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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Agreed with Reg, GM is always chasing. They can rush the new Silverado, but it is still 4 years away, when the aluminum, Ecoboost F150 is here, the Ram diesel is here. They didn't go far enough with the 2014 Silverado, when they redo it, you wonder if they will do enough to leapfrog the competition, or if they will just catch up to Ford's 2015 model and see the goalpost moved on them again.
  2. smk4565
    C-class comes out this fall, so I guess we'll see how long it takes for coupe and AMG models to follow. Maserati I don't think is making much impact here, but the Quatroporte and Gran Turismo use a Ferrari engine at about half the cost of a Ferrari, so that is their appeal. Cadillac uses a Chevy engine at double the cost of a Chevy.
  3. smk4565
    Good points on several accounts. I think the Chrsyler brand is the one to dump, becaue VW could sell a minivan and they could take the 300 and turn it into a VW Phaeton priced in the $36-50k range, it could still be a large RWD american flavor sedan, but with more of a VW look inside and out, and then you don't have an $75k Phaeton that no one is going to buy, and it gives VW a car above the Passat, and it splits the Charger and "new Phaeton" out of the same price point. Rename the Chrysler 200 and give it to Dodge to replace that awful Avenger, then Dodge and VW both have strong lineups. Jeep is in good shape, with VW's European and South American sales network they can sell more cars there. The luxury brands do well, not much needed to do there. They would have to make layoffs in certain places obviously, but maybe not 20,000. The problem for Volkswagen is the VW brand doesn't make a lot of profit but they can't really expect them to produce Audi-like profit margins. Ferdinand Piech is worth over $5 billion, maybe Piech should have had this idea a few years ago and just bought Chrysler himself and forced a merger. He is 77 years old, so if he wants to create a lasting legacy he better move quickly.
  4. smk4565
    I agree that this is one of the better looking S-classes in a while probably since the W126 model. The previous one had sort of an imposing look, but the wheel fenders were a bit tacky as time went on. I'm not a fan of black wheels or red brake calipers, those are options I'd leave behind for sure. I have wondered how much better Active Body Control makes it, and I've read and seen reviews that with the road scanning suspension that the car basically glides over anything without feeling it. My car has Airmatic which is great for ride quality but I can see how ABC would help take out any body roll or lean. I myself thought they would have used the 9-speed, but perhaps they didn't want to risk a new model with a new transmission, but 2015 S-classes still have the 7-speed. The 2015 CLS will be the first to get the 9-speed, then it will spread to other models, that should help fuel efficiency. But the S63 still gets better mileage than a CTS-V or BMW M5 despite being larger and more powerful than both of them, and having AWD which hurts fuel economy.
  5. smk4565
    Buick is also supposed to get the Opel Cascada convertible, which GM sorely needs a convertible that isn't a Camaro or Corvette. Especially since Honda and Toyota gave up on convertibles too, the market is wide open.
  6. smk4565
    Perhaps this is where Piech's grand plan could come into play. If he could add Jeep and Maserati to the VW portfolio, he'd have 2 brands that are solid on a profitability basis. To get VW more profitable he could streamline Chrysler's and Fiat's products into VW, get more sales out of VW without really having to spend more on development costs. Plus if VW took over FCA then you don't need all that duplicate payroll, HR, accounting, etc. They can streamline there also. More likely though they'll just cut jobs and downsize, but few companies really cut their way to prosperity.
  7. smk4565
    I bet it comes to the USA, because the Encore is really little, and the Enclave is over 200 inches long and has 3 rows of seats. It would be like Chevy selling a Sonic and Impala with nothing in between. But as they continue to fill the Buick-GMC showrooms with Buick SUVs, what does that do to GMC? At one point Buick was cars, GMC was trucks, sort of like Jaguar-Land Rover. But if Buick has 3 crossovers, and Chevy makes the same stuff GMC makes, does GMC really need to exist, unless GMC was going to be a work truck brand like Ram sort of is. I think Cadillac should make a crossover off the CTS, but I can see the bean counters saying that costs too much, lets turn this Buick into a Cadillac to compete with the GLA, Q3, X1, X3, and the Lincoln Escape.
  8. smk4565
    The CTS-V is coming next year. Even the Germans release their Hi-Po versions a year or 2 after the pedestrian model comes out. Except the S63 AMG that came out the same model year as the S550, and the S600 and S65 were released 6 months later. On the S-class coupe the AMG versions available right away. BMW is a bit slower though.
  9. smk4565
    I read this thing is about 183 inches long, this could produce a Cadillac to go below the SRX, although the SRX bases around $35k, I'd imagine Buick is looking to price the Envision around $30k to split the difference between Encore and Enclave. But Cadillac's new boss wanted to take Infiniti into the small and compact area, I bet he will want to do the same somehow with Cadillac. Tough though with Buick and GMC there.
  10. smk4565
    Oh no, not the ELR too!
  11. smk4565
    It looks similar in shape and style from what can be seen, so I assume it will be an evolution of the current car. It does appear to have even less head room or side window glass, that confined feeling interior may return. It looks big to me, when you see it next to the Impala, it doesn't look that much smaller, and the Impala is a big car.
  12. smk4565
    If VW bought Fiat they would be producing about 14 million cars per year, I'd imagine they would have to phase out some brands, Skoda and Seat could surely go away. But you do wonder if it is manageable, or if they will try.
