Cadillac certainly missed out on North America’s monumental sales years. Following the recovery from the Great Recession, banner years ensued. However, Cadillac is still optimistic if sales levels remain consistent.
And with that optimism will come a fresh batch of new products born from the leadership of the brand’s president, Johan de Nysschen. Automotive News has put together its product forecast and it echoes what we already know: we’ll have to wait for a truly refreshed lineup of Cadillac.
It will begin next year with the Cadillac XT4. Whether it’s marketed as a 2019 or 2018 model remains to be seen, but it will provide fresh ammunition for the hot crossover market. Then, Cadillac will likely go dark for the remainder of 2018.
In 2019, the newly redesigned ATS/CT3/CT4 is predicted to launch. The ATS replacement may shrink to provide more breathing room for the Cadillac CTS/CT5 and the Cadillac CT6. 2019 will also likely see a refreshed Cadillac CT6 that incorporated Escala design cues.
2020 will likely usher in the Cadillac CTS/CT5 and the Cadillac XT6 three-row crossover, while the smallest of Cadillac’s new crossovers shows face in 2021—the XT3. Finally, Cadillac’s crown jewel, the Escalade, will arrive with a total redesign the same year. The Cadillac XT5 is also scheduled for a redesign in 2021.
Alas, the Cadillac XTS will likely die off after 2021 when Cadillac’s other sedans can absorb the product cut. The XTS was recently refreshed and will soldier on until then.
The wildcard is a Cadillac sports car, possibly electric, and potentially based on the C8 Corvette, which is often rumored to move to a mid-engine configuration. We also believe there’s potential for a flagship crossover based on the Omega platform, which we’ve rendered in the past.
Anything can happen, but everyone knows Cadillac needs these next few years to not just be home runs, but grand slams.
Comments
Get real no grand slams will be required. Even if they only get one home run they will be fine.
Profits in this segment and the CUV models will more than support Cadillac moving forward.
The only question is how wel, the sedans will do as All will struggle no matter the brand in the future.
Get real here. Cadillac hasn’t hit a home run in over 40 years, just this month fell to 7th place in luxury vehicle sales. The management can’t even produce a competitive product in its home market. By the time GM brings any new vehicle to market its already dated.
That’s because Cadillac has been a follower for almost 40 years, instead of the leader it once was. Since 1981 – when Cadillac was still the #1 selling luxury car in the USA by far – Cadillac has been imitating the Germans instead of leading. No surprise that the public eventually moved to the cars Cadillac was trying to imitate.
Cadillac will always be a generation or two behind if their best idea is to do whatever BMW does, a (car) generation after BMW does it. And bringing in nothing but ex BMW and ex Audi foreigners in all the top management jobs is not going to restore Cadillac as a US icon/leader.
“Dare greatly” is just a marketing slogan, not a way of life at Cadillac. “Imitate badly” is more appropriate for what they are doing.
1/2 of the PHDs in the US were born outside the US and the same goes for the people in Silicon Valley. That kind of isolationist thinking will bring you back to the age of the horse and buggy. Sadly, many parts of the US are almost there, especially in the Mid-West, Ohio, Michigan…
It’s so easy being an armchair quarterback. How much can you really dare with a 3% global market share?
City Mouse, it’s fine for a foreign born PhD to create a better micro-chip. As long as the computer chip does what it is supposed to do, and does it quickly, that’s all that matters. The Silicon Valley PhD doesn’t have to have a clue what American culture is all about. If their computer chip works, it works, end of story.
But if I’m going to try to sell product to Japan, I’d want some top executives who are native Japanese, who totally understand the culture. After all, that’s the customer base. And the company could have plenty of foreigners too, but it would be silly for the company to exclude anyone with deep Japanese roots. At Cadillac, there’s no one with deep US roots in high positions. That’s a problem when your core market is Americans. Further, there’s no one with a PRC background either, which might help in the 2nd biggest market.
It’s not “isolationist thinking” to want at least SOME people who deeply understand the culture of your core markets. It’s idiotic to think that bringing in nothing but former German executives plus one little girl of immigrant parents, is going to be enough to understand American customers.
What they want to do is not impossible, it appears they have goals that are not spelled out, or thought out very well.
They want to bring a younger buyer. OK, can the younger buyer afford the cars? For the most part no.
How many of those younger wealthy buyers are there? I’ll bet that they have no idea how large or small the market is. For starters look at their target cars, how many does the competition sell a year? Just because we are Cadillac, does not mean that we will be able to sell 4 times as many.
Ill conceived plans.
They really need to analyze this market better. Take the things the younger buyer lusts for and add them.
Simple Performance. Quality, Simplicity, Room for their family.
The ATS is fine for 2 people, impossible for 4, and NO golf clubs. No one in Detroit plays golf.
The cars do not turn heads the way they used to. Styling is lacking.
Then they make the constant mistake by advertising the car their future models, and kill all the excitement, by the time the car eventually makes it to market, the design has been stolen, and is no longer new.
On so many levels they overlook the basics.
Excitement sells, Lust for the product sells, they leak so much, they have nothing to sell by the time it gets to market.
Wow, just brilliant. I have been selling Cadillac for 4 years and I have been saying the same thing. I cant go to Germany and tell the Germans how to build better German cars so how do we think he (Johann De) can tell us how to regain Iconic status again as the American Standard of the World. In my opinion the XT6 should have debuted before the XT5 and we should have let the SRX have another year. Nothing was wrong with the vehicle. That is the market we are missing with Cadillac. The 3rd row V6 market, Just my opinion but I’m only a mere Cadillac Sales consultant that also owned a Cadillac before I started working there…. Nobody important.
Steve you just made a damn good Point the jack is a pain in the butt to roll a car up and they give you that small tire to get to the tire shop
As long as the CUV segment is selling well, the SUV segment is most likely to do the same and as long as Caddy can keep Escalades moving off the lot like they are now, they’ll be fine.
That lineup hardly sounds exciting. I see nothing innovative. More FWD crossovers, some reskinned sedans, and a new euro-bland naming convention. There’s no mega-sedan, roadster, or glamorous coupe. Why show us Escala, Ciel, and Elmiraj if all they are willing to actually sell is another lame mommy-mobile crossover.
I suspect Cadillac will launch a full line of Lexus RX-like grocery getters in time for the market to move on to something else. A shift no doubt initiated by one of Cadillac’s competitors that actually does Dare Greatly.
They dare to make money not take major risk with billions and lose it.
Cadillac needs to build a solid foundation and build a base of trusting and loyal customers below 65 years old and give them the product they want and price it to were they will give it a shot. Not a bunch of odd specialty cars that have a 50/50 shot of even making the return on investment.
We already had two failed sports cars and one failed electric car.
Earn their trust with the wife’s new CUV and then they may consider a hybrid sports car in the future.
Like it or not the boring cars are the most profitable and best selling in the world.
There has been a saying from successful people ” the greater the risk the greater the rewards.” To flounder in the marketplace with the same old product eventually will lead you to your demize. To regain your lost market share, your customers have to want your product. To want is to have a new, different design with new features. It’s Cadillac’s move.
Cadillac sports car built using the C8 Corvette suspension.. Cadillac can shoot for the moon using the Chevrolet Bolt’s 900 lb battery then connect (4) 250 hp electric motors to each wheel for a 1,000-horsepower which should launch to 60 in under 3 seconds and a top speed of 200+ mph; Cadillac won’t compete against the C8 Corvette as it will challenge every super sports car in current production.. the only question is whether anyone at Cadillac has the guts to build such a beast.
Lol they aren’t building a lego set that be just pieced together.
Sounds like the XT4 is going to be Cadillac’s bread and butter if they can pull it off, but they have their work cut out for them. Even a double in the crowded luxury CUV segment will be tough…wonder what they have in store.
We must remember even a single is profitable and enough singles will win a game.
Only outs lose the game.
I see nothing wrong with this lineup but I am sure there will be complaints as the cars start to roll out!
This is a roll out for the next couple of years a larger car may still be in the works no sense tipping your hand!
Dear Cadillac,
Can we please get some Sport Variants of your SUV/Crossover models?!?!
Thank you!
If you want a sport version of a grocery getter suv/cuv then you are looking for the wrong type of vehicle!
Why are people always trying to change what a vehicle is supposed to be used for?
People want camaros to be family cars
People want cuvs to be performance cars
If you want a performance car then buy a Camaro or corvette
If you want a family car then buy a cuv/suv!
Pretty simple!
Now if you are going to complain that your family won’t fix it a Camaro, well then there in lies the problem. See you have to decide in this world do I want to be a guy with a Camaro and no family or do I want to be a guy with a family and a suv/cuv?
Pick one and stop trying to change what a car is designed to be!
Brian, I mostly agree. Though I don’t think a lot of people are asking Camaro to be a family car. What is more the reality is that the self-described “enthusiasts” want every car to be a sports car. Because those are supposedly more “fun” and more “exciting”, as if cars are to be considered toys rather than useful vehicles.
