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Automotive News & Views Sales Flops of 2005
729 messages, Last post on May 08, 2006 at 7:51 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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May I ask... who actually buys the Chevy Monte Carlo? It's a two-door coupe, with no style), GM's tried-and-true 3.8... and virtually nothing going for it. I can see a few groups: -Rental companies that want to offer a cheap coupe (and who used to use Thunderbirds in the 90's) -Monte Carlo fans -NASCAR fans (even though the NASCAR Monte Carlo is an entirely different beast) and... umm. Well that's all I can think of. Does anyone know? Does anyone see any on the roads? Oh and I know the GM CSV's are rubbish but, I must admit, the Saturn Relay looks pretty good. Exterior looks relatively upmarket, almost Volvo-y. Montana is a bit too old-Pontiac though and the Terraza looks too cheap. |
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Replying to: andys120 (Nov 23, 2005 5:40 pm) Anytime "any" vehicle is $2,000/$3,000 less than it's competitors, it's going to sell .. because the vast market is payment buyers and $50/$60 a month can change most minds ... Terry. |
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Replying to: derrado1 (Nov 25, 2005 4:36 pm) Perhaps you don't like the styling (or I for that matter) but alot of folks do .... 2 door vehicles will always hold a niche market, like the 3 series Bimmer or the Ford Mustang .. it's at trade time they take the beating ... Don't knock the NASCAR fans .. because in 5 years or less that market will be bigger than the NFL watchers -- but don't ask me why.! Terry 
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Careful there! There seems to be a huge following of poeple in this forum who believe the Koreans are building vehicles with Honda/Toyota-like build quality, and that's why they're selling. I'm not one of them. Until I start seeing Korean vehicles still on the road with 200K+ miles in similar numbers as the Japanese vehicles, like yourself, I will continue to believe they're selling because of their lower prices and longer warranties.
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Replying to: rroyce10 (Nov 26, 2005 3:42 am) I can tell you why, because NFL fans are sick of prima donnas like T.O.! I can't think of any prima donna NASCAR drivers except maybe Jeff Gordon.
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Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 25, 2005 5:47 am) I do see my share of 3's around the lower part of Northern Jersey and Central Jersey. Your right the 3 does seem to be outnumber(be more prevalent) than the number of 6's I see on the road. As a matter of fact I think the 3 is one of Mazda's biggest selling cars in awhile. |
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Replying to: rroyce10 (Nov 26, 2005 3:42 am) The 00-05 Monte Carlo was a styling mess and ugly in my opinion. The back end was designed to look like the mid 80's Monte Carlo and the exterior styling wise just did not look right. The 95-99 Monte Carlo while not sporty on the outside looked better than the 00-05 model. "Perhaps you don't like the styling (or I for that matter) but alot of folks do .... 2 door vehicles will always hold a niche market, like the 3 series Bimmer or the Ford Mustang .. it's at trade time they take the beating ..." Weel the Honda Accord coupe has good resale value. Yes I know about Coupes and resale value now since I am an owner of an 02 Acura CL. "Don't knock the NASCAR fans .. because in 5 years or less that market will be bigger than the NFL watchers -- but don't ask me why.!" Hey! I am a NASCAR fan and was a Rusty Wallace fan for 10 years until he retired recently. I don't think the NASCAR ratings will top the NFL ever. I know NASCAR ratings are pretty even with PGA Golf and Pro Tennis and are way better than the NHL. Still the NBA(I think a little bit)and MLB ratings are better than NASCAR. |
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Replying to: bottgers (Nov 26, 2005 8:37 am) I do think Hyundai is building a quality vehicle nowadays and I am Honda and a Mazda guy as well. As for Kia which happens to be another korean company which is 65% owned by Hyundai butI am not sold on their cars though. Their dealer network is very small and their exterior styling of their cars are not to my liking. The Kia dealer by where I live shut down. I also seen a kia dealer on Rt1 in South or North Brunswick, NJ and their dealer was so small and almost like a privately owned used car lot. |
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Replying to: lemko (Nov 26, 2005 9:44 am) The NFL is not of T.O.'s. Come on now. T.O. just doesn;t know how to form relationships with people. He was made fun of as a kid. I'm not excusing his behavior at all but he needs to when and how to pick his battles with teamates. He said too many negative things about the Eagles organization that he shouldn't have said. His grandma who raised him as a kid told him to say what he always felt. Unfortanately, there is some things you shouldn't say in public which he did. His press conference was too late with his apology to the Eagles Organization. As for Jeff Gordon I love to hate him because I was a Wallace fan for all those years but he never did anything as destructive as T.O. did. I have to give credit to Gordon too because he was a driver that bought NASCAR to its poularity today. Yes drivers like Dale Earnhardt SR. and Rusty Wallace and even Mark Martin were also forces in bringing NASCAR mainstream but Gordon brought the young fan into NASCAR in the mid to late 90's because he was so marketable towards a younger crowd. |
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One reason that the Monte Carlo might still sell tolerably is that, if you want a fairly large (by today's standards...it would've been considered a compact once upon a time), domestic personal luxury coupe, the Monte is the only game in town. This once vast market started shrinking in the 80's, and with the demise of the Grand Prix coupe, that leaves just the Monte. Truth be told, I think the Accord coupe and Solara have a bit of personal luxury coupe in their blood. The Solara even has a bit of flambuoyance in its styling that's evocative of the over-styled personal luxury coupe vein. A few years back when my Dad was thinking about getting a car, he was interested in a Monte Carlo. Until I showed him what the newest ones looked like. He was totally repulsed...it turns out the ones he was seeing that he liked was the '95-99 model! Maybe the '06 facelift will help sales of the Monte. It's not as thorough as the Impala's facelift, but I think it's an improvement. |
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