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Cadillac Escalade gets $10,000 discount to ward off Navigator

Cadillac is once again defending its full-size luxury Escalade SUV from assault by the hot-selling Lincoln Navigator, offering $10,000 discounts to some current customers to keep them from switching brands. The discount, reported by Bloomberg, applies to lessees of 2016 model-year Escalades, with a $7,500 discount offered to owners, through May 31. It's at least the second time GM has resorted to incentives to keep customers in its cash-cow luxury SUV since Ford launched the all-new 2018 Navigator late last year. In November, Cadillac offered a $5,000 discount on the purchase or lease of the Escalade to any buyer who traded in a 1999 or newer Lincoln model. Analysts have estimated that the Escalade produces nearly $1 billion in yearly profit for GM. Escalade sales were up 14 percent in March and 8 percent during the first quarter, with retail sales up by double-digit percentages in both periods, higher transaction prices and market share expected to climb by 2 percent year-to-date, according to GM. That's impressive for a vehicle that has received only minor updates since the current generation went on sale for 2015. While it still trails the Escalade in sales, the Navigator has been riding a 63 percent increase in deliveries this year, with new models lasting on dealer lots an average of only 10 days and average prices ballooning to $82,500, according to Bloomberg. Ford earlier this year announced it was pouring $25 million into its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to boost production of the Navigator and Ford Expedition. You can read Autoblog's side-by-side comparison of the 2018 Escalade and Navigator with competitors including the Lexus LX 570 and Infiniti QX80. Related Video: Image Credit: Cadillac Cadillac SUV Luxury sales incentives lincoln navigator sport utility vehicle discount

GM winding down Chevrolet brand in Europe

If you've taken even a cursory look at GM's European strategy and wondered how it can target the market there with both Chevrolet and Opel/Vauxhall, you're not alone. In fact General Motors itself has found it difficult to justify the two-pronged approach. That's why it's essentially pulling Chevy from the European marketplace.
Instead of trying to ply European buyers with what are mostly former Daewoo products rebadged as Chevys, GM will now let Opel (or Vauxhall in the UK) represent its mass-market aspirations. Chevrolet will keep its presence in Russia and other former Soviet markets, and will continue selling certain niche products in Eastern and Western Europe. The Corvette, for example, has long been sold in Europe through Cadillac dealerships, which for its part is currently "finalizing plans for expanding in the European market".
While the shift in strategy is expected to help GM get a stronger foothold in the European market in the long run, in the short term the restructuring will cost it dearly: between $700 million and $1 billion, according to its own estimates, split between the last quarter of this year and the first half of the next. Jump into the full press release below for more.

Why an independent rear suspension for GM's new, full-sized SUVs wasn't easy

A Motor Trend report last month laid out how Cadillac's 4.2-lier twin-turbo Blackwing V8 could be an orphan due to cost concerns in the GM empire. Last-minute chassis changes to Cadillac's new sedans and XT6 crossover led to engine bays that couldn't fit the Blackwing. On the SUV side, according to the report, the new independent rear suspension for big people haulers cost so much to implement that GM ruled out reworking the Escalade to accept the Blackwing. At least one commenter rightly asked how could a suspension swallow that much money. A new piece in Motor Trend has the answer. The excellent Alissa Priddle spoke to Tim Herrick, GM's executive chief engineer for full-size trucks, about why the clean-sheet IRS cost "multimillions of dollars."  First, GM would need to build a new body shop at the Arlington, Texas plant that assembles the automaker's big SUVs to stamp the numerous wholly new parts and panels accommodating an IRS. Then GM would need to design and pay for a new assembly process. On top of those up-front costs, there was the incremental cost of the four-link IRS components being more expensive than those in the trucks' former leaf-sprung solid axles. Herrick endured so many rejections for so long that he remembers the date and time when he got approval for the new unit. He said it came down to a meeting where he told a higher-up, "I'll make you a deal: If we get to the reveal, or if we launch this and you think this was a dumb idea, I'll hand you my badge and let you walk me out." Head to Motor Trend to read the full story. Based on Herrick being on stage to help present the new SUVs to the press, and on our First Ride in the new Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban at GM's Milford Proving Grounds, it appears this will have a happy ending for all involved. Furthermore, since Herrick worked on the T1 platform that supports the big SUVs as well as the light- and heavy-duty pickups, he understood the demands on the commercial side, too. That could be why when Roadshow asked Tim Asoklis, chief engineer of the Tahoe and Suburban, if the new IRS could endure life in the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, Asoklis answered, "Oh, absolutely." Related Video: