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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. smk4565
    Ford beat Chevy 231k to 163k, wow.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. smk4565
    Well right, Cadillac needs at least 4 EVs, figure 2 sedans and 2 crossovers.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. smk4565
    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.
  19. smk4565
    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.
  20. smk4565
    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.
  21. smk4565
    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.
  22. smk4565
    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.
  23. smk4565
    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.
  24. smk4565
    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.
  25. smk4565
    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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