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Comments
Rumors of a great car and delivery of a great car are two different things.
Toyota delivers. Even Honda has struggled to keep up. But they will get it together. This new sub-$20k Hybrid they are working on interests me.
And if they're gonna put a diesel into their star pupil, it will be bad-[non-permissible content removed]. Although they lost some credibility with the last "experiment". They are the most talented competitor.
The Germans have a lot to prove, IMO.
DrFill
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
TM
Really... with the most awarded engines in the world!
I agree that they do need to prove themselves in the marketplace soon with more fuel efficient alternatives. They are behind in that arena, no doubt. But, they will be in that game shortly... and do very well.
TagMan
At least with the 1.5 liter Prius, you can tap extra power from the batteries / electric motors when needed.
I do remember someone posting on one of the predecessors of this board, saying he owned a Prius. He kept spelling it "Pries" or something.
But I can't see the more active posters here owning one, unless it is for a son or daughter.
Not Funny :mad:
You've reopened the case again and your conclusion is incorrect again. And yes I am fully capable of reading too.
Pat can you please link us to a leasing site so I can at least respond to this post because apparently based on the above comment this case is not closed.
Thanks.
Sure, Dewey... Take it away from here to your private boxing ring, and at the same time the rest of us can drop in from time to time to witness the bloodshed... (or lend a punch, now and then
Actually, and seriously, my friend... I totally recommend you drop it forever. Your point is well-respected by many, if not most, and it would detract you from better more positive things! It's not worth it!... Really... Truly... Let it go.
TagMan
Anywho.....SOME BREAKING NEWS!!!!! 2007 Customer Service Awards are in:
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pdf/2007112.pdf
R.I.P. John Kronus.
My ECW guys droppin' like flies! WTH!
DrFill
Now lets talk about cars instead.
MB has decided to shift their G CLass production from Austria to Alabama. And as a result a Canadian auto supplier firm named Magna Steyr is going to lose its Austrian contract with MB.
Will such a productions shift improve the quality of the G Class? Just look at the M Class for proof
performer in 2006—improving considerably among repair customers in the areas of service quality and service
initiation. Following Jaguar in the rankings are Buick (918) and Cadillac and Lexus (913, in a tie).
Doc,
with the exception of your favorite marque which is ranked number four it makes me wonder why these rankings have little positive affect on the sales of the top three ---Jaguar, Buick and Cadillac?
Confirmed. Case closed.
Seems simple to me. You have to build a great vehicle first. Not everyone can do that. :surprise:
All it means is are people P.O.'d when they leave.
Mercedes and Land Rover are the only luxury marques not sending people home "Feelin' the love".
DrFill
My mistake :sick:
not many people are going to care where its built
Except for certain officers. The Canadian Armed Forces are using G-Class vehicles in Afghanistan.
Why a mini BMW when BMW already produces the MINI?
Makes no sense.
Or maybe it does make sense based on the following:
The introduction of such a model would help BMW reduce its fleet average CO2 levels in line with proposed limits being voted on by the European Council.
In otherwords a mini BMW will exist solely to satisfy European Emissions regulators.
link title
Although I'll bet a BMW-badged Mini would be nicer than the actual Mini Cooper. The newly re-worked interior of the Mini Cooper feels like getting trapped inside a bubble machine... if you've seen it, you'd know what I mean.
TagMan
http://4wheelsblog.com/spy-photos/bmw-x6-caught-uncovered
Check out the grille at the bottome of the page. That's hardcore!
DrFill
Oh yeah. I really like it a lot. Let's just show everyone...
Too bad it's only a 4-passenger vehicle.
Thanks, Doc!
TagMan
DrFill
LINK
I never said they did, my point was that upgrading the suspension of the RX won't turn it into a sports car. Even for an SUV, the RX350's steering is rather numb. Not as bad as the RX300 which had less road feel than Gran Turismo 4, but its no match for an FX, X5, or ML.
Quite simple really. Jag is offering a free X-type with every test drive, and people still aren't buying. Buick has very little in the way of product, other than the Enclave. Most of Cadillac's lineup either failed in the market place or is about to be replaced.
