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Carpool Deville aims to be the world's fastest hot tub

The world needs crazy inventors with wild dreams. While we might not long for the things that they create, their contraptions certainly make the day a little more enjoyable. Take the Carpool Deville as an example. Nobody (well, almost nobody) is asking for a hot tub fashioned from a 1969 Cadillac that is still drivable. But now that you know that such a beast exists, don't try to tell us you aren't at least intrigued.
The team behind the six-year-long project has a pretty ingenious setup worked out. The Caddy's original 472-cubic-inch (7.7-liter) V8 both provides propulsion and heats the water. The interior is entirely replaced with a watertight, fiberglass tub that includes working jets, and the controls are all done by hand.
As if just building a mobile hot tub isn't enough, the team behind the Carpool Deville plans to take it racing too. Specifically, they intend to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats later this year to make a top speed run while immersed in water at over 100 degrees. They even have a roll cage all set to install to meet the safety requirements there.

Trucks and tidbits from GM's earnings report

General Motors announced this morning that 2018 was a good year for it financially, thanks in large part to the company's performance in North America, which was predicated, according to the company, on "strong pricing, surging crossover sales, successful execution of the company's full-size truck launch, growth of GM Financial earnings, and disciplined cost control." GM reported full-year income of $8.1 billion and EBIT-adjusted income of $11.8 billion. Crossover sales in 2018 were 1,034,808, an increase of 7 percent compared to 2017 deliveries. Throw in the body-on-frame SUVs and the ute number is a total 1,295,700. But let's face it: It is the trucks that really matter. The Chevy Silverado and Colorado, the GMC Sierra and Canyon. Altogether, GM sold 973,463 pickups in the U.S. in 2018. Although Ford gets bragging rights for F-Series sales, GM gets to point out that it has a greater aggregate number. An important factor regarding the trucks and the reported income is that during the last quarter, more than 90 percent of the new 2019 trucks were crew cabs (which have a higher sticker), and at GMC more than 70 percent were Denali and AT4 models (which have even higher stickers). According to reporting by Bloomberg, GM's pickup trucks combine for $65 billion in annual revenue. Clearly when the 2018 sales of the Silverado — 585,581— dwarf the combined sales of both Buick (206,863) and Cadillac combined (154,702), pickups are what matter to the overall health of the company in a way that it is difficult to otherwise achieve. The "disciplined cost control" is something that is very much in the public eye right now, as the company is taking out thousands of its workers, and there is still the "unallocated" plant situation and other plants that will remain under capacity. The numbers in GM's earnings report probably made Unifor members' heads explode in consternation, coming fresh off their Super Bowl ad: " GM, you may have forgotten our generosity, but we'll never forget your greed." But there are a couple of curiosities in the full GM earnings release. One is that so far as its autonomous efforts go, it mentions only that (1) in the first quarter of 2018 Cruise introduced a production-ready autonomous vehicle, and (2) Cruise attracted $5 billion in external capital from SoftBank and Honda. Not a whole lot of love for autonomy. Good thing they have the trucks to fund the program, to say nothing of the external capital.

2020 Cadillac CT5 pricing is out, and it's cheaper than the Germans

We know pretty much everything there is to know about the 2020 Cadillac CT5 sport sedan, and today Cadillac tells us its price. Cadillac isn’t giving us everything, though: all we get for now is pricing for the four-cylinder models. The cheapest CT5 youÂ’ll be able to lay your hands on starts at $37,890. That chunk of change nets you a CT5 Luxury with rear-wheel drive. The base four-cylinder is a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine making 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. If we peruse current Cadillac CTS and ATS pricing, this puts the CT5 under even the base price for a 2019 ATS. The current CTS is way above the CT5, starting at just under $48,000. So in comparison to the cars itÂ’s half replacing, the CT5 price already looks much more attractive. Cadillac has two trim upgrades from the base Luxury trim. A CT5 Premium Luxury will run you $41,690, while the Sport is an even pricier $42,690. You get some additional features for your money, with the Sport being more performance-oriented for those wanting it. All CT5 Sports will be equipped with upgraded Brembo brakes, different 19-inch wheels, sport seats, sport steering wheel with magnesium paddle shifters and unique trim inside and out to differentiate itself from the Luxury.  All-wheel drive is also available for any of the trim levels. In Sport and Luxury trims, all-wheel drive is a $2,600 premium, but youÂ’ll have to fork out $3,090 more in the Premium Luxury trim to get power going to all four wheels. Cadillac says the Cold Climate Package is included automatically with all-wheel drive, and that includes heated front seats plus a heated steering wheel. The base price for the CT5 undercuts the base price of others in its segment like the new 3 Series ($41,245), A4 ($40,195) and C-Class ($41,400). It falls short of beating the Genesis G70 out, though, as that fantastic little car starts at $35,895. WeÂ’ll note that the CT5 is slightly larger than all of these vehicles, but close enough that folks should be cross-shopping them. As of today, we can safely say the CT5 is looking like a solid value versus its competition. WeÂ’ll see how our thoughts evolve after driving it for the first time, and after pricing for the V6 rolls in.