I havent driven the 05 but i have driven a manual 03 and i wasnt impressed. It redlined pretty quick trying to move the car. I assume that the 3.6 has 200hp? What i was saying is that with Acura RL makeing 300hp 6speed cars and toyota makeing 270hp midsized cars and the altima getting 240 it just seems that caddy would want atleast 300hp. That still leaves about a 100hp gap for the v-series so its not treading on v-sales at all. I think America is moving back towards v8 rwd power luxury cars with the great success of the 300c. I see about 3 a day when i drive home from work. Why wouldnt caddy want to get in on this market by makeing the cts v8 power other then the V-series? I say toss in the 5.3 and see what happens. It couldnt hurt.

The BLS is a euro car i realize that. I was just saying it could make a good c-class competator/3 series. If they made it a little sleeker less jellybean like and a little bit more refined i think it would have done well in the US as an entry level car, way better then the catera what an abomination that was.

The SRX is overpriced and with a v8 version costing around 50-60k its just too expensive to really move. I would think they would want it to compete with the sport SUV's like the RX and Murano. Drop it to 45 or so and you might be able to sell more. Hell an LR3 V8 is only 50k so, caddy has some thinking to do. If they made a v-series SRX with the S/C Northstar then i could see that selling for 60k but not how it stands now.

Atleast caddy blew lincoln out of the water, Ford really has nothing to compete with caddy on the same level except for the navigator and LS. No body really wants a rebadged crown vic called a town car which has had the same bodylines for almost 7 years. I mean how many variations of grills and tailights can you do to it? Jag has some nice looking sedans but they dont cater to such a broad market that caddy does. Mercury is more Buick territory then luxury.

 

The 3.6 is rated at 255 HP right now.

 

Not anymore.

Idle a plant today, and everyone still gets paid... Full salary!

If you close down a plant, the workers get a whole lot more than just unempolyment.

 

This kind of stuff totally amazes me.

 

Yeah but that "muscle car" Toyota Avalon makes 280 out of 3.5L and will outrun it.

 

If I was looking at getting an XLR I would want:

1) At least 400hp (So the 16 yr old with the LS1 can't beat me)

2) More wood on the dash. NO PLASTIC.

3) Priced less than a C6. (Or less than a Z06 if the XLR-V has 500hp)

 

From a worker's standpoint, I think it's only fair, in the short run at least.

Why should Joe Blow $20/hr worker suffer in the short run because GM or any other manufacturer for that matter isn't selling close enough to their own projections. If the plant shuts down for two weeks, I'd surmise that Joe would have quite a difficulty recouping lost wages, thus even holding a job as such would be a gamble that a guy like me wouldn't be willing to take. Would you?

The irony of course lies within the fact that these added costs are built into the price of the products that you, me and Joe buy...

Now, I do have a problem with similar long term "payouts"....

 

Well, I think it's great for the worker, but it makes no sense for the employer.

I work in the long term health care industry (nursing homes)... if one of our nursing homes drops their census (number of residents) from say 100 to 80 , we simply schedule less people... we certainly don't pay people for not having to work.

I'd be willing to bet that is the case in most places.

I can't see where it makes any sense at all for the employer to pay employees for doing nothing... the fact that the vehicle may or may not be selling is really kind of irrelevant, IMO...

 

440HP XLR-V is coming this fall

There really isn't any plastic on the dash now. It is all wood and aluminum. except the air bag cover, but would would want that made of metal??

why would a Caddy cost less than a Chevy?

Welcome to the world of Unions

 

The difference is that the entire nursing home isn't shut down, but I do understand your point.

I'm still on the lower end of the umm...employee scale and thus, 99.9999999% of the time I'm going to side with average Joe worker vs. Great Big Evil Money Grubbing Corporation.

 

Ya, that is a definate difference (complete shutdown)... but it's the same basic thing, really.... just applies to more people (and that actually makes it a worse scenario for the employer).

 

Joe Blow always has the option of finding more stable employment if he deems autoworking to be too much of a "gamble". It's a free economy, no one says Joe has to work at an automaker.

 

I was making the point that perhaps it is being used as a tool in attracting quality employees who plan on sticking with the job for the long run, rather than slackjawed yokels looking for alternatives to Mickey D's to make a quick few bucks...

 

That's an interesting way to look at it... as an incentive to get better employees.

The down side is, it is very hard to get rid of a union employee if they do not perform particularly well... and sometimes someone who interviews very well can be a terrible worker.

I'm not even sure how much of an "interview" process there is to become a UAW plant worker, actually... I'll have to ask around to a couple of people I know that work at the assembly plant. I know you have to apply at the unemployment office... GM won't take application directly, or at least that was the way it used to be when I was just out of high school.

 

As great of a concept as it is to think of being paid to not work, the fact that American automakers are being shackled with this is what's killing the domestic auto industry.

I know that at any job I was at, if there was no work for me to do, I would not get paid. They shut down the office I worked at before, and you know what happened? I found a new damned job, I didn't keep getting paid just because they couldn't find work for me.

This reminds me of around here, the grocery workers all went on strike because their health care benefits were cut. These are bag boys and cashiers who are making nearly $20/hr going on strike because their job isn't taking care of them? Unions just are a way for people to choke money out of companies. Hey who cares right? It's an evil corporation their pockets are infinitely deep! And it's why GM is having a hard time competing with imports. GG.