One of my favorite uses of The Morning Dump is to make big predictions and, if they come true, to feign the appropriate level of modesty while also pointing out that I was correct. One of my least favorite uses of TMD is to eat crow.
A couple of years ago, I was skeptical that GM could balance a desire to keep its stock price up with all the other investments it was making. Unless the company does a surprise announcement of a new Cimarron today, it’s likely GM is going to have the best-performing major automotive stock this year.
Given how much crap GM takes for making short-term decisions that betray its own long-term hopes, it’s only fair to point out that GM made a lot of difficult moves the last couple of years that have made it, at least in the medium-term, a successful company.
Porsche? Anyone would have wanted to be Porsche just a few years ago. Now the company is on its back foot, which means there’s a lot of opportunity ahead for its new CEO. If you love cars as I do, I think you’re hoping Porsche figures it out in the coming years.
I love automotive as a topic because it’s both a part of our everyday lives, while also being this huge, ridiculous industry. To wit, I’m going to end on some great advice from an unusual source.
GM Was A Winner This Year
One of my favorite quotes on the Internet is:
The haters said we couldn’t do it. And they were correct. Honestly, great call from the haters.
I am not a GM hater. I quite like GM and agree with David that the company has the best engineers on the planet. Many of its products are among my favorites, including its big SUVs, hi-po Cadillac sedans, and affordable offerings (Envista/Trax). At the same time, I believe Bob Lutz when he lays the blame for some of the company’s lesser moments on short-sighted accounting decisions more designed to boost the stock price than to set the company up for long-term success.
It’s with this background that I mentioned, a couple of years ago, that GM CEO Mary Barra’s plan to shore up its stock price with dividends and other actions gave me a bit of agita. With all of its EV investments, Cruise AI, and everything else going on, was this really wise? Here’s what I wrote back in 2023:
The world is a complex place, and Barra deserves credit for winding her way through difficult times and restoring some faith in the company. But this is a huge step backward in my mind (and I‘m not the only one who thinks this is weird). Yes, the company’s truck and SUV business is very profitable and I also think their new EVs look very good, but if I were a GM shareholder I’d want them to invest as much as possible in hybrids and fixing their Ultium production. It’s nice that GM will be profitable this year and that the strike is only going to cost about a billion dollars, but in what universe does GM not need every cent to survive a future with Chinese automakers expanding in Mexico and Tesla showing no signs of slowing down?
GM did eventually fix its Ultium production issues, and China and Tesla seem like less of an immediate threat to a company that’s extremely focused on the United States. Would I have taken some of that money and invested it in hybrids? Yeah, 100%, and I’m sure with hindsight that GM execs might have done that as well.
Even in 2024, I was curious if GM could maintain both its climbing share price and everything else, writing:
The broad view is that 2025 may be a good year for sales if something weird doesn’t happen, but it’ll probably be tight for automaker profits. I don’t personally think GM is cooked, I think it’ll do well, but I don’t think if we fast forward another 10 months that GM will be up 80% again.
Year-to-date, GM is not up 80%, but it’s up about 59%, which is pretty damn good. Besides making profitable vehicles that people tend to like, GM has stuck with its investments in Ultium and is therefore able to–if not make a lot of money–at least not have to write down billions of dollars like Ford. Also, it’s good at cutting stuff! From absorbing its Cruise robotaxi business back into the borg to letting go of the Brightdrop dream, the General has been smart to reconsider its strategic investments. Plus, the upcoming Hyundai-GM deal will likely yield a good EV van.
How are other automakers doing? Tesla is up about 20%, although it has a crazy market cap of $1.4 trillion. Ford is up 37% YTD, while Stellantis is down 14%. Toyota is up about 11.4%, while Honda is only up about 4%. Ferrari stumbled with a nearly 11% decline, although it has a higher market cap than either Ford or Honda. BMW, impressively, is up nearly 37%, which is ahead of the 30% rise for Mercedes. Just as a fun point of comparison, Bitcoin is down 5.2%.
Could things go wrong next year? Absolutely. GM has been too slow on hybrids in North America, and it’ll need to close that gap soon. Would I make a bet on GM failing? I would not. By betting on herself, CEO Mary Barra took home roughly $73 million, according to CNBC. Not bad.
What Does The Next Porsche Look Like?
