Buick And Cadillac Continue To Attract The Oldest Buyers
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Buick and Cadillac have tried very hard to reduce the average age of its buyers and appeal to a younger demographic. However, according to a recent report from IHS Automotive, a global information company, both General Motors brands have among the oldest clientele in the U.S.
Buick’s buyers’ average age is 60.3 years-old (second-highest of all brand in the American market, behind Lincoln), while Cadillac’s is 59.5 years-old − tied with Bugatti’s.
Loyalty often plays a role for older consumers. “Generally speaking, domestic brands and older buyers go together,” says the senior director of insights for Kelley Blue Book, Karl Brauer. He added that older customers may rely on nostalgia for their perceptions of a brand, while younger buyers have less attachment to car brands and use the internet to make more informed purchase decisions.
Brauer adds, “Luxury appeals to people who have more money to spend and who want to treat themselves,” although it’s worth noting that Land Rover is an upscale brand that has a much lower average age.
Automotive analyst for IHS, Tom Libby, says, “Once you get labelled as [a brand] associated with the older buyer, you’re really in a bind with younger buyers.” He uses the example of Buick and Cadillac to suggest they “have a reputation of being driven by older buyers … no manufacturer wants to be known as the old persons’ car brand.”
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“You can sell a young man’s car to an old man, but you’ll never sell an old man’s car to a young man.”
Semon Knudsen, 1956 – Pontiac General Manager
I’m turning 18 on Wednesday and I’m currently in high school. I can assure all of you that cadillac is very appealing to an even younger generation. When ever I’m having a conversation about cars or I’m listening to a conversation about cars and “Cadillac” pops up I never hear anything bad. Its always “Have you seen that new CTS? Its better then my dads BMW” or “I really want to have one of those new cadillacs”.
The only reason why the average age is up is because more old people can afford them then young people. I would love to own a Cadillac but I don’t have a high paying job and I simply can’t afford one and not for a while. So I’m stuck with my 01 grand prix, and that’s not a bad thing.
This is just basic demographic that take time to change.
Like I said from the start this is going to take 10 years before Cadillac and GM gets to where they need to be. We are 5 real years in on this gig and with each and every model it is another step forward. It will take more models and more time to earn the image change.
With may of the things just announced the speed of change may come faster but the image still needs to be earned.
I agree with the 18 year old above. I bought a 2010 cts for my 20th birthday last year. Some people snicker that it’s an old persons car, but most people are impressed. Ever since the introduction of the 2nd generation Escalade and the 1st generation cts, Cadillacs have been my favorite cars because they offer something that is different from the status quo. When the xts was introduced I wanted one but now I only see people over 60 driving them when I get maintenance on my car so I don’t want one. But that’s the only Cadillac I see as a typical old persons car because of who I see driving it. Next year I’ll be buying an Escalade or an elr. I believe being able to afford a Cadillac at a young age is a huge accomplishment because it is something many people can not obtain until later in life.
I do see a lot of people over 60 driving the XTS. However for me, I think it is a gorgeous car and I could see myself owning one, the V Sport Platinum, in my early 40s. I generally let the styling dictate my buying purchase, not the stigma the car is associated with.
I say if you like the XTS the best, get it and don’t worry what other person is seen in it and what people think about you.
This whole deal will come one new model at a time and with every younger convert at a time.
Just out of curiosity, what was the average age of a Cadillac buyer in say, 1950 or 1960?
It was always an older, more affluent buyers car. In fact, from the early days of GM, it was the pecking order of the corporate plan. Start with a Chevy, then Pontiac, then Oldsmobile/Buick, and finally Cadillac.
I definitely would like to see the stats from those days.
59 years young is not considered old. It is considered more as middle-age. Age is a state of mind.
Would anyone call a Bugatti owner an old person’s car? I would say , “no”.
“Buick and Cadillac have tried very hard to reduce the average age of its buyers” – obviously they have forgotten the simplest way to do this: refuse to sell a car to anybody over 60. Or even over 50.
And, hop, the average age of buyers is falling to the bottom.
Well one thing about Cadillac no one here has stated it this.
The others like Benz and BMW sell more variations of cheaper smaller models than Cadillac.
Lets face it Cadillac has one cheaper model the ATS. Also they sell no sports cars like the Z4 and they have no cheaper smaller CUV like the X1 that attract the younger buyers. Now with that said Cadillac has planned smaller models coming that will be a little cheaper fully loaded but not yet cheap if you get what I mean. A smaller model that can be had loaded at $40K and not be entry level.
This is where the younger buyers are not the $60K-$75K the CTS is in now.
And THIS is the ONLY reason Cadillac isn’t as prolific, or cinching the supposed “youth market”. The line-up is far too small right now to go toe to toe with BMW, or Mercedes. And personally I’m not so sure it should be any bigger.
Cadillac is locked into a niche of limited to top line luxury because of it’s sibling brands. It’s not a car company unto itself. It’s completely unrealistic to even pose Cadillac as a BMW/Mercedes fighter. GM has multiple brands able to compete with the foreign makes on the lower levels.
