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It did work. Chevy canceled the Avalanche. Not Cadillac. Chevy deemed the Avalanche too costly to produce...at a time when GM was going bankrupt. Let me remind you that the Avalanche and the Cadillac EXT was an SUV though...so your point is null and void... The Blackwood was just a poor attempt...for a Lincoln. But...Ford F150 higher trimmed packages that rival Mercedes E Class price tags are selling like hot cakes ever since the Blackwood was introduced and especially when it went away...and those F150s were soooooo much better at doing luxury than the Blackwood itself... So...like usual...you are going round and round in a circle saying nothing and accomplishing just as much. PS: Dodge Ram high priced and high trimmed pick-up trucks are also a hot commodity. I bet you Dodge sells more 50 000-70 000 dollar trucks than Mercedes Benz does SUVs/CUVs and sedans COMBINED It dont matter if you dont think pick-up trucks are not luxury vehicles. But what does it say about your Mercedes, a so called luxury brand...gets out sold by work oriented trucks with price tags that rival so called luxury vehicles by said luxury brand? Lowly Fords, Dodges and GMCs outsell Mercedes Benz's so called luxury vehicles... Your argument is soooooo outta whack...you yourself do not know what to say next... 1. Price is your argument... realizes that pick-up trucks are expensive as hell 2. Proceeds to say that price is not a factor. Performance is. 3. Realizes that pick-up trucks are quite capable in some areas as sporty cars but do other performance things that sports cars could never and will be able to do!!! 4. Proceeds to say trucks are utilitarian. 5. Proved that Mercedes Benz so called luxury car even in 2019 is utilitarian... 6. Proceeds to try to sway the bar that luxury trucks have failed....yet...does not realize that his first attempt to dismiss was that pick-up trucks are sold with luxury price tags...but not luxury...yet folk with money buy plebeian branded pickup trucks with Mercedes Benz price tags...realizes that that is not a good thing for Mercedes luxury perception... 7. Round and Round we go on the Merry Go Round... What is luxury? This? Or this?

Worth repeating :

Inspiration: Also...it kinda looks like a high on meth Ford designer was trying to green light a Taurus coupe.

Pickup trucks don’t have performance and won’t until the Cybertruck arrives. Also a King Ranch or High Country truck is still a far cry from an Audi A6 in terms of interior and technology let alone the higher luxury vehicles. I mean the Kia Telluride has a better interior than a Denali pickup, can’t get Super Cruise in a Silverado or Sierra either and Audi A8 has a system more advanced than Super Cruise. Trucks are expensive (and do well on resale) but that doesn’t make them luxury.

Non sequitur? Why? Because trucks are now considered to be luxury vehicles rather than status quo sedans? News Flash: Its been an SUV and Truck world ever since OJ was running from the cops at 5 mph waaaay back when Eurodance was just hitting the dance clubs in NYC and Montreal. Because plebeian brands are hitting luxury price tags? Well... luxury brands are hitting plebeian price tags...it goes both ways you know... It may be a Bizarro world in 2020...but it dont change the fact that pickup trucks from mainstream brands are in reality luxury vehicles and luxury brands are producing and selling mainstream level vehicles. Please dont be hypocritical and say a GLC or worse...a G wagon... is a luxury truck JUST because it wears a luxury brand logo on the hood, and dismiss a GMC Sierra Denali or Ford Kings Ranch truck JUST because it dawns a utilitarian and mainstream badge... Because if you say a GLC is luxury and deny a Denali...your thought process is non-sequitur. Your logic does not follow... And the fact that a 2019 E Class is a mainstream taxi car in other parts of the world does you no favours with this non-sequitur rebuttal... And yes...18 wheelers are expensive...but quite luxurious too...if equipped that way. Plus...these modern 18 wheelers got technology that rivals the best of the automotive world. Everything that defines...luxury. Price to price interior to interior engine choice to engine choice fit and finish to fit and finish tech to tech Base E Class/base GLC or top of the line GLA versus high priced Detroit pickup trucks...very much indeed is apples to apples and very much sequitur as it follows a very logical path. One that you or SMK dont wanna admit to...but yeah...

