Errr, I would rather go for
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The Cadillac of SUV's?
- Thread starter Philpug
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Can't help it ...
Not so sure if Tesla is the replacement for Cadillac. One of the models is luxury but the others are not, the other models are just expensive because of the mechanicals. When you compare it to the Cadillac even the base Caddy is a luxury vehicle. BTW many of the features in today's vehicles started in the luxury of the Caddy and eventually made their way down to other vehicles.
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Was scoping out rental cars for a trip next winter and the clearly lowest price was a 7 seat Yukon below the tiniest economy microcar! Something affecting the algorithms and I doubt its enviromental concern per se.
On the other hand if you want to rent a tank for you and yours next winter now may be a good time to hold a reservation.
Then there is this level of luxury
https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/showroom/cullinan.html
I sat in one at the BMW showroom in Munich a few years ago. Beautiful beast of a machine
https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/showroom/cullinan.html
I sat in one at the BMW showroom in Munich a few years ago. Beautiful beast of a machine
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To be honest I'm totally surprised Cadillac is still going. The name conjures up myopic grandfathers driving badly to the golf course with poor attention to other road users and bloated land yachts of the 70s and 80s styled only with a set square.
I guess the Escalade's original popularity with 90s gangsta rappers and their entourages complete with spinner hubs etc gave them a bit of a boost but into the 2000s as a Benz wannabe. I thought GM's struggles post 2008 would have definitively killed them but guess there is still a market for designed and made in America in the wealthy boomer demographic.
I guess the Escalade's original popularity with 90s gangsta rappers and their entourages complete with spinner hubs etc gave them a bit of a boost but into the 2000s as a Benz wannabe. I thought GM's struggles post 2008 would have definitively killed them but guess there is still a market for designed and made in America in the wealthy boomer demographic.
Not all boomers, although I'd guess their clientele still skews pretty old... One of the guys I work with who's in his early 40's just bought one of these (though not the 668HP Blackwing version... looks very much the same though):
He's a muscle car fan and has had Camaros and GTOs before, so seems to be a fit from that standpoint.
The Caddy has a younger customer than you think, in the 55+ community I live in, the Lincoln SUV is the most popular. The second choice is clearly the Lexus SUV. Just the statement about a "Benz wannabe" is telling what you think is the top vehicle.
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My reference to MB was purely influenced by the styling of the 2000s Cadillac saloons. I guess Dodge and Ford and Chevvy have created a "New Muscle" market and the gaudy breathed on Caddys might be leveraging on that. Just seems anachronistic to the original "brand" but maybe its about brag value of " the ultimate".
The fact that MBs are used as cabs in other countries would blow a lot of folks minds in the US. I know it did mine a bit the first time I travelled to Europe (Denmark specifically, around 2001) and saw it.
I think MB would take a big hit in the US reputation-wise if they went that direction here.
I would argue that the styling of the 2000s Cadillac saloons has a direct lineage, egg crate grille, tapered wedge body form, strong swage lines and all, to the 1980s styling of the Allante - by Pininfarina.
The meltiness of the body sections in the mid-2000s (At MB it resulted in the downwards banana) is just evidence that, just like all the other manufacturers on the planet, Cadillac had access to super-cheap CFD and decided to harvest low-hanging aero fruit while keeping Allante styling cues. Every manufacturer dropped the nose, every manufacturer raked the car until the rear door handle is in the aero shadow of the front mirror, every manufacturer stretched the C pillar rearwards until true notchbacks were dead. Blah bananas were everywhere. If anything Cadillac was one of the less-blah versions ( just look at Lexus LS, Nissan G3x, Hyundai Genesis for comparison).
I would argue that everything introduced at Cadillac since then has been strongly calculated to retain those originally-Italian styling cues, including the vertical light stripes, including departure edges (witness taillight shape in @dbostedo's post), including front fascia ductwork (both real and cosmetic like the Escalade in the OP).
I would even argue that the Escalade in the OP is not Cadillac enough.
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Thread Starter
TS
I think the decline in Cadillac started when they went to badge engineering (not that the Escalade isn't) then peoples expectation of luxury changed from barcaloungers to firm riding european then high end Japanese cars. From then it was really tough to get those customers back.
Yeah.... nobody drives there anymore. There's too much traffic.
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The speed limit for much of Manhattan now is 25. It really used to be fun to drive there years ago when not rush hour. (Post squeegee men.)
It's been a few years, but my main memories of driving in NYC are the traffic at the Lincoln tunnel, driving straight through Times Square by accident, and driving like an a-hole on FDR Drive, because that's just apparently what you do.
When my friends moved to Brooklyn, and I could visit by taking the VN and Goethels bridges, rather than the Lincoln tunnel, things got much less memorable.
Maybe the Escalade is the Stockli of Cadillacs...
I heard a great thing a while back..you're not stuck IN traffic, you ARE traffic!
Plenty of people drive in NYC. And they all work for Uber or Lyft.