Unfortunately, this also means GM has less of an excuse for not having truly competitive offerings in the niche Cadillac plays in. It should be FAR more focused and better executed as a brand then it is.
Instead of trying to be the Cadillac for all people, it should be the best luxury car for certain people.
This is a work in progress. Cadillac is like a sports expansion team and they are rebuilding. You can not expect a new team to compete completely with a older team that has built itself up over years and with many more established models.
People really need to get a grip on how things work in the real world of selling and building cars.
What Cadillac had been doing was moving in the right direction with minimum commitment to the market. Now we are reading they are fully committing to the Luxury segment , this is something few Corporations could afford to do in this day and age. I was even shocked that GM approved it. This is a go big or go home deal as they are fully committing.
Lets put it this way Lincoln is on the slow boat and I do not see Ford making the same move there as easily.
I think that with China and the global market they have to do this to remain relevant as while a risk it may not be as much a risk and not fully committing to the market. They may have only gone so far with what they were doing and ran a real risk of never getting to the level they needed to get to.
In the end they will now have a better line up and much more appeal. No matter how good a Supercharged LT engine is the engine would still not be a Cadillac engine. Part of the image in this segment are the little things you need to showcase and an engine will show a lot of technology that for marketing counts a lot in many global markets.
Note too that even with Cadillac expanding their focus and technology it will still take time to grow the image. But now they will exceed what they were targeting.
Scott, I agree with and understand every thing you just said (I thought that was implied) But the fact of the matter is BMW, Mercedes and others are Full on Car Companies unto themselves. Not just a “Brand” like Cadillac.
There is no need for “affordable” Cadillacs or “me too” Cadillacs. GM needs to set it’s sights on the three major money makers of the Luxury segment:
1. Entry to appeal to new and ‘up and coming’ customers (not cheap, or economical)
2. Performance Luxury (this one is obvious)
3. High end, Standard setting, Luxury (what Cadillac built its rep on and had a long history of doing before the mid-late 1970s to just recently)
That’s it. No need for Cadillac branded compacts, economy cars, minivans, hatchbacks, baby SUVs, a billion different crossovers (Mercedes I’m looking at you) and etc. The other guys HAVE to do that to keep the lights on.
GM has Chevy, Buick, and GMC for that stuff. GM needs to realize that like Rolls Royce, or Bently; Cadillac should be a highly focused and lean ‘Luxury ONLY’ division. A major reason Cadillac gets lost in the smoke of its competition is because it’s competing in segments it has no business being in in the first place.
That is not what a true ‘luxury only’ brand or car company does. Nor is it what sets a luxury brand/company apart from established luxury competitors.
No one complains that there is no SUV version of Rolls Royce. I have NEVER heard anyone beg for a small, economical and affordable Bentley. Both fly in the face of what those brands are about and why people strive to purchase one.
GM is trying to cover too many bases with Cadillac. And still struggling with what a Cadillac should be. First they need to answer that question and build a car that embodies that. Then Every model that comes next should be the embodiment of that philosophy in it’s respective segment. NOT the other way around.
You know something, jzEllis, you’re absolutely right. Over saturating the Cadillac lineup with more affordable luxury products would be encroaching upon the territory of its corporate siblings. Which is why Cadillac should really have nowhere else to go but upmarket. They should seize the opportunity to introduce newer, more unique and high-end models to help distinguish themselves better from the rest of the luxury market, since Cadillac has already stated they’re not going toe-to-toe with the German brands; create exclusive and competitive vehicles in the lineup that could possibly usher in new segments. The Ciel concept is an excellent example of such. There’s not yet a large four door convertible. And the Sixteen concept is another example. A 16-cylinder engine is quite impractical in a way, but something exotic and creative along those lines would definitely make for an invigorating lineup.
You are right and you are wrong.
You are right GM has Buick there while the others do not. Accept for Audi who has VW and the A3 over lap.
But Rolls and Bentley are looking into the SUV market with Bentley showing one soon.
The SUV and CUV market is exploding and there is a lot of money to be made there. If you do not have a full range of product no matter what segment you will be left behind. This year the CUV out sold the Sedan market for the first time and the numbers will only increase. Just look at the sales of the smaller SUV BMW, Benz and Audi as they are going crazy. The Porsche I predicted to fail is a run away hit. Even I messed up on that one.
If you think Cadillac is only going to need to make a had full of sedans and a couple coupes you are really not watching where the market is and is going.
The next issue is the smaller cars. If GM wants to compete in Europe and else where smaller cars are going to be a must. They do not have a car now that will do what is needed going past 2025 on engine alone and all the luxury brands are scrambling to find what will carry them through.
Actually the Bentley GT coupe since VW took them over is a lower price affordable car. Bentley has offered cheaper version of their cars since leaving Rolls and it has increased sales. Hell around here a Bentley used to be a once a year sight. Today I see them almost weekly and all times of the years. I have two guys locally that drive them year round in the snow.
While your vision for Cadillac is admirable it is just not in touch with what is needed to compete in todays market.
