We’ve been following Cadillac’s journey into this decade closely. It’s been a wild ride so far. We’ve seen leadership changes, new marketing strategies and a few notable products to help sway luxury customers back into Cadillac’s court.
Thus far, things are looking up, but are far from where Cadillac wants to be. According to a new report from WardsAuto, Cadillac isn’t simply banking on great products to do the work—it wants to create an impeccable customer experience.
“Cadillac has been around for 115 years, and at one point was the standard of the world, larger than life,” said Eric Angeloro, a marketer for the brand. “In my family, when you made it, you owned a Cadillac. We need to get that back.”
“How do we change the customer experience and the evolving customer expectation? The way to do that is to put the customer in the center.” Cadillac has a few ideas.
Foremost, he described Cadillac Connective. The initiative is akin to digital chat room for customers to share their experiences, tell stories and engage with Cadillac itself. “We see this community as an extension of the brand,” Angeloro says. “It’s outwitting traditional marketing.”
Cadillac takes what is learned from the initiative, disseminates the information, and returns back to the community with a representation. Then, Cadillac earns valuable feedback. Â Additionally, GM engineers and designers participate in “ask me anything” sessions monthly.
All of the preparation and marketing research will come to a head next year when Cadillac begins a new-product assault. The brand has plans for two new vehicles every year through 2020.
Comments
I like the sound of this! The customer experience is probably the most important factor in building cache and maintaining brand loyalty!
Sorry, but experience can be as customer centrist as possible, but if product is not top-notch, don’t waste the time and money!
As much as I love Cadillac (not so much the people in charge), I HIGHLY doubt that they will actually listen to , and address customer suggestions and complaints. If they had actually listened to their customer, WE WOULD HAVE A F*&KING VOLUME KNOB BY NOW!!
Amen! They also wouldn’t be placing shiny Bose insingnias on package shelf speakers so they reflect in center of rear window every sunny day and the super-Cheap super scuffable hard plastic lower door pillar cover included even on the $90K CT6 Platinum!
Cadillac could replace the CT6 with a larger and more luxurious car…
CT6: from $54.000
future replacement from $88.000
the future Cadillac flagship could be as good as the Germens with a slight smaller price.
Does your smartphone have one? Knobs and buttons are the past, Haptic feedback and touch screen are the future, just look at your refrigerator and washer/dryer…….
My iPhone does have volume buttons on the side. I love Cadillac’s and I recently had 2 in my garage. I mostly use the controls on the steering wheel to get to most functions. I have a new Z06 which does have a volume knob to got along with the touch screen as well as steering wheel controls.
I don’t play with my phone while driving. Do you?
Ummmm…… all of my appliances do have real buttons and knobs, and i’m pretty sure almost every washer has a knob for load size selection.
Wasn’t customer experience one of Johan’s primary initiatives?
Not knocking him – I suspect the reality of the dealership council may have affected that.
And … spending too much time in Soho may skew your view that all is well out there.
Alternatively, spending too much time in a Cadillac dealer in Duluth will definitely skew your perception of the world of luxury products.
True.
But you’d suspect the dealership experience isn’t the ‘Pinnacle Experience’ the mktng team envisioned early-on.
Well, something’s gotta give. A lot of dealers don’t like Pinnacle or the Soho flagship template, but I don’t think inflatable waving arm guys, lamppost streamers, and a Keurig in the waiting room are representative of something trying to become ‘the Standard of the World’ again.
If you want to go back upmarket where Cadillac belongs, it can’t look cheap or cut corners in the user experience at any step along the way.
indeed….the CT6 looks cheap inside and out and the ride is too harsh and stiff for a Cadillac flagship….the CT6 is undersized too…..for Cadillac to stop being a tarnished brand
it will have to
get rid of the cheap plastic and materials.
give the Cadillacs real Cadillac designs like the Elmeraj and Ceil.
give the Cadillac the top technology.
give them great rides.
move the flagship up to the $100.000 dollor level.
Do you have to hijack every comment section when you realize nobody is listening to you?
If Caillac belonged upmarket it would be there.
It was, and still is, and, as the product portfolio unfolds it ill be even more important….
Cadillac really needs to get serious….$90.000 dollars for a larger CTS with cheap plastic and materials witch is the CT6….NO THANKS.
When is the last time you drove one. The most advanced chassis in the industry……800 lbs. lighter than an S Class …..all wheel steering………the best sound system of any……….and, in late 2017, V2V communication, SuperCruise, and CUE2……and all for thousands less than MB,Audi, BMW, and Lexus…..
