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Been away for a while.. summer stuff.. figured I'd get out an live while the weather was warm. Decided to get back into riding bikes.. had given it up back in '05 after my then wife (now ex) had issue with me riding with two small children, one of which had just arrived a year earlier. This time.. decided to do it legal and get an actual license.. no more sport bikes tho.. went with Harley, a Softail Cruiser in June.. and by August wanted a sportier Harley to sit next to her.. a NightRod Special (VRod). Meet Browyn (Softail) and Ronda (NRS). The Softail is an '03 Softail Standard FXST with Rhinehart exhaust. The NRS has Vance and Hines 2-in-1 exhaust and commander tune. Two different looks of the Softail are because I just change my handlebars to Ape Hangers this Saturday. The 2016 NightRod I have been customizing myself as U can see The original look is the grey bike. NRS before I started customizing (Stock Form) Softail before Ape Hanger Handlebars (below). Windshield is detachable

The best selling premium crossovers sold are all FWD/AWD products from Lexus, Acura, Volvo, and.... Cadillac. Do we expect any crossover utilizing the status quo to actually do anything to raise a brands perception? The truth of the matter is that even with Mercedes, the current leader in luxury, the only SUV/CUV that they currently have that truly offers a glimpse of raising any bar is he G-Wagon. And that vehicle is still basically the same as it was 1000 years ago. The GLS, GLE, GLC, and GLA really do nothing so extraordinary that they make one believe that outside the emblem that they are truly special. I have experience in both the GLS and GLE one on one, and I could not for the life of me figure out why, in this case, the GLS was considered anything superior to an Escalade with a similar drive train. These vehicle are fluff. They are profit makers. GM has clearly stated, and I believe them, that they are going EV. This vehicle, like the XT5, and XT4 are to pay for that mission. Truthfully I believe that this XT6 is gonna be a hot seller. I think it will bring about 45-50K new sales into Cadillac. AND.. Its a rebadge.. or better yet a platform engineered entry to a segment where Cadillac desperately needed a contender. I think that is phenomenal for GM considering that this is a platform mate to 5 other vehicles. (Cxx) Lambda's Acadia, Enclave, Outlook, and Traverse reborn. That is six vehicles off one platform and as yet, I have not seen anyone outside of the car rags, and forum readers commenting anything about "rebadging." So much so I have a friend who recently bought a Traverse for himself, his wife has an XT5, and they are looking out for a decent blip of inventory of the Blazer for their daughter who is about to graduate Grad school in the Spring. In conversations with him and his wife, they not once seem to realize that they are driving platform mates. His wife didn't even know that the XT5 and Traverse were apart of the same corporation until they got their statements the same day from GM Finance Why is that so hard to grapple? The market demanded that Cadillac put out a small and larger CUV that sandwiched the XT5/SRX. They responded pretty quickly considering the fact that outside of the Trailblazer overseas is the only model they have that could have served the purpose and answered a question that no one really asked outside of a group of so-called enthusiasts that probably won't buy anyway. Do I think that the Cadillac brand.. no.. GM as a whole needs a small RWD based architecture for CUVs? Yes.. and NO. If the Cadillac brand is delving into the EV market as they say they are in a few years.. no. Performance in a straight, which is really where the line should be drawn for tall wagons, considering the real driving capabilities of most Americans, is just too evident and too apparent with electric motors doing the pushing. What I think Cadillac should do is offer a secondary take on upcoming Escalade which goes the same route as the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. Two vehicles.. one blatantly luxo.. the other luxo sport.. but really appealing to the Male demo as the CUVs in their portfolio are really aimed at women. I believe that the target segment for the XT6, intentionally, is to cater to more females than the heavy skewed male target market of the Escalade garners. I bet good money that U will see more men, by percentage, in the Aviator than U will see in the XT6. Similar in the way the old QX56 and Infiniti FX35-45 pulled in more males, while the EX35 pulled in women. But, for the sake of argument I will wait and see. I truly believe that CAdillac specifically designed the XT4,5, and 6 as vehicles to bring more women into the CUV portion of the brand. The Escalade and ESV will continue to be pushed to men, with the XT7, possibly going RWD to attract men looking for a smaller SUV.

