Maybe in the US? But not really in the UK, Jaguar continues to be very popular, Plenty of E-Pace & F-Paces about, I-Pace also fairly popular. And the F-Type is a great 2-seater. No new models lately as Jaguar are planning a brand re-launch in 2025.
@@Stapleton42 I feel like they could see into the future and knew eventually they would either be selling brands off or closing them down. Stellantis would probably be happiest with Jeep/RAM dealership in the USA.
They were (are) trying to position Dodge as fun, cool, hip and sporty (also one of the reasons they probably don't bring in the Pacifica). Work trucks didn't fit that brand, so they spun it off in the reorg. It makes some sense. RAM as work trucks. Dodge as cool and sporty. Alfa as pseudo-luxury. Fiat as "cute." Chrysler as the dumping ground.
That’s what I think too - Just like here in America we associate BMW/Benz/Audi as German or “foreign” premium brands, if Buick didn’t exist here in America then it probably would that same allure with consumers anywhere else.
Unfortunately, the best car they've made in 20 years was just a rebranded Opel(TourX). Even then it wasn't that great from what I've read. I would say 30 but I kind of liked the Roadmaster Wagon and LeSabre. Still a far cry from the days of the Electra and GSX. Buick: the most so-so car money can buy.
@@scrappy7571 The Envista is quite a success just based on how cheap it is. Any quality automobile starting under 30 grand will sell well. They need the new Enclave to be a success. Doesn’t seem like GM has any plans of abandoning the brand and they are doing well enough sales wise in the USA to not really fail so i’m not sure Doug is on the money with that one.
Bought a slightly used 2014 Mini Countryman ALL4 S for my wife about 9+ years ago. I was apprehensive due to Mini's poor reputation for reliability. The car now has 55k miles on it and I have never had a mechanical issue with it. She still loves her Mini. Because of my of my initial doubts I have religiously maintained the vehicle; especially oil changes. I feel like we have gotten our money's worth from this vehicle. It's fun as heck to drive and comfortable to travel in.
You just need to google "executives of stellantis northamerica" and then you get all your people to blame, Europe is doing fine with PSA and fiat corp, Chrysler corporation is the largest issue because it had huge problems originally and no one knows how to really solve them because no one else knows how to solve NA problems thus euro management sucks at it...
Buick should own their “old person” car style of yesteryear and come back with absolute sofa style bench seats, mushy bench swing suspension, and 80s style paint. Just own it. Go against the grain at this point.
@@BiffGreggle Yes! Hard angles. Zero cares to the slipstream look. Back to the roots. I have the same appreciation for the IONIQ6 because it looks like early 90s Saab93
In the 1950's Buick was a brand that affluent people that didn't want the ostentation of a Cadillac purchased. I still remember my grandmother's Buick Roadmaster with the two-speed automatic transmission.
At this point, everything could 'fail'. Cars are just tools now. Everything has 4 doors. Everything is an SUV, or some form of SUV. This really is the malaise era 2.0.
whoever can bring about a compelling, sporty electric city car with actual good range will have a hit on their hands. something golf sized or maybe even slightly smaller but without the extremely limited range that previous attempts had (eGolf, the honda e in europe, the fiat 500e all come to mind)
And if I'm not mistaken drivetrains and platforms for the outlander and outlander sport are Nissan rogue and Sentra (kick?) respectively. Mitsubishi has a significant ownership stake in Nissan. Maybe they just need a dealership network to help sell and service their light commercial vehicles? Idk...
It’s funny you said that there used to be a Mitsubishi dealer in my town and for some reason, the used car lot was full of premium cars like Range Rover and Mercedes
If I had a Mitsubishi dealership I would acquire every good condition old Eclipse, Montero, Evo, etc. that I could find and make my showroom look like a 90's Hong Kong Jackie Chan movie set, complete with a loaded white Montero with rally decals on a turntable.
Spot on. And I grew up in Mopar cars and think the Mopar people are good. And Chrysler, a Great brand, is failing seems to me to be for basic engineering reasons.
@@PeteLenz despite its dated architecture the 300 was still a fantastic car. However, I don’t think it would’ve last as long though without the huge success the Charger and Challenger was
They built the Chrysler ME Four-Twelve 20 years ago and then Merc killed it and they have been falling ever since. That was the last chance for Chrysler...
The Alfa Romeo Tonale IS NOT based on the Dodge Hornet... it's the other way around... Dodge basically "stole" the car from Alfa and made the Hornet to the surprise of everyone... The engineering is Alfa Romeo... Stellantis SUCKS. Alfa Romeo, such an iconic brand treated like this
It’s a shame. ALFA Romeo used to make what were usually bare-bones, stripped-down analogue sports cars. Kind of like how Porsche used to be up until the 90’s. They weren’t these egotistical luxury SUV’s.
@@ericerickson4677 They used to be good in some ways. Peugeot Turbo Diesels were second only to Mercedes, until they started using EFI. Citroën used to make amazing innovations (hydropneumatic suspension, self-centering steering, braking, etc). Citroën 2CV and it’s many derivatives were strange but reliable and well engineered.
@@averageyoutubeuser9483 Puerto Rico is a North American car market. I’m sure with a few of the other islands. They sell like hotcakes. I’m sure it is single-handedly funding the entire operation
Yeah I don't know why they totally ditched their cool persona and the models that contributed so heavily to it. There's so many things they could do that they just don't or won't. Mitsu is a snorefest now.
I'm actually on a rental Mitsubishi Outlander at the moment, and my God that thing is scary to merge on the highway. I literally have to rev the engine to 6,000 rpm in order to get to speed and not get rear ended, while it screams as if it's going to throw a rod.
what I've always wondered is why Chrysler could never stand on their own. They've always needed partnerships yet these companies still invest in a brand that obviously just needs to die. I'ts been on life support since the late 90s. It briefly had success with the 300 when it looked like a bootlegged Bentley.
I am on my third Buick Enclave (current one is the Avenir). I have never had a breakdown, engine or electric problems. I have driven them all over the country, 10's of thousands miles, serviced regularly and enjoyed most of the trips. The only expense has been new tires!! These were all well made, very comfortable cars. They may not be as flashy as a MB or Jag, but they are very reliable, which is the most important part of a well make automobile!!!
So you’ve been through 3 of them since 2008, when it debuted? Not very reliable then. Especially when you sound like you’re taking good care of them too.
And the question is how old are you guys? Like what was the thought process that went into u guys choosing Buick over whatever u were comparing it to and what were u comparing it to?
compared it to Acura RDX, GMC Terrain, Ford edge, some others. I was looking for new mid-size SUV w/ decent mpg less than 40K. I was surpised i chose Buick to be honest. But now its been 3 years , no complaints Its a great car! i turned 50 last week. not sure why that matters
Same in Northeast Ohio - either our sales people are better, or Doug doesn’t understand that a $25k new car a touch nicer than a Kia is a compelling product, for non enthusiasts.
@@EdDale44135 Exactly, he listed a bunch of models which I thought were selling wonderfully. Non car enthusiasts love the Envista cause it looks great for a cheap price. I think the next hot car market is going to be SUV Coupes.
Same here in NS Canada. The encore and enclave are wildly popular here an I have no idea why other than they start at 29k Canadian. I'd be surprised if they axed off Buick before GMC. GMC is the only brand they can afford to ace and makes sense, but doubt they will axe any at gm. Everything in the Stellantis group is going down with the ship though.
@@jaymecm And GMC is doing great too, can’t leave the house without seeing atleast 20 of them. I’d also say they’d axe the Tahoe before they did anything to Buick.
Alfa has been done dirty. A seriously revered brand, making subpar crossovers, and a long in the tooth sports sedan. All that history to draw on, all that design excellence. And bubkis.
All manufacturers have been done dirty and now make subpar crossovers. You can’t even buy cars in North America anymore, let alone cars that evoke passion, style and driver engagement.
@@kevmagill5163 That's why Alfa Romeo biggest market competitor, BMW always come out on top in the long run. I have owned two Alfa Romeos a 1969 1750 Duetto spider and a 1984 GTV6 both great driving machines 👍, but unfortunately the poorly trained technicians in all Alfa Romeo dealerships in the 80's and 90's did not have any clue how to properly service them 😢. When you went for some minor warranty repair from Alfa Romeo parts where never available and took more than 6 months just to fix minor issues. I used to cheer Alfa Romeo because they where the under dog outside the box thinking company, but now that I am older I think only inside the box, even though BMW's and Audi aren't my favorite brands I've purchased them because they have better service and parts availability and quicker response time in fixing warranty problems than Alfa Romeo, but like Alfa Romeo they're also unreliable, European manufacturers. I got fed up with all the traditional poor European reliability issues so I got rid of all my European cars. Now I only buy Japanese cars because of their superior reliability, durability, and dependability, for me the best Alfa Romeo substitute in driving dynamics is the Acura TLX Type S 3.0 turbo V6. Sure it isn't as powerful as the Guila Qudrifoglio, but it handles just as good is better engineered in America and it's manufactured buy a Japanese company in America. That peace of mind that no European time bomb can accomplish. Sorry but European manufacturers just can't build or don't know how to build reliable cars, and that's a fact!
@@SuzukiKid400the numbers are down, especially with US manufacturers, but you can 100% still buy engaging cars in the US. All the German brands still sell sedans/cars and plenty of them in the US. If you don’t think BMW M, Merc AMG or Audi S/RS cars are engaging or fun to drive then I don’t know what to tell you.
I worked in FIAT Gruppo and Mitsubishi design centers. Mitsubishi car division is only 5% of the company and they don't really care about profit. They produce cars mostly just to hear the name. Biggest problem for me is Alfa Romeo. FIAT preferred to destroy Lancia which always had profit even with only one car , to keep feeding the Alfa Romeo with billions and the company is loosing money for decades! There is no hope. They have to stop producing them!
The Midwest is keeping Buick alive. They’re all over the place here and to be honest they’re a really nice step up from Chevy and GMC without paying Cadillac prices.
They are only alive because they were printing money for Government Motors back in 08. The Chinese auto market didn't really have any aspirational models at the time. So Buick (due to its heritage there), Audi, BMW and even Mercedes were status symbols for those who could afford a car.
@@coolblack1 I visited family in Michigan and was seeing Buicks I’ve never seen before. The Buick Envista (I think is the name) absolutely blew my parents mind. They had no idea it was a Buick and I’ve never seen one in person before, only online. I kept seeing Buicks everywhere. Then I go back to Colorado and don’t recall the last time I’ve seen a Buick. It’s an odd place for the brand and just seems to never really get footing outside of the Midwest
10 -15 years ago it seemed like every other or every third vehicle was a Pontiac too. Don't matter how good the brand does...when GM has to downsize because their extreme mismanagement...Buick is toast. Buick Olds and Pontiac were all middle class cars. Since we really don't have much of a middle class anymore, they are expendable. They have been moving to that for awhile now.
Interesting fact: Back in the day when doctors use to make house calls, they drove Buick’s rather the Cadillac’s so people wouldn’t think they were being fleeced and paying too much for the doctor.
My grandfather was a banker in a small town in Kansas and was part owner in one of the local banks. He could afford a Cadillac but always drove a Buick so his customers would not think he was charging them too much money.
@@bradleysample3246they're one of the most popular brands. All "import" cars in China are a joint effort between the foreign make and a domestic brand.
Buick sells well in China because they sold their cars to politicians as a marketing exercise, built better cars there than here, and did excellent marketing. However the Chinese companies have learned how to build cars through their partnerships with other companies (non-chinese companies had to partner with a Chinese rand to be allowed into the country) and are now building and selling excellent vehicles that fit Chinese tastes way better and at a better price. Because of this Buick has been declining big-time in China, as have most other non-chinese companies (especially American brands).
Doug! You didn’t mention the Eclipse when talking about Mitsubishi?! That car was absolutely everywhere in the 90’s. It probably kept the brand alive after the 3000GT.
Mini is turning into a brand for urbanites in tight cities. They have a uniquely "european" aesthetic and are viewed as practical for parallel parking and narrow streets/driveways, which are both important traits for the city dweller. They won't have the sale numbers of brands that sell larger cars to the suburbs, but they will stick around.
I was surprised to hear it in the video. Like.. Doug isn't fun and all that informative anymore but here he clearly passes a video without even thinking of what he says.
What difference does that make? They share the same architecture. It's the same car, doesn't matter what came first. It's particularly irrelevant when they're both FAILURES.
@@MercOne I used to work at a CDJR dealership and.. To be honest the main issue is ads. Like no one even heard of them. Yes, the car has reliability issues and the hybrid battery sucks the whole energy from the car leaving you with a brick. Yes. But when you do drive it's.. Not that bad at all. It's comfortable and somewhat fun. But no one even inquires about them. That's the issue.
Mini is not going to fail in the US. Despite their model bloat, they are still hugely popular in urban areas because you can literally drive Minis through cities more easily than larger cars. Plus, they have the backing of BMW to keep experimenting with new models to see what sticks. They’ve abandoned the retro vibe long ago and they’re just evolving a well packaged small vehicle. They are essentially small BMWs with out the ego.
Exactly. I’m in Seattle and my gf and I have a 2015 cooper S, multiple neighbors of ours have the new EV 2 door coopers, and you can’t go anywhere without seeing a new one. Extremely popular with our narrow streets and small blocks.
Counter argument. Why not Maserati? Honestly Alfa sells way better and are way more reliable than Maserati. Maserati and Alfa need to step up in all respect. In Alfa case, I think bringing more SUV and wagon will help but also having manuals Alfa or a affordable roadster will help too. There’s a market for small cars mainly in big city. I definitely agree with Chrysler, I think they had a chance in being stellantis American luxury car. In the case of Fiat, I could see them as an Italian alternative to MINI. I’ve heard that they’re gonna make an PHEV 500. But I think if they bring the panda they will sell
@@matteo964 Maserati, Alfa and Ferrari were all 3 part of Fiat Group between 1994 and 2016 (FCA since 2014). Ferrari suffered financially since the Fiat stock were very low and Maserati wasn't paying for the engines. Since 2016 Ferrari is an Independent company altough they share a lot of share-holders with FCA/Stellantis.
The cycle of car brands: Market entry > Exciting new models > Popular models are no longer so popular > For some reason no money is invested in updating, the number of models is reduced > You are bankrupt, the Chinese buy you and make stupid electric cars with your logo.
@@elukok More like the model stops selling well because you stop investing in updates. The investment problem isn't restricted to automobiles. The entire economy has been financialized. Investors in the U.S. are no longer interested in investing in manufacturing. The U.S. economy today is money chasing more money, not money investing in productive industries.
The Lancer and it's Evos has never been a good money maker for Mitsubishi however, and except for the first few generations, the Lancer sold rather horribly year by year. It is an image maker yes but not a really effective one, makes sense why Mitsubishi decommissioned the Lancer, and its not the cause of their failure right now because their Pajero Sport and Mirage and their regional specific cars in Asia are where the money's really in for Mitsubishi. They're trying to get more money out normal people rather than enthusiasts for some time now because ever since Lancer Evo 7 or 8 I think? Mitsubishi is already going like "yeah this sports sedan we have is great but like it doesn't make any money for us nor pull in enough street cred despite winning more events than the Impreza now because the enthusiasts that promised to buy our cars don't even buy any when we released them, and normal people with money only wants our big fat slow Pajero Sports and tincan Mirages." In some Southeast Asian markets Mitsubishi literally got way more sales once they discontinued the Lancer and LanEvos, having the Mirage join instead and have the Pajero and Pajero Sport updated.
