Elantra GT sports

[7hm]

Just a note :

 

The actual Astra 1.0T is around $93k and 1.4T around $105k. For that price is very competitive in that segment with that amount of features and power.

 

Wah say. $105k for 1.4T? MTL!!!

[Sdf4786k]

Actually the market remains the same... it's only belatedly that the Japanese and Korean brands have embraced small petrol turbos... the European brands have been pursuing turbo-charging to meet the more and more stringent emission standards. The Japanese opted for electrification. The European brands are of course still playing catch up. Back to Singapore, it's quite clear that the small petrol turbos are more expensive and they are also being marketed as being premium... the Civic turbo is clearly marketed as a premium model. It's way more expensive than the normally aspirated model. Toyota doesn't have a small petrol turbo to speak of. Mazda chose to pursue sky high compression ratios instead of turbo-charging and so they also don't have any viable alternatives. For Subaru, the turbo-charged models are all 2.0 turbos and have always been their special models and they cost way more... so whichever way you cut it, in Singapore having a turbo-charged engine results in premium prices... and for any bread and butter brands, quite clearly the market isn't ready to pay for these.

 

With regard to the Cat A fiasco where luxury car makers sneaked in small petrol turbos to corner the Cat A market... that's really moot... the current differences in COE prices hardly justify the excessive premiums over the non-turbo Japanese models.

 

Where possible I choose the most similar engine capacity for the turbo engines, and chosen the highest trim for the non-turbo engines to ensure that the feature sets aren't so different.

 

Civic 1.5 turbo - $131K

Audi A3 1.0 turbo - $135K

BMW 318i Sport - $175K

VW Jetta 1.4 turbo - $115K

VW Golf 1.4 turbo - $110K

Opel Astra 1.4 turbo - $121K

Ford Focus Sedan 1.0 turbo - $100K

 

And comparing to standard non-turbo models

Elantra 1.6 Elite - $95K

Corolla 1.6 Elegance - $106K

Civic 1.6 - $108K

Mazda 1.5 Deluxe - $100K

Slyphy 1.6 Signature - $106K

 

Quite clearly you see about a $10K premium if you buy a turbo-charged model from a bread and butter brand. I'm comparing Opel and VW. Only the Ford Focus sedan is comparable and even then it's a few thousand dollars more expensive with a much less powerful 1.0 turbo. The Civic is way off the graph.

 

And the revision to Cat A COEs to limit horsepower is the correct one. You can see from the prices that you're basically paying a very high premium for Audi, BMW and Mercedes (I didn't bother to include Mercedes)... Cat A are for bread and butter cars, not luxury marques... looking at top selling brands since the COE Cat A changes clearly show that the change has clearly little impact on the sales of BMW, Audi & Mercedes... the buyers in those segments still bought these brands whether they paid Cat A or B COEs... hence they should not compete for cheaper COEs in Cat A which is reserved for mainstream cars, not luxury models...

 

Also, it is quite clear that if all brands had small petrol turbos to compete in the Cat A segment, prices won't be as sky high as they are today... a clear example is set by VW, their 1.4 turbo cars aren't exorbitantly priced... the Hyundai Tucson 1.6 turbo is priced below $120K and that's a larger car segment compared to the category that we're discussing here... and Nissan has a 1.2 turbo thanks to their alliance with Renault, and the Qashqai isn't exorbitantly priced as well... so you can clearly see the pricing strategy of premium brands versus bread and butter brands... once there's competition, you've just got to tamper your profit margins... obviously Opel is asking for trouble with that kind of pricing. No wonder they're not profitable globally.

 

Luxury car brands have a lot of freedom to play around with pricing, COE premiums notwithstanding... just look at the sale prices versus the estimated car cost using SGCarmart... quite clearly the premium is hefty and sometimes up to $50K or more even for the entry level models... and so it was quite clear why VW decided to move in and takeover the dealership... their previous agent was clearly content to sell x numbers at a hefty $y premium for each car and still make lots of money but did nothing to expand market share. It's also very clear that once VW took over, the prices of all their models dipped significantly... it is also clear that VW views themselves as a mainstream brand at the upper end of the bracket whereas the previous dealer treated the brand as a premium one with pricing close to BMW, and Audi etc... and worse, having VW pricing so close to Audi messed up the VW group's strategy... the previous dealer was simply asking for it... VW's market share was pretty significant just before the diesel scandal... that's a lot more than what the previous dealer achieved...

