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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I looked up some numbers, the G-wagen alone outsold all Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce globally in 2019. And they sold 71,700 S-class sedans so with coupe/convertible that has to be at least 80,000 and the cheapest V6 rear drive S-class with no options is $94k, which means 99% of them are going to sticker over $100k. Mercedes sold 4200 AMG GT in the US alone, so that number is probably more like 15-20k globally, plus the SL, the AMG 63 cars, the GLS V8's etc. They are easily doing over 200,000 units a year of $100k and up product. That's impressive.
  2. smk4565
    I'd like to see what that Cadillac number is when CT4 and CT5 are on sale, and CT6 is out of dealers. CT4 is $33k, CT5 is $37k, XT4 is $36k, and XT5 is $44k. 4 of their 6 vehicles are under $45k to start, and I know options get added on, but still, half their lineup now starts under $37k. ATP for a brand is also a meaningless metric, Maserati has a great ATP, and it is a borderline dead brand. Jaguar leas that list and they are near dead in the water. ATP per segment is more relevant if you want to compare. Mercedes has 4 models starting under $40k so their brand ATP is pulled down but Mercedes sells more cars over $100k than any one. More than Bentley, BMW, Audi, Lamborghini, Rolls, etc and probably more than those 5 combined if we are being honest.
  3. smk4565
    Daimler had $6.2 billion net profit in 2019. And keep in mind Mercedes-Benz Cars Division alone spent $7.92 Billion in R&D compared to all of GM that spent $6.8 billion or all of Toyota Corp spending $10 billion. GM sells 4 times as many cars as Mercedes does, Toyota sells 5 times as many. Why doesn't Cadillac have a $7 billion R&D budget to compete with Mercedes? GM fans should be outraged. So not worried about Daimler's profits when they are spending heavy for the future, they'll have the electric car arsenal and carpet bomb all segments, while the others play follow the leader like they have with ICE cars the past 30 years. Cost of ownership for a luxury brand is irrelevant due to high leasing and also Acura is what the 7th or 8th best selling luxury brand in the USA and has a very limited global footprint. Buyers don't care about Acura's resale or maintenance costs.
  4. smk4565
    They found a soft spot in the market around $175-$250k that is above where Audi and BMW end and before Rolls and Bentley begin for the most part. And they took that space over. I don't know why there isn't a Maybach G-class which would make way more sense than an AMG G-class. An electric G-wagen is coming though, could be a nice place to do a Maybach version.
  5. smk4565
    Mistake on my part, I meant CT6, the big sedan.
  6. smk4565
    Maybach is doing well, 2019 was a sales record for the Maybach S-class with sales up over 10% despite global S-class sales down 8% being that it is in it's 6 model year. They have expanded to a 2nd model, which being an SUV will do well for sure. Mercedes got Maybach wrong on the first reboot, but this 2nd try they got it right and they are on the rise now.
  7. smk4565
    #2 at GM?
  8. smk4565
    No one will buy a $60,000 Cadillac sedan that is why the XT6 is dead. The CTS at $46k base was too much so the CT5 starts under $40k. I don’t know know where these $200k buyers are coming from, even an Escalade starts around $85k
  9. smk4565
    Cadillac has to be held to some standard, they should be trying to combine Lexus reliability, with Tesla technology and Porsche Performance into a package. They have to beat those benchmark brands in product if they want the sales and profits. Cadillac's president said the Celestique will start over $200k. So that is going after Bentley, no one is going to spend $200k on a Cadillac unless it is was somehow nicer than a Rolls-Royce with Bugatti-like performance and then they'd lose money on every one sold. It is like how VW built the Phaeton to the highest specifications possible but it wasn't going to sell with a VW badge on the front even if it was a better car than the W220 S-class. All that did was motivate Mercedes to make the W221 the best car in the world, and the the Phaeton was gone.
  10. smk4565
    No EV does crazy volume, Model 3 does pretty well though. But Ford is built on the F150, Explorer and Escape, GM on Silverado, Equinox, Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade, Toyota the Corolla, Camry, RAv4, etc. These brands do most of the business on a few core models. EV's are vanity projects that sell 20k units a year for most brands. What someone (other than Tesla) needs is an EV that is one of their big sellers. Whoever can get an EV that is selling 300k units a year is going to gain massive advantage. That is what I'd like to see GM crack the code with the Chevy SUV, can they make an electric SUV that sells in Equinox volume.
  11. smk4565
    Also, Allante was a failure, XLR a failure, STS-V a failure, ELR a failure. CT6 and CTS-V 3rd Gen did okay but got killed off so couldn't have been that good. Those are all cars under $100k, but all Cadillac attempts to go up market. Now they want to go to $200k, more than double the price of those other cars that didn't make it. And really the measuring stick for this is how well will the Equinox sized EV sells. They need an EV in the heart of the market that can do big volumes for this to work. Car companies aren't build on vanity projects, they are built on those 3-4 core products that do crazy volumes.