How is that Cadillac is at the top of the customer service ratings when its dealerships are rated at the bottom of the list?
Is it just me, or does the X6 seem to be very "old school" pre-Bangle BMW? Any idea what the price range will be?
I dont know how the IRS treats income from Canadian trusts but in Canada such income will be treated favorably until 2011. The high prices of both Penn West and Enerplus reflects this favorable Canadian income trust tax treatment. If the IRS does not allow such favorable treatment then as an American both pre and erf are not worth owning .
Hundred percent correct. A BMW marque on a FWD car would be equivalent to an act of Bavarian sacrelige.
That is why I think the best buyer for Volvo would be BMW. BMW needs to expand production of fuel efficient FWD cars beyond the MINI and the best way to do that would be to acquire another marque like Volvo.
Well maybe not next year or maybe not next decade.
Honda is such a great auto firm but lacks a strong luxury-performance marque. This is why I think a merger or takeover between Honda and BMW would be ideal.
Honda lacks exciting RWD cars. And BMW lacks fuel efficient i4 FWD cars. There is no better combination IMO.
BMW + Honda = Nirvana
BMW + Volvo = Second Best Nirvana
link title
Uh oh... I like the front end... but that back end... :sick:
TagMan
I was real good with the X6 until D-Man posted what is likely the X6's back end... and that pretty much killed it for me.
TagMan
Disagree on that one, Dewey. I like the way BMW stays focused on what they do best. I say keep Volvo out of the BMW picture... Volvo is not in BMW's league at all... it would just muddy the picture.
Volvo brings little compared to Honda... (but I don't think that is a good idea right now either.)
IMHO.
TagMan
Very unlikely. Both BMW and Honda are fiercely independent companies. Soichiro Honda always did things his way, and took orders from no one. Honda still has that spirit. There's absolutely no chance they'd agree to a take over by BMW, and even if they did, I'm not sure BMW would want to spend the cash it would require. Honda is Japan's 4th largest company, behind mega-telecom NTT, Toyota, and Sony. BMW could buy five Volvos for less than the price it would take to buy Honda. I think a merger would work out about as well as DaimlerChrysler. The cultures are just too different.
Volvo makes more sense. Volvo could replace the Yamaha V8 with a more powerful, BMW sourced V8, while BMW could use Volvo's compact and efficient 2.5L I5s.
Acura will be in better shape in 2011 or so when the next TSX, TL, and RL are launched.
Disagree on this one, LG. BMW doesn't need them... and is better off continuing with their own terrific engines... IMHO.
TagMan
Acura better start thinking about fuel economy with the next generation of models, and taking some hybrid or diesel engines from Honda, or Lexus will totally destroy them with their hybrid plans.
TagMan
I gotta say, this VW Touareg ($40-$70k) typifies VW's self-destruction in the US Market. Rumblings are that VW's time grows short here, if things don't turn around, and things in the US are gonna get worse, with loads like the Touareg 2 being sent here.
They mention Lexus RX, and Acura MDX as the main competition. :surprise:
Let's stay off the stupid name, which is hard, for a minute. The vehicle looks small when you walk up to it, but the vehicle is the size of a RX350 (actually an inch bigger), but has less interior space than a Rav4! I'm over 6', and I don't really fit in the back seat.
Cargo space is again in the Rav4, not RX range (71 cubes to 85 for the Lexus RX).
This thing weighs a MINUMUM of 1000lbs more than the Lexus (the Photon had the same affliction, which kinda hurts efficiency, which the Lexus excels at, and the market demands). This nullifies any power advantage.
And it is as expensive as the Lexus, but doesn't offer the luxury marque Lexus does. Nor the heritage of quality.
It's marketing doesn't even tie in with the vehicle.
Affordable is back? Compared to what? The only way someone would buy it is if VW totally subvented the lease to make it reasonably affordable. 0% is still a bad investment when it comes to this vehicle, unless you go off-road frequently. It is that poor a value!
And the quality isn't sending anybody back to the drawing boards either (except for maybe VW).
And now they want to build a bigger (3 rows of seats) SUV BELOW it, and above the other SUV, with the other stupid name I can't summon up right now.
