It’s evident Cadillac is reaching for a much younger audience with its “Dare Greatly” campaign. In the latest interview with eMarketer, Cadillac CMO, Uwe Ellinghaus, discussed why the brand has targeted outlets like The Oscars to launch Cadillac’s transformation.
Baby boomers need not apply to Cadillac’s strategy, which Ellinghaus makes clear when discussing industry trends.
We need to reach out to Generation X and Y more—just like every other brand. By 2020, 80% of all new car sales will be made by Generation X and Y. Baby boomers will no longer dominate this market.
The majority of baby boomers are very much interested in football, in motor sports, in golf in particular and in tennis, but Generation X and Y customers are far more interested in entertainment, music, fashion, design and architecture. That means they are far more likely to sit and watch the Oscars than the Super Bowl.
He goes on to state Cadillac’s natural link to Hollywood and entertainment plays well with what the brand is trying to accomplish.
Most importantly, there’s a reason why Cadillac chose much younger innovators in this latest round of “Don’t You Dare,” some as young as 19 years old.
In contrast to last year, we deliberately decided to go to people that dared greatly at a very young age. For me, this is the boldest form of daring greatly.
The protagonists that we ended up with aren’t anywhere near as well-known as last year’s were. They haven’t achieved as much as Steve Wozniak undoubtedly has, but they were already very bold thinkers early on in their life.
We won’t know the entirety of Cadillac’s marketing efforts until the 2016 CT6 and 2017 XT5 launch in the coming months. Then, we will know Daring Greatly transcends to increased brand image, and ultimately, sales.
Comments
And herein lies the rub–Long term Cadillac may be striving to snare the millennials, but it will be a long dry streak until that happens. I just don’t understand how any marketer of any product can appear to burn the bridges with the existing customer base!
Regardless of Uwe apparently telling me that he is not interested in my money, I did pony up for a new CTS Premium, that is one fantastic car so far. Surprisingly, there are a lot of us old farts that appreciate something beyond football, golf, and taking our meds. I personally appreciate driving a car and really enjoy an automobile that is comfortable but can still be “pushed”! A car enthusiast forever! Are you listening Uwe?
You are SO right. Cadillac has out-and-out told their current customer base that they need us no longer. I have an XLR….and currently they offer me nothing. I can get along without Cadillac….but I wonder if Cadillac can get along without those baby-boomers that their arrogance has driven off?
Hey Mr. Ellinghaus, Cadillac sales are tanking…So how’s that Dare Greatly Campaign working out for you????
How dare this Ellinghaus deny the buying power of the baby boomers. We are the ONLY ones keeping Cadillac afloat. The millennials couldn’t care less about luxury cars, the gen x and y’ers are badge snobs and only want MB, Audi, Lexus, and BMW. for the most part. I am 71 years old, I own 100,000 shares of GM, 3 Corvettes (’60, ’10 ZR1, and ’15 ZO6) and 3 Cadillacs (’13 XTS, ’15 Escalade Platinum, and ’16 CTS-V) and looking foreward to more Cadillacs and Corvettes. Last year, at the age of 70, I drove my 2015 ZO6 to 179mph, on a track of course.
Uwe should be talking about the fact that he is NOT DOING HIS JOB…..marketing aggressively Cadillac product. He is costing the stockholders money. ATS sales are down over 45 %, CTS 42%, XTS 30%, over last year. In fact, the only two Cadillac vehicles that are selling, are the SRX, and Escalade. When is the last time you saw an ad on tv, or anywhere, for an ATS, CTS, XTS, and, until the Oscars, not a word about the CT6, and XT5, and none since. The dealers do not yet have the brochures on the CT6 and XT5. They are very frustrated. They have customers calling every day about these vehicles that are still not in the dealerships. Marketing failure!
In fact, I was told last week by my dealership’s gm that he has ben told to expect the 2017 XT5 BEFORE the 2016 CT6. We are 7 months into the 2016 automobile year, and we are still waiting for a 2016 automobile. Marketing failure!
When I visit the dealerships (2) what I see purchasing Cadillacs are baby boomers, and older, usually caucasian, and African American and UWE wants to kick this group to the curb. Marketing failure!
