smk4565

Wouldn't every engine make more power on premium gas? The Corvette requires premium and that is a GM 6.2 liter. If you are that worried about fuel economy get a diesel, it gets higher mpg and diesel costs less than premium.

Marketing sells cars. Cadillac doesn't have a product problem, so much as they have a marketing problem.

I think if the CTS was not using the name of the entry level Cadillac from 2002-2013, it would sell better. There is problem 1, problem 2 is 2 established players rule that segment, and the E-class is taking a leap forward next year. Back seat space has nothing to do with why the CTS doesn't sell, the badge on the grille does, and the bland rear styling and CUE. As far as Uwe saying that when gas was $4 a gallon they didn't think people would want crossovers, that is just nuts. Crossovers were selling then, the Lexus RX was obviously putting up big numbers, obviously the NX was in the works, Lincoln was working on MKC, the Germans had crossovers, etc. He should have realized SRX and Escalade as the only 2 SUVs would not be enough, especially when GM is all about trucks and SUVs. Plus it is possible to develop 2 vehicles at once. They could have developed a full size V8 sedan and a sub compact 4-cylinder crossover at the same time. As far as interior size goes, you can't just keep making these cars bigger. The CTS is already the longest car in its segment, if you make the ATS 190 inches long, it isn't a small car anymore. They could take the current CTS and price it at $35k against the 3-series to get more rear seat legroom, but a 3-series buyer probably isn't looking for a 196 inch long car. My car has a 112.4 inch wheel base and 190. inch length. I am 6'2" and can sit in the back seat without my knees touching the front seat in my driver position. So if they could do it, Cadillac can do it.

CT6 should have a standard V6. As it stands, I believe the LaCrosse will have the 3rd most standard horsepower of any GM car after the Corvette and Chevy SS if they still make that thing.

The Ford Ecoboost makes more power and gets better mpg than the Triton V8s. Ford probably saw that as most of the advancement, that they could make a turbo 3.5 V6 that made more power than a 5.4 liter V8. But that 5.4 liter V8 was weak. All these car companies try to sell a turbo 4 as better than a V6 or a turbo V6 as better than a V8. But it isn't like the V8 stands still, others come out with a better V8, then your turbo V6 is not adequate. And if Ford thought the 3.5 ecoboost would always beat the V8 they were mistaken. Because the competition was going to get better. If Ford really wants to dominate pickup sales they should make a 5 engine line up, all turbo. 2.7 Ecoboost V6 base model against Ram Pentastar and Silverado 4.3 3.5 Ecoboost V6 positioned against the GM 5.3 and Rami Hemi 4.0 Ecoboost V8 positioned against the GM 6.2 V8 (this would be for the Raptor as well) 3.0 turbo diesel V6 to compete with Ram ecodiesel 2.7 liter ecoboost V6 plug-in hybrid which would be 400 hp and torque, over 30 mpg, a segment exclusive

ATS 2.0T weighs 44 lbs less than a C300 in red form and 52 lbs less in and form. Not really a large margin, but an advantage I suppose. As far as Ford goes with the F150, they should be pushing the turbo V6s against the GM 5.3 liter and Ford should have a 4.0 Ecoboost V8 with 430 hp, 500 lb-ft as the alternative to the GM 6.2 liter. An Ecoboost V8 would be good for the Mustang too if Ford fans weren't so obsessed with 5.0 badges.

They do have the #1 selling vehicle in the USA for 40 years in a row. I guess that is something.

If you are going to burn gas anyway, you can buy a Cruze and $15,000 in gas for the price of a Volt. The economics just don't make sense. I don't drive any long distances, maybe once in a blue moon and only put about 8,000 miles a year on my car. That is why I bought a V8, with limited driving I don't care if I get 16.5 mpg. I get they want to appeal to electric car buyers with range anxiety, but until electric cars have 300 mile range at a $30k price they don't make a lot of sense.

So Subaru can put AWD on a an Impreza for $18,000, but GM can't figure out how to put it on a $24k Malibu? AWD is an option people want and will pay for. Look at people fleeing to crossovers because they want all wheel drive. Not offering it costing you sales to people that want that option.

If you can go all year without putting gas in, why not just buy a Nissan Leaf or BMW i3? And then rent a gasoline powered car the 1 time a year you have to drive more than 100 miles in a day. The downside is these electrics take a while to charge, but there are a probably a million times more power outlets than gas stations in this country.

