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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Hard to prove the recalls caused values to drop. Pontiac and Saturn resale values were crushed when they killed the brands off. And it isn't like the Cobalt or mid 2000s Malibu or Impala had any resale value to begin with. A lot of the recalled cars are fleet sale queens or discontinued models/brands. But lawyers will be lawyers and try to capitalize on it none the less.
  2. smk4565
    I was in Europe once about 20 years ago when I was 12 years old. I don't remember the cars really. Mercedes may be regular over there now, but they also only have 2 competitors. The Japanese and American luxury brands are non-factors in Europe, Jaguar is a small player and Volvo is barely a luxury brand. All they have to worry about is BMW and Audi and they beat both those brands in Europe. I bought a Mercedes because they have the best engineering and their cars last forever. And I could get a DOHC V8, 7-speed, air suspension, drilled brake rotors, hydraulic power steering, and the luxury features in a used car that was good value. Mercedes does the little things, my car has a pair of white gloves where the spare tire is so your hands don't get dirty if you have to change it. They hit every detail, most of the others don't.
  3. smk4565
    Mercedes have sold commercial trucks and A-class and B-class in Europe for years, and kept their image just fine there, Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac, etc haven't been able to break in. They are selling the CLA and GLA to stop Audi from grabbing all the entry lux badge snobs. BMW seems slow to respond here but they have the 1-series in Europe. Mercedes can't let their two rivals get ahead of them, so this is the result.
  4. smk4565
    I think the GLA will post decent sales. It has the small crossover loom without being too tricky and women like that. I never said the CLA or GLA were the best autos, but they are as good as a Volvo or Acura ILX or VW CC or something like that. Mercedes won't tarnish the image because the S-class is the best car in the world and the C and E are kept near the top of their classes, so they aren't going to scare away the faithful.
  5. smk4565
    If they made these smaller I bet that 4 cylinder would have got 30 mpg.
  6. smk4565
    With the Envision Buick would have a 3 SUV lineup and I think they would be in good shape. The Terrain needs to be a bit bigger than the Envision and at least seem a little bit off road worthy. Then in a sense the Encore and Envision are compact and small, the Terrain can be mid size and you don't have overlap aside from Acadia and Enclave.
  7. smk4565
    You can all knock the CLA but the CLA45 AMG beat the CTS V-Sport in the Car and Driver Lightning Lap, so the performance of the CLA must not be so awful. I never drove a CLA, I have sat in them and they are not as nice as any other Mercedes obviously, but there are worse cars for the money. If the CLA was hurting their image then S-class and E-class sales wouldn't be up and those two wouldn't be easily outselling any of their competitors. Their high end cars are out performing Lexus, BMW and Audi, can't to that with a poor image.
  8. smk4565
    Mercedes isn't going to cut models, that would be like Chevy selling only the Cruze, Malibu and Impala and the Equinox, Tahoe and Silverado. Chevy "carpet bombs" every segment also and it works. Cadillac needs more models and you can blame GM for not giving Cadillac the models that it needs.
  9. smk4565
    Mercedes sells a lot of taxis because their cars are more durable and last longer than any one else. Toyota makes a few strong products, Toyota's strength (aside from manufacturing efficiency) is marketing and brand imaging. They could sell dog poo on wheels, and as long as it has that "T" badge on it people will buy it. The Prius has been a huge marketing symbol for Toyota, and it is a car that is only good at one thing, but since the Prius is the gold standard of fuel economy it makes people think all Toyotas get good gas mileage. I personally think Toyotas are ugly and would never buy one, but they are pretty reliable and cheap to maintain, and the Camry and Avalon are roomy and the build quality is decent. Cadillac doesn't have that brand power that Toyota has for people to just go buy one by default without thinking about it. Hard to build that, and Cadillac doesn't really have a singular focus of what they are or a product that can be an icon for the brand in the way that the Prius has been the icon for Toyota.
  10. smk4565
    Didn't you just contradict yourself there? So much for NOT the moving goal posts. So Audi and Porsche get a pass for pillaging the VW parts and bins because the company as a whole has a bigger budget? Do you even proof read your own garbage? Engineering is NOT who has bigger budget. Engineering is who makes the MOST out of the budget he gets. It took more money to make the movie Gravity than for India to put a Mars mission. And with such a big budget, where is the US government with moving the country forward? My point on Audi is that they get a lot of money from the VW group, just as Cadillac does from GM. But the added advantage Audi has is that they in the past used a Lamborghini V10 in the RS6 and S8, they can do the R8 because the Gallardo engineering work is done already. They can share a platform and engine with the A8 and Bentley Continental. Having those higher end brands lets Audi build a mid engine super car or a 12 cylinder car. Cadillac is probably not going to have a mid-engine super car or a V12 sedan because they don't have the economies of scale that Audi has being part of the VW luxury group. To the engineering point, what has Cadillac made? A bunch or sedans, since 2003 they made 1 generation of a CTS coupe, and now 1 ATS coupe. And the XLR convertible. Three 2-doors, only 1 convertible in 12 years? They make the XTS, ELR and Escalade off Chevy platforms, and the SRX is pretty close to an Equinox. They got the ATS and CTS, but there is no V-series of either, there is no hybrid or diesel on either. Cadillac is basically the American Infiniti, and I think Cadillac's leadership really wants them to be top tier, but I don't know if these guys can get them there.
