balthazar

I’ll pass.

This is refreshing: brand new desktop after just over 10.5 year run on the prior one. ?

My point was the 1st truck shows zero signs of having impacted anything; why would it blow a trans line?

I'm working thru my hangup on this issue. Gettin' there. Weird how the fluid blew forward. I get the 2nd truck... but not on the 1st one.

mercedes also produced thousands of sub-100-hp sedans with no power amenities, didn't get around to A/C until circa 1969, offered decades of s-class cars 15 years behind the industry leading edge, killed off their most iconic FI car after only 3 years to build a 4-banger slushbox, floated on the profits of tons of trucks and vans, built a number of failed cheap cars that tried to coast in on the badge, built a flop of a minvan, canceled what would have been a flop of a small pickup they developed with outside engineering help, built a flop of a maybach (Daimler lost 300K euros on everyone built, but kept building them for 10 years), teased dozens & dozens of designs they never produced, cut their gullwing revival off at the knees, copied Cadillac mercilessly while trying to cultivate a true luxury sedan (they just did it again with their mega glass screen (which actually is just a pane over 3 different screens), got caught doing emissions cheating and fined $2.2 billion, adopted/promoted the false narrative that Benz "invented" the automobile, nursing tons of vehicle problems, failures to report recalls, is hopelessly behind on the BE front......

But those were 'some of the slowest selling models'.

Daimler is killing the s-class coupe & convertible, the e-class coupe & convertible, the C-class coupe & convertible, the CLS coupe, one of the GT models, and rumors have floated there will be more. [~ MB dealer webinar via Business Insider, July 2020] Huh.

• '21 Escalade can hit $125K via the current build & price. I've done it. $190K is not "double" $125K. • Mercedes doesn't even build the g-wagoneer; it's farmed out. Their flagship vehicle and someone else builds it. • Escalade-V, CT4 and CT5 Blackwing (Feb 1), CT8 / Celestiq, all in the pipeline.

Truck has more screen than I want as is. Tesla's door handles on the Model Y were copied from the 'trick' ones on the '69-72 Grand Prixs, (and an upgrade from the buggy ones on the Model S). Drag car is a period piece; gimmicky tech need not apply.

I don't need to sling a 6000lb, 20-ft long truck around like a drag car. I'm building a drag car that's quicker than any Tesla yet built for that (tho the range there will undoubtedly be wretched).

• Alfa is also a niche brand. XT4 outsold the entire brand. Also; it's a 'regular look' car and still no one wants one. • Model S sales peaked in 2018. The 2nd 'refresh' just announced is so mild no one will know anything was done to it other than 2 new wheels. But being 'in the thick' of BE performance/range is what you need to be competitive; if you have to be #1 on the spec sheet, mercedes will NEVER 'compete' with Tesla. A given vehicle isn't a sales leader because of how far it goes or how fast it goes 0-60. It's the aggregate of the entire vehicle; you always try to boil it down to 1 factor. Benz still building the patentwagon in 2021? Markets, approaches, stradegies and products change to meet the same shifting factors in consumers. Look at mercedes' roots, horribly spartan, underpowered, archaic sedans... why did they reinvent themselves as a 'German Cadillac' the way they did?

Ram absolutely should be returned to Dodge, but it's obvious why that was done. But no one is asking for a peugeot in the U.S.

• Bentley is niche, Cadillac is exclusive. • Cadillac halo sports car is in development as we type. • Cadillac “Tesla fighters” are coming, as you are aware (Lyriq & Celestiq), as are MB’s ‘Tesla fighters’. Gm is not considering a Corvette-oriented SUV- that’s rumor mill fodder.

• Coupes are dead, followed closely by convertibles. I’d like to see both, but you’d just complain they were ‘slow-selling’. • You want “7-8” models and Cadillac has 6, plus you’ve likely read on the upcoming ones (we don’t know if they are additions or replacements). For an exclusive low-volume brand, they’re right where you want them to be. • Cadillac had multiple trims levels for every model. Research. • For the umpteenth time, GM engines are produced by GM Powertrain, not the Divisions. Since 1982 or so.

You can get a gas 6.6L V8 in the HD’s.

Incorrect- Model Y has the #1 sales RATE increase, not the #1 non-gas seller. Tesla sold 442K Model 3 & Model Y vehicles globally in 2020. A bit of sleight-of-hand when every other manufacturer reports country sales subtotals. Then there's the combining of 2 distinct models into one number (an old toyoter trick). Per registration data, Tesla sold an average of 11,500 Model Y's in the U.S. in the last 3 months of 2020. That would only be a yearly total (average) of 138,000 units. - - - - - GM for one has greatly expanded the availability of turbodiesels in light duty trucks. It's so tough to beat the combination of longevity, initial price, power and range of the 3.0L. In early testing, Wards was getting 32 MPG out of it.

But.... a motor vehicle’s specific purpose is to leave the house.

Bluefield WV ~

Because Cadillac is not carrying an entire corporation on it's back, like the hatchback ~ cargo van brand mercedes. They don't WANT or NEED an "entire" line of 84 models. Cadillac now has the best chassis dynamics, suspensions & steering. Things no one EVER thought possible 20 years ago; the corner stone on what BMW built everything one at one time. That's amazing progress by a brand you erroneously keep thinking is 'failing' all the time.

Outside is exactly the same. Ooo; 2 different rims. Interior remains bland. I'd be completely shocked if that steering wheel was allowed. 10 years and 2 mild tweaks. Sales of the S peaked in 2018. IC truck I'm working on getting has a range of 625 miles. Just saying.

• The V-Series was a fantastic move for Cadillac- it cemented the brand in with the M and AMG cars, for as long as they're all produced. V-Series earned tremendous respect from people who never, ever looked at Cadillac before. • A V-Series is as much of a "german knock-off" as a 7-series or s-class (or any of their respective SUVs) is an 'American knock-off'. • Nurburgring track times are irrelevant other than 3 handfuls of enthusiast arguing on the internet. Track times don't sell a single vehicle that wouldn't be bought otherwise. • Just to clarify, my comment was regarding worrying about a road course lap time, not that Cadillac wouldn't do it.

But you understand how averages work, yes? If the average brand new Gov't vehicle is $31K, for every vehicle that's $50K, there has to be one for $10K. For every $60K vehicle, there has to be one thrown in for FREE. Look at the 2017 breakdown volumes below, and tell me how you think they can average $31K per vehicle. Per BATTERY ELECTRIC vehicle. Out of the 595K vehicles (in 2017), 390K are full-size trucks.

I only need 1.

Still own my first car: 1964 Grand Prix. In an exciting bit of news; waiting on ballpark est to rebuild engine- may be pulling it inside the next 3 weeks.