smk4565

I am a believer that the Corvette should be turbo v6 base and V8 optional and live in a $50-90k price range like a Boxster or base Corvette vs a Supra because it is a Chevy and should have value sports car as the equation somewhere. Which it what it was from 1953 to 2006 before they starting to get into high dollar ZR-1's and now going mid-engine. But even if Corvette is to stay how it is, and their numbers show the current car is profitable and doing what they want I am fine with that. But what if someone wants more performance than the Corvette offers? Or what if they want Corvette performance and Escalade Platinum luxury and Super Cruise? I know Cadillac can't build all things for all people, but they need some sort of sports car. The sports car isn't just for it's own volume it is to build image for the brand. And what if Cadillac engineers want to build a rival to the Tesla Roadster, do they just get told no, because they aren't allowed to make something faster than a CHEVROLET? That makes no sense. 100%. Drop a ZR1 engine in an Escalade and charge $160,000 for it. It would be pointless but people would buy it anyway. There are idiots with money out there.

Correct but that X7 is off to a hot start, April it did better than in March. So I'd like to see where the X7 is at come the end of the year. Considering the GLS's age, being #2 and being up for the year is pretty good. And the Escalade I have said many a times is a big success, that is easy profit margin for Cadillac given the price and volume, and engineering work that is spread across a lot of vehicles. The Escalade's secret sauce hasn't been able to be replicated on the rest of the Cadillac brand, that is the problem. And even though Escalade does well here, I think there is room for something above Escalade in the $200k range. I wouldn't change the Escalade, it isn't broke so don't fix it. But all these car makers are coming up with $200-300k SUVs and even more expensive and that was unheard of 10 years ago, when maybe a Range Rover or G-wagen was $100k and that was the most expensive SUV you could get.

Navigator had 4,469 in Q1. The X7 has only been on sale like 2 months, let's see where the year ends. The GLS is the oldest in the segment, and still doing pretty well, and the GLS has a vehicle above it that could steal sales off it.

The X7 and old GLS both outsell the Navigator already. The 2021 Escalade will still be a Tahoe underneath, where as the GLS can fit someone 6’4” in the 3rd row as it was designed to have the roomiest 3rd row. Also the GLS Maybach will be on sale in 2020, and it will be the most expensive American made vehicle ever oddly enough. The uber lux crowd is shopping Maybach, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley for an SUV come 2020.

Mercedes sold out 275 copies of a $2.6 million car right away, anyone can sell out such a small number. The 1992 Allante in today’s money would cost $116,000 and the 1999 Seville STS loaded is $82k in today’s money. The Allante is still the most expensive Cadillac in comparison to the market and inflation. Cadillac prices have just moved with inflation, they haven’t really gone up market.

I think the GLS and X7 will both outsell the Escalade in 2020, X7 will probably beat it this year. GLS has no production right now with the model change, unless that new one goes gangbusters when it comes out. I still think Cadillac needs something above the Escalade, but the problem with GM is they do this thing where Corvette = best performance car in GM, Escalade = most expensive most luxurious car at GM, etc. So even if Cadillac could benefit from a sports car above the Corvette, they can't let that happen because Chevy dealers will be mad. Even if there are a dozen SUVs more luxurious than the Escalade, Cadillac can't change anything because they have to tie the Escalade to the Tahoe which is a $50k product. GM can't get out of their own way.

For the first 2 reasons, that is a problem with Cadillac management that has existed for 25 or 30 years. They don't have the products and they don't have the marketing. They thought Johan was the guy to change that, he didn't, then they tossed him aside too. I don't know who at GM has the magic switch to throw Cadillac back in gear. Cadillac is like the automotive equivalent of the New York Jets or New York Knicks, new management every 3 years, same result. As far as the CT6 Blackwing, they have a really low number of those, and they are priced like an S450, so I wouldn't say the CT6 is pushing things up market If the Blackwing was $150k and sold out then that is another story.

