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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I would venture to guess 2 out of 3 people that walk into a Cadillac dealership will be confused by CTS and CT6 and not understand the difference. They will think it is a stretched CTS or a CTS with a V6 or something. Their naming scheme should have been ATS -->LaSalle (coupe/convertible), CTS -->Seville (Seville coupe), XTS --> Calais, Eldorado would be their 6-series competitor and grand touring coupe (could do a 4 door coupe Eldo even) and Fleetwood for their large sedan.
  2. smk4565
    The Camaro looks different, which is probably a good thing the current Camaro is fat and overweight. That Camaro looks like it wants to be a Mustang, that could be a good thing, but could hurt it too. The Malibu in the 5 in '15 teaser looks like a Camry from the A-pillar forward with a Chevy grille. The C-pillar and greenhouse have a Chrysler 200 shape. Ed Welburn said this would be a ground breaking car with breakthrough design, I don't see it. It looks like a mismash of what is already on sale. Although most midsize cars are a mismash of styling and aren't very original.
  3. smk4565
    A few years ago many of you claimed that offering the Sprinter was going to drag the Mercedes brand image down, and it didn't. Mercedes still sticks to "The Best or Nothing" philosophy. The Metris/Sprinter are the best commercial vans, they have the best luxury car in the world, the best race car in the world, the best off-roader in the world. They out did Rolls-Royce in luxury, beat Ferrari and McLaren on the track, and outdid Hummer off road.
  4. smk4565
    I think it looks good, one of their best looking concepts in a long time. Perhaps the future CC will look like this. The grille is a bit over the top, but overall, this is a sweet looking car.
  5. smk4565
    Is the Corvette a bad sports car because Chevy makes the lowly Sonic with a 138 hp engine? The S-class is still the best car in the world, regardless of what Mercedes does with their commercial line. This van might sell fairly well too, and they already produce it, so it wasn't like it cost them R&D dollars.
  6. smk4565
    The Impala can't really go up market, the Lacosse is there, plus the XTS while it is around. The Malibu could grow in size, but they can't push the price up, because the Camry price is not going up by any big margin. This outline looks a bit like an Audi A7, and I don't see that selling in the family sedan segment. Things like cost of ownership, reliability and gas mileage is what sells here. The Camry hasn't had dramatic or sporty styling ever and it has crushed all the others in sales for the past 20 years. If they make a dramatic shift, it will be interesting to see what happens.
  7. smk4565
    I think we just get the commercial version for the US, to pair up with the Sprinter. This fills a void though, there are only compact vans or giant full size for the commercial market.
  8. smk4565
    I love how when gas prices drop trucks sales boom as if gas isn't going to go back up to $4. My how the American consumer quickly forgets. Cadillac would be out of business without the Escalade, yet alpha numeric names are what people want and what sells according to DeNeschyn.
  9. smk4565
    The E-class took a beating, but that could just be one bad month. I am surprised the C-class isn't nearing 10,000 a month, but maybe with the diesel and plug-in coming this summer, and the coupe this fall that may happen. There is a new E-class coming next year, perhaps some people are waiting. The CLA and GLA have the Mercedes look and image which people like, and what is their competition? The A3 and BMW X1? Not exactly world beaters there. Interesting though that the GLA, GLK and GL all basically sold the same volume.
  10. smk4565
    Not surprising really, they rely on younger buyers, or people moving up from a VW or a Subaru WRX or something and want a small sport car, so they get their A3 and Q3 sales. The A4/A5 are getting stale, and the A6 and A8 never sold well anyway. The 3-series and C-class are better than what Audi can offer.
  11. smk4565
    The 3.0 TT V6 that is all new is really the key engine for this car, because that will be the volume engine. The V6 will have to have the power, fuel economy, and NVH refinement to beat the Europeans or the Korean V8s if this car gets compared to the Equus/K900 at all. Execution on the new V6 is important. They obviously need a V8 and a diesel, but those will probably be lower volume.
  12. smk4565
    In the late 70s, Mercedes was selling the 450SEL 6.9 for over $50,000, when a top end Cadillac or Lincoln was $20,000. I think they were selling a luxury car.
  13. smk4565
    The Aurora was more sedan, although both generations were good looking cars. That CLS looks better with age, that was 10 years ago and it still looks better than that awful 6-series Gran Coupe thing.