@@PlatinumNath You're not wrong, but it didn't help that Mitsubishi never wanted to bring the Evo to the US market (until Subaru started selling the WRX here) and once they did, their dealerships were pretty against anyone test driving one because they didn't trust anyone behind the wheel unless they were pretty much definitely going to buy it. Not a great sales strategy. On top of that, the brand sold so poorly here while I owned a Lancer that in the course of my 5 years of ownership I had to go to 3 different dealerships for things because they kept closing. They couldn't sell enough to keep the lights on. Not really a brand you want to rely on for things like warranty work when the dealership might be close to an hour away because the one close by keeps closing.
I bought one of your most hated cars. The Mitsubishi Mirage G4, and I love it. I needed a cheap commuter car and nothing much more. Fuel economy is of a major concern to be a good commuter for me and this car delivers, 55 MPG is normal. Yes it's slow and has lots of road noise, but for 17K for a brand new car with a 100K mile ten year drive train warranty it can't be beat. Since it's the last year for them I figured now was the time to get one. My commuter cars get abused, deer hits are common and lots of miles. I will never drive a 50K dollar plus vehicle for this type of use, it makes no sense to me. American and most other manufactures are abandoning this car segment do to low profits on such vehicles. I think there is still a market for low priced cars. People just got to get their heads right and stop buying high priced trucks and SUV's because they think they need them to keep up with everyone else. I can only hope Mitsubishi is around long enough to outlast the warranty.
If you get one with a manual, it can be a good car. But you have to change the oil religiously, especially if you’re in a cold climate. And make sure you don’t keep the CVT past it’s warranty. That’s a Nissan JATCO CVT - the bad one. I’m a mechanic, I’ve worked on tons of Mirages.
Anyone can work on a Giulia. I have owned a 2020 Giulia Ti for years, I’m not a mechanic but I do my own brakes, spark plugs, filter replacements etc. as far as luxury cars go, Giulia is as reliable as bmw or Mercedes if not more. Great car worth every penny. Never took it to the dealership bc I don’t need to
Nah... Lancia was reduced to one model, that horrendous Ypsilon, Alfa Romeo was all quiet, Fiat lumbered on with very limited progress and the US models began their downward trajectories.
I don't know why FIAT thought it was a good idea to merge with Chrysler to create FCA. Chrysler was bankrupt and FIAT didn't have enough money to develop cars for their newly acquired brands, on top of their existing ones.
@@N1ckZ Perhaps they wanted Chrysler's truck expertise. Jeep and RAM are both doing well, and have a lot of industry respect. If that was their goal, then FCA did pretty well with the merger.
@@N1ckZit was Jeep mainly, plus with a limited investment, they could milk CDJR to give their own brands more money. It’s pretty much where the Giulia & Stelvio came from, because Fiat didn’t have a billion dollars to develop a chassis just for Alfa (though it finally spawned a Maserati variant) until a small investment to CDJR reaped bigger rewards for the merged company.
Stellantis is the closest thing we have to a modern British Leyland. Unreliable poor quality poorly priced crap that is collapsing under its own weight.
Stellantis owns Fiat but they make good diesel engines. The Common rail diesel injection system was an invention of Fiat. The Multi-air valve timing system is without using camshaft and throttle valve is actually more advanced than the VTEC from Honda.
Chrysler/ Dodge / Plymouth went bankrupt and died in 1978. Then they demanded give-backs from the UAW and reported a profit equal to the givebacks. Their stock went from 7 to 28 in a few months. It's like solving unemployment by drafting all the unemployed, or paying them to go to college. Just playing games and not solving the real problem.
Mitsubishi is Japanese and the vehicles last forever as long as they are maintained. My '90 Eclipse turbo was rock solid and a ball to drive. The Gallant was the default sedan for some of my friends because it was cheap and reliable. The 3000GT was like a starship.
Pickups are in a bad way. Ford & Chevy shot themselves in the foot by raising prices every year. Their market wants a cheap, basic work vehicle, but the truck makers only want to sell luxury SUVs with a little bed in back
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough Right on the money. And Ford, GM and Ram/Doge even Toyota are mainly making high end vehicles to the point you want a cheaper vehicle, you might as well preorder it if the state and federal governments do not buy out the entire production run od cheaper models used for specific needs.
@@scottysgarage4393EV derangement symptom lmao, EVs were superior to ICE in 2013 let alone now. It's only an infrastructure/political problem at this point.
Chrysler is such a sad story. It went from being one of the big American 3, innovating car tech with the release of the first hemispherical combustion chamber, with being the first to use wind tunnels to figure out aerodynamics to make their cars more efficient, to being dwindled down to pretty much nothing. Personally I feel like the beginning of the end was when Daimler bought them. Mercedes really did stunt the growth and potential of Chrysler in a way that they’ve never been able to recover from
Doug, I know the fact Mitsubishi is just hanging around puzzles you, as it does me too, but hear me out. My mom bought a slightly used Mitsubishi Outlander in 2003, had that car for 14 years, loved it, took care of it, till one day she got a brochure in the mail about incentives to buy a new 2018 Outlander. Long story short, she left there in a brand new 2018 Outlander sport. She's since traded it for another updated and better optioned 2020 Outlander Sport, and then now a 2023 Outlander like the one you showed here. She just loves the Outlanders! And she loves Mitsubishi! The dealer she goes to has great, kind people in sales and service. She's no car enthusiast and she doesn't have a lot of money, as long as it works reliably and keeps her comfortable, she's happy! I watch every Doug Demuro review no matter what car it is, so I know what's out there, and I know there are much better cars out there than these Outlanders, but she doesn't care. She will keep going back to Mitsubishi till she can't anymore, and other owners she's chatted with at gas stations and grocery store parking lots say the exact same thing... Mitsubishi apparently has a pretty solid brand loyalty.
@man_on_wheelz bro, I'd like to add, that here in the country of belize where I live, I brought my first car which is an Mitsubishi outlander 2008 and it has served me well into this year of 2024 it has 129,000 miles and the only time I've had to replace anything was because the part was simply very old. It's reliability has kept me through all the rough roads, and tropical jungles a/c still works too. Only thing that has stopped working is the water pump to spray my windshield but that can be easily fixed.
@@TheArthas17 They're good cars! I can honestly vouch for them! Even when my mom got the 2018 Outlander Sport, she kept the 2003 Outlander and let my aunt have it, it was still decent enough to keep around, and the engine and transmission was going strong still at 170k miles.
I bought a 2022 Outlander when they were first out because you literally couldn't touch any other crossover around here for less than MSRP at the time (mid-pandemic) and my trade-in pickup was worth more than I paid for it 2 years earlier- I had the Outlander for 2 years, and I put 60k miles on it before I got a screaming deal on a 2023 leftover Outlander PHEV, which I already have 25k miles on 😂 I have zero complaints about either Outlander, but I really do miss my 2003 Evo. 😢
@@JohnCarter-vo8ux Not gonna lie, I am so not a crossover guy, as a car enthusiast, I can't stand them. I understand their appeal though, they truly are the perfect car for the everyday household, I will die on that hill, but they just aren't for me. That said, I really like my mom's 2023 Outlander. It's not the PHEV, but I saw one of those in the showroom and I will say, I wouldn't be mad if she eventually upgrades to that, that thing is dope! The latest Outlander in general is a good-looking and driving car, and it's got some very nice features, even if it is all borrowed from Nissan. They've come a long way from that 2003 Outlander she had.
Ditto on that! I have had an Endeavor, an Eclipse and currently have a 2013 Outlander, all with well over a 100K miles with no major problems. I will be in the market for a 2024 Outlander in Nov/Dec of this year as it is a vehicle that gives the most bang for the buck with a industry leading warranty and 2 years free maintenance.
I have had only 6 cars since 1970…all Buicks! My 2004 was given to my niece’s family in 2017. Their daughter drove it back and forth during college from Kansas to Alabama for 4 years. It had over 100k when I gave it to them. Now they have given it to a man who needed a car for work. Figure it out…most of my cars were used for way over 10 years…and 100k miles. Plus I didn’t take care of all the services they are supposed to have.
The problem with Alfa Romeo is that they completely missed the wishes of their customers, and it is the Alfisti who are the most loyal to the brand. Alfa Romeo used to be a sports brand for the middle class. Now they are pushing us SUV models (the last three Alfas are SUVs: Stelvio, Tonale, Junior) that nobody wants, and they haven't even done the Giulia Sportwagon. They haven't offered a single coupe for years, and they brag about being a sports brand. Alfisti want good ICE engines, not buzzers with three cylinders and hybrids. And then, as salt on the wound, Alfa made a new 33 Stradale as an exotic car for a couple of the richest tycoons on the planet. What an insult to your customers!
There aren't any old school Alfisti's in the USA. So few people have ever seen an old alfa, let alone experience one. I own a Stelvio Quad and have yet to run into someone that knew what it was. Heck, I didn't even know they existed until I was trying to find something different from the Germans. Doug hit the nail on the head about them not refreshing their lineup. I love the Guilia but it's easy to see how dated it is vs it's competitors.
Everyone says they don't want SUV's and yet, everyone buys SUV's. Including SUV's of Ferrari and Lamborghini. The Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce is getting very good reviews.
@@drfisheye I own 3 Alfas at the moment, not one is SUV. On our Alfisti forum, the only SUV that members buy is Stelvio - and the reason they buy Stelvio is just because there is no Giulia Sportwagon. Many owners have dogs and the Stelvio is the only solution in that case, and in fact only few of them wanted an SUV. It is a shame that there are no normal models in the MiTo-Giulietta-GT class.
@@I_dont_give_a_caredidn't that happen during the prohibition era? I remember people talking about wanting to create the special liquid and a risk that come with it.
@@lordflufffluff yeah if you distill your own alcohol and you don’t know what you’re doing, you can inadvertently make the wrong type of alcohol and it causes blindness. It didn’t help that the government found batches of homemade liquor and poisoned it and still allowed it to be sold to the public as a deterrent, which obviously didn’t work. That blinded a bunch of people too.
One thing that Doug forgot to mention is that a lot of those brands had terrible reliability and their reliability nightmares made it to the front page of several news outlets. Even if the brands addressed their reliability, there is a negative stigma on the consumers about their products.
Toyota focused very very heavily on QUALITY. They built/rebuilt their factories in the late 50s and began to use crude robotics initially, but then improved their robots while the Big Three in the US still relied on manual assembly. The result; by 1971, Toyota and Honda had very small cars that sipped gasoline while the US focused on 4,500-pound cars approaching 18 feet in length (Cadillac Eldorado with 8.2 L engine!). Then, the '73 fuel "crisis" began and American cars that got 12 mpg got creamed by Japanese cars that got 22-25 mpg. Once Americans began buying Toyota and Honda, they noticed the build quality. By 1976 Chrysler was failing; GM and Ford introduced cheaply assembled econoboxes that rattled and were trash. The Japanese walked all over us. It took Detroit more than a decade to recover; GM introduced Saturn which lasted no more than 10 years...and the big three gradually moved into more robotically-built cars. Chrysler was saved by introducing the minivan, but still did not focus on quality. Toyota started Lexus, Honda started Acura and Nissan started Infiniti and they all did well. I think that Infiniti began to slip because of stodgy design and their horrendous CVT (continuous variable transmission) which proved horrendously unreliable (at least Nissan/Infiniti's CVT). Again...lack of quality harmed the brand. Quality-built cars sell well...thus Fiat (not well made) Alfa (also not so well made) and many other struggled....folks bought them but didn't stay brand loyal. Stellantis has been stripping their engineers down to the bone and trying to centralize them in India (I think). Again, quality issues abound. No one wants to buy a car that's likely to be garbage by the third year (or sooner). High reliability leads to brand loyalty and steady sales. That's the bottom line. What really kills any company? Fat paychecks to executives who don't give a DAMN about quality. All they focus on is Q1 vs Q2 vs Q3 vs Q4 PROFITABILITY. More profit = higher bonuses. Their short-sightedness damages the reputation and thereafter, the sales. (Not one person I know who bought a Chrysler sedan in the last 15 years has told me they're going to return to Chrysler.)
A real example where that happened was Lancia in the U.K. They never recovered from selling cars which would fail their first safety inspection at three years old due to excessive rust. The urban myths, such as engines falling out of cars, became a bigger problem than the actual rust problems.
Mitsubishi made a really strange decision here in Europe. They had the Outlander which was one of the top-selling SUVs in general, as well as the reasonably popular ASX crossover and L200 pickup. Then they pretty suddenly decided to pull out from the continent entirely, only to reverse the decision and instead start selling rebadged Renaults. AFAIK they haven't even brought the new Outlander over. Deeply bizarre moves to me.
The Outlander PHEV was the best selling PHEV in Europe for years. Probably because fuel economy is really important here and the only alternative was a rebadged Chevy Volt.
As a Maserati owner I'm a little surprised you don't have them on the list. They seem to be doing everything wrong, I'm just hoping Stellantis sells them off to someone that understands the market for it.
Because as a luxury brand the name still carries some weight here in the US and they still sell decently. I would pick Jaguar to be honest. I have no idea what they have been doing here in the US the past 10+ years.
@@PowerNGlory The reason I doubt their ability to last is that they are supposedly going "all EV" in the next 5 years. No one I talk to wants an electric Maserati, maybe I talk to the wrong people, but I think if they really try to do that it will be the end of them.
@@valis992000in my humble opinion, the main reason one chooses to get a Maserati, is because of the sound they make, it’s just glorious. Secondly, the exotic looks, and third, the fancy name. It was always “known as a cheap Ferrari”. Cheap for what a Ferrari is, but obviously Maserati is still expensive. I hope you enjoy yours for years to come! Do you mind me asking which model and year your own? And how reliable or unreliable is? Thank you in advance.
@@Rmzkm007 Yes, I am always willing to talk about my car. I have a 2014 Gran Turismo Sport. It is an automatic, I believe the source of people thinking they are unreliable stems from clutch replacements. The ones that have the F1 Ferrari transmission and clutch are very expensive to replace and they seem to wear out quickly. The ZF auto is considered bulletproof and is used in a wide range of European cars. Likewise the Ferrari V8 sound beautiful, makes plenty of power and is not only reliable but as easy to work on as any American V8. So if I do have issues, or for routine maintenance, I can do most everything myself (saving tons of money). On the downside the electronics, even for 2014, are wildly out dated. But I didn't buy the car for that. In short I'm a frugal guy that always wanted a Ferrari. So for less than the price of my wife's new Hyundai I got a "poor man's Ferrari" that I love and daily drive. BTW: If you are interested in purchasing one I highly recommend the Maserati Life Dot Com forum that has tons of information and helpful users.
I used to love Lincoln’s, the old panther platform Town cars and the Mark series, but I can’t figure out why Lincoln still exists today. A Lincoln has been just an expensive Ford since the late 60’s, But today if you want an expensive Ford, just buy a Ford.
