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Originally Posted by Zabo
Figured that was the case, but IMO I think that Caddy, for all out lux..needs go to up market even more. I can kinda see Buick getting Mercury-itis with all the new vehicles coming out.
Prolly why Ford shoved Lincoln upmarket.
Never really been thought of this way, but originally..what were cadillac and Lincoln competing against initially? Think 1910-1920s (ho boy..)
Bentley? Buggati? (well.. maybe not but..) Rolls?
So maybe Caddy needs to go WAY up market while Buick takes the current Caddy place as the affordable luxury. Maybe it's time for a Domestic luxury renaissance? Step up the game for the imports?
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I agree, with Ford's positioning of Lincoln and GM's handling of Cadillac, Buick and Mercury will become competitors.
Cadillac and Lincoln competed with nobody. They WERE luxury. Unfortunately, the influx of foreign competition and GM/Ford's own stupidity put both brands' reputations in the dumps. With the new Lincolns and Cadillacs, both automakers are trying to restore their luxury brands back to their former glory.
It would appear as though GM is working on Buick first in order to pull in some more money to work on Cadillac. The recent/future onslaught of new Buick products seems to allude to this, in fact, in two or three years, almost the entire Buick line-up will be all-new, consisting of Astra, Regal, LaCrosse, and Enclave. There's also news of a smaller-than-Enclave Gamma-II based crossover in the works which we saw in the "May the Best Car Win" commercial. Buick's also apparently planning to use the Two-Mode Hybrid system in a future vehicle.
Cadillac has the Alpha-based RWD ATS in the works, and development of the next-gen CTS (which is rumored to be on an extended Alpha platform) has already begun. There's a rumor that Lutz and other high-ranking GM executives are pushing for the XTS to go on Zeta instead of EpII as originally planned, a rumor that's strengthened further by many of Zeta's opponents in the Ren. Center leaving their positions...or being asked to leave. SRX is already doing quite well despite many people's criticisms over its FWD-based drivetrain.