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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

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.

Cadillac can't keep up with Escalade demand, can't move its sedans

No matter how much Cadillac revitalizes its lineup and its image, it seems that all consumers want is the Escalade. In fact, Automotive News reports that General Motors can't keep up with demand for the fullsize luxury SUV, despite sticker prices that start at over $70,000 and approach six figures at the top end of the spectrum. Contrast that with sedans like the ATS and CTS, which are far cheaper but which Cadillac hasn't been able to move fast enough to keep up with production, prompting both the manufacturer and dealers to offer substantial incentives to keep them from piling up. Cadillac had been resisting a price cut of the ATS or CTS, lest it hurt resale values – itself a factor that could explain consumers' reluctance to buy them in the first place – but been offering subsidized leases, discounted financing, rebates and cheaper options. Combined with incentives from individual dealers, according to AN, buyers can be looking at five-figure discounts on buying a new Cadillac sedan. And now, finally, it seems the CTS will indeed get a little bit off its bottom line. Yet GM has been producing the ATS and CTS at rates that their sales can't keep up with. The automaker was forced to idle the plant in Lansing, MI, where it assembles the ATS and CTS for six weeks starting this past December. And since it reopened late in January, it's been reduced to a single shift as dealers try to move the metal they've already got. Meanwhile the plant in Arlington, TX, that produces the Escalade and its Chevy and GMC siblings has been running on overtime, with three shifts throughout the week and even into the weekend to keep up with demand. Profitable as it's been for Cadillac and GM, though, the Escalade does not represent the future of where it wants to take the brand - separating the Escalade as almost a brand unto itself that's been left out of the company's new naming scheme. If only it could make its sedans as successful as its fullsize SUVs, it'll be all set.