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Why Cadillac is willing to lose 43 percent of its dealers

Cadillac is offering about 400 dealers in the United States a lump sum of money to close down. That represents over 40 percent of Cadillac dealers in America. Offers start at $100,000 and top out at $180,000. The average offering is around $120,000. According to Automotive News, Cadillac chief Johan De Nysschen estimates it will cost the automaker around $50 million to close these dealers. Any dealer that chooses to remain open will have to submit to Cadillac's ambitious Project Pinnacle, which will divide dealers into incentive categories based on how many units they sell. "Every single Cadillac dealer will have the potential to earn significantly higher profits than they do today," says De Nysschen. Dealers have until November 21 to decide if they want to take the cash or submit to Project Pinnacle. A logical question: Why is Cadillac willing to spend $50 million to close down 43 percent of its dealers? First, GM's luxury brand has way more dealerships than it needs. Second, the 400 dealers with offers to shutter each sold 50 or fewer vehicles in 2015, representing just 9 percent of its sales volume in America. So, while closing these smaller dealerships may have a small initial impact on sales, it's not going to be a major hit to Cadillac. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Gary Cameron / Reuters Cadillac Car Dealers Luxury Performance

GM considering new powertrain options for large SUVs

Aside from the new General Motors offerings, there's not a whole lot of action going on in the fullsize SUV segment. That doesn't seem to be stopping GM from pushing the envelope in the market as Automotive News is reporting that the automaker is looking to introduce some new powertrain options into the Chevy Tahoe (and Suburban), GMC Yukon (and Yukon XL) and the Cadillac Escalade - all have been redesigned for the 2015 model year.
Now, we already know that GM and Ford are collaborating on nine- and ten-speed transmissions for a broad range of applications (including the big SUVs), but this new report says that GM is also considering other options as a way to one-up the competition and, of course, to optimize fuel economy. AN quotes Jeff Luke, executive chief engineer for GM trucks, as saying that "interesting powertrain technologies" are coming including a return of a hybrid SUV and possibly even a diesel engine. Although it sounds like the latter could come down to how customers respond to the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel.

Is this the 2014-15 Cadillac Escalade?

Following the introduction of the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, we're expecting General Motors won't wait too much longer to show off the next-generation fullsize SUVs that share this platform - including the Cadillac Escalade. It's still not clear if the next Escalade will debut for the 2014 or 2015 model years, but Carscoops has what it claims to an exclusive first look of the new Cadillac, revealing a portion of the headlight, front fascia and wheel.
Judging from this small picture, it looks like the Escalade could incorporate styling cues that we've seen on new Cadillac models like the ELR and the 2014 CTS, but that article says that other design details could include tall, vertical taillights similar to the CTS Wagon, staggered-width wheels and a narrower daylight opening for the side windows. The last time we saw the fourth-generation 'Slade back in October in spy shots, the heavy camouflage prevented us from getting an idea of the luxury SUV's appearance, but this image and description gives us something to look forward to. Head on over to Carscoops for more potential information as well as a full rendering from back in January.