@@jayson657 Ford is moderately priced and are nice dependable vehicles, and are a poor man's Cadillac, if you want cheap car buy a Nissan Kia Hyundai and see what you get
Was looking into getting a new daily and always was a fan of towncars. Even owned a couple in the past. Wanted to spend around 10 grand. But by now theyre antiquated. 4.6L with about 240 horse. Not great gas mileage. And, if you want a truly clean one with low miles they want 15 grand. I just bought a mks instead. 300 hp v6 all wheel drive. Back up camera, bluetooth. Even the 2011 towncar didn't offer that.
I don’t understand what keeps Lincoln’s doors open. There’s really nothing new in the lineup, a facelift once in a while, but there’s nothing that pops out and gets anyone’s attention.
@@HenrySomeone Way. Try one and you'll see. Apart from the engine, the lesser Giulias share most of the goodness of the Giulia Quad. Same with the Stelvio.
In Buick's case, I think that GM feels that pulling it out of NA would be seen as a bad omen in China. "If it isn't selling in its home market, why are they selling it here?" That sort of thing. Basically, its a loss-leading halo for China.
Don't forget, those brands were already dead and bankrupt without US government $$. Stellantis gave them some new life and some successes. Probably not enough, but some.
@aliabdallah102 the company isn't run by the enthusiasts. Otherwise they'd be making cool cars. The Giulia would still be on top if it were run by enthusiasts.
@@JollyGiant19 that's exactly what pretty much the entirety of Chrysler is at this point... SUVs and Crossovers. Yet they aren't selling, are they? When you offer nothing over the competition, you have to exploit the mistakes they're making (nobody is making cool sedans anymore besides the Germans)
If it wasn't for the 5.7L hemi in their passenger cars (charger/300/challenger eventually) in the mid 2000s, they'd would've died off a long time ago. But i credit them with starting the horsepower wars between the big 3 in the 2000s. In the 90s they were crap. I'd never own a dodge/Chrysler but they do have nice styling.
Lucid might survive if the Saudi investors are willing to keep pumping money into them. Maybe. The cars are great. But they made them too expensive at the start and followed Teslas playbook too closely.
The Mirage is just a horrific little car; it drives terribly, it’s insanely chintzy, and it has a wheezing 3 cylinder that can barely get it out of its own way. You’re better off buying a used ANYTHING.
I was shopping for new cars in 2021 and I looked at the small mitsubishi dealership just for fun. I compared the mirage to the other cheapest new car, the kia soul. The mirage is like a little clown car compared to even a KIA SOUL! It was 18k at the time for a mirage with the most bare bone features, and 22k at the time for a kia soul S with all the fancy safety features, rims, and many things I've never even had in a car I've owned. Needless to say I didn't even test drive the mirage and I ended up buying a new kia soul S with a 2 percent interest rate, I still love that car today, it's my baby.
@@CadgerChristmasLightShow Anytime I rent a car on vacation, I go for the Kia Soul as well. Those lil' hamsters are a dream to drive on road trips after a flight
@MarloSoBalJr i often see maid services and other mobile businesses driving kia souls around, they are by far the most practical and cheapest cars you can buy new. I have crammed a ridiculous amount of cargo into my kia soul and transported it no problem. They drive nice, get good MPG, and can haul a decent amount of cargo. Not much else you can ask from a cheap econobox.
‘Better vehicles than their Chevy counterparts”? Well yea, that’s the point of mid tier brand. A Chevy base model a Buick mid tier model and a Cadillac high tier model.
Not really…some models are not rebaged in other GM brands…like the Envision. The Envista is the same as the new Chevy Trax… the envision is unique from China…the encore is or was Korean…just like the envista. The full size Enclave is a rebadged Chev Traverse. So some rebadging but not all cars are.
Even if that is the case, is there any reason they couldn't market these better vehicles under the Chevy/GMC/Cadillac brands? The Buick brand is dead weight and these good cars would improve the healthier brands.
I thought you were spot on Doug for the first few brands, but then you mentioned Infiniti and you totally lost me! Infiniti is doing great if you ask me! Just look at their designs! They're always bold and different and formidable and good looking. Just look at the QX80 and the QX60 (old and new), neither Mercedes, Acura, Audi, nor Lexus have the bold aggressive formidable looks as the Infinities do, and I'm a big fan of Mercedes, Acura, Audi and Lexus, but they don't have the aggressive looks, and the right curves at the right places that the Infiniti always has!
@@johnnymason2460 GMC and Buick both are not necessary. At least Pontiac had an identity in trying to be the sporty, fun brand. They made cars like the G8, G6, and Solstice. GMC only existed for the reasons that Doug mentioned, but those brands are no longer in existence and thus, GMC also has outlived its existence. That's why they had to pivot and try to pitch GMC as "premium" but it really doesn't feel that way. GMC and Buick both should be axed, and Pontiac should've survived.
@@NS327-t7h by the time they were axed, Pontiac and Oldsmobile were merely redundancies against Chevrolet and Buick, respectively. Buick would've made sense if there was still a market for an in-between segment, but there isn't. That's why Mercury hasn't existed at Ford for, what, 15 years now? Buick going away kind of shocked me when he first said it, but he's right.
In North America at least, the market for both has disappeared. The "mid-tier" market has historically always been a precarious place to be. If the economy soured, people would still continue to buy Chevrolets (and the Cadillac crowd was unaffected), but the B-O-P (remember Olds?) brands would tank. Today, the nicest Chevy isn't much less luxurious that the least costly Caddy, so there isn't much middle ground left.
I could fix Mitsubishi, bring back the EVO, bring back the Pajero EVO as a bronco competitor, bring the truck they sell in Australia as a Tacoma competitor. Not many brand have a heritage like them, especially from the 90s/00s, which if they leaned in on would sell like crazy.
As cool as that would be I don’t think it would work. For both Evo’s you’d need platforms to base it off of, and by the time you burn through enough cash for a new economy compact that won’t sell and a new SUV that is going to fight established brands it’s going to struggle. Mitsubishi’s best bet for an enthusiast focus would be collaborating with someone to either produce twins (like the GT86 BRZ twins) or share drivetrains for some help in developing a new platform
@@pauljr.harrington1905 lol, your solution is to bring back...sedans? (and kill their ONE crossover??) No one sells sedans but Dodge and Tesla. Do you understand what the average (non enthusiast) consumer wants? Obviously not.
Blame Carlos Ghosn for not keeping Infinti up to spec. Prior to 2000 Nissan was well regarded, up there with Toyota, and even above Honda in sales. But since 2010 it lost its way, targeting lower credit consumers, and having high financing for these folks, and that was their model. Their cars lagged, and the CVT was horrific.
You never know. The american brands have entirely failed on their own already. Your taxes bailed them out. Left to their own devices... They've proven that they are quite able to completely collapse.
Kind reminder that many of these "going to fail brands" do not manufacture USDM models. For manufacturers perspective, developing a 3 tonne, 8 mpg pickup/SUV is a terribly costly investment. They'd rather pull off the US market and sell their "global" vehicles elsewhere.
@@tomokokishi3066 I agree with this. The American taste for monster trucks and suvs will eventually shut off the supply of anything interesting to the US
thats cause Fiats smaller cars are in high demand in Europe. Similar story with Alfa, its just a more well-known brand here and their cars are just more suited for the European market. In the same vein, Chrysler or Dodge are nowhere as popular in Europe as they are in the US, same story the other way round
They have a parts problem in North America, if something breaks your car could be in the shop for months. Also, they have a reputation for poor reliability.
I work for a CJDR dealership, and it routinely boggles our minds that Chrysler is RADIO SILENT about the future. We talk at the dealership about how cool it could be if Chrysler became actually luxurious for once. Make the new 300 in the form factor of the Genesis G90. BIG, expensive, and actually luxurious sedan in a world of so many crossovers I think could be compelling. But they are most likely cooked. Oh well. lol
@@emjayay Doomed to fail as you're starting with piss poor product to begin with. That is the same thing they've been doing which is why they're nearly dead now. Rebadging hasn't worked in 40+ years and you think rebadging a relic like the Durango is the answer??
MINI is going to be fine. BMW remain committed to the brand and the launch of the new models globally has gone very well. Sales are up. Sales did go down prior to the new models, particularly int he US, but now they are back up again. What MINI really need is a decent ad campaign (when was the last time you saw a TV ad for a MINI in the US?) and some PR (like product placement in a movie). That might get the coolness back. BMW should be getting them into the next Mission Impossible movie. But overall MINI will be fine. Unlike Jaguar. Such a shame. I love that brand but they have nothing decent to sell right now……
I think you missed the mark on Buick. You say that you don't understand why they aren't low market Cadillacs, when that's exactly what the point of Buick is. It's for folks who want A vehicle that isn't rugged like Chevy or GMC, but not quite as expensive as a Cadillac. An every man's semi luxury economy vehicle. Kind of like Mazda.
No, no, no! Mazda is not a premium brand. It's a mainstream brand and needs to stay that way. Mazda going upscale will fail miserably. No one is going to choose a Mazda over an Acura or an Audi.
Yea, I think Buick saved itself with the Envista. I see lots of them. I think they look great. Having middle offerings like Buick indicates that a middle class still actually exists, if that makes sense
@@johnnymason2460 Mazda has been making steady and well thought out progress on their design language, technology and quality ever since they split from Ford in 2014. I think they know what they're doing by moving upmarket into acura/volvo/lexus territory.
@@johnnymason2460Mazda have been moving upmarket for years, they just haven’t brought their prices with it. The design language and way they present them selves are magnitudes more premium than they were a decade ago
I have a solution: moving Buick up market taking the place of today's Cadillac (premium). As consequence move also Cadillac up market to put It into luxury segment, basically the american Rolls Royce. Just a few but more expensive models: a big sedan (celestiq), a gt coupé/cabrio (turn the soleil into a production vehicle), and a full size suv (escalade). Smaller Cadillac models become Buick ones
man i used to work in an infiniti dealership in 2017-2018 and its crazy how similar most of the new models are now to how they were back then. which is hilarious considering they were slightly outdated then as well.
@@blapbIap I was an Infiniti loyalist (G35 & G37 coupe, Q50, Q60 coupe, and QX70), and was so amazed at how all the SUV coupes basically copied the QX70 body styling. But Infiniti dropped the ball and didn’t stay ahead of the trend that they set with the SUV Coupes. I own an Alfa Romeo Stelvio, which the body aesthetics are very reminiscent of the QX70. But Alfa is running into the same issue of not staying ahead of the trend.
@@davidturgeon2087 it’s not about chasing trends. It’s about setting the trend, which Alfa had done at some point. And it’s also Ally good n marketing which both Infiniti & Alfa really suck at.
There's a *ton* of Mini Countrymans around. Sells pretty well. Expensive but coveted. Electric is the right way to go for that type of car, and they're leaning into it. BMW could fold them into their own dealerships to reduce costs and keep them around as entry level choices. BMW struggles in the sub $50,000 market as it is.
I think Dodge is on shaky ground as well. The Hellcat strategy brought public interest to ancient platforms starved for development dollars, however, Charger/Challenger volumes would never be enough to sustain the brand long term. The divorce from Ram, in retrospect, was unnecessary and certainly not helpful. Beyond that, Dodge has been suffering the same neglect as the Chrysler brand, particularly in the Stellantis universe where there are just too many marginal brands to support. I'm beginning to think Stellantis will not survive in its current form and the result will be a spinoff of Jeep and Ram accompanied by the elimination of Chrysler and Dodge. I know Mopar guys don't want to hear that, but the private equity firms will have zero sentiment. In the end, it will be all about the numbers.
If Chrysler and Dodge were to go away, I guarantee you will have some very angry consumers. We already have people upset with Pontiac going away. This would be much, much worse.
@@johnnymason2460 When was the last major Chrysler product launch.....the 2nd generation mid-size 200 in 2015? The Pacifica in 2016? That's nine years ago. On the Dodge side, prior to the already failing Hornet, the last new Dodge body was the 2012 Dart. Sadly, the two brands have been operating with very little support for a long time. The old Mopar guys will make a stink, yes, but I doubt very much it will be enough to attract investment dollars.
@@joemartino6976 This is why Chrysler needs to be owned by someone other than PSA. Someone who actually cares about the Chrysler brands(Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep) should own them and develop new products for them. Believe me, if I could own the Chrysler brands, Dodge and Ram would be one brand again. Plymouth would be back. All the brands would be full line covering all market segments(from subcompact cars and crossovers to top of the line sports cars).
You could argue FIAT has already failed in the US, what did they sell, like a few hundred cars last year TOTAL. And yet I'm a very happy Abarth 124 owner.
I don't see them failing, they're just gonna pull out of the US market again. Down here in Brazil FIAT is the best-selling car brand right now, and it has been one of top-selling brands for decades, in fact the best-selling vehicle of any brand in Brazil is the FIAT Strada pickup. The line-up they offer here is completely different from the US or Europe though.
@@MatheusSilva-qm1ft That was a name I didn't expect to see again. In 1980s Europe the Fiat Strada had a famous advertising campaign "Hand-built by Robots". Fiat seem to be doing O.K. here as a cheaper more practical alternative to Mini. I'm surprised BMW haven't revived the "Maxi" name as that is what Mini seems to have become.
Americans on the whole just don't go for small cars. When I was in London a few years ago the 500 was easily the most common car with the Mini close behind. Those two were far more common than any other (though I did see more Ferraris than I'd ever seen, outside of a Ferrari gathering at least, not having ever visited Miami).
@@Jim-r1z Ford did quite well with their MK2 Ka which is actually a Fiat 500 underneath and was built in the same factory. At the opposite extreme I thought quite a bit about getting the latest Toyota RAV4 but decided I didn't want such a massive tank of a vehicle.
@@MrDuncl the Strada I'm talking about has nothing to do with the 80's hatchback, it's the pickup that was sold in Europe in the 2000's and is still being sold here in South America.
Funny how popular BMW got once it started listening to its customers rather then telling them they don’t need a cup holder. Now if only they would listen to us about the kidney grills.
@@UmmYeahOk But that goes back to your original point - customers were demanding bigger cars. If they stuck to only building mini Minis for enthusiasts, they would have folded years ago.
@@busslayer4790As someone who owns a little British car, I understand. …but only because driving around today in the modern world is like driving a go cart in a sea of monster trucks. But BMW Mini started this nonsense in the early aughts, when full sized trucks and SUVs were only starting to become popular. They contributed to the growth, not evolved because of it. I remember back then, I had a professor who owned a Miata. Absolutely loved driving it, but started hating how more and more people were buying up large trucks and SUVs. By the end of the semester, she gave up. She sold the car she loved and bought the very thing she hated. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to own a small car. It was that she didn’t want to share the road with people who were incentivized into believing that bigger was better. Also keeping in mind that this was before reverse cameras, blind spot sensors, auto braking and lane keepers. Driving while on the phone was common and legal and no one checked their mirrors, ever. It was very scary back then, and it seemed like only the people still driving actual cars cared. People today still buy Miatas though. There one of the few small cars left. But even a full sized family sedan is small compared to how tall trucks and SUVs are today. The Mini and Fiats you hardly see any more, so even after making their own version of a crossover, it seemed to hurt the sales of the original mini and 500.