  11. smk4565
    Mercedes in September posted its best global sales month ever. Their biggest growth sector is the S-class up 105%, granted it is a small volume product at 76,000 sold globally so far this year. The A-Class, B-class, CLA, GLA combined have sold 335,000, but they have sold 261,000 E-class alone. GLK, ML, and GL sales combined at 250,000. Their #1 selling product line is still the E-class. The A/B-class chassis cars are mainly getting their numbers from China and emerging markets. In the USA the CLA is 7.8% of Mercedes sales (barely outselling the S-class), but it gives them a model to bring in younger buyers. If you are waiting for the collapse of Mercedes so that buyers will flee to buy a Cadillac it isn't going to happen. Mercedes keeps improving the S, E and C-class to keep the loyalists coming back. Cadillac better step their game up if they want to be the Standard of the World, and I still believe it comes down to money. Cadillac just can't spend money like the German trio, maybe not even as much as Lexus.
  12. smk4565
    Mercedes and BMW have better brand images than Cadillac. Mercedes just won the Formula 1 world championship Sunday. Cadillac has a more damaged image, I think they are trying to reboot with CT6-5-4-3, to start fresh, but the danger there is generic name products from a weak brand name. It is the problem Lincoln and Acura have, generic names from weak brands. Infiniti also, Q50, Q60 don't mean anything, so the sale comes from an emotional tie to the "Infiniti" brand and they aren't damaged, but they aren't thought of as prestigious either. 2nd problem comes down to money. Cadillac will never have the R&D budget that Mercedes or BMW do, and Audi benefits from a big budget and having other brands above and below them at VW, so there is a lot of money and resources to pull from. When you don't have the money, Cadillac is forced to pull from the Chevy parts bin or do things like an ATS sedan in year 1, ATS coupe in year 3, ATS-V in year 4, and never make a wagon or convertible. They have to stagger product roll outs because the money isn't there to do multiple body styles and engines in 1 year. Give Cadillac a $5 billion a year R&D budget and they can do some damage in the luxury market, but they aren't ever going to get that.
  13. smk4565
    AWD V6 is a poor combo for fuel economy, that hurts Acura compared to some competitors. Probably why they want some FWD and 4 cylinder models to advertise the higher fuel economy. Acura doesn't have a diesel or a turbo 4 in a sedan, they basically are an Accord V6 with AWD to give it a 1-2 mpg penalty. Making every Acura a hybrid of some kind would make them unique, but then you also risk adding cost and trying to sell a $45,000 TLX, and I don't think anyone wants a $45,000 Accord hybrid. Acura has the same problem Lincoln has, you can only do so much with a Ford or Honda, and can't really put a price tag much over $40k on them.
  14. smk4565
    How about they make a RWD car instead of rebodied Civics and Accords.
  15. smk4565
    Most people aren't going more than 200 miles per day, most of the world only drive 40 miles a day or less. The Tesla has plenty of range. For those that need to travel halfway across the country they can get on an airplane.
  16. smk4565
    If they had a cheaper model they would get a lot of younger buyers. I think people under 35 would be more open to an electric car than people over 35. Most people under 35 just can't afford $100,000 car or even a $40,000 car.
  17. smk4565
    Well when Johan was at Audi he seemed to want to be like the 2 more successful Germand brands, then when he went to Infiniti he wanted a naming scheme like Audi had. I don't think we are dealing with a great innovator here.
  18. smk4565
    I think Cadillac should use names because they always did and they have solid heritage names that they threw away. If BMW decided to rename the 3-series the Falcon or Cheetah just for the sake of giving it a word name and for no other reason, I would be critical of them for throwing away 35 years of brand equity. Time will tell, we'll see if Cadillacs new plan is successful.