Yeah sure John, By late 2017 Cadillac will be so far further removed from buyer’s consideration the CT6 will be moving maybe 500 units a month so it won’t really matter will it? MB, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Infinity, Jaguar, Acura, and even the new Genesis brand will all be so far ahead as to make the CT6 irrelevant.
The issue with dealerships is it’s on the owner and magenemt to ensure a good customer experience. There are good and not so good dealerships in this regard, just like a restaurant or retail chain can have good and not so good stores. Corporate (aka Cadillac bosses) can put together a good program but it has to be carried out well on the frontlines for it to be effective
I remember a time when whispering zone complaint produced the dealer principal stating that the customer’s happiness was the only concern.
Now we have Pinnacle. All hat, no cattle.
The hat leads. The cattle doesn’t, and the dealers aren’t leading anyone to their doors with their appearances of being cut-rate and cheap.
No matter how little you think of it, at the very least Pinnacle looks and feels like a luxury car showroom. No dealer with a giant inflatable gorilla on the roof will ever come close.
All hat, no cattle refers to lack of substance. Think of a wannabe rancher with just the Stetson.
I’ve never been to a luxury car dealer with inflatable gorillas on the roof or any of the other items you’re posted.
I have no idea of how Pinnacle will work out. I hope Cadillac does very well.
The good thing is that people are still passionate about Cadillac, the bad thing is that there is still so much dissatisfaction with the product. i am not as involved with following the business as i used to be, as i had a bad stroke, am paralyzed and can not walk, much less drive a car. It appears to me that the CT6 (what a great name!) is not going to be the savior it was hoped to be. Before i get off track completely, let me say that the customer experience is indeed important, but does not replace the need for great product. GM need onlt look back its Saturn brand, which pleased owners very much with an otherwise pedestrian and unremarkable car, arguably duller than average and with little to speak for it (plastic panels aside). Cadillac was the Standard of the World when Henry Leland was running things, an old-school Civil War era mechanical perfectionist whointroduced interchangeable parts to automobiles before Henry Ford and ALSO opened up motoring to women by spearheading the development of the self starter. So Henry Leland probably did more for Cadillac and the internal combustion engine as much as anyone in its history. Precision and manufacturing quality was what made Cadillacs worthy and superior to the best of America and Europe, not copycat styling and marketing. Winning two Dewars trophies was an unprecedented achievement that took many, many years of GM neglect to destroy. Cadillac has fielded some worthy concept vehicles at various Concours events, and it is time for GM to put them into production. Dealers are certainly eager to sell something that can sit in a driveway with other high-end vehicles. Escalade has managed to do pretty well for itself despite its (maybe because of?) truck-like origins. GM still has plenty of good people who know what needs to be done. Cadillac needs world-class products, not excuses.
Precision manufacturing, returning to the “Standard of the World” with product that beats even Japanese precision engineering, would be great. Cadillac should seek external engineering prizes again, not just COTY-crap. Making America Great Again should start right there in Lansing MI.
Another dealer-experience issue is 21stC price control. When I go into an Apple store, I pay exactly the same price as I saw on their website. When I go into a car dealership and show them the internet page with their own price on it, they literally laugh. I haven’t yet been offered a deal less than $3500 over what the internet page says. The “tax” argument is wrong because, once again, Apple can price their product accurately net-vs-reality.
Cutting the premium care maintenance to 3/36 from 4/50 and reducing coverage of the cpo are signs that Johan and Cadillac HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THEY ARE DOING. To want to be the best but reduce your coverage to the competition shows that they don’t want to be the top but want to waddle in mediocracy.
Cadillac should worry about the people that already own their vehicles. As an owner of a Cadillac XLR you cannot find headlights GM is not tooling it up there is not a big enough demand.
Cadillac should create a more advanced FWD flagship sedan instead of a RWD CT8…the Audi A8 is FWD and it still compeats with the other Germens….just think of a future Cadillac flagship as an American Audi A8 that costs around $90.000 dollars.
I think they should creat the same high-end FWD platform as the Audi A8 and the reason why FWD would be a better suit for a flagship sedan is that.
it would be lightweight and more affecent than a RWD….thats probably the reason why they cancelled the CT8 and kepped the FWD XTS alive.
The Audi A8 is RWD/ AWD, not FWD. FWD is not in Cadillac’s future. All vehicles from MB, Audi, Lexus, and BMW, the competition, are RWD or RWD/AWD, except the entry level ones that are trying to enter Toyota territory.