Ill disagree with doug about Buick. The buick brand has its purpose in the US. Buick offers luxury that is comparable to Cadillac without the Cadillac price. I personally love Buicks they are Very reliable vehicles with a smooth ride. In my area everywhere i go there is plenty of Buicks on the road. Old an new. I dont think the buick brand will disappear anytime soon
GMC was founded in 1911 and their purpose was to build pick up trucks and heavy duty trucks. They were not just founded to put pick up trucks on Buick lots.
Sure, GMC began life as a commercial truck company, but over the last 30 years they exist to be paired with Buick (and also previously Olds/Pontiac) dealers so they had enough product to sell to operate a dealership business. Just selling Buicks wouldn't drive enough business to pay for the real estate costs and other expenses and still be profitable.
Stellantis has the same problem FCA did. They take way too long to make new models. All the Stellantis car brands need like 5 or 6 new models, but they were needed yesterday.
I've been saying that Alfa will leave the US again for years because whoever is running them doesnt understand what Alfa even is or what they stand for. The Giulia was fantastic, ignore all the naysayers it is a far better car than BMW makes even now. But with the disaster that is the Tonale, I've watched several dealers fill up their lots with them and then go out of business. My local one closed just a few weeks ago, I called them to see if I could get some new wheels for a Giulia and all the lines were disconnected.
They should have brought the 2L turbo version of the Tonale to the U.S. and sold it alongside the much pricier plug-in hybrid version. That's what other brands do, for good reason. Marketed properly, they could have sold 2 or 3 base turbo Tonale models for every Tonale hybrid.
But they sell better than any other minivan due to their unmatched design and practicality. If Honda designed a folding flat second row on the Odyssey, I would camp outside of the Honda dealership to get one, but having to not only make a commitment to remove the seats for the duration of the trip, but to struggle with 60+ lb seats every time you want to remove it (and trust me, after 60 you begin to respect your back a lot more) defeats the major functionality of the minivan.
@@busslayer4790 Could be both, but I see a bunch of them in private ownership in my area alone. It's mostly older people around here, smaller homes, and they want one vehicle that will do it all.
@@mountainhobo I have a friend with one. She is a Dr. and has one with all the bells and whistles. It is very nice. I rent minivans once or twice a year and for the last couple years they are always Pacificas. Not as well equipt, but comfortable. Maybe if Chrysler goes under they could market it as a Jeep somehow.
I have a 2018 Mini Cooper that I absolutely love, but I bought it as my second, "fun" car and I bought it because it was a convertible. The other options in the "reasonable" price range in the US were the Volkswagen "bug" convertible, the Mazda Miatta (which I almost got) and the Mustang convertible. I am a member of the local Mini club and found that Mini has a very devoted (and growing) fan base, so I don't think they are likely to fade away. One thing that has been a "hit" on Mini in the US is doing away with the manual transmission option.
If Buick can import Chinese cars and sell them at a cheap price point that’s a massive win for GM. After all, the steady impoverishment of the middle class in the US due to “free trade” and mass 1mm1gr tion has only been made somewhat tolerable by the ever cheaper overseas widgets that get imported back and play a key role in holding down the official inflation figures. If GM has found a way to skirt any trade sanctions against China with Buick, then they will have duplicated this successful imported-widget model and no doubt will be welcomed by Fed officials for making their lives easier.
Alfa is comming and going since they exist basically. Remember when they were totally down ( Alfa 33) and came slowly back with the 145 and then launched the 156 and were suddenly up there? They faded during 159 and such and only reappeared with the Guilia. They will stay in the Background until another car hits just right.
Well, I wouldn't blame the 33. I have two of them, and they are great drivers cars. And it's the most sold Alfa ever, they made almost 1 million of them. Still, they could have improved on a lot of things, and they didn't for years.
Regarding Infiniti, Nissan itself is struggling. Their Q2 numbers were particularly poor They are the Japanese version of Stellantis/Ram, which also had a very poor Q2 performance. These two better get it in gear. 2-3 more quarters like that and heads will roll....
It sucks because Nissan was very early to the EV gambit alongside Tesla. But rather than embracing it, they just let their EV tech gather dust along with the leaf and now they're a big laggard despite being one of the first to enter EVs. They had so much potential.
@@thedumbconspirator4956the leaf had so much potential. As it stands we have to call a premium saloon our “entry level” EV rather than an actually affordable hatchback. Such a good little nugget of a car too, simple, not too techy, just enough design language to let you know it’s an EV but not be weird about it.
i was expecting both Nissan and Mazda to be on Doug's list when i saw the title, but to be fair Nissan has far more relevant models in the USA than are available here in the UK.
Buicks are an upscale over Chevys at a small price increase without the more extreme styling and much higher prices of Caddies. Most Buick customers are happy with them and are repeat buyers. Why should that mean it’s going to fail? Aren’t those traits most manufacturers would love to have?
Regarding brands like Alfa and Fiat, is the problem maybe that people in the USA want a "light truck", or at least some kind of SUV, as more light trucks are appearing on the roads, and small cars are not crash-compatible with your average Ford F150 or Dodge Ram? From what I've heard, it's almost like an arms race. And it's all because of the CAFE exemption, which means the vast majority of new car sales in the US are now light trucks. Meanwhile, if I may add, the vast majority of people don't need such a vehicle, and it is not very safe for small children either, as it is very hard to see if a small child is standing right in front of the vehicle. Because of its massive size. And then there is the fuel consumption. Everywhere else, people are being asked to make sacrifices because of global warming. Well, it doesn't help if you have a larger - and thus heavier - vehicle to move. That simply requires more energy, and thus more fuel, and thus it emits more CO2. Sorry for the rant, but I think the USA has this stuff all backwards.
Dodge is getting rid of their two muscle cars and replacing them with electrics, which is not what that market wants. They completely failed to read the room. They are dead man walking.
From their own marketing, it's clear they know what the market wants, but there are also these two little things called the government and the parent company that are pressuring Dodge into doing an electric car. By the way, they're keeping a gas-powered variant of the muscle car, just downsizing the engine.
I work at a Buick/GMC dealership, and I can tell you that we cannot get enough Buicks for months now. Every time we get a delivery they sell out in 2 days and we are back to no inventory. All 4 Buick models have been redesigned in the last 12 months, and they have all gotten great reviews and all of them are top choices on the JD Power dependability surveys. My understanding is that Buick sales year to date for 2024 are 60% higher than the same period for 2023.
Mitsubishi doesn't have recalls! Has anyone noticed?! They'll be around for many more decades. They maintain a good quality level in all models. No disappointments! 💯🗽🇺🇸
Interesting you left Jaguar. While their stablemate Land Rover is hugely successful, Jaguar literally has nothing left except the F-Pace.
The e-pace broke their records in sales. But yes, they only have SUV's.
F-pace will also be discontinued soon
This was going to be my hot take. LR is killing it, but Jaguar has been an afterthought in the luxury space for years.
F type
Maybe in the US? But not really in the UK, Jaguar continues to be very popular,
Plenty of E-Pace & F-Paces about, I-Pace also fairly popular. And the F-Type is a great 2-seater. No new models lately as Jaguar are planning a brand re-launch in 2025.
Making RAM separate from Dodge is a move I still do not understand
@@Stapleton42 I feel like they could see into the future and knew eventually they would either be selling brands off or closing them down. Stellantis would probably be happiest with Jeep/RAM dealership in the USA.
I think it had to do with emissions compliance
Most US consumers want a big pick up and the only other option is ford
@@felipe21994 Huh? Ever heard of Chevy, GMC, Toyota, even Nissan?
They were (are) trying to position Dodge as fun, cool, hip and sporty (also one of the reasons they probably don't bring in the Pacifica). Work trucks didn't fit that brand, so they spun it off in the reorg. It makes some sense. RAM as work trucks. Dodge as cool and sporty. Alfa as pseudo-luxury. Fiat as "cute." Chrysler as the dumping ground.
Buick exists in the US so that GM can tell the Chinese they're American cars, I would assume.
That’s what I think too - Just like here in America we associate BMW/Benz/Audi as German or “foreign” premium brands, if Buick didn’t exist here in America then it probably would that same allure with consumers anywhere else.
Their sales in the United States are increasing recently though.
@@nicksikoryak1467 Only because they rot on the lot, then get big incentives to move them cheaply.
Unfortunately, the best car they've made in 20 years was just a rebranded Opel(TourX). Even then it wasn't that great from what I've read. I would say 30 but I kind of liked the Roadmaster Wagon and LeSabre. Still a far cry from the days of the Electra and GSX.
Buick: the most so-so car money can buy.
@@scrappy7571 The Envista is quite a success just based on how cheap it is. Any quality automobile starting under 30 grand will sell well. They need the new Enclave to be a success. Doesn’t seem like GM has any plans of abandoning the brand and they are doing well enough sales wise in the USA to not really fail so i’m not sure Doug is on the money with that one.
Bought a slightly used 2014 Mini Countryman ALL4 S for my wife about 9+ years ago. I was apprehensive due to Mini's poor reputation for reliability. The car now has 55k miles on it and I have never had a mechanical issue with it. She still loves her Mini. Because of my of my initial doubts I have religiously maintained the vehicle; especially oil changes. I feel like we have gotten our money's worth from this vehicle. It's fun as heck to drive and comfortable to travel in.
Stellantis is the graveyard of car brands. That's where brands go to get milked and squeezed to death.
Without the Miata, Mazda would be on that list.
@@MidniteSonthey sell pretty well in other parts of the world. In Mexico you can see them all over the streets 😮
Ong
Stellantis and General Motors
@@MidniteSon Mazdas are pretty popular in Europe too..
Guy in charge of Stellantis needs to be fired ASAP.
Doug not realizing what they've done to ruin the Charger/Challenger...
There’s talk that he will be.. second in command guy is a way better option.
I agree!
You just need to google "executives of stellantis northamerica" and then you get all your people to blame, Europe is doing fine with PSA and fiat corp, Chrysler corporation is the largest issue because it had huge problems originally and no one knows how to really solve them because no one else knows how to solve NA problems thus euro management sucks at it...
He’s running an investment company not a car company. Investors first is his motto.
Buick should own their “old person” car style of yesteryear and come back with absolute sofa style bench seats, mushy bench swing suspension, and 80s style paint. Just own it. Go against the grain at this point.
Yep. Volvo should also make a new version of the 240 with modern tech but the same boxy styling, hipsters with money would eat it up.
@@BiffGreggle Yes! Hard angles. Zero cares to the slipstream look. Back to the roots. I have the same appreciation for the IONIQ6 because it looks like early 90s Saab93
The commercials could have young person being like, "I've been told I have an old soul"
In the 1950's Buick was a brand that affluent people that didn't want the ostentation of a Cadillac purchased. I still remember my grandmother's Buick Roadmaster with the two-speed automatic transmission.
crash safety, rollover safety, fuel economy standards, pedestrian safety in europe, these things disallow true retro styling.
At this point, everything could 'fail'. Cars are just tools now. Everything has 4 doors. Everything is an SUV, or some form of SUV. This really is the malaise era 2.0.
And SUVs are overpriced, overused 💩, bad for the environment and roads.
whoever can bring about a compelling, sporty electric city car with actual good range will have a hit on their hands. something golf sized or maybe even slightly smaller but without the extremely limited range that previous attempts had (eGolf, the honda e in europe, the fiat 500e all come to mind)
A 40-year dealership operator told me, "Having a Mitsubishi dealership is just way to have a used car lot with a name brand attached to it"
And if I'm not mistaken drivetrains and platforms for the outlander and outlander sport are Nissan rogue and Sentra (kick?) respectively. Mitsubishi has a significant ownership stake in Nissan.
Maybe they just need a dealership network to help sell and service their light commercial vehicles? Idk...
@@DanTheMailman330 it's the other way around. Nissan has a significant ownership stake in Mitsubishi motors.
It’s funny you said that there used to be a Mitsubishi dealer in my town and for some reason, the used car lot was full of premium cars like Range Rover and Mercedes
The name brand allows for better rates and more profit
If I had a Mitsubishi dealership I would acquire every good condition old Eclipse, Montero, Evo, etc. that I could find and make my showroom look like a 90's Hong Kong Jackie Chan movie set, complete with a loaded white Montero with rally decals on a turntable.
Chrysler failing is like Sears failing. We’re nostalgic about it, but nobody wanted to shop there.
Sears might be a dead here, but in Mexico, it’s still flourishing
Sears is s l o w l y coming back
Spot on. And I grew up in Mopar cars and think the Mopar people are good. And Chrysler, a Great brand, is failing seems to me to be for basic engineering reasons.
It's not American. Pontiac Olds AMC Chrysler Dodge need to be revived and real cars, not golf carts, built again here in America.
Sears had Craftsman. What had Crysler have?
It’s truly criminal what has been done with Chrysler over the past 10 years
They’ve been a mini van brand for decades. The 300 was based on an old E class. Not a single decent car in modern times
I'm not a American brand fan, but it is a shame what has happened to the Chrysler brand.
Chrysler is going 100%Electric Vehicle and will 100% fail in the aftermath.
@@PeteLenz despite its dated architecture the 300 was still a fantastic car. However, I don’t think it would’ve last as long though without the huge success the Charger and Challenger was
They built the Chrysler ME Four-Twelve 20 years ago and then Merc killed it and they have been falling ever since. That was the last chance for Chrysler...
The Alfa Romeo Tonale IS NOT based on the Dodge Hornet... it's the other way around... Dodge basically "stole" the car from Alfa and made the Hornet to the surprise of everyone... The engineering is Alfa Romeo... Stellantis SUCKS. Alfa Romeo, such an iconic brand treated like this
Loved Alfas ever since I watched the assassin in "The Day Of The Jackal" zip around Italy & France in one.
Italian or French Engineering,......what a total joke!
It’s a shame. ALFA Romeo used to make what were usually bare-bones, stripped-down analogue sports cars. Kind of like how Porsche used to be up until the 90’s. They weren’t these egotistical luxury SUV’s.
@@ericerickson4677 They used to be good in some ways. Peugeot Turbo Diesels were second only to Mercedes, until they started using EFI. Citroën used to make amazing innovations (hydropneumatic suspension, self-centering steering, braking, etc). Citroën 2CV and it’s many derivatives were strange but reliable and well engineered.
Mitsubishi Motors used to be so cool, now I sometimes forget Mitsubishi Motors is a car brand because all their cars are kinda boring.
@@averageyoutubeuser9483 Puerto Rico is a North American car market. I’m sure with a few of the other islands. They sell like hotcakes. I’m sure it is single-handedly funding the entire operation
Yeah I don't know why they totally ditched their cool persona and the models that contributed so heavily to it. There's so many things they could do that they just don't or won't. Mitsu is a snorefest now.
Agreed, back in the 90s they were cool. But since the Evo went out of production they have not made anything remotely interesting or desirable.
Isn't all cars today looking the same?
