Are Cadillac Executives Reading Disaffected Musings?

First, I was originally going to call today’s post “Narcissism To Start August.” My wonderful wife thought I should call the post “July Progress Report.” What the hell am I talking about? I am going to tell you how much I exercised in July.

According to my iPhone, which does NOT record anything having to do with my treadmill workouts, I walked about 168,000 steps in July, or about 60 miles. I ALSO climbed 528 flights of stairs.

As for the aforementioned treadmill, I worked out 14 times spending about 12 hours on the machine, covering more than 47 miles and burning over 6,200 calories (according to the treadmill). Remember that 95%+ of the time in my workouts I am walking, only jogging/running for a few minutes if I want to average more than 4 miles per hour for a given workout. Also note that I always have a positive incline while on the machine; I am always walking/jogging/running uphill.

Knowing one is being observed, even if it’s self-observation, almost always changes behavior. Of course–given my OCD/math nerd status–I record my workout results on my calendar. My iPhone automatically records steps and flights. Steps And Flights is the name of the spreadsheet file with all of the information. I guess I must be proud of this “accomplishment.”

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I have written many times during the 4 1/2 years I have been writing this blog, including this recent post, that Cadillac should produce and sell a hyper-luxury car. This very interesting article from Hagerty reports that they appear to be ready to do just that. Cadillac has revealed the Celestiq, which appears to be far along in development. Of course, it will be all-electric, much to my chagrin, but it is good news if this automobile will really be sold to the public. It is also good news that Cadillac’s awful 3-character model names might finally be going away. Below is a picture of the Celestiq concept car:

See the source image

The Hagerty article is about 12 Detroit luxury cars that were never produced, but should have been. One of the cars listed is among my favorite concept cars of all time, the Cadillac Elmiraj.

One concept car with which I was not familiar was the Mercury Messenger from 2003, shown below.

Forgotten Concept: Mercury Messenger | The Daily Drive | Consumer Guide ...

That’s a stunning shape, in my opinion. I have often written that it seems to be a waste to me that the vast majority of concept cars that are revealed are never produced. I know they are considered exercises in styling and engineering and some of their features have appeared on production vehicles. However, maybe Mercury would still exist if this car had been a halo car to draw customers into dealerships.

If you are into concept cars or cars in general I highly recommend reading the Hagerty piece.

#AreCadillacExecutivesReadingDisaffectedMusings?

#StepsAndFlights

#CadillacCelestiq

#CadillacElmiraj

#MercuryMessenger

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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I’ll Make The Case Again

I was going to title this post “Great Minds Think Alike.” Yesterday, I was originally going to write about how, despite the damn virus, Bentley sales actually showed a slight increase in 2020 compared to 2019. I was also going to tie this news to my case about the potential success for an American-made ultra-luxury car.

Nobody knew about my idea for yesterday’s post until David Banner (not his real name) texted me with the Bentley news AND that it was more evidence that an American-made luxury car could succeed. I replied that I came very close to writing a post about that topic. Great Minds Think Alike…

Not only did Bentley sales increase in 2020 compared to the year before, but their sales hit an all-time high for a company that is 100+ years old. Yes, they are owned by the ~~Shitlermobile~~ company, ~~Volkswagen~~. The point is that ultra-luxury makes exist in a different world and that it is foolish that no American car company (are you listening, Cadillac?) makes a car in that market segment. What is Bentley’s biggest market? The United States…

Cadillac has a long history of producing breathtaking concept cars, especially over the last 20 years

This is a picture of Cadillac’s Escala concept car. For a time, the company committed to putting this car into production, but I guess those plans have been shelved. As I have written here before, Cadillac has developed a number of amazing concept cars. My favorite is actually this one, the Elmiraj:

Cadillac has a long history of producing breathtaking concept cars, especially over the last 20 years

Sorry, but I remain convinced that a well-executed American-made ultra-luxury car would have a great chance of success. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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From this piece in Corvette Blogger comes the news that Chevrolet/General Motors delivered almost 9,000 new Corvettes in the fourth quarter of 2020. The company now reports quarterly and not monthly numbers. Here is a chart from the same article:

Archived Corvette Delivery Statistics
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2020	— 3,820 —			— 2,459 —			— 6,355 —			— 8,992 —			21,626
2019	— 3,943 —			— 5,788 —			— 4,766 —			— 3,491 —			17,988
2018	1,005	1,351	2,101	— 5,758 —			— 4,639 —			— 3,910 —			18,791
2017	1,263	2,081	2,460	2,756	2,535	2,612	1,930	1,748	1,506	1,345	2,565	2,278	25,079
2016	1,501	2,116	2,753	3,142	2,673	2,483	2,159	3,063	2,829	2,626	1,941	2,709	29,995
2015	2,127	2,605	3,785	3,469	3,514	2,807	2,794	2,725	2,572	2,526	1,952	2,453	33,329
2014	2,261	2,438	3,480	3,514	3,328	2,723	3,060	2,679	2,467	2,959	2,378	3,552	34,839
2013	908	980	1,053	974	905	853	671	655	831	3,929	2,527	3,005	17,291
2012	629	927	1,376	1,396	1,219	1,475	987	1,210	1,351	1,167	1,104	1,291	14,132
2011	721	955	1,163	1,454	1,304	1,299	1,291	936	1,147	946	910	1,038	13,164
2010	854	624	955	1,089	1,428	1,405	1,199	1,135	1,109	1,011	836	979	12,624
2009	842	1,027	1,183	1,407	1,643	1,396	966	746	1,585	1,154	952	1,033	13,934
2008	2,015	2,071	2,692	3,190	2,904	2,082	1,870	4,242	2,318	1,170	1,093	1,324	26,971
2007	2,234	2,784	3,158	3,227	3,300	2,377	2,377	2,877	2,837	2,484	2,438	2,914	33,685
2006	2,579	3,058	3,655	3,516	3,317	2,938	2,794	2,990	3,056	2,761	2,773	3,081	36,518

By my quick calculation, it looks like the fourth quarter of 2020 was the best for Corvette deliveries since the second quarter of 2015. From Trending Motors a picture of what I hope is a 2021 Corvette:

See the source image

It seems as though the C8 is a success. Let’s see how sales progress through what is, hopefully, an uninterrupted model year in 2021.

