money – All about car

PHOTO: GMGM The new C8 Corvette starts at a surprisingly low price for something with Italian supercars in its sights, but it seems GM is swallowing the difference to make it that low.Motor Trend reports the $59,995 starting price charged to U.S. buyers $69,998 in Canada will only stick around for one year. And if it doesnt go up by $20,000, the company will continue losing money on the lower trim levels, according to what a senior GM official told the publication.Its not surprising, really, given that the C8 marked such a radical departure from the front-engine C7. Even minor changes to a vehicle can run into the millions, taking into account the cost of redesign, retooling, any adjustments or training at the assembly level, any new crash test requirements, and even the far more mundane, such as stocking new replacement parts or rewriting the repair manuals. With a major change such as C7 to C8, costs can get closer to or even over the billion-dollar mark. Its hard enough to make that back on a volume-seller, and even tougher on a halo car that will end up in far fewer driveways.Motor Trend said the base price of the last-gen C7 rose nearly $2,000 the year after it debuted, and then went up another $2,000 the following year. The GM source said that, with the C8, the price would have to go through the roof in order to cover GMs cost.Keeping the initial price down might well prove worth it, in terms of the buzz it created and how many buyers are eager to plunk down their deposits and its likely many people will come in for the starting price, but go home with something higher up on the trim scale.For American buyers, $59,995 gets you a 1LT trim, while the 2LT starts at $67,295, and the 3LT begins at $71,945. Thats even before you start piling on options that range from premium paint colours ($500 to $995) and specialty wheels ($2,695), to a carbon-fibre roof at $2,495, or the Z51 Performance Package for $5,000.Motor Trend reports that GM loses money on every C8 priced under $80,000, but that customers also drop off the radar when a vehicle climbs over $100,000. It looks like adjusting the C8s price tag is going to be a very careful balancing game for the
Origin: Chevrolet will lose money on base-price C8 Corvettes: report

2020 Toyota Corolla HybridHandout / Toyota Electrification, thanks to Tesla and Toyota, has become mainstream. What was once futuristic and Jetsonian — i.e. the incredibly awkward Honda Insight of the 1999 — has now become commonplace — as in the goofy, bulbous profile of the Prius. Instead of being asked “Why did you buy a hybrid?” you’re now more likely to be pressed as to why you didn’t. In other words, what was once unique has become conventional.What hasn’t changed is that hybrids still command a premium. Oh, the price bump isn’t as big as it used to be, but with extra electric motors, batteries and gearboxes, it’s little wonder you have to pay more for their fuel-sipping ways.How much of a premium you need to pay then is the question. So Driving.ca investigated the most cost-effective electrified vehicles sold in Canada, taking into account everything from MSRP to long-term fuel cost savings to pricing compared with their non-electrified siblings. Here then are the most cost-effective hybrids (and I don’t think we need to post a spoiler alert regarding the fact that Toyota figures prominently).Overall best valueIt’s hard to go wrong with a Corolla, the world’s best selling car of all time, and it’s equally hard to find serious fault with Toyota hybrids, so the combination of the two would seem pretty hard to beat. At $24,790, the new Corolla Hybrid is the simple grafting of the Prius powertrain to compact Corolla, lending a mainstream look to a futuristic technology. As for a value comparison, conventional Corollas start at $18,990, but that’s hardly a fair contrast since base gas versions — powered by a 132 horsepower, 1.8-litre four — come with a manual transmission. Comparing apples to apples, the Hybrid is a $4,000 uptick from the Corolla L CVT. What one gets from that four grand is a combination of 1.8-litre Atkinson-cycle four and an electric motor that’s good for 121-hp, a combined 4.5L/100 km in highway and urban cycles all of which will cost you, according to Transport Canada, $1,170 a year in fuel. Compare that with the aforementioned Corolla L — 7.1 L/100 km and $1,846 annual fuel costs — and you have a payback period of around six years. If that seems like a long time, it might help being reminded that the Hybrid is actually closer to the LE CVT in trim bits. Said gas-powered LE costs $21,790 and the Hybrid would require a four-and-a-half year payback if you opted for it over the mid-priced conventional version. One thing’s for sure, this electrified Corolla, like other Toyota hybrids, will last a lot longer than that.Quickest payback periodIn terms of smallest increase in price over its conventional gas-powered, or the shortest amount of time needed to payback the premium paid for hybridization, it’s tough to beat Toyota’s RAV4. A 2.5-litre LE AWD RAV4 will set you back some $30,690, for instance, while the Hybrid version of the same LE AWD package costs $32,090. That’s a paltry $1,400, which, considering all the hardware needed to convert from gas to hybrid propulsion, is a pittance. Meanwhile, Natural Resources Canada says you’ll spend $1,693 fueling the gas-powered version but only $1,224 for the hybrid. Do the math and that’s but a three-year payback period, an amazing bargain for any kind of electrification. The electrified RAV4 proves an even more impressive bargain when you consider that Hybrid is actually more powerful — 219 horses versus 203-hp — than the gas car. No wonder Toyota Canada says that they had sold 9,591 RAV4 Hybrids so far in 2019, fully 22 per cent of all its RAV4 sales being electrified. Most cost-effective family of electricsThe reason I like the Kia Niro is that, not only is the Kia’s cute little electrified crossover cheap but it’s offered in three flavours — traditional hybrid, plug-in PHEV and, at the top of the range, a fully battery-powered EV. The base hybrid starts at $25,495 and, for less than a grand more than the Corolla Hybrid, you get a larger cargo area and 139 horses while sipping just 4.8 litres of gas every 100 kilometres. Move up to the plug-in version and Natural resources Canada says the Niro’s annual fuel costs will be but a paltry $753, making it the most frugal of hybrid crossovers. That’s not necessarily a bargain, though, since it starts at $33,965, that’s an $8,500 jump for a $206 annual savings compared with the bare bones Niro Hybrid. However, considering what the competition charges for similar vehicles, that should not be considered so much a slag against the PHEV, but as a compliment to the base Hybrid. And if completely eliminating greenhouse gasses is your foal — and yes, I do remember that this is supposed to be a hybrid comparison — the Niro EV offer 385 kilometres of electric-only range for $44,495, still competitive amongst battery-powered offerings.The people’s choiceNow, considering its $43,498 base price, Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV may seem an odd choice for an “affordable” hybrid. But the electrified SUV is
Origin: The most affordable hybrids that will save you money