I'm actually on a rental Mitsubishi Outlander at the moment, and my God that thing is scary to merge on the highway. I literally have to rev the engine to 6,000 rpm in order to get to speed and not get rear ended, while it screams as if it's going to throw a rod.
Stellantis is run by a bunch of executives who've lost their minds, and now overdosing on caffeine.
It’s absolutely insane how these top brass clown make gobs of cash to run a company into the ground
I wonder if drugs are involved. Man you would really be surprised.
No, money.... they are money junkies.
They are Controlled by China
Think you mean cocaine, I suspect autocorrect gotcha
DaimlerChrysler, FCA, and now Stellantis…the most poorly managed company/companies I’ve ever seen.
You’d think they would bring the fiat Panda stateside, or at least the Grande Panda or 600.
th-cam.com/video/N75p2hYb-pk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=mmsY-LNQVRJ_8688
Stellantis in real life
Daimler Chrysler failed because of the German ceo of Daimler. Greetings from Sindelfingen
what I've always wondered is why Chrysler could never stand on their own. They've always needed partnerships yet these companies still invest in a brand that obviously just needs to die. I'ts been on life support since the late 90s. It briefly had success with the 300 when it looked like a bootlegged Bentley.
I am on my third Buick Enclave (current one is the Avenir). I have never had a breakdown, engine or electric problems. I have driven them all over the country, 10's of thousands miles, serviced regularly and enjoyed most of the trips. The only expense has been new tires!! These were all well made, very comfortable cars. They may not be as flashy as a MB or Jag, but they are very reliable, which is the most important part of a well make automobile!!!
I'm on my first Buick, 2021 Envision ST owner (Essence). Driven everywhere across states. Very smooth and quiet. Honestly best car i've owned!
So you’ve been through 3 of them since 2008, when it debuted?
Not very reliable then. Especially when you sound like you’re taking good care of them too.
And the question is how old are you guys? Like what was the thought process that went into u guys choosing Buick over whatever u were comparing it to and what were u comparing it to?
compared it to Acura RDX, GMC Terrain, Ford edge, some others. I was looking for new mid-size SUV w/ decent mpg less than 40K. I was surpised i chose Buick to be honest. But now its been 3 years , no complaints Its a great car! i turned 50 last week. not sure why that matters
I’m a Buick/GMC tech and Buick owners seem to love them, I don’t think they’re going anywhere
6 or 7 car brands that will fail
Chrysler Chrysler Chrysler Chrysler Chrysler Chrysler and maybe Chrysler
Huh? What did u say? 😂😂😂😂
BYD might buy them. A huge Chinese company
@@bradleysample3246so? They’ll fail
And dont forget Chrysler !!
@@jumbomuffin1316Yep. Chrysler is the kiss of death for foreign owners of the brand.
You can’t swing a dead cat around suburban Atlanta without hitting an Enclave.
Same in Northeast Ohio - either our sales people are better, or Doug doesn’t understand that a $25k new car a touch nicer than a Kia is a compelling product, for non enthusiasts.
@@EdDale44135 Exactly, he listed a bunch of models which I thought were selling wonderfully. Non car enthusiasts love the Envista cause it looks great for a cheap price. I think the next hot car market is going to be SUV Coupes.
Same here in NS Canada. The encore and enclave are wildly popular here an I have no idea why other than they start at 29k Canadian. I'd be surprised if they axed off Buick before GMC. GMC is the only brand they can afford to ace and makes sense, but doubt they will axe any at gm. Everything in the Stellantis group is going down with the ship though.
@@jaymecm And GMC is doing great too, can’t leave the house without seeing atleast 20 of them. I’d also say they’d axe the Tahoe before they did anything to Buick.
@@lil_lyrix the next? its been that way already
Alfa has been done dirty. A seriously revered brand, making subpar crossovers, and a long in the tooth sports sedan. All that history to draw on, all that design excellence. And bubkis.
Alfa is long in the tooth, but it's still a better driver's car than anything German.
All manufacturers have been done dirty and now make subpar crossovers. You can’t even buy cars in North America anymore, let alone cars that evoke passion, style and driver engagement.
Giulia and Stelvio is coming back with EVs!
@@kevmagill5163 That's why Alfa Romeo biggest market competitor, BMW always come out on top in the long run. I have owned two Alfa Romeos a 1969 1750 Duetto spider and a 1984 GTV6 both great driving machines 👍, but unfortunately the poorly trained technicians in all Alfa Romeo dealerships in the 80's and 90's did not have any clue how to properly service them 😢. When you went for some minor warranty repair from Alfa Romeo parts where never available and took more than 6 months just to fix minor issues. I used to cheer Alfa Romeo because they where the under dog outside the box thinking company, but now that I am older I think only inside the box, even though BMW's and Audi aren't my favorite brands I've purchased them because they have better service and parts availability and quicker response time in fixing warranty problems than Alfa Romeo, but like Alfa Romeo they're also unreliable, European manufacturers. I got fed up with all the traditional poor European reliability issues so I got rid of all my European cars. Now I only buy Japanese cars because of their superior reliability, durability, and dependability, for me the best Alfa Romeo substitute in driving dynamics is the Acura TLX Type S 3.0 turbo V6. Sure it isn't as powerful as the Guila Qudrifoglio, but it handles just as good is better engineered in America and it's manufactured buy a Japanese company in America. That peace of mind that no European time bomb can accomplish. Sorry but European manufacturers just can't build or don't know how to build reliable cars, and that's a fact!
@@SuzukiKid400the numbers are down, especially with US manufacturers, but you can 100% still buy engaging cars in the US. All the German brands still sell sedans/cars and plenty of them in the US. If you don’t think BMW M, Merc AMG or Audi S/RS cars are engaging or fun to drive then I don’t know what to tell you.
I worked in FIAT Gruppo and Mitsubishi design centers. Mitsubishi car division is only 5% of the company and they don't really care about profit. They produce cars mostly just to hear the name. Biggest problem for me is Alfa Romeo. FIAT preferred to destroy Lancia which always had profit even with only one car , to keep feeding the Alfa Romeo with billions and the company is loosing money for decades! There is no hope. They have to stop producing them!
Jaguar should be here
0 new models since 2021
They're moving towards EVs, hence the lack of new products.
lol they won formula e 2024.
@@goncalo33they won’t exist in 5 years
They're moving towards being a more exclusive brand like Rolls-Royce so idk
I think there was a report they will stop making cars/stop production for a year sometime soon.
The Midwest is keeping Buick alive. They’re all over the place here and to be honest they’re a really nice step up from Chevy and GMC without paying Cadillac prices.
@@coolblack1 you wanna know something crazy Buick ranks way higher then Cadillac in reliability like jd power ranks Buick in 3rd place
They are only alive because they were printing money for Government Motors back in 08. The Chinese auto market didn't really have any aspirational models at the time. So Buick (due to its heritage there), Audi, BMW and even Mercedes were status symbols for those who could afford a car.
It’s true. They are all over the place in the Midwest.
@@coolblack1 I visited family in Michigan and was seeing Buicks I’ve never seen before. The Buick Envista (I think is the name) absolutely blew my parents mind. They had no idea it was a Buick and I’ve never seen one in person before, only online. I kept seeing Buicks everywhere. Then I go back to Colorado and don’t recall the last time I’ve seen a Buick. It’s an odd place for the brand and just seems to never really get footing outside of the Midwest
10 -15 years ago it seemed like every other or every third vehicle was a Pontiac too. Don't matter how good the brand does...when GM has to downsize because their extreme mismanagement...Buick is toast. Buick Olds and Pontiac were all middle class cars. Since we really don't have much of a middle class anymore, they are expendable. They have been moving to that for awhile now.
Genuinely insane how Mitsu hasn't pulled out of the USA yet
Lol yup
If they brought back the Eclipse.... They would survive
They left the UK though
It's because they have somehow floated the cheap and reliable line.
If they sold well they wouldn't have gotten rid of it in the first place lmao @@BCaldwell
Interesting fact: Back in the day when doctors use to make house calls, they drove Buick’s rather the Cadillac’s so people wouldn’t think they were being fleeced and paying too much for the doctor.
My grandfather was a banker in a small town in Kansas and was part owner in one of the local banks. He could afford a Cadillac but always drove a Buick so his customers would not think he was charging them too much money.
Alfa Romeo, best logo in the industry.
Lotus: "hold my beer"
Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, and many more have cooler logos
@@nrivera0717 no
@@fortheloveofnoise nope
I truly loved both of my Quadrifoglio's. They should pump money into the brand.
The only reason why the Buick nameplate exists. Because when you translate it to Chinese, it means good fortune 😂
It don't how popular they are over there right now. Chinese buy most of their own cars. Most are evs
@@bradleysample3246 there’s a pretty steady market for the gl8 at least. It’s the go to company car for senior employees
I’m still pissed we don’t have Pontiac but have some stodgy Buick models.
@@bradleysample3246they're one of the most popular brands. All "import" cars in China are a joint effort between the foreign make and a domestic brand.
Buick sells well in China because they sold their cars to politicians as a marketing exercise, built better cars there than here, and did excellent marketing. However the Chinese companies have learned how to build cars through their partnerships with other companies (non-chinese companies had to partner with a Chinese rand to be allowed into the country) and are now building and selling excellent vehicles that fit Chinese tastes way better and at a better price. Because of this Buick has been declining big-time in China, as have most other non-chinese companies (especially American brands).
Doug! You didn’t mention the Eclipse when talking about Mitsubishi?! That car was absolutely everywhere in the 90’s. It probably kept the brand alive after the 3000GT.
And the Diamanté 😂
I had the same reaction. I was thinking that for every ONE 3000GT I saw proably 30 Eclipses durng the 90's.
What about a Lancer?
@@tomconway6808He also forgot the 80s Starion.
No mention of the Evo, either. Though if I remember correctly, it didn't make quite the splash here as it did in Europe and Asia.
Mini is turning into a brand for urbanites in tight cities. They have a uniquely "european" aesthetic and are viewed as practical for parallel parking and narrow streets/driveways, which are both important traits for the city dweller. They won't have the sale numbers of brands that sell larger cars to the suburbs, but they will stick around.
RIP Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Mercury.
Well, Mercury still seems to be around--just called Lincoln now.
There ain’t nothing better than a good old Oldsmobile
Never name a car after a planet 😮
I hate General Motors for killing the Pontiac brand. I owned a Grande Prix and Bonneville. Awesome cars until Chevrolet got jealous of thier sales.
@@jamesseabolt5915the government dictated Pontiac must go if you want bailout money
The Tonale isn't a rebadged Dodge Hornet. The Hornet is a rebadged Alfa.
That irked me too.
I was surprised to hear it in the video. Like.. Doug isn't fun and all that informative anymore but here he clearly passes a video without even thinking of what he says.
What difference does that make? They share the same architecture. It's the same car, doesn't matter what came first. It's particularly irrelevant when they're both FAILURES.
@@MercOne I used to work at a CDJR dealership and.. To be honest the main issue is ads. Like no one even heard of them. Yes, the car has reliability issues and the hybrid battery sucks the whole energy from the car leaving you with a brick. Yes. But when you do drive it's.. Not that bad at all. It's comfortable and somewhat fun.
But no one even inquires about them. That's the issue.
@@HiBlock1 You’re saying it’s ads but then you go on to describe what it really is, a mediocre vehicle.
I still think the Giulia Quadrifoglio is the most beautifully designed sports sedan of the last 20 years.
Original Audi A5.
@@farhadsenzai7890Sedan...
@@whatcubedIlIlIl i wouldnt say that at all
It looks good but "the MOST beautiful"?
@@joecool9739 Did you see it in person?? It's precious, and way more streamlined than it looks like in pictures
Well you and 5 other people can go and buy them. Oh but wait you won’t
Mini is not going to fail in the US. Despite their model bloat, they are still hugely popular in urban areas because you can literally drive Minis through cities more easily than larger cars. Plus, they have the backing of BMW to keep experimenting with new models to see what sticks. They’ve abandoned the retro vibe long ago and they’re just evolving a well packaged small vehicle. They are essentially small BMWs with out the ego.
Exactly. I’m in Seattle and my gf and I have a 2015 cooper S, multiple neighbors of ours have the new EV 2 door coopers, and you can’t go anywhere without seeing a new one. Extremely popular with our narrow streets and small blocks.
Minis are front wheel drive. BMWs are rear wheel drive (some are AWD). Essentially different. Both are overpriced.
Counter argument. Why not Maserati? Honestly Alfa sells way better and are way more reliable than Maserati. Maserati and Alfa need to step up in all respect. In Alfa case, I think bringing more SUV and wagon will help but also having manuals Alfa or a affordable roadster will help too. There’s a market for small cars mainly in big city. I definitely agree with Chrysler, I think they had a chance in being stellantis American luxury car. In the case of Fiat, I could see them as an Italian alternative to MINI. I’ve heard that they’re gonna make an PHEV 500. But I think if they bring the panda they will sell
Maseratis sell surprisingly well due to their brand cache
Maserati, Alfa and Ferrari should all become a part of the same group. Instead, Stellantis will just kill both Alfa and Maserati.
Maserati actually make money, they're selling a $12k car for $120k. Fiat and Alfa sell a $12k car for $20k.
@@matteo964Ferrari is now an independent brand.
@@matteo964 Maserati, Alfa and Ferrari were all 3 part of Fiat Group between 1994 and 2016 (FCA since 2014).
Ferrari suffered financially since the Fiat stock were very low and Maserati wasn't paying for the engines.
Since 2016 Ferrari is an Independent company altough they share a lot of share-holders with FCA/Stellantis.
The cycle of car brands:
Market entry >
Exciting new models >
Popular models are no longer so popular >
For some reason no money is invested in updating, the number of models is reduced >
You are bankrupt, the Chinese buy you and make stupid electric cars with your logo.
@@BigMax- case study: MG Rover
Lotus
"For some reason no money is invested in updating" you cant invest money you dont have when the model stops selling well.
@@elukok More like the model stops selling well because you stop investing in updates. The investment problem isn't restricted to automobiles. The entire economy has been financialized. Investors in the U.S. are no longer interested in investing in manufacturing. The U.S. economy today is money chasing more money, not money investing in productive industries.
@@davidturgeon2087tech, healthcare, pharma, fintech, chemicals, chips, oil and gas, chipotle have entered the chat
Mitsubishi failed as soon as they got rid of the Evo. They put the nail in the coffin by bringing back the Eclipse as a crossover
The Lancer and it's Evos has never been a good money maker for Mitsubishi however, and except for the first few generations, the Lancer sold rather horribly year by year. It is an image maker yes but not a really effective one, makes sense why Mitsubishi decommissioned the Lancer, and its not the cause of their failure right now because their Pajero Sport and Mirage and their regional specific cars in Asia are where the money's really in for Mitsubishi. They're trying to get more money out normal people rather than enthusiasts for some time now because ever since Lancer Evo 7 or 8 I think? Mitsubishi is already going like "yeah this sports sedan we have is great but like it doesn't make any money for us nor pull in enough street cred despite winning more events than the Impreza now because the enthusiasts that promised to buy our cars don't even buy any when we released them, and normal people with money only wants our big fat slow Pajero Sports and tincan Mirages."