So certain people want to make only “sport” minivans, “sport” pick-up trucks, “sport” SUVs, “sport” luxury cars, “sport” family cars, “sport” economy cars, “sport” delivery trucks, “sport” golf carts, and “sport” sports cars. It doesn’t matter what the public actually wants to buy, that’s what they want to build. The crazy thing is that the people who are pushing for “sport everything” wind up dominating the ranks of professional auto writers and management of most car companies.
The crazy thing is that is what most people want that’s why those models sell the best.
Ian, the crazy thing is, you aren’t actually right. Most people don’t want “sports” type vehicles, and they don’t sell the best.
The best selling vehicles now are SUVs and pickup trucks. Those are the antithesis of “performance” vehicles. You can’t take a sharp turn at 90 MPH in an SUV the way you can even in a non-sports sedan. Sedan sales are dying, as car executives try to make them sportier and sportier, with hard riding suspensions and bone-jarring, high maintenance low profile tires. The public has spoken.
Also, as far as Cadillac itself, the company has the “sportiest” line up of sedans it has ever had, and yet US sales are the weakest they’ve been, compared to past decades. Hard riding sporty ATS, CTS, and CT6 have not translated into high sales. And the super-sporty versions of those cars, the ATS-V and CTS-V, sell even more poorly than the regular versions of those vehicles.
So no, sporty cars are not what the public wants, and they don’t sell the best. Now you may get a ton of “thumbs up” for saying that people want those cars and they sell the best, but that doesn’t make it factually correct. Realize that the type of people who are drawn to a website like this, are already biased in the direction of “sporty” cars beyond what Is typical of the car-buying public. So the indication of “thumbs up” for your claim is not indicative of the general public’s view.
The bias of this website is similar to that of the professional auto writers – who are drawn heavily from people who love sports/performance cars. So too are automobile company executives – including Johan, who wanted to build a super-sporty car at Infiniti (the Eau Rouge) and wanted to transform Infiniti into the BMW of Japan. Then Johan derided his Japanese successors and engineers when they showed less enthusiasm for “driver’s cars” (i.e. excessively sporty) than he had himself. I’d say however that the Japanese executives at Infiniti had a better idea of the Japan consumer market than Johan had. Not everyone sees “sporty performance” as a positive, or worth the extra money.
They do not pay attention. They do not know their market.
“They do not pay attention. They do not know their market.”
Well said, Steve.
I don’t know what you mean. My CTS-V fits the family and groceries and can run just fine with a Camaro on a track.
What’s wrong with a sporty SUV? Running on the track would be a bad idea with a higher center of gravity, but sporty SUVs/CUVs can be fun to drive on the street. Porsche Macans and Jaguar F-paces are actually selling if you haven’t noticed.
N400, thanks for supporting my example. I could have added “most people who make comments on auto-related websites” as part of the self-described “enthusiasts” who think every vehicle should be a sports vehicle.
There are a couple of things wrong with this however. For one thing, it’s a waste to try to give track-worthy performance to vehicles that will never be used that way. It costs more to put a sport suspension and extra HP into a vehicle that will never need it.
Furthermore, I don’t consider it “fun” to have a harsh jittery “sport ride” in a car where I just want to relax and enjoy the ride, take in the view, etc. Not everything in life is a race. Not every vehicle needs to be tuned for sports mode. I realize that this forum draws an unusually high percentage of performance nuts, but that does not represent the general public.
We e been over this before grandpa drew, just because you want them to revive the deville doesn’t mean thts what the general public wants. There’s a reason the sportier cars sell better, because that’s what people want!! Whether or not they will ever use it people still want it.
Ian,
I think Cadillac should embrace their heritage of flamboyance and being uniquely American. By that I mean the 1920s through early 1980s Cadillacs. I don’t think they need to build carbon copies of what BMW and Audi are doing. A Cadillac, I think, should take inspiration more from Rolls Royce than from BMW’s namesake brand and in so doing, they should be glamorous, luxurious, substantial, and silent. To say that I think the autobahn-bred hyper performance cars are all wrong for Cadillac does not, however, mean I support a return to another period from their more recent past with FWD floatmobiles outfitted with cheap glitzy trim. I know some here yearn for a return to those days; I don’t.
The truth is Cadillac became a cheap imitation of themselves before they became a cheap imitation of a European luxury car. I don’t think either of those periods yielded much success. Cadillac needs to harken back much further for inspiration and the utter irony is that they’ve shown us that they know how to build a modern Cadillac with concepts like Sixteen and Elmiraj, both cars that possess classic Cadillac virtues yet are thoroughly modern and original.
One of the first times I like your post. Well written, keep it up.
I agree that they shouldn’t be a carbon copy and that the definitely don’t need to go back to the 90’s/00s but at the same time they need to change the image to bring in more buys and the cars they’ve come out with in the last 5 years starting with ats have just started that, but not changed their demographics nearly enough. They according to johan they are focusing on brand building not volume and that means shifting demos to younger wealthier buyers who currently aren’t considering cadillacs. I don’t know how to do it (and I’m not sure Cadillac knows how either) but I do know Audi and BMW (sporty Image) are more popular with the demos they’re targeting then Lexus and Lincoln (soft/Lux image).
On Target Ian.
Ian,
It’s DeVille and please bow you head and genuflect as you type it.
Thanks
Drew, I think that comment put you squarely in the 20th century. All that unnecessary “sporty” hardware:
– can subtract 20ft from a 70mph panic stop
– can keep the car on the road in an emergency handling maneuver
– gives you ability to safely merge on busy roads
– with advances like MRC, gives you a great ride in comfort mode, so you can have your cake and eat it too
If you have no interest in the above, find a base model, but no need to disparage others who prefer to have peace of mind and actually enjoy driving.
Perhaps, however, you neglect the fact electronics will fail, then what do you have?
History teaches us that relying on Technology is a false area to put your trust.
This is a lesson many companies ignore at their peril.
Sure today’s technology is great, yet when it fails, generally as a result of purchasing buying substandard components, it never comes back to them, it is always someone else’s problem.
Ignoring history is a great way of having it repeat itself.
What I think we are trying to say, is that if the design is not sound without the technology, you will have a problem, it is only better with it.
So many young people today dream up wonderful ideas, without a knowledge of why things were made the way they were in the first place.
Example:
We didn’t put spare tires in cars to insure flat tires. Moving to Run Flat tires and ignoring spares to increase the profit is proving to be a bad idea. I have too many customers with failures of run flat tires that ordinary tires would not have failed with. Low profile looks good to whom? yet when the suspension decides to crap out, the ride is like a Fork Lift truck on a gravel road.
Sure European cars went to Some Run Flats because their speed limits are higher, and running over something at 100+MPH is bad news. in the US you cannot go that fast, and not all the roads are like glass, at least the ones I drive on are not.
My wife complains all the time about the quality of the new cars ride, not being what they were 10 years ago.
Go back to Michelin tires, and ditch the Run Flat tires.
I really don’t care for RunFlats… but like it or not, we rely on technology every day.
It is Not technology that brought run flats, it was greater factory proffits from not having to include a jack, rim &tire. No one paid attention.
She’ll be happy she has them when she isn’t stuck on the side of the road waiting for AAA/ Cadillac roadside.
“Won’t be stuck on the side of the road waiting for Cadillac”….. I wish that were true, but I’ve been in that situation far too many times with the RFTs. I bet you didn’t consider the fact that RFTs are more prone to sidewall blowouts if you hit a pothole.
Who waits for either of them? I use a private service and send the receipt to AAA and my insurance company for reimbursement.
I’ve never used Cadillac roadside assistance. Have not heard positive comments. No direct experience.
The private service? When I identify myself the dispatcher says Hi Mrs. K. and asks what I’m driving today so they can dispatch appropriately.
Luxury market, remember?
Steve, the crazies at Cadillac eliminated the well in the chassis for a spare. I can’t furnish my own. I hate the RFT.
I asked the salesman about spare tire facilities before purchase. He lied.
Cadillac did everything necessary to make me not buy another.
N400 – yes I can see it now, “Buy the new Camaro ZL1 1LE because it’s the safest car on the road”. “Finally you can take granny to church on Sundays with peace of mind”. Thanks for the laughs.
Laugh all you want — driven responsibly, these are the amongst the safest cars on the road.
“Finally you can take *Drew* to church on Sundays with peace of mind”
It ismore than church, the golf course with buddies, but you can only take one set of clubs in the Cadillac, or taking the Grand kids for ice cream.
The factory thinks in terms of one passenger.
“The factory thinks in terms of one passenger”
Steve, exactly. That’s the only way Cad brass can ever even dream of selling volume. One person per car. 😉
“Advances like MRC gives you a great ride”?!?!?!
Have you ever actually driven a CTS?
Have you driven one with MRC? Seems pretty damn smith to me and it still handles unlike the cadillacs of yore.
It does ride nicely, however when it fails, and it does, it is Very Expensive to repair, which hurts resale value of the vehicle. But the factory does not care about that.
You cannot make up for Harsh Run Flat tires with MRC. The current crop of engineers will figure that out after they get fired.