No company has great years every year. GM, for instance, declared bankruptcy in the not-too-distant past. Porsche has had a mostly good 21st century, although an over-investment in electric cars and an underestimation of China have combined to tank the company’s profits.
Current VW CEO/Porsche CEO Oliver Blume is about to shed his Porsche role and hand it to ex-Porsche engineer/McLaren CEO Michael Leiters–who kind of looks like a Statham brother who went to business school instead of joining the SAS.
Automotive News Europe has a long read on what Porsche is going to have to do to get out of the runoff and back onto the straight. Besides the product pivots, there will eventually have to be some restructuring:
To restore stable double-digit margins with lower volumes, Porsche will need to cut costs by several billion euros over the coming years.
Negotiations over what is known as “Structure Package II” have already begun. An initial list of potential measures was presented to the works council and subsequently leaked. Proposals include cutting bonuses and long-service awards, reducing white-collar staff, tightening home-office rules and eliminating additional rest breaks on the assembly line.
The list also mentions reducing the number of apprentices and trimming employer contributions to pension plans.
Hear me out: A new 944.
Chinese Sales Continue To Rise In Europe
While Europe has levied tariffs against Chinese automakers, those levies were not as insurmountable as the ones from the United States. To wit, China likely grew a lot in Europe this quarter, according to analysis provided to Bloomberg:
Chinese carmakers captured a record 12.8% of Europe’s electric-vehicle market in November, building on gains made this year despite the cost of European Union tariffs.
In the fast-growing hybrid-car categories, Chinese brands resumed their rise, surpassing 13% across the EU, EFTA countries and the UK, according to researcher Dataforce.
One of the big winners has been the BYD Seal U, which is a PHEV that costs about €9,000 (or $10,500) less than the comparable Volkswagen Tiguan, as Automotive News Europe reports from the same data:
The two SUVs have been in a tight race all year to be Europe’s No. 1-selling PHEV, with the Tiguan behind the Seal U by 2,363 sales after 11 months, according to figures from market researcher Dataforce.
When comparing the SUVs, the compact-sized Tiguan has an electric-only range of up to 126 km (78 miles) while the midsize Seal U’s range is between 70 km and 98 km, according to WLTP tests.
The Tiguan’s lithium-ion battery is 25.7 kilowatt hours while the Seal U’s lithium iron phosphate battery is 18.3 kWh. But the combined power of the base version of the Seal U is slightly ahead of a comparable Tiguan, 160 kW (215 hp) vs. 150 kW (204 hp).
While the Tiguan might better it in many ways, it’s smaller and more expensive, which isn’t a great recipe for sales.
Let’s All Take Some Advice From Carlos Ghosn
It may not have ended well for ex-Nissan Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, but the longtime auto exec was quite successful as a manager right up to the point that his subordinates had him arrested and he had to flee the country in a crate.
In an interesting shift, Ghosn has become a LinkedIn guru, dispensing advice like:
As we close 2025, remember: Performance Above All.
In a world that changes faster than most companies can adapt, one truth remains constant. The companies that hashtag#win execute relentlessly while others strategize endlessly. Every decision, every initiative, every day should be measured against one criterion: does it drive hashtag#performance?
Ghosn is a hashtag guy! Based on this ANE article, it seems to be working out just fine for him:
“I had a life full of events. There are a lot of things that I can share with the public,” Ghosn said in a December 11 online interview from Lebanon. He remains grounded in his ancestral homeland by an Interpol Red Notice seeking his return to Japan to stand trial on financial misconduct charges he denies.
“It’s a win-win situation, because I’m sharing my own life experience, not only limited to Lebanon, but globally, and from the other side, I’m receiving a lot of solicitation, requests.”
I put this out there on LinkedIn, but if anyone knows Ghosn, I think he’d be a great columnist. Right?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s the incredible Chuck Mangione with “Feels So Good” live from 1979.
The Big Question
Which voices would you like to hear on The Autopian in 2026? Anyone you’d like to hear more of next year?
Top photo: GM
Regarding the music video, I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t have hair like those guys do. The modern bullet-headed look leaves me cold (apologies to those who can’t help it).
Signed:
Missing the 70’s
I’m gonna need a bigger box-Carlos Ghosn. Words to live by.
Which voices would you like to hear on The Autopian in 2026? Anyone you’d like to hear more of next year?
Well, human voices. Maybe the odd dog or cat voice as appropriate.