When it comes to Mercedes Benz, I actively wonder why they insist on selling the C-class AND the CLA-class to begin with. Too many badge snobs wanting a subsidized lease I guess. Yes, the original Escalade was little more than a badge job from a same-year Tahoe. . . . . . in 1999. In the last 15 years, Escalade has exceeded anything the Yukon Denali provides in amenities galore by comparison. At least Cadillac has learned to NOT cheapen its brand anymore (unlike the pitiful Cimarron era!) and offer real luxury options for customers. The MB CLA is little more than a 21st century version of a Cimarron. That is awful.

Guess at what price the GLA starts at? Its HIGHER than the base pick-up trucks. But...you just shot yourself in the foot... E Class is 54 000...Longhorn is 45 000... Longhorn Laramie is nicer inside than a base E Class... Therefore any vehicle from Mercedes BELOW an S Class is NOT Luxury... And THAT is according to YOUR argument and point of view.

Id say those days are over. Cadillac did that very same thing and it hasnt worked... Mercedes sells waaaay to many low level, low priced cars in North America that folks will not remember those high line cars that defined Mercedes Benz in the 1990s. And even then, in '90s, Mercedes also peddled waaaaay too many, low level cars in North America ... One could argue this one...but it was not very luxurious... It sold...BECAUSE it wasnt that expensive to buy. And at the start of the SUV/CUV craze...And this is when Mercedes was riding high on its so called luxury image. But not very luxurious... (look at those ugly grey plastic bumpers...) If Cadillac gets shat on for the 1st gen Escalade (nd for some hardcore GM haters for the 2nd gen) and GM gets shat on for the Hummer H1 and H2 for shoddy builds...then M-B should get shyte for that crap as well...

Bill Withers passed away a few days ago. He was 81. It was caused by other health issues and not related to the current pandemic. He had three big songs, among others, but two were sort of downers ("Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine"). That leaves this one as his best song, IMO: R.I.P. Mr. Withers

• By the same token; luxury doesn’t equal cost. • Why doesn’t daimler jack the price of the s-class to the lowest MSRP of a rolls royce and go up to $750K?? Nvrmnd; alrdy trd tht.

Question : Is this a luxury car interior?

Je me souviens... Therefore...I will never agree why anything below an S Class is deemed luxury from Mercedes Benz.

Median household income of a luxury car buyer in the U.S. is $99K. Average household income of a Denali buyer is $153K. It's a bona fide luxury product, no question. The bread & butter of audi sales are cheap cars - the truely nice ones no one bothers with.

Right... Your argument flip flops between Silverado...a Chevrolet and then switch to Denali... Is this luxury? Starts at 50 000 or so... So does a Denali. Like I said you flip flop... And then you try to denounce a Denali... But a 54 000 dollar E Class interior is an equal to the Denali's... And THAT version gets no supercruise or any other luxury tech either...plus a V6. The Denali is a 420 or so horsepower V8... You know...YOUR kind of definition of luxury...V8... Oh...and you mentioned work and utility... And all these NEVER sold in numbers to be bragged out about... Like I said... J.R. types from the soap opera Dallas all had Stepford wives and these are the cars they bought for them to silence them because they were cheating on them... You know...Lexus sold a half-a-million dollar car not too long ago... There are STILL unsold examples of it... Your little word pollution discussion...of which I got a headache from...means very little...

OK- Not quite the same wheels. Or car. I always liked the Sunfire concepts. And those wheels are very cool.

Oh no; that's ‘horizontal integration’, or ‘current industry trending’, or whatever you want to call what automakers are increasingly moving to — using basically the same platform under multiple models! It’s the fo-shizzal, the new whammy mammy! What it’s NOT is buying a vehicle built by another OEM and CHANGING THE BADGE ON IT. Can’t think of what that’s called, but there’s a term for it...

