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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    $10,000 off a $100,000 car is the same as $2,000 off a $20,000 car. Silverado has $4500 off this month, that is more than 10% of the MSRP. The S-class is the most profitable car Mercedes makes, and it sells better than any competitor. There is really no problem with it. Mercedes-Benz passenger car division makes more profit than all of General Motors. Where is all the profit from GMC truck and Cadillac? New grille and badge isn't going to save them, they need new marketing and better cars.
  2. smk4565
    I found that currently Mercedes has about $2,800 in incentives per car and BMW $3,100. GM is offering about $3700 per car in July but they have $4500 on Silverado so that pushes the average. Cadillac and Audi I couldn't find a breakdown from the parent company it gets lumped in with GM and VW. I think if it were as simple to give $1500 cash back plus 0% finance on all Cadillacs and get BMW sales numbers GM would have done that. The problem is deeper, it is brand image and the product.
  3. smk4565
    Can't wait for the new C30, C50, and C70,sedans and CX40 and CX80 SUVs!
  4. smk4565
    I haven't driven a CLA, sat it one at the auto show and wasn't impressed. The Mercedes build quality is there in that everything fits together tightly, but the materials aren't what you'd expect in a Benz. The A3 sells because younger people like Audi's and people trading in their Jetta probably like the A3. Mercedes buyers want an E-class with tank like feel and legendary ride quality. The CLA doesn't seem to be competing or taking sales from other Mercedes though, so if nothing else, the CLA kept another 1600 people a month from buying an A3 or Acura ILX.
  5. smk4565
    Dwight nailed it. Lincoln does that black plastic touch button thing too, I will take real buttons any day. GM's incentive spend is $3,376 per car, highest of the biggest 8 automakers, the industry average is $2,450. January 2014 was the newest I could find, but GM was spending $3,600 per car in incentives in 2012 also. http://www.ibtimes.com/here-are-january-2014-big-8-us-auto-sales-numbers-gm-ford-chrysler-toyota-honda-nissan-kiahyundai So the deals and incentives are there, the Cadillac sales problem is half product, half brand image in my mind. Both are hard to fix.
  6. smk4565
    GM discounts as much as anyone. Cadillac can't match BMW leases though because Cadillacs depreciate too quickly. Cadillac can offer free maintenance or cheap leases, if that is all it takes to sell cars but I think the problem is in the product and not the lease payment.
  7. smk4565
    Audi is doing well because of the A3 but those younger buyers are key to get if they can get repeat business. The Lexus IS sales are up 118% this year, I would say they are surging. The 3-series is up 5% but by far the best seller in the class beating the C-class 2 to 1 right now. The ATS is down 22%. Buyers are looking elsewhere, if badge is what is hurting Cadillac then they need a flagship sedan and a mid engine supercar or something to build image.
  8. smk4565
    The 335 twin turbo six gets better gas milage than the ATS 2.0T. The ATS needs new engines and transmissions not a new logo on the front. Audi and Lexus are starting to surge in this segment too, the ATS needs more help than it got, but maybe that is coming next year.
  9. smk4565
    If the ATS is so good why is it the 5th best selling car in the class? The car is a dud, the XTS is becoming a dud also, as it gets older on market it will become damaged goods like the DTS.
  10. smk4565
    Not a fan of the new badge either, the Wreath and Crest division is now just the Crest, a form of toothpaste.
  11. smk4565
    Well the C-class is being replaced for 2015, new interior and new engines. Plus M-B is bringing an inline six in 2017-2018, so another all new engine is just 3 years away.
  12. smk4565
    Buick isn't a luxury car though, nor will they ever be. Buick has had a resurgence but they couldn't replace Cadillac and start selling $50-60,000 sedans. I think Buick in recent years has been helped by the demise of Mercury, Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Pontiac, and years of lackluster Chrysler Sebrings and basically no Chrysler SUVs the past five years. VW has also shifted a bit down market. Buick basically has to compete with Acura, Volvo and Lincoln, not really much going on with those brands.
  13. smk4565
    The biggest issue is that it doesn't say BMW or Mercedes on it. But Lexus has got some sales increase recently with the IS350 and that has a dated engine and transmission also. ATS to me feels smaller inside than any of the German sedans, the build quality just doesn't seem there either, reminds me too much of a Chevy when I sit in one. Powertrains are yesterdays news, they should have an 8 speed transmission, better fuel economy, more power and refinement, etc. CTS is in the same boat, dated powertrains, weak marketing and I feel like the CTS's 2 biggest competitors come from its own showroom, because the ATS looks similar and is $10k cheaper, the XTS is priced identical to the CTS so 2 cars compete for the same dollar. An amazing stat is that Audi sold as many cars in China in June as Cadillac sold there in all of 2013. Audi is on pace for over 500,000 sales in China this year, Cadillac's global volume is less than that. Cadillac may just be too far behind to ever catch up.
  14. smk4565
    Jaguar has blinged out interiors with a lot of bright work also, at least on the XJ. The BMW interior may be the same basic look they have used for 15 years but people seem to be buying it still. The 3-series outsells the ATS like 5-1, so BMW must have something right. Brand image hurts Cadillac, I just don't think a lot of luxury buyers aspire to own a Cadillac or drive a Cadillac, the old guard it still buying Mercedes, baby boomers like Lexus and the younger people like BMW and Audi.
