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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Chevy is getting a version of the Acadia as their middle crossover. Chevy has room for another crossover but really GMC could use an off road or off road looking SUV or crossover. Cadillac needs a minimum 3 crossovers. Whether you are selling t-shirts, French fry orders or crossovers you have to have small, medium and large. The Escalade serves at the XL, but there could be room for an xtra small too. The 2018 Camry blows away the Malibu and everyone else in that segment. And I always thought the Camry was a miserable car, but the new one is best inclass power, best in class fuel economy, it has like 6 trim levels, the interior looks good, and we know it is reliable because it is a Camry. Supposedly it even drives well now.
  2. smk4565
    They should do a 2-door MacGyver edition in slate gray with a winch and Swiss Army knife and medical kit accessories.
  3. smk4565
    Exactly, "cars" that don't sell. Crossovers and trucks make up 67% of the auto industry now. If you have crossovers, you make money, you can pay for R&D and advertising, etc.
  4. smk4565
    To the first question, Mercedes did as the GLK came out in 2008, that was their 4th SUV at the time. They were ready. I actually think Chevy could get 2 more crossovers in their line up, one between Equinox and Traverse we know is coming, and I think they could get a crossover below Traxx or drop Traxx down in price and get one in between that and Equinox. Cadillac has the XT4 already coming, I would also do an Alpha crossover, an Omega crossover and depending on the price point of the Omega, I could see a Cadillac version of the Enclave. Cadillac could put out 5 crossovers, and all 5 would outsell their best selling sedan. It happened at Buick, all those crossovers kill the sedans in sales, it is happening at Jaguar, and even Maserati's #1 seller is a crossover.
  5. smk4565
    The GL/GLS are probably similar to Escalade off road, but the G-wagen in unmatched. A G550 has 30 degree approach and departure angles these go to 51 front and 43 rear on the 4x4 squared model. G550 can wade 23.6 inches of water, 39.4 on the 4x4 squared.
  6. smk4565
    You can get portal axles on the G550 and get 24 inches of ground clearance which I believe doubles what the F150 Raptor has. Think about that, double the ground clearance of a Raptor which is made for off roading. The GLE and GLS share a platform updated in 2012 from a platform shared with the mid 2000s Grand Cherokee and ML. I read GLE and GLS may move to a version of the MRA platform next year, which will cut serious weight.
  7. smk4565
    An Escalade has limited off road ability. It doesn't have great approach or departure angles, it doesn't have locking differentials, and it even has a solid rear axle, doesn't have adjustable height suspension, etc. Escalade would never keep up with a Range Rover or G-class in severe off roading. I think only a Wrangler could match the G-class off road.
  8. smk4565
    That is probably very accurate. Mercedes as brand has a high 50s buyer age and has for the past decade or so. CLA at 46 makes sense, it is going for people that never bought a Mercedes and the younger buyer. And the industry average new car buyer is near 50 as it is. Young people can't afford new car prices.
  9. smk4565
    No, a 4 door coupe is pretty much a sedan. But Cadillac has 1 coupe and 0 convertibles. Mercedes has 4, 2-door coupes and 6 convertibles, which I even think is a bit excessive. Hard to criticize Mercedes as bland though, when they have ten 2-door cars, 20 some AMG products, hard core off roaders, etc.
  10. smk4565
    I liked the Seville STS, but it wasn't the car to beat the Germans, it was full size American car. The XTS is about the same size as a 1998 STS, there is still a market for a big American smooth riding car. And I think the people that are going to buy an XTS, are going to buy an XTS and won't care if it has a 6-speed or a dated chassis or whatever. They aren't going to care, so there is no point is putting a lot of money into the XTS, Cadillac did the right thing here doing the minimum cost MCE, and just let the car soldier on The money needs to be spent on crossovers and EVs.
  11. smk4565
    Notice all Cadillac's "exciting" cars are 4 door sedans. And the Escalade can't go off road, it is GLS competitor. The AMG GT R can beat any Corvette ever made on the Nurburgring and a faster Black Series is coming. Which is why Cadillac needs a sports car above Corvette.
  12. smk4565
    Excellent post, I agree. i actually have no problem with the XTS sticking around a while because it sells and they can fleet sale it without disturbing the core line. I will point out people say the XTS prints money, the S500 has an options list that is $55,000 if you pick everything and that doesn't include an engine upgrade. That is a whole XTS worth of options, that is how you print money.
  13. smk4565
    The lack of crossovers goes to show the poor management that has plagued Cadillac for 20 years or more. Even the first SRX was about 6-7 years after the ML and RX and about 4 after the X5. Even the Escalade is here only because the Navigator hit big in 1998 and Cadillac lost the sales crown. Cadillac's boss in 1998 said Cadillac will never build a truck because they are a car brand, 6 months later the Escalade arrived as a Yukon with a badge swap. crossovers have been hit for years and Cadillac still only has one. Why don't they have 5 of them? GM fans praise Denali because it makes a profit, a Cadillac version would make twice as much. GM has introduced new Chevy, Buick and GMC crossovers, so they have the ability to put new product out, they are just ignoring their most profitable brand.
