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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Because GM would never break it out, so that they protect the divisions. Even back in the day, they didn't want to admit that certain brands, like Saturn, were total money losers. GM doesn't want Cadillac's numbers or GMC's numbers out there because then shareholders could raise questions about the strategy with certain brands.
  2. smk4565
    Audi did 50 billion euro in revenue in 2016. That is about $55 billion. And they are the #3 luxury car maker. Porsche made $4.1 billion in profit just by itself last year.
  3. smk4565
    Everyone keeps saying "after the war" I am talking about going into Europe in the 70's, 30 years after the war. Ford went into Europe and grew and made money, Nissan has a decent European business. If Cadillac had a global appealing car in the 70s or 80s, they might have also fended off the attack better at home. But that is all history. Mercedes sold 70,311 vehicles MADE in the USA, that is only C-class, GLE and GLS. 3 models outselling Cadillac's whole line up, and the GLS is only Mercedes 5th or 6th best selling model. Acura outsells Cadillac with fewer models. And some of this goes back to my same point. Why does Cadillac have such a thin model line up? Why didn't they push higher up market sooner and why aren't they doing it now? They are 7th place in the American market right now. Luxury brands drive profit, without that profit it takes money away from GM being able to develop autonomous cars, and new products. Makes them less competitive over time. FCA is classic example, no luxury high margin, high volume profits, no money. Uncompetitive product. Ford is struggling with this now too, probably one reason Fields got fired, their stock price has been tanking since Mulally left.
  4. smk4565
    True, and maybe if some of them tried to go global, those brands wouldn't be out of business or close to it in the case of Chrysler. Citroen, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia, etc either didn't make an effort to come to the US, or made a really weak one. They are all also ran brands now. Mercedes and BMW made the push, Lexus made a big push, and they are on top today.
  5. smk4565
    Mercedes sold 280,000 cars in 1970, granted that was their global volume, but most of that was Europe. I know Japan and European counties are mostly closed off, but if Cadillac could have tried it before the Germans and Japanese really got going. They could have done a lot of things, but the past is the past. The problem now is Cadillac has half a line up, and they have had this problem since the 90s. Too many over lapping sedans, no real high end car, not enough body styles, etc. Not enough crossovers and the crossover fad started 15 years ago. And GM and Johan don't seem to be in any hurry to fix the problems.
  6. smk4565
    Right, but they could have built more factories. And let's look at those numbers, 181,000 in 1965, and 264,000 in 1975. Today with a larger population and bigger car market this is what they are selling: 2016: 170,006 2015 175,267 2014: 170,750 2013: 182,543 2012: 149,782 2011: 152,389 They are running at mid-60s numbers, and well below what they sold in the 70s. They are on pace for 150,000 this year, it seems as it 2013 they peaked and have since flat lined.
  7. smk4565
    Year to date Cadillac is in 7th place in Luxury sales in the American market. They trail Acura by 340 cars and Acura is down 11.5% for the year. Is 7th place "doing very well" ? When Johan was at Infiniti, Cadillac easily outsold them. Now that Johan is at Cadillac, Infiniti is beating them this year for the first time ever.
  8. smk4565
    Personal attacks aside, the point was brought up that Mercedes build terrible cars in the 50s, 60s and 70s. While Cadillac was the gold standard. So if that were true, why didn't Cadillac go into Europe or Japan to sell cars? If Cadillac was go great they could have gone into either market. But I think the German and Japanese cars of the 60s and 70s were better made than most realize, and it is why those 2 countries took over a big chunk of the American market in the 80s, 90s and all the way up until today. Even now, all these millionaires and billionaires in the USA that want to spend $200,000+ on a car, where are the American car companies to sell them a car? Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche are all eager to do it, Cadillac and Lincoln, and even Tesla are no where to be found. That isn't the consumer's fault for buying an import when it is their only option. If you want a luxury car convertible, America doesn't even make one! How is that possible? The US isn't full of blind fools, it is full of people that seek the best product, especially in the luxury market. As far as national pride goes, Year-to-Date Mercedes has sold 70,311 American made cars in the USA, while Cadillac has sold 59,493. And this even with the XT5 made in the USA, because the SRX was made in Mexico, which would really drag Cadillac's American car production down. But I didn't hear Cadillac fans complaining about it, in fact many said it was good for America to make Cadillacs in Mexico so GM would get more profit.