#I’llMakeTheCaseAgain

#GreatMindsThinkAlike

#AmericanSuper-LuxuryCar

#CadillacEscala

#CadillacElmiraj

#C8Corvette

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Wave Goodbye To Half The Year

At the end of the day today 2020 will be half over. Sometimes it’s OK to be Captain Obvious, or Capitaine Évident, because sometimes the obvious is a point worth making. Even with all of the bad things that have occurred and are occurring, this has easily and scarily been the fastest year ever, by far. Is that simply inevitable given I am older? I don’t know, but I hope, somehow, things slow down even just a little, especially after the virus situation calms down. I will offer my opinion that the coronavirus will never go away completely, that just like we (should) receive an annual flu shot, we will receive an annual (or biennial, every other year) coronavirus shot.

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While I know that much of the substantial increase in views/visitors since early April is due to current circumstances keeping people at home, I want to thank the readers of Disaffected Musings for visiting. The monthly average for views for April-June of 2020 was about 40% higher than the previous high for one month. That’s quite a quantum leap in readership and I appreciate it. All that being said, I will continue to ask for the sale. Please feel free to tell your friends about the blog and to pass along the URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com), please feel free to click on any (or all) of the related posts at the bottom of each post, please feel free to “Like” any post and to submit thoughtful comments, and please feel free to click on any ad in which you have genuine interest.

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This post is the most recent one in which I wrote about the potential market for an American-made super-luxury car. Also remembering that it is the automobile business I floated the idea of such a car sharing some components with other models, but not too many, so that initial development and tooling are not prohibitively expensive. From The Pontiac Solstice Book by Gary Witzenburg here is a partial list of components the Solstice shared with other cars to which GM had access:

Ecotec engine: Pontiac G6, Chevrolet HHR/Cobalt, Saturn Ion; yes, I realize that these models and even makes no longer exist, but that’s not relevant to the point

Manual transmission: Hummer H3, GMC Canyon, Chevrolet Colorado

Automatic transmission: Cadillac SRX/STS/CTS

Driveshaft, differential, rear axles: Cadillac CTS

Steering wheel: Pontiac Torrent

Steering column: Chevrolet Cobalt

Interior storage bin: Cadillac XLR

Seat frames: Opel Corsa

Obviously, I realize that a super-luxury car could not share too many components because that would diminish its status. Maybe the engine would have to be exclusive to this car, but could still be based on existing architecture. Here is a picture of a car, from machinespider.com, of one of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen, and a car that could be the basis for a super-luxury car, the Cadillac Elmiraj concept:

See the source image

I stubbornly cling to the belief that such a car, even priced at $300,000-$500,000, could sell 5,000-7,000 units a year, especially if it had any success abroad. Let’s say my range is 1,000 units too high. At the midpoint of the suggested price range, annual gross revenue would be between $1.6 billion and $2.4 billion. At the bottom of both ranges, that figure is $1.2 billion. Even at half of the latter figure ($600 million), couldn’t GM recoup its development costs quickly and make a profit? Remember that Ferrari’s average profit per car is $80,000. At half that margin and at the bottom of my lower production range, GM would earn $160 million in profit annually from a super-luxury car.

OK, maybe I don’t really know what I am talking about. Maybe tooling and production costs would be higher, maybe sales would be lower and maybe the price would have to be lower. I still think the car would be profitable AND it would be a halo car that would give GM some positive publicity, if executed properly. Of course, no one at GM will ever read this and this car will almost certainly never be built. That doesn’t mean I can’t think outside the box. What box?!

#WaveGoodbyeToHalfTheYear

#AmericanSuperLuxuryCar

#CadillacElmiraj

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Build This Car!

See the source image

From machinespider.com a picture of the Cadillac Elmiraj concept car. As far as I know, GM/Cadillac have no plans to produce this car. WHY NOT?! I detest America’s race to the bottom, the search for the lowest common denominator. I have always opined that the one area where US auto companies have usually fallen down compared to European companies is in styling. This car demonstrates the ability to produce world-class styling. Another picture, this one from Cadillac’s website:

Elmiraj Side View

In 1960, 44 percent of US households were married couples with children while 30 percent were married couples without children. Fast forward fifty years to 2010 and only 20 percent (!) of US households were married couples with children while 28 percent were married without. The US has more “empty nest” couples than married with children, so why aren’t more non-SUV’s and non pickup trucks being sold? I could be wrong, of course, but I can’t imagine with the wealth in this country (7 percent of all US households have a net worth of $1,000,000 or more, the number of US households with $25,000,000+ net worth has grown 73 percent since 2008) and all of the empty nest households that there wouldn’t be a demand for a car like this.

Build this car!