Suaviloquent

I think the real problem is that Cadillac needs organic growth, not buyers looking to get a screaming luxury deal. I think Cadillac should increase prices across the board every product generation by a fair amount and have the discipline to stay the course. But I think Cadillac can do very well with the new segments they are entering. However, the CT6 situation perplexes me. Here is a car that I like, that is more advanced than anything out there. Corners were cut though in the interior, which cause it to lose grace and stature as a true flagship. Why not just project crash to fix the interior, make it BETTER than an S-Class and then price it right at the S-Class in TTV6 trim with the same options configured. The most advanced body of any car needs to be dressed as the most advanced car of them all, and priced as it rightfully is a greater car. We are beginning to see the turnaround - and the product is absolutely there overall. But some fronts could be more refined, so to speak.

It's called quiet compliance. I think it's present in the domestic makes too. And Japan, you betcha.

They are on a tough road...

A Fusion is actually a very nice driving car. But the whole point of this car is to forget about the driving and enjoy the lounger like seats and home theater beating audio. And get a rolling massage. And feel all like this.

I think the new Malibu is a great alternative to the outgoing Regal. If the Regal is a Euro Passat beater then I see a place for it.

. There you go again. Let me tell you something about the Lexus NX. It is a Fancy Toyota RAV4. Funny how you don't say anything about that but when it involves Cadillac, it is somehow a different story. Normally I'd agree, but the Lexus NX beat the venerable BMW X3 in MT's recent comparison. It may be a fancy RAV4 but it has the substance, and the Buick being a Chinese car - I'm okay with it, but no way hell would I consider it. That really isn't saying much to me as the X3 has always been unremarkable. You also missed the bigger point of why I said it in the first place. The X3 has been very praised... it's only flaw is that recently the options sheet has swelled, and as time has worn on, others present greater values. Otherwise, it's just as fuel-efficient, but faster than its competitors. The Buick is definitely a premium vehicle and it goes against Lexus and Lincoln, Acura and the rest.

I never thought I'd agree with SMK - but if CADILLAC is thought as too expensive and and old persons auto - holy $h! the Buick will definitely be perceived as an old persons auto.

That's of bad taste... I love both Hellcat and AMG, but there is a time and place to make a performance variant of every car. And arguably, AMG because of the new E43 name introduces a relatively fuel-efficient engine for the first time. Oh yeah, the Journey is excellent on the value for money quotient. New car, warranty, lots of them out there, good supplier base, if it breaks, it can be fixed.

Did it hurt when you had to backpedal like that? It absolutely does have everything to do with people's decisions. How many times have we heard here how wrong it was for Cadillac to be sharing floor space with any other GM make? I know you sure took part in that dog pile but now that you have been shown proof of Mercedes showering their luxury filled lots with Sprinter vans, you say it doesn't matter? Seriously LMAO at that one SMK! It does matter. +1 for catching the fish in the bag. I think the only way SMK's logic would work if MB's brand identity accounts for the Sprinter Vans, and customers are not dissuaded by their presence. I think we have to get away from thinking that Mercedes as just a luxury car brand. They have a history with it now. Perhaps Cadillac is only known as a luxury car brand...and golfing...TIME100....

Daimler's 'managing of it's (MB) brand' is to poke into every segment out there, in nothing other than a high speed pursuit of volume. Cadillac is NOT chasing volume. 'GM' of course is chasing volume, but 'Cadillac' is not 'GM'. Frankly, some of the upcoming Cadillac expansion I am NOT welcoming warmly, as it represents exactly my criticism of mercedes. RE 'brands as equals', they are not on numerous levels, but both are primarily associated with luxury products (well, a number of mercedes' are not), and therefore comparisons can , have and will be made. But I can still leave Cadillac out of it other than to set a context of subjective commentary. So why is that an undesirable strategy? Different strategies work differently for different companies. To poke holes and pursue volume.. Especially when it seems not affect the brand equity, hell, I'd bet it's up for Mercedes. Mercedes has these other products because honestly it needs some kind of dependable meat and potatoes revenues away from luxury segments. They don't make cars, they make transportation equipment. You can't be all luxury. Even the all luxury brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce are owned by commodity brands, basically. It's perplexing to me as well. I don't know how they can do it. Cadillac is chasing for volume in luxury car segments. They are. Profitable volume of course. I think they'll do a great job of it too. But I can't help but think, WTF is Cadillac doing otherwise, because you can't have a flagship car so handily under-priced, especially if it's the most advanced body structure. That's something you up-sell, never under sell. Because that forced their hand of cuts where they really hurt - the interiors. Cadillac dealers were breathing FIRE when then Alphas came out and sales nosedived. Honestly it was a great moment. JD did the right thing. ATPs were skyrocketed because pocket prices were much higher. Then they cut the MSRP's, repackaged trims for more standard equipment because they wanted to pursue volume goals once again! And this is another ramble - I'm honestly super surprised how a Cadillac XT5 is even being mentioned as a somewhat better value than a recent Buick for certain items you get standard. Just incredible.

It's impossible to compare them like that. Mercedes is managing its brand. Cadillac still can't figure out that having more of better leather and details in an interior is all they are away from an outright win the the large luxury sedan segment. You can't be objective about this statement. "mercedes benz that has products shooting in all sorts of different directions, more and more recently which don't come close to the 'the best or nothing' tagline." The G-Class is a unicorn, it is the best at being what it is. Sprinter vans apparently have the steering feel of a sports sedans according to caranadriver. I'm precisely trying to say do not compare the two brands as two equals. And GM is going for 90% coverage of luxury segment. They're utterly chasing for sales volumes.