Wouldn’t mind seeing some old friends stop by for a bit, Lehto, McParland as examples.
We obviously need more Pontiac articles and black jack and hookers.
In fact, forget the Pontiac articles!
On the voices to hear, some more people in the EV space would be good, maybe have Patrick guest star and opine on the state of things, infrastructure, EVs, impending Chinese, all that.
I thought i was smart and educated. It doesnt make sense………
1-gm has the highest non us content of the manufacturers. >tariff exposure
2-huge commitment to BEV now wasted due to orange hitler. Billion$ destroyed.
3-new expense to engineer up what people really want – hybrids.
4-no car play > ~20% of customers will never consider you again.
5-6% of all 6.2 V 8 have blown up on the road. (6.2 only available on the highest level trim – wealthiest buyers). If my wife and 2 toddlers got stranded on the road, in the rain, you can bet that Denali would be my LAST! I swear it. Blood oath.
6-UAW 20% wage hike coming due now.
I could go on.
Does this sound like gm should be the best performing stock?
Proof-I m not smart
Also, GM is pretty much entirely reliant on North America and China, after retreating from almost every other large market around the world, and they have virtually collapsed in China. Eggs, meet basket
“4-no car play > ~20% of customers will never consider you again.”
I’m one of those who would probably prefer a vehicle without car-play. But I never have a phone turned on while I drive any of our vehicles. I actually prefer to drive our more analog vehicles without touch-screens. Two are automatics, while two are manuals.
What amazing about a car featuring CarPlay/Android Auto is you *don’t* have to use it!
What sucks about a car that doesn’t feature it is you *can’t* use it if you want to.
I don’t get it… absolutely nothing about any vehicle with CarPlay forces you in any way to use CarPlay. This is like saying “I prefer a car without a radio, no distractions!” when you could just… not turn the radio on…
“John S
22 minutes ago
Reply to Anonymous Person
What amazing about a car featuring CarPlay/Android Auto is you *don’t* have to use it!
What sucks about a car that doesn’t feature it is you *can’t* use it if you want to.
1
Reply
https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/dbb703a74a737c734d484b53790e434f?s=64&d=retro&r=g
Kttxus
1 minute ago
Reply to Anonymous Person
I don’t get it… absolutely nothing about any vehicle with CarPlay forces you in any way to use CarPlay. This is like saying “I prefer a car without a radio, no distractions!” when you could just… not turn the radio on…”
I’m just saying I wouldn’t need this. And if could be less expensive without it, then that’s what I would prefer.
When we ordered our 2024 Trax, we got an LS model so we could get one without push-button start or black wheels because we did not want those features and did not want to pay for something we did not want.
If we could have gotten the Trax without car-play, and it would have been $500 cheaper, we would have ordered it that way, as we would never use it.
And back in the ’70s and even in the ’80s you could order a car without a radio… And some people actually did. (mostly drag racers)
There’s no way not having Carplay would knock $500 off the list price. This nonsense needs to be dubunked. All OEMs pay Apple a small fee to license CarPlay but it’s nothing like $500 per unit.
I appreciate your reply.
I wasn’t implying Car-Play costs $500. I was just saying GM would upcharge $500 if they felt they could get away with it.
I would be fine with no Car-Play/Android Auto or Bluetooth or no touch-screen at all. Call it an “Infotainment-delete” option.
Or better yet, make the infotainment system optional and then sell the vehicle for $500 less to people who didn’t want the touch-screen and phone-connectivity.
That won’t happen because more people will want (and expect it) than not. Once you start adding more features as options you run into problems with complexity on the line, which is one reason why popular options are bundled together.
+1 for Orange Hitler reference.
Requesting permission to use that, as it may lead to fewer and shorter rants on my part.
One the other hand Orange Turd is my “go to” as even those who are not students of history understand the reference made.
There’s a reason they have stopped teaching history in school.
Well done.
Use it at will.
There was a time, not long ago, when the risk of your family getting stranded on the road in the rain was a reality of driving. It’s cool that that risk is near zero now, but it exists with any manufacturer (I had a front tire blowout that left me stranded a couple years ago).
I’m not saying GM (and Toyota – don’t forget the V35A) aren’t at fault for building engines with a high failure rate, I’m just saying any car can leave your wife and toddlers stranded.
