oldshurst442

@smk4565 PS: In 2021, the new Escalade is to arrive. I know why you mentioned 2020, is because you think the old Escalade will be eclipsed by the new for 2019 0r 2020 GLC and X7... But even then, I dont see it happening. Like I said... No mojo, no style, no gotta have it factor. Very generic. Very Japanesee... Infiniti...YIKES!!! Double yikes...very Lexusey also... Not a very unique, gotta have it Mercedes there, buddy! To boot, those fullsized Japanese SUVs are both styled a decade ago...and they dont even remotely come close in outselling the 'Slade... The BMW X7? Yeah...I dont think it will outsell the Navigator let alone the Escalade... In fact, I dont think Mercedes outsells the Navigator either...

Corvette was, is and will forever BE GM's halo sports car...and it will forever BE a Chevrolet or tied to the Chevrolet brand. Chevrolet, especially when Pontiac and Oldsmobile are no longer around, Chevrolet IS GM's performance brand and THAT is where the Corvette belongs... The only other direction the Corvette could go, is on its own, but with strong ties to...Chevrolet. NO... Cadillac does NOT NEED a sports car. Their market does not even ask for a sports car. At most...maybe...a GT car. But even before a 2 door coupe GT car, like a Bentley GT, Cadillac would benefit more through a personal luxury vehicle, and it not even need be a coupe... The window for an El Miraj/El Dorado type of personal luxury car closed about two years ago. The market shifted greatly from that. They DO need a halo vehicle though that signifies narcissistic, arrogant, excess, wasteful opulence... But a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Corvette, Pagani sports car ride is not it. A Cadillac Ciel sedan hardtop and/or 4 door convertible is THAT vehicle. Proof: The longest car Cadillac has in its stable...a CT6 V Blackwing 550 horsepower/627 ft.lbs torque Twin Turbocharged V8 sold out all 275 units instantly as soon as it was available for sale....making Cadillac think twice in canceling the CT6...plus...raising the price tag for it for the second batch by 4000 or 5000 bucks and people still bought it to reach 275... Cadillac cars...people do NOT want small, eurocentric Cadillac cars. The Allante did not sell. The ELR did not sell. The ATS did not sell. The Escalde sells. The XTS sells. Low and behold, the CT6 is starting to sell... People want big Cadillacs that cost a lot of dough....

Yes...we've discussed this before...about product.... But 25-30 years ago...there was virtually no Cadillac with an equaivalent starting price of $75 000 and ending at $100 000 either like the Escalade, or CT6....or CTS V Yes...15 or so years ago, there was an attempt to do a roadster with a high price tag and it failed...but it failed because the product was not up to Cadillac standards. Cadillac has since corrected that. The Allante also failed, for the same reasons, but it didnt have a upper echelon price tag either...it was expensive, but it wasnt in the higher echelon. It was near it, but not at it... Cadillac has made some strides...in this price realm and has succeeded to a degree. The CTS-V has failed in the market place because of a lack of marketing vision. NOT because its a lackluster product like the ELR and the Allante were before it. The Blackwing V8 CT6...or CT6-V....STARTS at $89 000... The Blackwing V8 CT6...or CT6-V....STARTS at $89 000... To put THAT into perspective...the Escalade Premium Luxury which is the 3rd highest trim level...is at 86 000.] The top of the line Escalade, the Platinum is at 96 000. The CT6-V...is in uber luxury territory as Im assuming...all 275 examples that people gobbled up as soon as it came up to be ordered, Im assuming those owners, loaded up their rides to the nines with every possible option Cadillac has to offer for it...and Im assuming that the price tag for all 275 CT5-Vs reached and surpassed 100 000 EASILY...while NOT the 150 000 YOU are clamoring for...but pretty darned impressive as the CT6 is not even considered a halo car. Not by car magazines, not by Eurosnob detractors and even Cadillac CEOs themselves... So...for a CT6, that is supposedly not on par with Germany's best in terms of quality of luxury and technology and the like, that it could get 275 units sold, instantly, with a price tag north of 100 000. You could analyze this scenario in different ways...but in reality...a CT6 that was supposedly a failure in the market place because supposedly its a vehicle that is compromised by Cadillac's legacy of 2 steps forward and 1 step back...it manages to stick around because who knew that all folk really want from Cadillac is a big Cadillac car with a big V8 under the hood...that has a big price tag? No they wont... Those SUVs have no mojo. No style. No gotta have it factor. even if there is a 3 pointed star up front on one of them. The other one comes from a brand that is following in Cadillac's marketing footsteps of the 1980s and 1990s....