  12. smk4565
    The Model S is getting dated, that vehicle needs an update, mostly with styling and interior, since they are still fast and like 2.4 seconds 0-60 with ludicrous. GM won’t allow a car to be faster than a Corvette, especially not a Cadillac sedan. So the Celestique will be slower than the C8. Now that isn’t a problem if luxury is off the charts, Bentley, Rolls and Maybach S-class don’t really crack the 4 second 0-60 barrier but they have luxury. Cadillac hasn’t had a class leading interior in 50 years so I want to know how they think they can have a car that costs more than double an Escalade ?
  13. smk4565
    The Model S challenger is the Celestique but it is double the price and slower. A winning strategy.
  14. smk4565
    Daimler, BMW and VW have taken a hit from Tesla. As have Cadillac, Lexus and Infiniti. Look at how all those brands are seeing their sedan sales die off yet Tesla is cranking out Model 3's and S's are a pretty good clip. Cadillac Celestique won't sell, it will be a bigger failure than the ELR was. No one will take a hit from that other than Cadillac.
  15. smk4565
    Cybertruck has over 500,000 orders, where are those coming from? There are only X number of full size truck buyers in the market. People that never bought a truck or never thought of buying a pickup are not all of a sudden going to buy a Cybertruck. I suspect F150, Ram 1500 and Silverado all see a 10-15% drop in sales the year Cybertruck goes on sale. Taycan is faster than a C8 Corvette and it says Porsche on it. The Cadillac won't be faster than a Corvette, because the Corvette has to be the fastest car at GM, so the Celestique won't be faster than a Model S either, since the C8 is slower than a Model S. And interiors have never been a Cadillac strong suit, they haven't had a best in class interior since like 1960 so I can't imagine all of a sudden they come up with a Bentley level interior for this car.
  16. smk4565
    The Chevy/Buick SUVs are important since that is the meat of the market. They will have to beat out the Tesla Model Y and Mustang Mach E. The pickup is also important since Cybertruck pre-sales look like there will be strong demand and that will really eat into Ford/GM/Ram sales, and for those brands that is the #1 profit maker. Steve Carlisle said the Celestique will be over $200,000. He must be outside his mind if he thinks people are going to pay more than Porsche Taycan prices for a Cadillac.
  17. smk4565
    But an XT3 would be more luxurious than a Buick and have Super Cruise. If it is about R&D dollars and they want to spend the money on EV’s then I can see that as a better use of resources. A small EV Cadillac would make more sense, especially from a weight and packaging standpoint. As for the UX, if it was a hybrid at this price point it wouldn’t be as much of a rip off and Lexus buyers would be able to brag about driving a hybrid even if the car sucks, it still gives them a reason to buy.
  18. smk4565
    Toyota sold 17,000 UX’s last year and 49,000 of it’s platform mate the CH-R. And they probably sell more than that in Asia. It is a small segment but it is growing, and Cadillac will probably only sell 17k CT4’s this year and that car actually costs some money to build, definitely costs more than a rebadged Trax would. Probably the only reason there isn’t an XT3 is so that it doesn’t overlap the Buick Encore/GX.
  19. smk4565
    The Lexus UX needs more motor, at least as an option a turbo or the Camry’s 2.5 liter.
  20. smk4565
    A Cadillac XT3 would outsell the CT4 or CT5 easily and would maybe outsell the Escalade but not have nearly the margins Escalade does.
  21. smk4565
    An XT4 is about 8 inches longer than a GLA, 6 more than a Q3, so there is room at Cadillac for a 175 inch long XT3. Hyundai Kona is selling well and is 18 inches shorter than an XT4. And the Hyundai Venue is 2 feet shorter than an XT4. Not that Cadillac is competing with Hyundai, but the market is demanding SUV's smaller than the XT4, because a lot of manufacturers are bringing out smaller than XT4 vehicles, and GM has some in the stable as well. Escalade is their GLS competitor, though I agree using Omega for an SUV would be better than any of the current Cadillac SUV platforms that come from the Equinox, Acadia and Tahoe.
  22. smk4565
    This was rumored, I am sure there will be lots of online reveals of cars now. Corona virus could really put a dent in the global economy if it gets worse.
  23. smk4565
    It won't cost a lot of money for GM to make a Cadillac XT3 out of existing parts. Cadillac could easily do an XT2 at 170" long and $29,990, and XT3 at 175" and $33,990 or something along those lines. Just like they could do an XT7 easily as well as either an Omega platform SUV, or a fastback roof, coupe style XT6. All this stuff is in the parts bin somewhere.
  24. smk4565
    But XT4 is a Lexus NX competitor. Cadillac, Lincoln and Acura have no competitor to the UX.
  25. smk4565
    X1, X2, GLA, GLB, Q3 are all better than this thing. There are 5 better options right there. Really the XT4 would be an NX competitor. But Cadillac could easily put out an XT3 at $33k and easily undercut the UX.
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