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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    The problem with BMW is they took a V8 and went down to a straight six with the same power, and jacked up the price. It is a 335i with more boost for another $25,000. The fact that so much equipment is still optional is crazy, considering the high cost. I don't know if BMW was just going for more luxury and lost steering feel and handling along the way, but if they are going to luxury, why are their interiors so much worse than Mercedes. BMW should have kept the 4.0 V8 and put turbos on that, but they messed that one up.
  2. smk4565
    Omega and Alpha support AWD. The only rear drive only Impala would be sold in the south. That is IF they made a rear drive Impala. The SS as it is positioned is an impossible sell, even more so as car sales drop. IF they made a rear drive platform Impala, I would make it start with a 200 hp 4 cylinder, and a 335 hp V6 optional. If priced under $30k you can get sales. Just like the Charger and 300 do, they both start in the mid-high $20s. And those things are dinosaurs. Johan deNysschen said on Autoline that small luxury car segment was down 10% worldwide last year, and mid-size luxury market was down 15% globally. Later on they said how the mid-size sedan market is down 2% this year, and small crossovers are up 17%, I think luxury crossovers are up 25%. Going toward 2020 and beyond a lot of sedans will die, you need to really have a standout sedan if you want to sell it. Look at how many coupes have died in the past 10 years, I think that will happen with large sedans and there will only be 3-4 left.
  3. smk4565
    Mercedes also floats of a lot of rumors about what they are considering to gauge interest. They also said they are thinking of a GLC convertible and a GLS coupe SUV. How you make a coupe out of a 17 foot long SUV is beyond me. But at any rate, they float ideas out there to see what sticks, before committing to anything.
  4. smk4565
    I actually liked the XLR, I thought it looked good. The interior quality was a bit of a letdown, and it just didn't have enough horsepower for the price. The XLR was a car that had I had the money for a 3 year old used one at $40k I would have bought. $80k new for what it was, was just too high a price, but I did like the XLR a lot, and they still look good now, 10+ years later. Johan was on Autoline TV today, and the Autoline After hours was about the Cadillac XT5 http://www.autoline.tv
  5. smk4565
    I don't think they need a 4-door coupe S-class, the Mercedes sedans are getting a bit more of a sloped rear window due to getting the drag coefficient down. The 3-box look is pretty dead. CLS makes sense since there is a price gap between the E and S, and the E550 is gone, if the next gen CLS gets a V8 that is sort of the car for those that want a V8 E-class. I hope there is never a C or S class 4 door coupe, they don't really need an extra body sales on a car. But this is 5-6 years away, we'll see if they bother, the S-class is the chauffeur driven market king, a 4-door coupe does nothing for that.
  6. smk4565
    And Mercedes doesn't try to sell their dreams? Seriously? Mercedes doesn't put out lots of concept cars that show a convertible, sports car, flagship, or whatever to draw up excitement and then not deliver. GM likes to make these exciting concepts and say things like an S-class fighter is in the works, well in 2010 they were talking about and S-class fighter, in 2016 they now say it is dead. 6 years or talk and no action. Remember these? Great looking concepts that never saw the light of day. The Avenir, Avista, Ciel and El Mirage will join those 3 as dream cars that would elevate the brand, but never materialized. Mercedes showed an S-class convertible a few years ago, they put an S-class convertible on sale this year. Mercedes built stuff like this: Over the top cars that don't really make sense, but they built their dreams and put it on sale.
  7. smk4565
    Cadillac got $12 billion for product by 2020. No way do the spend $1 billion on a mid-engine supercar that they will sell 400 a year of. There are other holes to fill, like crossovers.
  8. smk4565
    You can't sell dreams, you cannonly sell the product you have. Let's first look at the TT V8. I for nearly 10 years have been arguing for a DOHC V8 to replace the Northstar. So I hope they build it. But if it is a CT6 only engine it would never have enough volume. So I hope it is used on ATS-V, CTS, Escalade etc. I just question if GM would really invest the money to do it. As far as a mid-engine supercar goes, that has to be a carbon fiber chassis car, they don't have that now and it is too expensive to use on a Corvette. I'd like to see Mercedes build a LaFerrari competitor, but I get that they have to make a choice between that and updating their core products. Cadillac might be able to do a front engine Grand Touring coupe. That could be Corvette, Alpha or Omega platform with the 4.2 V8.
