If you ever have a listen to what Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen has to say regarding his brand’s status in the United States, it’s pretty positive. Cadillac is making more money than ever on each car sold. With stricter incentives and less cash on the hood of each Cadillac, it makes for a brighter picture.
However, it’s dim when three Cadillac vehicles round out 247WallStreet’s list of “Top Cars Americans Don’t Want To Buy.” Here, each one of Cadillac’s cars (yes, cars, not crossovers or SUVs) except the CT6 make up part of the 15 vehicles listed.
The Cadillac ELR places worst, with an average 208.6 days spent on the dealer lot before finding a home. Cadillac has stated it has no plans to move the ELR into a second-generation, so it’s not too worrisome.
The Cadillac CTS and ATS are represented here, too. The CTS spends an average 141.3 days on the lot, and the ATS an average 153.3 days. That said, sales numbers for both the ATS, CTS and ELR have grown year over year. So, depending the the metrics you look at, Cadillac sales can be either bleak, or sunny.
Comments
For those of us in the U.S. who prefer to drive a car (all 25 of us, or so) instead of a SUV, CUV, truck, etc., the Cadillac ATS/CTS is a viable option. I took delivery of a ’16 ATS RWD Premium in November; fantastic automobile; can’t say enough good things about it. It will take time for the mind-set that BMW, Mercedes cars are ‘better’ (my next door neighbor has a ’13 BMW 5 series that is in the shop more than in his garage); it is also good to drive something that is more rare than the ‘me, too!’ BMW 3 series running around.
“It will take time for the mind-set that BMW, Mercedes cars are ‘better’ (my next door neighbor has a ’13 BMW 5 series that is in the shop more than in his garage)”
CSReports lists Audi, Lexus, Porche, BMW, Buick, Volvo, Mercedes, Lincoln, Acura, and Infiniti as better brands than Cadillac. I wonder if that has something to do with it?
John: If I want to buy a washing machine, I check CR; if I want to buy a car, I check “Car and Driver”, “Automobile”, etc.
David,
I will take issue with your reasoning. Only enthusiast read Automobile, Road & Track and Car & Driver. Ordinary consumers read Consumers Report, and a whole lot more read CR than probably all of the auto enthusiast magazines in total. Just as a side note, I subscribe to all of the auto magazines and CR.
If you are familiar with CR you will find that the CTS is on their recommended list because it test scores high and the reported reliability rating is average. The ATS is tested fairly high but the reported reliability has been poor since it was introduced. The Escalade is tested poorly and the reliability is also not good.
I too am perplexed about the sales of the CTS. I have had a CTS Premium since February and am so far thrilled with the vehicle, far and away the most satisfying vehicle ever owned, and so far no recalls or returns to the dealership for warranty work. Sadly the 2014 ATS Premium I had was a reliability nightmare, totally unbecoming of a premium vehicle. The car was beautiful and fun to drive, but entirely way too many visits to the service department.
Sadly, only a consistent reputation for building quality vehicles will erase the stigma of 30-40 years of mediocrity.
Martin there are many places more qualified and better suited to review cars than CR.
CR tries to be an expert at all things and qualify things by one matrix and in the real world that does not exist. Would you go to Steak House for the Vegan platter?
This is a magazine that will praise the quality of a GMC Yukon and commend the quality of a Tahoe built on the same line by the same people in the same plant.
Too often they fall back on reader feed bag and so many of these readers struggle to put air in their tires let alone understand the intricately of an modern automobile. Their reviews are much like Amazon where you can toss the high and the low out and kind of find the truth in hiding. The fact is so few people who are happy review generally it is the pound of flesh people or too often plants for praise. I know as I see our own replies where I work. No customers are not always honest in their assessments.
With that being said this story is more hype than truth and they even admit to it inpart.
Here is the truth
#10 ATS. GM has had trouble this year with some decline in sales as this car ages. It is only now getting some changes and late next year may be replaced with a updated Alpha with a CT name.
Lease deals are down and they should have pulled back on production. Keep in mind declines in their segment a 10% decline can be a small number of cars per month. It is not like this is a Camry where 10% drops can be tens of thousands of cars.