This is probably the stupidest vehicle on the market right now. :confuse:
And the sad part is, it's is really a great vehicle on paper. Great ride, luxurious, powerful, great off-road.
VW has one hell of a nerve even thinking about selling this $40k+ bomb here. It is poorly conceived, is heavily compromised in space and efficiency, doesn't fit anywhere near their portfolio, and will easily be superceded by any $30k SUV in any form of Value.
It has Range Rover talent, and a Pontiac brain. One of the dumbest purchases anyone could make. Are you trying to make the World's Greatest Fleet vehicle? :confuse:
The rest of VW's line-up is showing an equally inept market strategy, and the loss of the Photon is only Step 1 in this marque's ultimate departure fom the US. If this is what the US will get from VW, it can't come a day too soon.
Hyundai can't wait to make the same stupid mistakes, but at least they aren't going from Lexus prices up. Hyundai is stupid and ignorant, but they have guts. If this we're the Marines, that would be enough.
VW is just trying the market's patience. And belaboring a bad point. The only hope they have is to do what Hyundai is unwilling to do, and be the best sub-$25k car company in America. Go back to your roots, and drop the big-headed ideas.
Get Passat back to what worked for it 5 years ago. Drop the V6 while you're at it, it's not helping, especially with gas prices rising every year. Get the MicroBus done already. Start something new and listen to your customer base.
Give up the ambitions, and show you have some sense. And a foot in reality.
Now ask me how I really feel...... :mad:
DrFill
VW's biggest error in the USA is that it is trying too hard to be loved.
VW tries to satisfy American tastes with an SUV and they flop.
VW tries to make the Jetta and Passat less stubby and funky and more conventionally Amercian and they flop.
VW tries to sastify the American tastes for luxury cars with a Phaeton and they flop.
Now VW wants to sell a rebadged Chrysler minivan? Definitely another flop-to-be.
Fortunately among the batch of VW weeds sprouts up the blossoming brand of Audi . Oh now that Porshe is in the driver's seat maybe VW is going to race ahead at a non-sputtering pace in this continent.
Porsche's Success Riding on $15,000 Hatchbacks, Volkswagen
Yes a flicker of hope for VW but is there hope for VW in USA?
The fortunes of VW in USA is different from how it is outside USA. VW is the number one selling auto company in Europe and in China (in a few years the Chinese will buy more cars than Americans). Also Audi is far stronger overseas than in North America.
Is Porsche's eagerness for VW mere coincidence? Or is the result of it knowing that an independent niche performance auto company will not be able to survive with strict environmental regulations.
As the world seeks to get greener BMW will need Honda more than Honda needs BMW.
Get Passat back to what worked for it 5 years ago. Drop the V6 while you're at it, it's not helping, especially with gas prices rising every year. Get the MicroBus done already. Start something new and listen to your customer base.
Since when is Hyundai unwilling to make cars below $25K? Hyundai is not even remotely stupid or ignorant, I'm not sure where you're getting that from. They are going directly after Toyota's bread and butter, and they are doing a very good job of it. Sonata and Azera are better than most competing domestic vehicles, and less than a generation behind Camry and Avalon.
It's Phaeton, not Photon, by the way. You could at least try and get the names right if you want to be the expert on VWs downfall. Hyundai's "Genesis" project is not the same as the Phaeton. It wasn't just the Phaeton that caused VW to completely drop the ball and forget about most of their lineup, it was Bugatti and Bentley as well.
Hyundai is not forgetting about the rest of its cars, the Santa Fe, Veracruz, and Entourage are all recent introductions, and they aren't finished yet. Make no mistake, Hyundai will only go up from here.
The Toureg is the wrong product at the wrong time. People are wising up, and realizing that a bit of gravel or grass is as far as they take their SUVs "off-road", and those locking diffs that they never use are costing them a small fortune in fuel. GM and Ford have figured this out, and are rushing as many car-based crossovers as they can make to market. Chrysler hasn't gotten the memo yet.
