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Cadillac sales chief fired over policy violation

Amidst a good year for Cadillac, which is experiencing higher sales gains than any other US brand this year, the US sales chief has been fired over a policy violation, Automotive News reports.
The sales chief, Chase Hawkins, "has left effective immediately," GM spokesman David Caldwell told Automotive News. Caldwell went on to say that Hawkins' replacement would be chosen soon.
Hawkins became the US sales chief in June 2012, and before that was the regional sales director for Cadillac in the Northeast US, overseeing 168 dealerships.

Cadillac confirms 'Blackwing' name, manual gearboxes for pumped-up CT4-V, CT5-V

Cadillac officially confirmed Tuesday that the high-output variants of its new CT4-V and CT5-V sedans will be dubbed "Blackwing," sharing a nameplate with GM's stillborn twin-turbocharged V8. As an added bonus, company representatives said for certain that both of Cadillac's new super-sedans will be offered with a manual transmission, confirming long-standing rumors to that effect.  "The Blackwing name has come to represent the very best of Cadillac performance engineering, craftsmanship and technology," said Cadillac chief engineer Brandon Vivian. "The new CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing build on the brand’s respected legacy of ultimate-performance driving experiences and elevate them even further." Cadillac says the two Blackwing sedans, which are successors to the critically acclaimed ATS-V and CTS-V, will represent "the apex of Cadillac performance and driver engagement." The company also remained mum on just what to expect in terms of capability, teasing only the fact that both the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing posted quicker lap times in testing at Virginia International Raceway earlier this year than their predecessors did.   Rumors have pointed to the CT5-V Blackwing making use of the company's supercharged 6.2-liter V8, which also powered its predecessor. The 6.2 shares its architecture with the company's flagship, naturally aspirated V8, making it an economical choice for powering performance cars. The smaller CT4-V is likely to be motivated by a turbocharged 6-cylinder. They will also be available in limited numbers, though Cadillac's announcement did not elaborate on just how many (or few, as the case may be) will eventually be built, or how many model years to expect. The CT6-V, which carries the 4.2-liter V8 that shares the "Blackwing" name, saw only limited production before being axed.  The V8 itself may find a new home down the road, but for the time being, it's toast.  Cadillac assured us that more information on the new CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing will be come along soon enough. For now, at least we know what they're going to be called.  Related Video:    

Mystery shoppers love Infiniti, hate Tesla

Infiniti, followed by Lexus tied with Mercedes-Benz took the top two spots for best sales experience according to mystery shoppers from the latest Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, while EV manufacturer Tesla recorded the lowest overall score. Not surprisingly, premium brands dominated the top ranks. Including the three already mentioned, luxury brands occupied seven of the top ten spots and included Audi, BMW, Porsche, and the only American brand to crack the upper echelon, Cadillac. Toyota, Volkswagen, and Nissan rounded out the first ten positions. The news for domestic automakers isn't good. Aside from Caddy, the only other star-spangled automaker to score above the industry average is Chrysler. The rest of FCA, most of GM, and all of Ford fell below the line. But Pied Piper's mystery shoppers handed Tesla the biggest walloping – the company is ten full points below the next lowest brand, Volvo, and its score of 86 is 17 below the average of 103. It's baffling, considering the company's touted direct-sales model. "Tesla leaves me scratching my head," Fred O'Hagan, Pied Piper's president and CEO, told Wards Auto. "They own all of their stores, so you would think each one would be doing the same thing. But they're not. Tesla is consistent in its inconsistencies." O'Hagan added that there's a "huge variation" in Tesla's store-to-store effectiveness, and that in some cases, shoppers found showroom workers that acted more like "museum curators," Wards Auto reports. It might be popular to call Tesla the Apple of the car world, but based on Pied Piper's work, the brand has a long way to go to emulate the uniform shopping experience of an Apple Store. The news might be bad for Tesla, but even for the brands that scored below average, there's cause for celebration. Only Tesla and Mini lost points in this year's rankings, and only Mercedes and Lincoln held steady. Every other brand, including Infiniti, which topped the index for the first time, gained at least one point. The biggest improvements belong to Porsche, Land Rover, and Mitsubishi, which all jumped five points. Pied Piper's annual Prospect Satisfaction Index uses mystery shoppers – over 6,100 this year – from across the country to assess dealers and generate rankings from over 50 individual factors. News Source: Pied Piper via WardsAuto Green Audi BMW Cadillac Chrysler Infiniti Lexus Mercedes-Benz Nissan Tesla Toyota Car Buying Car Dealers study