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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I see them making a mid-size pickup with a Sprinter-like interior and utilizing 4Matic and the turbo diesel in the Sprinter. This will be a global market truck, not meant to be a luxury vehicle. I bet if they do an American version it will be along the lines of the V-class or Vito, whatever it is, and the Sprinter, more for commercial use.
  2. smk4565
    There should never be a mid-engine Corvette. But a mid-engine Cadillac sports car like the Cien is a good idea. They won't sell many but they don't need to, it is a vanity project. There should be a new generation Northstar V8, maybe no name or a new name, but they need a V8.
  3. smk4565
    Cadillac needs a sports car badly. They have no brand image because all they make are 4 door sedans and SUVs. They need some excitement in there.
  4. smk4565
    MB-USA if they decide they want the pickup was thinking they would make it more luxury oriented and sell it for near $50k. I am not a fan of a Mercedes pickup, but I can see why they want to do it, the pickup market globally is huge, and they could probably build a better pickup than anyone else if they set their minds on it. Mercedes has solid range of diesels, they have high torque V8s, 4Matic, a 9-speed auto, adjustable height air suspension, etc. The tooling is all there. My fear is this would distract from core business lines of C, E, S-class.
  5. smk4565
    The 5-series is sedan only in the USA, unless you want to count the Gran Turismo hatch which they hardly sell any of. The 6-series holds the coupe and they split the sales numbers out. 5-series sales were up 32% to 5,100 last month, the CTS was down 48% to 1,500. That would seem to prove BMW outselling the CTS 3 to 1. The 3/4 Series had 14,830 sales last month, even if 4800 were coupes (1/3 take rate), that is still 10,000 sedans to the 2,000 sedans the ATS sold. So BMW is winning at 5-1 ratio there. I would question Johan though on where are the other body styles, where are the diesels, where are the hybrids? They just keep making sedans with turbo 4s and V6s. The CT6 has been in development at least 3 years, they couldn't develop a TT V8, a diesel v6 or plug-in hybrid drivetrain for it during that time?
  6. smk4565
    Big luxury sedans usually have sedate styling, but I also imagine the people buying an A8 3.0 or 740i or Equus don't care much about driving engagement or handling. So Cadillac is selling weight savings and handling to a group of buyers that don't care about it. Look within Cadillac's own brand, the Escalade is their biggest hit and it is obese with a big V8 and flashy styling. That is what Americans want. They built the ATS and CTS lighter than the 3 and 5 series and it made no difference, the 3-series is selling better than ever.
  7. smk4565
    Well obviously it isn't an S-class competitor, the other Germans and Lexus are hardly competing with it, the S-class is the king daddy. And I'd venture to guess very few people are buying the S-class for 0-60 time, even though it is fast, I don't think that is why they get sales. I see Cadillac trying to sell the CT6 to people that would otherwise buy an A7, CLS, Jaguar XJ or Maserati Ghibli, which is to say people that want something sportier and more powerful than a normal A6 or E-class. Problem is, the CT6 is larger than those cars, doesn't look sporty, and has the same engines basically a CTS has. So why spend $20k more for a CT6 over a CTS for the same engines, and similar look. The CLS gets the price premium over the E-class because it has sporty styling and a twin-turbo V8 (although a V6 is available now). I just don't think the CT6 will sell because they won't be able to carve out a segment of buyers or convey what it is targeting in the advertising. I would have rather seen them make it look radical like the Ciel or something sporty, but instead it is another 4-door sedan, and it isn't what the market wants in a big luxo barge sedan. Cadillac already has loads of slow selling sedans, they played it safe with this car. It should have been a V8 to V12 tank like the S-class, or bring back '59 Eldorado fins for all I care, at least it would be radical.
  8. smk4565
    I bet the CT6 2.0T is there for the livery market. The car is big and they can keep the cost down with the 4-cylinder base model. Really this should be Buick LaCrosse or Park Ave market and Cadillac should leave it, but I doubt they do.
  9. smk4565
    I doubt the CT6 is going to post sub 4 second 0-60 times with the twin turbo V6. The CTS-V is in that 3.8 second territory, the CT6 isn't going to run that fast. And it may weigh 3700 lbs in base trim with a 4 cylinder, but add a TT V6, AWD and you are probably at 4,000, then add power recline rear seats, 30 speakers, etc and I bet it is like 4200 lbs. I suspect more like 4.5 seconds 0-60 like a CTS V-sport does. What I don't get is what the car is positioned against. Everyone talks weight and sportiness, but it doesn't look like a sports car. If it looked like a Maserati Ghibli or A7 or CLS, I could see the point of marking the sporting credentials. But the CT6 looks like a big CTS, it looks more like an executive luxury sedan, not a sports car. We heard about how the ATS and CTS were lighter than the 3-series and 5-series, but ATS and CTS sales are in the tank, and BMW keeps surging forward.
  10. smk4565
    According to Autoguide and Autoblog stories, GM makes $654 per car, vs $994 per car at Ford and $2,726 per car for Toyota. Since all 3 have similar global sales volume, you can see how favorable things look for Toyota from a profitability standpoint. Audi is estimated to generate 40% of VW's total profit. Porsche makes $23,000 profit per car, Bentley $21,000 and Audi $5200, but obviously more volume than Porsche or Bentley. I couldn't find Cadillac's profit per car, but I found 2 articles saying in 2014 they had the highest incentive per car of all 35 brands in the USA, $6,400 per car through August and $7200 per car in October 2014. With that level of incentive, they can't be making Audi-like profits, Audi spends $3,000 per car incentive. If Audi makes $5,200, but Cadillac spends another $3-4k in incentives, Cadillac is probably making more like $2,000 per car. Even if Cadillac runs at a Mercedes-like margin of 8% (which I doubt they do with those incentives) at an average sale price of $52,000 they are making $4,100 per car, but only selling about 250k cars a year globally. BMW and Audi also have ATP of $52,000, Mercedes has an ATP of $59,000 and all make about $5k per car, but are selling 1.5 million cars a year. With 6 times the sales volume, and also high margins, the Germans are raking it in.