Aiming for millennials is fine, if you have the product. They can’t afford $70,000+ ATS-V’s, or $100,000 CTS-V’s. Where are the Sports Coupes and Convertibles, the new SUV’s can’t get here soon enough? Cadillac completely screwed up the marketing of the ELR, which could have been a good seller to x and y as a high end alternative Coupe to the Tesla. The ATS Coupe is relatively “conservative” as are the SRX and ATS sedan. Millennials are interested in Subaru’s, Scions, Hyundai’s, and cheap BMW’s
One can only hope that by 2020 Cadillac has the product sitting in showrooms, and marketing COMES ALIVE!
Here is the real rub. Cadillac needs to be appealing to more than 50 years and older.
The truth is cars build followings much sooner than most like to think. Why did GM and Ford both do Tonka based show trucks. Because buying preferences are built even at ages of 5 years old.
The same is said for this class of car. If you want to build for the long term you need to target the buyers coming up. The ones you have now most will buy anyways unless they were just buying Cadillac because of the value prices.
The fix for Cadillac is not just a 1 year deal. One marketing program is not going to do it alone. One generation of new product will do it alone.
I know there is some sour grapes because things changes and Cadillac’s are no longer a high volume low priced luxury car. But they can not live anymore on just volume alone as profits are where it is at in this class. First you make money and higher profits. Then you build volume to where the market will take it. In the end you make a lot more money than trying to sell large amounts of Cadillac’s to Avis and to customers with large rebates.
I know many will not like this post but sometimes the true hurts. You want image and you want exclusive then get used to the fact not all of us will be Cadillac material anymore.
The Cadillac has been the poster car for too long of the trailer park rec halls and Bingo halls a the Boca Vista retirement community.
Like it or not the Cadillac line is going to be built on the back so the Millennia’s not the retired Yuppies.
This is the same demographic that a too-high percentage of won’t leave the comfortable nests of their boomer parents. . .
They’ll have to “Dare Greatly” just to seek employment and move out before they can afford luxury goods, –especially Cadillacs.
Future sales for any demographic may be challenging; the US has never fully recovered and appears to be returning to another recession.
Uwe is trying to expand sales in anticipation of the 2020 Boomer drop off. Is he giving the current Cadillac base the finger? No; the vast majority of buyers do not read these sorts of articles because they are directed at Wall Street and the industry, so, therefore, aren’t affected by advertising schemes because of how well Cadillac has already been branded in the old fart mind.
More than marketing, Cadillac needs to focus on building cars people are willing to spend a mint on. Cadillac design is blah, they all look alike. Buick is more interesting these days, especially Avista and Aveair.
Build a beautiful Cadillac and they will come.
Well it looks as if the move to New York has not helped a bit . The Baby Boomers are the generation that is the biggest and richest of the three generations he speaks of . Plus our generation is living longer now and enjoy the finer things in life . Cadillac is making a HUGE mistake by dismissing us Boomers . After all we are the ones that bought your product Mr. Ellinghaus keeping your division afloat with the poor quality cars you sold to us . We are the ones that are patiently waiting for you to get your ” image ” back so we can trust buying a Cadillac again .
Maybe in New York Gen’s X & Y have high paying jobs but the rest of the country not so much . They probably are going to be the first generation that will not make as much money as their parents did . Unless they are waiting for the Boomers to die off and are waiting for an inheiratence .
That statement shows how much tunnel vision Cadillac seems to have right now . That age group is active in all kinds of sports and I am willing to bet that they would rather watch the Super Bowl than the Academy Awards , which had the lowest viewership in eight years . Wasted money on that front for the CT6’s DYD ad .
Just look at your ATS and CTS models . Granted they are very nice cars , but its the Boomers that are buying them not the younger generation . Thats why the sales are so bad .
The truth of the matter is Cadillac should not overlook the generation that has the best buying power right now .
This is just more evidence that Cadillac has alot of work to do . The MY 2020 is coming fast , and while they limp along in their self imposed hiatus it will be a very tough couple of years in the US .