Oh it's going to sell. It's going to sell big time. Every one will be watching this too. First skinny dip of a major mfg made in china deal.

Dude you gotta clean it up and maybe clear coat it. Resto-rat-C.O.E.

Sergio always talked of market oversaturation, lack of common architetures, etc... and probably never realized that his company was probably the biggest contributor to those problems facing the industry.

Yeah. The Buick is not really that good of a proposition anymore. I mean, there are options already that do quiet and soft. It is somewhat large for its segment. And only in the top model you get the option of the better AWD system. I think the Buick will do well regardless. I would go odd ball here and get a Mazda CX-5 and call it a day.

Wut... Look, I like Voltec as much as anyone else, but TWO products based off of D2XX using the same drivetrain, one a sedan, another a hatch is waste of time and money, No one would buy a Voltec Cruze.

We just had a what would your rather buy thread on this same vehicle. Fiat I feel is the worst parent to date of Chrysler. That's not something one does easily. You know, when GM committed billions to Cadillac - the division had to prove they would be profitable and pay for themselves. This is the complete opposite.

I'm starting to not like this vehicle. Yeah. It looks kind of too soft... And the interior. It's alright. But I think it is on par with like an Acura RDX.

But the point it is Mercedes has a history with building commercial vehicles for fleet customers. Yes, they are that kind of antithetical automaker. Yes, Cadillac should not do it. Is it unfair? NO. Do those vehicles juice MB? I hardly think so. I see no reason why someone would get out of a C-Class to buy a Metris. MB Storefronts are not so pathethic to have an E-Class or GLS SUV right across a Sprinter van. I would say Cadillac completely wants sales volumes. They are pricing themselves like they want to grab market share for the products they want to build up.

I look at it and I think "Space-age" VW Beetle. Not bad by any means. Though I would want more wheelbase.

. There you go again. Let me tell you something about the Lexus NX. It is a Fancy Toyota RAV4. Funny how you don't say anything about that but when it involves Cadillac, it is somehow a different story. We are talking about a Chinese built Buick SUV that has already been on market a few years and looks dated at launch, and they want Lexus money for it. Yes the Lexus NX is a Rav4 underneath, but it is still a Lexus, which is better than any Buick, and a much more respected badge. I was comparing the Envision to NX and MKC because they are based on the Rav4 and Escape, and turbo 4, front drive crossovers. Both the Lincoln and Lexus are nicer and I think look better and have a better brand image. Would be unfair to compare those 2nd tier crossovers to the rear drive Germans. Bah, again, the Lexus NX beat the RWD X3 in a luxo crossover comparison. The Mercedes GLC is probably best in class, but it has yet to be compared against.

. There you go again. Let me tell you something about the Lexus NX. It is a Fancy Toyota RAV4. Funny how you don't say anything about that but when it involves Cadillac, it is somehow a different story. Normally I'd agree, but the Lexus NX beat the venerable BMW X3 in MT's recent comparison. It may be a fancy RAV4 but it has the substance, and the Buick being a Chinese car - I'm okay with it, but no way hell would I consider it.

That's the designer's dilemma. Do we make it look different? Will that attract new buyers? Or will it ruin us because it doesn't look like a Porsche? Who else really competes with Porsche head-on? I would say no one. I mean, they live very comfortably off of Macan and Cayenne. And those are legit extensions of Porsche into those totally blasphemous segments of performance crossovers.

I've read everything here, and from what I can summarize, no one will agree to anything. Okay, maybe one thing - Mercedes does have the branding upper hand. And remember, the German brands do a great job of renewing leases like clockwork. That is what Cadillac is largely up against. They gotta cut that umbilical, but to get there, they gotta understand those folks well...well enough to understand in our world at this time.... those people DO NOT know or even would want to believe that Cadillac - if given the right resources can deliver a superior product to Mercedes. They all want value. They all want luxury, value, comfort, reliability, dealership service, you name it. Many of them perhaps defected at some point or another from a different brand, maybe American. There's that fascination with import vehicles too. And Mercedes is a proven brand. They're proven to be Mercedes. Which means whatever it means to anyone. To me it means classy luxury that is no longer quiet European motoring. Just does Cadillac have "it"? That will? The one to say that we can do what we want, and we'll cast everything else out as noise? I think they have it for the V Series. The concepts are breath taking. But the details - the details, they gotta sweat the details. And it's not a hapless, yuppies buying those Mercedes. It is incompetent management of a brand that has led to the failure relatively weak position of American luxury in America compared to decades ago. Here's a random rabble version 1.0 - (disregard, but read for an interesting thought) - GM can support, along with its dealers a position to ensure Tesla will never sell in Michigan with their business model. Now why can't they put that effort to use against Mercedes, BMW, Audi? Surely those guys are the true thorns in their sides? I mean there is a reason why Cadillac and Lincoln especially took a nosedive not to long ago. The problem is that kind of gap is not evident anymore. If it;s not possible to do so, it reaffirms that point of being too late. In Japan, their entire culture of patriotism has shut out foreign car makers, especially American. In Germany, somewhat less so than before, but still - the German brands have great market share. Random rabble version 2.0 - When you have cars like Cruze being called smooth as a babie's bottom, an a Focus being (contextually) called a luxury car...it is easy to take common platform cars and add the luxury glutton onto them, and charge higher prices. But where does the customer ever get to see the car underneath. And why would it matter if some parts are shared, if the customer doesn't actually step into the donor platform providing vehicle?

I don't like hydrogen vehicles. I think electric is just so much simpler. We need solar panels everywhere. I know, pre-order your SolarCity Gigapanels, get in line to buy something you've never seen, never driven installed, and hold out for 2 more years....