I’d write a paragraph here, but honestly I’ve spent two days giving myself heat exhaustion while giving the Raven Imperial the mechanical equivalent of CPR. The good news? It runs again, nicely. But my wife has been complaining about a “fresh-from-the-oven ham” smell whenever I come into the house and two gallons of water later, and I’m still not caught back up on hydration. Don’t sweat it, I did plenty for you. But I did manage to stop by the desk and check out the laundry list of stories that come across the desk. A bit of roasting, a bit of salt, and it’s that time again…it’s Scrapple! Enjoy!
1. So…no Christmas bonus this year?
If you’ve been following anything regarding Nissan since late last year, you’ll know that the word “upheaval” isn’t even beginning to scratch the surface of what’s going on. Carlos Ghosn went from being CEO extraordinaire to jailbird, Hiroto Saikawa looked like the master of a successful coup d’etat, then the company failed to make a connection with FCA, rattled the French government, and has turned the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance into a gigantic question mark. And the quarterly financial report that was unveiled this week proved it: a 99% loss in operating profit in the last quarter and failing sales everywhere but the Chinese market.
It’s safe to say that some bad things are going be coming down the pike if you work anywhere in the Alliance…
2. Dead: Dodge Grand Caravan
FCA isn’t writing the date, but it appears that 2020 is most likely the last production year for the Dodge Grand Caravan, the last of the original Chrysler minivan lineage and a van that has remained the same with minimal updates since 2008, the amazing thing isn’t that it’s going away, it’s that it’s still here. The reason: cheap and known. The Grand Caravan outsells the Chrysler Pacifica handily, but for 2020 a de-contented form of the Pacifica, called the Voyager, will appear and it’ll be time for the original to retire.
3. Somehow Alive: Saleen S7
Apparently the wicked screamer from the early 2000s is still alive. The Saleen S7, the pinnacle of Steve Saleen’s work before some rough days took the fun out of the job, is reported to still be in production as are three other vehicles bearing the Saleen nameplate…in China. In addition to the supercar that first appeared in 2000, there is the S1 (a variation of the Artega GT), the MAC (a 422-horsepower SUV) and the Maimai (a fully electric city car that has 107 horsepower and a range of 190 miles.)
4. Don’t even think about it. Don’t do it.
Yes, this is a Lamborghini Urus that has been mangled via Photoshop to resemble a Corvette SUV. And yes, there’s a reason why this exists besides a cruel punchline. Rumors are starting to swirl that Corvette could become a brand instead of just a Chevrolet model. We’re talking sedans, crossovers, and potentially the starting point for a Cadillac-badged model.
Someone within GM, find the miscreant who is responsible for this rumor and remind them of what happens to blasphemers. It’s bad enough that you have this thing that looks like a Camaro with gout called a Blazer running around now. Leave some cows sacred, will ya?
5. Maybe this time around there will actually be some Adrenalin…
Speaking of the rumor mill, it appears that Ford has trademarked two names: “Adrenaline” and “Badlands”. The last time “Adrenalin” (spelling is correct), it was a kitted-up Ford Sport Trac that almost became the successor to the SVT Lightning…instead, it was sporty appearances, a basic 4.6L V8, and that’s about it. The new Adrenaline? Well, so far the expectations for both names are applications for sport-utilities, since Ford has canned car production. Our guesses: “Badlands” will be the Bronco’s true off-road setting, much like “Rubicon” is for the Wrangler. As far as the “Adrenaline”, maybe that’s the new name for the Mustang-based electric machine that nearly became the Mach 1.
Corvette based SUV’s now that’s something I could….vomit profusely at ! Raaalllppphhh….
They’re looking at Porsche.
1. Porsche used to make small sports cars, exclusively
2. Porsche changed mindset and started to make cars a lot of people wanted
3. Porsche started to make even more money than before
Something like 70-75% of Porsche’s sales are “non sports cars”.
None of the car manufacturers are in the business of making cars, they’re in the business of making money. End of story.
I agree. If they put a Corvette nameplate on a SUV, do it. Lamborghini is doing it, so why not?
Chevy—-Bad enough they ruined the Blazer heritage by putting the name on a crossover/sport ute/etc whatever they call those silly looking lumps of steel but now they want to mess with the Corvette brand?
I saw an article in Hagerty\’s magazine about the possible need of a Corvette SUV. The article was written by John Stoll who believed since Porsche making a SUV was a financial winner, Chevrolet should do the same with the Corvette. A lot of differences here since Porsche is a company and Corvette is a brand. Furthermore GM has many SUVs already and Porsche had none.
We all have our opinions. You have yours, I have mine and John Stoll has his. But I looked at Mr. Stoll\’s bio in the Hagerty article and saw that he is a business columnist for the Wall Street Journal and reports on the automotive industry. OK, that\’s honest work but I reporting on the industry does not make him a \”car guy.\” It had been said Roger Smith who once headed GM was not a \”car guy\” and was blamed for leading GM into building mundane cars with no excitement. I\’m no expert but when I was coming to age in the late 50\’s into the 60\’s, we were excited in late September when the new cars came out. We visited all the brands\’ showrooms. Nowadays I couldn\’t care less. Non car guys are telling us what we want in our car. Then they wonder why people don\’t buy them.
“Car guys” are a very small portion of the consumer market. Car manufacturers would sell way less cars if they only listened to the car guys.
For every car guy who buys a Corvette, there’s 100 people who buy a boring bus with 7 seats, DVD-players and a gazillion cup holders, because they need the car to drive the kids to school and football practice.
You could argue that Porsche shouldn’t build SUV:s either, since Skoda, SEAT, VW, Audi and Bentley also build SUV:s. However, because there’s a Porsche badge on the hood they can charge the customer even more than for the equivalent Audi. If the Corvette brand is strong enough, this route must be very tempting for GM. I would think the brand is strong enough in the US, not sure about Asia and Europe tho.
If I ever bought a Corvette I couldn’t care less if there also was a SUV with Corvette badges in the same showroom.
Isn’t the Pacifica just a rebodied and rebadged Fiat? Isn’t that what’s really going on here?