Exactly. I read a article saying the more 50% of license holders are know baby boomers. Why would you not go after a demographic with a statistic like that? You are right that as a gen y living in the nyc area i make an above average salary, around 60k,but compare that with my dad who has almost 100k on me at 150k. Cadillacs and other luxury marques were always positioned as cars that you worked your way up to and bought at the height of your career. Not right after college. As is today save for Ats, 3 series, 2 series, a4 , a3, and cla. The entry level executive class should be focused on my generation, but not the whole brand.
So you only want to sell to half the people age wise that will be not driving or dead in 20 years?
Sorry it is not just all about you!
Cadillac needs a small volume of all segments not just a large segment of one demographic. If not where will your future buyers come from?
You need to plant the seeds for future sales now with the younger people and let them aspire to be a Cadillac owner at some point.
Do you no how to comprehend? Marketing ats to gen y ( mid 20 – mid 30s) is planting the seed as I stated. But higher up products should be marketed to people making the higher salaries, gen x and boomers (40s to 60s). Does Mercedes market the e class or s class to 20 or 30 somethings? No that’s what cla is for. And by the way “sorry it is not just about you ” I’m about 35 years to young to be a boomer so this coming from a member of the ” future aspiring buyers” for this brand.
I am gen X, I own a 15 CTS and a 14 ELR. I like them VERY MUCH. It depresses me to see all these comments from Baby Boomers, yes itit’s ok to be Baby Boomer, but like all generations the next several are up and coming. I hope Cadillac continues to refocus the marketing efforts. They build a solid car, and they are different, and I get the Dare Greatly tag line. All my life people told me don’t you dare. And a dared, to bad the tag line came out after I bought our cars. Because I dared to buy two Cadillacs instead of a Mercedes/BMW/Lexus.
You are a gen X that is an exception to the rule like I am with regard to baby boomers. How many other gen x do you know that drive Cadillacs compared to MB/Audi/Lexus/BMW/ and even Hyundai?
Why aren’t they targeting baby boomers they hold the most wealth?Millennials have other things to pay off and buy before they would or could buy a luxury. My parents/baby boomers are in a financial position to buy a luxury car. Payed of house, No loans to pay, no college debt to pay off, and their income is at the highest point of their career.But my parents aged 60 and 65 see Cadillac as an old mans car and would never buy and contrary to popular belief so do most baby boomers. So I guess its better to go after future buyers. This is coming from a gen y by the way.
Ok lets look at this.
The key here is time line. Take at real look at just what is going on here.
First in the time line you have to ask are see seeing them selling the cars that Johann and Uwe have approved and built? NO!
Second when will we see the new products from Johann and Uwe hit the market? Around 2020 will be the first. Until then it will only be some tweaks to the older pre Johann and Uwe models here.
Like the Dare marketing the new models will start slow and build over time as you do not change a division over night just as you do not revamp a model in less than 5 years. We may like the new models but they want better. That may be frustrating for time but it is a good sign that they are willing to go beyond just better.
Third you need to consider that like in the election Millennials are the next largest group coming in. They are not all living at home and many are very advanced tech savey people that will hold a major hold of spending cash. They are now just entering the age that many of the Yuppies were when they brought BMW to the point they reached.
I see already several at work buying ATS and they are very happy with their cars. They all say they never thought they would buy a Cadillac and today are glad they did. This kind of acceptance is how you build a division. They pass on to their friends and they open they eyes and give Cadillac a look when they too never considered a Cadillac before.
Yuppies will still play a part but most are now moving into the age where they will live on their 401K and not be buying or leasing a car yearly. These products are still there for them and they also tend to be a little more open minded.
Today so many people bitch about the shape of the emblem and the price of the car and where the tail pipe is and the truth is what we have now matters little compared to what we will be seeing in 5 years and on. Cadillac will fundamentally change and what we have now will not be what we have then. Many changes we see today mean nothing yet and we have to let it grow to see the results.
GM is going to focus on selling more profitable cars that even at lower volumes will provide much more profit. They will target these cars to less people over a wider demographic. They want Cadillac to appeal to all ages not just old rich retired people. You can sell a old man a young mans car but you can not sell a young man an old mans car. This applies here more than ever.
time for most of us to stop micro managing Cadillac moves and start looking at this in the terms they are over the long run.