  11. smk4565
    Haha, nice find. I just did a google search, a pair of W221 bi-xenon lights with the cover and all is $3100. Replacement parts are always inflated and jacked up though to rip people off.
  12. smk4565
    I don't remember ever saying it cost $1200 for a S-class headlight. I know the 600 Grosser from 1963-1981 has ridiculously priced replacement parts, like $15,000 for power window switches. On the sales front, Cadillac is not in 4th place, they were in 6th place in the USA last month. March 2015 luxury sales: BMW 34,310 Mercedes 32,300 Lexus 31,054 Audi 17,102 Acura 14,760 Cadillac 13,756 Infiniti 12,525 Johan should have stayed at Audi, he would have had $28 billion rather than $12 billion to chase BMW and Mercedes. But he would still have the same problem of having to work off the VW parts bin and deal with VW bean counters, rather than GM beancounters.
  13. smk4565
    The CTS has been on sale for 13 years so I hope people know about it by now. But when you change the name again to CT4 or CT5, then you have to re-teach people the name of the car. The new "Dare Greatly" ads also give no mention of a car name, so it could be hard to get people to know what an ATS or CT6 is if the name of the car isn't in the advert. 3500 cars a year means this car will be a money loser, and we know hod the GM bean counters don't keep money losers around. Even at $5,000 profit per car, that is $17.5 million a year of profit, for a car that cost several hundred million to engineer. If they get an Audi-like 10% margin and $7,000 profit per car and sell 5,000 of them, it is still only $35 million times 6 years on market, is $210 million profit. This is where the S-class has a huge advantage over it's segment, at roughly $10,000 per car profit and 100,000 cars sold a year, it is a $1 billion in profit every year.
  14. smk4565
    This thing hasn't changed much and it has been on the market for a while. I think it looks a better now though, I thought some of the lines on the original were a bit funky, this looks more softened and a cleaner design. I am surprised the 2.5 liter four hasn't replaced the 2.4 liter to give it a power bump.
  15. smk4565
    I don't think the current crop of McLarens are good looking cars. The MP4-12C was a little boring, the newer ones are a little radical, and odd, but not really good looking super cars. The McLaren F1 still looks great today, I'd rather have an F1 than any of their current crop of cars. Of course an F1 now is probably a $2-3 million car and rising, that is a legendary vehicle.
  16. smk4565
    DeNysschen hasn't really done anything yet, but talk a lot, and sales keep going down. Infiniti is doing nothing with their new naming scheme, and that was about all he did for them. Audi is doing better now without him, than they did with him. I am not convinced he is the guy to lead the turn around. I think he is too arrogant and underestimates Mercedes and BMW. It is good that GM is spending $12 billion, but I think Johan might just squander it. Really Cadillac should be giving $2-3 billion a year forever.
  17. smk4565
    I thought Jaguar grille before Bentley when I first saw it. But why would Bentley even care what Lincoln does, Lincoln could be out of business in 5 years. But so many cars copy others, it would be nice if there was more originality in car design.
  18. smk4565
    The more I look at it, the more I see the shape of a Chrysler 200. So many of these cars copy each other, someone needs to make a unique looking car. The Fusion stands out as different, and the Mazda 6 also. But the Sonata looks more like a Subaru now, the Optima looks like a Camry, etc. I like what they did with the interior though, this is my favorite interior of any Chevy.
  19. smk4565
    What segment is it? By size it is 3 inches shorter than an S-class, and 12 inches longer than an E-class. So I guess it competes with the S-class, and this is no S-class. I am curious to see how they price it, my prediction is $59k base for the 4-cylinder, and like $80k for the TT V6. Although I don't think anything with a 4-cylinder is worth $59k, a diesel E-class is the only 4 cylinder sedan over $50k I believe. Pricing will be key to sales, but I think they will overshoot the price point like they did with the ELR.
  20. smk4565
    Keeps getting uglier, and it does look like a Venza. Hopefully people stop buying this thing.
  21. smk4565
    Looks like a Camry.
  22. smk4565
    I get the feeling that Johan and Ewe are writing checks with their mouths that their asses can't cash. We hear loads of talk from them, and Cadillac sales are down every month, while BMW and Mercedes go up. Even Lexus has really resurged over the past couple years.
  23. smk4565
    20 years since the Fleetwood, and we wait 20 years for a full size rear drive Cadillac and it arrives with a 4 cylinder engine and everyone is excited? CT6 would need to weigh 2732 lbs to have the power to weight ratio of an S550.
  24. smk4565
    I like the front, it has an Impala look and looks like a Chevy. The rear looks almost like a hatchback I prefer 3 box sedan styling, and the rear looks like a Hyundai. Exterior overall is decent, but not great. The interior is great, that might be the best mid size car interior, I would probably still take the Mazda 6 interior, but the Malibu is a close 2nd. Engines other than the 2.0T seem gutless, but a lot of people buy gutless engine cars so that might not matter.
  25. smk4565
    Well yes, the steering wheel doesn't really matter, no one ever touches it or looks at it. Swap out that piece of metal and replace it with wood, and you are good to go.
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