Despite having a lot of territory to cover before emerging as a true leader in the luxury space, Cadillac wants to be big in Japan. Today, the brand has taken a small step in the Land of the Rising Sun with the introduction of the Cadillac ATS Luxury Sport Edition. Never mind that the steering wheel is still on the wrong side for our Japanese friends, the ATS Luxury Sport was crafted to take on the popularity of German sport sedans in the country.
There are a few things going on here to make the ATS worthy of its badging. Foremost, the front clip has been reworked with a new lower lip, and the car sits on a set of bespoke 19-inch, V-spoke aluminum wheels.
The suspension setup has been slightly tweaked, too, offering a firmer ride to accompany the standard 2.0-liter LTG turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
The ATS Luxury Sport Edition will launch with only two color options — Sable Black and Crystal White — and carry a price of ¥5,290,000. For us yanks, that’s $49,801 (at current conversion rates)
Comments
It’s a start. Well kind of.
Cadillac CT6 Chief Engineer Travis Hester said it’s virtually impossible to integrate right hand steering into cars already in production and that it is something that needs to be addressed prior to production while still in the design phase meaning there won’t be right handed steering in any current production Cadillac and unless General Motors thinks there is sufficient sales to offset the cost of design, there may never be a right handed steering Cadillac ever because you’re not going to invest hundreds of millions for just a handful of buyers.
Agree that it is very costly to alter an existing platform to incorporate RHD but I disagree that there is potentially only a ‘handful of buyers’.
The other significant countries that are RHD are; United Kingdom, India and Australia amongst others.
Especially in the case of India it has the potential to be a significant market in the next 20 years or so. It is the last untapped large market left in the world. It could be another China without the unfair co-ownership requirements.
In Japan multiple times a year for extended periods. Not just Tokyo, but all over. 8 cities last trip, including the countryside.
Here is my take:
* GM screwed up its Japanese operations and image
* Yes, the Japanese are VERY protective of their industries and do not want full competition, no matter what they say about “free trade.”
* However, foreign car makers can succeed there like Merecedes, BMW, and Audi are doing right now. Hear that GM? The German makers, and others in smaller numbers, have been successful because they stayed the course LONG TERM, brought only their best cars (not the crap GM tried to sell to the Japanesfore who are very picky), adapted them to Japanese tastes a little but stayed true to being different, and made RIGHT-HAND drive vehicles!
* Sick of hearing “well, there are no sales so why right-hand drive?” from GM. BUILD THE DAMN THINGS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
* Foreign car makers can only succeed on the preimum end of the product line because of restrictive/ anti-competitive practices by the Japanese…BUT, Japanese also love quality and innovative styling, great performance and features. There is a boom in foreign car ownership.
* Bring Cadillac (CT6 customized for the Japanese), Corvette Z06, and only a selection of premium, well-tuned vehicles like the Germans are…INVEST IN THE LONG TERM…AMAZING DEALERSHIPS…AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE…AND NEVER RELENT. The Japanese wont settle for less, especially from a foreigner.
* Dont make excuses! See German success there recently.
My two cents and more.
Completely agree with your take on the Japanese market and what it will take for GM/Cadillac to have success there.
Do you think there is any lingering residual resentment towards any American companies due to World War 2?
It’s complicated, like most things in Japan, but there is really no lingering resentment except for a few extremist like anywhere who just dont like being on the losing side. The Japanese actually have a facination with many things American and will pay money to get quality American things. Sad part is GM doesnt understand the market or consumer there much, and have failed to gain any traction there when they could of. Not just GM, but Ford also.
GM could sell a lot of premium vehicles there with good profit margins, just like the Germans do. But they obviously dont know how to which is sad for such a big manufacturer. They need people who actually care and know Japan inside and out. Suck up the big manufacturer pride and sell small and focus on the long term. Be extremely anal about the details, everything from car color choice, interior options, RHD!, special features and packages for the “special” Japanese consumer, extreme level of customer service (GM could learn a thing or two in Japan about this), long-term, REAL relationships, sell unique image, and never give up.
Right now, GM is lost there and almost forgotten even if they have some damn good cars and trucks.
Maybe the Japanese postal service can use it for mail delivery – kind of like US Postal service uses RHD trucks and cars in the US!
Seriously, why are they even bothering? Just wait until you get it right. Although I did see a video of a GM concept car made to travel from England to continental Europe – RHD in England – then the steering column could be slid over to the LHD for the continent.
Some of you are very correct and some way off base.