  14. smk4565
    I thought I read once that the length was 200 inches, so the CT6 could be slightly smaller than the XTS. But the CT6 doesn't have 4-door coupe styling, so it isn't really an A7 or CLS competitor. Probably this will be sized like the standard LS460 or short wheel base Jaguar XJ. I am curious what they position this car against. It is believed it will have a new 3.0 liter twin turbo V6, which will lead to GM's new line of V6s so I'd imagine the 3.6 will start getting phased out at the end of the decade.
  15. smk4565
    But to make these big profits you need high prices. The Escalade is where Cadillac's profit comes from because it has high price, and is based off an existing Chevy, and the Tahoe itself is a high margin vehicle. I wonder if the ATS and CTS run on big margins, because they don't really command top of segment pricing, and their global volume isn't that high so they don't have the economies of scale that the Germans have.
  16. smk4565
    The old 5-series still outsells the new Lexus GS and CTS. The 7-series is bland and bloated, and of course it has terrible sales, it is up against the best car in the world. BMW does make a triple turbo diesel inline six in Europe, but of course, they don't sell it here. Maybe they should to add some spice to the 5 and 7 series cars. Jaguar makes loads of SUVs, they are called the Land Rover. That is why I always thought a Jaguar SUV was stupid, it is one company, and you wouldn't make a Land Rover 2-seat roadster, so why make a Jaguar SUV.
  17. smk4565
    The W126 S-class is the best selling S-class ever, with over 892,000 sold. That car really expanded the global presence of Mercedes, probably more than any other car in their history. You could make a claim that the W116 S-class was the best car in the world, especially with the 6.9 V8. That was mid 70s, so that puts it on a 40 year run as the top luxury car in the world.
  18. smk4565
    The electric one could be cool, loads of instant torque and no noise.
  19. smk4565
    All these Audis look the same, and they seem to be getting uglier. Before they had some classy looking cars, but now to make them more dramatic, they are just making them uglier. I do like the 455 hp and 553 lb-ft of diesel-electric power. That is like a locomotive engine!
  20. smk4565
    Or if you want a TT V8, you could buy a 5-series, 6-series, 7-series, E-class, CLS, S-class, S7, S8, or Panamera right now. I "dare" Cadillac to keep this Dare campaign going until 2019 when the CT7 or CT8 arrives. By then there will be a new slogan, and they will have some new plan. Eventually one of these plans has to work, Cadillac doesn't really have infinite tries here. I get that Rome wasn't built in a day, and I don't think Cadillac will even end up as poor off as Lincoln, but how long will GM pour money in to a brand that doesn't get sales. Eventually the bean counters may force a Lincoln strategy where they just gloss up Chevy's and sell stuff like the Escalade and a Cadillac Equinox because those are easy and high margin.
  21. smk4565
    That 4 cylinder is a diesel with 369 lb-ft of torque though and that was five years ago. I think they pair that engine with a hybrid system now for Euro market cars. There has been a V12 S-class since 1991. Without 12 cylinders you are a pretender, not a contender. Sorry to Lexus, Jaguar and Maserati.
  22. smk4565
    Johan said in an interview that the 2.0 turbo 4 would be standard and the 3.6 liter twin turbo optional. Basically the same power trains in the CTS. He did say in the future there would be a twin turbo V8. I'd imagine that is their V-series. Makes you wonder if this is more of an XTS replacement, can't be an S-class fighter with a 4-cylinder. Even the A7 and CLS have boosted sixes and eights, so what is their competitor?
  23. smk4565
    The A6 isn't quite $400,000. I'd like to see Cadillac spend $2 billion on a S-class/Maybach competitor and put their money where Johan's mouth is.
  24. smk4565
    Why would anyone pay $400,000 for a car with a Corvette motor, when they could just buy a Corvette, for 1/6th the price. All these high dollar cars have a V12 for a reason. Cadillac couldn't even compete with the Mercedes SL, I can't see them pulling off a super car.
  25. smk4565
    That basically looks the same as an XTS or CTS, although with a cleaner appearance and more appropriate front end styling. The CTS LED light bars look a bit over the top and tacky. It looks like a Cadillac should, but it isn't exciting, it just looks sort of slab sided and boring. I guess we are still waiting for the next car to come to really compete with the Germans, and this is just a stop gap replacement to the XTS until it arrives. What is with the Dare Greatly campaign? Another new slogan? Every 2 years they change, BMW has had the same one for like 40 years. Props though for using the kick music from Inception, but that song in French is "I regret nothing" and I am pretty sure they regret the Cimarron.
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