Quote:
Originally Posted by Denis
I don't think Cadillac NEEDS a exotic mid engine super car. its a luxury car brand that also makes a few hi-po offshoots of their cars. much like an AMG or M.
|
And what if its that very perception, that they're 'only' a luxury brand with a couple performance models tossed in, that they want to change?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Firefighter
My question with a Caddy only car is how on earth do they recover the development cost?
It would run anywhere from $500M to $1B. I mean a decade ago didn't it run a Billion to develop the Fifth Gen Camaro?
|
A billion is more or less the standard cost for developing a new car these days. Even more if it requires some radical technical innovation or techniques that the company is unfamiliar with (the Volt with its hybrid powertrain supposedly cost a billion and a half, and was based off of the Cruze's platform)
Anyway, the chances of a mid-engined Cadillac to pay back its R&D budget through sales are about the same as the chances for a mid-engined Corvette to pay back
its R&D budget: approximately 0. Same goes for the Ford GT, the Lexus LFA, and the Acura NSX.
With special performance halo cars like these, there is usually no expectation that the OEM will make the money back selling the car. Its a marketing exercise, "hey, lookee what we can do!". That gets people talking about the brand, and ultimately brings more people into the showroom -many of whom wouldn't have considered the brand before. That is how they get greenlit. And when automakers routinely spend a couple billion on advertising each year, they can skim a bit from a brands ad budget to pay for halo-car losses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Firefighter
Also that new Ford GT has got to have Tadge and alot of GM executives pissed.
Like any good Firefighter if I see smoke I believe there is fire somewhere causing it.
|
GM hasn't really cared about the GT40/GT in the past. Why would they now?