There will be a Cadillac CT8, it will be RWD and RWD/AWD. The current CT6 IS lightweight, efficient, RWD, and AWS.
The CT8 was NEVER cancelled.
yes there will be CT8 as they mentioned something like a $150.000 Halo flagship sedan that will come out in 2024 or 25.
Audi A6 is FWD in the lower trims and the A8 is based off a FWD platform amended for the US market. Lexus ES is FWD, I’m sure there are others too, oh yes, the Volvo S90 and Lincoln Continental.
Eric Angeloro says ” In my family , when you made it , you owned a Cadillac . We need to get back to that ” . He is the marketer for the Brand , I wonder if he has talked to Johan DN lately . Johan has gone on record saying just the opposite . He doesn’t want to see a Cadillac in every driveway and wants to make the division ‘ exclusive ” . For the average worker to retire and buy his dream car , a Cadillac , is indeed what alot of people used to do . It was their prize vehicle for busting their hump for 30+ years . Or the individual that maybe got hired into their dream job and wanted to show their neighbors that I did it .
I totally agree with Mr. Angeloro that Cadillac needs to get back to what was so important to the average American worker that seen Cadillac as their ” gold watch ” . There is alot to learn from the past and what worked and what didn’t . Cadillac needs to become Cadillac again and evrything that it used to mean . Not chasing an automaker that has built its own reputation .
Dealerships and salesmen also need to offer things that you are not going to see at a Chevy or Buick facility . Cadillac is suppose to be the ” best ‘ that you can buy from GM . That means the relationship with your salesman and the atmosphere of the whole buying process needs to also be the best . Little perks , calling you a week later to see if you are still happy with your purchase etc. . Plus knowing that if you do have a question or problem that when you call the dealership that your salesman still works there . Turn-overs in especially Cadillac ‘s workforce on the sales floor need to be minimal . I can’t tell you how may times in the past that I used to call the Cadillac dealership in my area and ask for my salesman only to find out that the person doesn’t work there anymore and end up talking to some high school graduate that is totally green .
Now is the perfect time to get Cadillac , from the engineers to the dealerships to their ad agencys, excited about what is coming . From now until 2020 Cadillac needs to be on every luxury buyers radar . The waiting is almost over and GM needs to come to the party ready to compete again and set their own standard of class .
Good points, especially regarding their sales team turnover. It seems sales people in general don’t stick around for more than a year or so, anyone know why that is? Honestly curious.
Also Cadillac probably should go stand alone dealership, them being mixed in with Chevy or Buick or GMC dilutes the luxury purchasing experience, imo.
Why does it dilute the experience? Are you to good to stand next to someone you think has less money then you?
I can buy any Cadillac I would like but if you looked at me you would think I work at Walmart!
You sound like the same people that want a corvette only store! That’s rubbish!
The standalone Cadillac dealers in this area are the pits. It’s unfortunate. I wish it was different.
As long as GM/Cadillac CS backs them up it will remain that way.
right now Cadillac doesnt have the products to be taken seriously.
You don’t have the respect to have your comments taken seriously.
Why do people think the dealership needs to be fixed?
You walk in
Pick your car
Pay your money
Walk out with keys!
What more do you people want? A bottle of beer and a lap dance while your waiting?
People act like it need to be a country club!
Brian, the dealer that service my car now is excellent. There is a Keurig in the waiting area. I don’t go there for lattes. If I want lattes and free Wifi that’ available at Starbucks for less than $10.
The selling dealer was not good at all. I’ve purchased Cadillacs there before and it was entirely different. I had one salesman for all purchases until this last one. He retired and I was assigned to someone. I let he new person know what I wanted. Never heard for him. I watched the online inventory for area dealers. A few weeks later the car I wanted and bought appeared on the website.
I phoned on a Saturday morning to ask about the interior color. They only show exterior and list NA for interior on the site. A salesperson confirmed that it was the interior I wanted. I said I’d be in that afternoon. Sales person took a little info then informed me that my salesman was not in that day. I would have to call on Monday. I told her I had no dealings with the person I was assigned to. She said she cannot help me. Wait until Monday.
I called Monday morning. Operator put me to new car sales. Phone rang forever. No answer. I called back. The operator put me to used cars. No answer. Called back and asked for service. I explained the problem to the person in service. She transferred me to the Internet sales person. I’net person emailed a build sheet and told me to call on Tuesday.
Tuesday I spoke to my assigned salesman. He said he would bring the car to my home on Wednesday for the test drive. We set a time. Wednesday morning he called and said we would have to move it back to Thursday because the of the Cavaliers. I told him now or never.
