Topic: Hyundai the new Honda??

[johngenx]

There is no sense in producing halo cars if you don't use elements in your mass production line.  Styling bits, engineering (remember VTEC, anyone..?) or whatever.  That's the trick.  Let the Odyssey potential buyer see a hint of an NSX in there, and it can work in unifying your products.

But, those halo cars can make money.  Porsche is very profitable.  The cost of producing a Cayman, even in small-ish numbers is not 4-5x the cost of making a Corolla.  Margins are large on $60K+ cars, and if you do it right, you don't have to make hundreds of thousands to earn a profit.

[rrocket]

But, those halo cars can make money.  Porsche is very profitable.  The cost of producing a Cayman, even in small-ish numbers is not 4-5x the cost of making a Corolla.  Margins are large on $60K+ cars, and if you do it right, you don't have to make hundreds of thousands to earn a profit.

But people gripe plenty that the Cayman is overpriced.  And besides, the bulk of the profit for Porsche comes from an SUV!  Porsche only sells ~30,000 cars combined for all of North America.  Oh...and brand cachet/snob appeal is pretty high on a Porsche.

[Mike]

There is no sense in producing halo cars if you don't use elements in your mass production line.  Styling bits, engineering (remember VTEC, anyone..?) or whatever.  That's the trick.  Let the Odyssey potential buyer see a hint of an NSX in there, and it can work in unifying your products.

But, those halo cars can make money.  Porsche is very profitable.  The cost of producing a Cayman, even in small-ish numbers is not 4-5x the cost of making a Corolla.  Margins are large on $60K+ cars, and if you do it right, you don't have to make hundreds of thousands to earn a profit.

You can also have a low priced 'halo' car that can be profitable.  GM has always done it with the Corvette and one can argue the Mustang GT is a halo car for Ford.  I'm not sure if the Viper made money.

[johngenx]

A Corvette is low priced?  Compared to an LF-A, sure, but...

[Mike]

A Corvette is low priced?  Compared to an LF-A, sure, but...

yeah, I meant compared to like the LFA, NSX, SLS, etc

[Cadure]

Recent Consumer Reports listed the most reliable brands:

Summary:

1. Scion
2. Lexus
3. Acura
4. Mazda
5. Honda
6. Toyota
7. Infiniti
8. Subaru
9. Nissan
10. Volvo
11. Hyundai
12. Kia
...
16. VW
...
18. Mercedes
19. BMW
...
27. Porsche

So the short answer is...not yet.

[Marko]

Are Hondas supposed to have good steering feel? I drive an 04 TL and the steering feels very loose and vague. It's not much of a driver's car and you don't feel very well connected to the road.