Are you buzzing again? JUST because there isnt a Silverado SS 454 or Ford F-150 Lightning like there was 20 years ago...doesnt mean these machines do not have performance... A Silverado has a a 6.2 liter 420 HP and 460 horsepower V8 under the hood. Also...the Ford Raptor IS a performance machine... And you saw what I wrote? I said 20 years ago... PERFORMANCE muscle trucks EXISTED while Elon Musk was still a baby... 1978 (And yes...it was performance for the time...) And there are a slew of other noteworthy performance trucks from then until now... The Cybertruck is still not in production but Ford will gladly sell you a performance pick-up right NOW And there is another that Ford could sell you RIGHT NOW The rest of your post is just word pollution...

It could be construed that luxury pickups are the new aspirational vehicle. I read somewhere that luxury cars across all brands were being traded in on Denali, High Country, King Ranch and Limited LD and HD pickups at a very noticeable clip.

Still at 70%, but my cubicle is one wall away from a mechanic shop. Per my boss pleading with our dealer principal, our department will no longer be on a split schedule starting Monday. We will be a full crew M-F, 8-2 for the public, longer if we have work to do after official closing time.

Well, I know for sure it is tougher in the rust belt states. My wife’s 17 year old Cavalier had to be replaced not because the car stopped running (engine and trans had a lot of life left at 155k) but rust was making the doors fall off. It’s why it’s not uncommon to see 10 year old cars in the junkyard....

It is an auto safety thing, dfelt. If a light is broken out or a mirror broken off, or the door is pinned shut, etc. etc. Think about it. As for the mechanical side, citizens need their cars running to get to and from the grocery store, doctor, etc.

Yes we are. And I just got a text from my boss, we are going back to M-F, 8-2 for public interactions, but we can stay longer if we have work to do. 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Futuramic

My job is "essential" to the Commonwealth, so I am still going in on a split schedule, M-T-W 8-2. So I am still getting inside ppl's nasty-ass cars to take the necessary insurance photos. Our governor has just recommended we wear masks when we leave the house.

I got my bike from my parents last week and have gone on a few bike rides this week to get out. I can't stand being stuck inside this much. I'm actually excited to get working on my lawn to do something outside and move around now that my gym has closed.

Nice. Where did you acquire those skills? @oldshurst442 I'm going to give this one a phonetic try - I R O V I A P O L L A' ? This is one that I like: ^ A ^ A P I A (where the ^ is lambda) ... an easier one for a visitor to figure out It's a beautiful place, too: L A L A R I A, the white beach on the island of Skiathos in the Sporades archipelago.

Santorini Blue And since I started with reminiscing of traveling back to Greece...with Mr. Orbison's angelic voice, I might as well continue listening to him.

Also nailed it:

Saw two interesting cars today: In the supermarket parking lot, a guy was getting into an "old" Riv that had temporary plates. I asked him if it was a '91 or a '92. It was a '92. He told me it was sapphire blue metallic (the darker metallic blue) and it had blue leather bucket seats. He said it had a little over 60,000 original miles and he got it for about $3,500. He was beaming about it. It all looked good except that it had the padded blue landau roof that cluttered up the lines of the side rear passenger window and the rear back lite. These cars looked better without vinyl tops. At a dealership to look for a part, I saw this classic. Wow. It was a 1983 and ran with the 5.0 (307 c.i.) V8. I didn't get a photo of it, but the Brougham interior was equally in perfect condition. It was hard to fit this Olds 98 (aka "la cathedrale roulante") into the photo.

'72 Buick GS350, big project, still has SBB 350 (with aftermarket upgrades) under fiberglass GS hood ~

Cracking up over this ford.

Dropped my son off after a day of skiing at his townhouse and his neighbor had taken out of his garage a very cherry Mustang.

Today was my first trip to get groceries in April. There are more masked and gloved customers in the stores. Adults seem to be evaluating other people's masks (preformed/cupped, home made cloth, and purchased across the face types), just like little kids in school look to see who has the best lunch pails. At the first supermarket, people were very well behaved. Then, I went to a drug store chain I like. As I was walking in, an older lady with a noticeable enough white trash quotient comes stumbling out of the store, and coughs ... and then later coughs again. She did not bother to aim for her elbow. She was walking under the covered walkway, so I walked over to area behind the cars to approach the store. As I was about to walk in, I happened to make eye contact with a person in the handicapped spot waiting in his car and we both shook our heads at what we just saw. It's people who choose to remain oblivious to what we are told, and is spelled out for us, that are hindering most well intentioned people's efforts.

