Is 10% (roughly) a small difference? It depends on how you look at it, of course. Being able to live with or without a feature doesn't mean it's insignificant in a broader quantitative sense. If the base time is 5.0 seconds, then a half-second faster is a 10% improvement. Consider a weight reduction from 4000 pounds to 3600, a gas mileage decrease from 25 mpg to 22.5 mpg, a top speed decrease from 150 to 135 mph, a cost reduction from $50,000 to $45,000 -- those are all 10% differences and I think many people would consider at least some of those differences important. Of course, not everyone would consider all of them important. I could live with any one of those -- the higher weight, lower gas mileage, the slower top speed (especially), or even the higher price. But I don't regard any of them as inconsequential. I certainly prefer a car that is quicker, lighter, faster, and less expensive by 10%.
Virtually any attribute of any car that is lacking in some competitor can be dismissed as trivial and will be of no concern to some buyers. Every car is a trade-off.
My notion still holds true as I am not making a "theoretical" comparison. If I am expected to accept “less” in certain categories then if you want me to make a purchase you need to try to offset that by giving me an advantage in others. I am leaving out appearance, interior/exterior colors, etc. as they are all very subjective and can’t really be measured. So for things that can be measured. Fuel economy is set, it is not getting better. Performance is set, it is likely not getting better either. So you have amenities/options combined with price. Give the customer lots for little.
We can use our best “guess” of what the G70 will be vs. the current best in class. I will assume it equals the
Stinger’s performance numbers at a minimum. Each of the categories vary wildly, with some much more than 10% and some much less than 10%.
C43 AMG: It is faster to 60 by 3 tenths, it is 2 tenths faster in the ¼ mile, it gets 15% better fuel economy, similar equipment level to the “loaded” G70 is ~70K. Missing: No rear heated seats. No
Carplay or
Android Auto if you get Nav.
340i xDrive: It is faster to 60 by 3 tenths, it is 2 tenths faster in the ¼ mile, it gets 25% better fuel economy, similar equipment level to the “loaded” G70 is~ 65K. Missing: No ventilated seats. No
android auto.
Now, I am a little slower, get substantially worse fuel economy but I have MORE options. Maybe I don’t care about the additional options. So next we have price. Follow the standard Genesis model and make it as low as possible. If you don’t I suspect not many will make a purpose.
The G70 has distinguished itself on differences of this magnitude. Its claim to fame is that it's a more affordable alternative to established prestige brands that are comparable with respect to performance and luxury. Take away some of the performance and some of the luxury, or increase the price, and that comparison is meaningless (or at least wrong). And you don't need to spend an additional $20,000 to get a luxury/performance sedan that is quicker than the G70. The
Infiniti Q50 400 Red Sport with 400 HP does 0-60 in about 4.5 or a bit better, depending on which source you check. Its street price may well be less than the G70's (we don't know what that will be yet) but we can say with certainty that it won't cost $20,000 more to get those 0-60 times from a luxury/sport sedan. The
Infiniti lacks some luxury features like a heads-up-display, and a few other tech amenities. Are those inconsequential? Depends on the buyer's priorities. I prefer what the G70 has to offer to what the
Infiniti does. But I woudn't fault anyone with different priorities (like the availability of a top notch and fully established dealer network) for reaching the opposite conclusion. Now, I understand that for you, the 0-60 time difference isn't a consideration. But that doesn't mean that it's inconsequential or unimportant to others. .
The G70 way well be faster in the ¼ mile and to 60 if it matches the
Stingers’s performance (0-60 in 4.4, don't really care about that but 1/4 mile is in the 12.8 to 12.9 range. Q50 is 4.5 and 13 flat for both measures). The Q50 RS400 is around 62k with every option. The issue is there are a LOT of options missing vs. what we think the G70 will have:
No ventilated seats, no heated rear seats, no wireless charging, no HUD, no
carplay, no
android auto, lower tier audio system, no free 3 year maintenance, no App to control the vehicle, terrible stock rubber, etc. Plus you have to get DAP once you start adding on options. I have driven the
Stinger and the Q50 RS400. If the G70 is similar to the
Stinger it is much better than any DAP equipped model. I was just flying around an empty, locked parking lot in the Q50 and I think it was trying to kill me. So it has a lot less options, likely isn't faster and the MSRP will "hopefully" be a good bit more as well.