Ive had this stance now for the last year or so. And I think Cadillac has got the right engineering, quality, luxury to pull it off as of NOW! That was then...and the ONLY reason why the uber lux crowd aint buying stuff from Cadillac in that price range... well there are at least 2 reasons: 1. There are virtually NO products in this price range that Cadillac offers for the uber lux crowd to buy. The Escalade is the sole vehicle that uber lux folk are buying. 2. There is NO marketing to instill pride in the brand. No information to let people know why they should buy Cadillac. The V Series stuff. There is NO marketing for people to be excited about a V Series Cadillac. The reasons why I say that folk WILL flock to buy uber lux stuff from Cadillac: 1. The concepts Ciel, Cien, El Miraj, Escala all have garnered a fair amount of buzz and noise. But no such product was and is available for an eventual sale down the line. 2. The Blackwing V8 CT6 sold out. And THAT is with the CT6 supposedly not being on the same level, as some say, as a Bimmer or Audi or Mercedes. And the Blackwing V8 CT6 is in the uber luxury price world. Granted, not too many units were available for sale, but its not as if the Blackwing V8 CT6 was advertised...and was outsold as soon as it was made available for sale and if Im not mistaken, the Blackwing V8 CT6 is still not produced to be delivered... That kinda reminds me of a certain product zealousness on par with...Tesla... 3. The CT6 was on the chopping block for awhile. But...there is a strong demand for the CT6, so GM/Cadillac is finally NOT cancelling it... Not too bad for a halo car that is NOT a halo car and supposedly a real halo car is still in the works... 4. Despite all the times we heard Cadillac say that this is the generation to turn things around...and Cadillac does not...and they take 2 steps forward and 1 step back...despite all that...Cadillac HAS raised its prices and Cadillac is actually rolling metal out of their NORTH AMERICAN dealerships.... Yes...not ATS and CTS vehicles...but their SUVs...and the CT6 has got a strong following. 5. Going back to the El Miraj and Ciel and Escala... The ATS and CTS are not selling the way they should, but the ATS and the CTS are NOT even remotely close to what folk actually want from Cadillac...which is Ciel, El Miraj and Escala... The one vehicle that people envision Cadillac to be that Cadillac actually builds...is the Escalade, andTHAT Cadillac has no trouble finding clients... Sometimes...pricing yourself too low and putting yourself too low in the market place does NOT give you the volume you want and crave. Sometimes, the image people want from you, is to be exclusive, and sometimes pricing yourself high and out of range for most folk WILL get you the volume you want and crave...from the people that actually COULD afford your cars... Because...the people that WANT a Cadillac will NOT buy a Cadillac simply because Cadillac is NOT stuffy enough. Those people, want EXCLUSIVITY....and are probably bored with BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Audi, Jag...and those people are waiting for Cadillac to actually really become exclusive... And yes...of course with the right engineered and quality worthy of the price, product. And Cadillac HAS that engineering and quality as of NOW...in 2019... What they do NOT have is the marketing...and product...to sell to those folk...

Peter DeLorenzo keeps on saying on his Autoextremist website that Mary Barra and Dan Ammann do NOT believe in hiring a marketing company to do the marketing campaigns on their automotive brands. And if I understood DeLorenzo correctly, its like Barra also limits GM's budget for marketing and its done in-house with Barra and Ammann in charge. Obviously Ammann is no longer a big wig with GM's automotive operations any more, but in charge of the autonomous driving section of GM's operations, but Barrra is still not into marketing her products properly.... But yeah... Cadillac needs some sort of identity marketing to get the excitement for the brand going... To get the message of pride for owning and driving a Cadillac...

I like your thinking all but for one thing. Im for a proper Caddy. Im for a badass Caddy. Im for a wagon Caddy. Maybe. (its that CUV/SUV thing that is going on in the market place that puts a damper on that idea) But I definitely DO NOT want an affordable Caddy...