It is very true that the Alpha is not easily changed over to RHD. It will take a major refresh of the platform that really was not considered at the time GM came out of Chapter 11. Be it a mistake or that they just did not consider the small segment of the market with RHD when they had so many other issues going on matters little now. What is done is done.
The present Cadillac management will have been there for about 2 years in August. At this point there was no way for them to have this platform ready with RHD for the small markets in such short notice.
As for now they are just working to get the cars in country as a known model and in this case it will be seen as a little exotic as not many will make the trip.
What should we take away from this move? Again this is big picture. SInce they are making the effort here even in LHD that shows we will get a RHD sooner than later. What does that mean? Well that shows us the RHD markets will see these cars globally as GM is not just going to make them for Japan.
Cadillac has had a lot of work put on them just in the last two years as pretty much all their plans were blown up with JDN and they are hard at work revamping the cars for out market let alone worrying if some guy in Yokohama has a Cadillac. The guy in LA is a bigger concern for now.
As for the others it is easy for them to do RHD as they have had them for decades.
Yes it was a mistake to have not addressed this from the start but the people who did that are pretty much gone. The folks left in charge now are doing all they can do with the money and man power they have. Like the Stones said You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you get what you need.
Japan, England and Australia buy cars in smaller numbers than many states and while they will be important in the future you have to consider they are not as important at the moment as Texas, California and New York.
As for now these small number of cars will introduce the name and the intentions of Cadillac and bring brand and model awareness. It is more about marketing than making a profit. Lets just call this planting the seed till it matures. As for marketing it is never too early to start as it takes longer to make brand awareness than it is for the product itself.
GM is doing the right thing here taking Cadillac to Japan first as the higher prices will help make them more profitable than trying to sell a high volume model like a Cruze.
Also the status factor. There is interest in Cadillac there unlike in Chevy. The status with the younger people is pretty high with some. I know we ship many parts to japan for two cars One is the Camaro and other is Cadillac as there are many with older models and they are not cheap to buy or own and hold great status.
The way I see it you have to start some where some time to establish the name and recognition and you may as well start now and let this grow. It is like the rest of Cadillac as it has to grow it’s image and you can not speed that cycle up no matter what you do.
There are no excuses at this point just time and man power is needed to do it all. Worrying about Japan right now while rebuilding the entire line is worrying about your chipped toe nail while the whole foot was broken. If care is not taken for the entire foot here in the states the Chipped Nail in Japan will never matter.
To be honest Japan may be a market where the new XT5 would do very well as the size and they love tall boxy models. I wonder if they have plans for it. Remember this is the country that has imported many Astro Vans as they loved them. They are part of what inspired cars like the Element.
Why Cadillac why??? This is the car you need to be selling here in your own back yard! Instead we get small wheels with ridiculously large wheel gaps and no true sport edition at all. I want to smack every person at Cadillac and tell them to wake up and get with the times.
Agree that Cadillac missed the opportunity to do a MCE to the ATS and address some of it’s shortcomings and broaden it’s appeal.
High on that list would be a V-Sport model or a Sport appearance package of some kind. Also update the dash and centre console.
Problem solved.. If Cadillac want to spread their brand worldwide to Right Hand Drive markets then keep the Holden plant in Australia open to produce what was the VF commodore and re-badge it to be a Cadillac with all the trimmings for the RTD markets. The front wheel drive Commodore replacement would still go ahead but if Aussies really wanted their rear drive sedan they could still get one at a price with all the bells added at a price. I’m sure it would raise Cadillac’s presence worldwide
Cadillac is trying desperately to get away from rebadging existing models.
There is no reason to go backwards with the Vf Commodore.
This would solely be for RTD markets not for the US as we all remember Opel Omega re-badged as Cadillac Catera was sold there, the Americans wouldn’t touch it. This would only be to raise the Cadillac brand in RTD markets so someday Cadillac could see the economic sense to develop RTD Cadillacs
Cadillac needs to use and update the existing platforms to develop RHD. Does not make much business sense to use Holden plant in Australia and they can put use all of the resources efficiently here in Detroit rather than building one particular car in three different plants.
I was thinking more of a “stop gap” to get a RHD Caddy (re-badged Commodore exclusively for RHD market) into the RHD markets now to promote the brand as a luxury performance brand, then as the brand is increasing it’s presence there Cadillac could develop RHD into their future platforms to be manufactured in US. You say that it makes no sense to use Holden plant for RHD Cadillacs rather than using all resources in Detroit? Cadillac already builds CT6’s in China and will be importing the PHEV version into the US