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Originally Posted by syr74
I'm going to have to disagree here. BMW and Mercedes have both stated publically that they consider Lexus an outright, premium class competitor...BMW even mentioned Lexus in a list of direct rivals that left out Audi.
Lexus and BMW absolutely get crossed shopped if not as much as Mercedes and Lexus do, and buyers in this segment take Lexus very seriously, as they should. Unfortunately for Lexus, they lost their way when they stopped trying to be Lexus and started trying to be a Japanese BMW. Ironic.
As for Cadillac, I am not in this thread to bust anybones balls, but Cadillac is arguably further away from being a legit BMW comeptitor today than it was four years ago, and with a fwd based XTS waiting in the wings and the likelihood that all Caddy branded suv's will be based on fwd platforms before the next three years are done I would argue that it will be some time before they can make a run at genuinely threatening BMW again. CTS is well done, but it will be the only premium luxury player they have in the lineup after Escalade moves down to the Lambda platform.....at that point Caddy will be a lot like the current Lincoln brand with a premium grade CTS thrown in for good measure.
Of course we have rumors that ATS is coming, but even if that shows up sooner rather than later Caddy still wont have a car that truly rivals even the E Class or 5 Series in terms of usable, mid size sedans since the CTS is still something of a tweener and doesn't really offer the kind of passenger space those German rivals do. I think Buick will be properly fleshed out long before Cadillac is, and there in nothing wrong with that since Buick stands to profit more anyway.
Ultimately, I guess what I am trying to say is that GM looks to have placed Cadillac into something of a holding pattern somewhat like the one Ford has placed Lincoln into. I think the main difference between the two right now would be that Cadillac obviously wants to make sure that they at least keep the CTS in the game until they can focus their attention back on the rest of Cadillac while Ford gave up on the LS years ago.
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You do have a point, although the rumors are no longer rumors, ATS is in development and on the way. ATS will go up against 3-series and CTS will grow in size (it's already grown in price) to go up against the 5-series.
I am disappointed in the decision for the XTS's drivetrain, and do believe that Zeta would've been a better choice (Lutz does too...), but it would appear as though it will remain on EpII for at least one generation.
It would also appear as though GM is fleshing out Buick in order to pull in enough profit to work on Cadillac.