A 10-speed gearbox doesn't really add any benefit over and 8-speed. The head of ZF said 9 gears is the limit to where there is no additional benefit. And Mercedes ran 81 billion computer simulations and determined that 9 speeds was the maximum, to go beyond was just adding cost and complexity with no gain to fuel economy or performance. So since the law of diminishing returns has hit transmissions, the fuel economy and performance gains will lay on the engine. You wonder why Ford doesn't have an Ecoboost 4.0 V8 since they have a 2.0 ecoboost 4. I think the 3.5 V6 is sort of obsolete when that 2.7 ecoboost makes good power for every day driving. A compact V8 would be nice for hauling and towing.

Average transaction price can be misleading. BMW sells near 150,000 3-series every year which lowers the average. Cadillac sells 20,000 ATS, so their average isn't pulled down. All wheel drive adds about $1,000 to a car. They can make awd on a Trax or HRV, Escape, Impreza, etc. They could sell an AWD Malibu for $24k if they wanted to. Hell they are going to give you $1500 cash back to buy a Malibu anyway, give free AWD instead.

So if 50 miles of electric driving means buying gas 4 times a year. Couldn't a 150 mile range mean never needing gas? If I had a short commute, which I actually do, I would rather have a pure electric car and never need gas. If the goal is zero emissions, no trips to the gas station, then a pure EV is the end game.

Agree 100% with offering all wheel drive on the Malibu. People love crossovers because of all wheel drive (among other reasons). The Malibu's segment has few all wheel drive offerings, and the Malibu could use any competitive advantage it can get.

I am sure GM wants Cadillac to operate at Mercedes prices, but they have a pretty long ways to go. And their lineup has a lot of holes in it. Once they get the crossovers, they still need a couple convertibles, they need a high end sports car, the flagship sedan that the CT6 is not. There is lots of work that needs done there. Cadillac needs a sports car faster and better than a Corvette, but I bet GM politics don't let that happen. If Cadillac wants to be top tier, they need to be going after Porsche 911, Mercedes-AMG GT, Aston Martin, Audi R8, maybe Ferrari California or Lamborghini Gallardo if they really want to climb. They need V-series crossovers, which won't happen on those front drive platforms. It will take a lot of money and engineering to get the Cadillac line to top tier, then even more money to market it. I just don't think they will see the plan through, they will see it as too expensive, and pull back and stay in the 2nd tier where they are now. And I think Lincoln, Acura and Volvo are 3rd tier.

In doing a little reading on D6, it looks like the MKZ and MKT replacements in 2019 will be the first products. That is still a ways off, and these are just going to be more fwd/awd vehicles, sounds like every Lincoln will be made off of one modular platform. Which is good for economies of scale, but maybe not best for building the best possible car. Lincoln is spending $5 billion in 5 years to do this, that is really a drop in the bucket when Audi spends $5 billion in a single year. I want to see the final product and how they price the Continental. I suspect a big let down from the original show car is coming.

You want to redesign a sedan to cut "maybe" 2 inches in overall length off ?? WHO CARES ????? CTS isn't a Buick. I'd rather see the LaCrosse more Malibu sized, which is like 193 inches long now, but I suppose the LaCrosse could function as it is at 197.5 inches long, and you could offer an Omega sedan above that around 203. If the Verano grows in size with the Cruze, I don't really know why they need a Regal then. Does Buick really need 4 sedans? And then the 2nd question is how high in price should Buick go? Do we need a $50k Avenir? That is Cadillac price territory. Does Buick need an Alpha based GNX with the ATS-V twin turbo V6 for $45,000? Sounds cool in theory, but all that would do is steal Camaro SS and ATS-V sales. There has to be a ceiling on Buick, because Cadillac is the luxury brand.

They don't sell Cadillacs in China? If the demand in China (which is seeing a growth slow down) for a sedan larger than LaCrosse is great then roll out an Omega Park Avenue. But the same argument can be said, GM has a luxury car brand that for years specialized in full size sedans. Cadillac should be filling that role in China as well. GM wants to push Buick as a luxury brand, but they already have a luxury brand. I am however a fan of halo cars, I think they make brands, so I am never opposed to a halo vehicle to be a symbol for the brand. In Buick's case though a Riviera Coupe I think would be more special and prestigious than to add a 4th sedan to the line up.

