China has long been the birther of the long wheelbase vehicle. The older, Chinese buyer prefers to sit in the rear, be chauffeured around, and not do much of the driving.
The youngsters in China? Not so much. They want to drive, and they don’t like the idea of a big estate vehicle. The average age of a Chinese Cadillac buyer is only 34 years old, and the brand is beginning to gain major momentum.
According to Reuters, in an effort to court even greater numbers of Chinese buyers, Cadillac will kill off the LWB models in its lineup (like the ATS-L) in favor of a one size fits all approach across the globe. The “right size” global mindset will be an attempt to exploit the younger Chinese buyer’s preference, while also saving development costs by foregoing the extra engineering.
Cadillac President, Johan de Nysschen, told Reuters we’ll begin to see subtle design changes still for the Chinese market, notably softer lines.
“You will see a softening of some of the hard edges, and more three-dimension styling on the side of the car,” de Nysschen said, while stating future vehicles will still be “instantly recognizable as Cadillac.”
The strategy shift comes at a crucial time for Cadillac in China, as de Nysschen targets a 25-percent increase in units sold across the People’s Republic. It may not be far off either. Cadillac’s 17-percent growth far outpaced China’s entire industry growth of 7.3-percent last year.
Comments
Or at least in the U.S. We should at least get the ATS-L
Why encroach on CTS territory?
Also would result in a price increase as well closer to the CTS.
No need for the ATS to cannibalize CTS sales.
I agree the rear seat room in the ATS and CTS need to be increased but the ATS-L is not the way.
But the ATS-L is only about 2 inches shorter than the CTS though
All this means is that GM leadership has realized that the backseat size is more important then ever in every market now. Mainly because of ridesharing and on-demand taxi services.
Unless I read the original article incorrectly, that is exactly the opposite of what is going on. They are killing the ATS-L in order to do a vehicle with a more normal rear seat proportionate to it’s size. They are getting away from the chauffeured driven set and trying to cater to younger buyers that want to drive themselves.
A global “right size”. If you read between the lines it means GM will be making back seats bigger on new models.
What is the difference in wheel base length between the ATS and the ATS-L?
Don,
The ATS-L is 3.34 inches longer than the regular ATS.
Cheers,
-Sean
Full details in the ATS-L, including dimensions:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/cadillac/ats/2015-ats/2015-ats-sedan/2015-ats-l-sedan/
Glad to see them go to this. Hopefully it means ther will be no short coming in any Cadillac product in compareson with the competition. Make each and every Cadillac model the same around the world and invest the money saved in making them different fo different markets and make them class leaders in their Catagory.
I wonder what the CT8 design stand point will look like.
I’m more interested in how fast Cadillac is gaining in volume of sales year over year versus it competition in percentage. And will the ATS-L be continued throughout its life-cycle before the successor debut?
Good question.
I suspect they will continue the current strategy until the next gen. ATS.
This is funny thing of CHINA. ther is many different car brands who made long version cars what we know like simple cars. like audi a6 l , passat l , bmw 5 l and so on funny things. i dont understand wtf . and china people allmost little to. is bmw5 seria to little and 7 seria to big or wtf. other world not made this things only china.. bmw 3 seria long version i remember
A quick Google search says the average height for men in China is about 5 ft 7 inches; thus, it doesn’t really make sense that individuals in China would want or need a long wheelbase version of the ATS while in the US it’s about 2-2.5 inches more which means a longer wheelbase for more rear legroom in the US would be a definite plus.. as Cadillac’s ATS is not the car you want 4 6+ footers (and this is why Cadillac’s SRX was so popular).
Hopefully, this means adding an inch or two to each segment. That’s how Cadillac can hearken back to their roots. In the past, Cadillac meant big and luxurious. They can set themselves apart by invoking that heritage with every class they compete in.
Every brand Cadillac competes against has their own claim to fame: BMW (sporting heritage), Audi (Quattro, nice interiors), Mercedes-Benz (luxury heritage). Instead of aping BMW, Cadillac’s calling card should be engineering cars with class-leading passenger volume on class-leading chassis. As displayed in the CT6, Cadillac’s mission should be proving lighter doesn’t have to mean smaller.
Make the next generation roughly the size of the ATS-L and offer the 2.0 in 2 stares of tune with the lesser powered one being the standard engine. Get rid of the 2.5 offer the N/A 3.6 and the twin turbo 3.0 in the regular CT3 or 4 or whatever they are going to call it. Then you have the V where the sky should be the limit.
You will see some changes in sizes as we go. The present line up was done prior to JDN’s arrival and I expect he will make changes to the size of the line up to where he would like them to be.
JDN answers to Mark Ruess and Dan Ammann. Sure he gives his input and the things he wants done, but at the end of the day they are making final decisions reguarding Cadillac. Many of these changes took place, or were in process of taking place before he got to Cadillac.
Mark hired him and let him move the company so they can doe hat needs done with less interfearence from Detroit.
Mark knows the battles well coming off the CT6 as it was compromised from what he wanted.
JDN and Mark are on the same page pretty much and setting Cadillac in a place to where they will be calling their own shots will make a big difference
Do you think they would make changes to the styling as well ??
It will evolve. The styling will not radically change but it will lose more of the had edges that are not aging well.
what is exactly is three demotional styling….I hope its away from the slab-sided look because I’m getting sick of the same tired design for Cadillac.