  15. smk4565
    Marketing is a problem, but even good marketing isn't going to save Cadillac. Their lineup is limited to 3 sedans, a FWD crossover and a rebadged Tahoe, not exactly a full line and they don't have a hybrid or a diesel. The other guys all have hybrids, diesels, convertibles, sports cars, etc. I don't think the competitors are so flawed except Lincoln and Acura which are basically non factors. Infiniti I think is a bit lost with the names and they made the Q50 a bit too big and expensive, it is too big and costly to compete with a 3-series but too small to compete with a 5-series. Infiniti is sort of stuck where Cadillac is, they don't have a full line or the money to go head to head with the Germans. I think a downside to Cadillac interiors is the shiny piano black plastic and the chrome knobs and buttons, it just seems to tacky and blingy inside their cars. And little things like the carpet seem like what Chevy has in it, the interiors of the ATS and CTS feel cramped. It is a lot of little stuff but it adds up, combine that with the powertrains that are a bit dated and buyers start to look elsewhere.
  16. smk4565
    Even at a $10,000 discount, the S-class is still going to have transaction prices around $100-105K. None of the competitors can claim that sort of price. I can't find the article, but Mercedes did add Saturday shifts and overtime to the factory that produces the S-class last winter, which put them at max capacity which is like 460 cars per day. I did read that just recently they started S-class production in India because they can build about 20,000 cars per year there to sell in Asia. Up until then I think all S-class were built in Germany, thus why the factory is maxed out when trying to meed demand in Europe, North America, Middle East, China, etc.
  17. smk4565
    I think people don't like CUE, I think the new ATS and CTS look a bit boring, especially from the back, and my guess is you are right about powertrains. Problem is Mercedes spends about $2 billion in development per model line. Cadillac doesn't have that sort of budget to work with. Audi spent $3.9 billion in R&D in 2012, BMW spent $5.4 billion, while Mercedes spent a whopping $7.6 billion. General Motors spent $7.4 billion in 2012 and that has to be divided up among Buick, Chevy, GMC, Cadillac, Opel, etc.
  18. smk4565
    I am not saying GM focusing on trucks is a bad thing, that is what they do because it is what they are good at and what they are able to sell. I think crossover buyers are less demanding, and Toyota's and Honda's crossovers are pretty ugly so it is easy for Chevy and Buick and Ford also to capitalize on that market. Same with pick up trucks, the Detroit 3 have that market cornered and they reap the profits because pickup buyers will shell out money for trucks. I am just saying that I am not surprised that Cruze and Malibu have lackluster sales because they are lackluster products that GM doesn't really spend time developing or marketing. It isn't any different than in the 90s or 2000s when the Cavalier, Cobalt, Lumina, Monte Carlo, etc didn't get much effort put into them. It is just the way they do things, that is why they keep GMC and give Buick 3 SUVs so Buick-GMC dealers have 6 SUVs and 3 sedans. They want to sell trucks, and there is nothing wrong with that. I'd like to see proof that S-classes are selling at $15,000 off sticker, when demand is so high the factory is producing cars at 100% capacity. The Mercedes dealer nearest me has 13 S-class on the lot, the cheapest one is $108,655 and there are no lease specials and only a 2.99% finance special, which is no better than what local banks offer. My guess is the discounts over at Lexus, Audi and BMW on their big sedans are much more since the S-class is whipping them all. I think the S-class will be even less likely to get discounted once the coupe arrives, those will probably sell over sticker at first.
  19. smk4565
    Customers do love them, but at Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc the top sellers are still sedans.
  20. smk4565
    Agreed. VW brand itself is not very profitable, but they have serious cash cow brands in Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti.
  21. smk4565
    I smell an Equinox with a Buick front end coming. GM loves crossovers like they used to love W-body sedans.
  22. smk4565
    Caddy is still undercutting the Germans in price, the CTS is about $6,000 cheaper than the E-class base price, the ATS is $3,000 cheaper than the Audi A4. I don't think the ATS is too small when the 3-series sales are on fire and the C-class which came out 7 years ago is still selling strong. Demand is up on the A3 and A4 and Lexus IS also. Basically every small luxury car is on fire except the ATS. Cadillacs need to get better, not bigger or cheaper. They do need better marketing, their ads are hopeless, don't promote the brand, don't promote the models, don't really sell the features of the car, it is pretty much a lost cause all around. I think their last good commercial had Led Zeppelin in it.
  23. smk4565
    Porsche does make a car with 887 hp though. The Bugatti Veyron has 1200 hp, but that is made in France even though Volkswagen makes it. But 707 hp in a non-super car is crazy, so kudos for Chrysler for going big.
  24. smk4565
    That is a crazy amount of horsepower. Awesome from a marketing standpoint, but it probably does handle terribly and shreds tires.
  25. smk4565
    Mullaly wanted to kill Lincoln too, but now that he is gone Mark Fields wants to keep Lincoln. Lincoln sales are awful, I don't know why they are still bothering.
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