Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen addressed a crowd at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show with some veritably somber news: the US luxury marque won’t officially relaunch in Europe again until at least 2020.
The UK’s Autocar was present to receive Mr. de Nysschen’s remarks. Reportedly, the decision to steer clear of Europe for the time being is motivated by both a desire to focus intently on North American and Asian markets, and to ensure that enough time is dedicated to honing the automaker’s offerings so that they can compete in the home territory of Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and other European luxury marques.
“We must build a global premium brand – and that is only possible one step at a time,” said the Cadillac President. “But the renaissance has already begun. Our company will be built around product, and my belief is that the perception of our products is about 10 years behind the reality. We need to work out how to address that, while at the same time filling product gaps, working on diesel and more.”
Indeed, it can hardly be denied that the luxury brand’s current offerings are a very promising signal of things to come. Long gone are the days when “Cadillac” simply meant badge-engineered, pedestrian GM product. But to take on the likes of Mercedes, BMW, and Mr. de Nysschen’s alma mater, Audi? There’s still ground to be covered.
“To try and challenge the Germans in their own backyard without the right cars and powertrains is an exercise in futility.”
Comments
No surprise as this about the time we are to expect the all in Cadillac products GM approved this summer to start reaching the market.
Cadillac’s Are just GMC rebadge’s now though. So are Chevrolet’s. Both of those companies need to stand up to GMC and say No More. GM is a drag on both of those companies.
im not so sure about that. I don’t really see resemblance with other GM product in the Cadillac line…. save for the escalade.
For ford I feel that the problem is more imminent… each one of the Lincoln products look exactly like the Ford counterpart… makes me steer clear of them.
All this being said, I agree that they need to stay far away from making rebadged products.. I also think they need to send buick to the dump.
What’s the ATS, CTS, and CT6 rebadged of? Pray tell me that.
How are Cadillac’s rebadged? Do you see any resemblances between the Cruze and the ATS? The Malibu and the CTS? Or maybe the Impala and the new CT6? Now all of GM’s trucks and SUVs look similar.. but they each have their own qualities and differences. If you want an example of a brand that does a terrible copy and paste style badging, that would be Lincoln.
I am tired of these badge engineering comments. You do realize just about every car these days is badge engineered from something else, right? Audi’s are “badge engineered” Volkswagens. Heck, the Porsche Cayenne is a “badge engineered” Touareg. Platforms are developed by car companies and shared across brands. Some filter down, like GM is starting to do with Cadillac, and some filter up, like Ford is doing with Lincoln.
To me rebadging is honestly what the word says – take off the Holden logos and model names and then slap the Chevy logo and model names. (love the SS, but it’s 100% rebadged) Now I can definitely see more similarities in rebadging efforts between Chevy and Buick as there sedans look similar, but Cadillac’s products look WAY different. (as my point with the Cruze/ATS) While your point about platforms is correct, the model size designation (compact/mid-size/etc) is what makes the difference for the customer. For example, the Cruze uses the Delta platform and the ATS uses the Alpha platform, but they are both compact sedans.
That means current BMW drivers have to wait five more years before they can trade up to an SRX.
Well, I’m one sad European. Does that mean they’ll pull out altogether like Chevrolet did or just that they won’t invest anymore but leave the current operation going?
Their current presence is next to none.
Cadillac has left Europe a long long time ago.
No dealerships, no competitive products, no resale value, dated engines with high emissions and bad mpg.
And 2020 is not going to change this.
By that time the German competition will be 10 years ahead, leaving Cadillac in the dust once again.
Every 5 years or so, GM says they will come to Europe and finally sell more than 10 cars a year.
They try it for 6 months, sell nothing, and leave running with their tail between their legs.
Cadillac in Europe ==> NEVER gonna happen.
I can see many here really have not understood what GM Is working on here and the true goals of Cadillac.
First off the cars that they need are not here yet so you can not really judge what they will have by 2020. These models will be the first autonomous Cadillac built cars in decades and will have things not shared with any other GM car.
Second Cadillac is not looking to take the lead in the Euro market. They know that is something that would take much more time and even then because of brand loyalty may still not happen.
In this segment all they are looking for is to establish the brand and grow it. How far it grows we will have to see. Cadillac only has to make a profit and show slow growth here to be on target. There is no need anylonger for high volumes of cars from Cadillac.
Now if they can establish a presents in Europe they will have a true global presents in most all markets and this not only will help there image there but here back at home. If people see that they are being sold overseas the perceptions change.
Now with this new and better product there are expectations here that they will in time be able to dominate in the NA market. This can be done as long as GM puts the correct investment into them and continues to advance the models and image over time.
The changes made last summer were staggering as to the full commitment from GM. I have never seen this in my lifetime and it has been decades since they have shown this willingness to do so. The cars we have now will easily pail compared to what is coming.
Also note the Germans are not as good as they used to be either. Their eagerness to engineer at times is their undoing with cars that are much too heavy and in many cases too complicated anymore. Just look at the run on the air cooled 911 as people are tired of the over complex and very expensive to repair water cooled models. We also have had many over weight BMW of late. Benz has had off and on quality issues on many of their models. Audi also has had some quality issue but are working on them.
The game is open and if GM has the ability to follow through with their plans they should have a stake in this game. As long as the propel who are not the problem remain in control at GM the Cadillac line should see some real improvement. That is the key.
Cadillac needs to get the home market changed over to the new products before spreading out . All of the diesel engines are meant for europe thats why they are in development now so Cadillac will have the powertrain the Europeans want when the new cars are ready . I dont see Cadillac ” rebadging ” anything . They had a chance to do it after seeing how the Buick Encore took off . In the old GM it would have happened , not now . The vision is to not be a level 2 luxury car maker but a level 1 . Thats where the other luxury cars are at . Cadillac has been in the car market for over 100 years , some were the standard of the luxury car business , and then they lost there focus building generic luxury cars . The company is going global now and have dedicated engineers that are all in for the divions growth and not having to work with GM’s other divisions as well . No one knows for sure how long the turn around will ttake , but its starting to happen . Looking at 2020 is the starting point , its from there that we will see the change . People need to realise that GM is committed to making Cadillac mean something again . Its like when you hear someone say things like ” that is the Cadillac of …………… whatever , you knew what they meant . It was/is the best !