He brought the car to my home. I drove the car. We talked about the numbers on the phone the previous day. He complained that the numbers would make his commission too low. He introduced the topic of financing.. I told him I’m good. He tried to persuade me to sign a blank credit application saying they would fill in the rest. I declined.
The next day I went to the dealer to get the car. Short time in the business office and then I was handed of to a delivery specialist. The car was parked immediately adjacent to the service department. Compressors were banging away. Delivery specialist barked at me over the noise of the compressors. She was fixated on BT pairing, radio presets and survey begging.
The only thing I got from the delivery was a pounding headache of 24 hours duration and ear pain of 36 hours. Never a follow up call from the salesman. My only option was to make an appointment with the goofy delivery specialist for another session.
I took the car to my personal mechanic and he went over the car with me. He helped me with several follow up questions and concerns.
Project Pinnacle my foot!
You sound like a person that complains about flying! People like you are never satisfied!
Flying? I don’t understand.
You don’t understand! I can see that! It’s similar because people like you pay more attention to what the negative portion then the positive portion!
I am sure there are positive aspects of your situation but you insist on talking about the negative!
I think you people expect to much!
“Why do people think the dealership needs to be fixed?
You walk in
Pick your car
Pay your money
Walk out with keys!”
That’s exactly what I had in mind. It exceeded the dealership’s abilities.
Like I said focusing on the negative and not the positive! Did you get your car?
Let me guess just not how you wanted it to go, so me first world we live in!
So you had to wait a couple of days to get your car, that must have been very tramatic! How on earth did you ever survive or make it threw such a horrible time in your life!
See how ridiculous it sounds
Brian, do you work at a dealership?
The thread topic is JDN having a plan to improve the dealership experience. I am not the division chief at Cadillac. If you have issues with that plan contact GM. Attacking other posters accomplishes nothing.
Yes, I did get the car. The car had and continues to have several issues. I took it to a different dealer for service as the selling dealer tried to use the issues as a lever to persuade me to trade it in on another new Cadillac. Class act.
FWIW I will never have issues with another GM product.
I not attacking anybody about this subject! I am trying to point out how some people make a big deal out of going to the dealer to buy a car!
I noticed that you did not make any mention of how ridiculous I thought you sounded in your attempt to buy a car!
I am at odds with people like you because I feel that you expect to much from a dealer!
They are there to sell you a car not be your personal servant! Having to wait 30 second sets people like you off and you complain like a 3 year old.
People like you say that I didn’t get what you wanted, it’s sad you expected more!
I am not trying to attack you I am trying to make you realize how much you are asking for!
I saw a new car offered for sale on a dealer’s website. I was interested in the car. I phoned the dealer to inquire about the interior color. The sales department confirmed that it was the color I wanted.
I said I’d be in later that day to see the car. Normal dealers who want to sell cars like traffic in the dealership. I was told I has to see a salesperson who was off that day (Saturday) so I could not come in and see the car.
Sorry, but if you are in sales that’s just plain stupid. There is a sales staff on duty. Let them sell a car.
I bought several Cadillacs from that dealer. I used an experience sales profession for all the other purchases. I met him at another Cadillac dealer. When he left I followed him. My choice. He retired.
I got a millennial who was on a four day weekend for his bridal shower. He was the groom.
The kid was testy because he couldn’t talk me into a black car. Dumb stuff. He wanted to keep screwing around to attend a parade in town for the Cavaliers.
I was doing business with a dealership not an individual. There is no justification for inconveniencing a paying customer. Employees have time off. Others are in the house. Connect the dots.
I would have been better off if they refused to sell me a car period. This is my last Cadillac.
I understand you disagree with my position. That’s ok.
Again, the division chief at Cadillac has some plan to improve the dealership experience. Not my plan.
Write or call GM. Tell them customers are too demanding expecting to be able to buy cars from a car dealer during business hours.
Susan, I feel the same way. My parents, my aunt and my uncle (different sides of the family), all used the same dealership to buy their Cadillac’s, my parents, similar to you have know their sales pro for many years and followed him to the current dealer from another when it closed. They always have had a great experience and the guy has been in the business for 35 years. My uncle used another sales pro at the same dealer who was a “newbie” and complained about getting treated better at the Volvo dealership.
I feel that it is the (lack of) dedication of the younger generation. Hell, my own co-worker makes a similar amount of money and he is a lazy f*&k!