  9. smk4565
    Will never happen because nothing at GM can be faster than a Corvette. I have long thought that Cadillac should have a sports car superior to the Corvette, but that isn't in GM's thinking. I'd love to see a V12 Cadillac super car with 200+ mph top speed and sub 3 second 0-60 time but they'll never green light due to cost. The head of AMG was asked if Mercedes would make a LaFerrari/McLaren P1 competitor last year. He said they could build a car like that, but it would be such a money loser and divert resources from the E63 and other projects, which we now see are the C43, E43 and GLC63, and AMG GT R. So if Mercedes who has a V12 and a Formula 1 race team, that has the technology on the shelf to build a hyper car deemed it a money loser, then Cadillac would lose even more money on such a project and GM would never green light that.
  10. smk4565
    Who's to say Cadillac doesn't cancel the twin turbo V8 also. They seem content to use a Corvette engine in the CTS-V and I doubt they'd change the Escalade's V8 engine to the 3.0TT V6 and 4.2TT V8. So then you are making this new 4.2 V8 for just the CT6. If they sell 10,000 CT6 a year and the V8 is a 10% take rate, that is 1,000 cars a year. No way the beancounters let Cadillac develop and produce an engine for just 1,000 units a year. I have heard some rumblings that Alpha and Omega can't support crossovers. If that is really true, that is horrible engineering on GM's part. Crossovers were hot 5+ years ago before those platforms were developed. The sad thing here is Cadillac is not fighting the Germans, they are fighting against their own inept management, a lousy marketing department, and the beancounters and accounts at GM.
  11. smk4565
    The defection to Tesla thus far has been in the $100,000 sedan segment. This hurts the M5 or CTS-V which are a small % of the overall line, and it hurts cars like the A8 and S-class. For most automakers, Tesla has yet to make an impact. Once they get into the $40k segment, they will start to feel it, even more so if Tesla makes a $30,000 car. Once they hit the mainstream, the establishment is in for a wake up call.
  12. smk4565
    Where is this different than what I have been saying? For god's sake you act like this is some original Idea and it is really what I have been trying to get across to you for days! You only left out the ability to sell it globally as a Holden or Opel. Did you just come to? I have said in the past that GM should make a rwd/awd sedan that is cheaper. The risk of making an Omega Impala, is then they'll put an LT1 V8 in it and charge $55,000 and no one will buy it. Big sedans don't sell well to begin with, they have to sell a value proposition if they do decide to do an Omega Impala. I'd like to see GM take a risk and put our a rear drive sedan in the $25-40k space, but I just don't think they will. The beancounters will say how building a care off epsilon is cheaper, the sales/marketing people will say FWD is easier to sell. And then we know what will happen.
  13. smk4565
    Chrysler Pacifica, the 2017 Acadia, or a Ford Explorer at this price point. Especially if you want 3 rows. If a 2 Row vehicle is okay, a lower trim Jeep Grand Cherokee.
  14. smk4565
    The Chevy SS is a dying breed. Very few people want V8s anymore, very few want RWD. We all like it, but most of the buying public does not. Since the Cadillac CT8 is dead and they need another Omega platform car, I could see making the Impala on Omega, it would be the same size and weight as the current Impala, without the droopy proportions and super high belt like and 3 for thick C pillar. They could use the 2.5 liter 4 and 3.6 V6 engines, add an AWD option for V6 cars and have an affordable large sedan that was different than Malibu or LaCrosse.
  15. smk4565
    I have a rear wheel drive car and use Blizzaks on it in the winter, it is worse than my FWD Aurora with all season tires in the snow. On any kind of hill, even with snow tires my car can struggle. Often I'd have to turn traction control off an spin my way up a hill. No doubt that rwd is worse in snow. That being said it snows maybe 10 days a year where the roads are well covered, so I don't mind since the other 355 I like the rear drive feel of the car. Most buyers are not enthusiasts though, and don't want that. Even in rain I can get the back end to kick loose at 1/4 throttle going around a turn. Most drivers don't know how to drive a car like that, FWD appliance is easier to deal with. Most buyers don't need AWD, but it is that safety net feeling, they feel more confident with it. That is why you see so many crossovers, the people want that AWD because they are convinced that they need it, even id they don't.
  16. smk4565
    Agreed about the Volt sales. GM will use up a lot of their plug-in and EV credits too. Maybe the 2017 Bolts have a credit, but in 2018 they will probably have used their credits up too. Then you get down to how good is the vehicle for the sticker price, with no incentives to buy it. That favors Tesla well. People talk about the $42,000 Model 3 like it is a lot of money to Tesla fan base, it isn't really. There are Toyota Avalons and Audi A4s selling for $42,000, the Model 3 could eat their lunch. Think of the $55,000 Model 3 that could be faster than a Corvette or BMW M3. Then the Tesla looks like insane value. We really need to see part 2 of the reveal and get the other info. I am excited about the car though.
