Cadillac News: Rumorpile: GM To Build Cadillac XT4 In Kansas City

[William Maley]

The Cadillac XT4 is an important model for the brand as it will give them a competitor in the lucrative compact luxury crossover class. It might also give one of GM's assembly plants some much needed good news.

Bloomberg has learned from sources that General Motors has started producing test versions of the Cadillac XT4 at their Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City. This possibly hints that production of the XT4 could take place here. A GM spokesman declined to comment when asked about this.

The Fairfax plant has been hit hard by the decline in sales for midsize sedans. Home to the Chevrolet Malibu, the plant has seen the third shift cut last year as Malibu sales dropped 18 percent. 

Source: Bloomberg

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[David]

Good News indeed for The Kansas plant. Hope it all works out for them.

[daves87rs]

Figured this is how the Malibu is going to stick around a while.....thinking a certain Buick will be built here as well to keep the plant busy.....

[smk4565]

The Malibu might get a second wind when the Taurus, Impala and Fusion all hit the graveyard.

[Drew Dowdell]

Flex line FTW

[regfootball]

20 hours ago, smk4565 said:

The Malibu might get a second wind when the Taurus, Impala and Fusion all hit the graveyard.

I don't see the Fusion going away.  TBH if they put in a whole new redone interior, and some exterior tweaks, with their multitude of powertrain choices, they could sell it for 5 more years at least.

[riviera74]

28 minutes ago, regfootball said:

I don't see the Fusion going away.  TBH if they put in a whole new redone interior, and some exterior tweaks, with their multitude of powertrain choices, they could sell it for 5 more years at least.

Who will buy a Fusion in the era of the crossover?  Come to think of it, who will buy a Malibu in the era of the crossover?  America has already rendered its market decision: build more crossovers!

[Robert Hall]

1 hour ago, riviera74 said:

Who will buy a Fusion in the era of the crossover?  Come to think of it, who will buy a Malibu in the era of the crossover?  America has already rendered its market decision: build more crossovers!

Sure seems to be the way things are going...wonder if the CUV craze will run it's course eventually, and people will go back to cars....

[balthazar]

F-Series sold 896K last year.

"Who will buy a camry in the Pickup Era?"

2017 Camry US sales: 387K.

Edited January 11, 2018 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

The Camry, Corolla, Civic and Accord have strong, loyal customer bases with many repeat customers.  I don't think they are going away.  But some of the models with weaker sales numbers may. 

[balthazar]

'Weaker' is relative. Tho down last year, Malibu still sold 186K units, 60K more than the Traverse. I don't think the Traverse is going anywhere due to it's numbers, neither would the Malibu.
But industry consolidation would be both logical and timely. There are more models in the US market now than ever (or at least so it seems).

[regfootball]

It's still worth it for Ford to have a mid sedan because that represents a price point that many new customers are willing to pay instead of 5-10 grand more for crossovers.

 

Ford will likely consolidate to Focus and Fusion, and that's only two models and that will sell more than enough.

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, regfootball said:

It's still worth it for Ford to have a mid sedan because that represents a price point that many new customers are willing to pay instead of 5-10 grand more for crossovers.

 

Ford will likely consolidate to Focus and Fusion, and that's only two models and that will sell more than enough.

 

 

Taurus and Fusion, but otherwise I agree with you. 

[riviera74]

It seems to me that the large FWD sedans are getting killed by CUV sales, and midsize FWD sedans are also taking a hit thanks mostly to smaller CUVs.  The only thing that will truly resurrect sedan sales is $4-$5 gasoline again.  Just remember 2008-09 gas prices, which led to the near-death of the truck-based SUV.

[regfootball]

9 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Taurus and Fusion, but otherwise I agree with you. 

i didn't clarify, what i meant was that Ford will likely only have 2 sedans for sale.  the small focus and the mid/large Fusion.

[smk4565]

Put all wheel drive in cars and car sales will go up.  A lot of people are buying crossovers just for all wheel drive.  And make cars good, and cars will sell.  Make cars with discount interiors that sit on the market for 8 years without and update, and watch the sales tank.

[regfootball]

Fusion has... had AWD.....

[balthazar]

3 hours ago, smk4565 said:

make cars good, and cars will sell.

 

Edited January 12, 2018 by balthazar

[smk4565]

On 1/11/2018 at 9:36 PM, regfootball said:

Fusion has... had AWD.....

And it did well from 2013-2016, and Subaru has done well in recent years.  Fusion is now getting need of a refresh, plus it is large for some.  When you look at the top selling crossovers like Rav4 and CR-V they are smaller than a Fusion, so maybe they need awd in the Focus too.

I get that the masses want crossovers, but I think this is also in part because the masses want all wheel drive, and there aren't a lot of compelling sedans out there, the crossovers offer more luxury features and panoramic glass roofs and things.  And sadly most people don't care about ride or handling.