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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    How is that not chasing sales volume working out for Lincoln?
  2. smk4565
    What's shameful is how wholey mercedes is chasing sales volume. Because car makers are successful with fewer sales? I am sure GM would like to sell 7500 ATS per month and 5,000 CTS. Mercedes has has C, E, S-class in coupe and sedan form (and some wagons for the E) for about 40 years, the SL has been around for 60 years. They added the SLK in the 90s and added SUV as all luxury makers did. The only new look for volume is the CLA and coming GLA which is needed due to global economic downturn and fuel regulations, they need attract buyers that can't afford their expensive stuff, and they need CAFE helpers to offset the AMG cars. What they do is no different than Chevy offering the Spark and Sonic, why doesn't Chey just start with the Cruze and go to Malibu and Impala and have 3 sedans. Because they too need entry level cars and CAFE helpers, and don't want Ford, Toyota and Honda to take all the sales in the $12-18,000 segments. And I don't see how they are chasing volume when the C-class, E-class and S-class are all priced HIGHER than their competitors, they aren't trying to undercut Lexus or Cadillac or Audi on price. Lexus's whole plan was to undercut the Germans on price in hope for sales volume, that has been the philosophy since 1989.
  3. smk4565
    The 2014 Regal won't sell either. It it too expensive for that it is, why buy a 184 hp Regal over a V6 Azera or Cadenza which are only slightly bigger and have way more features, and look better. The Verano when I see it on the road actually looks better than the Regal. I think the Regal is worse then the Fusion, Accord, Optima/Sonata, Camry, etc, yet it costs a good $5,000 more than those cars.
  4. smk4565
    What is funny, is I bet with the loss of coupe/convertible sales off the 3-series chart, the C-class which for 2015 will have an all new model will outsell it. Then C-class will outsell 3-series, E-class outsells 5-series, and the S-class outsells the 7-series. Mercedes will have all 3, after about a 30 year stronghold from the 3-series.
  5. smk4565

    Doors!

    smk4565 replied to ocnblu's topic in Cadillac

    I just had a thought, it still has less power than an Equus. Maybe the ad should be the 2 of those drag racing, since people that buy either are likely to drag race on their way to Walgreens or bingo.
  6. smk4565

    Doors!

