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Comments
Merc, in a few years cars like the ION won't be in production any longer so having the GM emblem on the sides of the car won't tarnish a nice car like a Cadillac. I do understand exactly why you said it but in a few years it won't be so disgraceful.
Rocky
Took a look at the incentives and right now GM does offer 5.9-7.9% interest but no cash. Perhaps this is a dealer incentive? This is for '07 and '06 models.
There is an average inventory supply (80 for Escalade vs. 79 for industry but GM does force up the average significantly)so perhaps individual dealers are taking it upon themselves to advertise and sell them.
Sales wise the Escalade is up for the calender year as of December 1. 34k vs. 27k. This would include last years model as well.
Now is it overpriced? Depends on how many GM wants to sell. Demand today seems to be there but next year it may not!!
Rocky, I admire your verve but GM ridding itself of a negatvie reputation that is well earned is not going to be as easy as flipping a light switch.
In a few years the Ion will be gone and all the competitors will have better product too. In the new sedan comparo in C&D, the Godsend Aura placed middle of the pack and that is a vaunted new model.
GM tarnished their reputation over a period of decades. It will take years and years to change everyone's perception of them IF they make a commitment to product that is not yet evident.
btw: the SRX looks like a CTS converted into a hearse. That's why no one buys it even with $339 a month leases.
Yet it is one of 3 NA car of the year finalists and will most likely be #1 (close to 50 press reporters poll). One mag review does not make a car or kill it.
But it will take years to change opinions AND buying preferences.
Could not post a chart shich showed the CTS having remarkable sales progress. In '02 39K sales and increasing to 60k in '05. For '06 it looks like it will be 55k. Time for a new one!
The Cadillac CTS sedan may be about to start a family.
General Motors insiders say Cadillac is seriously considering a plan to create a family of CTS sedans, coupes and wagons that would emulate BMW's 3-series lineup.
Mock-ups of a wagon and coupe already lurk inside GM's design studio in suburban Detroit. Of course, that doesn't mean they'll ever go into production. But GM executives clearly have spotted an opportunity to create a CTS minibrand within Cadillac.
The sedan would remain the centerpiece of a CTS family, generating the bulk of total sales. And GM is prepared to brag about it. The redesigned sedan - which sports a new interior and a grille reminiscent of the Cadillac Sixteen concept - will debut during the Detroit auto show in January.
Niche strategy
With sales of 50,024 units through November, the CTS sedan has a secure market niche. Because the wagon and coupe would share mechanicals with the sedan, Cadillac can make money if those new models generate sales of 20,000 units apiece.
That's where Cadillac's European strategy could prove useful. Most Americans supposedly don't care for wagons - but Europeans do. If Cadillac can sell a couple of thousand CTS wagons in Europe, it would help reach the wagon's breakeven point.
If GM goes ahead with this strategy, expect the CTS family to be $30,000 to $40,000. That would target the fattest portion of the U.S. luxury market - a segment that generates annual sales of 1 million units.
Here's how the rest of Cadillac's lineup would fit the brand's strategy:
Stop dreaming about a production version of the Cadillac Sixteen. That concept car drew rave reviews, but a production version would cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars. The Mercedes Maybach and the Rolls-Royce Phantom have demonstrated just how small that segment is.
Forget about an uber sedan that could challenge the Mercedes S class. Volkswagen's Phaeton flop-aroo has demonstrated the risks of moving upscale too quickly.
Cadillac executives think they could pull it off. But product development is costly, and GM is trying to conserve resources. An S-class competitor simply isn't a priority.
In fact, Cadillac's flagship car is actually a truck: the Escalade. The Escalade still has room to move upscale with new powertrains and interiors. Stay tuned.
Cadillac needs only one $50,000 sedan, not two. We are told that Cadillac executives might dump either the STS or the DTS sedan. The $40,000-to-$50,000 price segment generates industry sales of 300,000 units.
In a segment of that size, Cadillac's old something-for-everyone strategy is obsolete. Customers don't walk into a Cadillac showroom asking for "traditional American luxury" or "European-style performance." Says one executive: "They just want a nice car."
But here's the problem: The front-wheel-drive DTS handily outsells the rear-wheel-drive STS. But traditional DTS buyers are dying off, and Cadillac wants to promote rwd performance.
What about the SRX and the XLR roadster? Cadillac needs a crossover, so the SRX has a future. The roadster seems expendable. But the XLR shares mechanicals with the Corvette, so it is not hugely expensive. I'll leave it to the buff magazines to track the roadster's future.