  19. smk4565
    Probably in the early 80s (when I was born) was the last time Cadillac was on par with Mercedes, but then Cadillac had the failed V8-6-4, the failed diesel, the failed Cimarron and the unreliable 4100 all within a 5 year span. That pretty much did them in, plus they had moved so many of their cars to front wheel drive in the 70s and 80s. In the 80s Mercedes brought the 190E, BMW had the 3-series start it's Car and Driver 10 best streak, the M5 came out late 80s and those two brands started to climb. If you look back to any of those sales training videos or old tv commercials from the late 80s you can tell Cadillac was worried about the Germans, that is why they made the Cimarron in the first place. The Northstar engine was made to compete with the Germans because Lexus and the German cars had DOHC V8s. Problem is it took Cadillac another 10 years to turn the engine to face the rear wheels. I actually always like the Seville, I wasn't a big fan of generation 2, but in 2 tone paint it looked better, gave it a more old fashioned look that went with the bustle back styling. And I like the downsized late 80s Seville and I likes the Northstar Sevilles. I'd much rather see Cadillac make the Seville, Eldorato and Fleetwood than some CT4-5-6-7-8 names. The ATS-V doesn't require going from concept to production which I know takes a couple years. The ATS-V is an engine option, that doesn't take long to do. Mercedes had the AMG versions of the S-class sedan on sale the same model year as the base, they are doing the same with the C-class. I don't see why the ATS-V and CTS-V aren't on sale now, especially if all they are going to do it put a twin turbo V6 which is already in production in the ATS-V and a Corvette engine that is already in production into the CTS-V.
  20. smk4565
    Why would Cadillac release a SECOND 182" long, 4-dr sport sedan in the low $30K range (and up), with RWD & 4 or 6-cylinder power??????????????????? Because de Nysschen said they were looking at a car below the ATS. I am not saying I would do that if I were running Cadillac, but I also wouldn't call my cars CT6 and CT8 and roll out the new XT4 crossover. Maybe he wants to make the CT6 a full size car at $65k like an Equus or K900 and dump the XTS, leave the CTS errr CT4 in the $45-60k range. Maybe the ATS can grow in size to 190 inches in length to make it the size of a gen 1 CTS. Or maybe Cadillac will sell the ATS as it is and add a Cruze based FWD model at the same price. They already offer the CTS and XTS a RWD and a FWD at the same price point. Even better, take the Regal slap some vertical lights and a Cadillac badge on it and they can have an Acura TLX/Lincoln MKZ competitor, so that the ATS would be the $33k car that is small and sporty, the Cadillac Regal would be mid-size and FWD. Cadillac's product planners are clueless, it took them 2 years just to get an ATS coupe out, and where is the ATS-V? Where is any kind of convertible? What would actually be cool and clever is if Cadillac made all future V-series cars plug-in hybrids with a twin turbo V6 and a 200 hp electric motor and some carbon fiber body panels to cut weight. Then the V-series cars wouldn't just be fast they would be green too. The Tesla P85D just threw down the gauntlet with a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds and it is a green machine, why not take the best of electric and gas for the V-series and come up with something new.
  21. smk4565
    Germany didn't really copy America. Post WWII, Mercedes had the 300SL sports car then in the 60s the 600 Grosser which was the most technologically advanced car of the day and they built there legacy on safety and engineering. At no point did Mercedes built land yachts with loads of a chrome and no handling like the 70s Lincolns and Cadillacs. BMW made handling a top priority from the start. Audi after years of unreliable sporty luxury has their act together. But if you look at what the 3 German brands had in the 80s they basically build the same size and style car now.
  22. smk4565
    Cadillac often copies the imports. They blueprinted the SRX after the Lexus RX350, the AtS after the 3-series, the CTS is closer in size to a Jaguar XF, but still in that Euro mid size segment. Cadillac copies what made the others successful thus they tend to be a product cycle behind. If they release a CLA/GLA competitor in 2019, they are again 5 years behind. On the CT8 if they want to compete with the Phantom that is $450,000+ territory, no way could Cadillac pull that off. And to compete with the Ghost of Flying Spur Cadillac would need a V12. Mercedes can put the S600, S65 and S600 Maybach/Pullman in that arena, but I don't see any other brand competing with Rolls or Bentley.
  23. smk4565
    Cadillac needs to be Cadillac and build American luxury cars, and innovate new technology. They can't copy what the Germans do and always be 3-5 years behind. No one mentioned about the 2nd generation ELR, what a waste of time that is. De Nysschen did say it might not be a coupe, maybe this time it will be a crossover sized like a Buick Encore, but priced like an Escalade.
  24. smk4565
    Because Cadillac's goal is to always follow the Germans?
  25. smk4565
    The P85D is crazy fast. I do think it is really impressive that they can make an electric car that is almost GT-R or Corvette Z06 like acceleration.
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