^^^ That above I agree to 10000000000%

Or a 3rd gen Trans Am Come to think of it...a 2nd gen Trans Am too Those are not all nice and tucked in ... The CT5's area right in front of that front tire forward, now that Im looking at it more and more...looks kinda squished...with no personality to boot.... Yeah...I like me some front overhang....

I heard a rumour, that you have a broken heart. Now it seems they're telling me you've changed your wicked ways. Rumour has it. That she is half your age. But Im guessing that's the reason that you stayed. Ive heard, that youve been missing me.... Heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard it from another, you've been messin around... I dont believe it. Not for a minute. I know you know we've had some good times. Now they have their own hiding place. Well, I can promise you tomorrow, but I cant buy back yesterday. Ill be there for you, these 5 words I swear to you. When you breathe, I want to be the air for you. Ill be there for you! This post was brought to you by Bananarama, Adele, REO Speedwagon and Bon Jovi. And if you frown upon it because it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, I tied it all up with the "rumour" connection and at least there is a very weak automotive connection to it...so...there!

Generic? Honda? It may appear to be so...sure...but Honda is anything BUT generic... Honda appears to be generic because for the last 20-30 years, Honda has introduced some automotive themes,concepts and ideas, much like BMW and Mercedes in some cases, and the other, bigger fish in the automotive world just burrow those themes and those themes become widespread and because Honda is a smaller player, it seems that Honda is generic... But Honda is not generic. Their styling on cars maybe different than the usual and more on the ugly side of different, to some, but different is the opposite of generic... The current generation TLX has got genertic styling, but the tech offered on the TLX is certainly not generic. The last generation TL had ugly styling, again not generic, and had technology not offered by others in any segment... The new NSX uses technology that only a handful of exotic supercars use...that cost 2-3 times more. The new Ford GT and the new ME C8 Corvette wont offer that type of tech just yet. Anything but generic there as well. The Civic...Si...has got boyracer styling. That type of styling WOULD be generic if it were still the 1990s. Its 2019. Its cliched old styling nowadays, but THAT does not define it as generic... The Civic SI performance figures for a FWD car is certainly NOT generic... NEWSFLASH: ALL CUVS/SUVs FROM ALL MANUFACTURES ARE GENERIC...not just Honda's... Coupe stlye SUVs like the BMW X6 has become generic. But BMW was one of the 1st to market. Which leads us to Acura. Acura had one BEFORE everybody else not named BMW...so...at THAT time...NOT GENERIC... Honda maybe a lot of things, positive or negative, to people. But one thing that Honda is not...Honda is NOT generic.

Date night...6 inches in the back...would it hurt? LOL (took me awhile to get it...) I agree with you though! I dont get it either. Or at least keep the damned fastback, low roofline styling but make the trunk opening like a hatchback... The 3rd and 4rth gen F-Bodies had them. The new gen Regal has it. Cadillac itself featured it in the Escala concept. GM know that this could be a viable option. But I think GM and other manufacturers systematically WANT sheeple to flock to CUVs... This is NOT an accident or a lack of foresight on their part for shytty trunk space on sedans...

Bitchin' about a sedan's lack of trunk space? I think that complaint should have been front and center 20 years ago when trunk space on sedans were slowly but surely reduced systematically... 1.. by some models becoming bigger than its predecessor but trunk space (and rear leg room) NOT improving 2. The introduction of coupe style, fast back styling, of the modern sedan but not even offering a hatchback style opening for it ala Tesla Model S or new gen Regal, or European Ford Mondeo/Lincoln MKZ... (or even Cadillac's Escala concept) 3. The explosion of CUVs to replace sedans that sheeple flock to, but in all fairness, the manufactures PUSHING the sheeple towards CUVs... Lets be honest... Cadillac sedans that are NOT FWD, and are RWD are NOT marketed towards trunk space... Cadillac vehicles that ARE FWD or are of the CUV/SUV variety are about trunk space. RWD Cadillac sedans and coupes are geared and marketed (loose term here for Cadillac's marketing effort) more to be of a....fun sporty nature and less about hauling... The CT6 may have a big trunk, but that is by default as its a longer car...and it doesnt have that fastback, coupe style roofline... Its more of a traditional sedan body style. The CT5 and future Cadillac sedans are said to be styled with fastback, lower roofline, coupe styling... Therefore, Cadillac cars will, going forward, have shytty trunk space... It shouldnt be such a shocker for us now, and we might as well get used to that idea going forward.

