2004 Cadillac Xlr Base Convertible 2-door 4.6l Only 48k Miles on 2040-cars

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Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.

Junkyard Gem: 1967 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special Sedan

If you lived in North America in 1967 and you wanted to show the neighbors you'd clawed your way to the peak of the success pyramid, only one car would do: Cadillac Fleetwood. Today's Junkyard Gem is 4,685 pounds of General Motors luxury hardware, finally knocked off the road at age 53 by an unfortunate wreck and now residing in a Denver self-service wrecking yard. The Cadillac brand endured some rough years during the 1970s and 1980s, but rode high during the 1960s. The Fleetwood Sixty Special Sedan started at $6,423 in 1967, or just over $50,000 when figured using inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars. A Mercedes-Benz 250SE sedan set you back $6,385 that year, but it weighed barely half as much and packed just 148 horses against the Cad's 340. Really, you had to get a genuine Rolls-Royce to out-swank the Fleetwood-driving Joneses back then (the Lincoln Continental and Imperial didn't have quite the snob appeal at that time), and the Roller cost more than several Fleetwoods combined. This car has been around during its long life. On the windshield, we see 1980 and 1981 parking stickers from the Keeneland Club in Kentucky. This car was already 13 years old by that time, but still very classy. At some point, the car must have migrated to California. Here's a U.C. Berkeley sticker. This ancient In-N-Out sticker comes from the Southern California-only era of the famous hamburger chain. Sometimes it's tough to determine the reasons that an old car ended up in a place like this, but that's not a problem here. Let's hope the car's occupants had their belts on (lap belts only in 1967, but still better than nothing), because these old Detroit land yachts didn't have much in the way of energy-absorbing crumple zones. The paint and interior are quite rough, so this car depreciated from being worth perhaps a couple of grand to scrap value in an instant.  Cruise control was a very rare option in 1967, and this car has it. The famous Fleetwood triple-tone horns were still there when I got to this car. Under the hood, 429 cubic inches (7.0 liters) of super-smooth Cadillac pushrod V8. This engine grew to 472 and then 500 cubic inches during the following few years. The paint shows some great patina. Did I buy the horns? Of course I bought the horns — I always bring my trusty lightweight junkyard toolbox when I head out to shoot some Junkyard Gems. Related Video:

GM's redesigned full-size 2021 SUVs face delay over coronavirus

As General Motors works to conserve cash for the coronavirus pandemic, the automaker reportedly told suppliers that it is postponing development of several future vehicles. The situation may cause GM to delay the launch of the 2021 Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Tahoe and Chevrolet Suburban SUVs, which had been planned to roll out in April. The original launch plan for the redesigned full-size SUVs, which are some of the most profitable vehicles produced by GM, had called for production of the current models to end at its plant in Arlington, Texas, this week. After a retooling process, the redesigned SUVs were slated to begin production late in the month of April. In an email to suppliers viewed by Reuters and confirmed as authentic by GM, the automaker also said it was suspending development work on six future vehicle programs, including updates of the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Cadillac XT4, Bolt EV, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. GM said preproduction work on those programs would be pushed back to calendar year 2021, with most of the updated vehicles scheduled to be launched as 2022 models. According to the Detroit News, work has also been paused on the Chevy Camaro and a future version of the Corvette that has yet to be unveiled and wasn't planned for production during the 2020 calendar year. Last week, the automaker told employees and suppliers it was delaying work on some future vehicles while pushing ahead with near-term models such as its redesigned full-size SUVs and the GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, Chevrolet Bolt EUV and Cruise Origin, as well as its new Ultium battery system. A GM spokesman who spoke with Reuters reiterated on Monday what the automaker had said last week — that the situation with its U.S. plants was "fluid" and that the automaker would "continue to evaluate" whether and when to reopen those plants on a week-by-week basis, with "employee safety" guiding that decision. GM said previously that it was closing most of its U.S. plants indefinitely. In its Monday email, GM asked suppliers to stop work on all pre-production tooling and pre-production parts manufacturing, but also not to dispose of any tooling or materials. GM told Reuters it had solicited volunteers from its workforce to finish the build-out of the current SUVs on a single shift in Arlington.