Global sales of Cadillac vehicles totaled 24,593 units in September 2015, a 10 percent increase on a year-over-year basis. In addition, sales of the prestige luxury brand are up 3.2 percent to 198,995 units for the first nine months of 2015.
“Following a disciplined strategy led by increasing product substance, stronger transaction prices and lower incentives, we have a stronger foundation for growth,” said Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen.
September 2015 global sales notes by model (vs. September 2014, unless otherwise noted):
- ATS, which contains the four-door ATS Sedan and two-door ATS coupe, was up 43 percent to 5,663 units; year-to-date, the ATS line is up 31.3 percent to 43,458 units
- CTS was down 34 percent to 1,644 units
- ELR was down 64.5 percent to 37 units
- Escalade was down 19 percent to 3,306 units
- SRX was up 30.2 percent to 9,552 units
- XTS was down 11.3 percent to 4,391 units
Cadillac notes that the long-wheelbase ATS-L is seeing “strong demand” in China, while U.S. customers have received initial deliveries of the high-performance ATS-V, which is available in ATS-V Sedan and ATS-V Coupe body styles.
Sales Numbers - Cadillac - September 2015 - Global - By Product Line
| Model | September 2015 / September 2014 | September 2015 | September 2014 | YTD 2015 / YTD 2014 | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | +10.0% | 24,593 | 22,359 | +3.2% | 198,995 | 192,769 |
| ATS | +43.0% | 5,663 | 3,959 | +31.3% | 43,458 | 33,088 |
| CTS | -34.0% | 1,644 | 2,494 | -34.2% | 16,616 | 25,269 |
| ELR | -67.5% | 37 | 114 | -16.5% | 765 | 916 |
| SRX | +30.2% | 9,552 | 6,762 | +7.4% | 73,294 | 68,227 |
| XTS | -11.3% | 4,391 | 4,949 | -15.2% | 35,219 | 41,530 |
| Escalade | -19.0% | 3,306 | 4,082 | +24.8% | 29,608 | 23,722 |
| Others | -100.0% | 0 | 1 | +105.9% | 35 | 17 |
Further reading:
Comments
Sales for the XTS and SRX are backwards. SRX sold 9,552 and XTS sold 3,306 of volume for last month.
Yeah, it was screwed up all over the place. Thanks for letting me know. Fixed.
SRX and ATS sales are the only bright spot . And Johan is happy with the new strategy ! One month ! Cadillac is struggling bad, numbers tell the story .
You think Johan is happy, eh? Let’s remember that what one says to the public doesn’t necessarily reflect how he/she really feels.
Remember when Steve Jobs told everyone that there will not be a “video” iPod, only to release one months later? Statements to the media (and the public) could be more strategic than they are “real”.
Point is, ATS is catching on, and not with enormous discounts, either. Right now, it’s all about the HOW (How Ssales were made) more so than the WHAT (Total sales).
Chris
Do you care to comment on the “rift” between Johan and Mark regarding the direction of Cadillac styling? Automotive News seems to paint pretty major disagreement?
Well, some changes I like, some, not so much.
But aside from placing a $12b bet on Cadillac that’s apparently supposed to pay off in five more years …
I would put my money on Johan’s style and performance judgement and success rate (hello, Audi), vs. the apparently xenophobic Mr. Reuss.
Mark is a GM lifer. His dad was a GM lifer until the Peter Principle put an end to his GM career. Mark’s responsible for the Aztek – the only comforting thing about that is, apparently, millennials DO have a sense of irony, since they’re buying them now.
Mark has an outsized ego, if you’ve met him. He was president of GM NA, but was passed over for the CEO-ship, and given a sort of cabinet-level position instead.
Reuss and Akerson hired Joel Ewanick as CMO, who screwed up Cadillac, Chevy,
and Buick, and ignored GMC. And now, largely because of market forces, pickups and SUVs/CUVs are kicking it, and he gets to ride that wave.
Je was also president when SuperJoel cut a $600m+ deal to sponsor Manchester United – a weak market for GM, with no RHD cars. (Yes, I know ManU is popular in some Asian countries – but $600m, on the sly, in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings – that was on Mark and Dan’s watch.
If I had to bet, I’d guess Reuss (the insider with a sketchy track record) will outlast Johan if push comes to shove. Which is too bad. Mark’s a performance-sedan guy, who looks to cut costs and generate volume. Johan’s version of performance is craftsmanship inside and out. And ATP over sheer volume.
If Johan gets fed up or is given the push, well, I’d suspect Dr. Aztek had something to do with it.
Well lets get the story straight here.
Show me a auto leader who has never been accused of a big ego?
Mark is where he really best fits and he knows it. I know if you ask him if he would rather have full reign over the auto products or going around like Mary dealing with the Ignition fall out or with the continued change in culture Mark would take the product job as that is what he is all about.
Much of what he has or has had is what he inherited from the past GM administrations. He has fought with Cadillac for years and the GM leaders to express what we have now is not enough. Johann is here because of Mark. The $12B is here because of Mark.
Keep in mind Mark fought over the CT6 as not being good enough through most of the development. Mark is also the one who delayed many of the projects like the Nox, Cruze and other models because the programs he got under his control were not good enough.