Right now Cadillac is between a rock and hard place. They are in need to build a new image of the brand but they have to buy time till they have the product the present management planned and approved. Right not they have to do it with someones product that they had no hand in developing. They have to convince you this is better but yet not endorse it to the point that they say this is what they want because they want more.
Right now they are buying time. They have to sell the CT6 as a great car but as we now know the flag ship is no longer the flag ship as they want better as the CT6 was not their car and was compromised by the past management. So they need to sell it but not over sell it as the best they can do as even better will be here in a couple years.
Just look at the presidential race as Millennials are also being targeted as there are more of them than any other segment today in 5-10 years they will be the people with the most money and the most flexible income. With the plan to increase the profitability of the cars you no longer have to sell a half million to make a profit.
So they are using their marketing philosophy to attract young buyers to purchase products that are not theirs and that they do not believe in? Following your logic this is a policy headed to doom! Products are not great–attract first time buyers and they will never return?
They are not first time buyers.
A farmer just does not walk out the door to pick corn. He has to sew the seed and let it grow over time with the use of proper products and care to the point that the corn is ready to harvest.
Cadillac is working to build appeal and image for the future that is not necessary going to pay off in the short term.
Here is the goals of Cadillac.
#1 Build better cars. At this point we are still 4 years away from the first models the present management approved.
#2 Build a new image and trust. This is not done over night and will take time and continued new product.
#3 Cadillac wants to attract new and younger buyers and not just rely on old people buying that last retirement Cadillac to ride off to the retirement home in.
Note BMW and most other luxury brands are not stoggy old people. Many of the three series thrive on younger buyers and leases to 30-45 year olds.
at this point most Yuppies are in their late 50’s and older with less of them getting up in the morning daily. They are retiring and some while they have money many will be on fixed incomes that may give them one major purchase once they retire but no more. A soft stock market will also limit their purchases.
The way forward it to maximize the profits per unit. Then you work to attract buyers in all segments and spread out the market. Then you get as much volume as you can but you must remember you rely on profit per unit not volume. This make volume the place where you can consider them added profits not your only means of income.
The key it to make Cadillac less sensitive to volume for profits and make them profitable at lower volumes and just use the added volumes for added profits.
You view is to keep selling to old people who in many cases are not repeat buyers because they are moving to limited incomes. Also the fact is many begin to have health issues and just are not able to drive or are even alive.
Where am I and Cadillac wrong for spreading out the appeal and markets?
To me the Marketing Philosophy of doom is to put all your chips on people in Gods waiting room. We have seen GM do this for the last 30 years and where did it get them? They lost Youth interest weather it was their ability to purchase of even they envy someday own.
Selling a car like a Cadillac needs to encompass the cycle of life not the end of life.
It is a competitive market and you can no longer sell Cadillac like GM used to do. GM for too long treated them as a higher price Chevy and that no longer works.
The bottom line is this. Cadillac was not a car for the working man in the factory. It was a rich mans car and if you owned one it really meant you were of the means to own one. Cadillac then became the luxury car of the masses and just about anyone can own one. As I recall my buddy bought a Coupe Deville in the early 80’s In fact it was the last one offered. He got a better deal on it than a Regal. He was fresh out of collage and never owned anything but a Nova.
Now he bought it because it was a good deal. Is that a way to sell Luxury? Is that a way to build Image? Is that the only way to lure a younger buyer?
I expect we will see better cars coming. These cars will not be cotton head focused and attract younger buyers. They will also be focused on cars younger buyers are looking for with more SUV and CUV offerings.
So not look for the early bird discounts here. This brand will be refocused to make sure that Cadillac are for people of means.
The path you espouse is one of the recent past and that is not the way forward. It is merely a path of doom.
Take a look around and you will see more people under 60 driving Cadillac’s today than we have seen in a long time. Even at Auto shows you used to never see anyone under 60 at the display and that has changed today.
The simple fact is many of the past buyers were not Cadillac material and just were getting in the door on GM’s plan to make money by selling volume. Today we are paying the price for it with the lack of real and meaningful image.
Yes that means sour grapes from some but growing pains will be part of the deal. You have to let go of the flawed past for the new way forward from your old ways that are no longer in play.
