Cadillac: Eldorado Fleetwood on 2040-cars

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Want to beat LA traffic? Chargers QB Philip Rivers has found a way

Slogging through traffic in Southern California is about as pleasurable as being slowly eaten by bears or being the awkward third wheel on a bad first date. It feels like it's never going to end. After the team relocated to Los Angeles from San Diego, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers decided that three hours wasted each day in a car was too much. As The San Diego Union-Tribune reports, Rivers' rolling office makes his days more productive than ever. After deciding that he wasn't going to relocate his family to Orange County, Rivers was stuck with the prospect of either spending considerably less time with his children or skipping out on much-needed film work at the team's training facility (not really an option given his profession). Instead, he began investigating a number of options to make his lengthened commute slightly more viable and productive. First, he considered carpooling with a teammate. That was still too much of a pain. He looked at flying a helicopter, but unless it could land close to both his home and the practice field, it too was useless. A quick online search eventually led to the rolling footage review room you see here. Becker Automotive Design in Oxnard, Calif., builds these rolling offices for a wide range of customers. It sells modified Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, Ford Transits, and, in Rivers' case, a Cadillac Escalade with a raised roof. His needs were simple: a television and an HDMI input so he can hook up his computer. No fancy armor or recumbent exercise bicycle. His goal was to review game footage on his commute rather than slowly waste away behind the wheel of a car. Photos show a sea of leather and wood and a mini fridge, so it's not totally without niceties. Column | Philip Rivers' new ride allows him to stay home https://t.co/btwCEgIsFq pic.twitter.com/DHud3ho5UF — The Union-Tribune (@sdut) September 5, 2017 The Union-Tribune lists the price of the Escalade at about $200,000. That's not including the driver's salary. In 2015, Rivers signed a four-year deal with the Chargers worth $84 million, so he's not hurting for cash. If it increases productivity and saves the headache of being behind the wheel in traffic, we can imagine more people with means (and not just quarterbacks) will be opting for such daily transport. Related Video:

Safety group pans GM’s new Marketplace in-dash shopping

When it comes to our cars, is the Internet of Things a godsend? Or a hidden menace that will create more problems than it will solve? On the same day General Motors announced it will equip newer-model cars with its in-dash Marketplace e-commerce app, a prominent safety group was shooting it down. National Safety Council President Deborah Hersman tells Bloomberg the technology will only contribute to distracted driving and hurt efforts to stem the tide of rising auto fatalities, which grew 5.6 percent to more than 37,000 in the U.S. in 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving was responsible for 3,477 fatalities and 391,000 injuries in 2015, the most recent year for which it has data. "There's nothing about this that's safe," Hersman told Bloomberg. "If this is why they want WiFi in the car, we're going to see fatality numbers go up even higher than they are now." Marketplace, developed with IBM, will allow drivers — or more often, one hopes, their passengers — to order coffee or food, find gas stations and reserve hotel rooms from their dashboard screens. The technology is set to be uploaded automatically to nearly 1.9 million GM vehicles model-year 2017 and later that are equipped with WiFi hotspots and compatible systems. By the end of 2018, about 4 million Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles will be equipped with Marketplace. The app will debut with a limited number of participating retailers, including TGI Fridays, Shell, Exxon Mobil and Starbucks, with more likely to join later. Online retail giant Amazon is also partnering with automakers such as Ford to bring e-commerce capabilities inside the car through its Alexa personal assistant. While convenience is nice, one other thing is becoming clear as the IoT wedges its way into our cars: It's taking aim at some decidedly first-world problems.Related Video: Image Credit: GM Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GM GMC Technology Infotainment in-car entertainment marketplace e-commerce

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.