smk4565
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Everything posted by smk4565
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GMC News: GMC Adds More Gears, New Grille for 2018 Yukon Denali
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in GMC Trucks
I think the Escalade should stay where it is for now, but I would like to see an Omega platform Cadillac crossover. Nothing like a front drive V6 Enclave. I was thinking more 600 hp V8 in 3 row crossover weighing 5,000 lbs. They could probably sell that at $150,000 and make way more profit than an Escalade does. -
GMC News: GMC Adds More Gears, New Grille for 2018 Yukon Denali
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in GMC Trucks
Better to have a lighter weight SUV. Imagine if the Escalade was built on Omega and lost 1,000 lbs. Even with a heavy SUV, I think it depends on the V6, some V6s can make a lot of power at low end and if you introduce hybrid powertrain or 48 volt electric systems, then you can get some electric boost of the line and a V6 would not even have to work that hard. -
Cadillac doesn't need to fill the low end, with exception of a low $30,000s compact crossover, they need to fill the high end. The XT4 should be priced where the XT5 is now, the XT5 needs a $10,000 price increase, they need a 3 row crossover. I think Cadillac could sell an SUV in the $150,000 range above Escalade, they could sell a sports car in the $200,000 range and a sedan in the $100-125,000 range.
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It isn't just Mercedes, BMW has X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 is coming. Audi has Q1, Q3, Q5, Q7, Q4 and Q8 is on the way. 7 crossovers is pretty much the standard of the luxury market. And these are cash cow products. A Cadillac should make 5 times the profit margin of a Chevy, why would GM not want more Cadillac models? And Cadillac doesn't even need 7 crossovers, but the need at least 4 plus the Escalade, and they need at minimum 1 sports car and 1 convertible. And they need EV's, when and how many sort of depends on battery tech and what the market is buying.
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They need a compact crossover below the XT3/4 whatever is coming next. If they get that and a 3-row above XT5, then 4 crossovers starts to fill out the segments. They probably won't have any performance products in that line, which I think they need, but at least they will have 4 crossovers then. I think Cadillac should offer an additional 3 crossovers that are EV's for a total of 7 crossovers plus the Escalade. That could serve as their path to performance crossovers like what Tesla has.
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The Bolt has more sales than a Model S because it is 1/3 the price. Tesla has home battery unit, the solar roof and other items to expand beyond cars. Tesla has a whole home power system thing going on. GM doesn't manufacture the battery or motor for the Bolt, LG does. The current crop of Mercedes hybrids are pretty standard tech, the B-class is a compliance car thrown together. The real Mercedes EV's are in development as they have a dedicated EV platform, and soon their own battery factory. Once that all comes online around 2019 they can start to give Tesla a run. As Drew said, it takes 5 years (sometimes 4) to get a car to market, Cadillac has no EV in the works now, and a Bolt clone probably isn't what they need. Cadillac is still playing catch up on crossovers, which were getting hot 10 years ago, and they still only have 1. I don't see Cadillac magically having 5 or 6 EV's on sale 5 years from now.
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He'll never get it done. Even if he wants to, he will never have the money to do it. Mercedes is going to launch 10 electric cars by 2023, they just broke ground on a 50 acre battery factory that will go online next year to rival Tesla's Giga Factory. How will Cadillac ever get 10 EV's to market, when they can't even get 10 total models on market, they have 6 or 7 models now an that is the biggest line up they have had in years. And look at how slow Cadillac moves, Oldshurst's whole post was how convertible is coming, EV is coming, CT8 is coming, crossovers are coming, etc. The other luxury brands are selling all that stuff now, you don't have to wait for a BMW EV or a Mercedes convertible, or a mid-engine Audi sports car, you can go buy it now, you could have bought them years ago even. When the big shift to EV's happens, I suspect Cadillac will be well behind, just like they are well behind the crossover boom.
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It would help more than the Buick Cascada. And a Cadillac convertible should be more profitable than a Camaro convertible. Cadillac could probably use 4 new crossovers, not just 2. But 2 is a start.
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A hatch might cost more. I assume 5.6 0-60 and 215 miles is the base car. I assume there an upgrade?
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Escalade must be new in China, they didn't sell it there last year. The displacement tax must be huge on it. And why doesn't Cadillac have more models? GM should triple Cadillac's budget so that they can have 5 crossovers, convertibles, Hyper cars l, electric cars and what ever else they want.
