like a Kia, and they invented the 4 door coupe in the first place.  The original CLS was ground breaking, the mojo is missing from the latest one.

VW is just desperate for sales on anything, they need crossovers in a bad way and they probably see this 4 door coupe as their halo product.  

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Outside of a track, where do you see Civics in heads-up competition for handling? And what percentage do you think are used in competition?

Maybe, just maybe someone likes Hondas, and especially likes Civic Rs, and finds it so appealing they buy it, yet actually doesn't give a $h! how it handles vs. a Mustang; better or worse, because they just like it and want to own & drive it. 

What a concept.

$40k buys an Acura TSX or TLX or whatever it is called these days.  A $40k Civic is about as ridiculous as a $55k Accord.  With manual only this will be a sales dog but Honda probably doesn't care since they sell so many base Civics.

I'm sorry, did they say starting in the mid $30k range?  So with any options this is a $40k Civic.  And I don't care what struts and differentials they put on it, a front drive car isn't going to out handle a rear drive car, or deliver power as well.  $40k gets you a bare bones Alfa Romeo Guilia if you want performance and style, or a fairly well equipped Camaro or Mustang.

XC90 is also not selling too well right now.  

I think the XC60 will bring some serious competition to the Lincoln MKC and Lexus NX.

I think it looks pretty good, and you basically get the same interior and powertrains from the XC90.  Inside and out and with the powertrains it looks like a really strong entry into the segment.  Although you sort of wonder why it is worth spending way more on an XC90 when you can get it all here.

I don't like the look of it, it looks a bit ugly.  But perhaps they assume Panamera buyers have no style, and will find this appealing.   The shape of this looks off, I think it would look better if they just added back doors on the GT and called it a day.

The powertrain sounds awesome though, that would make this different than an E63 or CLS63.  I'd like to see the EQ Power+ thing added to the inline six because not everyone needs 800 hp. 

It makes sense, GM doesn't make money in Europe, PSA does make money in Europe, and can consolidate Opel/Vauxhaul in and through platform and engine sharing, HR and financing sharing, etc, can keep this all profitable.  Makes PSA #2 in Europe, it makes sense for both sides.

GM can build Buicks from Chevys, no big deal.  They Opel Buicks (or Opel Saturns) never sold well anyway.

While they do need a 500 hp version of the Q60 to compete with C63, Jag XE and Alfa Romeo, they also need some other performance products.  And Infiniti is lazy in some areas, like their version of the Pathfinder has the Nissan 3.5 liter V6, not the Infiniti 3.7 liter V6, or one of the new turbo V6s.  The Q70 seems like it has been on market forever with no update.  So good to see them bringing a new 500 hp V6 hybrid, I think powertrains like this are the future, and I know they want to tie it to F1, but no way could they put an F1 KERS system on a Q60 it would be too expensive.

Merecedes sold inline sixes up until like 1996.   Inline sixes are smoother than a V6 or V8, and they have better economies of scale with it because it shares 70% of the parts with the inline four.  So it makes engineering sense and economic sense.  They also don't need to hold on to V6 development, because they have something better.  

They went from 5.5 liter NA V8 to 4.7 liter turbo V8 to 4.0 liter turbo V8 on the S-class in a span of 2011-2018,  they have no problem introducing a new engine every 4 years if it gets them better power and fuel economy.  In that 8 year span the V8 gained 95 hp and 125 lb-ft while increasing fuel economy.  

They went from a 268 hp V6 in 2010 to 302 direct injection in 2012, to 329 hp turbo 3.0 V6 to 396 hp turbo V6 to 408 hp inline 6 for 2018.  140 hp gain in 8 years while increasing fuel economy.  Unlike Lexus that sold the same 306 hp V6 from 2007 to 2017 with no changes.

Cadillac dumped the rear drive SRX in favor of a front drive SRX sized almost identical to the Lexus RX.  They even copied 2/3rd of their name.  There should be a CTS-V engine in the XT5, laughable that Cadillac doesn't have a 500 hp crossover.  But they are like Lexus, lame front drive chassis that can't handle any power.

Mercedes had a direct injection inline 6 in 1954.  BMW copied them.  Mercedes is going back to what they have done in the past.  With the ATS Cadillac was trying to get the same wheelbase, lengeth, width etc as the E90 3-series or whichever one people liked before the current car got big and added electric steering.

like with XT5 instead of saying how can we make it like the Lexus RX, they should be saying how can we make a smaller version of the Escalade and make it uniquely Cadillac.

36 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Is this a possible reality? Where'd you hear this from?

Autoline reported that a day or two ago.  The MKZ is likely getting cancelled in 2019 when it's life cycle ends and the factory where it is built will be used to make crossovers.  Lincoln will be adding more crossovers to the line up instead.  Autoline did say that Lincoln might add another sedan to replace MKZ, which it would be hard to imagine the Continental as the only car at Lincoln.

1 minute ago, surreal1272 said:

No. The Metris line was it's own lineup that only recently got the priviledge of being sold next to $100K S-Class cars. Furthermore, VW and the Phaeton is a terrible example. It failed because it was essentially a VW A8 for an A8 price. It's doesn't take a genius to figure out why that wouldn't work. The Camaro and Vette do not suffer form that at all within the GM family. They have no counterparts in Cadillac so there is no overlap or confusion. This is why your initial comparison does not work nor apply here. GM is nothing like the VW lineup, nothing.

Which is why Cadillac should have a sports car for $100k with Corvette performance and CT6 Platinum level (or better) interior.  GM's lineup isn't like VW's because Chevy isn't just the mainstream brand, it has become the performance brand of GM also.  And Buick and GMC overlap Cadillac a lot.  VW's brands are more spread out, they are actually more the model of how GM should do it.  GM is more like FCA with a truck brand and a lot of car brands that step on each other.

57 minutes ago, balthazar said:

CT6 isn't anymore 'German' than the S-class is 'Chinese' or 'American'.
Cadillac has been building technologically advanced, comfortable, well-performing sedans throughout most of their history- nothing new from that aspect.
No one in the market is advocating a return to a Deville from the '90s (softly-sprung & overstuffed), for example, so stop talking like anyone is. Your ship has sailed, and decades ago.

ATS and CTS have been designed from the get go to mimick the 3-series and 5-series.  Both are tanking right now, 3-series sales have fallen off too.  Right now Lincoln is growing, and Cadillac is shrinking, and Lincoln a year or two ago was thought be be getting shut down.  Lincoln is bringing more crossovers, maybe killing MKZ and becoming a luxury truck brand, so they could have a future.  I still feel like Cadillac lacks focus, when the 3-series was hot they thought, let's copy it, when the Lexus RX was hot, they thought lets copy it.  Now MKC, NX, Q3 and these small utes pick up so Cadillac says let's do XT3.  But they are always a little late to the party rather than setting the trends.