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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    Mazda needs partners too. Their salvation may rest on building cars for other brands. Also, if the plans are put into effect now, there could and should be enough differentiation to make and resulting product not a Mazda with a Dodge badge.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    When posting, there is a "More Reply Options" which brings up the dialog to attach files. You should be able to bulk upload pictures that way too.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Please let it be Mazda Please let it be Mazda Please let it be Mazda
  4. Drew Dowdell
    Welcome to C&G Pete! I'm the owner and general admin around these parts. Though I live in Pittsburgh now, I actually grew up in Hamilton NJ and I'm frequently in Edison NJ for work, so not too far from you.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    I just hope this wasn't part of the testing procedures... https://t.co/KgEumJsXPa
  6. Drew Dowdell
    Expense account. I spend $40k - $50k a year in work related travel. I drive rental cars more than my own car. All of my rentals are with National (don't have a choice, not that I mind). I reserve a 4-door mid-size, but because I'm such a big spender with them, I can upgrade to anything on the lot for the same price except for the exotics like Maseratis and ATS-Vs. I haven't needed an SUV for the last buncha trips, so I got fun cars (3 mustang convertibles, 1 5th-Gen Camaro, 2 Challengers). When I have to do long distance without hauling equipment I head straight for the Chrysler 300 with Lacrosse as my backup, once in a great while a Chrysler 200. My last few SUVs have been Grand Cherokee, Durango, Enclave, Enclave, Cherokee, Explorer, Edge, Santa Fe, Explorer, Yukon. That 5th-Gen Camaro I grabbed while I was sitting in a loaded Acadia SLT and about to pull out. Saw them bring it on the lot and switched to that instead of the Acadia. That was last week of January.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    I rent Terrains, Acadias, and Yukons all the time. The Acadia and Enclave are my two most frequent rentals when I can't get a Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban or if there isn't a Grand Cherokee or Durango to be had (becoming more rare lately, sadly). I pretty much always go for the biggest vehicle I can find on the lot that isn't an Expedition. Edit: Of the three Lambdas, I'd say the Traverse is actually the most rare to be spotted in the rental fleets. Enclave being most common. Edit 2: I admire your ability to read GM's mind. We should put that to good use around here.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Probably heading straight to the rental fleets. GM likes to do that with outgoing models to squeeze some extra profits and amortization out of an old design.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    It brought it generally in line with the rest of the industry.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    I think a good 50% of the pending Wrangler's fuel economy improvements will come from better weight.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    Lots of Transit Connects here, not many Transits but they're growing. Lots more Promasters and a bunch of old Sprinters.... GM still rules the roost on big vans here, but not sure how much longer. I've seen one single Chevy City Express.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    Did they squish it?
  13. Drew Dowdell
    After President Trump adds his tariff on Chinese made goods, the Envision will have the same price as an Escalade. You can't do a direct Forex cost on cars sold in China. The Enclave sells for $77k base, Verano is $20k base, and Encore is $20.8k base. They're all over the map. The initial shipments of Envisions will be only premium AWD models and base in the very high $30s to low $40s. Not if you're trying to assess cost of production, or (given that there are probably high tariffs on the Enclave — which has an MSRP of over $99,000 for the awd version) gross margins. But that's not my point. All I'm saying is you pay a lot for an Envision in China. When it comes down to it, GM has a choice between selling an Envision for $53,400 in China, where the market for crossovers is finally taking off in a big way, or spending thousands per vehicle on shipping and selling them for $15-20K less in the US. Bear in mind also that GM's venture partner gets a 50% cut of every dollar of distributed profit from the export price of the Chinese-built Envisions. GM is never going to put much effort into selling Chinese-built Buicks, in the US. It's a nice supplement, both to the US lineup and the capacity utilization in China, but unless (like Honda) you build a wholly-owned plant just for exports, you're not going to import a popular model from China long-term (given exchange rate risks, shipping losses, supply problems etc. there's a reason only Honda has bothered even with that). If you have to add capacity to supply demand, you add it in the market that demand is in. As soon as GM tools up to build a Chevy or GMC in the US on the same platform, they'll make sure they include extra capacity for the Envision. Assuming the Envision takes off, production will move likely to the US with the next generation model. The problem for Buick is that they needed this vehicle 5 years ago, so getting it from China is a stop gap.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    I probably agree with you CP. During my own drive of the M4, my impression of the engine was that it was dull with absolutely zero character. While driving it I was thinking "I don't understand what all the fuss is about..."
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Ouch! So much for the old tech I-6 advantage.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    After President Trump adds his tariff on Chinese made goods, the Envision will have the same price as an Escalade. You can't do a direct Forex cost on cars sold in China. The Enclave sells for $77k base, Verano is $20k base, and Encore is $20.8k base. They're all over the map. The initial shipments of Envisions will be only premium AWD models and base in the very high $30s to low $40s.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    I would have hoped that by now you'd realized that you can't look at one month YoY sales fluctuations.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    It's just a return to norm.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    Sure the base work-trucks have a low entry price, but the GM mid-sizers get pricey really quick and use a lot of parts shared with other vehicles.... I'm sure GM is making a healthy profit on each one or else they wouldn't be trying to squeeze as many out of Wentzville as physically possible. Even a 4x4 LT Colorado 4-cylinder, basically the base minimum for "consumer grade" of truck, is nearly $30k.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    I completely agree that there is something amiss at the NHTSA. I've been tracking an issue with GM trucks for a while, but because the reports are spread over many different models, the issue appears to be minor if just looking at one model. Basically, if you look up issues with a GMC Yukon, you may see 15 to 20 notes on it and when taken in the context of how many they built, it doesn't look like much. But when you expand it to all of vehicles built in that generation of platform, Yukon, Yukon XL, Tahoe, Suburban, Silverado 1500, Silverado HD, Sierra 1500, Sierra HD, Avalanche, Escalade, Escalade EXT, Escalade ESV... etc etc..... then you come up with a number at least several hundred if not over 1,000. And it's a part that all of those trucks share. However, since there doesn't appear to be a way to link similar vehicles that differ mostly in badging, there is no way to get a clear picture. I had to manually count the entries in the database. I have already contacted GM about the issue and they say they've done testing and that no recall will be pending because they do not believe there is a safety issue. That is the extent of their comment.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    It baffles me how they are still able to manage nearly 20k Patriot/Compasses a month. Aren't they two of the oldest models on sale industry wide at this point?
  22. Drew Dowdell
    Indeed... this just may end up being the most reliable FCA (badged) product sold.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    It looks like an old-school 124, more or less. I prefer it's styling to that of the current Miata. What I'm less stoked about is the claimed hp numbers for the Abarth version. Sorry, but you need 200hp, minimum, to differentiate yourself from Mazda, at least as far as I'm concerned. The torque curve of the turbo should do that.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    I know a lot of people would rather have the Miata... but not me... I like this better. It looks more substantial.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    Well, to be fair, all of the mustangs I've rented have been really premium models. Heated/Cooled seats, convertibles, leather, etc.
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