#9 Kia is the lost soul. They are trying to take them more up market but people already buy Hyundai. They have more work to do to find their place. As of now it is a car lost in a very competitive segment.
#8 For one it is a Volvo and this one is at the end of it’s life. Sale will drop. Also keep in mind Volvo is now Chinese. This may affect Cult status with some of their followers?
#7 Ok you take a already slow selling and under performing Fiat and make it longer. Do I need to say more? FCA is facing a revolt with dealers as they are not happy with the slow sales of their cars. Many dealers are bailing out if they can. Fiat has more issues than just the 500L.
#6 XTS. Oldest Cadillac and basically left for service and fleet sales. What more do you need to know? The CT6 has replaced this car.
The only reason the XTS was done was the CT6 was a ways out and the XTS was already done long back in the banruptcy era. The design was shelved till they had money and it was only used to buy time.
#5 The Verano. This was a car Buick tried to see how it would work. It did ok but did not set the world on fire. But that is ok as sales in China have paid for all the tooling and any other cost here so there really was little to lose in risk. It is an old car and again one soon to be replaced. drop off sales are expected anyways. No suprise here to those who know what the hell is going on at Buick.
#4 Two things one it is a Coupe and Two it is a Infinity. Also the overseas sales will carry this one so it was worth their risk.
#3 ELR What the Hell? It was a question no one asked and just was one of the few bad decisions GM has made post bankruptcy. I expect we will not see a repeat of this again.
#2 GT-R. For one they do not sell many. Two they are replacing this car soon with more power and more updated styling. What else do I need to add. Just look at the last year of sales for any sports car and there is a drop off.
#1 This one is a real problem as it should see big volumes as it is a cheap affordable car and it is a Honda. It just give proof that even Honda can miss it on models. To sell under 4,000 unit here is a really big issue for this car and Honda. I expect to see them make changes soon as they do not rest long if they do make a mistake. Gas prices did not help but it has not hit other small cars as bad with worse reps than the Honda.
Cadillac still has to earn it’s image and reputation back. They have started on that and will continue to grow that. But it take time and continued investment. We are far from hitting the panic button at this point as we have a lot of things coming.
To be honest to sell as many old ATS as they have is pretty amazing in this SUV, CUV market. The segment is stagnate for all.
Also the media appears to like to be misleading on this story. They for years have loved to pile on GM. At time it was fair but many times it is not fair as they are just looking for click bate on the web.
As for reliability we have a good number of ATS owners at work and they all love the cars and have not had any major issues.
Just to note I pass a Benz/Toyota dealer every night and their bays are not empty either. I know they are not all there for Tires and oil too.
I will be the first to admit Cadillac has a lot of work to do. But I also know they have a lot of pending programs and pending investment we have yet to see and that will continue the path to where they need to be.
Unlike Chrysler that is declining with the old 300 and the lack of love and funding from FCA GM is feeding Cadillac so they will grow and improve.
It will not be a fast of painless trip but Cadillac has ever chance of making this work.
Scott
Humbly disagree! Most motorist could care how sharp a vehicle handles and whether it gets to 60 in 4.2 or 8 seconds. Most want a reliable vehicle just like they want a reliable washer refrigerator and lawn mower. Why American vehicles are at an inherent consideration disadvantage is their history of poor reliability.
GM, by many metrics including JP Power, is the most reliable automaker aside from Toyota and Mazda so let’s not try to lump GMC or Cadillac with Jeep and Dodge.
In mixed on CR. I like that the review isn’t done by a “car guy” but instead a quality expert. This is why the Chevrolet Impala best industry favorites like the Lexus ES. On the flip, Consumer Reports is devoid of passion hence the live for Toyota.
Martin my point is just that CR is not as reliable in this metric as people are lead to believe.
Just as we have here the reviews at CR are just as they are here and on Amazon more opinion vs fact.
The fact is I can take about any car and show you a number of issues they all face. None are perfect and dew have major issues anymore.
The fact is if there is an issue it is often a supplier issue not a design in most cases. Yes there are still a few design issues like the Chrysler shifters and such but most are limited supplier issues and I see them daily from Toyota to Benz.