That’s nonscense. Repair costs on the Cadillac are WAY cheaper then on the European cars and the cadillacs are at least as reliable… it’s a luxury car parts/tech are supposed to be the best which means they might be expensive. People who buy expensive cars know the repair costs will be higher because the car has more/better parts and equipment.
Yes, both the MRC and base CTS without it. The ride is much better with MRC on the CTS.
The ATS I’ve driven on the other hand are all stiff and bouncy, which is really just the chassis tuning and tires. As mentioned earlier, runflats tend to make every car ride hard over bumps – if you replace the tires, I’m sure all of these cars would ride great.
I doubt that many people are going to test drive the ATS, find the ride to be too stiff/harsh – and then think “oh I can replace the run-flat tires, maybe go to higher profile wheels, go with MRC on a higher trim level, etc.”. They are much more likely to take the test drive, think “nope too stiff” and forget about an ATS.
Average car buyers are not like the “enthusiasts” who might buy a car with the vision that they’ll make after-market changes. They want it right, right now, or forget it. The ATS was a successor to the Cimarron, and another attempt to copy BMW sizing and handling.
I’m not saying Cadillac shouldn’t make a small-ish car, I think Henry here (or somebody on this board) even suggested that the replacement for the ATS could have just two comfortable seats, instead of four cramped ones. That’s “Cadillac thinking” instead of “BMW clone thinking”. But I don’t think current management is capable of thinking that way. They just want to copy the Germans.
And what do you think these people are going to buy?? Almost every car in that segment has a sport suspension/ride because that’s what people buying compact Lux cars want.
Ian, so you are saying that people are forced to buy luxury cars with sports suspensions, because they are all like that? No wonder so few luxury sedans sell today compared with the past.
I’m saying that the ones that are bigger and comfier don’t sell (i.e. Lincoln MKZ) while smaller sportier ones (i.e. 3 series) lead the segment in sales. So it not that there army softer riding cars, but they don’t sell well so why go after that market!? the sport sedan market is much larger and that why they are pursuing it.
Ian, you can’t make a blanket statement such as “people want sporty rides” or “comfortable rides don’t sell”. As far as Lincoln, that’s Lincoln, they were nearly discontinued by Ford.
How about looking at Lexus, they have some comfortable non-sport sedans that sell well. Lexus is the second best selling luxury car in the USA, just a hair behind MB and nearly double Cadillac sales. Pretty good for cars that “don’t sell”. And they are boring stylistically; Cadillac could sell more than Lexus if they made cars Americans wanted, instead of trying to out-German the Germans.
Lexus IS rides harsher then an ATS and the ES which does sell well is literally the only car other then the MKZ that is a midsize in the entry Lux price range. When you add up ats+ 3 series + q40 and q50 + A4 + c class +is all the other at least sportish compacts in the sport Lux segment there is much more volume then the larger comfort Lux entry segment so obviously the size of these cars aren’t that big of a problem for most people.
So yes for the same 40-50ish grand more people go with a smaller sportier car then a larger softer riding car.
So that means the compact sport sedan market is larger then the Comfort sedan market.
It may even be easier to target the comfort buyers because there is less competition but that doesn’t mean it’s a larger market (it isn’t) Cadillac is targeting the larger more profitable area of the entry Lux segment as they should.
“It may even be easier to target the comfort buyers because there is less competition…”
There you go Ian! Imagine if Cadillac offered a nice small-ish luxury sedan with a “Cadillac ride” instead of a me-too harsh German sport-ride. I really like Henry’s forward thinking of making the ATS replacement a two seater – two large comfortable seats instead of 4 cramped ones. Cadillac could own that segment, instead of being in last place of a crowded one.
If GM wants to offer a “sports sedan” they should do it under the Corvette brand name. They’ve failed in trying to rebrand Cadillac that way. There’s a reason the Escalade and XTS sell so well, even though current Cadillac management hates them.
As to Lexus, the ES and LS are some of the smoothest riding sedans, and they sell very well. They have more of the “Cadillac ride” than the CTS or CT6.
Cadillac should have done a better job of selling the comfortable “Cadillac ride” instead of running away from it. I hate to see it, but it looks like JDN does not have the right formula for Cadillac, and in 5 years they’ll look at being the 5th best selling luxury brand in the US (as they are now) very fondly, as they’ll be 7th or 8th by then.
It didn’t have to be that way, but GM/Cadillac had too many people like Lutz and JDN, building the cars they liked personally instead of selling to Cadillac’s strengths. Also they have lacked the Toyota/Lexus focus on quality and reliability, and that has hurt them too. To me, “Cadillac Future Product Forecast” = further market share declines for Cadillac. JDN is showing that he’s not the right person for Cadillac; if you don’t see it now, wait 5 years and I’ll be proven right. Sad to see the end of this American icon.
I know I wouldn’t buy one. And neither would millions of other people. The reason the rebrand isn’t going well is because they build cars like the xts to keep people like you happy. Also quit whining about seat size, if you can’t fit in a car seat maybe you need to loose a few pounds.
“… quit whining about seat size, if you can’t fit in a car seat maybe you need to loose a few pounds.”
Gee, thanks for the tip Ian. The trouble is, I’m 6’3, with long legs and size 15 shoes. I don’t plan to surgically reduce my legs and feet to fit into a tiny car.
Cadillac used to mean plenty of legroom in every model. It still should. IMO if you’re cramped, if you’re not comfortable in the ride, you’re not in a real Cadillac.
As far as Henry’s idea for making an ATS replacement with two very comfortable seats instead of four cramped ones, I really think that could be a breakthrough almost on a par with the 1967 Eldorado as far as a “personal Cadillac”. At the very least it would attract attention to the brand instead of being another boring “me too” product, one generation behind and lacking the German badge that some people crave.
BTW, when did “lose” gain an extra “o”? This is not the first time I’ve seen this on the internet.
I’m 6’5″ so I don’t want to hear it.
“I’m 6’5″ so I don’t want to hear it.”
If that’s true, why would you stuff yourself into a cramped car? Brings back memories of when you were in clown college?
I honestly think you’ve never been in a car with nice roomy legroom and a comfortable smooth ride. Once you experience that, it’s like going from an economy class airline seat to 1st class or even a large private jet. Once you’ve had it, you don’t want to go back. If only Cadillac could go back to offering a 1st class ride on all cars, we wouldn’t have adults stuck in the kiddie rides any more.
A) there’s tons of leg room in the front granted there’s literally 2 inches behind my chair but that’s not my problem.
B) I’ve driven a dts and wouldn’t take one if you gave it to me for free. Drive like shit, feels like it’s going to flip over if you turn at any speed over 5mph and has no acceleration
C) I would take handling speed and technology over space and smooth ride any day and I’m obviously not the only one…. if Cadillac did go back to a “first class ride” as you call it the brand would be dead in 10 years. Catering to the 70 and older crowd won’t help the image or the sales that market is shrinking by the day.
I’m not saying the ats couldn’t be better but the ride or size are not problems. Upgraded interior leather and dash, standard led running lights, more aggressive front end (Escala!) and better looking wheels (standard 18″ and 19″ option) yes!! Softer ride and sofa seats?? No!! If anything With the seats I wish the would give you a sport seat option below the recaros with more bulstering then the standard seats.
Moving the V brand or at least the charter to build performance cars/SUVs that seat more than 2 people under a new Corvette brand is a great idea and would eliminate half the foolishness being discussed here. I have zero problem buying from that brand.
Otherwise, it’s just unfortunate Cadillac hasn’t been able to get it together to provide leadership anywhere except with the Escalade.
I have to agree with Ian that every car in the class suffers from Runflat-itis, so it’s not just a Cadillac issue.
I also agree that the “BMW-clone thinking” was a very costly mistake. The whole notion of flanking the CTS with the ATS and CT6 to better compete with BMW and MB was a total FIASCO and the fact that they will kill and replace BOTH the ATS & CTS with the CT5 just proves that out.
Sadly, Cadillac was in the midst of a Renaissance with the 2nd Gen CTS. Sure, it was bigger the 3-series and smaller than the 5-series, but it offered 6 and 8 cylinder versions and could be had for 3-Series prices. Instead of flanking it with 2 other cars just to copy BMW, they offered a sharp looking coupe and wagon variants. That CTS was it’s own car class and apparently Cadillac leadership decided that was problematic (it wasn’t cloning anyone)…
Instead of creating the ATS and CT6, Cadillac should have been working on crossovers to begin with. Why are we waiting until 2018/2019 for the XT4?
All of which leads me to say that I recognize car development cycles are long and big companies move slowly, but when will we see something innovative from the Cadillac leadership under Johan? The faithful are losing patience.
If re-consolidating the ATS/CTS into the CT5 and one new XT4 crossover is all we get, that XT4 better be damn good! And I don’t count the CT6 as anything but a drain on CTS sales.
Unless things improve, I would suggest a change in management — unless the high-level plan was to let Cadillac languish (you never know sometimes, they could just be executing to bean counter led plan).
Best post I’ve ever read on this site–loved my 2004 CTS–and like my 2008 CTS even more–both were just the right size–quit matching BMW Cadillac brass.