Note too we can not compare Cadillac volumes to the others yet as they are not a true global company yet. Once they return to the other markets then we can compare volumes.
Even then we have to adjust for segments as some segments the other do Cadillac will not do since GM has Buick and Chevy.
As a Millennial, here’s the rub I see: Cadillac’s marketing doesn’t speak to me. This whole focus on fashion and the SoHo lifestyle is merely a caricature of millennials. Ellinghaus, stop centering your brand around artsy weirdos and emphasize the product. Tell us how well your sporty, luxurious, and coveted cars are starting to whoop on the brands rappers sing about.
Speaking of rappers, I don’t see BMW, Audi, and especially Benz shying away from rappers mentioning their cars in hip-hop lyrics.
The thing is as I have tried to point out they are speaking to a wide range of people. Some are trendy some are hip hop some are classic suburban.
What we so know is just selling to old Yuppies is just a part of the market and a trend that may last 10-20 years. Selling to all ages etc will open the door and hopefully more minds to look at Cadillac.
Right now they are seen as bingo hall transportation and few give them a second look. You focus this in the areas of trends like NYC and LA then it takes about 5 years for the rest to catch up.
As it is some folks are just never going to get the Cadillac thing be it new customer or be it old buyer. That is because Cadillac is to become a car just not for everyone.
Part of the allure of some cars is the fact not just anyone can have one.
As for rappers why should they not be part of this too. If you have the means it presents the image and that is part of the gangster life style. You may not live it but it sells cars to those who do.
Rappers sell a lot of Escalade’s too. They are younger and speak to a younger class than what Cadillac has been speaking to. That is PR you just can’t buy.
In marketing you do not worry so much about the people you have now but the ones you need to sell to in the coming 10-20 years. You have to tee the ball up to drive it long.
Done correctly, Dare Greatly should appeal to a broad swath of like-minded individuals. Not to the exclusion of one segment or another.
Daring Greatly can and should be more of a state of mind than chasing a particular demographic, that’s gonna change in the next 5 years. So then you chase the demo after that? Millenials are gonna be old news faster than you think. So then what – chase the next incoming demographic?
Some people between 20 & 65 can aspire to Dare Greatly, whether it got them where they are today, or it gets them where they want to be. Inclusivity, versus flat-out exclusivity.
Let’s see how this shakes out …
You are so correct Captain!
We already know what did not work and this as you said done correctly can connect with a wide swath of consumers. BMW and Benz sell to 20 somethings to 80 somethings and how Ego, Image and trust. Both have to be earned.
Heavy discounting of product and cheaper prices show you do not have confidence in your product so why should anyone else?
It’s good to hear from the Gen. Y and X . They are the future .
Sometimes I wonder if it’s a tale of what part of the country you live in . The A&CTS are built in my area and I can tell you that I rarely see a young person driving either one . In fact you rarely even see one on the road .
I also live in a college town , and do alot of business on campus . The commuter lot where the Gen. X and Y’s park are full of BMW’s , older Audi’s , Subaru’s and Japanese CUV’s . And we are the home of Cadillac right now .
So there is a disconnect between what Cadillac wants to do and what that segment is driving . Those are the ” cool cars ” .
It’s also getting a bit stale to keep hearing wait ….wait till 2020 . The top management is capable to do things with the products they have now to help them sell . Adding the V-Series is nice for that small niche , but does nothing to sell the mainstream cars . Cadillacs core market doesn’t want those , they want a full size luxury car . And the younger generation isn’t that interested in Cadillac, atleast not in great numbers .
So , Cadillac is in the process of redefining it’s image 4 MY’s from now . That’s a gamble . As these college people keep buying the imports , when they do graduate and hopefully get the job they or their parents spent all that money on for that degree is Cadillac going to be ready with the product these folks want ?
The problem is the cars they have do not represent the cars they are working on.
As of now Cadillac is as profitable as they have been in years so buying time is not going to kill them. What would kill them is to try to sell the present car and say this is the ultimate machine in in 4 years come out with your own model and then say forget what we have been telling you for the last 4 years and this is the car we meant.
In the mean time they are pushing the CT6 and XT5 with what changes they have been able to make in short term. The CTS and ATS should see some changes next year as it takes no less than 2 years to get even updates done. In the mean time they have tried to cure the Cue and some other details they can do short term.