GMC, even the Denali isn't a luxury brand, Cadillac is nicer than anything GMC has and Cadillac themselves are tier 2 brand. No one thinks a GMC truck is nicer than an Escalade, and half of Audi's lineup is more luxurious than an Escalade is. The Genesis G80 is nicer than any GMC Denali product on the interior and the G80 is going to struggle to sell. GV80 might do okay to the less discerning crossover buyer. GV80 is undercutting the XT6 and Aviator in price, it is $4k more than an Acura MDX, so it is right in the meat of the segment there, it could do fairly well if it cleans up on the dated Acura and Infiniti models and the lackluster XT6.

Was there a Pontiac Sunfire COUPE concept? Those are the Sunfire’s wheels. This looks like a photoshoppe, because everything from the front wheels back screams of that concept.

Quebec closed auto repair shops deeming them not essential as well. And check this out...the dealership part to buy cars are open. Try to figure out that idiotic move... Other than that, Quebec politicians and health advisors are managing this pandemic quite well. Kudos to them.

I have gone from fueling every 4 days to about every 7 to 8 days on the SS. So yea, spending less money which is good on fuel. How is Auto Accident repair essential to the commonwealth? With everyone supposedly staying home, much less traffic on the roads, auto repairs are reduced and I do not see how an auto repair from an accident is considered essential unlike food or medical? I am honestly surprised that your state has that listed as essential. Repair shops here are all shut down.

*SIGH* Balthy's brother... I forgot to put the word 'brother' right after the word 'Balthy' to suggest that Im honouring his BROTHER's Firebird! *SIGH* I could hardly EVER get ANYTHING right! ?

Got it, forgot you guys are on the east coast where static Government oversight of having to tell auto owners that this or that is broken and has to be replaced and excessive auto inspections to create low paying jobs are a requirement. I have yet to see a government group that uses dealerships for the Police, medical or fire auto's that are used as they usually have their own mechanic shops. I give this to you as I constantly am surprised by how much government oversight and running of the average persons life there is on the east coast. Crazy.

Some original MSRP's from 1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur $42,000 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 $39,377 Mercedes 450SEL $25,241 Mercedes SL $22,601 Mercedes 280E $17,114 Mercedes 240D $11,920 (the cheapest Mercedes sold, a 4 cylinder diesel E-class) Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham $11,546 Lincoln Town Car $9,636. They broke in with higher prices and still won, plus Karl Benz invented the car 70 years before they sold a car in the USA, where as Genesis is a total upstart from a car company that itself isn't all that old.

China keeps Audi afloat. Audi sells about as many cars in China as Chevy sells Silverados in the USA. GMC Sierra Denali is probably the nice truck out there, the new Ram has a nice high trim, and the F150 I'd say lags behind both. So buyers don't really have another choice if they NEED a pickup and want the nice one. This is where Toyota totally misses in the full size truck game. The Tundra is dated as can be, has a V8 from 13 years ago that has seen no updates, the truck is a joke. I know an all new Tundra is coming, but there should be an all new Tundra ever 6-7 years. They should sell easily double the number of Tundras that they do now. They can sell 500,000 RAV4's but they can't sell 100k Tundras a year? And there should be a Lexus Truck that is a hybrid turbo V6, 450ish hp, that has all he off road capability of the Land Cruiser (which would make it the most capable truck) all the luxury and tech of an LS or LC plus Lexus-level reliability. This should be such a no-brainer. Toyota has nearly endless cash, they could outspend Ford's F150 program any day of the week if they wanted to, and they have one of the premier luxury brands and premier reliability and resale value brands in the stable. They could easily sell a Lexus pickup starting at $75-80k, with options up to $100k. I think that would outsell the LS500 at the same price point and most of the tooling is already paid from the Tundra that they already have that is a volume product.