It was me Drew, so thanks for pointing that out.
And to N400, if you think the CTS has a good ride, you have clearly never ridden in an XTS or XT5….. christ, even the 2nd Gen (Americanized sport lux) had a better ride than the current one does.
The XTS, XT5 and CT6 all ride nicely, improving the tires would make them unbeatable.
Yes, both the MRC and base CTS without it. The ride is much better with MRC on the CTS.
The ATSs I’ve driven on the other hand are all stiff and bouncy, which is really just the chassis tuning and tires. As mentioned earlier, runflats tend to make every car ride hard over bumps – if you replace the tires, I’m sure all of these cars would ride great.
Drew,
They tell me my car is a sport sedan. If a driver wants a speeding ticket in a 25 MPH zone I highly recommend it.
Interested in a car that will accelerate in traffic on the highway to get the merge lane? Not gonna happen. So I guess Cadillac now defines a sport sedan as a car that has enough punch to exceed the 25 MPH but not sell. 🙂
Susan, that’s just sad. The classic Cadillacs may not have been for “handling” junkies, but they never lacked power to accelerate and merge onto the highway. “Sport handling” is greatly overrated and is all the more worthless when coupled with inadequate power.
Cadillacs are not under powered there is a V series, v sport series, they have plenty of power
What seems to be lacking is the power of your wallet
Brian, Cadillac of the past didn’t need a -V model to yield adequate power. No underpowered cars were sold under the Cadillac name (until the 1982 Cimarron).
There’s no reason Cadillac should be forcing people to get a -V version in order to have decent power. As recently as the DTS, all versions of that model had a V8 Northstar.
Cadillac is hurting the brand with some underpowered non-V models and cheap base versions with vinyl seats and halogen headlamps (on the base ATS and DTS).
Stop saying that people need to open up their wallets to get a decent Cadillac. Blame the customer is not a great strategy.
If Cadillac puts its name on any product, they should have minimum standards including strong power. Maybe that’s why they removed the wreath of excellence a few years ago – to reflect that the excellence is now optional at Cadillac?
Wrong where cadillac is going is where the industry has been headed for years. The industry is all about having options. Building cars that fit them for that period of time.
My mom is old she doesn’t need a Hugh Cadillac, and she doesn’t need large power to get around. So the are options for a person like that.
Now me on the other hand could use a larger car with some serious power.
Not every car needs a V8,
Not every car needs 300 or 400 hp.
Not every car needs room for 5 big adults
Not every car needs 34 speakers
This is why people like you have destroyed the automotive industry. You feel the industry should build cars that meet your preference! Instead of building a brand that compliments a wide range of options like size and power.
Having a portfolio of cars and trucks from small to large and basic power to mega power in addition to having different levels of suspensions and brake packages while having different versions throughout is what will make Cadillac a success.
People compare car sales of Cadillac to the competition, let me ask you is Cadillac turning a profit? Does Cadillac make money on every car they sell?
If the answer to this question is yes then you are making a big deal out of nothing!
Give Cadillac sometime to rollout the rest of their lineup and see where it goes.
This must be the results of kids that went crazy because they didn’t get what they wanted right now!
As for Cadillacs future it looks like a solid lineup for the future. Small cars being added, new versions of the midsized cars, both small and large cuvs, and hopefully a large car will be in the future.
One can only hope people will be mature enough and have the patience to let the process happen.
My prediction is that people will not do this, they will complain every step of the way and not be happy no matter what Cadillac does.
“Stop saying that people need to open up their wallets to get a decent Cadillac. Blame the customer is not a great strategy.” Drew
Blaming the customer for purchasing a cheap version of a product is exactly where the blame should be placed.
If a person doesn’t buy the performance model and then complains when the car doesn’t drive fast enough then that is the fault of the buyer! The same can be said for every other aspect of the car. Purchased the smaller car then complain because it doesn’t have enough room. Buyers fault! I could go on!
The point is a customer is required to open their wallets and pay for the things they want or need. Nothing should be just given to them.
This is a Cadillac brand if you want premium options you should have to pay and the buyer who walks into a Cadillac dealership shouldn’t be pinching pennies in order to be able to take home a Cadillac!
Cadillac is posing as a luxury brand. Nothing should be cheap or underpowered.
Cruze is available for that.
Brian, if a car has the Cadillac badge on it, it should be strongly powered. Every model, even the base version of their cheapest car. It doesn’t matter if your mom doesn’t think she needs that much power, it should be there. Cadillac customers shouldn’t have to “upgrade” to get adequate merging and passing power, it should already be there, or else no Cadillac badge.
Cadillac should not be selling de-contented models under the Cadillac name. GM could sell the underpowered, vinyl seated, hard-riding, cramped seated, cheap stereoed, halogen headlighted models under the Schmadillac name. You say it’s a matter of customers being cheap, I say it’s a matter of Cadillac selling cars that are not Cadillacs.
The problem goes further when someone unfamiliar with the brand takes a ride in a badged Cadillac that is not up to Cadillac standards. It could be their first ride in a “Cadillac”. They think “This is a Cadillac? I don’t see what’s so great about this”. And they forever have a bad impression of the brand.
So no it’s not about the customers being cheap, it’s about Cadillac offering cheap cars under the Cadillac banner. And I’ve seen no move by JDN to end this practice. Stop blaming the “cheap” customer for the existence of cars unworthy of the Cadillac name, blame Cadillac for offering them.
Wong again glorifying the DTS, it might have had a V8 but that doesn’t make it fast, not only does the 2.0 make more power but it’s faster too. Ats 2.0 0-60 5.7 sec cts 2.0 0-60 6.2 sec and dts with north star v8 0-60 in 6.9 sec….. and keep in mind these are the base engines, you can go up to the 3.6 and then to the V.
This is my point exactly! Having a lineup with different levels of performance to suit different lifestyles.
Cars are much faster, more comfortable, and more technical today then they have ever been!
I think what people hate is having to tell their friends and family that it has a 4 banger or a v6 in their new car while being faster then their previous car! Some people just can’t stomach having a smaller engine but are not willing to spend the money to get one.
You miss the point. We do not need supercharded V8’s. You cannot beat a small block V8 for smoothnes and power. A Turbo or supercharger stresses the engine toomuch.
Steve, your comments are refreshing. I’m glad you’re here. A voice of reason.
Drew,
I think here may be an issue with the transmission in my car. It doesn’t downshift for lane change, merge or passing situations. I’ll ask again next time it’s in service.
The usual is that if it doesn’t throw a code Cadillac won’t pay for the warranty repair.
I was recently told that the oil life monitor must be a zero for an oil change. That’s nuts. I’ll happily pay for that service. Oil is cheap.
Susan, that’s a shame about your transmission. Sounds like it’s dangerous when it won’t give you the acceleration you need for merging and passing. As I recall, your Cadillac is one of those new 8 speeds. Who needs 8 forward speeds when they don’t work?
Cadillac was built on reliability, but that’s a memory of long ago now. If Cadillac wanted to be more like an import brand in recent years, they should have been imitating Lexus reliability instead of German “cool engineering” of poor reliability. A luxury car should be comfortable and reliable, it should have up-to-date luxury features for the consumer (i.e. the latest in stereos, navigation, etc.) but it does not need the latest in “sport” dynamics.
The whole thing with extra gears is mainly a marketing thing, as well as a fad. No one complained about too few gears when cars had 4 and even 3 forward speeds. Cadillac should have made sure the 8 gear transmissions worked before putting them on one of their cars. Same as the V8-6-4 engine, make sure it works before pushing it on the consumers (and turning them off to the brand forever).
Cadillac should not be the testing ground for GM’s “sport” ideas; Cadillac consumers expect the cars to be right at the time of delivery. But again, it’s a case of Cadillac trying to imitate the Germans instead of blazing their own path. The Germans put out a “sports” feature, and instead of pointing out that their cars are built for luxury, Cadillac trys to “me too” it and rushes something to market, not ready for prime time.
Drew,
Cadillac quality is just not just not here anymore. There is an item posted on the Cadillac Owners forum with stats that Cadillac is second only to Fiat in lemons.
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2016/01/toyota-tops-fiat-flops-in-autoguide-s-1st-annual-lemon-list.html
I guess I’m lucky that my last Cadillac runs at all.
I avoid highways during busy hours. It’s inconvenient but safer. When I must travel during busy times I drive a vintage exotic that I will have owned 27 years next month. It’s a four cylinder car too but it moves.
The convertible is garaged in winter so that’s an entirely different problem. CTS is all over the road with one half of a snowflake. I’m putting winters on it this year. Hope that helps.
OT The other day I went for a pedicure. The young woman who does the service told me of her cousin’s recent visit. He has a 50’s something Chevy. She didn’t know the year of model. She was so impressed with the comfort and ride quality
She was smitten with the bench seat, velour fabric (thought it was velvet) and general roominess of the car. She said she wants one. I told her i lived in that same heaven until last fall. She drives a 2016 Chevy Traverse. Leased the SUV trying to get a little room in the vehicle.
So much for the young market wants uncomfortable cramped cars theory.