In some Southeast Asian markets Mitsubishi literally got way more sales once they discontinued the Lancer and LanEvos, having the Mirage join instead and have the Pajero and Pajero Sport updated.
@@PlatinumNath You're not wrong, but it didn't help that Mitsubishi never wanted to bring the Evo to the US market (until Subaru started selling the WRX here) and once they did, their dealerships were pretty against anyone test driving one because they didn't trust anyone behind the wheel unless they were pretty much definitely going to buy it. Not a great sales strategy. On top of that, the brand sold so poorly here while I owned a Lancer that in the course of my 5 years of ownership I had to go to 3 different dealerships for things because they kept closing. They couldn't sell enough to keep the lights on. Not really a brand you want to rely on for things like warranty work when the dealership might be close to an hour away because the one close by keeps closing.
they quit competing with the WRX and the world is worse for it. I want my little street legal rally cars back dammit!
The Eclipse is now a crossover?
@@martinherrington9499 Yes. Look up Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. Basically chopped roof Outlander (I think)
I bought one of your most hated cars. The Mitsubishi Mirage G4, and I love it. I needed a cheap commuter car and nothing much more. Fuel economy is of a major concern to be a good commuter for me and this car delivers, 55 MPG is normal. Yes it's slow and has lots of road noise, but for 17K for a brand new car with a 100K mile ten year drive train warranty it can't be beat. Since it's the last year for them I figured now was the time to get one. My commuter cars get abused, deer hits are common and lots of miles. I will never drive a 50K dollar plus vehicle for this type of use, it makes no sense to me. American and most other manufactures are abandoning this car segment do to low profits on such vehicles. I think there is still a market for low priced cars. People just got to get their heads right and stop buying high priced trucks and SUV's because they think they need them to keep up with everyone else. I can only hope Mitsubishi is around long enough to outlast the warranty.
If you get one with a manual, it can be a good car. But you have to change the oil religiously, especially if you’re in a cold climate. And make sure you don’t keep the CVT past it’s warranty. That’s a Nissan JATCO CVT - the bad one. I’m a mechanic, I’ve worked on tons of Mirages.
Alfa Romeo being gone will be depressing. Always loved the guilia
Buy one, they're actually very reliable
@@cbarber5366 good luck finding a mechanic
@@skyline128 I live in South Florida and have 5 dealerships within an hour. I also have an independent mechanic that does Alfas
Anyone can work on a Giulia. I have owned a 2020 Giulia Ti for years, I’m not a mechanic but I do my own brakes, spark plugs, filter replacements etc. as far as luxury cars go, Giulia is as reliable as bmw or Mercedes if not more. Great car worth every penny. Never took it to the dealership bc I don’t need to
thats the best looking car,
Sergio's death was a tragedy for the former FCA brands. He was doing great things there in the 2010s.
I beg to differ. I mean his death was tragic I don't diagree with that. But I think he didn't know what the hell he was doing with the brands.
Nah... Lancia was reduced to one model, that horrendous Ypsilon, Alfa Romeo was all quiet, Fiat lumbered on with very limited progress and the US models began their downward trajectories.
I don't know why FIAT thought it was a good idea to merge with Chrysler to create FCA. Chrysler was bankrupt and FIAT didn't have enough money to develop cars for their newly acquired brands, on top of their existing ones.
@@N1ckZ Perhaps they wanted Chrysler's truck expertise. Jeep and RAM are both doing well, and have a lot of industry respect. If that was their goal, then FCA did pretty well with the merger.
@@N1ckZit was Jeep mainly, plus with a limited investment, they could milk CDJR to give their own brands more money. It’s pretty much where the Giulia & Stelvio came from, because Fiat didn’t have a billion dollars to develop a chassis just for Alfa (though it finally spawned a Maserati variant) until a small investment to CDJR reaped bigger rewards for the merged company.
The US car market is just overrated. There's no way to get around that fact.
Stellantis is the closest thing we have to a modern British Leyland. Unreliable poor quality poorly priced crap that is collapsing under its own weight.
Amen, from a guy in England who grew up near all the Leyland brand factories.
Stellantis owns Fiat but they make good diesel engines. The Common rail diesel injection system was an invention of Fiat. The Multi-air valve timing system is without using camshaft and throttle valve is actually more advanced than the VTEC from Honda.
All Chinese Made crap now
@@HaffschlappeUS made crap.
@@Haffschlappe The Chinese make really good cars nowadays. You should try them.
Considering how long Chrysler's been dying, I think Mitsubishi could decline for another 15 years before they disappear.
Chrysler/ Dodge / Plymouth went bankrupt and died in 1978. Then they demanded give-backs from the UAW and reported a profit equal to the givebacks. Their stock went from 7 to 28 in a few months.
It's like solving unemployment by drafting all the unemployed, or paying them to go to college. Just playing games and not solving the real problem.
I can somewhat imagine them still selling the Mirage with a newer tablet slapped on the dash in 2040
Mitsubishi is Japanese and the vehicles last forever as long as they are maintained. My '90 Eclipse turbo was rock solid and a ball to drive. The Gallant was the default sedan for some of my friends because it was cheap and reliable. The 3000GT was like a starship.
Chrysler is in desperate need for another Lee Iacocca
Iacoccas come around about once a century.
Pickups are in a bad way. Ford & Chevy shot themselves in the foot by raising prices every year. Their market wants a cheap, basic work vehicle, but the truck makers only want to sell luxury SUVs with a little bed in back
You can get them and they do sell out... It's just dealers think they can sell the upper trims so they get stuck with them.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough Right on the money. And Ford, GM and Ram/Doge even Toyota are mainly making high end vehicles to the point you want a cheaper vehicle, you might as well preorder it if the state and federal governments do not buy out the entire production run od cheaper models used for specific needs.
So true, people now want simple cheap. Pickups and small fun EVs
@@pachy444 Nobody wants EV's.
@@scottysgarage4393EV derangement symptom lmao, EVs were superior to ICE in 2013 let alone now. It's only an infrastructure/political problem at this point.
Chrysler is such a sad story. It went from being one of the big American 3, innovating car tech with the release of the first hemispherical combustion chamber, with being the first to use wind tunnels to figure out aerodynamics to make their cars more efficient, to being dwindled down to pretty much nothing. Personally I feel like the beginning of the end was when Daimler bought them. Mercedes really did stunt the growth and potential of Chrysler in a way that they’ve never been able to recover from
Doug, I know the fact Mitsubishi is just hanging around puzzles you, as it does me too, but hear me out. My mom bought a slightly used Mitsubishi Outlander in 2003, had that car for 14 years, loved it, took care of it, till one day she got a brochure in the mail about incentives to buy a new 2018 Outlander. Long story short, she left there in a brand new 2018 Outlander sport. She's since traded it for another updated and better optioned 2020 Outlander Sport, and then now a 2023 Outlander like the one you showed here. She just loves the Outlanders! And she loves Mitsubishi! The dealer she goes to has great, kind people in sales and service. She's no car enthusiast and she doesn't have a lot of money, as long as it works reliably and keeps her comfortable, she's happy! I watch every Doug Demuro review no matter what car it is, so I know what's out there, and I know there are much better cars out there than these Outlanders, but she doesn't care. She will keep going back to Mitsubishi till she can't anymore, and other owners she's chatted with at gas stations and grocery store parking lots say the exact same thing... Mitsubishi apparently has a pretty solid brand loyalty.
@man_on_wheelz bro, I'd like to add, that here in the country of belize where I live, I brought my first car which is an Mitsubishi outlander 2008 and it has served me well into this year of 2024 it has 129,000 miles and the only time I've had to replace anything was because the part was simply very old. It's reliability has kept me through all the rough roads, and tropical jungles a/c still works too. Only thing that has stopped working is the water pump to spray my windshield but that can be easily fixed.
@@TheArthas17 They're good cars! I can honestly vouch for them! Even when my mom got the 2018 Outlander Sport, she kept the 2003 Outlander and let my aunt have it, it was still decent enough to keep around, and the engine and transmission was going strong still at 170k miles.
I bought a 2022 Outlander when they were first out because you literally couldn't touch any other crossover around here for less than MSRP at the time (mid-pandemic) and my trade-in pickup was worth more than I paid for it 2 years earlier- I had the Outlander for 2 years, and I put 60k miles on it before I got a screaming deal on a 2023 leftover Outlander PHEV, which I already have 25k miles on 😂 I have zero complaints about either Outlander, but I really do miss my 2003 Evo. 😢
@@JohnCarter-vo8ux Not gonna lie, I am so not a crossover guy, as a car enthusiast, I can't stand them. I understand their appeal though, they truly are the perfect car for the everyday household, I will die on that hill, but they just aren't for me. That said, I really like my mom's 2023 Outlander. It's not the PHEV, but I saw one of those in the showroom and I will say, I wouldn't be mad if she eventually upgrades to that, that thing is dope! The latest Outlander in general is a good-looking and driving car, and it's got some very nice features, even if it is all borrowed from Nissan. They've come a long way from that 2003 Outlander she had.
Ditto on that!
I have had an Endeavor, an Eclipse and currently have a 2013 Outlander, all with well over a 100K miles with no major problems. I will be in the market for a 2024 Outlander in Nov/Dec of this year as it is a vehicle that gives the most bang for the buck with a industry leading warranty and 2 years free maintenance.
I have had only 6 cars since 1970…all Buicks! My 2004 was given to my niece’s family in 2017. Their daughter drove it back and forth during college from Kansas to Alabama for 4 years. It had over 100k when I gave it to them. Now they have given it to a man who needed a car for work. Figure it out…most of my cars were used for way over 10 years…and 100k miles. Plus I didn’t take care of all the services they are supposed to have.
The problem with Alfa Romeo is that they completely missed the wishes of their customers, and it is the Alfisti who are the most loyal to the brand. Alfa Romeo used to be a sports brand for the middle class. Now they are pushing us SUV models (the last three Alfas are SUVs: Stelvio, Tonale, Junior) that nobody wants, and they haven't even done the Giulia Sportwagon. They haven't offered a single coupe for years, and they brag about being a sports brand. Alfisti want good ICE engines, not buzzers with three cylinders and hybrids. And then, as salt on the wound, Alfa made a new 33 Stradale as an exotic car for a couple of the richest tycoons on the planet. What an insult to your customers!
So true...
There aren't any old school Alfisti's in the USA. So few people have ever seen an old alfa, let alone experience one. I own a Stelvio Quad and have yet to run into someone that knew what it was. Heck, I didn't even know they existed until I was trying to find something different from the Germans. Doug hit the nail on the head about them not refreshing their lineup. I love the Guilia but it's easy to see how dated it is vs it's competitors.
Everyone says they don't want SUV's and yet, everyone buys SUV's. Including SUV's of Ferrari and Lamborghini. The Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce is getting very good reviews.
@@drfisheye I own 3 Alfas at the moment, not one is SUV. On our Alfisti forum, the only SUV that members buy is Stelvio - and the reason they buy Stelvio is just because there is no Giulia Sportwagon. Many owners have dogs and the Stelvio is the only solution in that case, and in fact only few of them wanted an SUV. It is a shame that there are no normal models in the MiTo-Giulietta-GT class.
Well said !
0:02 new game, take a shot every time doug says compelling
Thanks. Now I'm blind.
I think.inay56-56 shopsnow but.ilost.count aftrr 45
"The power of Chrysler compels you!"
@@I_dont_give_a_caredidn't that happen during the prohibition era? I remember people talking about wanting to create the special liquid and a risk that come with it.
@@lordflufffluff yeah if you distill your own alcohol and you don’t know what you’re doing, you can inadvertently make the wrong type of alcohol and it causes blindness. It didn’t help that the government found batches of homemade liquor and poisoned it and still allowed it to be sold to the public as a deterrent, which obviously didn’t work. That blinded a bunch of people too.
One thing that Doug forgot to mention is that a lot of those brands had terrible reliability and their reliability nightmares made it to the front page of several news outlets.
Even if the brands addressed their reliability, there is a negative stigma on the consumers about their products.
So did BMW, Audi, Land Rover, ect. ect. New car buyers don’t care as much about reliability since they only keep them a couple years
Toyota focused very very heavily on QUALITY. They built/rebuilt their factories in the late 50s and began to use crude robotics initially, but then improved their robots while the Big Three in the US still relied on manual assembly. The result; by 1971, Toyota and Honda had very small cars that sipped gasoline while the US focused on 4,500-pound cars approaching 18 feet in length (Cadillac Eldorado with 8.2 L engine!). Then, the '73 fuel "crisis" began and American cars that got 12 mpg got creamed by Japanese cars that got 22-25 mpg. Once Americans began buying Toyota and Honda, they noticed the build quality. By 1976 Chrysler was failing; GM and Ford introduced cheaply assembled econoboxes that rattled and were trash. The Japanese walked all over us. It took Detroit more than a decade to recover; GM introduced Saturn which lasted no more than 10 years...and the big three gradually moved into more robotically-built cars. Chrysler was saved by introducing the minivan, but still did not focus on quality.
Toyota started Lexus, Honda started Acura and Nissan started Infiniti and they all did well. I think that Infiniti began to slip because of stodgy design and their horrendous CVT (continuous variable transmission) which proved horrendously unreliable (at least Nissan/Infiniti's CVT). Again...lack of quality harmed the brand.
Quality-built cars sell well...thus Fiat (not well made) Alfa (also not so well made) and many other struggled....folks bought them but didn't stay brand loyal. Stellantis has been stripping their engineers down to the bone and trying to centralize them in India (I think). Again, quality issues abound. No one wants to buy a car that's likely to be garbage by the third year (or sooner). High reliability leads to brand loyalty and steady sales. That's the bottom line.
What really kills any company? Fat paychecks to executives who don't give a DAMN about quality. All they focus on is Q1 vs Q2 vs Q3 vs Q4 PROFITABILITY. More profit = higher bonuses. Their short-sightedness damages the reputation and thereafter, the sales. (Not one person I know who bought a Chrysler sedan in the last 15 years has told me they're going to return to Chrysler.)
@@eaauto6182 New "those brand" buyers. Most people do care about durability and reliability.
A real example where that happened was Lancia in the U.K. They never recovered from selling cars which would fail their first safety inspection at three years old due to excessive rust. The urban myths, such as engines falling out of cars, became a bigger problem than the actual rust problems.
They used Chinese crap parts what Do you expect?
Now I need to ponder my existence and ask myself if I'm truly real
Mitsubishi made a really strange decision here in Europe. They had the Outlander which was one of the top-selling SUVs in general, as well as the reasonably popular ASX crossover and L200 pickup. Then they pretty suddenly decided to pull out from the continent entirely, only to reverse the decision and instead start selling rebadged Renaults. AFAIK they haven't even brought the new Outlander over. Deeply bizarre moves to me.
@@kettumusic The L200 double cab pick up truck sold well in the UK.
The Outlander PHEV was the best selling PHEV in Europe for years. Probably because fuel economy is really important here and the only alternative was a rebadged Chevy Volt.
The Outlander is coming in fall 2024
buick made in china 👎👎👎 GM got a massive bailout from the American taxpayer and slaps them in the face.
