smk4565
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Everything posted by smk4565
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Weren't there 4 of them? Malibu, G6, Aura and 9-3 (which was heavily differentiated) and the G6 and Aura died mid-way through the current Malibu's life cycle. Epsilon 2 has Malibu, Impala, Regal, LaCrosse, XTS and very briefly a 9-5.
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I agree, we look down on taxis in this country because they are crappy Crown Vics. The view is likely different in Europe, and Mercedes are bought for longevity. In Greece, a 1976 Mercedes 240D taxi logged 2.6 million miles, before the owner traded it to the Mercedes museum in exchange for a new C-class. Mercedes has a reputation of being built to last forever, Cadillac still has some baggage of being what old people in Florida drive. WTF has longevity has to compare with perception of "baggage of being what old people drive in FL"? Do you proof before you post? I am just saying that Mercedes, whether it be here or in Europe, has a reputation for being built to last; they have a strong image. Cadillac still has some old geezer image that they were saddled with in the 80s, 90s, and even 2000s with the DTS. Most of the baby boomer generation (the ones buying luxury cars now) grew up with Cadillac and Lincoln being what their parents drove. Cadillac's average buyer is 63, Mercedes 54, BMW 50, Audi 48. So it does seem that the younger buyers go for the German cars over Cadillac. And in Europe Cadillac is a damaged or even unknown brand. That is a massive uphill battle to break into there.
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There are way too many complaints on this car already in a segment where you need to get everything right. The Camry and Accord may be boring, but they have a super loyal customer base and build quality and reliability. The masses trust those nameplates. The Sonata, Optima, Fusion and Altima are proven winners as well, and none of those six cars I just mentioned have multiple glaring flaws like the Malibu does. GM dropped the ball here, and perhaps there are too many Epsilon 2 cars and they can't manage them all.
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I agree, we look down on taxis in this country because they are crappy Crown Vics. The view is likely different in Europe, and Mercedes are bought for longevity. In Greece, a 1976 Mercedes 240D taxi logged 2.6 million miles, before the owner traded it to the Mercedes museum in exchange for a new C-class. Mercedes has a reputation of being built to last forever, Cadillac still has some baggage of being what old people in Florida drive.
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Yet Daimler set a company record with $8 billion in net profit in 2011. That is $3,791 per vehicle, compared to General Motors who made $844 per vehicle sold in 2011. GM sold 7 million more vehicles than Daimler last year, yet Daimler made more money, so those taxis must be pretty profitable. Again, the Daimler business plan works, it may not work for everyone else, but it works for them.
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I sat in one of these (display car) that was an uplevel trim, didn't look to see if it was LTZ and I did like the color selections and thought they used some nice materials. Didn't look that closely on quality or fit and finish. The lack of interior and truck space, bland driving and high price will hurt this car big time. $29,000+ gets you a Jetta or Passat TDI or Camry or Sonata hybrid that will crush the Malibu in mileage. Plus, new Accord and new Fusion about to go on sales, new Altima just came out, this segment is loaded right now.
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Mercedes (Mercedes brand cars, no Smart or Maybach or Sprinter) sold 1,261,000 cars in 2011. Only 245,000 of those were in the United States. They don't rely on any one country or region for survival, they have sales all over the world and growth sectors all over the world. As far as trucks go, their trucks are the best in Europe, the Actros wins truck of the year frequently. Mercedes past 3 years were the best in company history, at the same time, Lexus, Acura, Cadillac, and Lincoln are having some of the worst years in company history. If Mercedes business plan were so flawed, others would catch them. But as it is, the others just keep falling behind.
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Lincoln News: Lincoln To Focus On High Volume Segments
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Lincoln
They still make Lincolns? -
Because the FWD SRX is $10,000 cheaper than the rwd one. The Malibu also outsells the CTS, maybe the CTS should go FWD and get a $28,995 base price so they can get more sales.
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Mercedes makes the A and B-class for markets that request that type of vehicle. If gas were $8 per gallon here, how many V8 trucks and SUVs would be sold? In 2011 a lot of countries in Europe were over $9 per gallon, before dropping some this year. There are parts of the world where people expect 50 mpg from a family car or luxury car, that is why Mercedes builds that car.
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GM does by and large follow the Toyota playbook, though...offering a wide variety of boring FWD appliances..Ford is on the same plan, unfortunately. Yes they do, the Cruze is mostly boring and geared toward the Civic/Corolla, the Impala is being repositioned to take on the Avalon, which Ford already did with the Taurus. Toyota/Scion has the iQ, and here comes the Chevy Spark to compete. Rav4 and Highlander go unibody crossover, GM SUV's aren't far behind. Lexus has the RX, Cadillac has the SRX. To a large extent, the Toyota playbook works though, that is why others follow.