People left Cadillac due to lack of dependability as they are doing now.
Susan, it doesn’t surprise me at all that a young woman you know loved the comfortable ride and roominess of a classic Cadillac. It’s simply a lie that young people don’t appreciate a nice roomy comfortable ride, any more than they would prefer to be cramped in a coach airline seat rather than in 1st class or on a private luxury jet.
The problem of course is that most young people have no idea what kind of roomy comfortable ride is possible, because they haven’t experienced it. And yes, many are susceptible to marketing that tells them they MUST want a cramped, hard, “sporty” ride. But a lot of young people are capable of thinking for themselves, and would choose the 1st class classic Cadillac ride if given a choice, and with proper marketing.
As far as the RWD CTS sliding all over the place in snow, again that’s a shame that the “sporty” people have come to dominate a luxury brand like Cadillac. I’ve driven enough RWD cars to know that they are always going to be terrible in the snow. Why should luxury car buyers be forced to change tires twice per year, and take up space with the set not being used, just because some gear-head thinks RWD is the only way to go in summer? To my thinking “luxury” should be minimal maintenance. Let the true “sport” models have their summer and winter tires, but luxury models should be good year round, and that means FWD. Yes AWD is good in snow, but needlessly expensive, heavy, and legroom robbing (as is RWD). As far as switching tires in winter, where I live, studded snow tires are not legal anyway. So even the so-called “winter tires” do not work well on RWD cars here.
As far as your list of reliability, yes Toyota/Lexus leads the pack by miles. Maybe Cadillac dealers prefer it that way, as this means more repair business for them, I don’t know. It must frustrate some of the honest dealers.
The way I see it, there are two main culprits here – auto writers and auto executives, both cut from the same “sports car” minded cloth. Look, there will always be about 15% of the public that truly can’t live without RWD and cramped hard cars that supposedly “handle well” if you drive them like a maniac. On a website like this, that percentage probably rises to 40% or so among those who post, and probably 80% among the article contributors. That’s just the way it is, the sports car loving “enthusiasts” dominate the auto-writer side of things, even though they only represent about 15% of the consumers.
The same is nearly true for the auto executives, especially the ones with a European or German car background. Bob Lutz once said he only cared about building “sporty” cars, and he said most of the executives he knew were the same way. JDN is clearly from that same mold, the guy who desperately wanted to make Infiniti “the BMW of Japan”, and who wanted a super-sporty “Eau Rouge” sedan as their flagship. When Nissan management decided to go a different direction, JDN derided them instead of accepting that perhaps Japanese culture deserves a different approach than the Euro-sport model.
So what happens is the auto riders deride Toyota and Lexus for making “boring” cars, because they ride smoothly and comfortably and don’t push the limits of handling (or breakdowns). I’ve seen review after review calling smooth riding, vibration free cars “boring” and the steering and ride feedback “numb”. Guess what, MOST drivers don’t want to feel every pebble in the road, they don’t want to feel the steering wheel vibrate in their hands, yet these auto writers are forcing their “sporty feel” opinions on the market, and they’ll give demerits to any car that isn’t built for their own personal desires, sports car or family car or whatever. And the auto executives go along with this same mentality, not bothering to find out what the public would actually like, and certainly NEVER advertising the benefits of a comfortable, smooth riding car, or a car that does well in snow (without the added expense and weight of AWD).
I’ve never seen a 1st class ride on an airplane called “boring”, so I truly don’t get the gear-head definition of boring. It’s about like saying a washing machine in “boring”. Does it clean the clothes? Does it work without breaking down often? Those are the “exciting” properties of a washing machine. I don’t need a car that’s cramped and vibrates a lot to “excite” me, I have other facets of life that I find to be exciting. And I would love for Cadillac to achieve Toyota/Lexus levels of “boring” in terms of not breaking down. To me, a car that breaks down a lot is “boring” and one that rides nicely, is comfortable, and goes many miles without needing repair is “exciting”. I’m tired of the 15% dominating the descriptions of cars. It’s time for the 85% to take charge, hopefully by voting with their wallets, or as investors – voting out CEOs that only want to build cars for their personal use, rather than for the public at large.
Drew you can have all the boring cars you want stop telling me what I need or should have in a luxury car.
I believe that as a company Cadillac can do both, build true luxury cars and performance versions!
Brian, I am not sure how you would definite “true luxury”. I would define it as Cadillac’s classic luxury, meaning roomy, comfortable riding, strongly powered, refined, reliable, brashly styled, with luxury interior and up to date consumer electronics. But that would not include harsh “sport ride” features of typical German brands such as BMW.
What JDN plans to do is to make ALL Cadillacs “sport ride” AND also offer even higher performance versions of the cars. There’s no room for classic Cadillac luxury there, for the Cadillac ride, or for winter and legroom oriented FWD.
JDN is going to test the theory that if Cadillac can be all sports-ride, all RWD, all the time, that this will somehow translate to higher sales. Even though the mix of mostly sports ride, mostly RWD has not worked, at all.
I think that in killing what made Cadillac a success, GM will be missing a major segment of the market in the future, especially once the sports-sedan fad ends, and it will end. But I don’t run the company, so I can just sit back and watch the future or Cadillac fail. I will not be happy to see my prediction come true. It’s a shame GM doesn’t appreciate Cadillac; I can’t expect guys named Johan and Uwe to appreciate it however.
If they’re building the XT6 on the (pre-existing) Acadia/Enclave platform … and that configuration was likely known, say, 6 months ago …
Doesn’t a 2019 launch seem a little leisurely? And the XT4, same time arc?
A) you gotta worry that they’re late to the CUV/SUV party. And B) Dare Greatly rings a little hollow if you only dare to go where others have already tread.
‘Dare Greatly’ – if you don’t live up to it, it’s little more than an unintentionally ironic name for a cover band.
But we’ll always have China, so that makes up for lots of ills. And the exclusive Blade chopper service to the Hamptons. There’s that, too.
Out of curiosity, I went to Blade’s website – no mention of the X5 deal on their site. Or a mention of Cadillac.
They do have a shot of a Bond-type character leaning against the chopper, with an Aston-Martin.
Maybe there’s a secret portal. Exclusive mail/Tweet/Instagram list.
Too late. The golden years of the car industry are behind us and the coming years will be extremely challenging in the transition to electric and self driving cars as well as a new ownership model. ie: pay per use.
Smaller Cadillac’s? Don’t they get it? Cadillac should be Large and hold people, lots of people, and be powerful.
All these guys with no idea what they are doing are designing cars that Cadillac owners cannot fit in.
Make the Chevy’s smaller, Leave Cadillac alone.
Start by listening to your customers, Put volume and changer knobs in that Darn Q system. You have them on the steering wheel. I hear complaints about that every day from customers, and now we have Q screens failing all over, and when it fails, it has to be replaced. Resale on a car with a cracked Q that no longer works will not be good.
Ditch that Stupid shifter in the XT5.
What if the customers are in China? The US is not a growth market. The economic growth, in the coming years, will almost entirely come from Asia.
There is enough economic growth in America for 17.5 million vehicle sales. Cadillac can hardly sell over 100K vehicles to it’s home market! They don’t know or care what the American customer wants. Why not just hire someone from Toyota to run the show. They couldn’t do any worse!
Higher somebody else I might be able to get behind that, but if that person is you I’ll pass!
It’s amazing to me how impatient people are! They simply refuse to let the system run it’s course! They want results now! When it takes years to develop a car or truck!
Let all of the new Cadillacs come out and then give those cars and trucks a chance don’t just kill them the moment you hear or see them!
It is way more complicated than simple economics. However, if we do not build things like cars, we will lose our country. When it is gone, it will then be too late. Without manufacturing, we are sunk as a people.
Cadillac would probably do better if they brought in an exec from Toyota. They know how to make cars that sell.
Camry is my next one, i think. Front runner for now anyway.
You clowns may not like it but this is a fact.
Chinese Customers, Let them buy the Chinese made cars. US Let us drive what we make.
If you only realized the incredibly high Chinese content in so called US assembled car. You would be shocked. Not a single car could be assembled in the US (all brands) without Chinese components.
I’m good with catering to China as long as GM promises not to come begging and bumming to the US taxpayer the next time they are going belly up.
Why does it need knobs? If fact it doesn’t need knobs! My doesn’t have knobs works just fine. I use the touch screens in the cars I own with zero issues. But I did take the time to read the owners manual sit and play with the system and learn how to navigate threw each screen.
But I guess instead of doing that it’s just easier to complain about how the system doesn’t work very well. It works just fine if you give it the attention it deserves in the first place!
You are clueless. As a salesman the Q is the biggest complaint I hear on a daily basis and the stupid trunk.
Trunk interior is ugly too. Cadillac may as well line it with old newspaper.
You are now trying to tell the public that how the interior of the trunk is important?
You have got to be kidding me! The fact that the manufacturers even spend one minute on what the trunk should look like from a appearance stand point is ridiculous. It’s a trunk designed to carry stuff plain and simple!
I can see people in the future saying this car is a failure because the interior of the trunk is horrible!
What is wrong with people today?
