Thus far, Cadillac has brought a knife to an all-out luxury war in Europe. Without proper right-hand drive vehicles and diesel engine offerings, the brand simply cannot compete with the likes of its German rivals.
Thankfully, right-hand drive variants and diesel engines seem to be on the way, but Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen elaborated on his global vision for the brand during the J.P. Morgan Auto Conference. According to The Detroit News, Cadillac will ease off its 2020 European market introduction date, and push it further back.
de Nysschen cites Cadillac’s lack of European credentials for the pushback.
“We’ll go to that market when we have the right powertrains and the right cars,” he said Tuesday.
“We can only achieve so much at the same time; all of these things cost money,” he added. “Let’s get strong in these other markets which naturally provide immediate volume opportunities before we tackle the Germans in their backyard, and we do so then with a position of strength.”
Those other markets he is referring to include China and Russia, which present greater opportunities for the brand at this time. General Motors previously announced it would pull most Chevrolet and Opel vehicles out of Russia, leaving Cadillac to focus on up-market offerings.
As for China, de Nysschen envisions the market as a secondary sales hub behind the United States, and thinks there is plenty of room to grow in the Middle East, too.
Comments
I think Mr. de Nysschen should focus on building a strong Market Share in the US before venturing into China and Russia or anywhere else. But in order to accomplish that goal he’ll need to develop a better understanding of basic marketing principle.
GM American brands do better in China than at home. Buick is a great example as is PSA’ s DS brand.
The idea of a global brand is outdated. Certain markets will always be hostile to imports based either on economic patriotism (Germany) or history (China and Korean hostility to Japanese brands).
Historically, GM has always been a collection of local brands (Holden, Opel, Vauxhall, Boajan). GM isn’t Toyota and must focus capital on receptive markets like China, India and Brazil while ignoring over saturated regions such as Germany. Given current politics, Russia is off limits , too.
And I thought that his European arrogance would have been a perfect fit…
He’s South African, round eye.
The bottom line here is they will go when his products start to roll.
While we may be fine with a Chevy engine in the CTS Europe is much more unforgiving.
While the cars we have now are good he wants better and more compelling. They need to to be to the point any complaints are groundless.
Make cars people want to buy, be it Cadillac, Chevy, Buick, or something else, don’t try to force feed the brands and models you think they should have…..again.
While the decision on the European market is disappointing it is not surprising.
There isn’t enough money in the kitty to Europe right so why do it half-assed and do more harm than good to the brand there.
Cadillac has had a wonderful opportunity to begin to reveal his cars in Europe with Chevrolet Europe dealers.
With Chevrolet Europe; GM had been getting the company to be considered when people want to buy a car.
Now; all must be start again.
Chevrolet (aside from the some cars from Performance division) was pulled from Europe though.
Things you must consider here is that the present cars while very good need more work. They also need RHD that is now coming in future models.
No sense sending cars there till the new product arrives. If you are going to do this you have to do it right with the right product. God know GM has tried to force feed products that were not right and you know where that ended up.
What was the Saab build Cadillac the BTS? Who ever came up with that one should have been shot.
Plenty of reevaluating going on at Cadillac these days , it would appear . The positive messages from this prestige brand keep filling my soul with hope and excitement …. 500,000 sales by 2020 , praise the Lord , I’ve seen the light and it is good !!