Collecting a limited number of opinions from someone who subscribes to a magazine is not the best way to collect Data.
JD Powers is a little better but even then I still not put 100% stock in that either.
Reviews by owners are like polls for elections mock drafts in football and we know how often these are correct.
Getting info on what is wrong with a model is difficult as most companies will not supply that info nor are the owners always that accurate and unbiased.
JD Powers is the closest thing we have but it is even lacking at times when you can take two nearly identical models and see two totally different results. Just as my Example of a GMC Vs a Chevy with the same everything built in the same plant they can come up with two totally different results. This is a true reflection of owner bias and or loyalty.
I would if you believe these polls to also use care on the Amazon ratings too as they are far from accurate most times.
The bottom line is one needs to educate themselves on a model but use car be it Car and Driver or Consumer Reports to know that these are just opinion reviews. At least with a car magazine it is done most times by someone who know the industry and the cars inside and out vs just a reader and a few guys at a test track.
Consider how often that CR will market a performance car down for ride? Or a luxury car down for too soft a ride. You have to keep things also in context and they fail doing that often.
You can not measure an entire industry to a standard of a Camry or Civic.
Scott
My point is you can read all the enthusiast magazines you want and they contain absolutely zilch information on reliability history–most important factor to general purchasing public,
As far as bias goes, that exists in the enthusiast magazines. I can think of many comparison tests where the performance winner is not picked strictly because of subjective factors like interior and exterior styling or exhaust tone!
And I never said they did not cover the reliability factor as most are just covering new cars with no history. At least they are honest in that respect as in many cases not enough info can be had.
My point is where and how CR gets their info.
Lets put this into better perspective. You can go to a car show judged by trained judges who know what to look for or you can go to one where the participants vote on the cars.
The results of the pro judges tend to play to the cars that truly stand out to the judging criteria given for the show.
As for the participant vote it tends to lead to a popularity contest and cars that are not judged on their true merits.
My point is CR is flawed also many public reviews are not as accurate as they should be.
JD Powers is as about as close as they come yet they too could be a little more accurate.
The fact is some of us know better on what is over rated and underrated as we have fixed or dealt with these cars on a professional level for many years.
This is why we laugh at some that take the word of someone they have no qualifications to report on a cars advice.
Bias is everywhere but when you use a standard to measure all brands and models that is a set criteria it takes much of that out. When we see inconstant results we really tend to discount these critics.
CR is not consistent with reality.
Scott
Recent j d power report on 3 yr old vehicles had no Cadillacs as reliability winners! Please no GM bias because all the other divisions had segment winners.
Your analysis of Kia is weak. Firstly, many buyers do not know about the brand’s affiliation with Hyundai. Furthermore, each marquee does have unique traits and driving dynamics in addition to design language. Controlling two brands, while this may buck business school think, has allowed Hyundai Group to mitigate costs and grow share at an astounding rate.Kia it’s far from an afterthought and one of the few Asian brands to capture both design and qualit .
Hyundai and Kia are pretty much the Korean Chevy and Pontiac. It also not a bug secret to many in the market for cars like these they are now part of the same family.
The fact is they are like GM and have two established brands that are making money so are you going to close one. So they have a forgettable model in a very tough segment so do many others.
I really don’t care about people’s personal anecdotes and opinions. Except when they are in mass. Then an overall opinion begins to emerge.
That is what Consumer Reports is, like it or not people. We all know it may not be the ideal source of such information but 1.) there isn’t a better source and 2.) lesser sources generally back up their findings. For instance: Fiat sucks everywhere… not just CSRs.
Consumer Reports is WHY I bought my first GM (or American brand) ever. Buick is highly rated. That’s a good thing. Cadillac is below virtually every other luxuryish brand.
Agreed, and Buick does fantastic with other quality indexes, too. So does GMC.
CR named Buick Regal best sport sedan besting BMW, Benz, Cadillac and Audi. In addition, Impala received CR’s highest score EVER!
I don’t see any anti GM bias.
I am glad you bought a Buick but the CR results are more about the owners of Buicks vs. the true nature of the car.
The reality is the Buick, Cadillac and Chevys are all built to the same or nearly the same standards with only a change in options and levels of trim. Many are built on the same lines by the same people today. Case in Point a Encore may rate higher than the Trax but yet they are nearly the same vehicle.
