balthazar
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Everything posted by balthazar
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Cadillac Naming Convention, Time to Show your Marketing Mastery!
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Cadillac
Agreed : if the vehicle is great, it doesn't matter if 50+ yr olds remember a name from decades past but no one else does. Like you say- the name doesn't matter as long as it's a word instead of yet another meaningless alpha-numeric. -
The base, 2WD PU starts @ $36K ??????????? No wonder Nissan can't move any Titans. They're the absolutely bottom of the PU barrel, they need to cut 20 GRAND off that sticker if they want to move metal.
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Right! Well… they want the next 3-series on one platform, including the EV version. That's how you leverage your model equity into the future by allowing established, segment players the room to morph over to ElectricPropulsion as the market dictates. Rather than split your own buyer pool & diverting your marketing between 2 vehicles going for the same segment. BMW is doing it the right way.
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^^ THAT'S what I am talking about, creating a platform that enables both without developing a whole entire parallel vehicle. After Mercedes copies Tesla and starts building luxury EVs, perhaps they can copy BMW and make it happen on a singular platform.
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If Mercedes management doesn't see Tesla as a threat RIGHT NOW and is planning on answering in 2025, they've already lost. Model S is handily outselling the S-class in the U.S. already.
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Except with EVs, they are way behind there. Size is not important; tier/class of vehicle is. There the Model S & S-class compete head-to-head… except the problem for MB has been proven that it can be unseated in sales (YOU care about this, I do not). And again, some folk expect MORE from MB, rather than a 'we'll get around to it eventually' approach, and then when they do, a 'it's good enough for nissan & Chevrolet, it's good enough for us' approach. - - - - - Like I've said numerous times, a modular platform which allows either an ICE or EP is the wave of the future and makes transitioning between the 2 mode seamless. The first brand to nail this has paved it's own way into the future. It just won't be mercedes from the sound of it.
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So MB is going to benchmark the current/future 4 Tesla models. That would mean an electric sedan in the size/tier as the Model S…. but MB already has at the S-class in that tier. They are going to split their S-class base as some undoubtedly will go for an EV 'S' class. They'll spend a billion or so, have a duplicate size/position model to it's own s-class. That makes no sense. MB should just drop the S550 for the new 'S-EV', leaving the S600 for those that still want to burn gas. Bring it out in the next generation on a common platform, and make the S-class both stronger in the short-term and insure it's longevity in the long term. - - - - - Also, I am shocked, SHOCKED I TELL YOU regarding your position here; that 'Chevy does it, so it's OK if Mercedes does it too.' Wow. That's VERY unlike you, smk. Did your fish go belly up this weekend- you're off your MB game.
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So we're acknowledging here… that Chevrolet & Mercedes, both clearly & unabashedly mainstream, mass-market, full-line brands, are following the same path in this case, with Chevrolet in the lead. Got it. - - - - - Per your above post, I've not heard that the Bolt is meant to replace the Malibu in any way, and indeed the Bolt is notably smaller. Whereas with MB, the premise -at least as how it's been presented here- is that there's clearly 5 model names above, not one or 2, and MB doesn't have 5 empty slots in it's catalog of 101 models. That would mean these EV 5 are parallel models, duplicates (in size/class) to the existing models. Bolt may well be a duplicate of the Spark currently, I don't know their specs offhand, but like I said, Chevy would drop 'Model A' in a heartbeat, and likely will. I seriously doubt the long-term plan is to retain all 4 of the Sonic, Spark, Bolt & Volt.
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But GM is the Corp that dumps models names with regularity. And GM sucks, right- who wants to follow their lead? Here MB is potentially creating a parallel line of EV vehicles, at which point the ICE models & that entire naming convention will likely be killed off. I'm just saying it seems that's what MB is setting up.
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Why?? Why another string of sedans & CUVs just with EV? If the self-proclaimed 'best' engineering of MB is ultimately planning on going all EV (according to your prediction, in a few decades), are they going to just drop all the ICE model lines eventually?? No more 'S-class'? Or, should not MB try to incorporate Electric Propulsion into the core model lines, with the thinking that higher & higher percentages will go with the EP option and the core model lines can go on into the future? This makes a LOT more sense, will save Daimler billions, and insure the continued equity of the model names. The alternative, seemingly, is only because they can't figure out a "logical" naming convention. That's just stupid. MB can only fracture their catalog into so many dozens of paper-thin slices...
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Cadillac Naming Convention, Time to Show your Marketing Mastery!