Cadillac is much less a gamble now than ever. GM is making money with them at low volume and it buys the time needed to work on changing images. Volume is not everything in this segment as profitability. Volume is just like add on sales.
Cadillac is not a stand alone like Benz so they can focus on what models they like and not worry about low end models like a Taxi or Police car. Cadillac does not need large volume to survive because of the profits per vehicle.
Also part of the time issue is the fact you can not buy image or trust you have to earn it over time. I have no idea why some people think oh we have a new CTS all is fixed. Hell it will take even more time than 2020 to get all to where it needs to be and that is if all goes well. BMW did not earn a top image in this country in one year as it took nearly 10-12 years to get where they were not seen as the odd car from Germany.
Same for Audi as they had cars that were nothing but dressed up VW models in the 70’s and once they did gain some traction they were set back with the 5000 60 Min hoax. That put them another 8 years in the hole on trust and image.
Same for Infinity. Anyone remember the first ones and how bad they were. It took them years to over come that too and yet they still are not what they need to be.
The fact there is no fix in a can we can just open. A lot of time was lost over the years as Cadillac really had such a mixed message and lack of direction. Once GM came out of the bankruptcy Mark Reuss wanted to take them to where they are now headed today but had to fight several years for it. Also look at how many leaders they have had just since 08.
Cadillac is a division that is not supporting GM but is providing profits. Chevy and the volume of Chevy are what makes things work Also the Buick, Opel, Holden will be very important with their global volume.
I wish more people could grasp the real metrics involved here. This is not quick fix and it will take time and steady investment and continued improvements from a stable strong leadership like we now have in place.
Reverting back to the old ways and the old thinking is not the way to fix this long term. Sure you will sell more cars but then you will show much less profit at lower prices and you will show much less quality at lower prices.
You need to ask is it worth the investment to make a world class car inside and out with no GM intervention or do you want to go back to the days of FWD cars based on a Buick and a RWD car based on a Chevy?
Keep in mind the same people who oversaw the Camaro, Corvette and new Malibu are the same people overseeing Cadillacs refinement. It is in good hands now with Mark as he will see Johann gets what he needs to make it right.
You may not see Cadillac’s at the University right now but you will. Just look where you have been seeing Cadillac’s in the past too often not where you should be seeing them outside a gaming parlor, Cafeteria or bingo hall.
Well, V-series isn’t a monster change.
But it does make for some fun cars.
It’s newsworthy, for a marque that can use whatever press it can get.
And it’s a bit of a halo product, I suspect.
Will it cure all their ills? Doubtful. But at least it’s something on Cadillac’s radar.
I do wonder about GM’s patience with products and results, and waiting for the magical 2020 year.
But, say, a V-series Escalade kind of puts it in Cayenne Turbo territory – and gives Cadillac a reason to charge in the six-figures-plus range.
Doesn’t solve long-term problems, but do-able in a relatively short time frame – not four years from now.
They could also make a limited edition “citizen’s version” of this:
The United States presidential state car (nicknamed “The Beast”,”Cadillac One”, “First Car”; code named “Stagecoach”) is the official state car of the President of the United States.
The current model of presidential state car is a unique Cadillac built upon a medium-duty truck platform. The car is equipped with many life-saving, offensive, and defensive measures, and is built to not only the United States Secret Service’s standards, but Cadillac’s as well.
No infra-red smoke grenades or tear-gas cannons, but a street-legal version would be cool. Just remember to tell your driver that it runs on gas, not diesel – otherwise, you end up broken down in Jerusalem, after having flown it over there for security. I’d guess that’s how Secret Service agents who dare a little too greatly end up being reassigned to the Korean DMZ, or Mogadishu.
Well the V series was already in the works before the present Management came. Nothing we have now is theirs as they have been here just a little over a year and a half.
To be honest what is on Cadillac’s radar is a mystery. No one outside GM really know much beyond the DOHC V8 for the CT6.
As for the V series it is fine but you can not V series your way to the top.
No you can not do a beast for the public. It is not even a car but a truck with a fabbed up ballistic body. The last thing the government is for people to be tooling around in copies of a classified vehicle even if faked.
