balthazar
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Everything posted by balthazar
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15% slide YTD in car sales? 10% down overall… Whew- what's BMW going to do to address this?? Catastrophic in some folk's opinion.
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Right; who's going to trade a CTS for a Ford cargo va—— oh, you meant the mercedes sedan. My bad. Yeah- the E350 is not a better buy, and yes; the maintenance & repair costs are much higher. It's why the majority of mercedes' are leased- to avoid the reliability gremlins, post-warranty. The extended warranty is an attempt to address this problem.
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I just realized the bottom feeder 'GLA' sound like it should slot between the 'GL' & 'GLS'. So little rhyme or reason to the Daimler model naming system. - - - - - So far, the crossovers are barely holding the line against the steep slide in car sales.
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^ I like how they never fail to mention the low!low! lease rates. And BTW- offering a used car for the price of a new one? Ya- that's some selling tactic.
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MB cars are sliding HARD year-to-date.
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See this is a good point in favor of the FWD luxury cars. Yes, yes, yes, wrong wheel drive and not sporty or near as athletic of a drive.. but FWD platforms offer more interior room. I honestly think the FWD platform luxury cars in the smaller/mid-size will compete very well on the interior space front. FWD only addresses space in the floor area, IE; the 'trans tunnel'. In some instances, where beam 'axles' are used out back, it makes for a smidge more rear seat room. It doesn't make more 'people' room in general. IE; it's incremental, not transformational. Cars should get WIDER, without question. I'm NOT a big person (5'8") but I still feel like a 'peanut in a shell' in most modern 'family sedans'. Envy this : my '59 Buick front seat hip room : 66". 2016 Escalade : 61"… a number that TOTALLY IGNORES the 16" center console.
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"In 1973, the average car in the U.S. had 81 lbs of aluminum in it. By 2006, the average was 319 lbs" ~ How Its Made - - - - - Hearing this I immediately considered my '40 Cab Over. The only aluminum on it is the distributor housing & most of the carburetor body. It might total 1 lb.
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How is dealer inventory / days on the lot ANY sort of meaningful metric, other than from the factory shift scheduler's POV?? Luxury sedan sales are DOWN across the board, some HUGE "slides' at the German brands. Audi is down too, but audi has problems selling cars that primarily use volkswagon power trains- thusly they duke it out with lowly Cadillac for sales numbers. Apologists only say 'look how great audi is doing!' :/ Cars in general are on the downside of their Bell Curve… at least for now. They've collectively gotten so cramped that people have been turning to trucks, and now SUVs / CUVs for decades. Cars need to grow larger, larger than they are now if OEMs want to turn this around. Everyone says simplistically 'build more CUVs!!' but no one advocates fixing the issues with the cars : space.
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You need a noun.
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Wake up & read the stats ! - - - - - 2016, Year to Date :: BMW 3-series :: DOWN 30% BMW 5-series :: DOWN 20% MB C-class :: DOWN 15% MB E-class :: DOWN 24% ATS :: DOWN 22% CTS :: DOWN 14%
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Was next to a new mercedes at a light on the highway. C, E, who knows; didn't read the back. Had my window down. I heard the whine & grind of the mercedes' starter and realized it had the start/stop feature. But all the driver was doing was inching forward; he literally didn't move 3 inches- anticipating the green light. He stopped fully and the car shut down again. Light changed, the car whined, chattered to a start, & went. If this is how start/stop works, constantly restarting if you move 2 inches with your foot still on the brake, no thanks.
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Actually, it's not nearly as significant as it would seem. Reading elsewhere, it seems these numbers for Cadillac are WITHIN 2 WEEKS of it's competition in these segments. ALL the luxury sedan sales are down/inventories are up. smk- you can call this another one of your "snapshots".
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I've had this toolbox for about a year now. It was left behind when the buyer of my friend's 1916 Case steam traction engine bought it. I was assuming it was a factory piece, but when posted on a tool-related site, someone said not original to Case, but probably from the 1920s. Cool either way. Has a wooden rack on the inside back wall with slots & holes for hand tools, tho the only thing tool-related in it were 2 giant open-ended wrenches that now hang on my shop wall (one is 20" long) : You can just make out the (upside-down) eagle perched on the Earth logo- J L Case's emblem. Cleaned out, at least it's some storage when out on the road (for things like tetnus shots, bandages & road flares). Anyway, it happens to fit just about perfectly behind the cab of the '40. I haven't fabricated any mounting hardware yet, but should be pretty straight forward. I like it!
