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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Here is some bad news for Cadillac from a Bloomberg article: "After overhauling Mercedes’s lineup in recent years, which revitalized the brand’s stodgy image and lifted its sales to the top of the luxury-car segment last year, Daimler is planning to push even harder. Research and development spending will rise to 8.1 billion euros ($8.8 billion) on average this year and next. That’s 22 percent more than the level in 2015, which the company said was already “very high.”" No way will Cadillac spend $8.8 billion a year on R&D. GM's total R&D budget in 2015 was $7.4 billion. Volkswagen's was $15.3 billion. Johan is fighting a battle he can't win.
  2. smk4565
    Any crossovers are a step in the right direction for Cadillac who has been crossover starved for years now. However, Johan was supposed to right the ship and make them competitive, and you "expect it will not be the full product" I mean how many generations of vehicles will it take? Cadillac will never break the "good enough" philosophy that they have had since the 80s. And as sedan continue sales drop, CTS and ATS will probably get merged to one product, CT6 and XTS eventually merged, so you have 2 sedans like Buick has and 3 front drive crossovers and the Escalade, and that will be your post 2020 Cadillac brand line up.
  3. smk4565
    I actually didn't even think of Buick or GMC, as I don't see either as a luxury brand. When the Lacrosse and Enclave are $70,000 like a full size Lexus is, then Buick is a luxury brand.
  4. smk4565
    To dfelt's point, I meant the Euro SUVs/crossovers have better handling dynamics, better performance, more luxury, etc. The same traits that allowed BMW, Mercedes and Audi to take over luxury sedans will allow them, and Jaguar/Land Rover to gain advantage in luxury SUVs. All those front drive crossovers max out at like 300 hp, the European crossovers can offer are 500 hp and more. This is no different than when Cadillac, Lincoln and Lexus tried to push front drive sedans, the 3-series, M5's and E-classes of the world ate them up. I did pull luxury crossover/SUV sales from last month, Europe with 35,062 (BMW 9,421, Mercedes 8,940, Audi 7,228, Land Rover 6,163, Porsche 3,310) plus whatever Jaguar did Japan clocked in at 24,056 (Lexus 10,436, Infiniti 7144, Acura 6,476) USA with 11,557 (Cadillac 6,049, Lincoln 5,508) Problem is Cadillac doesn't have the money either, maybe not as bad as Lincoln, but not what they need. Mercedes R&D spend is more than all of GM, so unless GM wants to divert 100% of their R&D to just Cadillac, they will never catch up. At least Cadillac tries with the resources they do have, Lincoln and Acura are basically just doing badge jobs of Fords and Hondas.
  5. smk4565
    I agree that the masses that buy small crossovers don't care about drive train, Lexus IS proof of that. But the masses also made the Taurus the number 1 selling car in the country, not they won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Jaguar, BMW and Mercedes make better crossovers than any from America or Asia, only a matter of time. The Jag has got great reviews this far, Alfa Romeo is entering this segment too and they have a 505 hp Ferrari V8 based V6. The Lexus RX and NX are yesterday's news, the Euros will take over luxury crossover just like they did luxury sedans.
  6. smk4565
    They both handle well due to the chassis. They should build XT3 on Alpha and give it the ATS-V engine. But they won't do that. This is no different than Lincoln trying to say the MKZ has upgraded suspension and sound deadening and premium steering rack or whatever BS they want to say, it is still a Fusion underneath.
  7. smk4565
    Probably handles a lot like an Equinox or Envision. Because it is.
  8. smk4565
    They need more crossovers in a bad way, the sooner they can get this the better. I do remember when Johan took over, he said the future of Cadillac was rear wheel drive, yet we've have the ELR, XT5, and now XT3 since then, and the XTS is sticking around for who knows how long. And you have to figure front drive XT7 and XT1 are coming down the road.
  9. smk4565
    Mercedes is spending something like $10 billion in their electric car platform, they expect to have 10 electric models by 2025, so they just need some electric Smarts to be a place holder for compliance purposes now. Daimler already warned shareholders that they are sacrifitprofit for increased R&D spend the next 3 years.
  10. smk4565
    Makes sense actually, they pretty much are a city car anyway so electric only makes sense. They need a Smart For 4 product with a back seat if they want to widen sales they had one before in Europe. They need Smart for compliance reasons, they are right on the line now for CAFE and emissions and those standards are getting tougher.
  11. smk4565
    Impressive numbers but I have to imagine the sales volume of a diesel and manual car will be dismal. Manuals have like a 3-5% take rate to begin with. Diesel is declining in popularity also. i am surprised the 9 speed auto can't beat the manual in fuel economy. I do think they'll sell a decent number with the automatic.
  12. smk4565
    I don't like chrome everything, I just don't like black out trim and black wheels. I don't like gold wheels on the Subaru WRX either, or red wheels. It all looks tacky and desperate.
  13. smk4565
    I am not a fan of black out wheels and trim, looks dumb to me. But there are people that will pay for wheel and sticker packages, see Lexus F Sport as proof of that.
