smk4565

The Aviator isn't on sale yet, and the Navigator is selling about 1,000 units per month. Where as other vehicles in that segment such as the GLS or Escalade that are much older can easily sell at double that rate. The Navigator starts at $73,000, it maxes at $100k, and there are plenty of SUV's that cost way more than that.

I said when they launched this program that it wouldn't work. It is too expensive to pay $1800 a month to drive a car that you can lease for $600. Plus people tend to hate changing cars, they get one and stick with it. A subscription plan only works if you pay a monthly fee to have an autonomous car pick you up and take you were you need to go, sort of like unlimited Uber for a monthly flat rate. People would pay for that to replace having to own a car.

As far as range anxiety, how often do people's phone's hit 0% battery? People remember to charge their phone, they will remember to plug in their car. And with wireless charging, you don't even plug in, you can just park it in the garage. Plus we are probably 5 years away from being able to charge a battery as fast as one can fill a tank with gas.

It is a bad run to be sure, but they are still #1, no one passed them after 5 crap months. I would be more worried if they fell from #1, but the lack of 2019 models is what is hurting. It isn't that people don't want their cars, although they are losing potential sales by not having product. I just looked at the inventory of my local dealer, they have fifty 2019 cars on the lot: 14 E-class, 10 C-class, 5 S-class 7 GLS, 6 GLE, 4 GLC, 2 GLA CLA, A-class, CLS, G-wagen, SL, AMG GT they have a combined 1 car, a CLS that is so new it doesn't have a picture or price. They have nine 2018's left, so those are pretty much cleaned out. Small SUV is the hottest segment, they barely have any. The only things that seem well stocked are E-class and GLS.

The Model 3 has 5 more cubic feet in the trunk plus the Model 3 has the small trunk up front too, where the Volt has an engine. I have not been in a model 3 but I assume no center tunnel for exhaust exists either.

Mercedes is the #1 selling luxury brand YTD, they are down but they aren’t losing to anyone else. It isn’t like these buyers are fleeing to somewhere else, they are more likely waiting for the model they want to be in inventory. The manufacturing and production people are the ones that need to step their game up to get all this new product out.

Here is an article from Automotive news from August 2018 that says Mercedes has a 45 day supply of cars, 2nd lowest of any brand, behind Subaru. They have demand, they need the 2019 refresh e-class, CLS, A-class, G-class that are on sale in Europe to be at dealers here. http://www.autonews.com/article/20180813/RETAIL01/180819951/subaru-inventory-2018-u.s.

They don't need extra incentives, there is not a demand problem, their sales problem is not enough inventory. Maybe they will put incentives on the remaining GLE/GLS during the winter to blow them out, but that depends on how quickly the new generation GLE hits dealers.

Take off 30,000 car sales next year and these numbers will look even worse. Lincoln is about dead in the water, the Navigator is supposed to be their star and it is their 4th best seller (granted it is their most expensive). There will be a new GLS and the X7 on sale soon, a new Escalade at some point, this Navigator probably won't see an update until 2023, by 2020 it will be back to selling 700 units a month and basically a non factor.

YTD Mercedes is the #1 selling luxury brand, about 4,000 ahead of BMW. Even in a slump no one can catch them. And I would expect an uptick with new GLE, CLS, G-wagon and A-class sedan going on sale soon; new CLA/GLA next year, EQ C next year, GLB and GLS maybe in 2019, that is a lot of new product hitting in the next 12 months.

M-B cars sold more in October than in September, but the weak spot is really the GLE and GLS which are pretty dated and I imagine maybe even out of production since they have already shown the new GLE that goes on sale in 2019. Vans are on fire!

Mercedes-Benz Vans are the fastest growing brand. Could be a sign that crossovers are done and commercial vans will take over the landscape. People like boxy vehicles that haul things to suit their "active lifestyle"

But the Volt doesn’t have the interior or trunk room of a Tesla Model 3.

That is funny. The Bolt is a small car, smaller than the Sonic even, it is tiny. Also why I don't think it is worth the price. Now when they get a bigger EV, like Cruze or Equinox size then it is a different story because and EV the size of a Cruze on the outside will have interior space like a Malibu. Making money and downsizing the workforce. The American way in action.