Note too that in reviews Buick owners tend to be older, they tend to be more loyal and they tend to be more than likely to buy American cars vs. a Chevy owners. This would lean to a Buick having a more stable ownership base.
Toyota also has a loyal following as the Camry is not as good of a car as it once was. But yet they still sell a hell of a lot of them.
In this market there are few bad cars and most loyalties are due to personal opinion. That does not make a car good or bad just popular or not as popular.
“Toyota also has a loyal following as the Camry is not as good of a car as it once was. But yet they still sell a hell of a lot of them.”
This one sentence reveals every last thing wrong with your peculiar position against CSR.
1. If Camry wasn’t as good as it once was is irrelevant. The topic is if CSR has properly ranked Toyota compared to other car makers this last year or so. You’re inferring that CSR is so flawed they allow owners mislead them about car quality. If that was true Honda would be above Buick. But isn’t. STRIKE ONE
2. To say Toyota has a loyal following fails to address that so do other competing car companies. And so that’s irrelevant. STRIKE TWO
3. Sales have nothing to do with CSRs ratings. STEEEERIKE THREE
The topic isn’t sales but if CSR is the best source of info regarding car ranking.
*****************
I hear that CSRs isn’t an ideal way to review cars. But it is fairly reasonable and there’s nothing better.
But John here is the flaw in your example.
Take the Trax and Encore. Same model just different trim and option packages put together by the same Koreans.
The Verano. This car is pretty much the same thing mechanically as the Cruze. It is in another plant but uses the same assembly methods.
The Lacrosse. Same plant and line as the Malibu. Yet one is better on the same line? They share most of the same mechanical but the V6.
The Enclave. Using the same mechanical bits and the GMC and the Chevy. They even built the Saturn version. So why are they all rated different? Does the lancing plant spend extra time on a Buick over the other platform mates. I think not.
I can go on if you like?
The fact is they are not consistent and flawed results. I assume you believe all you read on Amazon reviews too?
The other flaw also is how many people who post reviews are Toyota owners so you can quantify the results?
CR also degrades cars scores for some of the most asinine things also.
I agree there are not many good reviews out there but there is no way in hell that CR is one of the better ones.
Like I have clearly stated you can not take twins and rank one lower than the other when all things are equal. That is a clear case of subjective review and that is clearly not lending credibility to the results.
If you are buying a car because a magazine told you then you either have zero faith in yourself, or enjoy doing what other people tell you to do.
See guys like you love to buy things based on what a magazine says so when it fails or goes bad you can say well it’s not my fault I purchased the car, it was highly rated by this magazine.
I this weal minded world we live in now days that insist that other people solve all of our problems is pathetic!
You DONT NEED A Magazine TO Tell YOU WHAT To Buy!
There is inherent bias built into how CR gets it’s reviews. Consumers can skew the results easier than you think.
I don’t think they intentionally skew things but they do test things that are not always relevant.
Also they rely on readers reviews and that is like asking a lunatic how he feels about his padded cell. Needs less to say it is not always an educated or informed feedback.
That is why the results are not always representative of the true picture of a vehicle.
Generally clients who are happy with their purchase do not make as much noise as those that are unhappy.
Squeaky wheel syndrome.
And that is the way it should be! With today’s technology great reliable cars should be the norm.
As a side note CRs recommendations are based upon their test results and customer reported reliability reports! It is not just one or other. Equinox has average reliability rating which allows it to be recommended but doesn’t score highly enough in their tests do not recommend. ATS scores highly enough In test but has been rated poor reliability by owners since introduction–also not recommended.
The problem is they will take a vehicle like a Nox and rate it average and then take an identical model like a Terrain and rate it better. But yet only the styling is different.
This inconsistency is always suspect of their ratings.
I feel it is due to the fact they relay on a limited sector of the market [subscribers] to do their work.
Here is where that goes wrong. Not only are subscribers not always very informed even on their own cars but the number of surveys per model is never consistent either. You can get a car like a Camry with 300K units sold and have a large number of reported issues but still show a small percentage. On the other hand you can get a car that sells 30k units and a small number shows as a larger percentage of issues.