I'm not sure VW can get their old mojo back, even if they wanted to. You can't ignore your products and mistreat your customers for years and then just say "our bad, please buy a VW again, this time we promise that the quality is better." Too late, jack. Mazda has already stolen your Jetta buyers, and the CX-7 and CX-9 are the products you wish you had.
Nope that aint gonna happen if the 2011 TSX, TL and RL continues to be based on a 2011 FWD Honda Accord platfrom.
Audi has never really been a factor.
Porsche seems to be making a nice bit of change on the Cayenne/Touareg project, while VW is the Biggest Loser.
Unless someone in VW USA grows a brain, this company is toast in the US. At this point, I'd be surprised to see them still here in 10 years.
DrFill
They'll most likely have SH-AWD though, which is different. Remember, Audis are FWD based as well. AWD can solve a lot of FWD's inherent problems. With the torque steer issue solved, Acura can crank up the power on the TSX and TL to better compete with the IS and G35. An AWD TSX with the RDX powertrain could frighten even Munich.
The next RL is more of a question mark. There are rumors that it may be RWD, and may even use the NSX's V10. Nobody really knows at this point.
VW USA is not getting it done at the moment but VW has extensive manufacturing in Mexico (along with a loyal customer base) and is the largest auto-manufacturer in Europe. Their products have never translated well to the traditional US buyer (bigger vehicles) but the Golf is the second best selling vehicle line ever (after Toyota's Corrola).
For the long term future of VW, their main focus is on China (where Buick is a major player- go figure :confuse: ). They, like the domestics, did not see the cost of gas coming and are in the midst of a late '90's/ early '00's vehicle line-up with bigger, more consumptive vehicles. I think though that they are well poised to get in on the change in market with more focus on their smaller cars and a strong showing in diesel- which have always had far stronger reliability ratings than their gas models.
I would say that VW are in no more trouble than Ford in this country. Of course, that may not be saying much.
I didn't say they don't make $25k vehicles, or that they aren't good cars.
They are getting caught up in what Toyota's doing, like a fly caught in the web. Nissan was Toyota's victim in the '90's, and Hyundai seems poised to relive history for this century.
Hyundai is talented, but stupid and ignorant. More stupid, doh. If the Touareg were a company, it would be Hyundai. :lemon:
VW made the mistake of trying to be something that it is not, nor what the market wants them to be. Ignoring it's customer base.
Nissan has been chasing Toyota for centuries, and has almost been run out of business in it's pursuit.
Hyundai is acting like the last 20 years didn't happen, and they are immune to history, brand image, and poor market strategy. :sick:
Hyundai needs to worry about Hyundai. Forget Toyota exists. Get their marketing together. Build a customer base, and work it accordingly. They are a sub-$25k company in the US. Period. Look at the sales for their high-end models. Caviar taste, and a pizza face.
Just slow down. And lay off the butter. :confuse:
DrFill
VW obviously doesn't have their priorities straight, if they want to stay here. Hyundai outsells them almost 2-1. That's when you know stuff is hitting the fan.
VW is doing big-time work in China, and if they can keep that pace, they won't NEED to be in the US at all.
Loks like VW is cashing in everywhere but here. So what would you do? :confuse:
DrFill
Toyota.
Apparently Toyota will have to catch its breath before it can keep up with GM.
Toyota Motor Corp. slipped behind General Motors Corp. in global sales in the second quarter but retained its lead for the first half of the year, numbers showed Friday, as the two companies jostle for the title of world's biggest auto maker.
link title
Pretty much what you were talking about earlier.
They are successful when they build cars for the people.
I have never been able to reconcile the view in Europe of their reliability vs. the view in the US. They are polar opposites. Solid and reliable in Europe, flaky and issue prone in the US. There is a German mechanic on another forum who has noticed that US VWs have different maintenance schedules than the same vehicles in Europe so who knows? I do know that their diesel models have fewer repair issues so any traction clean diesel gets in the US could favor their expertise.
As long as their identity crisis goes on (are we funky & cool, entry lux & sophisticated, high mpg, Audi's entry status, Euro drivers without the bling etc etc) they are going to have a hard time.
I do think that they will not abandon the US though, it's too hard to get back into an abandoned market.