Thanks Surreal for the requirements I needed and wanted to learn about the some sort of backround required for a used Mercedes (or Porsche) to become a certified CPO. This is why I asked that question up above. Albeit the wording was not concise to what I meant... I did not know that there even was such a program and that Mercedes and Porsche did it, let alone Cadillac. This is a pretty neat thing for end of lease or trade-in cars for the brand itself. It helps keep brand recognition AND brand loyalty through a car's second lifetime. This also forces a brand to keep quality standards high...(well it ought to have that effect anyway on the initial engineering and manufacturing process anyway...) and the deealership's best interest for repeat buyers in the new and used category to keep those potential buyser down the line happy too...for the dealership AND for the brand...

By definition...a businessman is a person that takes risks...just sayin...

Like I said back then. Cash will always be king. Just don't pissed it all away. Real estate is an investment like any other investment. You could always go back to re-invest your cash in real estate or anything else that may come your way. As long as your money grows. (even if by a small % rather than a huge % and always better than a loss obviously) No investment is forever. One has to "get out" of an investment eventually. One shouldn't be afraid or reluctant to "get out". Like I said, as long as money was made. Sometimes, one HAS to cut his losses if losses are to be had. One has to see the bigger picture at all times and if an investment becomes stagnant, one should cash out. However, if there is much money to be had, one BETTER ride the gravy train as much as possible! Im glad that you came to a conclusion about the job offer and about your properties. Those stresses are now relieved (Im assuming for the most part) and now you could concentrate on other money making ventures. You strike me as a businessman. You also strike me as a person that is not afraid to take risks...CALCULATED risks... Good on you! Good luck on your next venture!

Im under the impression that (middle class) Americans...and Canadians...are so into keeping up with the Kardashians and the Joneses, that they have voraciously consumed themselves into oblivion, that the majority do NOT have the means to buy new. AND...because they are now accustomed to make monthly payments on everything, including making the monthly credit card payments on the bubble gum they bought 6 months ago, that leasing is just about the ONLY way of driving a car...regardless of price tag or luxury or mid-luxury or even on the lowest of echelons of price point in cars... Leasing was always a luxury car thing as soon as leasing was a thing...non? The problem as I sees it, is when leasing cheap Hondas has become a thing... Leasing for a car company versus buying changes nothing, for the short term...as it contributes to getting cars built, shipped and rolled out of the showroom floor. Its just that with 3-4-5 year leases, versusof 6-7-8-9-10 year ownership of vehicles presents different good and bad scenarios... Good scenarios for short leases: It creates more buyers faster... Downside....creates used cars as competition to your new car sales Upside, good marketing makes for more excitement to get the newest ride faster to the people. But Im assuming that also creates less brand loyalty. 6-7-8-9 year ownership creates less traffic in showrooms to roll out and sell new vehicles. But if an owner is satisfied with that new car that now is an old car, brand loyalty is stronger? Anyway...for me...leasing versus buying in the luxury market in the manufacturer point of view means that if Mercedes leases more than Cadillac...welll...good on Mercedes...bad on Cadillac. The name of the game is getting people to your dealership and making them leave with YOUR car regardless of the means...

Are these end of lease cars? When the lease is up, the dealership uses its discretion and keeps the end of lease cars that are worth reselling and certifies them with Mercedes or Porsche backing them up with warranties and guarantees? Is this a new program? Is this offered in Canada if you know?