Their way of doing business is not even or balanced.
In many cases they are like political poles. Polarizing at best.
Scott
I have seen no difference in CR ratings for Equinox/Terrain, Silverado/Sierra, Yukon/Tahoe. All the cousins are rated the same, not recommended!
Being the owner of a 2014 CTS, I don’t understand why the car isn’t selling. At first it was too expensive, but since the price was reduced, I think its a decent value. The only possible explanation is that the advertising campaign sucks. Cadillac should review Mercedes TV spots, most are excellent and show the car in ACTION. Cadillac TV spots are pretty lame.
I can understand why the ATS isn’t selling…its just not a good value. It simply is not worth the price.
“I don’t understand why the car isn’t selling. The only possible explanation is that the advertising campaign sucks.”
CSReports lists Audi, Lexus, Porche, BMW, Buick, Volvo, Mercedes, Lincoln, Acura, and Infiniti as better brands than Cadillac. I wonder if that has something to do with it?
The Cadillacs are under rated. We are out of a mini and 3 BMWs. I left my 750iL for an Escalade, my wife’s for an ATS that she uses commuting and my daughters are in Veranos. All drive well and less hassle than the BMWs and Mini. I got out of my 750, not because of cost, it was still under full maintenance (not like oil changes Cadillac gives) and full warranty, but because of the time I had to spend taking it to service. The ATS has over 80,000 commuter miles with no problems, once we got past all the recalls. One Verano has over 75,000 miles with nothing but regular maintenance, oil, brakes.
I agree as others have said, advertising extremely poor, pricing is poor as management is stubborn to provide a price advantage. Cadillac will eventually increase in sales under the current President but no one alive today will be around to see that happen.
The Mercedes AMG-GT aside, with the public’s move more toward buying more SUV/Crossovers, I’d bet Mercedes has a great inventory of sedans sitting on dealer lots. In addition, they also have a ton of off lease sedans sitting on those lots as well.
I took an extended test drive in the ELR and it’s really a wonderfully executed piece of machinery that’s a very good, green upscale car. At the time it’s price was way too high which doomed it from the start. Really a shame because I would have bought one for $60 K, but never for the $85K asking price of the one I drove. Now I did buy a 2014 ATS Performance with the 3.6L engine for $38K. The sticker was almost $50K which is too much for this car. The ATS is actually really good. It corners like it’s on rails, stops great, has great acceleration performance with its 323 hp V-6 and I’ve averaged 25.7 mpg over 20K miles and in obsession red with those great Cadillac signature waterfall lights up front it looks cool. Not sure why the CTS isn’t selling, it looks good and has very good numbers.
There is no question that recent Cadillac products are on par with it’s main rivals. The issue is that customer perception is not equal to that reality.
Unless Cadillac does a better job of getting that message out there they will continue to lose the mindshare war and have difficulty moving units at a price comparable to their rivals.
With all that being said they are still years away from any real change on that front.
I think you are right. Cadillac product is as good as its rivals. It needs to be the GM corporate and Media that need to push the product better and advertise it better as well to get the public to check them out and see for themselves how good they really are.
Long way to the top from here.
Cadillac, unfortunately, is the AOL of luxury-sphere. Or Netscape.
“We were cool, then we were uncool, but trust us – now we’re cool again.”
That’s a tough sell.
You nailed it with the AOL analogy. Restoring a damaged brand is probably harder than building up a new brand from scratch. Especially when dealing in the pissing contest called luxury.
CR weak ranking doesn’t help either. Nor does Art and Science design which, after more than a decade, has failed to catch on.
I’m convinced “me, too” plays an outsized role in buying decisions. This is the only explanation as to why brands like Cadillac, Mazda, Volvo and Jaguar are stuck in first gear while sub par rivals thrive.
coupes and sedans will lose the war to SUV/CUVs in the future….and to say…the ELR looks so hideous.
Perhaps if some senior executive would not announce a new confusing naming convention every time he changes jobs, and try to collect higher prices, the sales results might be better. He worked wonders for Infiniti…. NOT.