    smk4565 replied to ocnblu's topic in Cadillac

    Agreed that the music wasn't too good. I am not sure why they now try to market the XTS as a sports sedan, when the CTS is here for that. Cadillac falls into the same luxury car ad trap that Lexus and Audi do, they put a BMW or Mercedes in the background and make some claim on how their car does something better. The leaders advertise based on the merit of the brand image or the product attributes. The followers make a claim like "the Lexus IS350 has more horsepower than a 335i" but big deal, it is a slower car with worse handling, but Lexus has to try to make some comparative claim because the car is vanilla and no one buys it.
  7. smk4565
    BMW is on SUV overload, I don't think SUVs are the ultimate driving machine.
  8. smk4565
    I like it, looks really nice, a bit of SLS in the tail lights, and CL was a lame name anyway, better to be S-class Coupe like it used to be.
  9. smk4565
    They should just close this brand down already. The product line is terrible, the advertising is terrible, they have no consistent design language, and no strategy for the future. They can't compete with the German and Japanese luxury brands, they can't keep up with the money those brands spend, and those brands have a big lead already. So that leaves them to battle Buick and Chrysler, and I don't think Lincoln can even do that, their lineup is worse than Buick's and the Fusion is actually nicer than the Lincoln version.
  10. smk4565
    We are going to leave that one in the closet.
  11. smk4565
    There was a Cadillac Calais in the late 60s, early 70s. I don't like the name, but they don't have a lot of names in the arsenal that are any good besides Eldorado and Fleetwood.
  12. smk4565
    I don't think it would really sell, these hybrid sports cars cost a lot, and are more novelty cars. Is there a business case for it? Most Corvette buyers are 55-65 years old and fans of old school muscle cars. It could attract new buyers, but I think if you were going to go with a hybrid, you'd want a boosted V6 or a smaller engine than what is in there now. I suppose come 2025 everything will have a hybrid or diesel option to hit the CAFE target.
  13. smk4565
    So is this going to race in some Euro touring car series, or is this for wanna be race car drivers to take to track days?
  14. smk4565
    It looks like a 3-series sedan. The problem with this and the 6-series Gran Coupe, is they don't at all look like coupes. At least the Audi A7 for as ugly as it is, has that sloped rear. The original CLS which started all this madness, looked sort of like a coupe form the side. This looks like a sedan and is pretty pointless, but someone will pay an extra $3,000 for it even though it is the same as a 3-series.
  15. smk4565
    Omega sedan should be Fleetwood, Omega coupe should be Eldorado. CTS renamed to Seville, ATS renamed to LaSalle. Escalade keeps its name, and I am sure they can find some French names for the future crossovers. XTS could be renamed Calais so that people don't associate it with the Deville.
  16. smk4565
    SRX had a huge month, I wonder what caused it. CTS was better than last month, but the year end close out deals have to be good there. The Regal is dying on the vine, although the other Buicks are doing really well. Impala must be running out of the old fleet queens since the sales numbers are coming down. The pickups and SUVs did well, proving again that Americans like trucks. The economy must be picking up.
  17. smk4565
    Every year there is a new slogan, I guess the "standard of the world" of no more. I think they just come up with lines based on what they think might create some sales in the next 6 months. They never think of a slogan that they can use for 20-30 years. BMW has been "ultimate driving machine" for 30 years, consistency is good, people know what BMW stands for. "Be Lucky" sounds like a sign outside of a cheesy casino.
  18. smk4565
    I like it, I think it looks good. It has some P1800 in it, and the rear 3/4 angle and C-pillar have a bit of Jaguar XK in it. It is nice to see a coupe with some style, rather than the wagons and SUVs they usually make, or that ugly S60.
  19. smk4565
    Except it is widely believed, and I think Car and Driver confirmed, that the ATS-V will have a 420 hp V6. If that is the top end, there isn't really any point in having an engine between the 3.6 and twin turbo 3.6. If the ATS-V had 500 hp, then for sure, I think there is space between 320 hp and 500. But engine sizes are dropping, I think Cadillac is better off making a turbo diesel 4 cylinder for the ATS rather than a 500 hp model. These F-sport and V-sport sort of reminds me of the old Chevy Eurosport days, it is just a marketing ploy. Is it so bad to call it CTS 2.0T, 3.6 and 3.6TT.
  20. smk4565
    Right, I mean if they do an SRX V-sport, hopefully that has a turbo, unlike the RX350 F-sport which has the same engine as a Camry.
  21. smk4565
    That looks like an SUV, which is pretty lame. Much like Mini Cooper trying to make an SUV, it doesn't make sense.
  22. smk4565
    It is all marketing, and a way to drive up prices. Every car company does it. The best example is probably the F-sport package on the Lexus RX350. It costs $6,000 more than the base AWD RX350, and for that you get an 8-speed transmission, 19 inch wheels and "exclusive interior and exterior styling details." It probably doesn't cost them much more to make an 8 speed vs a 6-speed, the cost difference between a 19 inch and 18 inch wheel is pretty marginal, and "exclusive styling" is a black headliner and some plastic molding on the bumpers. It probably doesn't cost more than $1000 in parts to make the F-sport trim, yet they charge $6,000. All a marketing ploy to drive the price up. So making V-sport cars is a way to for Cadillac to advertise the low price of the base model, then gouge on the price for the sports model. An ATS 3.6 for example is $43,000, but with the same engine and a V-sport appearance package, they could charge $48,000, more profit for Cadillac. I think a lot of these sport packages aren't worth the price. In the old days the better model had a V8 and interior upgrades and other things to justify the price increase over the base model. Now that big engines are dying, the marketing people need to find something new to make money on, so we get things like F-sport that have the exact same horsepower as the base model for $6,000 more. Hopefully all Cadillac V-sports have an engine upgrade, as the CTS and XTS have shown.
  23. smk4565
    So where does the Omega crossover slot in? Above the Escalade? And can Cadillac support 2 SUVs in high price range, when their previous high dollar offerings have failed. I'm seeing a $30k small crossover, a new SRX at $40k and a Lambda crossover at $50k. That way they can keep the Escalade at $65k as their top SUV. And is Escalade is going to have a word for a name, then all Cadillacs should. It makes no sense to make a BRX, SRX, CRX, Subaru WRX, or XRX or whatever they come up with for the 3 crossovers, then call the other SUV Escalade. Everything should have a name, Alphabet soup names have failed Cadillac and Lincoln, Infiniti has a mess of a naming structure too. These companies so desperately want to copy the Germans they will do anything.
  24. smk4565
    At least they state the truth, rather than live in a fantasy world. Really Lincoln should try to be the Buick-Chrysler competitor, and not even try to keep up with the luxury brands. They don't have the products to do it, and they aren't going to get them. Lincoln isn't going to come out with exclusive rear drive chassis, or 8-10 speed transmissions and new engines, etc. Ford should just shut Lincoln down, but like GMC, it probably turns a profit because there is so little money invested into it.
  25. smk4565
    Hopefully SRX goes to Alpha platform. I could see them doing a Gamma or Delta based crossover to take on the GLA, then SRX gets redone off teh Equinox platform and a Lambda crossover is added. But what good does 3 FWD crossovers do them? Plus Lambda came out in 2007, is Cadillac going to get a version of it in 2016, it will be really dated by then.
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