Grade The Analysts: Edmund's Caldwell Does It Again

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

November was a rough month on our analysts. The surprisingly strong showing of Chrysler threw everybody’s aim off. Real-time powered Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds takes the top spot again – but with a degree of precision that would have landed her back in the field in the preceding months. She won because the others did worse.

RankAnalyst GMFord Chrysler SAARSAAR DiffOEM DiffOverall1Jessica Caldwell (Edmunds.com)9.9%12.0%43.0%13.60.22%52.90%53.12%2Patrick Archambault (Goldman Sachs)5.1%11.0%43.0%13.41.69%52.90%54.59%3Peter Nesvold (Jefferies)7.9%9.6%43.0%13.41.69%53.30%54.99%4Seth Weber (RBC)7.6%13.0%40.0%13.32.42%52.60%55.02%5Jesse Toprak (TrueCar.com)6.3%10.0%38.0%13.32.42%57.70%60.12%6Chris Ceraso (Credit Suisse)6.3%9.2%38.0%13.41.69%58.50%60.19%7Rod Lache (DeutscheBank)6.5%6.1%31.0%13.41.69%68.40%70.09%8Brian Johnson (Barclays)9.2%10.0%17.0%13.50.95%80.20%81.15%9Alan Baum (Baum & Associates)NANANA13.60.22%300.00%300.22%10Itay Michaeli (Citigroup)NANANA13.50.95%300.00%300.95%11Adam Jonas (Morgan Stanley)NANANA13.50.95%300.00%300.95%12Himanshu Patel (JPMorgan)NANANA13.41.69%300.00%301.69%13Jeff Schuster (LMC Automotive)NANANA13.41.69%300.00%301.69%14George Magliano (IHS Automotive)NANANA13.32.42%300.00%302.42%Average7.4%10.0%37.0%13.4Actual7.0%13.0%92.0%13.6

The November SAAR was guessed with high precision. The average of our analysts said 13.4 million, and the final result was 13.6. As for the Detroit automakers, those who had the guts to guess them (the only way to win this game) were in the ballpark on GM, were too pessimistic on Ford, and were off by a few universes on Chrysler: The best projection for Chrysler was less than half of the real result.

Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds wins with a dead-on prediction of the SAAR and the best of the bad guesses for the Detroit 3. She shares the podium with two financial analysts, Patrick Archambault of Goldman Sachs, and Peter Nesvold of Jefferies. Real-time data are no insurance against embarrassment: Jesse Toprak of TrueCar lands on place 5.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • JLGOLDEN Enormous competition is working against any brand in the fight for "luxury" validation. It gets murky for Cadillac's image when Chevy, Buick, and GMC models keep moving up the luxury features (and price) scale. I think Cadillac needs more consistency with square, crisp designs...even at the expense of aerodynamics and optimized efficiency. Reintroduce names such as DeVille, Seville, El Dorado if you want to create a stir.
  • ClipTheApex I don't understand all of the negativity from folks on this forum regarding Europeans. Having visited the EU multiple times across different countries, I find they are very much like us in North America-- not as different as politicians like to present them. They all aren't liberal "weenies." They are very much like you and me. Unless you've travelled there and engaged with them, it's easy to digest and repeat what we hear. I wish more Americans would travel abroad. When they return, they will have a different view of America. We are not as perfect or special as we like to believe. And no, many Europeans don't look up to America. Quite the opposite, actually.
  • Dwford Let's face it, Cadillac is planning minimal investment in the current ICE products. Their plan is to muddle through until the transition to full EV is complete. The best you are going to get is one more generation of ICE vehicles built on the existing platforms. What should Cadillac do going forward? No more vehicles under $50k. No more compact vehicles. Rely on Buick for that. Many people here mention Genesis. Genesis doesn't sell a small sedan, and they don't sell a small crossover. They sell midsize and above. So should Cadillac.
  • EBFlex Sorry BP. They aren’t any gaps
  • Bd2 To sum up my comments and follow-up comments here backed by some data, perhaps Cadillac should look to the Genesis formula in order to secure a more competitive position in the market. Indeed, by using bespoke Rwd chassis, powertrains and interiors Genesis is selling neck and neck with Lexus while ATPs are 15 to 35% higher depending on the segment you are looking at. While Lexus can't sell Rwd sedans, Genesis is outpacing them 2.2 to 1.Genesis is an industry world changing success story, frankly Cadillac would be insane to not replicate it for themselves.
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