I agree with a lot of what you’re saying, but just because other auto manufacturers have done similar naming nonsense, doesn’t make it any less confusing for the lay consumer when a company uses the same name as before, but now for a different product/trim. The 800lb gorilla you’re missing here is that it even…

If I could walk into a dealer, retrieve the car I wanted from the lot, render payment at a kiosk, and then drive away, all in under 15 minutes, that analogy might be applicable.

I didn’t say they’ve done that, or anything close to it. I used the “Eldorado SUV” silliness as a hypothetical to point out why your argument of “names don’t matter” is in error. Then, in the second paragraph of my post, I do describe *exactly* what Cadillac did do. Feel free to re-read my OP.

So if Cadillac decided to make a 6-door SUV that was even bigger than the Escalade, and called it the Eldorado, it “wouldn’t matter”? Ok, got it.
I’ll be sure to let all my friends at GM know they can disband their marketing teams dedicated to naming and nomenclature.

Sarcasm aside, every marketer in the auto industry…

Unless there was some elusive C3 ZR1 for the 1979 model year, I think you should check your math. The C4 ZR1, with 375hp, debuted in 1989.

Unless there was some elusive C3 ZR1 for the 1979 model year, I think you should check your math. The C4 ZR1, with 375hp, debuted in 1989.

What a shame. One of the whole points of electric vehicles, beyond all the environmental stuff, is the fact that electricity is cheaper to produce than gas is to refine and so the price difference is supposed to benefit drivers. And then the government seizes upon that delta to suck it up in taxes?? That’s just…

We Jalops realize this, but like I said in the original post, I’m referring to uneducated car buyers and the disingenuous media, to whom CUV = SUV and SUV = gas guzzler. They simply don’t understand or care to understand the nuances that come second nature to car folks like you and I.

I can’t speak for other states, but *every month* I save more money in gas with my Volt than the increase in annual CA registration over a similar ICE vehicle.

5th Gear - Once again, “progressive” CA is leading the way...in the exactly wrong direction. CA should be taking the helm of the movement, doing everything it can to make the business climate damn near untenable for auto dealers and pushing this anti-consumer, dinosaur of a business model into extinction.

Exactly this! It’s too late in the game to try to implement a swappable battery standard and infrastructure. We’d do much better to pour those funds, and more, into reducing charge times to approximate a gas pump fill-up.

I’ve been saying this for quite a while: *CHARGE TIMES* are the issue with EV’s (and charging…

I’m not saying that they should base their lineup solely on expected media response. The point I’m trying to make is that PR and optics in the media should certainly be factor in business decisions and I don’t think Ford placed enough consideration on that when they made the decision to put all their eggs in the SUV…

Bingo, sir! Summed-up in The Founder when BJ Novak said to Michael Keaton, “ You’re not in the hamburger business. You’re in the real estate business.”

What you’re saying makes sense. But I just learned something myself, after Googling - only 15 states have recurring safety inspections (far fewer than I assumed):

I’m starting to feel like today’s US car market is the body-style analog to that of 80's/90's mechanicals, when all the performance engines and trim lines that US enthusiasts really wanted were Europe- and Japan-only.  Now it’s the body styles we can’t get.

I think you may have inadvertently replied to the wrong guy, but I like what I’m hearing...
;-)

Spoken like a true Jalop!

/S

Sorry to just copy and paste this, but you’re the second to make the same point:

You’re an oracle. Today’s economic and automotive landscape is indeed beginning to look like 2006, all over again.

Problem is that to the average (uneducated) car consumer SUV = gas-guzzler, regardless of the actual numbers. Further, the media love to play-up this angle to sensationalize and to demonize auto companies who have SUV-heavy lineups during times of high gas prices, saying they’re “out-of-touch with consumers” or…