As a Maserati owner I'm a little surprised you don't have them on the list. They seem to be doing everything wrong, I'm just hoping Stellantis sells them off to someone that understands the market for it.
Because as a luxury brand the name still carries some weight here in the US and they still sell decently. I would pick Jaguar to be honest. I have no idea what they have been doing here in the US the past 10+ years.
@@PowerNGlory The reason I doubt their ability to last is that they are supposedly going "all EV" in the next 5 years. No one I talk to wants an electric Maserati, maybe I talk to the wrong people, but I think if they really try to do that it will be the end of them.
@@valis992000in my humble opinion, the main reason one chooses to get a Maserati, is because of the sound they make, it’s just glorious. Secondly, the exotic looks, and third, the fancy name. It was always “known as a cheap Ferrari”. Cheap for what a Ferrari is, but obviously Maserati is still expensive.
I hope you enjoy yours for years to come! Do you mind me asking which model and year your own? And how reliable or unreliable is? Thank you in advance.
@@Rmzkm007 Yes, I am always willing to talk about my car. I have a 2014 Gran Turismo Sport. It is an automatic, I believe the source of people thinking they are unreliable stems from clutch replacements. The ones that have the F1 Ferrari transmission and clutch are very expensive to replace and they seem to wear out quickly. The ZF auto is considered bulletproof and is used in a wide range of European cars. Likewise the Ferrari V8 sound beautiful, makes plenty of power and is not only reliable but as easy to work on as any American V8. So if I do have issues, or for routine maintenance, I can do most everything myself (saving tons of money). On the downside the electronics, even for 2014, are wildly out dated. But I didn't buy the car for that. In short I'm a frugal guy that always wanted a Ferrari. So for less than the price of my wife's new Hyundai I got a "poor man's Ferrari" that I love and daily drive. BTW: If you are interested in purchasing one I highly recommend the Maserati Life Dot Com forum that has tons of information and helpful users.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
I used to love Lincoln’s, the old panther platform Town cars and the Mark series, but I can’t figure out why Lincoln still exists today. A Lincoln has been just an expensive Ford since the late 60’s, But today if you want an expensive Ford, just buy a Ford.
@@jayson657 Ford is moderately priced and are nice dependable vehicles, and are a poor man's Cadillac, if you want cheap car buy a Nissan Kia Hyundai and see what you get
Was looking into getting a new daily and always was a fan of towncars. Even owned a couple in the past. Wanted to spend around 10 grand. But by now theyre antiquated. 4.6L with about 240 horse. Not great gas mileage. And, if you want a truly clean one with low miles they want 15 grand. I just bought a mks instead. 300 hp v6 all wheel drive. Back up camera, bluetooth. Even the 2011 towncar didn't offer that.
I don’t understand what keeps Lincoln’s doors open. There’s really nothing new in the lineup, a facelift once in a while, but there’s nothing that pops out and gets anyone’s attention.
Lincoln is about experience and quiet. You have to drive one to understand it. The new Nautilus Hybrid is unique in the market.
I would still take a Giulia Quadrifoligo over an M3. It still drives better even after all these years.
Yep, Alfas are always behind in tech but WAY ahead in the driving experience. They are for people that love to drive
@@cbarber5366 LOL, no! 😂😂 The Giulia QV specifically might be, but Alfas in general? No way.
@@HenrySomeone you haven't even driven one
@@HenrySomeone Way. Try one and you'll see. Apart from the engine, the lesser Giulias share most of the goodness of the Giulia Quad. Same with the Stelvio.
In Buick's case, I think that GM feels that pulling it out of NA would be seen as a bad omen in China. "If it isn't selling in its home market, why are they selling it here?" That sort of thing. Basically, its a loss-leading halo for China.
Sold a few more Buicks in US than Cadillacs.
Agree. People probably wouldn't buy a BMW if they quit making them in Germany.
The beauty of the sunset was obscured by the industrial cranes.
Stellantis is destroying some formerly great brands by starving them of funds and letting them age and die. It’s awful
Stellantis became General Motors 2.0 - cost cutting at all the wrong corners.
Once a car conglomerate becomes too big, their brands lose their soul.
@@YolandaBKool except VW
Don't forget, those brands were already dead and bankrupt without US government $$. Stellantis gave them some new life and some successes. Probably not enough, but some.
They were already dead headed into 2008. The cash injection they got from the financial crisis is the only reason they made it this far.
Gotta make those quarterly ‘profits’ … lots of BS corporate types without any genuine love for cars.
I cry for Mopar. Group of talented aggressive car people who seems to me have been shunted into a ditch.
Car enthusiasts make bad financial decisions, that company was doomed from the beginning.
@aliabdallah102 the company isn't run by the enthusiasts. Otherwise they'd be making cool cars. The Giulia would still be on top if it were run by enthusiasts.
@@cherrypepsi2815Cool cars don’t sell, crossovers do.
@@JollyGiant19 that's exactly what pretty much the entirety of Chrysler is at this point... SUVs and Crossovers. Yet they aren't selling, are they? When you offer nothing over the competition, you have to exploit the mistakes they're making (nobody is making cool sedans anymore besides the Germans)
If it wasn't for the 5.7L hemi in their passenger cars (charger/300/challenger eventually) in the mid 2000s, they'd would've died off a long time ago. But i credit them with starting the horsepower wars between the big 3 in the 2000s. In the 90s they were crap. I'd never own a dodge/Chrysler but they do have nice styling.
The Dodge Hornet is based on the Alfa Romeo Tonale and not the other way around.
Thank you! Stellantis should have never diluted the Alfa name with the Dodge version
A turd is a turd either way
FCA and Stellantis cured me of the new Jeep bug. Worst car I have ever owned was a 2020 JT. If I want a Jeep I'll get an old one that's not a Fiat.
Dishonorable Mentions:
-Jaguar
-Lucid
-Maserati
-Vinfast
Would have made the list if he made this video six months ago:
-Fisker, lol
Agree with all of these
Yep, I agree. I was surprised that Lucid was not on the list
Lucid might survive if the Saudi investors are willing to keep pumping money into them. Maybe. The cars are great. But they made them too expensive at the start and followed Teslas playbook too closely.
I agree with Vinfast
The Mirage is just a horrific little car; it drives terribly, it’s insanely chintzy, and it has a wheezing 3 cylinder that can barely get it out of its own way. You’re better off buying a used ANYTHING.
like a used Mirage?
I was shopping for new cars in 2021 and I looked at the small mitsubishi dealership just for fun. I compared the mirage to the other cheapest new car, the kia soul. The mirage is like a little clown car compared to even a KIA SOUL! It was 18k at the time for a mirage with the most bare bone features, and 22k at the time for a kia soul S with all the fancy safety features, rims, and many things I've never even had in a car I've owned. Needless to say I didn't even test drive the mirage and I ended up buying a new kia soul S with a 2 percent interest rate, I still love that car today, it's my baby.
@@CadgerChristmasLightShow Anytime I rent a car on vacation, I go for the Kia Soul as well.
Those lil' hamsters are a dream to drive on road trips after a flight
@MarloSoBalJr i often see maid services and other mobile businesses driving kia souls around, they are by far the most practical and cheapest cars you can buy new. I have crammed a ridiculous amount of cargo into my kia soul and transported it no problem. They drive nice, get good MPG, and can haul a decent amount of cargo. Not much else you can ask from a cheap econobox.
@@CadgerChristmasLightShow Yes, all the other smaller SUVs keep getting sleeker and sleeker and the Soul is a box.
Reviewers are raving over the new Buicks. Better vehicles than Chevy counterparts.
‘Better vehicles than their Chevy counterparts”? Well yea, that’s the point of mid tier brand. A Chevy base model a Buick mid tier model and a Cadillac high tier model.
They are the same cars in different clothing
Sales figures say otherwise
Not really…some models are not rebaged in other GM brands…like the Envision. The Envista is the same as the new Chevy Trax… the envision is unique from China…the encore is or was Korean…just like the envista. The full size Enclave is a rebadged Chev Traverse. So some rebadging but not all cars are.
Even if that is the case, is there any reason they couldn't market these better vehicles under the Chevy/GMC/Cadillac brands? The Buick brand is dead weight and these good cars would improve the healthier brands.
I thought you were spot on Doug for the first few brands, but then you mentioned Infiniti and you totally lost me! Infiniti is doing great if you ask me! Just look at their designs! They're always bold and different and formidable and good looking. Just look at the QX80 and the QX60 (old and new), neither Mercedes, Acura, Audi, nor Lexus have the bold aggressive formidable looks as the Infinities do, and I'm a big fan of Mercedes, Acura, Audi and Lexus, but they don't have the aggressive looks, and the right curves at the right places that the Infiniti always has!
Buick shouldve been axed in 2009 instead of pontiac, we all knew it then and we know it now
Wrong! GMC should have been axed instead of Pontiac. Buick is necessary. GMC isn't.
@@johnnymason2460 GMC and Buick both are not necessary. At least Pontiac had an identity in trying to be the sporty, fun brand. They made cars like the G8, G6, and Solstice. GMC only existed for the reasons that Doug mentioned, but those brands are no longer in existence and thus, GMC also has outlived its existence. That's why they had to pivot and try to pitch GMC as "premium" but it really doesn't feel that way. GMC and Buick both should be axed, and Pontiac should've survived.
@@NS327-t7h by the time they were axed, Pontiac and Oldsmobile were merely redundancies against Chevrolet and Buick, respectively. Buick would've made sense if there was still a market for an in-between segment, but there isn't. That's why Mercury hasn't existed at Ford for, what, 15 years now? Buick going away kind of shocked me when he first said it, but he's right.
@@johnnymason2460Buick is necessary? I know weed is legal but you’ve been smoking too much.
In North America at least, the market for both has disappeared. The "mid-tier" market has historically always been a precarious place to be. If the economy soured, people would still continue to buy Chevrolets (and the Cadillac crowd was unaffected), but the B-O-P (remember Olds?) brands would tank. Today, the nicest Chevy isn't much less luxurious that the least costly Caddy, so there isn't much middle ground left.
I could fix Mitsubishi, bring back the EVO, bring back the Pajero EVO as a bronco competitor, bring the truck they sell in Australia as a Tacoma competitor. Not many brand have a heritage like them, especially from the 90s/00s, which if they leaned in on would sell like crazy.
Oh and also ditch the Eclipse Cross and reuse the Eclipse name for the sports car it used to be
@@pauljr.harrington1905 Make the eclipse complete with the type r and Corolla GR, and the 3000GT can complete with the R35.
As cool as that would be I don’t think it would work. For both Evo’s you’d need platforms to base it off of, and by the time you burn through enough cash for a new economy compact that won’t sell and a new SUV that is going to fight established brands it’s going to struggle. Mitsubishi’s best bet for an enthusiast focus would be collaborating with someone to either produce twins (like the GT86 BRZ twins) or share drivetrains for some help in developing a new platform
@@pauljr.harrington1905 lol, your solution is to bring back...sedans? (and kill their ONE crossover??) No one sells sedans but Dodge and Tesla. Do you understand what the average (non enthusiast) consumer wants? Obviously not.
Or bring their best selling Xpander, poor Americans want a cheap, reliable car that can carry 7 passengers and without being gigantic in size, right?
Blame Carlos Ghosn for not keeping Infinti up to spec. Prior to 2000 Nissan was well regarded, up there with Toyota, and even above Honda in sales. But since 2010 it lost its way, targeting lower credit consumers, and having high financing for these folks, and that was their model. Their cars lagged, and the CVT was horrific.
As a a retired cop, anytime you saw an Altima, it was a ground ball collar! 😂
You never know. The american brands have entirely failed on their own already. Your taxes bailed them out. Left to their own devices... They've proven that they are quite able to completely collapse.
Well, support to European manufacturers can be debated as well
Kind reminder that many of these "going to fail brands" do not manufacture USDM models. For manufacturers perspective, developing a 3 tonne, 8 mpg pickup/SUV is a terribly costly investment. They'd rather pull off the US market and sell their "global" vehicles elsewhere.
I think Subaru will pull out of Europe. Nobody is buying them due to appalling MPG compared to something like a Hybrid Rav 4 (which sells well).
@@tomokokishi3066 I agree with this. The American taste for monster trucks and suvs will eventually shut off the supply of anything interesting to the US
Interesting to see the difference between European and USA car markets… I don’t see Fiat or Alfa falling here anywhere in the future
True
thats cause Fiats smaller cars are in high demand in Europe. Similar story with Alfa, its just a more well-known brand here and their cars are just more suited for the European market. In the same vein, Chrysler or Dodge are nowhere as popular in Europe as they are in the US, same story the other way round
@@driochor Dodge is not sold at all in Europe, at least in most countries.
Alfa really isn’t popular in Europe though.. we like Fiat more because of what they are. The only Alfas you’ll see are mostly in Italy
They have a parts problem in North America, if something breaks your car could be in the shop for months. Also, they have a reputation for poor reliability.
I work for a CJDR dealership, and it routinely boggles our minds that Chrysler is RADIO SILENT about the future. We talk at the dealership about how cool it could be if Chrysler became actually luxurious for once. Make the new 300 in the form factor of the Genesis G90. BIG, expensive, and actually luxurious sedan in a world of so many crossovers I think could be compelling. But they are most likely cooked. Oh well. lol
Or even a luxury Durango.
@@emjayay Doomed to fail as you're starting with piss poor product to begin with. That is the same thing they've been doing which is why they're nearly dead now. Rebadging hasn't worked in 40+ years and you think rebadging a relic like the Durango is the answer??
MINI is going to be fine. BMW remain committed to the brand and the launch of the new models globally has gone very well. Sales are up. Sales did go down prior to the new models, particularly int he US, but now they are back up again. What MINI really need is a decent ad campaign (when was the last time you saw a TV ad for a MINI in the US?) and some PR (like product placement in a movie). That might get the coolness back. BMW should be getting them into the next Mission Impossible movie. But overall MINI will be fine. Unlike Jaguar. Such a shame. I love that brand but they have nothing decent to sell right now……
I think you missed the mark on Buick. You say that you don't understand why they aren't low market Cadillacs, when that's exactly what the point of Buick is. It's for folks who want A vehicle that isn't rugged like Chevy or GMC, but not quite as expensive as a Cadillac. An every man's semi luxury economy vehicle. Kind of like Mazda.
No, no, no! Mazda is not a premium brand. It's a mainstream brand and needs to stay that way. Mazda going upscale will fail miserably. No one is going to choose a Mazda over an Acura or an Audi.
Yea, I think Buick saved itself with the Envista. I see lots of them. I think they look great. Having middle offerings like Buick indicates that a middle class still actually exists, if that makes sense
@@johnnymason2460 Mazda has been making steady and well thought out progress on their design language, technology and quality ever since they split from Ford in 2014. I think they know what they're doing by moving upmarket into acura/volvo/lexus territory.
@@johnnymason2460Mazda have been moving upmarket for years, they just haven’t brought their prices with it. The design language and way they present them selves are magnitudes more premium than they were a decade ago
I have a solution: moving Buick up market taking the place of today's Cadillac (premium). As consequence move also Cadillac up market to put It into luxury segment, basically the american Rolls Royce. Just a few but more expensive models: a big sedan (celestiq), a gt coupé/cabrio (turn the soleil into a production vehicle), and a full size suv (escalade). Smaller Cadillac models become Buick ones
Mary Barra destroyed GM.
