Making a hot version of a car drives sales of regular versions, idk how else to put it. You build something cool and desirable but slightly unreachable and people will want to have the next best thing. Eg Maserati MC20, Giulia QV, AMGs and M cars of all sorts
edit: also you’re misunderstanding what “up badging” means, it refers to people putting sti stickers on their WRXs and other trim fuckery like that, not coming up with entirely new models on new platforms that share some components with your lower tier brands
I get the point of making a hot version. The Civic Type R has been pretty successful. But again, it’s a dying segment. They’d be better off with a more successful SUV.
As a company sure, I dread to see the day hatchbacks and sedans die in favor of huge ugly SUVs though.
Like the only hot SUV that doesn’t piss me off is ford puma st, because it’s not much bigger than what it’s based on, and things like Countryman JCW, X2, GLA AMG, smaller stuff basically
edit: thankfully we still get more ILXs and TLXs imported than their SUVs, I think they’re neat
Making a hot version of a car drives sales of regular versions, idk how else to put it. You build something cool and desirable but slightly unreachable and people will want to have the next best thing. Eg Maserati MC20, Giulia QV, AMGs and M cars of all sorts
edit: also you’re misunderstanding what “up badging” means, it refers to people putting sti stickers on their WRXs and other trim fuckery like that, not coming up with entirely new models on new platforms that share some components with your lower tier brands
TIL about up badging.
I get the point of making a hot version. The Civic Type R has been pretty successful. But again, it’s a dying segment. They’d be better off with a more successful SUV.
As a company sure, I dread to see the day hatchbacks and sedans die in favor of huge ugly SUVs though.
Like the only hot SUV that doesn’t piss me off is ford puma st, because it’s not much bigger than what it’s based on, and things like Countryman JCW, X2, GLA AMG, smaller stuff basically
edit: thankfully we still get more ILXs and TLXs imported than their SUVs, I think they’re neat
Oh what market are you in? I don’t think they call it Ford Puma in the US. Is that a Ford Escape?
There are plenty of hatchback crossovers that are barely SUVs: Crosstrek, Venue, Ioniq 5.
Europe, Puma is their Fiesta-based SUV, and the ST is using the exact same engine as the FiST. Ford Escape is one size up I think