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GM might lose 90-year U.S. sales crown over chip shortage

Automotive News editor Nick Bunkley tweeted on October 1 that according to AutoNews data, General Motors "has been the largest seller of vehicles in the U.S. every year since passing Ford in 1931." With automakers having turned in light car and truck sales data for the first three quarters of 2021, GM's 90-year-run might not reach 91. According to AN figures, Toyota was 80,401 vehicles ahead when the October workday started. Worse, GM is so far behind its historic pace that it might only sell enough light vehicles in the U.S. to match its numbers from 1958.  Meanwhile, the New York Times put a few more salient numbers to the pain GM and Toyota are enduring alongside the the rest of the industry. GM sold 33% fewer cars in Q3 2021 than it did in Q3 2019 during the dark days of the pandemic, 446,997 units this year as opposed to 665,192 last year. GM's Q3 2020 was only down 13% on Q3 2019. Over at Toyota, the bottom line showed a 1% gain in Q3 2021 compared to 2020, with 566,005 units moved off dealer lots. The finer numbers show two steps forward and one step back, though; Toyota's September sales were down 22% compared to last year.  GM remains optimistic about what's ahead, GM's president of North American operations telling the NYT, "We look forward to a more stable operating environment through the fall." We'd like to see that happen, but we don't know how it happens. The chip shortage said to have been the inciting incident for the current woes isn't over, and not only can no one agree when it will be over, the automakers, chip producers, and U.S. government still can't get on the same page about who needs what and when. Looking away from that for a second shows articles about "No End In Sight" for supply chain disruptions in early September, before China had to start working through power supply constraints, global supply chain workers started warning of a "system collapse," and roughly 500,000 containers sat waiting to be unloaded at Southern California ports — a record number seemingly broken every week. And back to chips, we're told just a few days ago the chip shortage is "worse than we thought."   For now, the NYT wrote that GM dealer inventory is down 40% from June to roughly 129,000 vehicles, and down 84% from the days when dealers would cumulatively keep about 800,000 light vehicles in stock. However, GM just announced it would have almost all of its U.S. facilities back online next week, although some would run at partial capacity.

If Cadillac’s smart, the CT5 will be a CTS without baggage

Cadillac is, mercifully, about to rationalize its lineup, something that's been a long time coming. The CTS is one of those cars that gets admiration from reviewers, like us, for a concerted effort from GM to engineer an underlying platform that matches the Germans in terms of raw dynamics. From buyers, it gets not even a shrug as they, oblivious to its existence, walk right into BMW and Mercedes dealerships. The reasons for this have a lot to do with the sheer brand recognition, and the image, of the German competitors. You can't really lay that all at GM's feet, but what you can do is critique the uninspired drivetrain selection. The 3.6-liter V6 is a crude implement, making its 335 horsepower roughly. The BMW's equivalent inline six makes its power smoothly, with modern forced induction. There's no directly comparable E-Class sedan until you get into the V-Sport versus E43 situation, but the turbo four is smooth. And the interior? No question. The Mercedes is jaw-slacking. The story for the CTS's turbo four is largely the same. Some blame also has to be leveled at the first- and second-generation CTS sedans, which adopted an odd strategy: sell a slightly larger sedan to folks looking at 3-Series, A4, and C-Class, but at about the same price. Folks weren't interested in a larger car for the same money. Despite the third-gen CTS's growth into the 5-Series size class, the CTS still seems like an odd in-betweener in the sport luxury segment – psychologically, if not physically. CTS sales are in the toilet in 2017, and GM is smart to shake things up. So with the announcement that Cadillac head honcho Johan de Nysschen has finally been allowed to kill off underperforming models, the CTS is toast. (As is the ATS, and much more importantly, the XTS – a shambling dinosaur of a sedan.) What's next is the CT5, and that's what we're interested in now. Cadillac has until 2019 to figure out what the CT5 actually is. That isn't a lot of time, so our money is on it being a repositioned, rationalized CTS. The platform's not bad; it's heavier than the larger CT6, but it's fairly modern. Sadly, it's unlikely that any of the standard powertrain options will get a revamp, but maybe some additional sound deadening or an active engine mount system to reduce NVH will quell the V6's bad habits. View 32 Photos More importantly, Cadillac will get a chance to work on the interior look, almost certainly aligning it more closely with the much improved CT6. That'll help a lot.

Cadillac XT5 caught uncovered during photo shoot

It's only been a few weeks since Cadillac announced that its replacement for the SRX, the new XT5, is on its way. Now, we have images of it out in the open and completely free of camouflage. Obtained by a reader at Jalopnik's Opposite Lock forum, the Caddy was spotted during what user Saw930 believes was a photo shoot in New York's trendy SoHo neighborhood. There's only a pair of images, from the front and rear three-quarters, but it's enough to give us a very thorough overview of the exterior styling on the new CUV. In short, the design language that has been seen on Escalade, CTS, and upcoming CT6 has indeed made its way to the SRX replacement. The broad, egg-crate grille is perhaps the cleanest iteration of Caddy's latest styling, while the CT6-inspired headlights look sharp, as well. Expect a similar headlight pattern to the CTS, with strong LED character accents on the outside of the headlights that integrate seamlessly with the lower DRLs. In back, the taillights curve over the rear haunches and blend into an extremely strong shoulder line. It's a dynamic and aggressive piece of design that we'll need to see in person before signing off on. The rear bumper, meanwhile, is a nicely styled piece, complete with twin, integrated, rectangular tailpipes that flank a piece of (probably faux) skid plating. There's a similar off-road treatment in the front bumper, as well. While we wait for scour for more news on the XT5, have a look at the two images Saw930 captured and posted at Oppo and let us know what you think in Comments.