  14. smk4565
    Boring, bland lineup, yes. I hope they can find some more excitement to compete with all the fun over at Audi or the spindle grills and front drive crossovers at Lexus.
  15. smk4565
    I actually liked the Seville STS redesign of 1998. It was my favorite car of the late 90s. But it didn't win the battle, and then when they did the 2005 STS, I seem to remember they rounded it off and dumbed it down, they didn't use the original car Bob Lutz wanted, and it lost the battle. Now the CTS is in it's slot, losing the battle again. I wish we still had the Seville, I don't like the alpha numerics, and I think a Seville done right would be a bigger threat to the imports than the CTS is, CTS was always pushed as an entry level car, now they want it to be their middle car. It would be like Honda deciding to make the Civic a Camry fighter, it doesn't make sense.
  16. smk4565
    While everyone was concerned with Mercedes move down market, they forgot the other half of this story, also coming in 2018 is this nice 805 hp V8 hybrid sedan. Which is actually the 2nd most powerful car they are releasing in 2018, and also when what ever the track record on the Nurburgring is goes down.
  17. smk4565
    If "Seville" was a success, it would still be here, if STS was a success it would still be here. I actually still think the current ATS should have the CTS name, and the mid-size car should be called STS. They botched that. Mercedes is building 10 EV's by 2022, Cadillac should be able to stir up 5 of them. I am holding them to half the standard of the worldwide leader. Volkswagen makes about $700 per car profit, while Audi makes $5,000 per car profit. Which car do you think VW wants to sell? GM has a similar set up to them, they should want to sell luxury cars like crazy. And I think Cadillac could go further up market than where they are. They are held back by GM bean counters, old ways of thinking, lack of R&D budget, bad marketing department, etc.
  18. smk4565
    No, I want them to sell 2 more crossovers (rear drive ones on Alpha and Omega), and a sports car and a convertible. And if the sports coupe and convertible are the same vehicle like Jaguar F-Type and Corvette have 2 body styles that works for me.
  19. smk4565
    They should do a Type R Grand Hatchback SH-AWD and sell if for $59,000. Because everyone wants them some $59,000 Civics. Seriously isn't the Civic Type R pushing $40k as it is? They can barely sell Acuras for over $40k, who wants an entry level Honda at that price.
  20. smk4565
    The FWD Seville and the mid 2000s era STS that replaced it were both deemed failures, and yet both sold in better numbers than the CTS or CT6 sell at now. So even if they build some corner carvers, people aren't buying them. Really Cadillac's best chance for success is as a truck company. Their 2 SUVs outsell their 4 sedans with ease. And by the time Cadillac gets a TT V8 out, the market will start moving toward electrics. Why not get 5 EV's in development for Cadillac to launch in 2020? The G-wagen had it's best sales year ever in 2016, so being decades old didn't seem to matter at all, in fact it seems to help, the older it got the better it sold. Mercedes makes the GLS which competes quite nicely against the Range Rover and smokes it in sales. But there is an all new G-wagen for 2018. And why does Cadillac not have aspirations of higher sales? As the most profitable brand at GM, they should want to sell as many Cadillacs as they can. If Cadillac had Audi sales volume, GM stock would probably be $50 a share and not $30. Not that I care, I don't own GM stock, but their shareholders I am sure would like more Cadillac sales to generate more profit.
  21. smk4565
    Why don't they make Volvo electric cars? I wonder how many will buy a Polestar over a Tesla, Mercedes, Audi or BMW. That is a tall ask from a start up brand
  22. smk4565
    Not just 2009, but 1999, and even 1989, that Cadillac has been fighting the same battle. Their image and public perception has trailed away past 2009. The Allante was going to challenge the Germans and create prestige for the brand, that failed and that was 30 years ago. In 1997 Cadillac was the #1 selling luxury brand in the USA on a 50 year streak of being #1 and today they are 7th place. They are almost more clueless now than they were in 2009 or 2002. They just have better engineers covering up the blatant weaknesses in product planning and marketing and R&D spending.
  23. smk4565
    The argument for killing the XTS after 2019 is that the Deville buyer won't be buying new cars by then, the Impala or other full size front drivers may not be around either, so the volume is gone, and lastly you can sell a CT6 for an extra $10,000 to the person who wanted an XTS. The dealer will just talk the person into a 7 year loan vs a 6 year to stretch the payments. Or there is the CTS or a crossover. Once Cadillac has 4 crossovers no one will miss the XTS. No one sweats the coming loss of the Taurus because people are buying crossovers anyway. But for the next 2-3 years I would kill every dime out of the XTS.
  24. smk4565
    The A-class in China sells for higher price than any Buick except the Enclave and Volt. This is why Buick sells a million units a year in China, they have 6 or 7 products below CLA. Western Europe is actually Mercedes largest market but largest country sales would be China. About 500k a year there and 380k in USA.
  25. smk4565
    Well that car has been in steady decline for years.
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