Brian, when people don’t like a car they don’t buy it. Cadillac is not a charity. There is no moral/ethical obligation to contribute to Cadillac’s welfare.
Well this is the difference between a loyal fan and customer and a fickle person who just sits on the fence! No loyal from people like you!
Brian, I’ve been in a Cadillac since I was a child. From my earliest childhood memory there has always been at least one Cadillac in the garage. There is a late model Cad in my garage now.
What do you drive?
No customer owes Cadillac anything. The ball is in Cadillac’s court to earn a customer’s business.
I have only owned Chevy’s in my life! I am a true GM guy! And one day when I need a luxury car it will be a Cadillac regardless of what models they have out at the moment!
I am just amazed how people just jump ship so fast when they don’t get what they supposedly want from a car company! Don’t people have a back bone anymore? Stand for something!
Another Chevy driving Cadillac expert. Amazing.
Prior to this I’ve encountered many mustard commercial Rolls-Royce specialists but never a Chevrolet driving Cadillac apologist.
Brian, open you wallet and buy a Cadillac. Put your money where your mouth is or go way for a period of time. Ranting on people who have owned Cadillacs for years is sort of foolish.
You have no clue about Cadillac or the issues a Cadillac buyer deals with today. Come back when you have direct experience with Cadillac.
Steve, you should be running the store. You come in contact with customers and know what we want and will not tolerate. The higher ups at Cadillac are clueless. The actually seem to think they can force us to buy what we don’t want.
I’ve been in a Cadillac my entire life. I expected to be Cadillac from the cradle to the grave. Never shopped anything else. My ’16 CTS is the last one. I am completely cured.
Cadillac really knows how to drive customers away.
They would never have it, Iwould be less popular than Trump with the media.
Steve,
Cadillac lost the plot. We read comments on this site all the time insisting that the cars Cad is building are the ones people want. If that was factual GM would not be interrupting plants for periods of time to reduce inventory.
The cars just are not selling well. Escalade plant runs 24 hour shifts 7 days a week trying to keep up with demand. Old school Cadillac. Why can’t they connect the dots?
People who spend much face time with customers as you do know what customers want. Higher ups are too far removed. They may never figure this out. I doubt they care.
You are spot on with CUE. It’s annoying. Mine has not delaminated yet but that’s something to look forward to.
The safety gizzies are worth very little. I usually defeat auto stop. When I forget (AC cranked) the LKA and safety alert seat are inop. Rear cross traffic works after a fashion.The arrows appear on the screen but I don’t know without the safety seat until someone gives me the horn, swerves and gestures. All deserved as I was in reverse. I’m grateful the other driver was alert.
I will never understand the reason to design a car without the back end clearly visible in the rear view mirror. Just more stupid from engineers and designers.
The CT6 is a Giant step in the right direction. They do not need to scrap everything, just fix the flaws.
The XT5 rides night and day better than the SRX, ut that stupid BMWclone shifter is its big failing.
The ATS has NO back seat. In RWD it cannot get out of its own way in the winter.
Just because I have never owned one doesn’t mean I haven’t driven them! I have driven and worked on more Cadillacs then you have. I can assure you of that!
Cadillac doesn’t have a problem! The people who call themselves Cadillac/GM fan do. Cadillac will keep doing what they have and the market will take care of itself!
It’s funny when chevy was selling tons of cars but turn very little or no profit people complained now a company like Cadillac is not selling as many cars as their competitors but is making huge profits and people still complain!
Making you people happy is never going to happen!
Brian, the best days for Cadillac as a business were when they were selling a lot of cars AND making high profits. You can’t act like Cadillac has a great game plan now when sedan sales are down 42% year-over-year for the month of June.
JDN is trying to sell the idea that Cadillac can sell fewer cars and make more profit by putting the cars “in the right driveways”. That is total BS, and Cadillac tried to do that in the 1930’s and it nearly ended the brand. Today it costs even more to develop a car, you’ve got $1-2 billion fixed costs on a new model, and you don’t make that up on low volume.
JDN is a prime example of the expression “if they are running you out of town, act like you are leading the parade”. Sales of Cadillac sedans are very weak, the game plan is NOT working, yet JDN acts like it’s all part of his master plan. The Escalade and XT5 are selling very well, but if Cadillac had it’s act together then why so late on SUV/CUVs? And why don’t their sedans sell, they way they used to? Could it be because Cadillac no longer delivers the kind of room, luxury, power, and comfort that the brand was built upon?
I’m pretty sure GM is not happy about Cadillac sales and profits right now. And Cadillac is very important to GM, because you can build a base of “standard” cars but then you can make slight changes to the standard cars and sell them as luxury cars for high profit. The Escalade is a prime example of that; not that much different than the GM large SUVs, yet in huge demand and huge profits. The XT5 is much the same, built on a GM platform not one unique to Cadillac – resulting in big sales AND big profits.
GM screwed up by trying to make Cadillac sedans more “German” when their base (Chevrolets, Buicks) are not like German cars. So instead of making some inexpensive tweaks to their lower brands and calling it a Cadillac, they are nearly building cars from scratch and selling them in low volume. That’s a recipe for disaster. Additionally, the public doesn’t accept Cadillac as a German brand, and people who want real Cadillacs don’t want German Cadillacs or German-like cars of any brand.
So complaining about a hugely failing brand (other than the SUVs) is not wrong. Complaining about the complainers and defending JDN is wrong. And we don’t need more time to evaluate JDN. He was the wrong choice to begin with. Cadillac has too many top executives who think German-like sport-luxury cars are the only way to go. Executives with that mentality have failed at Cadillac/GM in the past, and should be gone, rather than continually hiring more Johans and Uwes. I bet Infiniti is very glad that JDN is gone; he was not a good fit for a Japanese brand.
It’s going to be fun watching all of you naysayers have to eat your world’s in the next few years. It pisses me off when I see people not will to let the process happen.
But what am I saying Cadillac could role out the best cars in the future and people like you will find a reason to pick it apart and not like it! Weather it’s performance, size, fit and finish, level of luxury! No matter what it will be something just so you can say Cadillac is a failure!
The last time I checked Cadillac is turning a profit, that’s what the name of the game is.
Does Cadillac make a profit?
Does Cadillac have high transaction prices?
“The last time I checked Cadillac is turning a profit, that’s what the name of the game is.”
Brian, for one thing how do you know that Cadillac is making a profit and how much it is? GM doesn’t break out their income statements by brand.
Also, it’s not enough to just make a profit; the profit has to be large enough to justify the investment. If a car company is for example making 1% annually on their invested capital, that capital could be better invested somewhere else.
Furthermore, the “premium” division of a car company should be where the company is raking in the profit. Now don’t be confused by profit margin per car (as JDN seems to be pushing), because unless you sell enough cars to cover your fixed costs, your profit margin per car is zero. The goal is to maximize overall profits, and you do that at a premium division with both high marginal profits per car and high sales volume.
JDN is full of smoke screens when he says that he wants Cadillacs “in the right driveways” and is willing to accept low sales volume in return for higher profit margins. The highest theoretical profit margin Cadillac ever was probably the XLR, starting at over $100k, but they sold so few of them I doubt there was much if any overall profit on that model. And that wasn’t even a uniquely Cadillac product, it was based on the Corvette Stingray. If it had been as unique as JDN is trying to make the product line now, I would imagine the XLR would have been a serious profit loser for Cadillac. But in terms of marginal profits per car (i.e. ignoring fixed development, engineering, testing, tooling, marketing, etc) then the per-car profits were huge – on paper where it doesn’t matter.
Not even close to making a profit when you factor product development cost which is approx. 1 Billion per new car. When you only have 3% global share or 160K total sales per year and 50% of Chinese sales must be shared with your Chinese partner, you are losing money Big Time, Big League… Feel free to use your favorite Trumpism. Lol
That giant sucking sound you hear is the Germans vacuuming all the profits in the luxury car business. Cadillac is the little iRobot vacuum picking up the scraps left on the floor.
Brian,
I don’t think anyone here wants to see Cadillac fail. I certainly don’t. I’m extremely disappointed with my current Cadillac. There is something wrong with the power train. I’ve had service loaners with the same setup and they accelerated adequately for my daily driving needs. Not like the real Cadillacs but adequate. If mine was like that it would work for me.
Cadillac slices the baloney very thickly with that functioned as designed nonsense. They don’t stand behind their cars. Expecting people to continue to throw money at a car company like that is unrealistic.
I grew up in Cadillacs. Learned to drive on a Cadillac. Never shopped anything but Cadillac for my daily. If someone told me just over a year ago that I would no longer be a Cadillac buyer I would have considered them off the rails.
Cadillac is driving customers away. JDN expressed that he wanted to be shod of Cadillac loyalists. That’s a foolish statement for the top exec in any company. Brand loyalty is coveted by companies. They strive to build loyalty. Doesn’t matter if they sell candy bars or cars. A customer who will repeat with them unless they drive the customer away is money in the bank.
Cadillac should be bending over backwards to keep the customers they have now. We are a base on which to build.
