CSpec

I doubt equivalent workers in China will be stupid enough to demand a $10,000 signing bonus.

A buyer of a $150,000 car isn't interested in ease of service and low maintenance costs. They want the best and they're willing to pay for it.

There must be crazy lease deals on 9-3s right? The list price of those things is like mid 30s which is way high for such an old car.

Those government wimps in DC all went home this afternoon. Us true office warriors in tree-lined office park land went right back to work and avoided the unholy mess on the roads/subway system. So ha.

Pretty strong here in the NoVa DC suburbs. Felt like mild-moderate airplane turbulence.

Not sure why this was -1'ed, I think it's plausible. But witness the evolution of the Vizon into the SRX and you'll see how these things can get messed up.

I think it's ugly, but I'm ready to accept that a lot of people like it. Having bolder styling (meaning that people have a strong opinion about it one way or the other) is a good thing.

Now that is a good looking car. Too bad it will be FWD with a stupid powerplant.

Yeah I was never a fan of this car. The styling is a weird mix of strange and really dull, and it was never a legitimate threat to the "real" luxury brands. One of the weakest GM offerings of the Lutz era IMO.

Looks OK. I agree that is does seem to resemble the C-class, which isn't really a good thing since the C is five years old.

Unlike the target audience of the DTS! HEY OOH!!! well played

Shouldn't the Army be paying this, not Delta? Delta does not attend strategy meetings in the Pentagon. They run a business.

I think it's around $4.00 here. Yup.

Different type of car--driving dynamics aren't important.

I would think making a model competitive w/ the 3-series, etc would be the main focus..anything else is secondary. Cadillac absolutely has to have a hit in this niche. It will be interesting to see if they can scale it up to midsize to accomodate 4000lb CTSes and Camaros. It would have to be able to scale in width, length, track, etc. An ambitious goal. Yeah, I don't see how you can make a platform to fit so many personalities and do them all well. As others have said the 3-series leads the pack for a reason. Are the IS and A4 and C-class platforms shared either?

Different Epsilon. Either way, none of those cars are meant to compete with the 3-series. Driving dynamics are everything.

The cost is not out of proportion for a brand new platform development. That is why platform sharing is important to recuperate the costs. The cost is out of proportion for a compromise platform that will not be able to compete.

A GMI original story, apparently: Initially Alpha was going to be a four-cylinder only chassis for small premium cars, so naturally development focused on optimizing the Alpha platform for four-cylinder mills in a very light package. Well, Cadillac’s first condition was that Alpha be re-engineered to package a naturally aspirated V-6 engine – and that was non-negotiable. This about-face on engine selection would become the first of at least two engine requests that led to a re-engineering of the Alpha chassis to accommodate the new requirements. More changes (read: more mass and cost) were required for the addition of all-wheel drive. What started out as a great handling, small RWD program, began it’s mission creep from being very focused to being all things to all people. And as it evolved, certain “hard-points” from previous development were locked in, even though the base program had transformed itself. For example, Alpha was designed with a very sophisticated multi-link front suspension with near perfect geometry for the car as it was developed at that point. That geometry was “locked in”. As the car grew and became heavier with more features and content, that original geometry was no longer optimal. Our sources tell us that GM is now attempting to mask this sub-optimal geometry with chassis tuning rather than doing the right thing and actually fix it. According to sources familiar with the Alpha program both internally at GM and the supplier level, GM has made several other additions to the requirement list of Alpha beyond engines. Among the additions were: a new electronics system and aerodynamic shutters (similar to the Volt). Each addition has caused another issue to engineer around, thus causing the Alpha program to exceed GM’s mass requirements for the car by nearly 500-pounds. It is unclear how heavy Alpha products will be, but every independent Alpha source GMI has communicated with has indicated that the final curb weight could push 4,000-pounds unless GM puts the program on a mass reduction plan before launch. Source Alpha reportedly cost $1 billion. Reminds you of what got GM into bankruptcy in the first place doesn't it?

I'm not sure that would really amount to much. The Jetta sees most of its success here in the U.S. It's always been an outcast in Europe, selling much like the Golf does here. Yeah, no one really drives compact sedans in Europe.

Do the looks put you to sleep more than any other car?

Cool.

Wait... what happened to your GTO?

The stock is down over 15% this year in a strong market.

I see a ridiculous number of 911s and Quattroportes here which sell quite poorly in general.

Charlottesville is really nice. Not sure how cheap it is though.