Cadillac Escalade Lexani Edition, One Of A Kind, Over $100k Spent On Interior on 2040-cars

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GM, UAW poaching Nissan workers in Tennessee

General Motors and the United Auto Workers are going on a recruitment drive at the Spring Hill factory in Tennessee, and they're hoping to poach some skilled workers from Nissan's nearby plant in Smyrna, TN. The General and the union even bought a billboard advertising for industrial electricians near the Japanese automaker's facility, according to the Daily News Journal. The reason for the billboard was simple. "GM was short of electricians," said Tim Stannard, the president of the UAW local at Spring Hill, to the Daily News Journal. The factory currently builds the Chevrolet Equinox but has a contract to assemble the next generation of Ecotec engines and the Cadillac XT5, which replaces the SRX. Thanks to the $185-million deal, employment there is expected to double by May 2016, according to Stannard, with roughly 1,800 additional union jobs. Beyond just several billboards, GM has job postings online for the Spring Hill plant looking for workers with specific skills. There has already been some interest in the positions among Nissan employees, Stannard indicated. According to a recent study by the Center for Automotive Research, the average GM worker currently makes $58 an hour, including benefits. Comparatively, Nissan pays an average of $42 an hour with benefits. The General's number could change in the coming weeks because its contract with the UAW is about to expire, and higher wages are among the major negotiating points.

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.

Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.