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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    I would think prospective ATS buyers would find it far more significant that the competition has less FRONT legroom than the ATS. Quick, someone 'shop some lines over a 3-series sedan's front door, and let the incessant harping begin.
  2. balthazar
    Don't forget ferrari- forums full of poor quality reports there, too.
  3. balthazar
    Again with the 'back seat room' fallacy? Over @ BMW & MB, the critics are more worried about 'back seat in handling with less overall legroom'… hmmm; which the better spot to be in? ATS-V spy pic is clearly distorted, not going to go by that one. On another forum a number of the wags are laughably calling the sides of the ATS 'bland/ boring' meanwhile holding up the BMW4 as 'the way to do it', when a simple glance shows they both have the same elements & conceptual approach to the sides respectively. IE; front fender edge becomes belt line, declining character line going forward thru the doorhandles, 'flat' wheel well lips, and two lower, more dramatic flares at the rocker. Isn't Cadillac up 20% over the last 2 years? That's 'up', not "down". Here's to hoping the new logo goes the way to New Coke, but much faster.
  4. balthazar
    Sent last evening at the track with my brother & a friend. My brother's '68 'bird, 402CI Pontiac, PG, weighs right about 3050, ran 10.03 @ 135. Car shifts at around 7500 RPM [Wut?? Pushrods can't rev! /doofus] Went 9.96 earlier this season, still fine tuning, first season back on the track after a number of years of a slow rebuild : Buddy's '67 LeMans, 447CI Pontiac, Eldelbrock AL heads, Dominator carb, TH400, 4.56 gears. Dyno'd at 680 HP. First shakedown run after new motor, car last ran in 2002. Aborted run, but should be solidly in the 10s.
  5. balthazar
    The fallacy here is that all those who buy the C- E- S-class are 'loyals' who are into the mechanics/ specs of the cars, when instead a HUGE swath of MB buyers are badge sheeple. Once the CLA falters and gets wider exposure on the sub-Mercedes-standard build of the car, the image is tarnished and the badge sheeple wander off. ​Why is mercedes competing with a 'premium' brand?? Either way, neither the bottom feeder audis or the bottom feeder MBs are luxury cars, merely 'premium'. BTW, you should really take inventory of the flagship (in many people's opinion) SLs over the years. I've had close encounter inspections of a 1959 and an early '90s example, and they are terribly built cars, embarrassingly bad. How any reviewer could ever have overlooked the rampant flaws, IDK.
  6. balthazar
    Not at all sure what the function would be of this vehicle… but then again I thought the same thing WRT the Cayenne. :shrug:
  7. balthazar
    Not many praises in the comments of that link….
  8. balthazar
    Wait. 1. Factories shut down for several weeks every time there is a major production/ model year change. 2. Ford stating they will lose 90,000 sales seems way off. They sold 645,000 in 2012, even 3 week's time out of 645K is 37K units, no where near 90,000. At that rate, to reach 90K units would take 7.2 weeks. That's basically 2 months, not 'several weeks'.
  9. balthazar
    Without delving into the usual 'qualifiers' RE Cadillac's "4% rise"…. wondering if the knee-jerk reactionaries ANYWHERE are recanting their dire predictions of Cadillac's "slide = demise".
  10. balthazar
    No, they do heavy fleet & commercial sales to keep the factories running. Like Chevy used to do with the old Impala.
  11. balthazar
    BM & MB don't have higher sales because of their respective naming idiocy. MB has higher sales primarily because they 'carpet bomb' every segment, including those a luxury brand has no business being in. They are also perceived as a bargain to those for whom "get XX% off the sticker price!!" is a huge incentive. There is a monster disconnect with those who chose to ignore the hard downmarket turn the brand is devaluing their image with in the name of sheer volume. IE; becoming the 'toyota of the luxury segment' may bring some joy to the superficial, but in the long run it spells image degradation. The recent market failures don't help.
