From THe car connection


Cadillac's answer to the BMW M5 will start at $49,995, General Motors announced on Wednesday. Arriving at dealers in January, the new sports sedan has a 400-hp, 5.7-liter V-8 wedged under its hood, gets a six-speed manual gearbox and Brembo brakes behind 18-inch wheels and tires. Cadillac predicts a 0-60 mph time of 4.6 seconds for the hot version of the CTS sport sedan.


http://thecarconnection.com/index.as...&sid=173&n=156

 

What's odd about that price is that GM's charging about $15K more for content that costs them maybe a couple grand at the most, and yet this car still offers a performance value like no other sedan out there.

While I won't be buying one of these new, I sure am interested to see what they're selling for in 2-3 years on the used market - guess that heavily depends on GM's lease strategy.

 

A bit higher than I had hoped for... but a realistic price, and a bargain none the less when compared to the compitition.

 

Wish I had about $50K laying around!!

 

We'll I think the Idea here guys is not to outprice anyone but keep the car desireable. After all it undercuts the price of an M3 yet runs with a M5. BMW a M-B do this all the time they charge lots more for M or AMG models to keep them valuable and rare. Its not that GM couldn't sell the car for $42K but why not get some more profit and keep the car just out of most people's price range to keep those that do get them happy with the exclusivness. When ya think about it its right in line with a Z06.

Makes me wonder why the XLR is $76K when GM could sell it profitably and exclusively at $60K??

 

Not sure what the utilization is at Bowling Green right now, but it's very possible that they're going to sell everyone they can make at $76K, so it may not make sense to sell them at a lower price than that.

Given the production constrants at the Lansing plant right now, the same may very well be true for the CTS-V.

 

That's alot of money to me, but not compared to the BMW M5. A person could basically choose between the CTSv or a loaded C5. That may be a difficult decision for someone with a family.

 

They are trying to hit that segment of the market..and to do that, they have to charge $50k or $76k.. The theory is, if they charge any less, the cars won't be taken seriously, cause they aren't expensive enough.. Yea, its pretty stupid huh? Maybe if GM does prove to the public that they make great cars they can get away with lower prices, because the quality is known/percieved to be there.. but then, why would they want to do that?


Its something about percieved/expected cost of a product.. Basically, the consumer expects a certain product to be at a certain price... especially in the US... For example, people accept that a bottle of water costs $1.... More than gasoline. heh..

 

Wow.. That is a REALLY REALLY good point!!! Pretty crazy when you really think about things.

 

I don't think that's the case here. People will accept this car on the basis of its own merits, especially with all the great publicity it's generating. There's no need to imply a premium product by pricing it higher than what the market will bear.

The price was chosen, I believe, for the reasons Eric said: they'll sell all they can produce at $50k (at least for a year or two), so why accept a lower price?

 

but if you take one step back,....as most people will think one of two things...

1. The people that want the car for what it is, cant afford it, ie us for hte most part.

2. The people that have too much money to spend, to them $50k for a caddie, why? when you can get a MB or BMW.

Anyhow hope it sells well, and the residual value on it drops like ****, so we can buy 04's in 06 for $20k

 

I don't think that's a problem. As you imply, this is an image purchase for most people, and this car's generated enough favourable press that most people in the BMW and Merc market will know what it is. CTS-V owners will love pulling up to their neighbour who owns a 530i and talk about the little 400 hp V8 tucked inside. And then explain how they paid thousands less. Even rich people like a good deal.

 

I totally agree.

And add to that the fact that Cadillac has made one of the best, well executed image changes... basically a complete 180... probably in automotive history!

 

The CTSv looks the part of being a luxuary sports sedan, it also looks like a $50k car. While I'd love for it to have been high 30's like Bobby said earlier, I think for its image it needs to be $50k, it'll develop more of a "must-have" image rather than a "I could afford it" image if that makes any sense.

 

You must remember that the CTSv and XLR are both limited production cars, they are only making about 4,000 of each a year thus prices will be higher than if they made 100,000 a year.

a loaded V6 CTS is about $40K so $10K more seems fair for what you get. This is a luxury car, and luxury cars were never ment to be cheap.