BMW is ridiculous. I think there is room for one Mercedes crossover sports coupe thing, but sadly they are making a 2nd one. They do make an E-class sedan, coupe, convertible and wagon, so why not a GLE regular body and coupe body. I don't think they need a GLC crossover coupe, I think those people would buy a GLC anyway.

The back looks like a Civic. And $40k is still too much for a car that after EV range is no better than a Fusion or Sonata or Camry hybrid, which are also larger cars. Couldn't they just replace that 350 lb engine with 350 lbs of batteries and make it a pure EV? Then make a plug-in Malibu? I get what they are going for, it is just too much money for what is basically a plug-in hybrid Chevy Cruze. The cost is still too high.

They could be different, but shouldn't GM worry about how to sell more $50,000 Cadillacs rather than to introduce a Buick to compete with Cadillac? They could make an Omega Avenir and sell 5,000 a year like the Kia K900 or Equus sells, I just don't think that is even worth the time or effort. Especially when you have a struggling luxury brand that needs product. I'd rather them make an Omega Eldorado oh wait word names are bad, CT6 coupe.

I think an Explorer based Lincoln, which would be the Aviator. MKT will probably die off, you'd have MKC, MKX, Aviator, Navigator, and 2 sedans. As I said before, Ford and GM just want to sell trucks and utilities. Maybe they'll make an MKA crossover based on the Fiesta platform with a 1.0 liter turbo for $24,995.

The 2017 LaCrosse hopefully will go up in price to around $35k. But does Buick really need a sedan starting over $40,000? If they make an Omega Park Avenue, you have to use a 2.0T as the engine, which won't look good when the LaCrosse has a 3.6 V6. And if the hypothetical Park Avenue has a 3.6 V6 standard, then why pay an extra $10-15,000 for a 4-cylinder CT6? I still favor a 3 sedan lineup for Buick. I'd use Regal, LaCrosse and Park Avenue as the 3 names. I'd be game for a Riviera coupe as the 5th car.

Totals thru Nov 2015; 187446 cars, 147282 trucks/SUVs/CUVs. Yes, the Sprinter is included, it's a "mercedes" & reported on same chart, isn't it? 187446 out of 334728 is 56% cars. MB relies heavily on trucks in the U.S., and HEAVILY on fleets in Europe. It's how they pursue ever higher production goals, their #1 purpose. In 2015 YTD, 69.3% of GM sales are truck and crossover, and 30.7% sedan/coupe/convertible. Over at Ford in 2015, 68.8% of sales are trucks and utilities and 31.2% are cars. As I said, the American car companies want to sell trucks and don't care about selling cars. They haven't in years. That is why the CamCords win the family sedan sales crown and the imports win the luxury sales. That is why they make "stop gap" Continentals, because they just need a product to put in the show room, same reason we got the XTS. Notice they don't make a "stop gap" Explorer or Escape. If Ford was really committed to luxury sedans you'd see a better effort on the Continental and MKZ. Complete rubbish. Focus and Cruze are as good or better than any Japanese equivalent. Continental and CT6 are better than any Japanese equivalent. Mustang Camaro are better than any Japanese equivalent.....if they were to build something to compete. Fusion and Fusion Sport (soon to be introduced) are as good or better. Pick any CUV to compare, and Detroit comes out ahead. Do they sell a lot of trucks? Heck yah, and that's because the Japanese make crap in that segment. We don't know that the CT6 or Continental are better than the Japanese equivalent because they aren't out yet. But I do think Lexus has left the LS460 to die on the market, they haven't put a new engine in that car since 2007, it still has that same V8. Why isn't there a turbo V6 hybrid, a V8 and a turbo V8? The Tacoma is still the top selling mid-size truck, so they do have a market there. The weakness of Toyota is the Tundra. Just like GM and Ford ignore sedans some times, the same can be said about Toyota and full size trucks. I think Toyota should dump the Scion brand, give every dollar spent on that to the Tundra team to make it more competitive. Then bring back the Celica as a small front drive sports car for the young people that Toyota desperately needs that aren't buying Scions anyway.

The RWD car above the LaCrosse is the CTS. Buick doesn't need 4 sedans. I would be in favor of downsizing the LaCrosse to make it closer in size to an Azera or Cadenza, maybe 195 inches long. Dropping the Regal (or build Regal on Delta, drop Verano nameplate) and introducing a 200 inch long rear drive Buick sedan for around $40k. Then there would be 3 sedans with LaCrosse as the middle. Which in the Lucerne days, the LaCrosse was the base level Buick, not sure why it is the top level car now.