Today Cadillac officially announced a “strategic alignment” that will establish the 112-year-old as a “separate business unit,” which will include new global headquarters in New York City. GM feels this move will enable the luxury brand “to pursue growing opportunities in the luxury automotive market with more focus and clarity.”
“With the relentless upward repositioning of successive new-generation Cadillac products, the next logical step is to provide Cadillac more freedom to cultivate the brand in pursuit of further global growth,” says GM President Dan Ammann. “Cadillac’s mission is to reinstate the brand to a pre-eminent position among global luxury brands, a bold challenge requiring a distinct and focused new organization. More than a division or brand, Cadillac is becoming a center of excellence for our company.”
Johan de Nysschen, who joined the company in August as president of Cadillac, is spearheading the operation. He heads Cadillac’s leadership council, which includes vice president of sales and service Jim Bunnell; chief marketing officer Uwe Ellinghaus; chief financial officer David Colasinski; executive chief engineer David Leone; and executive director of design Andrew Smith. Cadillac may still promote others to the leadership council.
This move was hinted in GM Authority‘s article yesterday on how de Nysschen desires the Cadillac brand to have more autonomy from GM. However, technical product development teams in Michigan will continue, as well as the manufacturing and assembly operations. Cadillac management is currently reviewing which staffs will head to New York and which will remain in metro Detroit or elsewhere. Cadillac currently has operations in more than 40 countries, with a 28-percent growth in 2013 and an increase of about 10 percent so far for 2014. In China alone, Cadillac sales have grown 75 percent this year to date.
“We are very proud of our Detroit roots and heritage, and the majority of the Cadillac workforce will remain in Michigan,” de Nysschen said. “But there is no city in the world where the inhabitants are more immersed in a premium lifestyle than in New York. Establishing our new global headquarters in Soho places Cadillac at the epicenter of sophisticated living. It allows our team to share experiences with premium-brand consumers and develop attitudes in common with our audience.” Translated, this means that all engineering efforts will remain where they are in Michigan, but more flexible departments such as marketing will find themselves in Manhattan. However, specifics still remain vague.
Comments
Bout Time!!!!! 😉
Not sure how I feel about this, I know GM and Cadillac have always been in the business of making money. But Cadillac has always been part of detroit and michigan. It’s our luxury brand Cadillac should be proud to be part of Detroit. How ever if GM and cadillac see this as a move that can re-invent there image and continue on growth then so be it. I know the same engineers that work on chevy, buick, and gmc are the same ones who work on Cadillac. It’s not like there becoming their own company, and 99% of Cadillac are still engineered in Michigan with all of there cars being built here (escalade and srx excluded). Just wish Cadillac would stay true to their homeage and stay in the ren cen.
Maybe GM should spin off the division as a majority owned company with an IPO.
Selling 49% could raise much cash.
I get the move out of Detroit. As a born-and-bred Detroiter who has since moved away, there’s a sea change in culture once you get away from Detroit. Having everyone in Detroit hampers the brand.
What I don’t totally get is moving to NYC, where not many people drive or own cars (I had a friend in law school who was in her late-20s and didn’t have driver’s license). I would think NJ would’ve been better, or even better yet, the West Coast, probably LA.
The point of the move is to put space in between Cadillac and GM. Yes they could have gone to LA or Miami or any where but NYC is a central hub for business and finance in the world. Most media outlets are based there as well as most marketing programs. NYC has all the tools to run a company like Cadillac.
The tie to Michigan will remain as most of their products will still be built there in the car lines.
Now I would not start spinning off Cadillac form GM as while it is going more autonomous it is still and will remain a GM brand just one with more independence.
Cadillac is trying to convince people it is more than a fancy Chevy. Lets face it the Cimarron was a sin that has been hard to live down. Even the last RWD Fleetwood was based on a Caprice. While not a bad car it was not the kind to build a new image on.
From this point forward Cadillac is going to build their new image one new model at a time. These are the bricks that will rise higher as will their image with each new model . the more independent they can appear the more exclusive they will appear.
Now while they will never be able to totally separate from GM they can do a better convincing case of showing they are more of their own brand. The head of Cadillac needs to only answer to the very top of GM and even then he should be given the rope to pull Cadillac ahead and if he fails he should let them use it to hang him with it. This is not a job for a whip as the head of Cadillac needs to be a benevolent dictator and either be given all the credit or all the blame. No more passing the buck for failure.
Finally it is not about selling cars to people in NYC. It is about relationships and business with the movers and shakers that will build an image. All these folks are driven in with livery drivers but they all are the people who set the trends and promote who and what will be the next leader in that segment no matter if it is entertainment, investments, manufacturing or business.
You have to understand how NYC works and how so many things are hubbed there as to why they are there.
Also it is much more a meeting and knowing people in NYC as in LA it is all about lets do lunch but in NYC just being out you are going to bump elbows with nearly anyone and everyone. The last time I was there I Bumped into Trump, Seinfeld and others on the street. I am a no body and still got to meet some major movers and shakers in just week in town. Now take someone with connections they can get a lot accomplished over time.
NYC is the World’s most luxurious city. The move isn’t about driving; it is about building a culture that values and understands the difference between true luxury and banal excess. That can’t be accomplished in a suburb like NJ.
We are home to the opulence of Tiffany’s, Helmet Lang, every design house and museum (Art and Science) plus Wall Street to prop up stock price.
That is why the only choice is NYC.
Something bad always happens when Cadillac or any Detroit automaker for that matter forgets their history and heritage, I understand why Cadillac would want to create an office in Cadillac and become more independent from corporate parent GM, but I don’t understand why this man is essentially making Cadillac move away from its home where history was made.