THE 100 GRAND BAR.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Given that everything is well and truly out of sorts right now (you mean out of control, right? -WG) or better yet, “Over Under Sideways Down” as The Yardbirds once famously sang, how did we arrive at this point? I mean, how did we arrive at this point in time in the car business, where $60,000 is considered a mid-priced vehicle, and $100,000 is now the accepted average price for the upper end of the market? Yes, I get it, time marches on and all that, but wasn’t it less than a decade ago when vehicles priced at $100,000 and up were reserved for the Aston Martins, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other exotica of the auto world? 

Now, the average price of a loaded pickup truck or a full-zoot American SUV is approaching $75,000. If you get a loaded Super Duty version of one of those pickups from Chevrolet, Ford or Ram you’re easily pushing six figures. 

Other examples I came across while perusing dealer lots? The new 2021 Cadillac Escalade Platinum costs over $100,000. A Cadillac Escalade ESV Premium Luxury Platinum costs $110,095. A typical Range Rover is well over $100,000 on the sticker. A 2021 Land Rover Range Rover P525 HSE Westminster LWB was $128,165. And if it’s a Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR it’s $135,000+. A 2021 Audi Q8 Prestige 55 TFSI quattro is $93,000. The Porsche Cayenne S is over the six-figure mark, a Cayenne GTS is over $120,000, and I saw a Cayenne Coupe Turbo S E-Hybrid that topped out at $178,970! (There’s no point talking about the 911, because it’s over $100,000 as a starting point. And Panamera ($120,000+) and Taycan ($140,000+) can easily go up to push $200,000 from there.) 

A Lincoln Navigator Black label is over $100,000 on the sticker. A BMW M8 Gran Coupe Competition is $175,045 (the “base” is $140,000+). A Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class AMG GLE 63 S will cost you $134,000, an E-Class E 63 S costs at least $165,000, a G-Class G550 can set you back $169,000, and there’s always the S-Class AMG S 63 at $195,000.

This is the new normal, apparently. Yes, I have seen all of the statistics - the growth of personal wealth and disposable income, along with the desire of affluent consumers to say “WTF?” and spend big money on their personal transportation choices to “cocoon” during this pandemic while rediscovering the concept of hitting the road and embracing the idea of road trips they never took back in the day. Yes, I get all of that, because hitting the road is always a good thing.

But 100 Grand becoming the new threshold for luxury auto manufacturers from here on out is still a little hard to swallow. Wasn’t it just a couple of years ago when prices in the $80,000 range were eye-opening? Yes, it was.

But then again turning back the clock isn’t going to happen either, so 100 Grand has become the price of entry. It is the new luxury-performance bar.

I’ve been wondering about all of this because I am in deep talks with my friends Mr. James “Jimmy” Fu and Mr. S. L. “Sonny” King, as they try to determine pricing for their new product line. 

As longtime AE readers may recall from a column last September, Jimmy and Sonny have operated in the shadows of the gigantic Chinese industrial machine for years. But for readers new to AE, I will gladly shed some light on these two flamboyant characters so they can have a more complete picture of who they are. Mr. Fu started manufacturing model cars in the late 70s, and it has now been confirmed that he controls every toymaking concern in China through a labyrinthian network of mom-and-pop factories and several other large conglomerates that he lords over. Mr. King became partners with Mr. Fu after initially supplying the elaborate wheels and carefully detailed tires on Mr. Fu's model cars. The two have been partners for going on more than four decades now.

I first got to know Mr. Fu and Mr. King after they approached me at the Los Angeles Auto Show years ago. Apparently, they had stumbled upon Autoextremist.com after they first became familiar with the Internet, and they regaled me with the fact that they both learned English by having my ‘Rants’ columns translated for them. When I first met them, it turned into an uproarious encounter as they blurted out some of my patented phrases that they had learned phonetically, like ‘notgonnahappen.com,’ ‘halle-frickin'-luja' and 'the Answer to the Question that Absolutely No One is Asking.' (How they learned that last one remains a mystery to me.)

Mr. Fu and Mr. King have remained in close contact with me ever since. As I’ve gotten to know Jimmy and Sonny, their frenetic pace and boundless energy never cease to amaze me. The Zoom calls I receive at 3:00 p.m. my time are usually booze-filled stream-of-consciousness rants by Jimmy with Sonny yelling things over his shoulder, accompanied by stylish model types dancing to disco music in the background at their secretive Shanghai lair. And their appetites appear to be even more boundless. In fact, Jimmy is still fond of aspiring female pop stars, while Sonny is a very generous sponsor of a female gymnastic academy. Fast American muscle cars are overflowing in their underground garage, which is an enthusiast's cornucopia of greatest hits, including three Purple Dodge Demons (each modified to deliver 1000HP); two original “narrow-hipped” 427 street Cobras; matching L88 Corvettes; two new Corvette C8s (one black, one white); and a couple of custom-built Willys Gasser replicas from the 60s powered by race-prepared Chevy 502 big-blocks reserved for terrorizing the neighbors in the middle of the night. I have noticed that their fondness for Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon has been supplanted by Basil Hayden’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon, which is a recent change, but, as they remind me often, they absolutely love their twin Gulfstream G650s (Jimmy’s is Jet Black; Sonny’s is Chaparral White).