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BMW is making more profit than GM is this year. BMW also posted a healthy $6.4 billion profit last year, about $1 billion less than GM did, and GM is a far larger company. BMW will be fine, although I wouldn't be surprised if Suzuki and/or Mazda fail.
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I think the ATS should get a 3800 V6 Supercharged instead of the 2.0T engine or 3.6 V6. BMW, Audi and Mercedes are all wrong by offering turbo fours, people really want a 3.8 liter V6 in their compact luxury sedan.
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Maybach isn't a core product, and was a failure. They are focusing on the core products by dumping that and putting the efforts into the S-class. They aren't trying to be Toyota either, that is what GM is doing, making Cadillac a Lexus clone, and Chevy a Toyota clone.
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Jaguar News: Jaguar Announces 4- and 6-Cylinder Engines, AWD For XF and XJ
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Jaguar
Jaguar has a nice diesel V6 too, it makes around 265 hp and 440 lb-ft. I would be more fuel efficient than the 2.0 turbo also. I don't get the crazy push to put turbo 4's in everything from the Verano and Subarus, all the way up to Jags and BMWs, when a diesel will give better fuel economy and better acceleration. -
Cadillac has been 90% DOHC since 1992 and 99% DOHC since 1997. Perhaps there is another reason for the difference or do you just wish to continue to harp on the inane? Oldsmobile was the division inside GM with more DOHC models than any other outside of Cadillac..... It really helped them. In fact, I'm probably buying a 2012 Toronado tomorrow. Not just on DOHC, but size of vehicles, engine options, safety, design, marketing, etc. On the whole, those 3 brands are doing quite well and had success that Lexus or Cadillac can't match, and forget the rest like Infiniti, Acura or Lincoln.
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Why would a diesel hybrid be harder to do? Apparently the stop/start feature of hybrids leads to some refinement issues on a diesel engine, but a review I read of the E300 Bluetec Hybrid says it is pretty seamless. Cost is a factor also. It must not be easy to do since no manufacturer outside of Mercedes and Puegot/Citroen makes one. The E400 isn't the car we want though, the better choice is the E300 bluetec hybrid because it has 224 hp and can still get the E-class from 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, but it gets a Prius beating 56 mpg.
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My guess is that Audi, Mercedes and BMW are doing something right since they each sell over 1 million cars per year, and each year they are setting records for sales and profit. They already have the formula down. Cadillac doesn't need to invent the mousetrap here, just try to build a better one.
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I drove one of those a couple years ago, it was rather floaty and poor handling for a RWD car, and sadly they killed the V8 on it a couple years ago.
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Jaguar News: Jaguar Announces 4- and 6-Cylinder Engines, AWD For XF and XJ
smk4565 replied to William Maley's topic in Jaguar
It is good for business to have more fuel efficient options and all wheel drive. It is a bit of a shame that the 5.0 V8 is gone, 340 hp is a bit weak, and it is a big jump in horsepower and MSRP to get to the supercharged V8. I will miss all Jags having a big V8 and rear drive. -
So put a 4.0 liter DOHC twin-supercharged V8 that revs to 10,000 RPM and is hand built for all I care. The V-series Cadillacs should have something better than what any Chevrolet product offers. It is not only Cadillac, it is V-series Cadillac. AMG has engines that cost $18,000 to build, they don't care if an AMG car is expensive, it is rare, people pay for exclusivity.
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Define 'M-B cars'. They also have 5-6 times as many models, don't forget. M-B cars would be the A-class up to the S-class, and the GLK up to the G-wagen SUV. Cars/SUVs sold at dealerships. M-B commercial trucks would be Sprinter, semi-trucks, dump drucks, etc. Then they have Freightliner, Thomas Built Buses, and the other product lines. They have a lot of product lines, but they fund them all.
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The problem with the E400 is the diesel is better. They should put the hybrid system on to the Diesel V6 or even the turbo 4 diesel if they really want to sky rocket the fuel economy. I know diesel-hybrid is a bit harder to do, but I remember reading that Mercedes has pretty much got it figured out.
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Personally, I'd like to see Cadillac get an exclusive DOHC V8 again, but time, money and CAFE will probably prevent that.
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But before they do that, they need to ask a simple question. Why is a 3.6 Bi-turbo V6 better than a 6.2 Gen V DI V8? Because a Nissan GT-R lays waste to anything GM has ever made?