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Cadillac
My reply is straight forward. For hypothetical example : • 'Fleetwood' : available in sedan & coupe : 2.0T I4, 3.0TT V6, 4.2TT V8 • Fleetwood V-Sport : available in sedan & coupe : 3.0TT V6, 4.2TT V8 • Fleetwood V : available in sedan & coupe, 6.2SC V8 Cars are all badged as 'Fleetwood' with separate engine badging on rear fascia (or front fenders). With AWD option, would like to see badging less obvious, i.e.; not on the rear fascia. Maybe lower front fenders, or on the wheels somehow. Get away from a scenario where you are behind one and it reads "Cadillac' and 'Fleetwood' and '4.2TT' AND 'AWD'. No longer necessary to hammer the consumer that way. NOT in favor of coding drive wheels and engine option into the model name, adds needless complexity. - - - - - I don't think "Dare Greatly' is bad at all, BTW. -
The problem with the above is MB defines those numbers as referring to displacement (even tho, for example, the 'S550' is actually a 'S470'). The EV has no displacement! S550-EV would imply the car has both a (4.7L) ICE AND an Electric Propulsion system. Maybe the least egregious method is 'S-EV'.
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But that's not the mercedes scheme, and they just doubled down on the scheme they DO use. EQE, EQS…. what are those names supposed to mmeeeaaann??
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Cadillac Naming Convention, Time to Show your Marketing Mastery!
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Cadillac
• I like Eldorado, ElMiraj & Escalade. And by that, I'm NOT in favor of all 'E' names, BTW! But IMHO: the rest are definite 'NO's. I especially hate the *name* + *number* in a hundred variations. That's easily as poor as the mercedes' mess. And a towering 'NFW' to an 'Xt1' entry. • I firmly believe that a big sedan can successfully be re-christened 'Fleetwood' or 'Brougham' again. Then keep the names for another 50 year run. • Would strongly advocate returning to models names where displacement/drive wheels are REMOVED from the model's name. Too homogenized, too commonplace. You want to know what engine is in the car? Read the trunk badge & move the F on. The exception, sort of, to that is keeping the V-Sport and V suffixes. -
But what do you finish the name out with? Can't go with "EV-E400" - that's ridiculous. MB just realigned their nomenclature to attempt to make things more clear. It didn't, but OK. If they use kw's like smk suggested (tho that's a bit too much of a straight-up copy IMO), they can't use "EV-E60"; it's also ridiculous. MB's naming scheme is confusing enough already & people are just going to be more confused. Maybe "EV60", "EV70" etc, "E400" and "E63 AMG"…. God, that still sucks. What a hot mess.
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^ Oooo; you bad! - - - - - Went to an auction in PA today, auction listing had a pic of a vintage anvil. Always wanted one, tho I don't know if I would ever use one. In researching the brand, I found a guy in the next county who is the 'curator' for the anvil brand, has a private museum of them. Found his FB page, went thru his pics, found one with him in it. Got to the auction, there he was. He sat next to the anvil for a good 3 hours without moving. Anvils go for $2-3/lb, this was a 150-lber, that's an average of $375, but it had a cast-iron OEM stand with it; I don't know what those would be worth, but I'd est. $150. That's $525-600. It sold for $700, and yep; to Mr Anvil Collector. My ceiling was $350. Maybe next time.
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^ That would make the most sense within the MB scheme ('C300e') except supposedly Daimler is going to create a separate line of sedans & CUVs rather than use the existing lines. Wonder how they'll combine sales numbers on this….
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On topic : I wouldn't hold my breath RE seeing any amount of Model 3s stickered at $35K….
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YO! You think you guys could do a teensy bit of editing and reduce the quoting over & over & over of 3-4-5-6-7-8 previous posts? Especially when they are all from the same day? I mean, I'm sure you don't need them to continue the conversation, and others don't need to see then repeated a dozen times. Just would really streamline the threads a bunch. Please consider this request in the sincerity it was offered, if you would. Thanks.
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Starting a petition drive to rename the CT6 to "Brougham".
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Take a look at your vehicle's DIC's; wife's Malibu averages around 30-32 MPH. Aero isn't playing a part in efficiency except on long highway trips. IOW; I doubt 0.08 cd is going to boost range from 200 to 220 for 90% of owners.
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"banana, banana, banana, banana, terracotta, banana, terracotta, terracotta pie"
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• Patent doesn't prove anything. And that's a German patent; the Hill car is American. Benz applied for a patent in 1886, issued later that year. Seldon applied for a U.S. patent in 1879 but it was not issued until 1895. Seldon car : • Hill car was built in 1868. It was initially steam-powered, but none the less; it was a functional, 4-wheeled automobile, built 19 years before Benz's tricycle. • Three wheels isn't a car anyway, it's a motorcycle. BTW, "first car with an X engine" immediately puts a disclaimer on the claim, thusly disqualifying it. It's either the first self-propelled, 4-wheel vehicle, or it's not. In this case, the Benz is obviously not.
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