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One post earlier mentioned the STS with 304 hp and the 469 hp V, which was still less than an E63, and the 320 hp Northstar STS was less than the 382 hp E550. But more importantly the STS is dead. DTS, Fleetwood, Eldorado, XLR, all dead. They are about to kill the CTS. All this stuff Cadillac tried and it all failed. I said years ago when the CTS was a tweener it needs to be 5-series size and 5-series price (or 3-series size and 3-series price with STS aimed at the 5). I said when the CT6 came out it was priced too low, they aimed too low. I have said for years Cadillac needs a sports car above Corvette and even in the $200,000 range. I used to be a big Cadillac fan, I liked the Northstar era Cadillacs, I liked the XLR (not so much at that price, but I liked the car). But for years it has been over promise and under deliver, looking for short cuts and stop gaps, and going to the GM parts bin. I don't hate Cadillac, I am being realistic. I'd like to see Cadillac make a $175,000 V12 + hybrid sedan or an SUV that can run the Nurburgring in under 8 minutes, or a sports car that can go 200+ mph and 0-60 in 2.5 seconds. Make and ATS-V R with a 640 hp V8, all wheel drive, 10-speed auto and carbon fiber body panels. I'd like to see Cadillac make more EV's than Tesla, come out with 5 all new EV models in the next 5 years. Bring it all on. Cadillac lives in their fears (as Mike Tomlin would say), they lack the guts to actually be "the Standard of the World" so Johan and crew play pretend like they are a top luxury brand, when in reality they are not.
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The A-class hatchback, the cheapest Mercedes sold in China, costs more than a Buick Lacrosse in China. Buick isn't competing with Mercedes over there. Their full size flagship can't even command Mercedes compact hatchback prices.
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Buick and Chevy and Cadillac??? Do you all realize what Buicks cost in China? The Enclave is by far the most expensive at 509,000 RMB, which is $74,000 US. The 2nd most expensive Buick is the GL8 minivan at 289,900 with a top Avenir trim at 449,900 RMB. (Mercedes sells the Vito/Metris there for 299,000 and 489,000 which is rather similar) The most expensive Buick car in China is the Velite (Volt) at 265,800 or $41,681 US. Buick has 5 products in China under 200,000 yuan or $29,000 USD. More of a VW competitor in China. A Mercedes CLA in China is 249,000 yuan, a base C-class is 325,800, so already way above any Buick other than Enclave. The S-class starts at 938,000 RMB or $137,000, and goes up to 2,998,000 RMB for an S65, which is $437,000. Mercedes also has the GLS, G, SL and AMG GT with base prices over 1 million RMB also.
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From wikipedia: "The different body styles of the W126 S-Class achieved a combined sales total of 892,123 units (818,063 sedans and 74,060 coupés), making the W126 the most popular S-Class ever produced." I think still to this day the W126 S-class is the number 1 selling luxury car of all time. It was pretty much the car that cemented Mercedes world wide reputation and sales growth. Those 80s Cadillacs are what killed Cadillac's reputation and led to their demise.
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Buick sells econoboxes like the Excell in China. And the entire Mercedes portfolio in China, is Mercedes. 1 brand of luxury cars. So I compared it to one brand of luxury cars.
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The diesel heavy duty trucks are way dirtier than the Jetta's and cars like that. Maybe they have defeat devices too. Maybe this is just all a witch hunt to get rid of diesel, because it seems like every car maker is under investigation. And even just the cost of paying all the lawyers, the bad press, etc will make them want to quit making diesels.
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A "fully loaded" Hyundai Sonata is $50k less than a CT6, doesn't make it better. Fully loaded doesn't mean anything when one car has half the features of the other. The S-class has factory bullet proofing as an option even, it not only comes in short and long wheelbase, but in Maybach and Pullman versions as well, plus coupe and convertible. My 9 year old Mercedes faster than top engine CT6. So why would someone with a 4-5 year old Mercedes and $100k laying around want a CT6? As far as China goes, Cadillac sold 116,000 cars there in 2016. Jaguar-Land Rover sold 119,000. Mercedes sold 472,000, BMW (with Mini) 516,000 and Audi 591,000. In Europe Mercedes sold 840,000 units, Audi 831,000, and BMW 821,000. Jaguar-Land Rover sold 222,000 and Cadillac isn't even a player there. Cadillac in 2017 should sell more vehicles in China than the USA, but they need more crossovers in both markets in a bad way.