The question is if "we" revers to OEMS, or consumers. I'm betting that most of any cost savings will NOT be passed on to consumers, ESPECIALLY as the segment grows in volume. There's simply no marketing pressure to do so. More and more decidedly non-luxury vehicle brands are pushing upwards, making the entry-level market increasing low volume / barren. It may well be that the automobile returns to it's dawn of primarily high priced vehicles.

Automakers are not going to start turning back to unprofitable cars (small, low priced sedans) just because people can't afford what they're producing during a recession. They'll let the used market handle those customers and just dial back on production. Ford and GM are already stashing cash away for a recession. One would assume the other companies are doing the same. If there is one coming, there has been plenty of notice for it.

Waiting.... Had a great few days here at Disney World, hit almost all the parks! Gambled coming down here because of Dorian, but cancelling meant we would not be doing it again. Looks like it paid off as we get just some wine a rain and a no park day tomorrow. Good thing we came prepared (Uno!!) ? Just hoping we lose the one day, and get to enjoy the rest of the week......

Correction. The USA hates unreliable small cars hence why Mini and Fiat are on the way out.

Fiat is done in the USA, small cars don't do well here, and Fiat doesn't build good small cars either. They are probably tied to the 124 Spider for a number of years in the deal with Mazda. They could always pull the Fiat brand out of the USA and put a Dodge grille or emblem on a 500X or the Spider. I think FCA overall has too many brands and too many models.

Apparently no one at FCA understood that the USA hates small cars in general and city cars in particular. FIAT and MINI are a total waste of resources that could go straight into better non-FIAT FCA products and BMW respectively. Good riddance.

All quite true. At best we may see a leveling off of prices for a short while.

IMO early automobiles in the U.S. (1900- say 1915) were primarily a 'want'. Lifestyles were not hugely changed as they came on scene; people primarily stayed in the same locations and farming was prevail ant. Most early cars (including Chevrolet) were quite expensive. After that, professions and even personal lifestyles started to change / embrace the automobile. The second lifestyle change was the widespread improvement of roads, but aside from the interstate highways, this was piecemeal. Also keep in mind there was very very little in the way of 'global competition' during the beginning of the 20th century, countries were largely autonomous. I think it wasn't until WWI that most people began to evaluate just that.

We needed the advancements to keep up with the rest of the world. Germany and England weren't going to sit still and not produce. We would have been at a disastrous disadvantage in WWI and WWII if we had just stayed Amish back in 1895.

Have you ever wondered what happened to your old car after trading or selling it? I was curious, popped my old Jeep VIN into google and found that it sold at a scrap auction in Tucson w/ 173k miles about 6 months after I traded it on my '14 at the end of March 2017. https://appletowing.hibid.com/lot/35082301/2000-jeep-grand-cherokee/?q=&ref=catalog It looks pretty tired there...I got almost 17 years out of it, a lot of memorable drives..kind of sad.

As boring as the XT6 is, it will sell plenty to the masses who don’t give a squat about 500HP “hot hatches”. These are family CUVs and family sells better than niche. These are screenshots from June sales (done that months because of quarterly reporting by GM). You know what I see? Down numbers on both GM CUVs and Benz yet funny that you only point out the XT5 being down. This hard trolling even by your “standards”.

In this era, perhaps that's enough for a #shutdownthecorporation...

Certainly true. Then again, VW is a perfect case of truly rotten management, poor leadership and shoddy thinking led to these multiple scandals. New leadership is required to clean up these messes.

Wonder how this will effect their reputation / trust level going forward, even if it's regarding EVs. Multiple corporate-level marketing cheats don't go far in the 2nd-largest-capital-expenditure of a consumer's life.