I am more aware of other cars now than I ever was before. Today I walked from a store to my car to put a few items in the trunk. I heard a car drive past with a wonderful engine sound. I tuned to see an Audi drive by.
Audi doesn’t seem to have suffered in JDN’s absence.
You do what makes you happy if not being in a Cadillac is the thing that is going to keep you from going insane then more power to you.
I don’t have these problems that people like yourself do! You live a life of unhappiness, nothing in this world is good enough for you, complaining is a normal daily event! One day you will realize that nothing in life is perfect and trying to create a perfect life will only make you depressed.
What keeps me from being depressed is having a certain set of valve that I don’t waiver on. I have a backbone and I stand for something maybe you could do the same!
Being a loyal person is something that means alot to me and I surround myself around people like that. Maybe that’s why I don’t get along with so many on this site!
I will be a GM supporter until the day I die.
Continue living in a world where you nitpick everything you touch and that will continue your life of being miserable!
Have a nice day, I know I will!
Brian,
More personal attacks. Your beloved product must be very weak if personal attacks is your only weapon.
My last word to you.
Personal attacks! I am speaking in general about people who have zero loyalty for a company!
I defend a company I love and somehow I am the enemy here. People come on this site and bash GM and for some reason that’s ok!
If I offend you I am sorry, I just have a passion for GM
Brian, what does GM/Cadillac mean to you? You are loyal to it the way you’d be loyal to your favorite sports team, no matter how bad they were? You’d be loyal to them like you’d be loyal to your family, no matter how they acted toward you?
There’s no more reason for Cadillac fans to be loyal to today’s version of the brand, than there would have been for loyal Coca-Cola drinkers to have been loyal to “New Coke” when the formula was changed in the 1980’s (and they were not “loyal” to the new product at all, which caused the company to return to making real Coke.
What if Ferrari decided to stop building cool sports cars and instead decided to build little “smart car” type vehicles? Or what if Porsche decided to build only minivans? Would you accuse people who no longer bought Ferraris and Porsches of disloyalty or nitpicking?
When a brand completely changes their product, you can’t expect the existing customer base to change with it. JDN is intent on killing off the last vestiges of what made Cadillac Cadillac. He’s even been reported to be in favor of ending Cadillac’s traditional angular design language in favor of something more rounded (i.e. more like the Europeans). The outward appearance has been the last connection with real Cadillacs, and would be nearly the only thing I wouldn’t complain about with today’s Cadillac.
Loyalty is a two-way street, and Cadillac’s disloyalty started about 36-37 years ago (with the introduction of the V8-6-4 engine, and the Cimarron, both in the early 1980s). The disloyalty will be complete under JDN, as he ends the XTS and does not appreciate the Escalade, but moves ever-further toward “track performance” and “feel the (harsh) road” sports-vibration, in all Cadillac models as his personal preference. Then Cadillac will truly no longer be Cadillac, the last vestiges of their core principles will be killed off. Maybe you’ll like the new principles, but you can’t expect the people who loved what Cadillac used to stand for, to embrace an entirely different – dare I say “foreign” (it does not always mean “from another country”) – brand, masquerading under the old name.
You sound like fair weather sports fans that jump from team to team just being a fan of the best team! How is that respectful?
Brian, your comment suggests you don’t know what’s going on at Cadillac, when I think you must know better than that. The people who are unhappy with Cadillac’s current direction (and management) are not nitpicky people who never like anything.
What’s happened is that Cadillac was this iconic American brand, a brand with core values that a large portion of the American public loved. Those core values included true luxury in every model (not cheap base versions with vinyl seats, cheap stereos, obsolete halogen headlights, etc.), they included strong power in every Cadillac, not wimpy base versions, they included refinement, reliability, great roominess for driver and all passengers, brash original styling, and the most comfortable ride this side of Rolls Royce. Those values made Cadillac the number one selling luxury car in the USA, for decades, and ATPs at least as high as those today, when inflation adjusted. Cadillac was the leader, and looked to no one else for specifications or “class” of car. They just made great cars that they felt customers would want; and as long as they included real Cadillac values (i.e. NOT the Cimarron, the V8-6-4 engine, or Catera) then they sold very well.
Yet GM decided to throw away those core values in order to be a BMW imitator, instead of a bold leader in the 21st century. Suddenly they had to have cars that matched up with BMW’s classes, spec for spec. Suddenly they had to match BMW’s harsh cramped “sport ride” while throwing away the luxurious “Cadillac ride”. Suddenly it was ok to sell underpowered base versions like the Europeans and Japanese do. Suddenly it was ok to put the Cadillac name on cheap, decontented cars. Suddenly reliability didn’t matter so much as long as they were matching the Germans (which are not known for reliability). And not surprisingly, Cadillac sales dropped from 1st in US luxury sales to 5th (and clearly declining from there this year).
Instead of trying to fix the problem by bringing in some Americans to upper management who appreciate what Cadillac means historically to the USA, GM has doubled down on the “Let’s let the foreigners with German-car backgrounds continue to imitate BMW, only more so”. When they hired Johan, a sports car enthusiast with no connection to the USA but deep roots in the German car industry, Cadillac already had the wrong guy. I have to give him credit for pretending the massive decline in sales is a good thing (his snobbish “right driveways” comment, that I can’t imagine any American with an appreciation of history making), but massively declining sales are not a good thing.
You for some reason are telling us to just “stay the course”, trust JDN, everything will be all right, and if we say otherwise we are just unhappy nitpicky people who never like anything. In reality, what we don’t like is seeing the deliberate killing of an American icon that could be the luxury leader of the 21st century, if only they would build real Cadillacs (truly modern Cadillacs, not replicas of the past), and would actually advertise and SELL their benefits to the public rather than being embarrassed that they are not BMWs. But you can’t expect the brand to advertise the benefits of a nice comfortable-riding roomy elegant luxurious reliable modern Cadillac, when your marketing head is a foreign guy named Uwe who spent a couple of decades as a BMW engineer.
Now if you’ve read all this and you still say that we are just being nitpicky and everything is fine, that JDN is the right guy at the right time, then I have to question your reading comprehension or your sanity.
Like I said before it’s going to be kool watching Cadillac succeed and have all of you guys eat your words about how bad Cadillac is
Drew,
I wonder if Johan do Nothing was hired to be the captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg?
If he actually is the turnaround guy Cad could be in for some interesting years.
Susan, I don’t think JDN was hired to oversee Cadillac’s demise, although that is what he’ll be doing. JDN seems to have a rather simple playbook: Move the HQ to a more cosmopolitan city (e.g. Tokyo->Hong Kong, Detroit->NYC); change the letter/number naming system; make your company “the BMW of X” (X being Japan or the USA): create a sporty “halo” by making a super-duper-sporty version of an existing sedan (Eau Rouge at Infiniti, 600HP CTS-V at Cadillac), and increase prices so that people will think they “get what they pay for” and higher prices will translate to premium quality in the customers’ minds.
The JDN strategy appears to have worked at Audi, but that’s a German brand, so following the German game plan makes more sense there. Certain things are expected of German brands, associations are made in the minds of the public. What works for a German brand does not necessarily work for a Japanese or American brand, however. Yet JDN is sticking with what he knows, like an old football coach running the same plays and formations that have long since been outdated.
Realize also that not every brand can be a German-like brand, there just isn’t room enough for all of them. But Cadillac committed to becoming a German-like brand long ago, and they’ve only doubled down on a program that wasn’t working, by hiring JDN.
The sad thing is, Cadillac could have been very successful by being Cadillac. A modern first class ride does not go out of style. Unfortunately some self annointed “enthusiasts” at GM decided that the German sport-luxury model was the way to go, and the Cadillac model of roomy, comfortable-riding, well-powered, brashly-styled, reliable, modern luxury 1st class rides were history.
Cadillac will probably drop to 7th or 8th place (in US luxury sales) under JDN, and that’s just sad for the former number 1 for decades. The only “interesting” thing about JDN’s tenure will be how fast and how far sales will fall from here. And years from now, businesspeople will have Cadillac as a case study in what went wrong, how changing a winning strategy guaranteed a loser, and how something that might be appropriate for an anonymous German brand is not right for an American icon. I take no joy in forseeing the further demise of Cadillac.
GM for too long now has been chasing every shadow of business, trying to be what everyone else is instead of being what they are. A Luxury Car Leader.
Corporate forgot somewhere along the line, Bean counters are only good for keeping score, not playing the game. How much did we sell, What did it cost us and How much do we keep.
Cadillac better get their act together, or 20 years from now it will be like Saturn, Pontiac and Oldsmobile. They have got to quit hiring bean counters to run sales.
They are clueless when it comes to how to sell a product.
First thing I would do is replace their useless Ad agency.
Drew,
I have to disagree on your primary premise and recommendation for Cadillac. GM should NOT be trying to rebuild the Cadillac brand by making “inexpensive tweaks” and “slight changes” to Chevrolets. Don’t you remember the Cimarron? The car that began Cadillac’s 35 year tumble. It had slight changes and inexpensive tweaks and has left a legacy of destruction.