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I would like to see a really big coupe from Cadillac, at least 205" overall. NOT the El Miraj, which I think needs refinement, but more like a Ciel coupe. TTV8 only.
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^ You CAN'T be THAT serious about a few thin blades of brightwork inside the same grill shell. It's not like it's anything remotely as horrific as that 1960s japanese sic-fi monster face 'spindle' grill over @ Toyota….
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OK, given that, at what production levels is that necessary? And what pays the bills until that level is reached? Tesla sold 52,580 vehicles in 2015. Musk said the factory will be at full production by the end of Q1 2016, or 22,500 units per quarter. Actual Q1 sales were 14,820, or 34% behind that projection. Is there a huge storage backlog or are the production & sales numbers relatively close? Of that, Model S sales were 12,420, for a projected annual total of 49680- down a bit from the 52,580 of last year (of which less than 500 were Model Xs). Perhaps the Model X, finally up to projected weekly quantities, will improve the numbers. Still have not seen an X yet. - - - - - I have been finding the unfolding business case of Tesla very interesting, in part because of the 'disconnect' between general public sentiment and the hard facts. I realize that projections are carefully modulated marketing tactics...
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I hear you and I don't have half the Cold Hell you endure. Still, my shop is uninsulated. I do have one of these but I don't use it. However my buddy did when working on the truck this winter. I want to make one of those double flower pot hand warmers tho.
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More profitable….. but will that actually mean PROFITABLE??
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You are aware PDL is an ex GM-copywriter who was 'slighted' in the early '80s and hasn't 'seen a GM ad he likes' since, right? CT6 campaign so far has been very decent- has created nice aspiration & mood. FAR better than the mercedes 'disco chicken' ads. I agree that 'Escalade S' is a poor suggestion. Mercedes & BMW are hoping to get to Audi's margins too, but they don't have a vast volkswagon part warehouse in which to make it work yet. Audi A2 thru A6 : VW powertrains. For shame.
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PDL gets more 'rambling' as the years go by. His 'point' that no one knows the name of a brand new Cadillac model…. that didn't replace a prior one is… a non-issue. No one "knew" what a 'Model S' was, now it's outselling the S-class. C'mon, give the auto consumer a bit of credit.
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But scion DID die, due (I assume) to "negatives", IE: no profit… all the while being part of a 60-yr old mega conglomerate. Ironically; scion started up the same year as Tesla. Of course- the start-up costs for Tesla were MUCH higher than at scion, but the bleeding cannot continue @ Tesla and the company still live. The pre-order / order process that has everyone buzzing about interest has consistently overlooked the revenue stream it provides the company to keep going. While I have no inside information, the rate Tesla has been converting Mopdel X pre-orders into orders (IE: cashing the checks) is indicative of a serious concern in their accounting department.
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^ Ignored the question. Do people know the 'CTS' name now or not? How is introducing 'CT6' now any different WRT people learning what it refers to over time? Did people get confused & think the mercedes 'GLC' was a rebadged mazda GLC?
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I can appreciate that sentiment, and I'll not argue it… but I'd occasionally trade 5 minutes of indecision in the wax aisle @ Pep Boys vs. hours of fabricating & welding a dual exhaust system from scratch.
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So, were there thousands upon thousands of consumers scratching their heads & waving their hands in the air when "Grand Am" came out, as it was completely unknown then? I mean, there already was a 'Trans Am' AND a 'Grand LeMans' -- IMAGINE the WIDESPREAD CONFUSION!! What about 'CTS'- still think 'people don't know it'? - - - - - CT6 is just shipping to dealers now, new product names ALWAYS take some time to register at large. I would've thought that didn't need explaining...
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This has been my concern from the get go. If there's no profit after 110,000 $85K cars, how can there be ANY on cars half the price?