The reality is there is no short cut to the top. You have to take the time to build it right whch Cadillac has not till just recently and now finally with full autonomy. Then you have to market it for image and then you have to gain the customers trust.
You can not speed this up, you can not buy it and you can not just open a can and pour it out. These things take time and a series of right moves. The clock on right moves did not really start till a year ago last August.
The biggest issue with Cadillac right now is they are in that limbo area where they have to leave the past behind and are not fully equipt to embrace all the future will offer. Transitions can be painful but they are doing ok as they are not losing money.
This is like breaking away from a Heroin addiction. You can not just do it over night and it takes a path of long and strong steps to get things back in line.
Right now you have the old school wanting to go back and lead things back to the path of past failures. They have to understand times are different and the way of doing business in this class has changed much. Repeating the past is not an option.
Is there risk, yes but not as much as some would like to make it. GM is not going to go under if Cadillac fails and they will see much added profits if they succeed.
I think the biggest issue many here have is they do not understand the scope of the changes to come. We are not just simple GM fixes like in the past. We are now looking at a Division that will be run outside the GM circle. A division that will get things like their own engines for once that will not be compromised or co oped by other divisions. We are going to see things we never saw from GM in most of our life times. GM now has the time and money to do this and just needed the leadership with the will to move it forward. Well today we have that management. No more fighting over the cost of a Door handle for a couple bucks. Yes this was a great argument on the CT6 because some old school insiders felt they should save a couple bucks on the door handle.
If you want to be the standard you have to set the standard not just copy others and argue over 2 bucks a door handle.
Ya, I just thought a street version of Cadillac One – that doesn’t give away any secrets – well, it’d be cool and newsworthy.
Your basic oligarch doesn’t need all the stuff that wld compromise the security of ‘The Beast’ – it’s more like a Fender Custom Shop version of Clapton’s guitar, or Gibson’s Jimmy Page Les Paul.
Hey, just trying to keep Cadillac in the news – I could see Jay-Z and Queen Bey, or Kanye Kardashian rolling in one. Limited edish, couple hundred grand. Just an idea, waiting to be shot down…
xt5 is an fwd based unbalanced pos… ats-ct6 boring and dated looking cars for the 80 years old…. if gm wants young clients they must change the design and the attention to details. art and since is dated… also cadillac needs s coupe rival, s sedan rival, x5 rival…. cadillac needs big luxury cars…
I suppose you’ll want Cadillac’s big cars to have details like bench seating, side-skirts, chrome plated ashtrays, landau roofs, and a boomerang on the trunk lid.
I did look at the ATS and CTS at the Auto Show. They were in the section with all their true competitors. The hard edges are wearing well with age.
Now I would not recomend abandoning A&C at all but they need to continue to refine it. The CT6 looks much better with a softer touch. Did not like the tail as it looked chopped but that is subjective at best.
While Cadillac’ s existing design is not bad like any company it needs to evolved. So far only BMW has been permitted to get away for selling the same damn styling on a car for 35 years. Less the short issue with the Dame Edna look they had in the Bangel era.
The key here is to define their own look and not do as Lexus, Hyundai and Infinity to try to copy the Benz styling to the point from 50 yards they look alike.
The path to the future is there but it just needs to evolve.
Cadillac may have more independance now than ever , but you are not going to see them spin off as their own stand alone company . Johan still needs to get Mary’s approval on anything he wants to do . GM has investors and the stock holders to worry about . I don’t see Cadillac listed on the stock exchange .
It’s amazing to me how in the last few months a select few have kept telling us to wait until 2020 and thats the products coming from the new management team . Now the long winded opinion op-eds tells us it will take longer than that .
And we will see things coming from Cadillac that we have never seen before . Hell , thats the same for any new model coming from any automaker . oh and they will have their own engines and not have to share with anyone else . Thats nothing new, thats the way it used to be. Most of the divisions in the past had their own engines , remember the ” Rocket V-8 “.That was Oldsmobiles engine .
I also don’t have a problem seeing Cadillacs parked at a bingo-hall on a late Sunday night while the hall is full of rich old ladies playing a card game . Atleast they are driving a Cadillac . While their grandkids are tooling around in their BMW’s .