I don’t agree entirely with JdN’s prescription for Cadillac’s revival but I think it’s far more likely to yield success than the notion that all Cadillac needs is more badge engineered models. Cadillac, I think, needs more autonomy, unique RWD platforms, exclusive power plants, their own assembly plant, and many of the things JdN has done. Basically the polar opposite of your plan. Where I disagree with him is that I think He is trying to re-cast Cadillac as an American BMW when he should be making the brand into an American Rolls Royce albeit less expensive. The flashy, opulent, and supremely silent nature of Rolls is much more in keeping with Cadillac’s longstanding heritage than canyon carving sports sedans.
I would argue the reason Escalade succeeds is not because it’s a cheaply tweaked Tahoe. Rather, it finds marketplace success because it’s the most authentic Cadillac in the line with its big, brash, smooth, and comfortable persona. If one thinks of the great Cadillacs of the past, it’s the Escalade that draws the most logical arc from yesterday to today.
My other concern with JdN’s strategy is that he has rightfully indicated it will take years, decades even, to accomplish. I believe that’s a realistic expectation but I fear the infamous GM bean counters will shut the whole renaissance plan down long before it has a chance to deliver on its mission. GM’s accountants have never shown the kind of patience that’s going to be needed to turn Cadillac around.
Ci2Eye, very good points. Yes I definitely remember the Cimarron, and it crossed my mind even as I was writing that post. What I should have made clear was that the Cimarron was never up to Cadillac’s standards – it was too small, too underpowered, not really luxury. I’ve long said that one of Cadillac’s current problems is that they don’t have high enough minimum standards to call a car a “Cadillac”, and clearly that was the case in 1982 with the Cimarron. But I wouldn’t say that the problem per se was using existing GM parts and designs, it was not using them to true Cadillac standards.
Cadillac has done well at times with completely unique designs (such as the 1967 Eldorado) and has done well at other times tweaking an existing design (such as the Escalade). What I think could become a profit problem is if they feel the need to be 100% Cadillac; then how do they benefit from being part of GM, other than financing?
It’s a tough balancing act for a company like GM to make a line of cars from entry level to luxury level. But in the past, they managed to do it. I don’t think Cadillac succeeds if it operates as a company completely independent of GM. Yet that’s the way management has been approaching things, trying to make Cadillac like BMW not just in driving dynamics but in thinking they will offer a car for every type of driver; do they offer Cadillac motorcycles next, since BMW does that?
I do totally agree with you on the rest though, Escalade succeeds because it fits with Cadillac’s values of offering a big brashly styled, comfortable, modern vehicle. If only JDN and his team would understand WHY Escalade succeeds and how to make the rest of the line-up along those lines, with those values, rather than acting like the Escalade was just a one-off aberration that has nothing to do with where the brand should be headed.
Isn’t there rumors that a crossover based off Omega platform will be made at Detroit/Hamtrammck with the CT6? I thought I saw something about it.
Build the Cadillac Escala. I promise Cadillac will make a profit beyond there wildest dreams. Use that body style and build off of it. Improving driving dynamics , comfort, handling and technology year after year is the way to go. There are body styles in the car industry that will always be in style. In today’s market this is definitely one of them. All the people I know that have never even considered a Cadillac salivate at this car in admiration. I’m so disappointed that it hasn’t been done already. The time to strike is now! Cadillac don’t allow the window to close on this one. Also, the CT6-V build that one too. Cadillac take the risk and stop building cars like you are a start up company.
I agree that the Escala is an awesome car but how much of a market is there really for a $85,000+ sedan?? as much as it sucks SUVs sell and thats what they need to compete right now.
Still does not mean that Cadillac can’t or won’t consider building something similar to Escala after the necessary products roll out first. Right not, the CT6 is Cadillac’s test bed for technology and luxury at this moment.
Show the car industry that your one of the oldest car company’s in the world. Be Bold!!
It’s a different world from just a couple of years ago given Europe’s embrace for the Paris Climate Accord and their push to be a zero-emission continent by 2040; Cadillac should consider bringing back a revised ELR with a 75-90 mile range with a bit more horsepower may find better acceptance in Europe and China.
Hybrids are out and full electrics are in. Even the Volt is gone.
Electrics are as good as their batteries. The advantage of a Hybrid, is when the batteries fail, you can still drive the car. Both of these are OLD technology. The oil companies will Never let Electrics take over.
When it looks like something is going to cut into their business, they will lower the price of Crude and electrics will stop selling.
That’s how things were done in the past. Haven’t you paid attention, governments around the world are in the process on legislating IC cars to extinction. China is leading the way and they are driving it with or without backward looking USA.
Chinese electrics will invade the US starting in 2020. And we all know how Americans love their Asian cars which are top selling in most car segments. Camry’s, hyundais, Civics, Kias, Nissan Rogues…
That’s how things were done in the past. Haven’t you paid attention, governments around the world are in the process on legislating IC cars to extinction? China is leading the way and they are driving it with or without backward looking USA.
Chinese electrics will invade the US starting in 2020. And we all know how Americans love their Asian cars which are top selling in most car segments. Camry’s, hyundais, Civics, Kias, Nissan Rogues…
Cadillac designers need to think out of the box because future Cadillac vehicles they will be designing won’t be just for the United States as a great number will be built and sold in China as General Motors reported in Feb 2017 it delivered 18,011 cars and SUVs in the Chinese market in January, 73% more than the 10,398 Cadillac vehicles sold during the same period by the U.S. as the Cadillac brand is more popular in China than the United States.
So, design Cadillacs that will sell in China, and if you have to, different ones for North America. Why do we need a one car for everyone thinking.
Want me to buy a new Cadillac? Build me a modern big cushy RWD V8 (would probably sell well in China too).
The future lineup ?
CT4,CT5,CT6.
XT4,XT5,XT6.
+ Escalade
Maybe an XT3.
I’m not too sure about a CT3, since other brands have grown in size to be more like a 4 series.
Also, a sport crossovers with lower roof height, like the Porsche Macan.
All models will have the new Escala look.
Hybrids for all models.
GM should require their engineers to work as a Service writer in dealerships before they are allowed to design anything. That way they will know what the complaints are and what fails.
IMO, Cadillac has a heck of a challenge w/ the XT6 since it will be built alongside the next generation Enclave which is a gorgeous SUV same as for the Avenir model itself. But I do believe that Cadillac will get it right with it and will surprise a lot of people. The XT5 is another example well conceive by the general public and I have no doubt the XT6 and XT4 will be great successes also.
If Cadillac is doing a tweener strategy again with the CT5 and CT4, I predict the CT5 could grow in size but priced similar to the C-Class and 3 Series while the CT4 will grow in size with the C-Class and 3 Series but priced like the 1-2 Series, A3 and A-Class sedan and CLA. Also just a guess but I bet that the CT5 and CT4 will retain most of the technology and luxury of the CTS and ATS and gain more new tech and luxury on the future models. They will be priced so similar like the second generation CTS that it would be hard for the buyers to ignore the CT4 and CT5, just like the CT6 as a perfect example. IMO, the CT4, CT5 and revised ’19 CT6 will be home runs for Cadillac.
I might be off a bit or spot on but I do see this happening.
Chevrolet – lower optioned/priced cars, trucks, small and big suv’s.
GMC – higher optioned/priced trucks, big suv’s.
Buick – higher optioned/priced cars, small suv’s.
Cadillac – luxury optioned/priced cars, small and big suv’s.
GM still steals customers from itself with too much overlap in marques. They try to have each marque have a vehicle for everyone, nothing special about a Buick or GMC when you can get the same in a Chevrolet. Nothing special about a Cadillac when it is just a BMW clone.
Cadillac needs to learn and lead from their history.
To be the “Standard of the World” you must embrace:
” The Penalty of Leadership”
It’s been recognized and is in the Library of Congress.
GM, its (over)time to set and lead by example!
Not under their present path, I see my beloved Cadillac going the way of Saturn, Pontiac and Oldsmobile. They do not see it, Though Just like Obama, lead from behind and apologize for success.
In all honesty, Cadillac must look to a younger affluent audience. I bought my first cadillac, a 2016 Cadillac CTSV in 2016, due to the new “younger” styling. It’s was a new look, luxurious, and very fast. Being 23 at the time, I was drawn to the fast and trendy euro merch such as the Jaguar F-type, M3, and AMG GT. Hell, I even took the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrofoglio home for a day. Although I agree there were options with better “stats and numbers,” for a few thousand more nonetheless, the main thing that convinced me to get into the CTSV was that it was an ICONIC American brand that seemed to have been reborn. Whenever I drive it, it always gets looks and attention. At some point in the last 7-10 years, its stopped being “my grandfathers” Cadillac, and became more mine. Although it should continue to cater to the high end luxury segment, it should not loose it’s new identity Cadillac Racing helped bring to the lineup. I hate to say it, but if they do away with the performance serues to focus on the new crossover segments, I may not be getting back into a Cadillac later this year again. Like with audi, BMW, and Mercedes, you dont develop a performance car because it makes sense, you develop it because it gives recognition and prestige to an already ICONIC brand. If you build it, they will come…