As for the Aztek he was at GM but that is not fully his baby. There were many more people involved more powerful and to be honest the production of the Aztek was very divisive inside GM. Many people at that time had to move this along because they were told to not because they wanted to. Mark was one of the later people. Remember he was far from in charge in the late 90’s.
The fact is Mark is behind the Cadillac program as none of what is going on if he did not approve.
As in cutting cost why was he the one who went against GM and complained that they were going too cheap on the CT6 items in the well published debate over the door handles. This argument went public and he was upset they were short cutting the car too much.
He was the one who help bring in the $12B as it would never had happened unless he wanted it. Now it is here and the pay off will be incremental starting next year up to just over 5 years. The cars will change and the way Cadillac operates will change. Volume is never a question here as Mark does not want another Lincoln.
The bottom line is we do not have the same people running GM now that we did 5-10 years ago. Most of the dead wood has been cut and many who are left have been empowered to do what they see needs done. At this point GM is committed to the new Cadillac plan and can not really change much now.
The bottom line is they are making more money per unit now than they have in decades. They no longer are a slave to volume and low profits. Now they need to build a reputation and image that takes time to do in the auto industry. Cadillac has gone from a joke to now being brought into the conversation in reviews of the German brands. It has even placed well among the brands. You never saw that in the last 40 years have you? Yet GM knows being close or as good is not enough. The key now it to make a clearly better car not just one good enough. They have given customers the speech for so long that they were competitive when the truth was they were not. The STS was a better Cadillac but never a better car.
GM will make mistakes yet as all MFG do. But you will find they will correct them faster and make less of them. This is a deal it will take good product and time for the customers to come around and appreciate what they really are. If someone is unhappy with a competitors car it is easy to make them change when they are happy it is more difficult. Most Benz and BMW owners are happy so you have to give them a better reason to change. That is what Mark and Johann are attempting to do.
Even from my own eyes I can tell there’s a struggle. I’ve never had cadillac dealers try to hard to get me to buy a new one.. from the calls to the emails to the fake hand written letters.. last week was the first time ever when I came to get an oil change they had a salesman learking over the cadillac section asking ppl if they want water or coffee then what year their cadillac is and if they would like to come look at the new models with him right now and trade their car in
Don’t forget to factor-in the sales from the curated, artisanal men’s fashion collection! Or is that under ‘Other’?
Well I know I have seen now 4 new ATS at work in the last couple months. It appears that people have taken to this car more of late.
I also have noted many more ATS on the road with temp plates meaning new sales and leases.
The key thing here it was only done with higher content in the cars and not playing the price game. They still are making more money per unit and they are still undercutting the Germans cars by a good amount.
Note all 4 owners at work are first time Cadillac owners and only one is over 50. 2 V6 Two Turbo 4’s.
Cadillac sold just 67 ELR cars and this is disgraceful; but part of this is Cadillac’s own fault as the price of the ELR is almost twice the price of Chevrolet’s Volt and their marketing doesn’t push the fact of how the Cadillac ELR is the car to buy especially if someone wants it all.. being green and extended range. Cadillac should possibly consider hiring Jay Leno.. because if you’ve seen his videos on YouTube, Leno actually owns a CTS-V and enjoyed how the Ciel concept looks and how the ELR drove.
To understand the ELR you have to take all the facts into context.
The ELR was just a quick and dirty car to build image not profits. Then you have to factor in that the people who wanted the ELR were gone from Cadillac by the time it arrived at market by at least two generations of Cadillac leadership. Hence this is why it has nearly vanished in the line up.
Cadillac will attack the EV market again but they will do it in better ways with a larger sedan that will follow the Tesla plan much closer.
The truth is the ELR was a show car made into a production car that was never expected to sell in volumes needed for cheaper prices and never intended to give you much leg room in the back seat.
The ELR is a beautiful car but just was never intended for the real world. It was a mistake to take it production and by the time it was those who approved it were long gone or just no longer had the support.
It was an ill-conceived stillborn production concept.
The ELR was a “quick and dirty” way to build image?
Is quick and dirty the way forward for Cadillac? And the crazy commercial that introduced it??
N’est-çe pas? We hate Europe?
Wonder what the net loss was financially, and from an image standpoint?
And I saw this “Dare Greatly” commercial on a football game tho afternoon:
Who’s ok’ing this? And who’s buying the media? This commercial seems more at home on Project Runway than on Big Ten football.
Sales of the CTS continue to decline. The 1319 units sold in the USA for Sept.(down 42% vs ’14) is the lowest total for that nameplate since it was first introduced in 2002. Even a huge glass of Mary “berry” Barra Kool-Aid won’t change the fact the current sales performance of the CTS is a complete disaster.
Cadillac’s marketing approach is god awful.. as I’ve seen the commercial the CT6 and thought it was horrible.
Cadillac should be telling while other car brands chatter about building performance cars, Cadillac commercials should talk about what modern luxury is which is zero to sixty in under 4 seconds for the CTS-V while being wrapped in a cocoon of comfort and refinement; or when others are talking about efficiency, Cadillac has the ELR that can use not a drop of gas.
Cadillac’s CT6 should talk about the fact that it incorporates the leading edge in materials so that it weighs about 1,000 lbs less than an almost identical size Lexus LS sedan and is why a 265hp turbo 2.0L 4-cyl engine is needed to offer robust performance.