I think the United Auto Workers could say they are first in line in greatly hurting / destroying all the American brands.
GM was great before she arrived? Building junk for the previous 40 years??
man i used to work in an infiniti dealership in 2017-2018 and its crazy how similar most of the new models are now to how they were back then. which is hilarious considering they were slightly outdated then as well.
@@blapbIap I was an Infiniti loyalist (G35 & G37 coupe, Q50, Q60 coupe, and QX70), and was so amazed at how all the SUV coupes basically copied the QX70 body styling. But Infiniti dropped the ball and didn’t stay ahead of the trend that they set with the SUV Coupes. I own an Alfa Romeo Stelvio, which the body aesthetics are very reminiscent of the QX70. But Alfa is running into the same issue of not staying ahead of the trend.
The 3.5, 3.7, and 5.6L vehicles were some of the best sounding (especially from a cold start) IMO. Still have a G37J Sedan that my wife loves!!
@@Officiallytommytime Chasing trends has never been the Alfa way.
@@davidturgeon2087 it’s not about chasing trends. It’s about setting the trend, which Alfa had done at some point. And it’s also Ally good n marketing which both Infiniti & Alfa really suck at.
@@saultknutz1166 I agree!
There's a *ton* of Mini Countrymans around. Sells pretty well. Expensive but coveted. Electric is the right way to go for that type of car, and they're leaning into it. BMW could fold them into their own dealerships to reduce costs and keep them around as entry level choices. BMW struggles in the sub $50,000 market as it is.
I think Dodge is on shaky ground as well. The Hellcat strategy brought public interest to ancient platforms starved for development dollars, however, Charger/Challenger volumes would never be enough to sustain the brand long term. The divorce from Ram, in retrospect, was unnecessary and certainly not helpful. Beyond that, Dodge has been suffering the same neglect as the Chrysler brand, particularly in the Stellantis universe where there are just too many marginal brands to support. I'm beginning to think Stellantis will not survive in its current form and the result will be a spinoff of Jeep and Ram accompanied by the elimination of Chrysler and Dodge. I know Mopar guys don't want to hear that, but the private equity firms will have zero sentiment. In the end, it will be all about the numbers.
If Chrysler and Dodge were to go away, I guarantee you will have some very angry consumers. We already have people upset with Pontiac going away. This would be much, much worse.
@@johnnymason2460 True. But, so what? Do they buy any Chryslers or Dodges? Numbers tell the story.
@@johnnymason2460 When was the last major Chrysler product launch.....the 2nd generation mid-size 200 in 2015? The Pacifica in 2016? That's nine years ago. On the Dodge side, prior to the already failing Hornet, the last new Dodge body was the 2012 Dart. Sadly, the two brands have been operating with very little support for a long time. The old Mopar guys will make a stink, yes, but I doubt very much it will be enough to attract investment dollars.
@@johnnymason2460 money talks, public sentiment doesn't pay the bills.
@@joemartino6976 This is why Chrysler needs to be owned by someone other than PSA. Someone who actually cares about the Chrysler brands(Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep) should own them and develop new products for them. Believe me, if I could own the Chrysler brands, Dodge and Ram would be one brand again. Plymouth would be back. All the brands would be full line covering all market segments(from subcompact cars and crossovers to top of the line sports cars).
You could argue FIAT has already failed in the US, what did they sell, like a few hundred cars last year TOTAL. And yet I'm a very happy Abarth 124 owner.
I don't see them failing, they're just gonna pull out of the US market again.
Down here in Brazil FIAT is the best-selling car brand right now, and it has been one of top-selling brands for decades, in fact the best-selling vehicle of any brand in Brazil is the FIAT Strada pickup.
The line-up they offer here is completely different from the US or Europe though.
@@MatheusSilva-qm1ft That was a name I didn't expect to see again. In 1980s Europe the Fiat Strada had a famous advertising campaign "Hand-built by Robots". Fiat seem to be doing O.K. here as a cheaper more practical alternative to Mini. I'm surprised BMW haven't revived the "Maxi" name as that is what Mini seems to have become.
Americans on the whole just don't go for small cars. When I was in London a few years ago the 500 was easily the most common car with the Mini close behind. Those two were far more common than any other (though I did see more Ferraris than I'd ever seen, outside of a Ferrari gathering at least, not having ever visited Miami).
@@Jim-r1z Ford did quite well with their MK2 Ka which is actually a Fiat 500 underneath and was built in the same factory. At the opposite extreme I thought quite a bit about getting the latest Toyota RAV4 but decided I didn't want such a massive tank of a vehicle.
@@MrDuncl the Strada I'm talking about has nothing to do with the 80's hatchback, it's the pickup that was sold in Europe in the 2000's and is still being sold here in South America.
Funny how popular BMW got once it started listening to its customers rather then telling them they don’t need a cup holder. Now if only they would listen to us about the kidney grills.
And listen to the enthusiasts about the Mini brand. Cause they are going to kill it with this new gen
@@01SaharaEdition what? Oh! You mean the “Maxi.” Yeah, there hasn’t been a “mini” since BMW took over. But at least they kept the namesake alive.
@@UmmYeahOk But that goes back to your original point - customers were demanding bigger cars. If they stuck to only building mini Minis for enthusiasts, they would have folded years ago.
@@busslayer4790As someone who owns a little British car, I understand. …but only because driving around today in the modern world is like driving a go cart in a sea of monster trucks. But BMW Mini started this nonsense in the early aughts, when full sized trucks and SUVs were only starting to become popular. They contributed to the growth, not evolved because of it. I remember back then, I had a professor who owned a Miata. Absolutely loved driving it, but started hating how more and more people were buying up large trucks and SUVs. By the end of the semester, she gave up. She sold the car she loved and bought the very thing she hated. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to own a small car. It was that she didn’t want to share the road with people who were incentivized into believing that bigger was better. Also keeping in mind that this was before reverse cameras, blind spot sensors, auto braking and lane keepers. Driving while on the phone was common and legal and no one checked their mirrors, ever. It was very scary back then, and it seemed like only the people still driving actual cars cared.
People today still buy Miatas though. There one of the few small cars left. But even a full sized family sedan is small compared to how tall trucks and SUVs are today. The Mini and Fiats you hardly see any more, so even after making their own version of a crossover, it seemed to hurt the sales of the original mini and 500.
Tbh as a European I'm still not sure why the hell you'd even need a cup holder that badly. Do Americans really ever NOT eat McDonald's lmao?
Ill disagree with doug about Buick. The buick brand has its purpose in the US. Buick offers luxury that is comparable to Cadillac without the Cadillac price. I personally love Buicks they are Very reliable vehicles with a smooth ride. In my area everywhere i go there is plenty of Buicks on the road. Old an new. I dont think the buick brand will disappear anytime soon
GMC was founded in 1911 and their purpose was to build pick up trucks and heavy duty trucks. They were not just founded to put pick up trucks on Buick lots.
Doug is a young n . Doesn’t know this stuff.
Lol yeah I’m only 19 but I am kind of obsessive about classic and vintage cars. That’s the only reason I know that information.
Sure, GMC began life as a commercial truck company, but over the last 30 years they exist to be paired with Buick (and also previously Olds/Pontiac) dealers so they had enough product to sell to operate a dealership business. Just selling Buicks wouldn't drive enough business to pay for the real estate costs and other expenses and still be profitable.
Fair enough… I just wanted to mention what the original purpose was
@@busslayer4790 But Doug's comment was about how GMC got started. Not what they've been the last 30 years.
20:41 = the highlight
Hornet is actually based on tonale. Not the other way around
But junk either way.
@@kobbetop maybe not so much junk, as just overpriced compared to what they offer.
Both are based on the Jeep Compass. I would rather have that than either.
@@kobbetop And you'd know.
It's junk and the Morgan wins. *Alex Roy voice*
The sunblock was handed to the girl before practice, but the burned skin was proof she did not apply it.
Stellantis has the same problem FCA did. They take way too long to make new models. All the Stellantis car brands need like 5 or 6 new models, but they were needed yesterday.
Well, most of the workers are French and Italian, so they are on vacation for two months a year.
I've been saying that Alfa will leave the US again for years because whoever is running them doesnt understand what Alfa even is or what they stand for. The Giulia was fantastic, ignore all the naysayers it is a far better car than BMW makes even now. But with the disaster that is the Tonale, I've watched several dealers fill up their lots with them and then go out of business. My local one closed just a few weeks ago, I called them to see if I could get some new wheels for a Giulia and all the lines were disconnected.
The Giulia is a great handling car and looks amazing but the technology is sub par. It only appeals to enthusiasts.
They should have brought the 2L turbo version of the Tonale to the U.S. and sold it alongside the much pricier plug-in hybrid version. That's what other brands do, for good reason. Marketed properly, they could have sold 2 or 3 base turbo Tonale models for every Tonale hybrid.
The Pacifica is always at the bottom of reliability ratings.
But they sell better than any other minivan due to their unmatched design and practicality. If Honda designed a folding flat second row on the Odyssey, I would camp outside of the Honda dealership to get one, but having to not only make a commitment to remove the seats for the duration of the trip, but to struggle with 60+ lb seats every time you want to remove it (and trust me, after 60 you begin to respect your back a lot more) defeats the major functionality of the minivan.
@@mountainhobo Maybe those are the reasons for its popularity, or maybe it is because rental fleets buy tons of them.
@@busslayer4790 Could be both, but I see a bunch of them in private ownership in my area alone. It's mostly older people around here, smaller homes, and they want one vehicle that will do it all.
@@mountainhobo I have a friend with one. She is a Dr. and has one with all the bells and whistles. It is very nice. I rent minivans once or twice a year and for the last couple years they are always Pacificas. Not as well equipt, but comfortable. Maybe if Chrysler goes under they could market it as a Jeep somehow.
@@busslayer4790 Or go back to the original Dodge brand. Or just leave "Pacifica" and call it the day. ;)
I have a 2018 Mini Cooper that I absolutely love, but I bought it as my second, "fun" car and I bought it because it was a convertible. The other options in the "reasonable" price range in the US were the Volkswagen "bug" convertible, the Mazda Miatta (which I almost got) and the Mustang convertible. I am a member of the local Mini club and found that Mini has a very devoted (and growing) fan base, so I don't think they are likely to fade away. One thing that has been a "hit" on Mini in the US is doing away with the manual transmission option.
If Buick can import Chinese cars and sell them at a cheap price point that’s a massive win for GM. After all, the steady impoverishment of the middle class in the US due to “free trade” and mass 1mm1gr tion has only been made somewhat tolerable by the ever cheaper overseas widgets that get imported back and play a key role in holding down the official inflation figures. If GM has found a way to skirt any trade sanctions against China with Buick, then they will have duplicated this successful imported-widget model and no doubt will be welcomed by Fed officials for making their lives easier.
Alfa is comming and going since they exist basically.
Remember when they were totally down ( Alfa 33) and came slowly back with the 145 and then launched the 156 and were suddenly up there?
They faded during 159 and such and only reappeared with the Guilia.
They will stay in the Background until another car hits just right.
As an Alfista I can only hope.
Well, I wouldn't blame the 33. I have two of them, and they are great drivers cars. And it's the most sold Alfa ever, they made almost 1 million of them. Still, they could have improved on a lot of things, and they didn't for years.
Regarding Infiniti, Nissan itself is struggling. Their Q2 numbers were particularly poor
They are the Japanese version of Stellantis/Ram, which also had a very poor Q2 performance.
These two better get it in gear.
2-3 more quarters like that and heads will roll....
It sucks because Nissan was very early to the EV gambit alongside Tesla. But rather than embracing it, they just let their EV tech gather dust along with the leaf and now they're a big laggard despite being one of the first to enter EVs. They had so much potential.
@@thedumbconspirator4956the leaf had so much potential. As it stands we have to call a premium saloon our “entry level” EV rather than an actually affordable hatchback. Such a good little nugget of a car too, simple, not too techy, just enough design language to let you know it’s an EV but not be weird about it.
i was expecting both Nissan and Mazda to be on Doug's list when i saw the title, but to be fair Nissan has far more relevant models in the USA than are available here in the UK.
I wonder why Nissan exists. Their product is terrible and outdated. Hyundai and now Kia have eclipsed them in the value segment.
@@slideways8022the leaf had no power (or at least the drivers never used it)
Buicks are an upscale over Chevys at a small price increase without the more extreme styling and much higher prices of Caddies. Most Buick customers are happy with them and are repeat buyers. Why should that mean it’s going to fail? Aren’t those traits most manufacturers would love to have?
Regarding brands like Alfa and Fiat, is the problem maybe that people in the USA want a "light truck", or at least some kind of SUV, as more light trucks are appearing on the roads, and small cars are not crash-compatible with your average Ford F150 or Dodge Ram? From what I've heard, it's almost like an arms race. And it's all because of the CAFE exemption, which means the vast majority of new car sales in the US are now light trucks.
Meanwhile, if I may add, the vast majority of people don't need such a vehicle, and it is not very safe for small children either, as it is very hard to see if a small child is standing right in front of the vehicle. Because of its massive size.
And then there is the fuel consumption. Everywhere else, people are being asked to make sacrifices because of global warming. Well, it doesn't help if you have a larger - and thus heavier - vehicle to move. That simply requires more energy, and thus more fuel, and thus it emits more CO2.
Sorry for the rant, but I think the USA has this stuff all backwards.
The government eventually spoils everything.
Ford realizes this, and the Maverick is their answer!
Dodge is getting rid of their two muscle cars and replacing them with electrics, which is not what that market wants. They completely failed to read the room. They are dead man walking.
They are Controled by the Chinese and the WEF
From their own marketing, it's clear they know what the market wants, but there are also these two little things called the government and the parent company that are pressuring Dodge into doing an electric car. By the way, they're keeping a gas-powered variant of the muscle car, just downsizing the engine.
They will have gas versions
I work at a Buick/GMC dealership, and I can tell you that we cannot get enough Buicks for months now. Every time we get a delivery they sell out in 2 days and we are back to no inventory. All 4 Buick models have been redesigned in the last 12 months, and they have all gotten great reviews and all of them are top choices on the JD Power dependability surveys. My understanding is that Buick sales year to date for 2024 are 60% higher than the same period for 2023.
Not that I believe what you're saying here, but I definitely hope you're right. I hate to see another brand leave.
I’m happy to hear that! I genuinely root for American brands, and competition is good for the consumer.
I wouldn't buy a Buick until they bring the Lesabre. Had the ride of a Cadillac at half the price.
Brands that will fail: Vinfast, Rivian, RAM, Dodge, Buick.
Mitsubishi doesn't have recalls! Has anyone noticed?! They'll be around for many more decades.
They maintain a good quality level in all models. No disappointments!
💯🗽🇺🇸
The Buick line offsets GM’s EPA CAFE and emissions standards. Without it they wouldn’t be able to sell as many pickups and large SUV’s
Buick outsells Cadillac
@@EdDale44135 Buick doesn’t have an Escalade equivalent