Z-06

Come to FL, by the time you spend one way ticket and take it back, it will be cheaper. My friend paid $28k for a 2012 F150 Platinum Ecoboost with 66k miles on it.

 

I somehow feel prophetic.

 

Sometime I wonder, after Porsche-VW takeover fiasco, if VW is playing accounting shell game.

 

 

 

 

Of all of the people here, I trust you as much as anyone....although you lack the beard, robes and messianic following to be a prophet.

I am no way that. I prefer to fly under the radar, observe, listen and learn.

Perhaps this is where Piech's grand plan could come into play.  If he could add Jeep and Maserati to the VW portfolio, he'd have 2 brands that are solid on a profitability basis.  To get VW more profitable he could streamline Chrysler's and Fiat's products into VW, get more sales out of VW without really having to spend more on development costs.  Plus if VW took over FCA then you don't need all that duplicate payroll, HR, accounting, etc.  They can streamline there also.

 

More likely though they'll just cut jobs and downsize, but few companies really cut their way to prosperity.

Totally agree with SMK that VW could take over FCA and streamline it by eliminating duplication, but if the company thinks it can cut its way to prosperity, they are in for a rude surprise and major failure.

Easier said than done. Soft points like clash of cultures, middle management ego and status quo overtake those benefits. Marchionne has already declared war on VW within European Automotive Manufacturing Association politics, do you think his rank and flank is going to let go easy? And what about friends, supporters, sympathizers of these 20,000 being laid of in advance of your hypothetical synergy? You are cutting limbs of your own trees to add stems of another, that is going to sit well with unions and share holders. Union politics is dirtier in Europe. Even marriage of equals with MB and Chrysler worked fantastically!

I somehow feel prophetic.

Sometime I wonder, after Porsche-VW takeover fiasco, if VW is playing accounting shell game.

 

I admire and respect Subaru. The perfect engineering mantra of optimizing more from less, unlike Germans' ideology of more from a lot more. Bigger manufacturers need to learn from it.

Inorganic growth in name of #1 sales was one of the reasons that brought GM down. VW is going that route faster. Piech said goal of 800,000 cars by 2018 in US, didn't say how. Well through inorganic growth is the answer.

Sometime I wonder, after Porsche-VW takeover fiasco, if VW is playing accounting shell game.

And Mr. Piech, learn from experience, Fiat took $2B+ from GM by divorcing before the marriage.

Honestly I wish GM stays away from Same Sausage Different Dimensions strategy Germans have been working with with no design creativity. But guised under "Brand Recognition", is cost cutting.

And you say 4 brands is a lot for GM. How would a bratwurst linguini with grits feel for you here?

Why is everything GM always "under consideration"? :/

Lack of balls?

Honestly DD, I have been a proponent of Cadillac going full turbo and Escalade should not be an exception to that strategy. I have not driven the TTV6, it is on my to do list.

I just am wondering how is GM planning to have two different lumps giving almost identical outputs in the same vehicle. Ford is doing the Mustang with 3.7 V6 and 2.3 T. Is GM going to do the same, or will it increase output of one of the engine?

Looking forward to it.

How is GM going to work on differentiating power numbers for the two gas engines or is GM trying to use Ford's strategy of two engines with similar power numbers?

It's LT4.

If it is not a blue smoke, I won't be too worried. There are times in a diesel engine that valves seating is needed at the normal operations load, and smoke is possibly due to it.

Audi did well when he was there, he didn't do much of anything for Infiniti, but Infiniti has limited resources also.   This guy did once call the Volt a "car for idoits" because no one would pay double the price for what is basically a Corolla competitor, so I wonder what he thinks of the ELR?   The good news is this guy may shelf the ELR and XTS and push for a flagship sedan because he wanted Infiniti to get a flagship and/or halo models, but I think the bean counters had other ideas.

Basically you are rehashing what Autoblog commentators say. People forget one thing - he had Carlos Ghosn as his boss.

GM's incentive spend is $3,376 per car, highest of the biggest 8 automakers, the industry average is $2,450.  January 2014 was the newest I could find, but GM was spending $3,600 per car in incentives in 2012 also.

 

http://www.ibtimes.com/here-are-january-2014-big-8-us-auto-sales-numbers-gm-ford-chrysler-toyota-honda-nissan-kiahyundai

 

So the deals and incentives are there, the Cadillac sales problem is half product, half brand image in my mind.  Both are hard to fix.

GM's average incentive spend number does not necessarily mean Cadillac's incentive spend number. GM may be spending $3,500 on Chevrolets which sell at roughly 10 times more than Cadillac whose incentives may be only $2,136 to give your $3,376. We all know trucks have more incentives than cars. And GM is a truck company.