But it had 9,500 miles and cost $86,000
TBQ: a suspension designer, a transmission expert, someone who knows race car setup, and the big dog DT. Please find a way to get David more support for the running the show stuff so he can write even more.
I’m open to other voices but definitely need more of Otto’s artwork!
I suspect Ford may be more fundamentally sound than GM. They just need to fix their quality woes.
‘Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.’
I’d rather a Warren Buffett quote on his last day at Berkshire Hathaway as opposed to a Ghosn #hashtag when he left a wrecked Nissan in his wake and had to be smuggled out of Japan in a box because he’s a wanted criminal.
Mary Barra will either be a genius who steered GM adeptly through the early 2020s, or a Roger Smith who looked smart at the time, but when the tide went out…well, you know.
What do I want from the Autopian in ’26? More of the same great writing (with particular shout out to SWG and Adrian), more great wrenching (looking forward to David’s Jeep build), as minimal politics as humanly possible (yeah, yeah, keep it to TMD, I know we can’t avoid the topic altogether), and continued Shitbox Showdowns.
Agreed. Ghosn can go # sand.
TMD has to be somewhat political in nature, it is unavoidable. I think Matt overall does a good job of walking the middle line and addressing the real issues. I think the site does an overall good job of keeping it out of most discussion.
Agreed. Politics is everything and everything is politics. Matt does an excellent job on avoiding PARTISANSHIP, which is what matters.
Objective analysis of facts is NOT always politically neutral, even if the more extreme wings of both parties don’t like what it tells them.
I don’t think Roger Smith even looked that smart at the time, he had a lot of critics within and without GM, especially after H. Ross Perot joined their board
Exactly the sentiment I came here to express. Praise for GM now reminds me of the praise directed at Stellantis in ~2022. Profits were up, Wall St was happy, and my friends in the product engineering orgs were simultaneously disgusted and terrified at cost cutting measures so aggressive that thousands of engineers were doing literally nothing because their budgets were strictly enforced at $0.00.
My friends at GM (that haven’t been sacked) have been terrified for about 2-3 years now. Tick tock.
Nissan was not wrecked when Ghosn was arrested. It was doing well and then they had him arrested and went right back to what cased them to approach bankruptcy and get bailed out by Renault.
Manufacturing automobiles a global enterprise. You can’t talk about making cars with talking about how the current president is making massive changes to global trade policy.
While Nissan performed well financially under his leadership, the seeds of decline were sown there. Failing CVTs and other quality problems along with ‘keep the volume up at any cost’ mentality (rental Altima specials of the mid-2010s) were hugely damaging to the company in the long-term.
Similarly, General Motors’ protracted decline was a culmination of errors and missteps from decades prior.
In the early 2000s, a Nissan product could be recommended in the same sense as Toyota or Honda. Two decades later, it’s become a punchline. Burned the reputation for short-term profit, now the company’s leadership has to do the hard work of rebuilding.
Perhaps his initial years were needed for restoring financial solvency to Nissan, but the latter years were quite damaging.
Who would I like to hear more of? HUMANs who actively avoids using AI in creating their articles. ALL Autopian articles should be AI free… and IF AI is used in any way/shape/form, have that section separately cited with an explanation as to why it was used. Keep up the good fight.
And if that’s not possible and AI really does take over the world, I for one bow to our future robot overlords..
Re: GM. They’ve pretty much lost me as a future customer as long as they continue to refuse to add CarPlay / AA. I am not willing to add a vehicle to my fleet that doesn’t maintain the consistent user experience I enjoy with my other vehicles (same contacts, same apps, same preferences). CarPlay (and I guess AA) lets me carry that with me and it’s always the same regardless of the ride. No CarPlay = No Sale.
P.S. Happy New Year to all my fellow Autopianians
AI reminds me of Germany 1938…both are complete bull shit.
Some lessons are hard, and can be deadly to learn.
We never use AI in the writing of our articles.
I want to see some epic drives and some day trips. Places you guys like and things to do there.
Automobile magazine did these “Great Drives” issues to pay the bills. They were advertising for Chrysler but the trips were memorable.
In a regular issue, an author talked about how he bought a Mercedes from the factory and as part of the package, was flown to Germany for a week where he tooled around before they shipped the car to the US. How about a reverse version of this where you drive your car back to the factory where it was assembled?
There’s a motorcycle magazine that has a cloverleaf tour in every issue.