The bottom line: GM executives are convinced that Cadillac can attract younger buyers, that the CTS lineup can expand and that the brand can afford to get sassier.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if tail fins reappear someday.
see - http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z9732/Mercedes-Benz_560%20SL/default.aspx
That was my point in my first post.
What I have tried to say after that is that the Allante, essentially an Eldorado with the back seat missing, was just another FWD Cadillac with no real engineering design to make it into a sports car. I think that the buyers of the Allante were Cadillac owners who wanted a convertible.
What I really don't understand is why Cadillac upgraded the last Allante's to the new Eldorado's platform (new for the 92 model year) and then stop production. Why not kill the Allante with the 91 or 92 model year? Or, having gone to the expense of upgrading, keep it in production through the 95 model year. I would think that sales would have continued at a rate of 3000 or so annually, which would have been another 6-7,000.
In terms of design, I think that the old SL was a much better car than the Allante. What the Allante had was style, but not much more. The 1990 Allante did offer traction control, and was the first vehicle with it I think. I don't think that the 86 Eldorado chassis would have worked with 300 hp. The 92 Seville/Eldorado chassis was a complete re-engineering with the northstar's 300 hp engine in the works. The 94 DeVille chassis was then upgraded to the new design.
If Cadillac is going to make an S-class car, the sigma platform would be the right platform to make it on, but it would have to be at least as big as the DTS, but much better in terms of refinement, luxury and priced accordingly.
HOW TO BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD:
Cadillac would have to excel in three major areas:
1. Performance
2. Prestige
3. Beauty
Just ONE of these doesn't do it. And just copying someone else doesn't do it.
And Cadillac would have to excel in these 3 areas while climbing 4 mountains.....Benz, BMW, Audi and Lexus.
So it would have to beat all four of those makes in all 3 of those areas.
Right now, I'd say Cadillac is working hard on Performance and making progress...good progress...against its 4 opponents....but in prestige and in beauty, they have a long way to go yet.
At best, their styling is quirky and dates quickly (not bad, but not great) and in prestige, it's mostly just some notoriety, which isn't the same thing.
Probably their best success has been the Escalade (which ironically, is the least distinctive Cadillac), and their worst flop has been the XLR, which was supposed to compete against the SL and has dropped off the radar in less than two years.
It could be done, but it will take time.
Shifty, I think that you offered an excellent succint analysis.
i think the SRX will be short lived. For 2007 they have redone the interior but not the exterior which will give it legs for a few more years. I read somewhere that Cadillac will get a CUV based on Theta. This will, to me, look about like the BMW X5. This would not look like a station wagon which would sell in Europe. Gives Cadillac two good looking SUV type vehicles.
So:
CTS sedan, coupe, wagon, convt?
Theta CUV
DTS (large sedan)
STS (not so large sedan)
XLR
Escalade
Stay away from S class price point but build a big sedan. (DTS)
Of course, the heritage theme has been used by MB for at least the past decade.
FWD doesn't compare to RWD in a luxury roadster with a 60K plus pricetag.
I honestly don't see what you're going on about. This is like arguing about which room a fire started in when the entire house has burned to the ground!
The Allante didn't compare and by the time it got the right engine, the 500SL was on the market and the Allante still didn't have a prayer.
It is about the most matterless debate going.
M
My pal so you are disappointed with the current STS interior ? The design is beautiful but I agree the material execution could of been much better. I want the Cadillac SLS interior to come to our market ASAP. I think it would be in the best interest of GM, to build a 400 hp. Northstar V8 SLS/STS hybrid as the next car and keep the top trim model fully loaded under $60K. $63RWD-$66K/AWD for the current one is just way to much dough IMHO. What made my 02' like yours so successful of a car was we could as middle class americans could stretch our pocket books far enough to afford one brand new.
IMHO The next STS/SLS fully loaded models should look like this:
RWD-V8 Northstar-6-speed automatic "loaded w/ every option" $54-56K
AWD-$56-58K-->Pearl Diamond White Paint $1K=$57,000-$59,000
That is where the next STS needs to be if they want to sell in high volumes like the last generation (98-04) did.
Rocky
Lexus had a great strategy, but they also had luck & good timing on their side. When they came out, Mercedes & BMW were at their low in quality. People were fed up wanted a viable alternative. The LS400 was it, AND thousands of dollars cheaper to boot.
Cadillac won't get that lucky because that window of oppotunity has closed. Their best bet is to price their cars slightly lower than the other upper tier cars in their segment, but at the same time have them just as good.
Since they don't have anything to compete with the LS, S, A8 & BMW, they have to focus on the lower levels & go from there.