Also, where are your luxury brands in this comparison?

What is your current driving split?

Those are some great numbers.

Dwight nailed it.   Lincoln does that black plastic touch button thing too, I will take real buttons any day.

 

GM's incentive spend is $3,376 per car, highest of the biggest 8 automakers, the industry average is $2,450.  January 2014 was the newest I could find, but GM was spending $3,600 per car in incentives in 2012 also.

 

http://www.ibtimes.com/here-are-january-2014-big-8-us-auto-sales-numbers-gm-ford-chrysler-toyota-honda-nissan-kiahyundai

 

So the deals and incentives are there, the Cadillac sales problem is half product, half brand image in my mind.  Both are hard to fix.

If Dwight nailed it then how can you justify co-existence of your statement and his statement? Unless as usual you like to selectively nail it to forward your wrong agenda.

 

I think a downside to Cadillac interiors is the shiny piano black plastic and the chrome knobs and buttons, it just seems to tacky and blingy inside their cars.  And little things like the carpet seem like what Chevy has in it,

 

Yes, Cadillac has improved their quality and design dramatically over the past generations.

Audi is doing well because of the A3 but those younger buyers are key to get if they can get repeat business.

The Lexus IS sales are up 118% this year, I would say they are surging. The 3-series is up 5% but by far the best seller in the class beating the C-class 2 to 1 right now. The ATS is down 22%.

Buyers are looking elsewhere, if badge is what is hurting Cadillac then they need a flagship sedan and a mid engine supercar or something to build image.

Have you looked at it because BMW is offering no payments for 6 months, and C class has close to $5,000 on the hood? May be rich-wannabes care for some cash savings with the badge as well. Even Lexus is offering $2,000 on the IS.

If the ATS is so good why is it the 5th best selling car in the class? The car is a dud, the XTS is becoming a dud also, as it gets older on market it will become damaged goods like the DTS.

Now get off your anti-GM kool-aid and come back when you are not high on it. The car is not perfect, but so are its competitors.

The Camry/Corolla interior may be the same basic look they have used for 15 years but people seem to be buying it still.  The Camry outsells the mid-sizers, so Toyota must have something right. 

QFT.

 

GM Also needs to realize that the Baby Boomers are NOT buying Blinging Chrome Auto's that they used to. Most are into their last or 2nd to last auto. Those of us with cash to spend on new auto's are in the 30-50 age range and most of us like luxury that is subdued.

 

• What are these new "glaring issues" the ATS has??

 

We already discussed them - power-train, better interior, value quotient, and marketing. The fifth one is image perception, which is out of GM's control.

Diesel and Hybrid are needed, if they make more than 20 - 25% of the volume. But before we start building those power-trains, the car needs to be done right. If the foundation sucks, then there is no point to build a Burj Khalifa on it. GM needs to address glaring ATS problems immediately.

 

 

 

It is more, I think about, not killing the sacred cows. I can see LT1 would have been held up for Corvette and such would be the case for the 8-speed due to it going in the Cadillac CTS first.

 

Also, I think GM's sales goal for the SS (which is 3,000 per year I think) doesn't make any sense to that stuff at the moment. Which is a shame, because I really think an eight-speed could do some wonderful things.

 

 

Is 3,000 per annum a capacity restriction in the Victoria plant or GM's reluctance to build more?

 

 

More of the latter

 

That is what I figured. Then GM is to blame for not giving this car a chance to be what it wanted the car to be. If executives make excuse that people didn't buy it, even though we offered a "great car", then they need to be "shown the light".

 

I don't think the competitors are so flawed except Lincoln and Acura which are basically non factors.

 

I think a downside to Cadillac interiors is the shiny piano black plastic and the chrome knobs and buttons, it just seems to tacky and blingy inside their cars.  And little things like the carpet seem like what Chevy has in it, the interiors of the ATS and CTS feel cramped.  It is a lot of little stuff but it adds up, combine that with the powertrains that are a bit dated and buyers start to look elsewhere.

Are you saying that the flaws of ATS' competitors mentioned above are incorrect or do not exist? Please counter objectively, rather than making blanket statements.

BMWs interior material quality choice is more generic, has still the same design theme from the 90s. The lower cars' interiors feel like that of Corolla's. Other than Lexus, no other competitors of ATS have interior better than its. It is the business of ATS interior that gives it points down, and I will not disagree. Get over your 90s perception of GM vehicles.

No worries guys, I am not here to comment for an up-vote.

Balthy, yes bread and butter, not pecan, dark chocolate souffle matters in survival. However, too much bread and butter like GM does can cause obesity and lethargy.