  14. smk4565
    I agree with all that. FCA doesn't really have any new product, so they just try special editions of dated cars or drop a big V8 in a dated car, at a time when V8 sales are falling off a cliff. Sure enthusiasts like performance, but if this thing is like $60-70k there are a lot of other high performance options for that kind of money. It might look good in a commercial or create some attention which is all well and good, but FCA lacks the bread and butter products. There is nothing exciting about a Camry or RAV4, but products like that have made Toyota one of the richest car companies there is, they literally sell millions of them around the world every year. You have to be able to make money in the core segments. In January small cars outsold large cars by a 9 to 1 ratio, and I don't think gas prices really have anything to do with it, but incomes aren't rising and car prices are. And I think most buyers don't want a large vehicle, even most crossover sales are small to mid-size. You have to have cars people can afford to buy if you are a volume brand.
  15. smk4565
    I think it looks good. I am not a big SUV fan, but I like the looks of this more than a Tahoe or Armada or whatever else is out there. The 10 speed and ecoboost is a nice combo, I am surprised the base model doesn't have a 2.7 ecoboost V6, but I guess they figured the model mix would be low. I still remember when the original Expedition had a 4.6 liter V8 with 210 hp, they have come a long way in 20 years. The interior looks pretty sharp too for a truck and the class they are in. I think this will do pretty well with market share in the segment. As far as the GM 5.3 and 6.2 V8s, GM needs to start looking at turbo engines. Even the 6.2 V8 makes less torque than Ford's 3.5 V6. Just like time caught up to the 3800 V6 in family sedans, time is catching up to the pushrod V8, it may have passed the 5.3 V8 by already.
  16. smk4565
    They sell a lot of Fiats globally, that brand isn't going anywhere. Chrysler should be the brand to die, they only sell them in North America, they have the smallest line up, really they could just make Dodge vans. I don't see a need for Maserati and Alfa Romeo, but they need one of them because luxury cars equal profit. Or at least they should assuming you can actually sell them.
  17. smk4565
    If Sergio really wants to merge with someone he should consolidate brands. The reason no one will merge with them is Jeep is all that the other car companies want. These rest actually makes them less attractive to a Honda, Toyota, Ford etc to buy. And more dealers doesn't make them look like a better buy either.
  18. smk4565
    I agree with what everyone has said. A 475 hp crossover is cool, but if it costs $65,000 are there that many people that want an expensive Dodge? Plus this is a bit of a dated vehicle now, they they are hoping putting a big engine in helps pump life into it but that usually doesn't work. FCA has no real strategy to sell to the masses, the 500 hp Alfa Romeo is fast as hell but they will sell like 50 a month. Mostly of FCA's product is designed for what the market was, not what it is or where it is going.
  19. smk4565
    They should build 380 Alfa Romeo dealerships. They spent like $6 million last night advertising a car that won't sell. The Guilia I'm sure is a good car, it gets good reviews, I just don't see them selling them in mass quantity to justify the cost to develop it and market it and distribute it.
  20. smk4565
    Daimler isn't even really mass market. They don't even operate where the bulk of car sales happen, like where Civic, Camry, Rav4, Pilot, Traverse, etc sell. Smart and Vans are a relatively small amount of Daimler's business. Mercedes-Benz cars is their #1 business segment and #2 is heavy duty tucks from Mercedes, Freightliner and Western Star. I guess Rolls-Royce must be a mass market car company too, since BMW owns Mini that sells for $22,000.
  21. smk4565
    I am actually a democrat, not that that has anything to do with car talk. I think it hard to say Mercedes competes directly with Chevy and Toyota when they don't sell $15-25,000 cars. The cheapest Merceds costs more than an Impala or Avalon, I don't see how Mercedes is mass market appealing to all buyers. Especially when the A-class line doesn't even sell much.
  22. smk4565
    They make a heck of a lot more profit than Cadillac too. The sell more $50,000+ cars than Cadillac, more $100,000+ cars than Cadillac, they make more 500 hp cars than Cadillac, they make more 600 hp cars than Cadillac, they make faster cars than Cadillac, they make more capable semi-autonomous vehicles than Cadillac. And you can replace the word Cadillac in the above paragraph with Lexus, Lincoln, BMW, or Audi as well. Saying "sales don't matter" is what dying brands say. If sales don't matter, then Alfa Romeo is the most successful car company in the world. And in September the Hypercar will be revealed with track performance that no other road car can match. I hope they crack the 6 minute mark on the Nurburgring, untouchable.
  23. smk4565
    These sell in super low quantity, something like less than 1% of total E-class sales, however the people that buy these have household incomes higher than S-class buyers. Off the top of my head I imagine this is the most powerful and fastest wagon ever made.
  24. smk4565
    Then why can't Cadillac beat them in the luxury game?
  25. smk4565
    MB sells six figure cars, and currently developing $2+ million hyper car, that they will sell out of. Here is how many cars luxury brands sold with base price over $50,000 last month: Mercedes 12,308 BMW 5,307 Cadillac 2,831 Porsche 2,642 Lexus 2,232 Audi 733
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