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Weekly Recap: Car-pedestrian crashes remained elevated in 2014

The death of American Horror Story: Freak Show star Ben Woolf served as a reminder this week that car crashes involving pedestrians remain a problem, and a new study issued on Thursday reinforced that the situation isn't really getting better. The Governors Highway Safety Association found a slight decline, 2.8 percent, in the number of pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2014. Fatalities dropped from 2,141 to 2,125 compared with the same period in 2013, though the association says it's a statistical wash when factoring in undercounting. Deaths are still 15-percent higher than in 2009. "The number of deaths remains relatively high and is cause for concern," wrote Allan Williams, who compiled the report and is the former chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This is the first look at data from last year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will issue its full-year results later. The GHSA found some progress on the roadways, as 24 states and the District of Columbia reported drops in pedestrian deaths. In some states, the problem isn't even a problem at all: Nebraska and Wyoming reported one fatality apiece, though large population centers in urban areas are where most accidents occur. "This is a clearly a good news, bad news scenario," Jonathan Adkins, GHSA executive director, said in a statement. "While we're encouraged that pedestrian fatalities haven't increased over the past two years, progress has been slow." Other News & Notes Cadillac previews CT6 during Oscars Cadillac previewed its upcoming flagship sedan, the CT6, in commercials that aired Sunday during the Oscars. As expected, the creased sedan carries on Cadillac's recent design language, and the car in the commercial looks like a larger version of the CTS and ATS sedans. The CT6 will be revealed this spring at the New York Auto Show and launch late this year. It will be assembled at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck factory on a rear-wheel-drive chassis, and the CT6 is the first car to use Cadillac's revised alpha-numeric naming scheme. The commercials also kicked off Cadillac's "Dare Greatly" campaign, which is the first with its new advertising agency, Publicis Worldwide. Honda unexpectedly changes CEOs Honda unexpectedly announced this week that it will change CEOs. Current chief Takanobu Ito will step down in June and be replaced by company veteran Takahiro Hachigo.

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.

Despite De Nysschen saying it won't, Cadillac cuts struggling CTS prices

Ah, well that didn't last long. Not even two years after elevating the price of the then-new third-generation Cadillac CTS by $7,000, the company is now stepping back, telling dealers it will be slashing the price of the 2015 model by anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000. It seems that there are two reasons behind Cadillac's move. First, and most obviously, are its slumping sales, down seven percent last year. That figure is made worse, Automotive News reports, by the seven-percent gain made by the greater luxury market, not to mention gains from fellow American luxury brand Lincoln. Cadillac, meanwhile, also likely faced pressure from its dealer body, which AN reports hasn't been so keen on the price increases. The price reduction is something of a surprise following statements made by Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen shortly after he took office. In September of last year, the 54-year-old exec, who took charge of Cadillac in July of 2014, defended the company's decision to raise prices, telling Automotive News a price cut was "not going to happen." It seems current conditions contradict de Nysschen's statements, though. "We're taking what we've seen are the more desirable optional features for customers and making them more readily available," Cadillac's Dave Caldwell said of the price cut. "Once a car has been on the market for a while, it's not unusual to look at the customer behavior and try to optimize for it." In what's sure to be a pleasant surprise for anyone in the market for a CTS, the most expensive models are getting the biggest price cut, with the price on the Premium and Performance Collection sedans dropping $3,000, AN reports. The 2.0T will get a $2,000 drop, while certain optional extras will now be standard on the Luxury trim, including a panoramic sunroof, navigation and Bose stereo.