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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    I am not an Audi guy, but the A8 interior is better than any American or Japanese car. One thing not to forget about the A8 4.0, is that is has the same 0-60 time as a BMW M4 or Camaro SS. It is a fast car.
  2. smk4565
    I never said it was a negative for Cadillac to steal from other GM brands. If I were Johan, I'd want to steal every single GMC Yukon Denali sale and get that person to buy an Escalade. That helps GM's overall profit margin too. Or if Customer X has $50,000 to spend on a vehicle, I wouldn't want them to buy a loaded up Enclave, I'd want them to buy a Cadillac. A Honda Pilot Touring is $43,000, and there is an Elite trim for $48k. Explorer Titanium is $50k. A Cadillac XT5 awd with luxury package is $48k. So once again, if Mr. or Mrs. Customer has $48k to spend on an SUV, I'd want that sale. And my lineup can't be applied to Benz or BMW because they don't have that many platforms to build cars on. Cadillac could build 4 front wheel drive platform crossovers on existing Chevy/Buick platforms, and then build 3 more rear drive platform crossovers on alpha and Omega, and still have the Escalade as an 8th crossover/SUV vehicle. With XT1, XT3, XT4 and XT5 all starting under $40k you can steal massive sales away from Lincoln, Acura, Honda, GMC, Jeep, whomever. Then your XT6 and XT7 come in around $50k base price, ranging up to $75-80k. Then the XT8 comes in around $80k base to compete with Mercedes GLS, BMW X7. Buyers want crossovers/SUVs, the reason people spend $50k on an Explorer or Grand Cherokee is not enough luxury SUVs are on the market. Sedan segments are shrinking across the board. Makes sense to hit crossovers hard and leave no niche uncovered.
  3. smk4565
    The first two pictures are A6 and E-class, so that isn't a top trim $100k car. The M4 interior is still way better than a Camaro's. But if you are just buying for performance, the M4 interior isn't $35,000 better than a Camaro. The Camaro has really good performance, the numbers back it up. M4 isn't a bad car, it just seems over priced to me because it is $30k more than a 340i and for what?
  4. smk4565
    "on a whole" "even in top quality models" The 3-series interior is a bit lackluster, but mainly because A4 and C-class stepped their game up. You can get an M3/M4 in 9 different leather colors including Nutmeg, Red, Silver, White, Beige, Black, Golden Brown, Cohiba Brown, and Amaro Brown. Maybe most BMW buyers like black, and that is what they buy. I hate all black interiors personally. But BMW does offer a long color list on the M4. I give them credit for that. I still think the M4 is over priced, gotten a bit too big, and doesn't have an engine different enough from the 340i, which makes it seem even more over priced. I don't necessarily want more performance from the M4, but it shouldn't be $81k with options left on the table. The previous car was loved and cost about $65k, these new M cars seem like the used the Porsche pricing system and they don't feel as special as the old ones. And it isn't because they have more M models, it is because the M3 and M5 are big, heavy, lack steering feel, they lost that essence of driving, where it is all about exhaust note, and steering and suspension. The new cars seem to fake all that.
  5. smk4565
    Just had a great idea, I would add an XT-E, which is a mid-size electric crossover. Not sure what platform that rides on, probably would have to ride on something totally new. After those 6 above were on sale, I would roll out XT-E and CT-E (yes it is brain disease, but I didn't pick alphanumerics, I wanted Eldorado and Fleetwood). XTE and CTE could share a mid-size electric car chassis, give them 250 mile range for base, 350 mile optional, about 350 hp, rear drive base, 500 hp all wheel drive optional, and 700 hp all wheel drive v-series. That is your Tesla fighter, that could range form $60k to $120k.
  6. smk4565
    Camaro is a coupe, ATS is mostly sold in Sedan trim, and Chevy to Cadillac is a big step up. Buick Enclave or GMC Acadia Denali to Cadillac XT5 and XT7 is less of a jump. Those could get cross shopped. And yes I have said that it is a good thing if they sell more Cadillacs because they in theory have higher margins. GM doesn't break out the numbers, but we can assume a luxury brand has the best margins in any company. I have been saying for years to turn Cadillac loose and give them the product they need. Cadillac should be stealing off Buick, GMC, top end Honda Pilots, Ford Explorer Titaniums, Lexus, Acura and Lincoln with ease. All those brands have crossovers in the $40-55k space, Cadillac should be in there kicking butt. That is a winnable fight. For the past 15 years they have been trying to fight BMW on the sedan front and they let also rans like Lincoln actually go up in sales the past couples years. If I we running Cadillac this would be my crossover line up: XT3: D2XX platform, turbo 4 engine, similar to Lincoln MKC, Lexus NX XT4: Alpha platform, 2.0T, 3.0TT and 3.6 TT V6 (ATS-V engine) similar to GLC/X3 XT5: we have XT6: Alpha or Omega, crossover of current CTS size, 2.0T, 3.0 TT, and 4.2 TT V8 engines XT7: C2XX lwb, the Cadillac Enclave with 7 seats, 3.6 V6, this would be a $48-60k type vehicle against Infiniti QX60. XT8: Omega 3 row crossover, 3.0TT V6, 4.2TT V8 Escalade: add CTS-V engine, leave BOF for now as people that want a big truck like it how it is 6 crossovers plus Escalade, on a 6-7 year life cycle, you have 1 all new crossover per year, and one mid-cycle refresh per year. There is probably even room for an XT2 in there. Something GLA size or even Audi Q2 size. That might be more for Euro or China market. Kill XTS at the end of the cycle, add a convertible somewhere, anywhere.