  13. smk4565
    Agreed. If we had gas at $6 a gallon, let alone the $8-9 per gallon they have in Europe, sedans and station wagons with 4 cylinder diesels would take over. $3.80 a gallon is relatively cheap and the car companies market the crossovers. I'll take a sedan any day and take the better handling, I could drive a coupe every day if I wanted, but there wasn't a coupe I liked that I could afford. I did see a Jaguar F-type on the road today, looked absolutely epic and sounded even better. I wouldn't mind driving that every day.
  14. smk4565
    I for one would like to see the Auto Union comeback, the potential of this deal would be huge, but they would have to shudder some brands in the process. VW would gain in markets they are weak though, and the economies of scale could really come to be a big advantage. I see it like this: Fiat does what it does with the compact cars, VW could build a future Up! off the Fiat 500 platform. VW adds the Chrysler minivan and a 300C based RWD sedan to slot above the Passat, Chrysler brand is shut down. VW adds Ram pickups in global markets outside the USA, a small pickup could be sold under Ram name here and VW name abroad. Jeep expands globally since the Cherokee can be built in Fiat/Alfa factories, as could the Renegade. Future Grand Cherokee, Toureg and Cayenne could platform share. Maserati could platform share with Audi, which gets the A8 and A6 on a RWD platform. Quattroporte, A8 and Bentley Continental/Flying Spur would platform share, Ghibli and A6 could also. They could share a lot of engines and transmissions also. Alfa Romeo expands globally as the smaller, more value oriented performance/luxury brand. The Mito and Giulietta would platform share with the Fiat 500/VW Up! and VW Golf. I think Alfa could potentially replace Dodge, but the Charger/Challenger wouldn't fit in with Alfa.
  15. smk4565
    Ferdinand Piech reportedly has a grand plan to make VW the #1 auto manufacturer in the world by buying up Fiat-Chrysler. VW has $24 billion in cash so they have the money to buy controlling interest in FCA, assuming they could get the regulatory approvals. He would then revive the Auto Union name to be the parent company with Fiat, VW, Jeep, Chrysler/Dodge and a luxury group of Alfa Romeo, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Maserati and Porsche. This would give VW a substantial lead in global sales volume over GM or Toyota. Full Story at link: http://europe.autonews.com/article/20140721/COPY/307259994/a-vw-fca-deal-would-be-risky-reasonable
  16. smk4565
    They still don't have an ATS-V or a CTS-V on this body style. I still think if they want to get noticed in Europe they need something special. Which doesn't have to just be a sports car, it could be a plug in hybrid or something too.
  17. smk4565
    Audi since they introduced the R8 has seen sales rise, Mercedes had the SLR McLaren and SLS AMG, these sort of cars help the brand image which helps luxury car sales. BMW hasn't had a super car, but they did manage to think of every body style possible in the 3 and 5 ranges, If Cadillac goes into Europe with 2 sedans and 1 crossover, it isn't really a lot to get people excited or get on TV shows or written about in magazines. Easy to go overlooked.
  18. smk4565
    They could just make AWD optional on the CTS V-sport, they could make it optional on the CTS-V even. But I supposed they have to justify the XTS's existence some how.
  19. smk4565
    They still make these? I remember when the Fx35 first came out, it seems like 10 years ago, oh wait, it was 12 years ago! And it looks the same! Save for newer headlights, more horsepower and a new nav-system.
  20. smk4565
    I don't get why anyone would buy this over a CTS V-sport? If you want performance you are going to want the CTS, if you don't want performance and like the XTS then 300 hp is probably plenty for that type of buyer. I bet these will be a rare breed.
  21. smk4565
    That is good news, but why put it in a pick up and leave Cadillac with a 6-speed on most cars? I assume this is the Aisin unit and not GM's own?
  22. smk4565
    The commitment isn't there obviously. If they aren't willing to build dealerships, or make diesel engines or hybrids, or do the marketing, etc, then it isn't going to work. They have to go all in or not at all, and I don't think Cadillac/GM really has the money to go all in. Plus Cadillac still has no halo products, no convertibles, there isn't anything dramatic there to catch attention. And yes I know they'll put a Corvette engine in a CTS but that hasn't really made the CTS light up sales charts here, it isn't going to do anything in the land of $9 per gallon.
  23. smk4565
    No guts, no glory.
  24. smk4565
    Seems like this missle launcher came from Russia and Putin, he is a scumbag. Bad luck for Malaysian Airlines, I feel bad for the people that work there and rely on their jobs, because you have to wonder if that airline is going to fold. I know most don't want to get involved with stuff half way around the world when we have plenty of issues here in the USA to fix, but how long do we let Al-Assad kill his own people or Putin supply weapons to terrorists, or Iran or Syria harbor terrorists, etc. I think at some point you have to teach these people a lesson and I don't know if economic sanctions are enough.
  25. smk4565
    The plus side to doing this is they should learn a lot about what European buyers want and what these prospective buyers like or don't like about the cars. Without a solid dealer network and sales and service channel through Europe it is going to be hard to sell cars. Plus European luxury cars are half diesel, the 2.0 turbo is too thirsty compared to 50 mpg A4's and 3-series sold in Europe. Gas prices range from $8-9.20 per gallon in Europe with diesel ranging $7-9 per gallon. With prices like that you have to have high mileage options, Cadillac doesn't have that.
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