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Automotive News & Views Can GM make Cadillac the standard of the world Again?
6098 messages, Last post on Aug 14, 2009 at 4:43 PM
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Replying to: gagrice (Feb 16, 2009 4:15 pm) Unfortunately for the domestic manufacturers, you can't build a strong luxury franchise around trucks, no matter how good they are. The core of any luxury brand has always been & will always be fast, sexy sedans & coupes. Next to an early 1960s Lincoln Continental - one of the most beautiful post-WWII American cars - a new Navigator looks like a over-chromed shoe box on wheels. Which one would you rather drive to your next high school reunion? |
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Replying to: jimbres (Feb 16, 2009 6:26 pm)  All I can say is that maybe Boomers' parents were right all along about their kids sitting too close to the TV. They've all lost much of their sight thinking any other car is more attractive than a Caddy. How else can a Bangled-up Bimmer look good unless you were going blind? Fortunately, I didn't waste my childhood sitting in front of the idiot box. A little 3-Series with a stick and a sport package? Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to get one of those old Datsun 510s to duplicate the experience? All that banging around in a tiny metal box is kind of the antithesis of luxury in my book. |
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Replying to: jimbres (Feb 16, 2009 6:26 pm) Easy. They quit being the best in about 1980, and started putting real crap on the road. My 1983 Fleetwood Brougham was my first Cadillac, and it was lovely, except it had a 4.1L Aluminum V-8 that was slow, and self destructed in 20,000 miles, and constantly leaked. So I traded it on the downsized 1985 Fleetwood. Same engine though, FWD, and no, they didn't fix the engine. Same thing happened. Traded it on a 1987 Sixty Special. Oops, same damn engine, same damn thing happened, but I put some serious change into that car, so I kept it until 1990, and bought another Fleetwood. This one had a revised 4.5L engine in it, and wasn't so bad, but the rest of the car was just mediocre at best, and unreliable generally. That's when I switched to Lincoln, in 1992, and never went back. In 2002 I left Lincoln for Lexus, and feel no urges to go back to Cadillac, despite the good little CTS. And I do mean little.... Cadillac will never be the same, nor will the world. That's what went wrong with their magic, they got complacent, and the competition got smart. |
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It's pretty hard for any car, past or present, to be as beautiful as a 1961-65 Continental! The Navigator's got as much beauty as my mother's circa 1970 Hotpoint stove with instruments that remind me very much of it. Of course I would be extremely proud to drive either my 1989 Cadillac Brougham or 2007 Cadillac DTS Performance to my high school reunion.
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Replying to: lemko (Feb 16, 2009 6:56 pm) |
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Replying to: lemko (Feb 16, 2009 6:49 pm) Still, you're partly right about the 3. It's not a luxury car & BMW shouldn't try to market it as one. Those of us who really like BMW aren't thrilled with the latest iteration of the 3-series. It's put on too much weight & it's losing its edge. (And, BTW, the Datsun 510 was a genuinely cool car - cheap, durable & fun to drive.) As for Cadillac, it won't be a serious contender in the luxury segment until it figures out how to attract status-conscious buyers from the Germans. A luxury brand can't stay alive by selling only to bargain hunters like you. It desperately needs people who crave the badge. Cadillac used to own these buyers. It has to get them back.
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Replying to: lemko (Feb 16, 2009 6:49 pm) Regards, OW |
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Replying to: lemko (Feb 16, 2009 6:56 pm) Regards, OW |
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Replying to: jimbres (Feb 16, 2009 7:53 pm) Regards, OW |
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Replying to: nvbanker (Feb 16, 2009 7:07 pm) I've been doing well since I bought my first new Cadillac in 1989. I followed it up with a 1994 DeVille, a 2002 Seville STS, and my current DTS Performance. If they were so bad, I wouldn't keep buying them.
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