Cadillac has been abuzz with news and information as of recent. During the J.P. Morgan Auto Conference, Cadillac President, Johan de Nysschen, outlined some essential pieces of information regarding the brand, including a 500,000 annual vehicle sales goal by 2020 and a forthcoming product hiatus.
But, today, Cadillac has announced David Leone has been appointed Executive Chief Engineer of Cadillac Product Programs. Previously, Leone’s title was Global Vehicle Line Executive and Global Vehicle Chief Engineer. In this position, Leone will focus on creating one, solidified voice for Cadillac product moving forward.
“Dave’s appointment to this critical role reinforces our commitment to transforming the brand through a singular focus on engineering and product development,” said de Nysschen. “I have no doubt that Dave’s leadership and experience in quantifying Cadillac’s DNA through the lens of our engineering efforts will be a strong contributor to our success.”
In this new role, Leone will be the one contact for all Cadillac products within the global product development programs, and will lead a team of engineers forward to the next-generation of what it means to be a Cadillac product.
Leone has been with General Motors since 1979, and has held several engineering roles throughout his career.
Comments
And another piece of Johan’s plan comes together.
Great news , promoting from within , best news I’ve heard from GM this week !
how far is caddy going to push back there incoming products
This is a sign of how far the changes will go and how autonomous from GM Cadillac is working to be.
It will likely take over 4yrs to see any of these strategic changes pay any real dividends.
The products we see coming down the chute now were already set in motion and approved before JdN came on board.
Mr. Leone was Chief Engineer @ Cadillac from ’99 to 2012.
So chances are, he played a pretty significant role in the products ‘coming down the chute’ that JdN’s trying to undo.
Not sure if this qualifies as ‘fresh thinking’. David’s been @ GM since ’79.
This is the guy that is going to turn Cadillac around . All of the new Cadillacs in the pipeline are fresh enough that changes can still be made . He will already know the parts suppliers needed to assemble their cars . So hiring him from “inside” GM is a plus . Some people don’t realize that its the suppliers that actually make most of the car and send them to the factory to be assembled . That pipeline from supplier to the factory runs on a system where they are delivered as needed , and if the parts are bad things can change relatively fast . GM doesn’t keep their assembly plants full of parts anymore . It costs GM money to house high inventory of parts . And it is wasted space too , every inch of the assembly plant is looked at as real estate that does not make money if its full of parts.
Parts can be changed almost anytime now , at pre-production and at product development or during full out production .
So, you’re saying he already knows where to source the plastic dashboards, faux wood trim and other non-premium materials that helped put Cadillac in the hole it’s trying to dig out of?
Perfect.
Yup , and the wire wheel hubcaps ! 😉