Small day trips are great too. Day sailing and sports car driving offer the same enjoyment on different media. They don’t even have to be on windy roads. There’s got to be a great little tour around and through Chicago. Same for the areas each author resides near.
You can even make it interactive. Do one of those treasure hunts by latitude and longitude. Doing a press trip? Take that swag and bury it somewhere so it can be found.
We all dream of doing great things with our vehicles of choice. Feed the dream.
RE voices. I grew up in an automotive household. My dad was a GMOO veteran (GM Overseas Operations). So I like Automotive News, and I like the global perspective, of which of course the US plays a big part. The markets for the Big 3 and all others that dont get much coverage so besides US, Europe and China – are fascinating and rich. I like to read about those.
More Adrian and SWG!! The Bishop is always welcome. Maybe let the contributors also road test new, attainable cars. Keep up the weirdness and diversity.
I try to get into new cars but most OEMs are not helpful because I don’t and have not worked for one of the big UK auto media outlets, and that’s where their focus is. So big shout out to Renault/Alpine/Dacia and Hyundai/Kia, and BMW and Honda although I haven’t had anything from them recently.
I have a lot more success with the smaller restomod type operations so hopefully I should have some interesting drives coming in the New Year.
Oh please, those sound wonderful. I’m in the States, but absolutely would love to see what is happening on the Continent.
Should be some very interesting media drives happening in the spring.
I will definitely echo the note about Adrian. We do not have enough of his presence here. And he is the Autopian King in regards to interacting with readers (Mercedes is second to Adrian here but honestly it’s not even close).
SWG reads are also pretty entertaining and he is also great about reader interaction. The Bishop has been killing it lately as well.
In short, full agreement, no notes.
It’s a time thing, honestly although my recent absence was due to ill health. I will always try and get into the comments to insult the readers though. It’s why I get out if bed in the morning.
And we appreciate the time taken to dole out the abuse. Thank you sir may I have another.
But I do hope you’re getting better and back to good health. Cheers!
You sit down to take a wee and brush your teeth with warm water, you blouse wearing badger botherer.
I’d like to hear from some of up and coming designers and engineers. I admit to be being clueless about what new look or technical innovation is appealing to people under 30 (I almost wrote under 50). Any insight would be appreciated even if it makes aging head explode.
I’m the only car designer around here who gets to write, sunshine.
Some of those stocks might have gotten cought up in the ai bubble. GM especially. Ford possibly a little. The Honda and Toyota gains seems more honest. GM has a habit of spending billions on R&D just to dump the program with in months or a year when it didn’t go as they initially hoped. They don’t try to fix it or figure out why their board room hype didn’t translate to the real world. The way Ford designed them maverick was genius small group of younger people on a project they never thought would go into production. It kept the “good idea guys” away and produced something that spoke to the market. GM needs to do that. They have talent but they also have way too many “good idea guys”. The brightdrop had a future it was quite innovative they had come at the market with upfitters in mind. The Silverado bev is also an insane thing that works for what it is. Pricing seems to be the big issue but also I wouldn’t doubt buying gms latest science project that they have a good chance of abandoning plays into other choices. GM has lost the good will of many for a multitude of reasons and buying that back is expensive and tough. Im not sure they have it in them to do it.
I don’t care who it is, but so long as they’re reviewing a new EV I want to hear whether or not the damn thing has electric door handles in the article.
It’s a small ask, it doesn’t even have to be it’s own sentence, just part of one.
The A290 has normal door handles.
when i was a student at university, i went to Edinburgh Scotland for the Hogmanay celebration on December 31 – dance through a huge street party and kiss pretty girls saying “best to you, luv” until midnight when the greeting changed to “happy new year, luv”!
the autopian seems to me a little like Hogmanay, a chaotic and joyous crowd sharing good spirits (in every sense of the word).
this may be the only place on the internet not overcome by political tribalism and aggression. dunno if that is because of forum moderation or the nature of this community, i prefer to think it is the latter. it seems collegial and civil even when there are disagreements.
i learn so much not just from the articles, but from the comments – this is a very enlightened community with an unsurpassed range of experience/expertise.
i can tell you what i like, but you already have the traffic/engagement data, so you know what topics we like, and your industrial niche as all about traffic and engagement.
ignore complaints about trains, RV’s etc. those readers should just skip the articles they’re not interested in – just like the rest of us do.
wishing the Best to you all!