  7. smk4565
    Well that is like saying most cars are silver and beige, and it is boring. If a company offers 10 colors and 50% of the consumers pick gray/silver, then it isn't the companies fault that more people don't buy red or yellow.
  8. smk4565
    Yes, these are so dark, drab and monotone. Any car with black on black interior is monotone, so don't pick all black, they offer other colors. This one is really dark...
  9. smk4565
    Same old thing, like the Camaro, Corvette and Mustang. Yet those are considered America's best.
  10. smk4565
    So the head of the brand said his goal is 500k units by 2020, but that is not what their real plan is. He definitely wants to sell 500k units a year, they may not get there, but that is his goal, he said so.
  11. smk4565
    Hard to have legitimate interest without the car being priced. Those 40,000 people could disappear if they price it wrong. I find it odd that this car is supposed to go on sale soon, and still has no price.
  12. smk4565
    Frivolous lawsuit that some people are trying to cash in on. Mercedes will win this one. On the diesel issue as a whole though, how much nitric oxide toxic fumes do tractor trailer trucks, city buses, school buses, etc spill into the air? Seems like they should have the same emission rules as passenger cars.
  13. smk4565
    Much of the engine play is because of the emissions laws in various markets. Some also due to engine size taxes too. As for Chassis tuning it was just a choice as so many BMW owners are getting older maybe they expect a smoother ride? That one you can choose. As for interior the Germans really have never set the world on fires unless you like all dark leather. They are to blame for many of the dull interiors the other MFG have copied. Audi has made good interiors for years, Mercedes currently does also. And Mercedes put a V8 in the C-class, they have to follow the same rules as BMW. BMW gave up on what made the 90s and early 2000s M3 and M5 so good. They better find their secret sauce again. Luckily for them, they have a loyal following.
  14. smk4565
    I posted that interview earlier. I think the new path of Cadillac is to introduce a ton of crossovers. The quickest and easiest way to do that is to build them on existing GM platforms. So I can see an XT3 based on the Envision or new Equinox, and XT7 Enclave, could do a version of the Buick Encore, or even something the size between Encore and Envision. They could take the existing XT5 and make a crossover coupe out of it. Johan wants 500,000 units a year by 2020, and he talks about being global, but they are basically an American and Chinese market player. They need to get to more markets to get the volume he wants. I suppose rolling out 5 more crossovers and stealing sales of Buick and GMC will boost volume, but that won't get them to 500k I don't think. China's growth is slowing.
  15. smk4565
    All those little cars have no where near the interior room of an A8L. Or the interior quality. S550 is the obvious choice for this price, even if awd and Premium 1 package are all you can get on it for the price restriction.
  16. smk4565
    The problem with BMW is they took a V8 and went down to a straight six with the same power, and jacked up the price. It is a 335i with more boost for another $25,000. The fact that so much equipment is still optional is crazy, considering the high cost. I don't know if BMW was just going for more luxury and lost steering feel and handling along the way, but if they are going to luxury, why are their interiors so much worse than Mercedes. BMW should have kept the 4.0 V8 and put turbos on that, but they messed that one up.
  17. smk4565
    Omega and Alpha support AWD. The only rear drive only Impala would be sold in the south. That is IF they made a rear drive Impala. The SS as it is positioned is an impossible sell, even more so as car sales drop. IF they made a rear drive platform Impala, I would make it start with a 200 hp 4 cylinder, and a 335 hp V6 optional. If priced under $30k you can get sales. Just like the Charger and 300 do, they both start in the mid-high $20s. And those things are dinosaurs. Johan deNysschen said on Autoline that small luxury car segment was down 10% worldwide last year, and mid-size luxury market was down 15% globally. Later on they said how the mid-size sedan market is down 2% this year, and small crossovers are up 17%, I think luxury crossovers are up 25%. Going toward 2020 and beyond a lot of sedans will die, you need to really have a standout sedan if you want to sell it. Look at how many coupes have died in the past 10 years, I think that will happen with large sedans and there will only be 3-4 left.