But then again, to get that prestige, they HAVE to have a car at the upper levels. Kind of hard to have prestige if you don't have cars that people of higher income brackets won't even give your brand the time of day.
Talk about a tough assignment...
Not entirely correct. Mercedes was tops in quality in 1990. They were actually #1 on the JDP surveys then. It wasn't quality that opened the door for Lexus is was the price of a S-Class at the time. The LS400 had a base price of 35K and went to about 41K with options. The base price of a 190E was around 32K, which made the LS400 look like the raging bargain it was. BMW was in somewhat worse shape. They didn't have a V8 in 1990, Mercedes had several.
M
Would it have an available option of burgundy padded top?
Rocky
BUT...
You have to have the proper supporting cast there to sell your lead actor.
Caddy does not have the supporting cast yet. I actually kind of like the external styling of the CTS. It has some edge( :P ) to it you know and it does make a statement.
They drive ok but not stellar and the interior needs work.
What I would love to see is for GM to build a sports sedan/coupe using the 4200 inline 6 engine as a base. It already makes almost 300 hp and is very smooth. Destroke it a little bit down to four liters or so to make it rev better and stick it in a car.
Maybe offer a turbocharged version, they already made a couple of turbo prototype trucks so it should be easy, that is destroked and has a little less bore to handle the extra boost. No reason you couldn't see 400 hp out of that engine.
I thought that (4200 I-6) up several months ago and would like to see that implemented.
Rocky
Rocky
Keep in mind that Houston is a big NBA city, and the bling factor is huge. [Why else would anyone want one.]
Rocky
Rocky
I agree with you that the Allante was not in the same class as the Mercedes SL. However, even with the 4100, the Allante performance was not particularly bad. I really think that the current drive to bring performance on the 0-60 MPH acceleration times down to 4 to 5 seconds is completely silly. Any car that will accelerate to 60 MPH from a standstill in 8 seconds has more than enough power.
Comments have been made that the XLR is not selling well. The XLR sold about the same number of units in 2006 as the Allante was selling on average.
Maybe for you, but there are many times I want to do a quick 0 - 45, or a surging 35-60-35, or just to blow a little fart-canned peon Civic off the line. Today's V6s can do it. Let them. They're still delivering darn good fuel economy. You seem to want to take engine technology back to the old days where 225 hp was huge.
Are you serious? Honestly it was a genuine mistake. Besides, like I said before the correct numbers don't mean squat in the overall scheme of things. The Allante still flopped, it was still underpowered wether it has 170 or the SL had 227, you're making the most out of the most matterless things possible.
I agree with you that the Allante was not in the same class as the Mercedes SL.
Case closed then. There really isn't anything else to discuss. The rest is just coloring.
The XLR is a whole different ball game, very good entry in the class for sure. After the SL and XKR is the XLR in my book. The Lexus SC430 is for the pinky ring set.
M
and I thought I was the only one who thought that....
I would agree with that hierarchy of luxury convertibles because the 6 series is just kind of too fugly.
That is a hearse...
And yeah so is that.
Also, I must have my priorities mixed up because I am smack dab in the middle of middle class and there is no way I can afford or would even consider dropping 60,000 on a car. Or maybe I am not even in the middle class? What is considered middle class these days?
To get 0-60 in under 5 seconds in a 4000 lbs car requires about 500 hp, for example the Motor Trend comparison of the BMW M5 and Mercedes and Audi. The Audi's engine was under 400 hp and had the worst 0-60 time. Yet MT rated it #1.
The 1987 Allante was rated 16 city, 24 hwy; the 560 SL was rate 14 city, 17 hwy, a fuel pig.
The median income tax return is around $25,000 I think. About half the tax returns are less than this and half more.
The SRX looks like a typical SUV, which is what it is. A midsize SUV.
I certainly agree with your requirements for a successful STS. I could easily go for the car you describe.
Number one reason why it is not selling is for that reason.
GM is biting the bullet and will be decreasing production to meet demand. Now that they can shut plants down (due to hourly buy outs) they will.
Same with the XLR. Sales fell far short of expectations from the beginning (daily production halved within the first year, I believe). IMHO, low-rent interior and wildly optimistic MSRP ($75k+ for a Caddy!!!!). Shoulda priced it around the Lexus SC430 and given it a comparably luxe interior. I believe that right now, the '06 XLR have $10k+ in rebates available. I'm keeping my eyes open for used XLRs, on EBay (as a reference) '05s are in the $40s (and below?). But for that kind of $ one could get a new MB SLK...
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)