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:

Not many praises in the comments of that link….

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'.

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".

No, they do heavy fleet & commercial sales to keep the factories running. Like Chevy used to do with the old Impala.

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.

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!}

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!

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???????????????????

^ 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.

The ENTIRE CONCEPT of a car buying demographic "dying off' is ridiculous, a complete joke. I quote such fallaciously.

Oi- we're right in the same greasy boat.

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??"

Has anyone seen an 'Average Buyer Age' stat for Tesla?

^ 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.

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.

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….

^ 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.

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.

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.

^ Usually, the word "Cadillac' in front of 'Seville' handles that job.

GS : 190" e-class : 192" 5-series : 193" A6 : 194" CTS : 195" Not a dealbreaker on one single sale in the segment. In fact; indistinguishable without a tape measure. CTS is still handily above the GS (last month: 1592), the A6 (1510) AND the 5-series (1407) in volume, moving 2282 units. #2 in segment in the only measure you recognize in judging vehicular 'success' : sales volume. BTW, the CTS has only gained 5" in 13 years.

[/goal posts moved again] Does not matter in the least what a car designed decade ago by the same manufacturer measures, we're in the here & now. It's PERFECTLY sized for the CTS/E/5 segment. Previous, it was nothing but whining that the CTS was a so-called "tweener", here it is within 2 inches and it's still "wrong". This is just petty, absurd trolling, not a civil conversation.

Audi's not a luxury brand, it's a 'premium' that leans too heavily on VW power trains. The percentage point bump in S-class sales right now due to the new model is nothing in light of MB's focus at the bottom end of the lineup. How many more FWD cars are on the way? Didn't I read "6" ?? These premium & luxury downmarket moves are easy money / quick sales that trade on the nameplate, nothing more. It's not sustainable without serious image degredation. you have GOT to be kidding. You really want ALL the same features, engine size/output, and overall dimension to be exact, just different badges & grilles in a given segment?? CTS is 2" longer than the 5-series, it is NOT "a bit big" in the least.

Mercedes' growth is also primarily on cars (present & coming) below $40K.