Johan de Nysschen has the pulse of what is going on as he has fixed two very struggling companies and put them on the right path. For Cadillac to make any big strides they needed to go all in or just hope slow growth would keep them relevant.
They key to a younger buyer is to have an ATS or a sub model that would sell a different image over Buick and get them in on the ground floor once they are out of school and making decent money. Why should GM wait till they retire to get their money for one or two cars.
BMW sold a lot od 4 cylinder 318 models that were RWD and fun to drive while hooking new customer. Buick is going to be in the mix here but they will have a different image and mostly FWD and AWD as an option but little in the way of RWD.
Companies go to where the money is and the money is on the CUV and SUV models. High profits easy sales and a product that is dear to most customer hearts right now.
GM is in pretty good shape on CUV and SUV models. Cadillac needs the new SRX in FWD/AWD and one larger and smaller in RWD/AWD with a more sporting flair. These three models will make more money than the three Cadillac sedans will. Just look at the sales of the Escalade. It is not logical as you can nearly get the same product at GMC or Chevy for less but yet people still line up to pay much more for the Escalade.
The key is image in this segment. The key for Cadillac here is Escalade has more image than even Cadillac right now and that is why it sells. You get the same kind of image coverage for the rest of the line and you have the battle won. People generally do not say they have a Cadillac when they own a Escalade they say they have an Escalade.
Yes I think it is silly and if it were a perfect world I would probably do much like you describe. But this is the real world and it is a whole lot different.
My wife was 27 at time of purchase of our 2014 ATS, so we’re doing what we can to reduce this age….Not sure why the ATS doesn’t sell better. It leases out at a really good deal and is a fantastic car. The bad press it has received on the CUE system is overblown. If you learn how to use the voice commands, it works really well. And it looks and drives better than the newest 3 Series/C-Class/A4.
That may not be such a bad thing . As the Baby Boomers are starting to get older [ which is a big segmant of the population ] , the house is paid off , and the kids have left the nest , they ( me ) may want that luxury car that we have waited for . In my neck of the woods , driving a Cadillac shows that you have made it [ the American Dream ] . So as long as Buick and Cadillac continue to build vehicles for the Millenials and the aging Baby Boomers I think they are spot on . And it is encouraging that the younger generation looks at Cadillac like I did at that age ! =) .
what’s wrong with that. Why is it better to the young and the old owners. I’m very happy that the older customers prefer and value of these machines.
long this silly story goes around that, young or old. where young people want to be old again, do not want to. everyone can not like it.
I am very happy and proud that these machines will appreciate older people.
There is a lot of money in the little younger set of 35-55 age range.
It is not like GM expects to sell to 25 years olds but they would like to move the average age of a Cadillac owner to be that similar to a BMW in the mid to lower 50’s.
They don’t really want to lose the older buyers but they would like to capture the folks in a younger bracket still working and more easily able to afford a new car every year or every other year.
You can grow the youth market and keep it as it ages. The older your segment the repeat buyers are limited due to limited income of retired people and the fact many die off as you move on.
GM wants Cadillac to be more than the car many buy at retirement to carry them on through those final years of driving.
The funny part is in the end Cadillac is the last ride for nearly 90% of all people and they are about to enter the dirt nap.
Not to make light but that would be cool is to have a Cadillac or any luxury make for that matter as your last ride before ailing eye sites, disability or death creeps upon us.
I would guess that the average age of a Buick buyer will drop when new,more diverse models begin arriving such as Opel’s Adam-this will take time due to the issue of Federalizing the current GM/Fiat platform.
The new Cascada and next gen Regal will play an important role, too.
I see Buick on a sort of ten year plan that is linked to the success of both Opel.& Buick China. With such great product entering show rooms, brand will do well with younger buyers.
What’s wrong with selling cars to older people?, they are a fast growing demographic thanks to improved life expectancy/healthcare. If we associate a car that appeals to an older driver as being undesirable simply because of that fact, then are we not just being ageist?.
Because Cadillac is wasn’t created to cater to the old. It was created to cater to the demands of a luxury consumer; whatever they are. Luxury IS NOT age-dependent, and neither should Cadillac be.
There is nothing to suggest that a luxury consumer MUST be 50+ to get into Cadillac’s reach. Luxury is not age restricted, and the fallacy that “old people have the money” is false and unsupported by the very fact that luxury consumers exist at every age bracket. The fact that we have 30 year olds and millennials “making it” at their age shows that the idea of Cadillac’s “traditional buyer” is unsustainable and cannot not be relied upon in the decades to come.
In de Nysschen’s words:
“We need to get the brand restored as a pre-eminent global premium brand. And in such a way that it resonates with and is relevant to the young-minded premium consumer, because the millennials are going to be, by the end of this decade, responsible for buying 50 percent of cars in the premium sector. Part of the job that the team and I have is not so much elevating the brand, but of repositioning it to that point where it enters the consideration set of these young buyers. The brand needs to be rejuvenated, so to speak. And that is part of what success will look like.”
http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/1409-interview-cadillac-president-johan-de-nysschen/
And not to mention that they usually tend to have the most money… no?