The move to New York is an experiment . If they were really serious about being autonomous they would have moved to Silicon Valley . Thats where they would really get in touch with young individuals ( yuppies ) and find out what they want in a vehicle . Instead of moving to mid town manhatten to the fashion district that changes every year . Plus most Manhattenites don’t even drive . Lots to learn there .
Cadillac has been in flux since the 1970’s ( and probably earlier than that ) when gas prices spiked and the onslaught of the Japanese really took ahold of our auto industry . We have never recovered from that .
I want Gen. X an Y and the Mill’s to buy Cadillacs , but they are saddled with so much college debt that alot of them are living back at their parents house in the basement . So Mr. Ellinghaus wants to focus on them for their revival , and forget the Baby Boomers . Selling fewer cars with higher TAP’s . Just who is going to buy their ” all new ” vehicles . Thank goodness for the Chinese , right !?
Now don’t blow this all out of shape here.
No Cadillac will remain a part of GM and it will continue to share platforms. But the choices they make and paths they chose and many of the details like engines etc will all be of their own doing.
My point is no more Cadillac’s based on Chevys with the same engine in my HHR.
Now if a platform is shared it will be a Cadillac first and then sent down to be a Chevy or Buick later.
The engines are the heart of the car and while the Chevy is a great engine it really does little to add to the Cadillac image. Now I am not just speaking about the V8 but mostly to the 3.6 and 2.0. Even the 3.0 is based on the Chevy but at least it has had some Cadillac only tuning with the TT.
As for time line yes it will start in 2020 but they are not going to revamp every single car in the line up in 5 years. You really need to learn how Automakers work and the time it takes to develop cars. You will get a CT8 and some SUV models along with a Revamp of the CTS and ATS into their new CT models.
Yes again you blew the statement of their own engine in the whole wrong direction. No it was done for years but it has been decades since GM has let Cadillac do it. They even forced them to share the N star. You are not that dim to know what I meant.
The move to NYC was for two reasons. While the PR says it was to be closer to the tends. The truth is more to the point. One they can attract better talent to NYC than Detroit. Not many of the best people in the industry would give up a classic Euro city to come to Detroit. Second to put space between them and Detroit to let them do what they want with no interference.
Yes people are not able to buy as many new cars younger but when you make them more profitable you do not need to sell a ton to any one age group. Spread it out over the entire age demo and it adds up. Yet you still make more money with a better car people will pay more to own.
FYI the ones who put in the time to get the right degrees and get the good grades do not live in someones basement. The ones who take philosophy or accounting do. Again Cadillac is not a car for everyone.
So if you are ok with the bingo halls and you think they are rich you are doomed to repeat the past.
My mother in law was a bingo hall Cadillac owner. She is doing ok but she is not really Cadillac material.
See you have the past to prove you wrong. In my case the future may prove me wrong but it still can prove me right on this. I have a chance but your vision has already failed and would do the same again.
Thank god for the Chinese, except for last month, according to a more recent post on page one – good for Buick, not so good for Cadillac.
Like double-digit-drop not so good.
Their economy’s hurting…
I disagree with Art and Science evolving further….it’s old and it must go….it has reached its limits with its bold soft edges…it has routes from the early 2000s and it is not suitable for the future.
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2016/03/cadillac-cmo-discusses-dare-greatly-and-how-it-reaches-to-a-younger-generation/#comments
Here is were we are at now. We have a damn good car that will only get better.
It is time to put it out there and let the market explore it and learn to accept it as one of the segment and trust it for what it really is this time.
In the past GM tried to sell a Catera or a FWD STS as the standard of the world. After all the false starts it will take time for people to learn and trust these are not the same cars. In the mean time they can get the rest of them in order.
Cadillac today is good enough to compete but their aim is to dominate.
What else do you want? Discounting is not going to fix anything. Selling cars to the 80 year olds are not going to solve anything.
Look a the story at the end here and just see where we were 10 years ago and you can put this into better perspective.
The Elmeraj styling would appeal to younger buyers and would put a fresh taste in the mouth….the current design language is so watered down and it’s getting a little stale..but it not a bad design…a few small changes to the exterior design could make a huge difference…this for future reference.