  12. balthazar
    At the same time we have the disadvantage to some marketer's (and critic's) approaches: forcing a naming 'system' so grade school age car buyers (??) can "comprehend" the whole catalog with their inherent ADD. {Psssst! Stop calling your customers stupid!}
  13. balthazar
    He's spouting off on a whole LOT of things, but in this case, IF it were to happen, it would NOT be the same size/features as the current car. It would have to be solidly in a price & size class below it, otherwise it's just duplication. So I will say it again; Cadillac already has a stellar sport sedan in this size & price range. Frankly, I don't think a sub-ATS is either desirable or a sound business case. It'd be reaffirming for Cadillac to decline to 'compete' down this low; going their own way, if you will (rather than copying as you repeatedly claim). >>"Maybe the ATS can grow in size to 190 inches in length…"<< ​Then we'd get the same whiners whining it's a 'tweener' and 'not competitive'. >>"They already offer the CTS and XTS a RWD and a FWD at the same price point."<< And you still want a 'CLA competitor'… why again? ATS-V is on the way- BMW has taken nearly 2 years to intro their new M3 at times, and mercedes is now 2 model years without their s-class hybrid. Common practice industry-wide. And Cadillac has been doing pretty well in the product planning department IMO; ATS, CTS, Escalade are all at or near the top of their segments. My question is, Daimler showed an s-class convertible concept years and years ago- where is it?? It took them DECADES to bring out their 2-dr version!
  14. balthazar
    Why would Cadillac release a SECOND 182" long, 4-dr sport sedan in the low $30K range (and up), with RWD & 4 or 6-cylinder power???????????????????
  15. balthazar
    ^ Correct. If you get a chance to look at a late 80s/early 90s SL, the car is a complete joke. It has an interior competitive with a Pinto and the body engineering is terrible, laughable really. And mentioning the livery 600 limo as if it were a regular consumer model / representative of such is fallacy. The bread & butter cars Daimler was selling from the beginning in America were tinny, amazingly poor performers completely uncompetitive in features/amenities, and were always about a decade behind stylistically. Talking about the 200-series cars here. This is the same scenario RE the CLA & the s-class; there's no trickle down, and the CLA is starving for investment.
  16. balthazar
    The ENTIRE CONCEPT of a car buying demographic "dying off' is ridiculous, a complete joke. I quote such fallaciously.
  17. balthazar
    Oi- we're right in the same greasy boat.
  18. balthazar
    Not at all obvious in attempt to avoid any direct comparisons. Guess what the median age of a 45-64 spread is? 54.5 yrs old. "What's Tesla going to do when it's current crop of buyers dies off??"
  19. balthazar
    Has anyone seen an 'Average Buyer Age' stat for Tesla?
  20. balthazar
    ^ It wasn't enough for mercedes to be mercedes; they had to copy the Americans when they were 10-15 years behind, instead of 'just being mercedes'. Now, they get to not only be 'Cadillac' but 'Chevrolet', too.
  21. balthazar
    CLAh is selling OK right now, but the 1-series is a dud. There is a very thin market here, one Cadillac doesn't need to wade into for any business case reason. This is why a $33K line should be the absolute bottom line. The CLA is horrifically cheap, below the average new car price. That's not luxury; that's grab-assing for sales. Monster problem is, thet's not as far south as Daimler is going to push.
  22. balthazar
    It's NOT necessary to drop below the ATS! ATS & CLA are already in the same price bracket, to create any sort of spread, this 'sub-ATS' would have to be in the $25K range to start- that's LUNACY. General Motors HAS other brands, unlike Daimler, who is incapable of breathing life into a 2nd brand. And no one buys the 1-series, why would any exec think it makes sense to compete with a car no one buys? Even tho audi heavily borrows from VW, you never hear people/media bash them for it, but we all KNOW the press if a Cruze-based sub-ATS Cadillac made an appearance. I'm already getting bad vibes RE de Nysschen….
  23. balthazar
    ^ Lessee. '69 Corvette coupe was $4781, 390 HP 427 was $221, that's $5002. Let's say new this car was $5250. Let's just say that at 2 yrs old, that 5250 was now 4250, just for conversation's sake. Via an online inflation calculator, that $4250 in 1971 would be $24,121 in 2013. A bit removed from $78,995.
  24. balthazar
    Gov't has been moving the retirement age UP, encouraging people to work longer. With health generally getting better (also via Gov't spending), what's the impetus to retire and do nothing when you still can, IF that's your choice? Because of a number? The picture for the age group just getting out of school will continue to constrict, IMO. Apprenticeship-type education is an excellent, erroneously long-downplayed path, and I agree that it could have wide- & long-running positive impact on numerous fronts.
  25. balthazar
    Exclusivity is a major component of a luxury item; and once that's gone, a major chunk of the 'luxury appeal' is also. I find it bemusing that you still hear that old adage 'once Cadillac's older buyer die off, so will the brand' when mercedes is a razor thin (in terms of a car buyer's lifespan; 18-85) 5 years apart. Like anyone would call a 54 yr old man 'young' and a 59 yr old one 'old'. Such fallacy.
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