New Caddy CT6, XT5 miss mark on residuals

It's hard to erase the sins of the past.

That could be the takeaway from resale-value forecasts for Cadillac's newest entries: The XT5 midsize crossover and the CT6 large sedan.

Residual forecaster ALG assigned 36-month resale values that are respectable but lag key rival vehicles in each category. That will make it costlier for Cadillac to offer leases that are competitive with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Audi and other players in the luxury market, where leasing accounts for the lion's share of sales.

Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said the residual values on both vehicles are good enough to allow Cadillac to offer competitive leases. But he acknowledged disappointment.

"I believe that they should be better," he said in an interview this month.

That disconnect has more to do with Cadillac's brand image relative to its luxury rivals than it does the refinement and driving dynamics of the XT5 and CT6, says Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights at ALG.

While Cadillac's brand health has improved on several fronts since de Nysschen's mid-2014 arrival -- including a roughly $5,000 gain in average transaction prices last year, to around $52,000, thanks in part to lower incentives -- Lyman says it will take time for those wins to translate into significantly higher residuals.

"Residuals are heavily impacted by brand value," Lyman says. "Cadillac is going head-to-head with some brands with very strong equity, like Mercedes-Benz and BMW."

Plus, memories linger of the ATS sedan launch in 2012 and the CTS rollout a year later, which were plagued by overproduction and pricing that required big incentives to move cars, hurting residuals, Lyman says.

For the CT6 sedan, which began shipping this month, ALG's forecast residual after 36 months is 46 percent. That mostly trails the residuals of the midsize luxury sedans that ALG expects most shoppers will compare to the CT6: BMW 5 series (49 percent), Audi A6 (52 percent) and even Cadillac's own CTS (47 percent). Even though the CT6's size straddles the midsize and large-sedan segments, ALG classifies it as a midsize because its pricing -- starting at $54,490, including shipping -- is closer to those cars than it is to larger sedans such as BMW's 7 series.

The 54 percent residual assigned to the 2017 XT5 trails the 57 percent residual for the redesigned 2016 Lexus RX, which for years has led the midsize luxury crossover segment over the No. 2 Cadillac SRX. The XT5 replaces the SRX next month. The spread would be wider using the same model year, ALG says.

De Nysschen said he's confident that residuals will improve over time as Cadillac continues to show discipline on incentives and a sharper focus on remarketing of used cars.

Keith Harvey, general manager at Gold Coast Cadillac in Oakhurst, N.J., has his fingers crossed for a competitive lease on the XT5 especially. He says leases accounted for around 85 percent of his SRX sales, which have done well thanks partly to a strong lease program.

Said Harvey: "Dealers are optimistic that our lease points at launch will be competitive."

http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...k-on-residuals

 

I'll also point out that the interior of the XT5, just t like the CT6, was alright but was rough around the edges. The dashboard design is excessively minimalistic, as is the center console. What stuck out to me most negatively was the cheapness of the sliding cover for the cupholders. it was flimsy/wobbly and unrefined in all 3 XT5s I sat inside. Definitely unacceptable when you're trying to compete with the likes of the RX, MDX, X3, Q5, and GLC.

 

What is a door plunger?

 

Below is a picture of the Audi A8, I see a lot of black plastic buttons as well.







I really don't see much of an issue.

 

You don't see any issue because you aren't physically sitting in the car. The Audi A8 has no plain black buttons, none. All its buttons have a nice quality satin rubbery feel or are actually metal, buttons are also color keyed to the interior color. Just looking at pictures doesn't give you the same tactile experience.

You may not see an issue, but clearly people who have actually sat in the car and compared it both people here and auto reviewers have an issue. He's sat in the car, you haven't.

The A8 is significantly more money, but if you compared it to say an A6 I think you'd likely find the same issue.

I have not sat in a CT6 yet, but I have observed the same issues others are mentioning about the interior in all other current Cadillac products.

 

One cannot really appreciate an Audi interior (especially on the more upscale ones) just from looking at images. Yes, there are some black plastic buttons, especially on the steering wheel spokes where you usually expect to find them. But the trim-materials, panels, stitching, fit/finish, smoothness, and general level of opulence inside almost any Audi interior north of the A3 or TT class is best experienced not by staring at them in pictures, but actually sitting inside and running your hands and fingers over them. I reviewed a new 2017 A4 just very recently, and it continues that tradition.

 

I totally understand what you are saying, however the post I responded to said the buttons were "Black plastic". There was no mention of texture or anything else other than the plastics being "black". I yet to read any professional review that has bashed or said the black plastic buttons are in issue.

 

Maybe I'm not using the correct, term but I'm referring to these:

 

I was basically getting at the fact that the quality of the plastics were cheap, and in a car of this caliber there shouldn't be much plastic anyway. Even the C-class Mercedes now has aluminum buttons and switches, and the new 7-series and future BMWs will follow suit. The A8, as others have mentioned, has a much higher quality material and is due for a redesign soon anyway.

"Professional" reviewers care more about 0-60 times than the priorities of actual customers. I don't place any value in what magazines like Motor Trend or Car & Driver say anymore because they have a history of praising bad cars. For example, the recent Cadillac ATS and CTS are both absolute flops in the market yet received glowing reviews from all the American journalists. Only after the poor sales months started piling on did these reviewers start pointing out the questionable fit-and-finish, infotainment system, and rear seat accommodations in these cars. To be fair, Scott Evans of Motor Trend has commented on the shortcomings of the CT6's interior.

 

That is "plunger" ****.. Gorgeous, hence why an S Class commands the following and the price it goes for.

 

Ok, Im glad you clarified what you meant.

 

Yes.....definitely. This has been a major problem in auto-reviewing now for decades. The faster it accelerates, the quicker it stops, the higher the skid-pad number, the quicker it responds to the steering, the less it body-rolls, the tighter the seat-bolsters hold you in, the less chrome it has LOL........that is what much of the auto press drools over.

 

And they wonder why auto mags aren't selling...

Because no one in the real world gives a hoot about 0-60 or slalom times whereas people do care about ergonomics and fit & finish. I've rarely come across a magazine review that talks about every day usage; mmarshall's reviews are great precisely because he writes them from a potential buyer's point of view.

Anyway, re. black plastics, the A6 and A8 are full of them but the quality and feel of the controls is far above everyone else. Cadillac interiors, on the other hand, look good but have serious issues with material and build quality.

 

Thanks. To their credit, though, some auto magazines DO publish long-term, or what are called "Four-Seasons-Tests", where they keep a car a long time, for a year (or at least long enough to put 20,000-30,000 miles on them in their busy schedule), and write up, in detail, any long-trips, day-to-day driving, problems, repairs, warranty work, accidents, dealer-service, etc....they encounter. That, at least, gives them some indication of what some of the average customers are going through.

 

Sounds like you need a subscription to Consumer Reports.