smk4565

Great design couldn't save the XLR. I think the XLR is the best looking Cadillac ever made, but it didn't have the build quality, performance, interior, etc to justify the price. The BMW 6-series had 550 units last month in the USA, but they sell over 1,000 a month globally. Which is low volume, but it is basically a 5-series coupe, it isn't different model. The Z4 has pretty low sales, only 3,200 this year in the USA. If they built a plug-in CTS that sold 400 units a month I'd see that as a better investment than an ELR that sells 500 units a month.

I don't think fuel economy or being able to drive 30 miles on electricity is enough to sell a car costing maybe $60,000. People spending that much money on a car aren't looking to save $2,000 a year in fuel costs. At that price point, Cadillac is going to have to offer a lot more. A Volt with a nicer interior sounds to me like Lincoln thinking, and we all know that doesn't work.

I think it's more that GM needs to spread the investment in the Volt hardware across multiple models... Spending more money to make a car that will sell maybe 500 cars a month and possibly steals sales from the Volt is going to be more profitable? Maybe it will be, but I have doubts. At one time they tried to spread costs of the W-body across 5 brands, or the GMT360 across 5 brands, 4 minivans, etc. All those badge jobs just led to lost money, and I realize this isn't a straight badge job. But still, hybrid luxury cars aren't selling the sales charts on fire, Cadillac should have one, but perhaps a CTS hybrid would be the cheapest and easiest to make, and sell the most. Look at current luxury cars sales, Mercedes is dominating right now, and fuel efficiency isn't their strength. So while I think a "green" car is important I wouldn't make it a priority; performance, technology and engineering seem to matter more to luxury buyers. If Cadillac can do all the other stuff well, then throw on fuel economy as a bonus that is great. But for fuel economy to be the #1 attribute isn't the way to go.

I think a Cadillac Volt won't sell, the Volt has sluggish sales, a more expensive, less practical version could be a real sales dog. I would rather see them make a hybrid ATS and/or CTS. To put a hybrid drivetrain in an existing car would cost less, and probably sell better. And diesel will be nice too.

Agreed, that is a joke. Not a Duesenberg.

So Cadillac is supposed to take on Mercedes and BMW with what is in the Chevy parts bin? That ain't going to work. This is part of Cadillac's problem, they are so tied to the rest of GM and have that mentality that the GM parts bin is satisfactory. The dead weight brands are gone, GM should be able to allocate proper resources to Cadillac to make an electric RWD car.

How long til the new Malibu arrives? That is a pretty important car, that is the biggest segment. And the new Camry is on sale.

Jeer, never liked the design of that car.

To me the disappoint would be the Malibu. Only 10,000 sold and several others in that segment are near the 20,000 mark. The GMT900s all did really well, must have been a sale going. Or maybe people got fooled by the $3.30 a gallon, and once it goes back to $4 people will flock to the Prius. Weird.

I like it at $15,000, but not if the price gets near $20k or higher. It is in great condition, but it is a 10 year old car, and Once you get above $20k, you could get a 1-2 year old Camaro or Mustang

The Volt is a slow seller, I can only imagine a Cadillac Volt really being a sales dog. Cadillac does need hybrids though (and/or diesel), BMW will have hybrid 3, 5, and 7 series in 2012. And of course Lexus is hybrid heavy and Mercedes and Audi are pushing diesels. Seems like it would be cheaper, and more appealing to customers to hybridize an existing car, rather than a dedicated hybrid like the HS250h failure.

Which is what, like 180 lb-ft? On a car heavier than a CTS. The only way for the ELR to work is to vastly increase the power over the Volt. It has to be faster than a Chevy, handle and ride better than a Chevy, otherwise why pay for it. Cadillac selling a Volt with an interior upgrade is a page from the Lincoln playbook and that doesn't work. Try 273 ft-lb. Which means that the Volt has same torque at zero that the Cadillac CTS 3.6 has at 4,600 rpm. I didn't realize it had that much, but it is still only 149 hp, and 0-60 in about 9 seconds with a top speed of 101 mph. Not really Cadillac-like performance numbers. If they boost the power up to make it as fast as a CTS, then they are on to something. I'd rather them just electrify an ATS so they are builing and electric version of a Cadillac rather than a Cadillac version of a Chevy electric car.

I am fine with small, I've been saying they need a smaller car for years. What I am not fine with is a Cadillac Cruze.

Which is what, like 180 lb-ft? On a car heavier than a CTS. The only way for the ELR to work is to vastly increase the power over the Volt. It has to be faster than a Chevy, handle and ride better than a Chevy, otherwise why pay for it. Cadillac selling a Volt with an interior upgrade is a page from the Lincoln playbook and that doesn't work.

I saw the Converj at our auto show last year, I wasn't that impressed with it. I prefer the Evoq and XLR for a 2-door. The Converj hood seemed too short and stubby. And this car could be a 4,000+ lb compact. The weight is going to be hard to overcome.

A pick up truck with the pick up bed in front, and the passenger cabin and engine in the rear. That way you can watch your cargo while you drive.

Money isn't the whole determiner in a car...the Lexus supercar sucks in comparison to the others, yet it is much more expensive than many. While I would mostly agree on the Lexus, it does do the Nurburgring in like 7 minutes 14 seconds (with Nurburgring package). So it has that going for it. The Maybach is dated now, but it still a good car. Probably not worth what it costs, but part of the reason to buy that car is to flaunt how wealthy you are. I don't think Mercedes needs Maybach though, they have the S-class, so I agree with the decision to cut the Maybach brand.

The exterior is even worse! Lexus in the 2010s is going to fade the way Buick did in the 1990s.

The haters are just jealous because no American car company can get close to the S-class, let alone a $500,000 Maybach. And really a $500,000 sedan is pointless; Mercedes is almost doing a service by not letting rich fools spend that much money on a car.

The E-class is the #1 selling mid-luxury car in the USA, and the C-class is the #2 seller in entry luxury. The S-class outsells its competitors in the U.S. also. Globally, they sold 323,000 E-classes in 2010, I don't see their lead in core segments dropping. Mercedes had it's best year ever in 2010, and is looking better in 2011. They are fine, actually more than fine, their 125th year of selling cars was their best year. And about a $300k S-class, they already factory build the S600 Pullman Guard that sells for over $1.4 million.

No, $6,000 is a bad deal for that.

They do need expand what they offer. I love Jaguars and would want mine RWD, with a supercharged V8, but I realize most people don't see it that way. Jaguar has 4 and 6 cylinder diesels already on sale in the UK, that seems to be the easiest solution to certify the engines for U.S. sale. The 4-cylinder is probably too weak for our market, but the diesel V6 could do well. If/when they do a smaller car and produce a 3.0 liter gas V6, that could be put to use in the XF, but for now the diesel is the quick solution. And a 35 mpg XF that does 0-60 in 6.2 seconds is pretty appealing.

When the Maybach first came out it was quite impressive, and in a lot of ways it still is. But after nearly 10 years on the market it has gotten dated. And you could argue that they never really needed Maybach in the first place since they have the S-class. The demise of Maybach is good news for the S-class because they can expand the range and offer more.

The Lexus GS isn't any good. At least the last one wasn't, the 2012 might be decent, but it has a carry over powertrain from the old car, and the inside looks like a BMW rip-off. And 450 hp with likely a sub 400 torque rating isn't going to take on an M5. The 550i will probably outrun the Lexus V10.

I like this, they can make the S-class more upscale and cement it as the best car in the world.