2004 Cadillac Escalade , 22" Wheels, Aftermarket Grill And Speed Odometer on 2040-cars

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Cool car technology is cool until it breaks

Ah, technology – the beautiful date that impresses all your friends but costs you a fortune to keep happy, up-to-date, and working. Automotive News puts some numbers to the economic toll we're paying to jockey this technological Trojan horse, an analysis it sums up with "Technology is great - until you have to replace it." Back in 2000, for instance, you could replace a Cadillac Escalade taillight lens for $56.08, or replace the entire unit for $220.49. Crack the rear lens on your 2015 Escalade and you have to buy a new unit for $795 - there's no such thing as just replacing a lens anymore. What about headlights? It was $210 for an Escalade headlight in 2000, it's $1,650 for the current unit (pictured). This is nothing we didn't know, these are just hard numbers to demonstrate it. Edmunds recently provided the same with its sledgehammer-bashing of the 2015 Ford F-150, Tesla Model S buyers have been shrieking about repair costs to their electric sedan's all-aluminum bodywork, and used-car sites are full of articles about which expensive-to-repair features to steer clear of if you want to avoid big repair bills. Those expensive bits increase the price of a car - Kelley Blue Book says the average price of a car is now more than $33,000 - and that raises rates for repairs and insurance. This comes in spite of some carmakers that have been collaborating with insurance companies and repair shops at the design stage in order to engineer parts that are easier and less expensive to replace. But the tech can have its cost-saving benefits: a 2011 study by the Highway Loss Data Institute found that Volvos fitted with that company's City Safety feature "filed 27 percent fewer property-damage liability claims" than luxury SUVs without it, and just last month the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety called adaptive headlights one of the top four crash-preventing technologies on cars today (after coming out against them in 2006). So yes, the technology costs a mint when it needs to be fixed - but being able to avoid an accident in the first place might make it worth it. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Copyright 2015 AOL Cadillac Car Buying Used Car Buying Auto Repair Insurance Maintenance Safety Technology Luxury replacement parts

What are the odds an actual Cadillac EV looks anything like this?

The Cadillac EV concept sure looks neat. It's all-electric, too, which is even neater. Unfortunately, it's a concept car, and when it comes to concept cars with Cadillac badges on them, it's best not to get too excited. For instance, you might recall this exquisite piece of automotive art. It was called the Elmiraj. You might recall the production version became the bold face of a new Cadillac and inspired a renaissance for the brand. Jay-Z drives one. Oh wait, no he doesn't. It was never made, nor was anything like it made. This is the Cadillac Escala. It has certainly inspired design cues on production Cadillacs, most notably the just-revealed XT6. However, besides those cues, it's a pretty anonymous large crossover. Hardly anything as stunning as the Escala. Now, perhaps the CT5 will be a dead-ringer, but we wouldn't get our hopes up. Then there's this, the Ciel. Not to be confused with an Acura CL, it was 100 feet long, a convertible and purple. This was also not made. OK, we can see why. And finally, this is the Cadillac Sixteen. As the name suggests, it had 16 cylinders. That's a lot. The most you can get in a Cadillac today is half that many. Now, to be fair, most manufacturers produce concept cars that have zero chance of production. They are meant to serve as inspiration for future designs, showcase future technologies or just draw attention to the brand. The problem with the Cadillac concepts is that they're not that fanciful. Those aren't pod-like Jetsons cars up there. They aren't this nonsense. They look like modern interpretations of the exact sort of grandiose cars Cadillac used to make. The very cars that made Cadillac the "Cadillac of the World." You know, like this. I'm not talking about literal tail fins and pink paint, but that's a CADILLAC. It's confident. It's its own thing. It doesn't need to beat BMW around the Nurburgring to prove something to someone somewhere. The Elmiraj was also a CADILLAC. The XT6 literally wears a Cadillac badge, but it could be anything. By contrast, Lincoln is doing a much better job of tapping into the spirit of its grand past with the Navigator, Aviator and suicide-doored Continental. Nowhere is that better seen than in the cabins of the XT6 and Aviator. One is swank. The other is not. But back to where we started: that EV concept. You'll note that it doesn't actually have a name.

GM sees 'strong year' in 2018, then gold in Chevy Silverado for 2019

DETROIT — General Motors said on Tuesday it expects earnings in 2018 to be largely flat compared with 2017, but that profits should pick up pace in 2019 as its revamped line of high-margin pickup trucks hits the U.S. market. The 2018 earnings outlook was above market expectations, sending GM shares up more than 3 percent in premarket trading. "GM had a very good 2017 as we continued to transform our company to be more focused, resilient and profitable," GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said in a statement. "We are positioned for another strong year in 2018 and an even better one in 2019." GM and its Detroit rivals, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, are bringing on new trucks at a time when overall U.S. new vehicle sales have been falling, but truck sales continue to grow as consumers abandon passenger cars in favor of pickups, SUVs and crossovers. GM on Saturday fired a new round in the battle for profits from one of the U.S. auto industry's most lucrative segments when it showed a new generation of its Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at the Detroit auto show. The new Silverado, a highlight of the event, is the successor to GM's best-selling vehicle in North America. Sales of the current Silverado rose nearly 2 percent to 585,000 vehicles in 2017. In the coming months, the company will also reveal a revamped GMC Sierra pickup truck. U.S. new vehicle sales fell 2 percent in 2017 after hitting a record high in 2016, and are expected to drop further in 2018 as interest rates rise and more late-model used cars return to dealer lots to compete with new ones. GM said on Tuesday that while it retools a factory in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, to make the new pickup trucks, it will shift some production to an Oshawa, Ontario, plant in order to avoid missing sales in a hot market for the vehicles. The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it will record a $7 billion non-cash charge for its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings related to deferred tax assets. GM said it expects capital expenditure in 2018 of around $8.5 billion, about $1 billion of which will go toward funding self-driving car technology. Last week, the company said it is seeking U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car — one without a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal — to enter the automaker's first commercial ride-sharing fleet in 2019. GM said it expects 2017 earnings per share at the high end of its previously forecast range of $6 to $6.50.