It will all boil over. The world over is bubbling with too much debt. Debt. Debt. Debt. There isnt one industrialized nation that doesnt have debt. Government debt. Consumer debt. Maybe not all industrialize nations. But a good portion. In Canada and in the US, citizens are over-consuming and have an insane amount of consumer debt. I also can assume that the rising prices of new vehicles in North America are going to have some serious consequences because North Americans are spoiled bitches...in that new cars are priced higher and higher is because we North Americans will NOT buy a new car with no frills. We have come to the point where a luxury nameplate used car several years old is more valuable to our fragile egos that we North Americans refuse to buy brand new cheap cars with no frills. We are no longer proud to own a new car. Granted, reliability of cars today far exceed cars of yesteryear so I REALLY do understand why a 5 year old BMW well equipped 5 Series would be more appealing to own than a similarly priced brand new Nissan Sentra with no options...but THAT has forced entry level cars to have the same options as luxury vehicles which keeps pushing the average price of cars higher and higher and eliminates the cheaper, smaller cars. Manufactures need to move metal, and this phenomenon has created another competitor...the used car ... the previously owned... the certified pre-owned vehicle. It will all boil over. The system will reset itself. Either by a very gloomy future or a more friendlier version like we had back in 2009. But a global meltdown will happen again. I could be a Debbie Downer here....but Im amazed how we as consumers still consume voraciously yet we still complain the high price of this commodity and that how expensive that product is and how this service is lacking for high high the price is and... And this here is another example... We dont want high payroll, but we want to make big salaries. We dont want to pay high taxes, but we moan about the condition of anything public... We want everything now, we do not want to save, we buy everything on credit, we have bought all the damned toys that we could possibly want and need and are in debt several years worth of salary for it, yet we still want more and our consumer companies still want us to spend more...because they need to make more products for us to buy so they could still be in business and yet, we are all in debt...companies borrow money, we borrow money. We buy buy buy. We spend spend spend... There are sooooo many car companies to buy cars cars cars... Something will give.

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Well...you down voted a couple of posts without explanation (to other posters). Assuming you did not like their post for whatever reason. I did the same thing to yours. I did not like your post, so I down voted... .

BMW marketed their whatever this segment was in the 1990s as SAVs. Sports ACTIVITY Vehicles. The first from BMW being the X5 way back in 1999. They did this to distinguish their version of whatever this segment was in the 1990s from the others... SUVs were body of frame things that went off road up until this point in time for the most part. Unibody versions existed, but the main focus was off roability and go anywhere attitude even with the unibody versions. And that they were, capable off roaders. Many things happened in the 1990s (OJ Simpson as 1 example) and the focus of off roadability for SUVs got muddied...(family hauling, grocery getters as 1 example) The BMW marketing department settled on ACTIVITY rather than UTILITY...although UTILITY for the most part was off roading which ironically is more akin to activity and utility is what the SUV has become today... wierd... Mercedes did the offraod thing with their new-wave SUV, and wanted to showcase the ruggedness with Jurassic Park movie product placement. The Infiniti FXs and Nissan MURANO would be more X5 SAV-ish rather than SUV-ish Pathfinder, Xterra and Armada and its luxo brother the Infiniti QX. Then BMW would, I assume, would wanna upstage the other sporty SAVs with virtually NO off road capabilities, which BMW DID indeed invent, and create the low and tapered midway roofline version of the X5 called the X6. The Infinity FXs had bulbous(still do) rooflines. Lexus (and Toyota) went the other way and offered no offroadbility, no sportiness and no personality to their new new-wave small SUVs. Because their big and midsized BOF SUVs were still true to the original formula for SUVs. This is my take on it. PS: That Buick rendering reminds me of the current Chevy Blazer. Not a bad thing. I think the Blazer looks good. As does this rendering. I wouldnt want one either way though. Im still waiting on a new personal coupe (or sedan) worthy of the name Riviera. But...seeing what the market is today with sedans and coupes, the Riviera name would be soooooo befitting on this rendering of a possible Buick SAV... (I HATE this nomenclature of SAV, but kudos to BMW for tapping into a great idea...)

No. The conversation was a cool, informative, civil, factual to a degree, discourse. Nothing childish about it. Debunking illogical or even proving certain aspects of that discussion was the direction. Balthy informed me that 90% of the Model T from 1908 and 1927 remained the same. Then you come along and spew childish remarks...and then I become the bad guy again...derailing the thread and making my remarks borderline personal.... I do NOT enjoy being this way. I do NOT enjoy posting this way and I certainly do NOT enjoy interacting with you guys this way. These kinds of discussions, the way you and I approach it, are high school level intelligence. YOUR arguments are high school level. Please stop!

Happened twice. Plus... But you still dont get it! Stop the motherphoquing childish trolling...

I LOVE Springsteen's work...its your political stab at him I dont appreciate... Like how YOU do when I say I dont trust Trump's administration...is what the reaction was PS: the song is NOT about MAGA... And HE has a right to his political views without YOU dissing him in an automotive forum. In a MAGA Amerca, HE has THAT right to his political views and SING about them...