Cadillac Owners Forum banner

What type of a car is missing from the marketplace today?

3K views 51 replies 22 participants last post by  johnny kannapo 
#1 ·
It seems that the types of cars offered today pretty much covers the spectrum of what's need in the marketplace. Are their niches left unfilled?
 
#2 ·
Personal luxury coupe...like the Eldorado or Riviera. NOT like the CTS coupe or any of the other Infiniti G rice imitators.

Large station wagon. The Flex pulls it off -- GM should be able to as well.
 
#7 ·
Agreed!!!!

I also feel like we need more $15,000 50mpg econoboxes. We had them back in the 80's and early 90's. Seems like now days if you want 50mpg you gotta shell out $25k for a Prius, Civic Hybrid, or a TDI VW Golf/Jetta.

They sell cars like this by the bucketload in Europe, but the closest thing we get in the States is the VW TDI Golf, which is considered quite a step up in terms of power, space, and luxury over something like a VW Polo. The Golf is also quite a step down in terms of MPG as well.

What about the great American luxury cruiser?? Where is it Cadillac? Lincoln? We don't even offer anything comparable to an A6, 5 series, E class, Infiniti M, or Jag XF. Much less anything comparable to a Jag XJ, S-Class, Lexus LS, BMW 7 Series, or an A8.

Same thing with the great American luxo coupe and convertible. Where is our Benz SL, BMW 6 series, Jag XK coupe or convertible, Benz CL, Lexus SC? The CTS coupe is a stunning design but falls way short on interior appointments when you look at an Audi A5 or Benz E-class coupe.

I also feel that car height station wagons/hatchbacks are way under-represented. Seems like de-rigour is to sit up high in your "crossover" with AWD while sucking gas down with a big v6 engine. A traditional FWD or RWD wagon would give you similar space and better mileage if you could give up your vanity to the latest trends.

Although I guess its better than sitting up high and sucking even more gas down with your v8, body on frame SUV that was popular for the last 15-20 years. At least those were cool because you really could tow something with them and they were at the very least competent in an off road situation. Some of those rigs were downright unstoppable off road with the right tires on them.:rant::rant::rant:
 
#5 ·
Big luxury coupe. An American version of the CL Mercedes.
 
#9 ·
A REAL station wagon. Crossovers don't cut it for some people - sorry guys.

Diesel EVERYTHING. Why do we not have this? Cruze Eco? Should have been a diesel. Cadillac ATS? won't have one, but needs a diesel option. Escalade? COME THE F*CK ON, IT'S A TRUCK! At least make it an option.
 
#13 ·
There needs to be a C body size car with the 5.3, Caddy of course with a Buick badge engineered version that will be completely unique to each car line, include also a diesel option that will be the SAME price as the Gas engine. Have all wheel drive for us in the north end of the world. Keep price to under 80k and 40 k for the buick and this would be a great car.
 
G
#22 ·
I miss both nameplates but over the last 25 years or so that's all they were "nameplates". It's better to burn out than fade away. It is unfortunate that these former icons both died but they really weren't doing much good anyway. GM could have kept their identities intact but didn't. They were just rebadged, afterthought junk in the end. Too bad. I always had thing for Oldsmobiles (classic ones).
 
#23 ·
astro van.
holds the family like a real wagon, has the storage capabilities of a box van, can hold several 4x8 sheets of plywood (or 2x4's or drywall, etc) , has the power of a V8 with V6 economy, plus you could get them in AWD for the northernersand rwd for the rest of us. plus they're more bad ass than some wimpy honda accord based pseudo-van
 
#32 ·
Intentionally under-optioned cars like the $9999 Versa (no radio, no AC) exist so the manufacturer can advertise a lower initial MSRP. They aren't produced in large quantities because most people avoid them. They get shuffled around from dealer to dealer until someone finally shows up and takes it.

Power windows are cheaper to produce and manufacture than crank windows due to their simplicity and because of economies of scale. The world advances little by little each day, making what used to be high-tech stuff as affordable as their low-tech predecessors.

The exception to this? Dedicated track cars. They get stripped bare and have their seats replaced anyway, but a $9k Versa is a poor starting point for any kind of track performance.

No, the trend going forward is for cheap economy cars to have many of the comforts and amenities of luxury cars, allowing people to save money and save fuel without feeling like they've made poor choices in life that forced them to downgrade their vehicle.
 
#33 ·
Back in the late sixties when Toyota started washing up on these shores, their claim to fame was "a fully equipped Toyota Carona for the price of a stripped VW Bug." And it was true, the fully equipped Corona coupes and sedans came with the radio and heater standard which were additional cost accessories on the VW .... neither car offered an automatic transmission til later .... for a few hundred less than the VW.
Volkswagen was really Toyota and Datsun's first conquest in the U.S.
 
#35 ·
I'll agree that we're missing another "Astro". A truck based van that isn't terribly large, nor much longer than a minivan, but with the power to tow and haul more than a regular car-based minivan can.
 
#38 ·
Saw a story today on Jalopnik that the sub-$10,000 car is dead, now that Nissan has brought out a new version of the Versa at $10,700:

With its demise comes the death of the sub-$10,000 new car. Here's why that's a good thing. The $9,990 version was nothing more than a gimmick.

It didn't come with A/C, it had the not-particularly-efficient and smaller 1.6-liter fourbanger, and a cheap cloth interior. While a striped-down package on, say, a Ford Mustang, might interest enthusiasts, the idea of a stripped-down econobox was so out-of-touch with what mainstream car buyers were looking for, dealers were rarely willing to stock the car. You were more likely to find a golden ticket in a Wonka bar than to find someone selling a $9,990-out-the-door Versa. Top that off with a destination charge that raised the actual price to $10,740 and it's clear this was mostly a marketing exercise — a trick to get people to go to Nissan dealerships.

But when they got there, they likely quickly left.​
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top