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It is actually physically impossible for a V8 to have the NVH that a V12 can achieve. You can't get Rolls Royce Phantom refinement out of a V8. That is why Mercedes sticks with that V12 even when their V8 car is faster. You also can't charge as much for a V8 as you can a V12. With the Bentley Mulsanne being the lone exception.
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I have always said the Escalade is highly successful. I don't like that it is a Tahoe but to the people buying it they want a big trucky SUV and the Escalade hits the sweet spot for those buyers. Cadillac would be fools to change the formula on that product. The Escalade is not sold in China which is the number 1 auto market in the world now. That is a problem. Escalade doesn't sell to the performance crowd. Cadillac fans preach how the CT6's weight makes it best in class the Escalade is the heaviest and thirstiest in its class. A polar opposite of what Cadillac tries to do with their sedans. I have thought for years they need another large SUV that can do performance and that can sell in China, Omega platform would fit that.
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Fully loaded is relative. The CT6 doesn't have a V8 or a V12, doesn't have a refrigerator, heated arm rests, a sunroof that can change from clear glass to solid with push up a button, doesn't have pillow head rests or champagne flutes, no autonomous drive or Lidar, the list goes on. You can option an S-class up to $250,000. If the CT6 was so good, then Cadillac would charge $130,000 for it and sell 100,000 a year. But they can't do that, the S-class is the only car in the world that can sell that volume at that price. Escalade isn't even sold in Europe or China, so Cadillac's premier product though a huge cash cow in the USA misses completely in 2 of the 3 largest auto markets in the world.
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The S-class is built to be the best car in the world, which it has been for the past 40+ years. Whether the car is used as a taxi or by a CEO to drive to the golf course doesn't really matter. They don't have a cheap version of it and it isn't based on any other car. Cadillac has lots of livery vehicles, and that doesn't matter either. It the crossovers built on a Chevy platform that can't match performance with the Germans, Jaguar or even Infiniti that matters. It is discount luxury brand pricing that matters. And I know someone will say but ATP is up the past 2 years, and that is mostly because ATS sales have been down 30% the past 2 years.
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The AMG V12 hasn't really seen an power increase in 10 years, because they want to protect the transmission and drivetrain and not have reliability issues. Plus you can only get so much power on the ground. There was talk a couple years ago that AMG would raise the power of the V12, that engine makes well over 800 lb-ft but they de-tune it. But they haven't done anything. I'd like to see them get all wheel drive matched with the V12 so they can get the power down and let it loose. Mercedes can get 200 hp per liter if they want, they already do it on the CLA45, their F1 car makes like 500 hp per liter. So the know how is there, they just don't seem to want to change the V12. Ferrari doesn't do a lot with batteries, the LaFerrari is more like the F1 energy recovery system and electric boost motor, I don't think think it can drive on battery alone like the Porsche 918 can. I think when AMG gets into that, they are going to make a big splash, because they are going to apply the F1 technology to the road, Yep, and police cars, and emergency services SUVs, military trucks, semi trucks, garbage trucks, busses, etc. All that and still no one can beat them in luxury cars, no one can beat them in racing.
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Well the 7-series is cheaper than the S-class and also not as good. But since the original 7-series back in the late 70s, it has been the closest competitor to the S-class. A CT6 starts $40k cheaper than an S-class, and a loaded CT6 is $150,000 cheaper than a loaded S-class. That is a big gap.
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Yep. I would have to think if they were hiding something it would have been found by now. They have been selling diesels pretty much non stop the past 40 years. And they seem to over engineer everything they make. Whether they find something or not, or fine them or not, I think Mercedes is about to run far away from diesel anyway. They see the future as battery power, and the Euro countries want electric cars, I just hope those countries have clean power plants, because if they burn coal and natural gas to make the electricity to power millions of cars that is pretty pointless.
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A V8? That isn't an alternative to a V12. That is the same as saying the Alfa Romeo 4C's 4 banger is an alternative to the Corvette. A V12 is the grand daddy of them all. Now the alternative could be some sort of twin turbo 6 or 8 cylinder with electric motors combining to make 700 hp or so. AMG is going to go there, but I don't know if anyone else is anytime soon.