[quote]“This industry is about to enter what could be a multiyear profit desert,” says Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of AlixPartners’ automotive and industrial practice."[/quote] LOL - what does "about to enter" mean? Who's making a profit on EVs NOW?? It's not that 'it makes me happy' - it is what it is. EVs do not make any OEM money. The PR that Ford released saying they would be 'attractively priced' means nothing. And such has been said before, by many. Tesla has by far the largest volume EV and they still haven't hit their goal MSRP of $35K. BTW- ALL colors are new for Rivian- they aren't in production yet.

^ Good lord, VW...

Seems in the EV world that the BMW i3 and i8 are not dead in their current form as BMW will produce 900 final units world wide of the i3 and 200 of the i8 in both convertible and coupe form. Guess this is one way to send these autos off before they roll out their new EV product line that looks like the rest of the family. https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/02/bmw-i3-roadstyle-i8-ultimate-sophisto/ Seems Ford has decided that the world needs more info on the up coming Ford F-150 EV Truck being built by Rivian for Ford Globally as well as their whole EV Strategy! https://www.autoblog.com/2019/08/31/ford-future-300-mile-ev/ It's a good read and I really like the following quoted from the story: Palmer says Ford won't need to tack on huge MSRPs to these electrified "icons," because it plans to make its EVs "extremely desirable, but at an attainable price.” That's a fantastic goal, and Ford knows its numbers better than we do, but when various analysts predict a "profit desert" for electric powertrains, autonomous driving and connectivity, we're keen to see how Ford manages to do that without asking un-Ford-like sums. Figure @balthazar and especially @ocnblu will like this story that was run here in the local Seattle Time Newspaper about the EV Profit Desert that they see coming: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/automakers-face-profit-desert-as-evs-self-driving-vehicles-arrive/ To quote the story: “This industry is about to enter what could be a multiyear profit desert,” says Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of AlixPartners’ automotive and industrial practice. “It’s not that it’s over. It’s a true cyclical business, and we should all understand that. There are adjustments and realignments that have to happen. It looks like some slimmer times and some lower return-on-capital times.” In Police News, Indiana Police Department is swapping Dodge Chargers for Tesla Model 3 in Bargersville Indiana. https://www.autoblog.com/2019/08/31/tesla-model-3-police-cost-savings-bargersville/ To quote this story: Even though the Model 3 costs more than the Charger, the department said the EV will save taxpayers money. The Tesla runs $39,500, a police-issue Charger costs a police department $25,000 according to figures given to the Indianapolis Star. The Daily Journal said this Model 3 ran $41,945, the Charger $33,612. No matter the differential, the Model 3 is expected to be much cheaper to run. The Dodge apparently requires more than $8,000 in upkeep every year just for gas, oil, and insurance, the gas alone totaling $7,125. The department's figures show Tesla will need just $1,728 in electricity, and one officer said that even the replacement windshield wipers are less expensive on the Tesla than the Dodge. Over a six-year period, Bargersville PD expects to save at least $20,600, with the savings beginning in the third year. The EV Front continues with some really cool marine power, I am loving the Silent Yacht 55 that is 100 percent solar and Zero NVH. https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/01/silent-yachts-55-solar-electric-boat/

I like the exterior color and the interior color....styling is just another sharply angled violent cartoon car...

That is the key piece, FWD, RWD, AWD, does not matter as computers have allowed the auto industry to give a smooth fun drive for most auto's regardless of which wheels propel an auto. This becomes more true when we move to Torque vectoring of an auto where you gain even better driving dynamics.

Isn't the X1 FWD based now? The idea of $50k for a 4cyl FWD/transverse based CUV or car is absolute madness....but it also says $50k isn't what it once was... a FWD transverse 4 cyl connotes cheap econobox, not anything premium...

beside the point. Subjective aesthetics aside, he long criticized the XTS for being transverse engined and ignored the fact that it could send 90% of the torque to the rear wheels. Here he is praising the AMG for having a 50/50 split and is looking forward to the even more powerful AMG 45.

We won't see cost savings on EVs until there is more standardization of components and parts sharing.