  9. smk4565
    I think diesel is done, the Germans will bail on it in the US market, probably their home market soon also. Mazda won't ever do the diesel they wanted to, Ford will try on F150 but how expensive will it be as an option and how much will Ford have to pay to get it certified because they will test the heck out of it. And eventually GM will get a in a lawsuit over the Cruze diesel, even if it does comply they will get sued anyway to prove it, or else pay out money to thousands of people that bought it. There is just a witch hunt against diesel right now. Diesel is great for the MPG and the torque, but the tribe has spoken and it is getting voted off the island. And just wait till 2030-ish when Europe bans sales of the internal combustion engine.
  10. smk4565
    And with all Cadillac's ingenuity an engineering and GM's huge scale, they never thought to sell cars outside the USA, especially when German and Japanese car companies were in shambles in the 1950s. Not only did the German and Japanese makes get on their feet quickly, they took over the US market also.
  11. smk4565
    Hyundai tends to use copy cat styling, which can also make their cars look dated quickly since that look was already around for a while before they use it. They only have 3 crossovers right now, they another under the Tuscan for sure. Small car segment is the next to drop off, the auto makers that get into sub compact crossovers quick will do well.
  12. smk4565
    Chevy lacks crossovers, that is problem #1 there. They need to get a crossover between Equinox and Traverse, and maybe one between Trax and Equinox. GMC also has just 2 crossovers, not sure if the new Terrain is on sale yet, if it isn't that could explain the problem there. Cadillac got outsold by Acura, ouch.
  13. smk4565
    Basically diesel is dead by 2020. Every carmaker that has them has been fined or is under investigation or will get a class action lawsuit, because even if they didn't cheat, the lawyers smell blood and think they can get money out of them.
  14. smk4565
    AMG was independent until Mercedes bought them, but they still have all that AMG heritage and knowledge in what they build today. The experience comes along with it. Here is a luxury Mercedes from 1936, and it recently sold for $11,770,000 They made this in the 60's and charged $22,000 for it, more than any Rolls-Royce, and at a time when a Cadillac Deville was $5,700. And in the late 70s and 80s when you watched Dallas or Falcon Crest or any of these shows with super rich people, they drove Mercedes. They have been at it a long time. And if Mercedes wasn't building luxury, why didn't Cadillac or Lincoln or the Japanese go into Europe and sell luxury cars to Europeans? But in fact Mercedes had the market sewn up and Lexus and Infiniti and Acura knew America was an easier target.
  15. smk4565
    Saying the Impala competes with the E-class is like saying a Subaru BRZ competes with a Corvette. Not even close. As far as Mercedes not getting anything going until the 80s, in the 1950s Mercedes made the first Super Car also the first car with direct fuel injection, 1960s Mercedes had the most luxurious most advanced sedan in the world in the 600. AMG was founded in 1967, the 450SEL 6.9 was the first luxury sport sedan, they were doing it before M cars before V-series, before Audi RS.
  16. smk4565
    Ford beat Chevy 231k to 163k, wow.
  17. smk4565
    The problem with all these full size sedans, is what does a Cadenza do that an Optima Limited doesn't? The Optima with a turbo is probably quicker and rides/handles similar. The Optima seats 5, probably has most of the same features, same infotainment, and the Optima is about 4 inches shorter, so it isn't like you give up loads of interior room. It is just a tough segment for any automaker as most people don't want a large sedan, and even if they do, they probably don't see it worth paying $10k extra to get an Avalon or Cadenza over a Camry or Optima. I always thought the Cadenza had a nice interior. But I wouldn't spend $45k on a Kia sedan, it isn't that nice.
  18. smk4565
    Cadillac's goal is to make money, part of that is sales volume. Luxury brands can make $5,000 per car, $20,000 per car if you are Porsche. The more you can sell at those big margins the better. If Cadillac was run successfully it could generate 50% of GM's total profit. Volkswagen's profit doesn't come from the 7 million VW's they sell, it mostly comes from the 2 million Audis, and 250k Porsche and Bentleys. If Cadillac doesn't have any volume (which they don't) then GM won't pump money into them (which they don't). And that makes no sense when Cadillac could easily make more net profit than Chevy, if not Chevy, Buick and GMC combined.