Toyota basically put the Detroit 3’s sedan business out of business and they did that with 30 years of dedication to the Camry and whether it was product or branding or whatever, the Camry is the sedan champion. If they had that focus on the Tundra I think they could have the 3rd best selling full size truck easily. The Tacoma was the #1 selling mid size truck for a while and maybe still is and that thing is way dated too. Finger of Shame to Toyota for not making those trucks better. FCA doesn’t have excess money to make a new Charger/300 so they have to let those dated products stick around. Toytota has the money, they have $30 or 40 billion in cash, a huge revenue stream, huge profits, etc

So if Toyota made a truck better, more capable, more reliable than the F150, and the Tundra which is made in the USA, then American truck buyers would rather buy an inferior truck? Or buy a Mexican made Ram who's profits go to Italy? The Tundra is the most dated, least competitive truck in the full size pick up segment. Which is really inexcusable for a company that has the most money and resource.

Toyota should be much more competitive than they are in full size trucks. With their resources they should be able to spend away and bury Ram, just like their car line has put FCA and Ford's car lines out of business. It is embarrassing how old the Tacoma and Tundra are, when those 2 should have all new versions every 6 years with hybrids and best in class quality, reliability and fuel economy.

I say kill off the Smart brand. They will have EV's so they don't need it from a CAFE or compliance perspective like maybe they once did. Small cars don't sell, or at least are shrinking in sales. And once we get to autonomous driving cars, and driverless pods or whatever we have, people won't buy city cars, they will use a robot pod car to get them around.

I agree and I think that Cadillac could offer an SUV above the Escalade that starts at $150k and goes up to $200k. And Grand Cherokee Hellcat, and Audi SQ7/SQ8, Range Rover SVR, and G63 (perhaps a GLS73) and Alfa Romeo is doing a 7 seat SUV that will have at least a 500 hp version, maybe the 600 hp hybrid shows up there too. Plus the Rolls Royce Cullinan and Ferrari is doing an SUV. This isn't so much a niche as it is fast growing segment. That is what the Omega platform should be for, there should be an SUV version of the CT6-V.

But who cares if it can't handle at all. No Escalade driver is going to a track or even doing spirited driving on a back road, much like they aren't going off road. Drop a big supercharged V8 in there and it will go fast in a straight line and horsepower and exclusivity equals bragging rights. That is all they need to sell enough of them with a big sticker to make profit.

The XT5 is priced like an X3 and the XT4 is priced like an X2 so Cadillac has gone right into that same area that BMW has gone. Even the XT6 could cost less than the X5, I don't know how Cadillac will price an Enclave rebadge at $60-100k. The Audi Q7 starts at $49,900, I see Cadillac making that their target for the XT6. Cadillac's job is to make profit, so you have to go where the money is. I would rather see Cadillac go up the ladder rather than below the XT4, but I would also rather see the XT6 built on Omega platform with a 550 hp 4.2 liter TT V8 and 10 speed automatic. I'd like to see XT5 move to the CT5 platform with the same engine and the 3.0TT V6 with 400 hp as a midrange option but I know none of that will happen. And if Cadillac doesn't want to go up, they have to find the volume going down. Correct but they won't do any of that because 3 of those vehicles are on the wrong platform, and they haven't done an Escalade V-series yet, so I don't see them doing it now. Even though the Escalade is an overweight truck, I would make a V-series version of it anyway. There is an AMG G-wagen which makes no sense and people buy it, so why not put a CTS-V engine in an Escalade and sell it for $175k. They'll find 1,000 people a year to buy it and that has to be like a $50k profit kind of car.

You can have 10 factories, people have to want to buy a Ram over a Ford or Chevy/GMC. Now if Mexico allows them to build the truck cheaper (although GM builds trucks there too) and they can undercut on price, maybe they win sales. But at that point, why not lobby to get the chicken tax removed and have these made in China and have $20,000 Ram trucks to undercut the F150 by $10,000. Then you'll see Ram rise up the sales chart.

The X5 (2019 model base price $61k) is a price level above the XT5, so with XT4 and XT5 competing vs X2 and X3, what % of Cadillac SUV is the lower end of their line up? The same holds true for all these luxury brands. Also remember this is the final year of the current generation X5 and they are probably winding production down on those, there is a new generation X5 for 2019.

Elon Musk just did a double middle finger and Stone Cold Stunner to the naysayers.

XT5 has no inner showroom competition. The X3 is up with the X2 being added. I think XT5 sales will drop when XT4 is added. If the XT5 is really strong then sales should rise even with XT4 selling a few thousand units a month and then XT6 later being added to that.