The Escalade has done well for sure. But there are also more expensive SUVs out there, but Cadillac has pushed Escalade up into that $85-100k range which is job well done by them. CTS-V still sells at a big discount compared to rivals, and now it is gone anyway. Allante, ELR, XLR, XLR-V, STS-V all went bust for one reason or another. CT6 could get the ax too, that has been rumored, so we'll see how that plays out. Even when CTS has gone up in price over the years sales dropped every generation but trying to have a vehicle switch segments was also a bad idea from the start by the marketing folks.

I could see that argument and making Cadillac up at Maserati or Porsche level pricing. However every past attempt of Cadillac to go up market since the Allante failed. The uber lux crowd isn’t buying Cadillacs but the Buick-GMC crowd will and if GM can suck an extra $1,000 of profit out of someone because they bought an XT4 vs a Terrain then GM has a duty to their shareholders to do just that.

I don't think 3 sedans is too much, but in today's market you could make a good argument that 2 sedans is enough for Cadillac. The question is how many more crossovers are they making? It isn't uncommon now to see 6 or 7 SUVs in a brand now.

Let’s just complain about the CT4’s trunk space now to get it over with.

No way a company that loses $40 million a year with very small revenue can buy a factory that costs millions to run. GM has lost money in factories making 300k vehicles or more in a year, these big factories need to be up near capacity to cover all the overhead.

The trunk may be small but I don’t know if sales are won or lost on trunk space of a small to mid size sedan. There are other bigger factors that decide where buyers go.

I like that they are showing the V-series right away. The last go around the V-series cars came about 2 years after the standard model and I complained about that. Much better to get them on out there sooner rather than miss 2 years of sales opportunity on a high margin product.

Any Mercedes or Porsche CPO is unlimited mileage warranty but there is a limit on years. Those could be trades or off lease. I imagine they do that all over the world.

Mercedes also has an unlimited mileage warranty on all those off lease CPO cars which makes for easy resale then they and their dealers make money twice of the same car. And the 2nd owner gets warranty to 5 years after in service date with no mileage restrictions. Porsche CPO also has an unlimited mileage warranty for 2 years past factory warranty.

Cadillac can’t offer as good of lease deals as others because their cars depreciate too quickly. That has long been a Cadillac dealer complaint about not being able to compete with BMW’s offers.

A lot are leased but what is the difference? It is quite possible that leasing is more profitable because dealerships don’t make money selling new cars, they make it on financing, serviced and used cars. Leasing is manufacturer financing and let’s you sell a CPO car 3 years later.

Quality is only one small piece of the puzzle. Lots of things get a car to sell. I think for CT5 exterior styling, interior and price will matter a lot. Engine probably doesn’t matter as much because it is class competitive power especially vs an ES350 or TLX or the MKZ while it is still here. The complaint was brought up about the 2.0 being too weak, but they could make the Blackwing V8 standard in the CT5 and the C-class would still outsell it. So horsepower isn’t the issue.

All cars have plastic in them. The C and E class in most comparison tests and reviews are said to have the best interiors in their class. The A6 is nice too, that is on par with the E-class.

YTD 3/4 series has 20,483 to 19,056 for the C-class. It isn’t too bad right now, last year 3/4-series beat the C-class about 75k to 60k. Which I agree is not good but Mercedes beats them in almost every other segment.

Well I guess we'll see how the CT5 sells against the "low quality" C-class.

I think the styling will impact sales more than the engine in this case. And the interior and the price.

BMW was never class leading, they have been in 2nd place (or worse) for the past 100 years and were almost bought out by the leader.

I don't know where all the hard plastics are on a Mercedes unless you are talking about a Sprinter or the wheel cladding on some SUVs, which isn't even on all of them, because most SUVs have body color fender guards. But the E-class does compare very well to a Camry, just as the GLS compares very well to a Tahoe, so compare away, Mercedes wins those all day.