 

The huge building that the previous VW agent built was premised on an assumed status quo which was pretty lazy I suppose... they just didn't read VW's intention... I'm sure there are frequent meetings to discuss sales targets and strategies...

 

Great discussion nevertheless... cheers!

 

the occasional one off car like the Juke 1.6 turbo that past the 1601 CC mark and higher road tax is a nice and proper hoot to drive if you can forgive the CVT and the Look.

 

Waiting for Hyundai Kona to come in to see if it will be a Audi A2 competitor or not.

[teomingern]

the occasional one off car like the Juke 1.6 turbo that past the 1601 CC mark and higher road tax is a nice and proper hoot to drive if you can forgive the CVT and the Look.

 

Waiting for Hyundai Kona to come in to see if it will be a Audi A2 competitor or not.

 

Wah... the Juke is a joke of a design... it's so ugly I cannot imagine how it actually passed the design stage... same for the Prius... hahaha...

 

Kona versus A2? No fight... badge snobbery in Singapore is strong... people will rather pay for an A2 and cramp and still say it's great even though they suffer with the lack of space and other stuff... just like people who use a 3-series for a full family and it's so cramped...

[Columbian78]

Wah... the Juke is a joke of a design... it's so ugly I cannot imagine how it actually passed the design stage... same for the Prius... hahaha...

 

Kona versus A2? No fight... badge snobbery in Singapore is strong... people will rather pay for an A2 and cramp and still say it's great even though they suffer with the lack of space and other stuff... just like people who use a 3-series for a full family and it's so cramped...

The juke is actually quite a successful design. It isn't that popular here (but still can see quite often) but it is popular in the US, for a niche car. There are many people who don't place priority on looks. Juke turbo is actually a very chngable car. The stock nismo rs already has about 220hp. There are some in my FB group running 3xx hp with measurements to show. 250hp is quite std and they can go up against the likes of wrx and gti. I don't have a juke btw.

[teomingern]

The juke is actually quite a successful design. It isn't that popular here (but still can see quite often) but it is popular in the US, for a niche car. There are many people who don't place priority on looks. Juke turbo is actually a very chngable car. The stock nismo rs already has about 220hp. There are some in my FB group running 3xx hp with measurements to show. 250hp is quite std and they can go up against the likes of wrx and gti. I don't have a juke btw.

 

Still see it often? I hardly see it though even though one of colleagues own one... I seriously find it a bit of an eyesore... I've sat in it as well... not sure if it was turbocharged but it didn't feel like it...

[Dannnn]

Just a note :

 

The actual Astra 1.0T is around $93k and 1.4T around $105k. For that price is very competitive in that segment with that amount of features and power.

1.0t was 89888 bef the 1.2k recent coe raise. Now what price dk liao.

[7hm]

the occasional one off car like the Juke 1.6 turbo that past the 1601 CC mark and higher road tax is a nice and proper hoot to drive if you can forgive the CVT and the Look.

 

Waiting for Hyundai Kona to come in to see if it will be a Audi A2 competitor or not.

 

A2? You mean Q2?

Speaking of the Kona, I took another look at it and I realize its frontal design is a bit overwrought to me.

 

But I suppose the weirdest part to me is the KIA Niro-like "tooth"-esque foglamps at the bottom nearer to the center of the front end. When I noticed those there, it somehow just started looking a lot worse.

 

Besides that it is quite an adventurous design even coming from Hyundai. I however remain committed to my preference to Fluidic Sculpture 1.0.

Still see it often? I hardly see it though even though one of colleagues own one... I seriously find it a bit of an eyesore... I've sat in it as well... not sure if it was turbocharged but it didn't feel like it...

 

Perhaps some of its success in the USA can be attributed to its youthful (if not ridiculously wacky) image - in the states it isn't strange for youngsters to have a vehicle to themselves.

Here vehicles are mostly chosen by older people who would think the Juke is hideous.

[teomingern]

A2? You mean Q2?

Speaking of the Kona, I took another look at it and I realize its frontal design is a bit overwrought to me.