  17. smk4565
    Johan will be on the April 7th episode of Autoline.
  18. smk4565
    The Bolt and Model 3 don't compete because one car has 300,000 pre-orders, the other has squat.
  19. smk4565
    More will be revealed at Part 2 of the Model 3 reveal. I think we'll have a better idea of the car then, but Tesla does not make slow cars. That will be the big difference between the Model 3 and the Bolt. Doesn't look like the Bolt will offer all wheel drive, the Tesla will. And a lot of the price upgrade on a Tesla is bigger battery and adding the second motor. Elon probably said $42,000 is typical price because he figures many will get the dual motor car with a higher range.
  20. smk4565
    I think Cadillac should continue with the XT5 as is and introduce a 2nd mid size crossover on Alpha. Make it 192 inches long, $53k base price, 335 HP V6 standard, twin turbo V6 and V8 optional that would push it up as high as $89,000. Mid-size crossovers are the hottest market, they should hit both ends of it. XT5 vs Lexus, XT6 vs Porsche and BMW.
  21. smk4565
    I don't think it is fake story, I do think CT8 is dead. On the mid-cycle refresh of CT6 in 3-4 years they could spruce up the interior a bit, makes some more features standard and drop the base engine, and move price to $65k base. That pushes it a little up market, and a little farther away form CTS. BMW and Mercedes have a Cayenne-like model. The GLE and X5. The Cayenne is the same size as a Cadillac XT5, every dimension is about in inch apart. A Cayenne is 2 inches longer than a GLE, an inch wider, and 3 inches lower. Parked side by side you couldn't tell the difference. The GLE and Cayenne both have a 300 hp V6 base, both offer twin turbo V8s with 500+ hp. They are pretty similar. A base Cayenne also weighs 4488 lbs, a Cayenne Turbo with the 520 hp V8 is 4,800 lbs. No where near 6,000, so that 4,800 lb Cadillac SUV better have 500 hp in it. This is also why I have said for years, really since the SRX left Sigma platform, that Cadillac needs rear drive crossovers. These Chevy/Buick platform vehicles won't be able to support the performance variants to compete with the Euro crossovers.
  22. smk4565
    Better to cancel the CT8 now rather than spend several hundred million dollars on it, and have the S-class squash it. Jaguar might drop the XJ after this model run. That big car segment could be the 4 Germans (if you count the Panamera) and the cheaper Lexus LS and that's it. Large sedans are a small volume segment. I bet the 2nd generation CT6 becomes CT7 and goes up about $10,000 in base price, better interior, no 4-cyldiner, standard turbo V6. This will position it better against the Lexus LS and Genesis G90. ATS/CTS become CT3 and CT5 and that gives them 3 sedans which is enough. They'll roll out a bunch of crossovers/SUVs whatever you want to call a tall vehicle.
  23. smk4565
    If there was a dream car garage for 4+ liters in 2025, I bet we'd have a hard time coming up with 5 new cars to put it in. In the 3 and 4 liter garages there were a lot of new cars, as you get into the 5, 6, 7+ liter you can see how the classic cars got more and more common.
  24. smk4565
    Well I think we can all agree that the 320i and the ATS 2.5 are both bad cars. Neither hold a candle to the Tesla Model 3 that with the $7,500 tax credit on the first 200,000 cars sold will undercut both of them in price. Not if you get any options as the 3 will be mostly 50K-65K by the time you get the better battery and the better anything else. Then you factor in the that Tesla has about 25,000 Tax credits coming that are being eaten up buy the S and X model now. By the time the 3 arrives they may not have any to offer unless the government offers more over the 200K they have used. Even Musk tweeted that the 3 will be closer to $42K by the time they start to deliver them. Must tweeted the average price will be $42k. As with most cars with a $35k base, with options you get to $42k for an average. If you want the base battery, you can still get it for $35k and with autopilot. You can't get Super Cruise standard on a Cadillac ATS. There will be a $55-60k Model 3 and it will probably be faster than a Corvette. And what does a Corvette cost? Oh right, $55-60k base.
  25. smk4565
    The AMG cars have transmission, steering and suspension tuned for performance, the AWD system is more rear biased as well, so there is more mechanical enhancement than just more horsepower and some wheels and sporty front facia. And you have to remember a C43 or E43 has a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds. That is still pretty fast. And it isn't like they took away the hand built 500 hp engines, they are still there.
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