[Zabo]

Originally Posted by syr74

SRX looks like a solid effort to be sure, but it raises as many questions as it answers.

First, this is an unquestionable shot across the bow of the Lexus RX, buts that begs the question when did Caddy stop focusing on BMW and Mercedes and start taking a longer, harder look at Lexus? A cohesive branding theme matters a lot in this segment, and with Caddy right now I am not seeing anything of the sort. Caddys near future looks to be a hodge podge mish mash of fwd and rwd that leaves me wondering what segment of the market the brand is actually going after, assuming they know themselves.

Again, this combo smacks a bit of the strategy Lexus has now long used selling fwd based ES and RX models to entry level buyers boosting sales and profits and allowing folks to buy into the brand without dropping the coin a GS or LS requires. That said, if this is the beginning of a similar strategy then a few things are missing. First of all, where is the equivelant, entry level car offering? The Lexus plan works because the RX and ES bookend each other giving their plan the desperately needed appearance of actually having been planned and not merely created out of necessity. Further, Lexus doesn't allow fwd to creep any higher within the brand heirarchy than the entry level strata for obvious reasons. Right now, it appears very likely that STS and DTS will both be replaced by a fwd model leaving CTS as the lone rwd car in an otherwise fwd lineup. Even more, it appears very likely that Escalade will also be replaced by a Lambda based vehicle, which will well and truly turn Cadillac into a fwd brand which just happens to build one rwd car.

CTS created the best starting point for a brand revival GM has yet had, and while this appears to be a nice enough vehicle the truth is that the RDX doesn't really fit into that structure, not as a stand alone product, and I fear that the RDX indicates a major shift away from the rwd revival so lauded toward a sort of American take on Acura.

FWD: For all the snow birds that make up their chief market. Same with Buick. Guess that's what targeting your market is all about..