 

But I suppose the weirdest part to me is the KIA Niro-like "tooth"-esque foglamps at the bottom nearer to the center of the front end. When I noticed those there, it somehow just started looking a lot worse.

 

Besides that it is quite an adventurous design even coming from Hyundai. I however remain committed to my preference to Fluidic Sculpture 1.0.

 

Perhaps some of its success in the USA can be attributed to its youthful (if not ridiculously wacky) image - in the states it isn't strange for youngsters to have a vehicle to themselves.

Here vehicles are mostly chosen by older people who would think the Juke is hideous.

 

Was it successful in the US? I thought the Soul was the youngsters' preferred choice...

[7hm]

Was it successful in the US? I thought the Soul was the youngsters' preferred choice...

 

Among Nissan's cars it seems it sold decently, and apparently mainly to "the young and the elderly (40 and above)". The latter demographic kinda takes me by surprise.

[teomingern]

Definitely... elderly??? Last romantic fling???

[Vinceng]

Since the Sonata has ceased sales at Komoco, wonder if the Elantra GT will be sold to fill the gap?

Edited July 27, 2017 by Vinceng

[7hm]

Since the Sonata has ceased sales at Komoco, wonder if the Elantra GT will be sold to fill the gap?

 

Doubt it, the Elantra GT is not at all suitable as a stop-gap. The i40 is, but that has been reserved as taxi (a total waste imo, with all its fantastic european engineering) and the Elantra GT being a hatch is unlikely to appeal strongly to the market.

[teomingern]

Since the Sonata has ceased sales at Komoco, wonder if the Elantra GT will be sold to fill the gap?

The Sonata will come in soon... the face lifted model... just wait a few months lor... it's just been launched in Korea and US... will take a while before we get the right hand drive variant...

[13177]

Since the Sonata has ceased sales at Komoco, wonder if the Elantra GT will be sold to fill the gap?

Sonata has ceased sales? I dont even see much Sonata on the road le? 

[teomingern]

Sonata has ceased sales? I dont even see much Sonata on the road le? 

 

No lar... they are bringing in the face-lifted model...

[Sdf4786k]

Wah... the Juke is a joke of a design... it's so ugly I cannot imagine how it actually passed the design stage... same for the Prius... hahaha...

 

Kona versus A2? No fight... badge snobbery in Singapore is strong... people will rather pay for an A2 and cramp and still say it's great even though they suffer with the lack of space and other stuff... just like people who use a 3-series for a full family and it's so cramped...

 

still not so bad. 

 

try the Jaguar XE. Cramp in the rear. shoddy plastic trim and the equipment of the ICE like from yr 2000.

 

Those that test drive, ask the SE to change radio station when the car is moving... and try to do a Initial D with cup of water. Don't even need to move and the water spill from the idling vibration.

 

Just hope that with the new ingenium engine will be better.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Sdf4786k

[teomingern]

still not so bad. 

 

try the Jaguar XE. Cramp in the rear. shoddy plastic trim and the equipment of the ICE like from yr 2000.

 

Those that test drive, ask the SE to change radio station when the car is moving... and try to do a Initial D with cup of water. Don't even need to move and the water spill from the idling vibration.

 

Just hope that with the new ingenium engine will be better.

 

You sound like you did a test drive before? Which XE are you talking about? The current one is very new actually... just launched not long ago... just two years ago I think... is the interior quality so poor? Why do you need to ask the SE to change the radio station? Aren't there steering wheel controls for that? And what do you mean by doing an Initial D? You mean step of the brakes and rev the engine for a drag race takeoff? It's using a diesel engine, no? Maybe that's why the idle is rough?

[Sdf4786k]

You sound like you did a test drive before? Which XE are you talking about? The current one is very new actually... just launched not long ago... just two years ago I think... is the interior quality so poor? Why do you need to ask the SE to change the radio station? Aren't there steering wheel controls for that? And what do you mean by doing an Initial D? You mean step of the brakes and rev the engine for a drag race takeoff? It's using a diesel engine, no? Maybe that's why the idle is rough?

 

petrol engine.

 

Rough as taxi.

 

Reason why get SE to do it is even the SE have trouble changing the station because of the interface is that slow and iffy interface.