I test drove a CTS-4, with the 4 CYL Turbo.. It’s a decent car, but overpriced IMHO.
Overpriced is a relative term.
It is priced average in relation to it’s competitive set but since the brand perception is low it seems overpriced.
The CTS you mention, for instance, is competitive in all facets compared to the E-Class, 5 Series, A6, and others in objective testing however it is perceived inferior in quality, brand awareness and prestige.
Cadillac could lower the price of the CTS and make is a better value (bang for the buck) that would most likely boost volume but would that help the brand in the future when it tries to sell $100K CT6’s, CT8’s, Escalades and whatever high buck models they have planned?
I do not think so.
I say stay the course. Sacrifice volume, especially in the higher priced segments, for the sake of better residuals, higher ATP’s (profit per car) and brand building.
Well, there are parts of the business plan that make a lot of sense – Johan said, last week, that they ‘want to have their margins up to 11% ‘within ten years’. I think BMW’s @ 15% now.
But … I find it frustrating when GM backs of away from planting some really special flags like the Elmiraj or the Avista. Those, I think, would make people go ‘hmm.’ And the Escalade, I hope there’s a refresh in that.
So don’t tell us you’re different – show us. That Elmiraj tells me something’s markedly different – the CT6, not so much.
100%. Ciel, Elmiraj = Art. ATS = science. We need science, but people collect art.
Buyers set prices, not sellers, and that is especially true in the auto market where there are tons of alternatives. If demand is insufficient then the product is overpriced. Cadillac isn’t just sacrificing volume by ignoring market pressures, it’s sacrificing relevance. They can’t build a brand if they are unwilling to compete.
Agreed that the vehicles are more than competitive, objectively. I would buy one and I love the CT6. However, the brand is not, and the correct price is a reflection of both components.
Overpriced brands and products die. No exceptions.
I think their styling is still too conservative. I would expect something a bit more exciting from a brand with design heritage such as Cadillac’s.
And the sad part is that people will read this article and never step foot on a Cadillac lot . People looked at the ELR as nothing but a Volt with Cadillac badgeing . The price didn’t help either . The ATS and CTS are great automobiles that a good portion of the consumer knows little about them . And with all the bad press the CUE system has gotten since it was introduced hasn’t helped either . The Cadillac dealership in my area doesn’t keep many of either one of these cars on their lot because they don’t sell . And just 10 miles away is where they are produced . If they do get an interested customer they can pull it from the assembly plants inventory . another thing is that even though the two cars are built in our community you hardly ever see one on the road .
It is going to take a complete redesign of them to help sell them and that isn’t going to happen for the next 4 MY’s.
In this market it is hard to compete with the CUV/SUV craze . And some of it too may be the perception people have of a small car being a Cadillac . That would be something the older generation doesn’t want .
To grab a younger customer is where the real work needs to be . If you replaced the crest and Cadillac logo with the 3-pointed star or 4 circled and escpecially a kidney shaped grill , the cars wouldn’t sit so long on the dealers lots . It;s an image thing for the new yuppies . JDN has work to do in making Cadillac cool .
Let’s not forget about the XTS, the car that just keeps selling and selling. It is closest to being like what a traditional Cadillac is for those of us on the far side of 50 who have a lot of car buying years left in us. It outsold the CTS last year let’s not forget.
Good point but generally cars like the XTS do nothing to build the brand and allow for higher ATP’s.
Vehicles like the XTS are what add to the ‘old Cadillac’ stigma.
What about tall wagons replacing sedans in the future….RWD V8 tall wagons ???
Cadillac’s ELR is the absolute worst and this is Cadillac’s own fault as there’s no money spent in advertisement for the model as well as the fact that Cadillac has announced their decision to halt development and is reason why unlike the Volt, there is no GEN 2 ELR as selling a DEAD car that is expensive is very difficult.
This ELR is too much, ridiculously, expensive, for what it actually gives its owner. Period.
No great interior volume. No great dynamics (not nearly enough oomph under the hood for the price). And no really fancy brand to back it up. Cadillac is a sort of a commodity, in a sense – this is not something like Maserati or whatever, after all. It’s just some sort of glorified 1st gen Chevy Volt. For more than double the price. Fits some target group – I guess, like some wealthy downtown yappies without kids – but many of them will still prefer some other fancy coupe, I guess.