  19. smk4565
    Mercedes since like 1895 has been about engineering and build quality. "The Best or Nothing" is an 1890s slogan. So Mercedes is Mercedes, they haven't changed the mission. A 3 liter V6 with 400 hp is pretty much the luxury standard, BMW has a 3 liter with 420 hp, Alfa Romeo a 2.9 liter with 505 hp, Mercedes has a 3 liter with 394 hp, Infiniti has a 400 hp 3 liter V6, Lincoln has a 400 hp 3 liter V6. Mercedes has a 400 hp 2 liter four even. Cadillac saw 3-series and 5-series sales in the early 2000s and tried to copy them, they saw the Lexus RX get hot and tried to carbon copy that, named their car SRX, they even copied the name! Even the Escalade was just because the Navigator was a success and Cadillac had to throw something together fast. They succeeded there, but they couldn't out BMW, BMW and they couldn't out-Lexus, Lexus.
  20. smk4565
    So Cadillac can't beat a Chevy/Toyota level company? Mercedes was the premier car brand in Europe in the 1900-1970 time frame, just as Cadillac was in the USA during that time. But when globilazation happened, Cadillac never really got out of the USA until they went to China late, and they went from #1 to #5 or 6 in the USA. They lost their way and I am not convinced that Johan knows how to get them out of the woods.
  21. smk4565
    Cadillac needs to be Cadillac. Which used to mean style, technology, power, luxury ride and they need to leverage their history rather than run away from it. Cadillac used to be the standard, but they have been chasing BMW and Lexus for so long they forgot who they are. And they change CEO's at GM every few years, change Cadillac management and marketing slogans every few years and it is the same old, result.
  22. smk4565
    GLS is better in just about every way to a G-wagen, except off road (which 90% of G-wagen buyers in the USA aren't doing and I imagine don't know what a locking differential is, let alone how it works). The G65 has a V12 though, so that gives it a special cache, but the G-wagen sells on being an icon, Cadillac could potentially move the Escalade up to $125-175,000 and get away with it too. There is a new G-wagen coming next year, with new engines, new chassis, new interior, huge weight loss, etc. So that will fist some of the issues now with the G-wagen not being a very good vehicle to drive. GMC isn't putting a twin turbo V6 in anything, much less a twin turbo V8. Because CAFE for one and cost for two. The price point would be crazy and you have to get to 54 mpg in a time when people are not buying cars. Cadillac however can charge high prices and should do performance SUVs and crossovers.
  23. smk4565
    Well right, Cadillac needs at least 4 EVs, figure 2 sedans and 2 crossovers.
  24. smk4565
    No one buys Bentley SUVs that probably make about $40,000 per unit profit? No on buys $150,000 Cayenne Turbos? Audi is building a Q8 so they can go up the price ladder. Tesla is selling a $130k SUV. BMW is building an X7 V12 because they are sick of watching Mercedes-AMG sell GLS's for $120k or $200k G-wagens. And Rolls thinks people really want to spend $300,000+ on an SUV so they are going to give it to them. There is room up in the $150k range for SUVs. SUV is the most popular body style there is, and there are lots of $100k+ sedans and sports cars, not as many SUVs, which is why all these luxury brands, and even Lamborghini are rushing into that segment. Cadillac's mistake was thinking Escalade is the top. You'll have about 10 SUVs more expensive and more prestigious by 2020. So they have to go up there and challenge.
  25. smk4565
    Of course optional, an Omega SUV should use the 400 hp 3 liter turbo V6 as the base engine, you can throw a plug-in hybrid to the mix, and then your V-series would be 600 hp. You could even do a V-sport at 500 hp. This Omega SUV would no doubt be faster, better gas mileage, better handling, better riding, and potentially better interior than the Escalade. So then the question is does XT8 get priced above Escalade, or does the current Escalade become the XT8 and the Omega SUV gets named Escalade. This is also why you can't have a vehicle with a name in an alpha numeric name scheme. Unless they keep Escalade and call the Omega SUV a word name also.
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