Since that September column, when I pieced together some salient details of the Fu-King Motors future product portfolio (although it took three, lengthy, Basil-Hayden-fueled Zoom calls to do so, with much yelling – always the yelling – and the incessant disco pop playing LOUDLY in the background,) I have been consulting Jimmy and Sunny about the pricing of their upcoming products.

So, as best as I can tell, here is the timeline – and the projected pricing – for what Fu-King Motors has coming:

2021 (Now pushed back to the 2nd Quarter): The long-awaited debut of the Fu-King Gargantuan, the six-wheeled, all-electric SUV is designed to humiliate the new Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the upcoming all-electric Hummer and “anything Ford has up its sleeve to counteract the Dodge,” according to Jimmy. Flaunting some incredible numbers: 2000HP; 7000 lbs., electric step ladders (“not steps, ladders,” Jimmy insists) and “a look that will humiliate all that other crap out there,” added Sonny. When I asked about the price, Jimmy and Sonny answered in unison: “Enough to make grown men cry!” So, what, exactly, is “enough to make grown men cry?” Jimmy laughed heartily at my hand-wringing over the new $100,000 threshold and said – with not a nanosecond's hesitation – that the Gargantuan would have a base price of $699,999. Gulp.

2021 (Now pushed back to the 4^th Quarter): Another highly anticipated debut - The Fu-King Motors KickBoxer – is the boys’ answer to the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco with “unequaled” off-road performance. Boasting a carbon-fiber unibody and a kaleidoscope of different versions, including a pickup and one cryptically referred to as the “RumRunner Edition” (“it can conceal forty gallons of Bourbon!” Sonny chimed in), the KickBoxer will be powered by an all-aluminum, 2.0-liter, fuel-injected, Twin-Turbo, flat eight-cylinder motor that delivers 600HP. When asked if this could possibly be construed as overkill, Sonny quickly replied: “We will introduce our competitors to the concept of getting their asses kicked!” So, how much will it cost to kick your neighbors’ asses in their precious Wranglers and Broncos? Sonny, who was the driving force behind this program, priced it at $199,000 saying, “There is so much technology in this beast that enthusiasts will beg to get on the waiting list. You want to make a splash at cars and coffee? We got your splash right here!"

2022 (Now Q3): The all-electric semi-truck that looks eerily like the Bison advanced long-haul trucking concept that GM Styling created for the 1964 World’s Fair is a definite go for late in ‘22. When I was shown photos of the concept, I thought they had resurrected the designers who did the original Bison it looks so close to the original (see below). But this truck will be a hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric heavy truck with a range of “700+ miles,” according to Sonny. The name? “Convoy.” (It seems that Jimmy and Sonny are huge fans of the original “Smokey and The Bandit” movie and the whole C.B. radio era in the U.S.) How much? $500,000, all-in.

(GM)

The Bison heavy truck concept from GM Styling was designed for the 1964 World's Fair in New York.

2023 (This has been pushed back to 2023, if happens at all): It’s clear that the development of the Fu-King Motors supercar has been fraught with problems from the beginning. That it has taken its toll on Jimmy and Sonny is obvious, as whenever I mention it their usual exuberant dispositions turn decidedly glum. First envisioned as a high-performance, hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric hypercar, the machine - code named “Bandini” – has been reimagined as a BEV aimed squarely at Gordon Murray’s T.50. Said to have 1+1 seating and a curb weight of 1900 lbs., Jimmy and Sunny are still mum – and decidedly glum – on any further information, which is unusual for them, although I know they’re constantly bickering about the details. Which means you can bet that even the 2023 time frame is not even close to happening, and they haven’t stopped bickering long enough to even talk about the pricing yet. Although from what I’ve seen so far, it will cost $2 million, minimum.

When I asked about products beyond 2022, the boys mimicked what I often say, chiming in again in unison, “It’s a giant we’ll see!” And, when asked if they had any plans to import their products to the U.S., the answer was a resounding, “Never!” Asked why, they answered again in unison, “Too much bullshit, too much aggravation.” 

At that point all I could say was, “I concur.”

And I am reminded of those immortal words of The Wicked Witch of the West: 

Oh, what a world! What a world! 

What a world, indeed.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.