I agree with most of what you said, aside from the political tribalism. There is a lot of it from one particularly vocal contingent, but at least it’s mostly contained to the comments, and is fairly ignorable.
It’s definitely not like how the site was for its first year or so (which – while clunky – had the nice feeling of a brand new sandbox; now it’s like a few of the neighborhood stray animals have decided use it as their litter box), but dissatisfied folks will spread their negativity everywhere they go.
Thanks
If that top shot is a real photo, and it looks like it is based on the shadow, that is everything wrong with current brutalist SUV design in a nutshell. I drive a half ton pickup but come on, the “make it huge” trend is getting out of hand. It looks like she needs to wear those heels just to look in through the window of that caddy. Please change the copier back to 100% from 125% scale.
Mary’s just pocket sized.
C’mon GM, use your excellent PHEV/EREV experience to bring us the ultimate: A pushrod V8 strapped to a moderately sized bank of batteries.
I love my Volt, and I love my big block GMT400. I would love to be able to get the best of both worlds.
Agreed. The Corvette E-Ray (AWD, pushrod v8 hybrid) is truly a special car to drive but it’s super expensive. I would love if they somehow put that tech into remotely more cost effective vehicles. Honestly, the E ray is magical due to the melding of that v8 and electric motor. They are paired so well and calibrated so well together.
I really enjoy the overseas correspondent reviews and news. It feels like we hear constantly about what large car companies and governments think about Chinese cars, but much, much less about what the cars are actually like for end users. What even is going on in India?
I had a few rides in BYDs and Nettas and something else I couldn’t recognize at all in Thailand earlier this month and I didn’t come away impressed at all, which surprised me because it seemed contrary to what I’ve been hearing about them.
Agree with the others, I need more new car reviews from this site because it’s one of the few trustworthy ones.
Also, GM is definitely doing well in lots of areas, but I was surprised to see you didn’t mention the significant share buybacks they engaged in earlier this year. It’s not clear to me how much of their good year is due to sales and how much is due to financial engineering. Now, I could read SEC filings but I come here for analysis of those!
Porsche has been irrelevant to me for years, and in the past 10-15, it’s gotten even less relevant. I had to look at their website to even know what the current lineup is.
The older I get, the less I care about the cars that rich people buy. As that relates to the content on this website, I have no interest in anything relating to cars that sell for over about $80k, and even less so as the prices go up from there.
On the other hand 80K may soon be the new average MSRP.
Especially if we keep winning “bigly” as the Orange guy continues to tell us.
At least he lowered some drug prices by 300, 400, 600 percent, so that a win right? /s
But he ended inflation on his first day. Right?
“Which voices would you like to hear on The Autopian in 2026? Anyone you’d like to hear more of next year?”
I’d like to hear what former JLR people Gerry McGovern and Adrian Mardell have to say.
I also would love to see a satirical piece where the ghost of Mergio Sarchionne comes back from the dead to give Stellantis advice… with some added commentary from Satan…
We don’t know exactly what the story is with my Uncle Gerry.
HAIL SATAN!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkBt7yLXyDk
Hey! Don’t be dissing the Cadillac Cimarron! It was somewhat mediocre, but will always have a little corner in my automotive enthusiast heart thanks to personal recollections of a curly-haired Italian lady of my distant, casual acquaintance. In the late 1980s, she drove me around Brooklyn in one of them, and its automotive adequacy impressed me… and I’m SURE it had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with her perfume or distribution of body fat.
A new Porsche 944 would be awesome, provided that it occupied the same place in their lineup as the original 944 did, instead of being some tech-laden and pricey thing that merely apes the form of a 944 (i.e.: VW ID.Buzz). A base Macan (if such a vehicle is actually real) is about $63K, so in a fair and just universe (not ours obviously) a base/manual/four-cylinder neo-944 would start in the low $50Ks. Driving pleasure rather than outright performance numbers, along with good looks, hatchback/daily versatility, and value were/are 944 hallmarks, so any new, true 944 would share these qualities as well.
Carlos Ghosn allegedly committed significant financial crimes for his personal benefit, and then fled justice before having to defend his supposed innocence in court. Thus, I find it hard to admire him, regardless of other aspects of his tenure as an automotive company CEO.
Kudos btw for spelling Cimarron correctly, and agita too. I often bungle both. Happy new year Matt! 😀
The Cimarron is severely underappreciated as a cult car.