We use Hill Cadillac in Newtown Square PA BTW and they are defiantly on the smaller size, but they do a lot of business and the waiting area is great, like you said, when I wait for the car to get out of the shop, I don’t need fancy coffee and free food… I’ll go to a restaurant if I’m Hungary, but I do think that the dealer itself should be upscale and clean.
The only thing that giving away free food, drinks and helicopter rides does, is raise car prices and lower profit margins.
Henry,
The kid was just almost half way doing his job. I have no issue with him. The dealership’s nonsense of assigning me to him is outrageous. That’s a bum dealer. No other explanation.
I am with you on a dedicated sales professional. All the other Cads he was my only contact with the dealership. He scheduled service, arranged a loaner and anything else that was necessary. On rare event if there was an issue with the service department he ran the middle and it was done satisfactorily.
Thats why I followed him when he left one dealer for another. Excellent service during and after the sale.
Each year a few days after New Year’s Day we came home to a voice message from him wishing us a happy new year. Never bugged us at the office or anyplace else. He knew I buy Cadillacs and would buy from him. We were good.
I’m not a person who tries to beat the last dime out of a deal. Good service has value to me. I don’t mind a few dollars left on the table. The sales pro who will go to bat for his customer is worth it.
Too bad my old salesman retired. If JDN really wants customers to have a Pinnacle experience I know who can show him how it’s done.
The dealer that services my car now is excellent. I’m very pleased. It’s a good drive to get there but I prefer that to the two half fast standalone Cadillac dealers a few miles from home.
I don’t know what my next car will be. I want to buy from this dealer group. I consider myself their customer. GM/Cadillac is incidental.
BTW I don’t remember ever having a coffee at a dealership. Coffee is available but I’m good with cool water.
The last 3 Cadillac’s I’ve bought were very pleasant experiences. I spec’d out what I wanted, found the car I wanted in the dealers inventory. I then called telling the salesperson I was interested in a particular car, I would like to come see it at a particular time. They had the car all prepped and ready, one I test drove the others I didn’t. I was driving home in my new Cadillac in a hour or so. I bought s New Lexus IS300 in 2001 when they first came out and the experience was very similar. Do your homework and the experience will match your expectations!
Your experience was very much like mine for previous Cadillacs. I was dealing with a seasoned pro. I told him what I wanted. Sometimes it was an ordered car. Other times he got it from another dealer. Once the car was ready I went in and we firmed things up. Transactions were quick and simple. I’ve never shopped anything but Cadillac for my daily.
Once I bought a fun car that was not a Cad. Salesman was another seasoned pro. He got the car I wanted and called me. I went in and we finalized the sale. My husband bought a daily from him a few months later.
Car buying transactions have been seamless in the past. This time was a little different.
The point I have been trying to make is that I believe people expect to much from a dealer! I’ve herd people complain about a dealer not having free WiFi, coffee,comfy, chairs, couches, tvs, play area’s for the kid!
None of these things are required or needed to buy a car!
I would rather the dealership spend it’s time and money on salesmen and women that know the car business inside and out!
It’s sad when I go to a dealership and I know more about the car I am looking at then the salesman!
Having the price on the windshield that is out the door so I don’t have to sit and negotiate for hours!
It’s not that people expect to much from a dealership , it the fact that Cadillac needs to be both the seller of their product and be treated more like a client and not someone ordering a big man n fries . Your last post Brian , the last 4 paragraphs is exactly what everyone is talking about .
Buying a Cadillac should not be like buying a Chevy Malibu , and yes you want the salesman to be able to go over all the options on your new car and not just push you out the door once you sign the paperwork .
I’m lucky that my salesman at my Cadillac dealership , regardless on how busy he may be if I call him will get back to me or ask me to come in ” with no appointment ” . I can actually just go into the dealership and check out their new cars on the showroom and talk to anyone there . Everyone is pleasant and want to make sure that I am being helped .
When they got in their very first CT6 , my salesman called me to come in to check it out and we went for a drive in it , even knowing that I had no intention of buying one . He knows I am a car nut and knew I would get a kick out of driving Cadillac’s new flagship .
That is the way people should be treated IMO .
You make it sound it need to be like your checking into a 5 star hotel, your going to buy a car stop making it so complicated!
If JDN is truly interested in luxury buyers having a Pinnacle experience I suggest he sweep before his own door. GM/Cadillac CS is a coffin nail. It should be within his scope to address and resolve that issue immediately.
CS is there to back up a lying service manager leaving the car owner to hunt for and hopefully find an ethical dealership on their own. That is the most telling aspect of this entire experiment.