I personally think it was a sort of curiosity side project at Cadillac division, probably, something like XLR before (but ELR is even much less successful), and they never really had serious selling ambitions themselves regarding this ELR, so they’ll just let it die out quietly in a few years.
Dealer lot in 2018:
– [Customer] What’s this?
– [Salesman] This is a nice 2015 Cadillac ELR with electrified powertrain!
(read: we still have some unsold leftovers here).
🙂
Cadillac has to make commercials demonstrating how the Cadillac of today share nothing with the sofa with wheels of yesteryear like how cars like the new 2016 Cadillac CT6 uses patented manufacturing technology which allows the CT6 to be as much as a thousands lighter than their German and Asian competitors.
I don’t think the big sofas on wheels will ever come back…the CT6 looks nothing like them and if you compare it to the big burges 40 years ago the CT6 will look like a small fastback slab-sided jellybean with half a trunk next to a 1977 Deville….I think the CT6 is better off as a tall Wagon with much more style…I think it will look 100 times better and attractive as a tall Wagon than as a sedan.
I really enjoy reading the comments here. CR, C&D, MT, R&T, Automobile…etc I take them all with a grain of salt and pintch my nose to swallow their BS. Example, MT will list 8 best family sedans and another magazine will hsve the same cars (same month ussue!) in a different order. Most Americans are harder on American cars because they were told imports are better (Japanese & German cars).
I really like how Cadillacs are Chevys and Buicks all dressed up. Isn’t that the same thing as Skoda and Seat dressed up Volkswagens or Audis and Porsches? Imagine if Bently, Bugatti and Lambroghini had Skoda or Seat parts!
Americans think Volkswagens are too expensive…that’s because they’re not Hondas or Toyotas. In Germany Volkswagens are BMW level because they run on the Autobahn.
Chevys, Pontiacs and Buicks as Opels, Vauxhalls and Holdens in Europe and Australia get much more respect, as other American “things” do.
Volkswagen had to dumb down the Passat to make it even with Accord and Camry. You do realize the North American Passat is not what’s offered in Germany.
Remember the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix? Every article I read said the Vibe was a better car. The Toyota Corolla and Chevy Prizm, same car but to most people Toyota and Lexus, Honda and Acura, Nissan and Infinti are like a religion or cult. It’s quite alright to give Audi what they’re asking for the A3 and BMW for the 2 Series coupe and Mercedes for anything, but Cadillacs are too expensive…for whom…the same people buying the Tesla Model S? That car out sales the Leaf, Volt, Prius…and everything else.
I’m an American who knows cars. Besides the F-150 and Silverado I wouldn’t consider any of the best selling or most popular cars sold here. Just turn to CNN and see who America wants for President!
Buy what you want, CR, C&D, R&T, Motor Trend, Automobile, Top Gear, 5th Gear, Motor Week all are there to entertain you and choose their personal favorites. Mercedes Benz with Chrysler…both companies screwed up and I never consider either…except for a Jeep Wrangler or Cherokee.
I agree that Cadillac could use some more exciting advertising, but people could also get their fat butts of the sofas and visit a dealer or Auto Show. If people don’t know by 2016 that Cadillac is not making the same cars from 1977, then they need to be driving a Lincoln.
Has anybody noticed that since each import had been introduced how they grow 2 or 3 inches every few years? Even in my job I remember Hertz confirming a Corolla instead of a Camry as a mid- size car…this was over ten years ago and now it’s totally accepted. It’s acceptable for Germans and Japanese SUVs to be huge, but an Escalade is a monster. Compare the length, width and wheelbase of just the Luxury models and see who’s the real monster…visually too.
I recently purchased a CTS due to the reviews and hype around how much Cadillac has improved. What a complete disappointment. The car is nothing but an overpriced Chevy with poor fit and finish, a dealer network that couldn’t define luxury or customer service if they had to, and quality issues that should not be seen in any car, let alone one pretending to be luxury. I have always been an “American” car guy, but my past few experiences have been mostly bust between Caddy, Chrysler, and Ram.