Spies Throw Down 2014 Predictions And Ask YOU To Throw Down YOURS! WHO Will Have The Bragging Rights?

Another year has come to an end and it's time to say thank you for another great year here at AutoSpies.com thanks to YOU!

So we thought we'd have some fun this New Years Eve (and New Years Day for our large audience from around the world) and throw down some predictions of what will come in 2014.

We will make our predictions and then we'd love it if you would chime in with yours in the comments.

And then next year we can all look back and see WHO owns the bragging rights for the best ones.

So here we go!

Predictions NOT necessarily in order of importance...

1. 00R just texted me saying Tesla will NOT get bought out in 2014.

2. 001 predicts the BIGGEST truck sales war in history because Ford will show the next generation F-150 based off the Atlas concept and it will rock the pickup truck world to the core. It will lose a LOT of weight with lighter materials and the result will be record setting sales numbers when it becomes available in dealers toward year end. Ford dealers are loading up on last orders of the current trucks so they don't get caught with their pants down running out of inventory. The combo of a more advanced truck coming and glut of existing trucks in dealers will force GM and RAM to compete STRICTLY on price because their technology will NOT be able to match the new F-150. If you will be in the market for a pickup look for the biggest discounts EVER in pickups across the board starting in mid-August.

3. Mercedes will put a world of hurt on BMW, Audi and the rest in the sub $35k market.

4. Toyota will school the world again with another breakthrough in gas mileage/hybrids when they show the next gen Prius concepts. EVERY manufacturer will scratch their heads wondering HOW they did it.

5. The premium crossover/CUV market will blow sales expectations away...ESPECIALLY when gas prices spike AGAIN which they will.

6. This one's a laydown...even our competitors will get this one right. The Cadillac ELR will FLOP. NOT because of the car but due to the fact that the customer in that 'Tesla' market wants an Apple store NON car dealership experience and the ELR will NOT have a bigger screen in the dash so customers could brag theirs is bigger. Cadillac's ONLY chance for success with it will be if we wake up one day and there are Cadillac electric stores just like Tesla at the mall.

7. Jeep will continue on its sales tear across the board.

8. Kia will rise and Hyundai will slip a little more.

9. The 'Paper Airplane' design of the Lexus Crossover will be a hit as people want more and more design edge.

10. Customers will pressure manufacturers more and more to bring a solution to market that allows full screen takeover in car with their smartphones.

11. Mary Barra will have an epiphany and realize that 98% of what they sell is really mediocre compared to the all the key competitors as Ford really exposes the GM product weaknesses with 2014 new product announcements. If China sales falter, GM could go right back into the soup they were in before the bailout.

12. Infiniti will still be in a holding pattern for great new products even next year as we speak. BIG shakeup coming there as Mr. Ghosn is NOT a patient man.

The Spies wish you a safe and prosperous New Year and let's make AutoSpies.com even bigger and better in 2014!

Do not drink and drive and don't let friends drive under the influence!

MattDarringer - 1/1/2014 11:29:24 AM

0 Boost

1. Musk will sell Tesla because he will want to be rid of it before people catch on to his pyramid scheme. Musk cares not a wit about building cars. He cares about creating a thing he can convince someone else is a shiny magical thing, but in the end it's emperor's new clothes.

2. Mitsubishi will implode in the USA because their business model is unsustainable (i.e. putting out class-trailing cars and selling them with steep discounts and incentives). The rebadged-rebadged Renaults will not save them.

3. Traditionalists will greet the F150 with great enthusiasm where as the Mustang will be bet with "meh" at the dealer level when it finally arrives. The Escape will make the new Edge redundant. Ford will have a good 2014.

4. The CLA will go gangbusters and the C Class will see sales decline sharply. Mercedes fanboys will continue to get their lederhosen in a bind at the mere mention that anything is as good as a Benz, let alone better.

5. VW will continue to be utterly oblivious to designing and producing cars that the American market wants and will continue to be stunned that people don't see their "superior quality" despite class-trailing reliability and absurd pricing. The CrossBlue will be nowhere in sight. The VW "RAV4" years away. The Amarok, Polo, and Up will still not be coming. VW will not pull a "Hyundai" and offer a 10yr/100K mile warranty because they cannot eat that much expense.

6. The Chrysler 200 will be a bunt but certainly not a home run. Chrysler will continue to do "OKish". Dodge will flat line and may have to die. Ram will be fine. Jeep, a brand on a roll despite the Jeep Aztek oops Cherikee, will be what Marchionne uses in a couple of years to sell off the bones of Chrysler. I predict the 2017 Cherokee released January 2016 will have a different nose and Ralph Giles will be banished to Acura for his sins against humanity.

7. Fiat will have a cash crisis that will be compounded by Marchionne's "change his mind every minute" product development style that in turn will result in more delays and product glitches.

8. GM will realize that Opel is simply not worth the effort as a source for engineering platforms when GM Korea can design better cars that meet price points effectively. The Buick "ATS" could signal a move to take Buick RWD as Cadillac moves farther even away from value pricing.

9. The Lincoln MKS will surface. It will stubbornly continue the odd to off-putting styling of the unloved MKZ (sales of the new MKZ are not appreciably better than the previous one despite give-them-away leases and steep discounts) and will sell as poorly. The MKC, however will be a hit.

10. The new Genesis will show that the gap versus the Germans is gone, but anti-Korean automotive bigotry will cause the car to be excoriated. Like the last one it will easily meet its sales targets except this time, the volume will approach double the previous car.

11. BMW, Audi, and Mercedes will have a record shattering

Agent00R - 1/1/2014 9:15:23 PM

0 Boost

Love your inputs, thanks for taking the time to weigh in.

1) I don't think Musk is even close to exiting. I wouldn't expect him to even debate it until the Model X succeeds/fails and the 3-Series competitor hits the market.

6) Chrysler 200 prototype we've seen looks stunning. Now, if Chrysler Group can somehow make it something other than a rental car in the view of buyers. I am seeing Jeep Cherokees everywhere — definitely not a flop.

Car4Life - 1/2/2014 12:48:22 PM

+1 Boost

Mercedes Benz will OWN 2014 and carry its crown over from 2013 in the U.S

BMW and Audi will suffer at the high end due to the dominant S and E Class.

BMW's 3 series will continue to holds it own while Audi's A3 will make the A4 more irrelevant than ever

PUGPROUD - 1/1/2014 8:00:39 PM

+1 Boost

Very good list Matt. Would add 12) VW brand continues to struggle in US due to bland styling. 13) Corvette Z06 a monster performer driving Viper sales to new low. 14) Lotus considers pulling out of US market due to weak sales performance. 14) Lexus strategy to go up market not down lays foundation for overtaking German luxury brands in profitability in near future. 15) Mustang demand abroad far exceeds supply. 16) new lightweight MX5 continues Mazda's rollout of top notch cars setting annual sales record for Mazda.

MattDarringer - 1/1/2014 10:02:08 PM

0 Boost

Agreed / apparently this site is not one that wants frank honesty