Car Throttle

Lexus has seen some hard times lately - and indeed all of Toyota. The "unstoppable" Toyota has in fact been stopped as the recession has hit everyone. Like other luxury brands, Lexus has seen volume levels decline. With Lexus though the decrease has been far more pronounced, enabling other brands to gain market share. Year to date, BMW has outsold Lexus as the top brand in the United States. It appears that trend will carry through to the end of the year, and Lexus will lose the title it has held since 2000. So, what is a brand to do? Why raise prices of course! That's a sure fire way to increase sales! Seriously though, it appears Lexus is trying to increase margins across the lineup. The

Even in the midst of all the financial turmoil and bankruptcy talk at General Motors, product launches are still continuing as usual. Two of those are the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon and the SRX crossover. The SRX promises to be a very important launch for Cadillac, as the luxury crossover segment is high in volume and highly competitive. At $34, 155, all indications lead to the SRX being a top tier competitor. Given that Cadillac needs something extra to get on buyer's shopping lists, will that price be enough to woo buyers? It's definitely on the lower end of the spectrum for the segment. Comparing with it's competition, the only one lower is Mercedes Benz's GLK two wheel drive crossover, starting  at $33,900. That new sticker price