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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    It looks good and has nice powertrain options, I think it is priced well too. The interior is clean and modern but I think there are better interiors in this segment too.
  2. smk4565
    I first said they should use the 2.0T with electrification to get under the 2 liter gas tax level. You said they should use the 2.7 liter, to which I said is pointless because you can use the 3.0TT which is taxed the same as a 2.7. With the new GLS I wouldn’t be surprised to see the newly updated turbo 4 gonin there for China, but they might not care if the 3 liter sells well.
  3. smk4565
    Luxury comes at a price but the GLS has a 2.998 liter engine or whatever it is to keep the displacement tax under the 3 liter level, which I think is 9% vs 20% tax on the Escalade. And Cadillac isn’t really in a position to sell at a price premium over a Mercedes or Audi which the Chinese love.
  4. smk4565
    Displacement tax still hits that, 7.5% tax on 1.6 to 2.0 liter engines, as high as 20% on 4 liter engines. The 2.7T would get hit with the same tax as the Cadillac 3 liter TT V6, might as well use that then.
  5. smk4565
    They should build a Wagoneer 7 seat SUV to compete with the Pilot/Traverse/Explorer, and a Grand Wagoneer to compete with the Escalade and Navigator and an Ultimate Wagoneer priced at $150,000 with Wrangler off road capability and Maserati level interior with a twin turbo V6, and offer a Ultimate Wagoneer Hellcat for $200,000 and an Ultimate Wagoneer Enzo with a Ferrari V12 for $350,000. The demand is so high for SUVs all 3 will sell out.
  6. smk4565
    Maybe they could bring back Mariner. Then you have a land, air and sea approach with Navigator, Aviator, and Mariner.
  7. smk4565
    I think it will continue in China because of the Displacement Tax. I imagine one day they will just jack up the displacement taxes sky high combined with their EV mandate to rid the country of ICE cars. Agreed. Get ready to laugh but they should probably put the 2.0T in the Escalade and sell it there. Preferably with some electric boost.
  8. smk4565
    Well I did say base V6. Brits, French, Austrian, Swiss, and Scandinavians seem to buy German cars too. Cadillac and Lexus never could crack the code to beat the E-class in Europe, and with the heavy taxi use it should be easy to have more status and image. But the truth is the E-class is a much better car than the Lexus GS ever was, or the CTS/STS ever were, likewise for the Infiniti M35/Q70, and that is why the E-class is still the #1 selling mid-size luxury car and those other cars are dead or about to be cancelled.
  9. smk4565
    And yet the E-class still has more status or brand appeal than a CT6. They have had E-class taxis for 40 years and that hasn’t hurt Mercedes image one bit. The huge volume keeps the dollars rolling in to support Daimler’s massive R&D budget. Agreed, I could see the CT6 being Cadillac’s Dodge Charger/Challenger. You advertise the high trim V8 model but in reality 80-90% of the sales are the base V6 with little equipment.
  10. smk4565
    So you want a car that is 10 inches longer than a CT6 at like $75k? They are going to run into the same product overlap problem they now with sedans. They would have to go to $100k to clear the CT6 V8.
  11. smk4565
    I like the real names, and Corsair sounds good but reminded me of Corvair, which sucked.
  12. smk4565
    I can't imagine they still make a diesel, I think every car company will drop diesel fast and put money into EVs.
  13. smk4565
    But the CT6 is a 2 country car, USA and China, so we are talking like 20k units a year and that is with a $56k starting point. If they go over $100k, how much demand is there for a Cadillac at that price point? The E-class outsells the CT6 about 5-1, CT6 also sells a bit like an Audi A6 in the USA, if you put a Cadillac in the $100k+ range and is outsold 5-1 the way the S-class outsells the A8, then you are talking like 300 cars a month maybe, another 200 or so in China. There isn't a lot of volume to be found. I think they are better off with an SUV above the Escalade if they want to do a $100,000+ vehicle.
  14. smk4565
    I suppose Cadillac could do a Phantom or even Ghost sized car for $150,000 but who is going to buy it? I just can't see them finding a business case for something like that.