  18. smk4565
    Mercedes also floats of a lot of rumors about what they are considering to gauge interest. They also said they are thinking of a GLC convertible and a GLS coupe SUV. How you make a coupe out of a 17 foot long SUV is beyond me. But at any rate, they float ideas out there to see what sticks, before committing to anything.
  19. smk4565
    I actually liked the XLR, I thought it looked good. The interior quality was a bit of a letdown, and it just didn't have enough horsepower for the price. The XLR was a car that had I had the money for a 3 year old used one at $40k I would have bought. $80k new for what it was, was just too high a price, but I did like the XLR a lot, and they still look good now, 10+ years later. Johan was on Autoline TV today, and the Autoline After hours was about the Cadillac XT5 http://www.autoline.tv
  20. smk4565
    I don't think they need a 4-door coupe S-class, the Mercedes sedans are getting a bit more of a sloped rear window due to getting the drag coefficient down. The 3-box look is pretty dead. CLS makes sense since there is a price gap between the E and S, and the E550 is gone, if the next gen CLS gets a V8 that is sort of the car for those that want a V8 E-class. I hope there is never a C or S class 4 door coupe, they don't really need an extra body sales on a car. But this is 5-6 years away, we'll see if they bother, the S-class is the chauffeur driven market king, a 4-door coupe does nothing for that.
  21. smk4565
    And Mercedes doesn't try to sell their dreams? Seriously? Mercedes doesn't put out lots of concept cars that show a convertible, sports car, flagship, or whatever to draw up excitement and then not deliver. GM likes to make these exciting concepts and say things like an S-class fighter is in the works, well in 2010 they were talking about and S-class fighter, in 2016 they now say it is dead. 6 years or talk and no action. Remember these? Great looking concepts that never saw the light of day. The Avenir, Avista, Ciel and El Mirage will join those 3 as dream cars that would elevate the brand, but never materialized. Mercedes showed an S-class convertible a few years ago, they put an S-class convertible on sale this year. Mercedes built stuff like this: Over the top cars that don't really make sense, but they built their dreams and put it on sale.
  22. smk4565
    Cadillac got $12 billion for product by 2020. No way do the spend $1 billion on a mid-engine supercar that they will sell 400 a year of. There are other holes to fill, like crossovers.
  23. smk4565
    You can't sell dreams, you cannonly sell the product you have. Let's first look at the TT V8. I for nearly 10 years have been arguing for a DOHC V8 to replace the Northstar. So I hope they build it. But if it is a CT6 only engine it would never have enough volume. So I hope it is used on ATS-V, CTS, Escalade etc. I just question if GM would really invest the money to do it. As far as a mid-engine supercar goes, that has to be a carbon fiber chassis car, they don't have that now and it is too expensive to use on a Corvette. I'd like to see Mercedes build a LaFerrari competitor, but I get that they have to make a choice between that and updating their core products. Cadillac might be able to do a front engine Grand Touring coupe. That could be Corvette, Alpha or Omega platform with the 4.2 V8.
  24. smk4565
    Will never happen because nothing at GM can be faster than a Corvette. I have long thought that Cadillac should have a sports car superior to the Corvette, but that isn't in GM's thinking. I'd love to see a V12 Cadillac super car with 200+ mph top speed and sub 3 second 0-60 time but they'll never green light due to cost. The head of AMG was asked if Mercedes would make a LaFerrari/McLaren P1 competitor last year. He said they could build a car like that, but it would be such a money loser and divert resources from the E63 and other projects, which we now see are the C43, E43 and GLC63, and AMG GT R. So if Mercedes who has a V12 and a Formula 1 race team, that has the technology on the shelf to build a hyper car deemed it a money loser, then Cadillac would lose even more money on such a project and GM would never green light that.
  25. smk4565
    Who's to say Cadillac doesn't cancel the twin turbo V8 also. They seem content to use a Corvette engine in the CTS-V and I doubt they'd change the Escalade's V8 engine to the 3.0TT V6 and 4.2TT V8. So then you are making this new 4.2 V8 for just the CT6. If they sell 10,000 CT6 a year and the V8 is a 10% take rate, that is 1,000 cars a year. No way the beancounters let Cadillac develop and produce an engine for just 1,000 units a year. I have heard some rumblings that Alpha and Omega can't support crossovers. If that is really true, that is horrible engineering on GM's part. Crossovers were hot 5+ years ago before those platforms were developed. The sad thing here is Cadillac is not fighting the Germans, they are fighting against their own inept management, a lousy marketing department, and the beancounters and accounts at GM.
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