The real issue is whether automakers will actually pass on the savings from ICE to EV towards consumers via lower prices. I suspect they will not do so unless forced by new entrants into the marketplace. . . . or an existing automaker wants to start a price war.

Plus the Methan gas smell of Horse farts. ?

Great Fleet!! I guess I'm waiting till next spring now to get a bike.

WOW, that sun sure took a toll on the plastics. Or just heavily stained seats now, ya know teens and hormones! ?

Mercedes COMBINED sold a total of 14,517 CUV/SUV autos for June. Mercedes COMBINED sold a total of 14,647 CUV/SUV autos for May. Mercedes COMBINED sold a total of 11,938 CUV/SUV autos for April. Mercedes has a COMBINED total of 41,102 CUV/SUV autos for the Quarter. Cadillac XT5 by itself sold 13,118 for the quarter. Yet if we combine all of Cadillac sales, we get 29,704 for the quarter. Apple to Apple comparison of a sales period does show MB selling more CUV/SUVs than Cadillac, yet MB has 5 models to Cadillac which had 3 up till the month of June when their 4th model came out and sold 74 units. That means that Cadillac still outsold MB when you consider the 29,630 units sold by 3 models. Another way to put this is that MB with 5 models sold on average of 8,220.4 per model where Cadillac sold 9,876.666 units per model. Clearly if we had full sales for 2 more models, that would mean Cadillac for the quarter would have sold 49,383 CUV/SUV for the quarter to MB 41,102. @smk4565 How is Cadillac failing to move less metal than MB with less models?

I have actually always wondered what happened to my old vehicles.. I was/am mostly curious about my 04 Mustang Gt that I sold to like a 16 or 17 year old. I assume it was wrapped around a tree or went through a crowd of people.

NOT to be political, but focused on the trade and it's relation to the auto industry. So many of the electrical components come from the Asian rim. As one can see from the chart below, costs have gone up across the board due to the trade war, but no real positive change in that relation and with the increased cost of auto's, we have all stated that auto's are becoming less of an ownership thing for everyone. Companies have started to move manufacturing from China to other 3rd world places in the Asian rim such as Malaysia and one has to wonder if that will really change anything. WHAT DO YOU think will happen with auto costs and as companies move to EVs in replacing ICE, does that mean we truly will see lower costs or are the higher prices here to stay? WHAT DO YOU think of the relation of trade deficit to the auto companies ability to deliver QUALITY ICE/EV auto's at prices people will pay / can afford? https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-deficit-world-china-6c0e421a-872d-4232-951c-511e0c785f68.html

@Cmicasa the Great Glad you had some summer riding fun and have popped back in, look forward to seeing your posts.

That's pretty Amish of you..

Not thinking lots.......

We have a user here named @frogger

Even Lincoln is seeing the need for a 500 hp Aviator, even though they aren't aiming to be a performance vehicle. But we can all watch the Germans and Tesla see rise in SUV sales while Cadillac and Acura die on the vine with their range topper 305 hp V6 3-row crossovers.

This thing is an absolute work of art....highly impressed...

I would bet money that if GM made a Corvette SUV that was rear drive/awd, 495 hp and same price as the C8, it would outsell the C8 by a wide margin. Performance SUV is a hot growing segment.

Do you know why Chrysler / FCA puts that lil graphic on your Jeep?

Hot crossover is already upon us. AMG, M, Audi SQ, Alfa Stelvio, Jeep GC Trackhawk, Porsche has 2 SUV, Lamborghini has one, Ferrari and Aston Martin will have one next year, Tesla will have a 2nd. There are probably 20 crossovers on sale now with what was deemed sports car performance just a few years ago.

Tucker did the same with it's concept 'Torpedo'.

Funny how years of you harping on transverse mounted engines (especially ones over 300 hp) changes into "teh best evarrr!"

Former next door neighbors moved a couple miles away. They had a late model Liberty for many years, and a Kia Soul. The Soul got totaled in a crash about a year ago. They traded the Liberty on a new Cherokee, and she got a Renegade. Drove by yesterday and the Renegade's gone... replaced by an awesome green Soul X-line.