  15. smk4565
    2017 sales volume in the US, (China and Europe could be a whole other story) These are the top sellers from each brand Lexus RX: 108,307 BMW 3+4 series: 99,083 MB C-class: 77,447 Cadillac XT5: 68,312 Audi Q5: 57,640 Acura MDX 54,866 Infiniti Q50: 40,749 And as honorable mentions, the RDX, E-class, GLE and Lexus ES and NX all topped 50,000 units. So of the top 12 you have 3 small sedan, 2 mid-size sedan, 3 small crossover, 4 mid-size crossover. The MDX is the biggest thing on this list, if I were a luxury brad I wouldn't be pouring money into full size product, unless it is something like an Escalade or S-class that is a cash cow.
  16. smk4565
    Cadillac is supposed to get a small car, so they would have a 3 sedan line up, I don't see any reason for a car bigger than the CT6, which already has the footprint similar to the Escalade, that is a big vehicle, and the CT6 isn't lighting up any sales charts, why make something bigger. If you want to load up content and make it nicer and more expensive great. CT5 is already testing, we'll see in a year or two what it is. Chevy I feel becomes the Cruze and Malibu, I can't see the Impala surviving Sedan-ageddon. Unless they downsize the Cruze to like 176 inches long, and make it replace the Sonic and be competition for the Accent, Versa, and cars like that. Then make the Malibu 185 inches long, sort of like Pontiac Grand Am size where it is a little bigger than a Corolla or Civic but similar price point and then make the Impala like Honda Accord size, or current Fusion size of 195 inches long. I prefer that plan because you keep the Impala name plate and you keep an entry level car. Buick I think its possible they have no sedans past 2020. If they do, then I imagine it would be a larger mid-size, in between the current Regal and Lacrosse, those 2 can merge into one product.
  17. smk4565
    See my other post, but the 2 of the top 3 selling luxury vehicles in the USA are small sedans, with a mid-size crossover being the 3rd. And the XT5 is up there too, a mid-size crossover. Look at CTS and CT6 sales or Continental sales, all dead in the water, Infiniti Q70 and Lexus GS, dead in the water with one foot in the grave. The only full size luxury car that consistently sells over 1,000 units a month is the S-class, and most of the mid-sizers struggle to hit 2,000 a month unless it is a an E-class or 5-series. Disregarding small luxury cars is a horrible idea.
  18. smk4565
    The X-class I feel like is putting their toe in the water, it is obviously designed in a way to cut development cost by using the Navara platform and Renault diesel, but you can get the Mercedes diesel V6 also. That is also a truck not designed for America, it was designed for Europe and Middle East, where you have some people that want a pickup and want a German brand. If Mercedes built a full size pick up from ground up, they absolutely would have a better truck than the F150. They wouldn't start at the work truck level, they would probably start at $50k (or more) and compete with the Platinum and King Ranch trucks. They have a ladder frame from the G-wagen, make that bigger and they have a body on frame chassis, plus one of the best 4-wheel drive systems there is, and they can make optional the locking differentials off road suspension. They have a 9 speed auto that can handle 630 lb-ft of torque, so they have the transmission. Engines: 429 hp 384 lb-ft inline six vs 2.7 ecoboost 325 hp 400 lb-ft 463 hp 516 lb-ft V8 vs 3.5 Ecoboost 375 hp 470 lb-ft 621 hp 738 lb-ft V12 or 603 hp 627 lb-ft V8 vs Raptor V6 450 hp, 510 lb-ft And since they need a diesel, they can just borrow the Detroit DD5 engine 5.1 liter 230 hp, 660 lb-ft with 45,000 mile service interval, much more durable than anything in an F150. Interior to the level of a GLC or would be enough to beat any pickup on sale now, if it was E-class level then goodnight. This would be really easy to put together. So Chevy should dump the Cruze, Sonic and Spark and put all their efforts behind the Impala and Malibu? 2 car lineup? Tell Chevy dealers they are losing the Cruze and see what happens. The problem Cadillac and Lincoln had is they never had their "Cruze" and they didn't miss what they never had, until the German brands squashed them, Cadillac and Lincoln were 1-2 in luxury sales about 20 years ago, now they are like 7th and 8th place.
  19. smk4565
    That is odd because the top 3 selling luxury products in the USA last year were the Lexus RX, 3-series and C-class. And small sedans as a segment were about flat last year, while mid-size sedans dropped and large sedans got crushed. Small crossover is the fastest growth segment. So I am not buying into people don't want small cars, people deemed the CR-V and Rav4 too big so they had to get products smaller. I don't see Honda or Toyota putting out stuff bigger than the Pilot or Highlander due to demand for big vehicles, and Toyota has let the Sequoia die on the vine because there is no point dumping money into a dinosaur that CAFE will kill off.
  20. smk4565
    My mom had an 2002 9-5, she actually drove a CTS after I told her to give it a try, she didn't like Cadillacs then and still doesn't now. After the 9-5 though she got an Audi A4 because she thought the 9-5 was too big. I am just using that as an example, that some people don't want a mid-size car, just like in your example your mom wanted a full size car. So you have to build 3 sizes of car, Cadillac in 2001 had 3 cards over 200 inches long and the Escalade, how do you only build 4 large cars and ignore the rest of the market? Lexus seems to be going down that path now, build the ES which is Avalon size now and LS, an upper mid-size and a full size, because full size sedans are a hot segment to pour money into... Not sure how Mercedes is missing out on a market for large trucks unless you are talking pickups. Not counting the vans (which a Sprinter is pretty large) they make a full size SUV. I am not opposed to Mercedes building a full size pickup, I think they could do it better than Ford can. I think if they took the X-class and modified it more for the American market it would sell.
  21. smk4565
    I don’t have issue with the CTS back then being mid size for 3-series money but what about the people that thought a CTS was too large? The largest car my mom ever had was a Saab 9-5 and she thought it was too big. For people that wanted a small car Cadillac and Lincoln didn’t have one until the ATS showed up. My issue is not with the CTS it is with totally ignoring small cars which was a huge segment then and is now. The STS was too big and couldn’t perform like a German car and the interior quality was low, I actually thought the 1998-2003 Seville had a better interior. That was a car set up to fail from the start, they even changed the design right befor they launched it to make it more bland.
  22. smk4565
    The CTS and Lincoln LS were the same size of a 2002 5-series or E-class. Yes that was a good size. The problem was the Cadillac and Lincoln weren't as luxurious or as well built, or as powerful as those 2. The M5 had a 500 hp V10 when the 400 hp CTS-V went on sale. The other problem was the Germans had small, medium and large cars, Lincoln and Cadillac just had a bunch of large cars and one mid-size. The Continental, STS, DTS, Town Car, Mark VII, Eldorado of that late 90s, early 2000s era were all over 200 inches long, those were 7-series/S-class sized cars and some people just don't want a big car and why would 1 brand build 3 large cars, 1 midsize and 0 small car, it makes no sense. Imagine today Chevy offering the Malibu, Impala, SS and Corvette and that is it for cars, and saying well if you want a Civic or Corolla, just cross shop a Malibu.
  23. smk4565
    I looked up the size of this car, it is roughly E-class coupe size, the E-class has a 2 inch longer wheelbase but is 1 inch shorter in length, the 8-series is 3 inches wider and 3 inches lower in height, so I am guessing head room is tight. So we aren't talking S-class coupe size. This is similar in size to the original 8-series so that is a good thing, I like this size of car, but I wonder if BMW will make a bigger coupe. The 8-series is also close in size to a Bentley Continental GT, but if you want a big luxury coupe it seems like S-class and Rolls-Royce are the only options. Perhaps Cadillac should get into that space.
  24. smk4565
    I would assume a lot of fleet sales, livery and rental sales will go to crossovers too in the future, just like what happened with police cars, you hardly see police cars anymore you see Police SUVs. And if this fleet sale market is so huge, why did Cadillac or Lexus never get in on it? Or Infiniti for that matter. Instead all 3 are just cutting their sedan line up down to 2 cars probably, and I could see Infiniti with 1 sedan and Lincoln with zero. These luxury brands are fleeing sedans like Ford and FCA have fled mid-size family sedans, they just can't compete anymore. But once you give up on sedans, you better have some great SUVs if you are going to survive on one product.
  25. smk4565
    The GLS is bigger than an XC90 though, you are talking Escalade money for a GMC Acadia size vehicle there. And the Excellence trim I think is a 4 seater, if you want a luxury 4 seater I feel like there are better ways to spend $110,000. And imagine if Cadillac priced the new XT6 over $100k, people would lose their minds. Like I said Volvo has some good stuff going on product and design wise and I like the hybrid and environmental stuff, that is all good. I just think they charge too much for what you get. For example, they want $155,000 for a Polestar 1 or you could get a BMW 8-series for like $100k, or maybe $125k depending on how they price it, but look at the difference.
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