Cadillac Continues Russian Expansion
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General Motors is continuing the continuing the expansion of its Cadillac luxury brand in Russia and the CIS regions, albeit rather slowly.
The brand just launched Avtoliga Cadillac — the newest Cadillac dealer in the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, bringing its dealer count to 14 stores across Russia and the CIS. Another dealer is set to open before the end of 2017 in Moscow.
Avtoliga Cadillac – Cadillac Nizhny Novgorod Dealer
In the fourth quarter of 2017, the brand plans to launch the Cadillac CT6 full-size luxury sedan. The move comes after the brand unceremoniously discontinued the ATS lineup in the country in 2016, leaving the CTS/CTS-V as the only sedan in the brand’s lineup until the arrival of the CT6. Notably, the CTS-V lays claim to the title of the most powerful sedan in all of Europe — a status Cadillac has used in promoting the vehicle in Russia and Europe. At the end of this year, Cadillac’s lineup in Russia and the CIS will consist of the CTS/CTS-V sedan, CT6 sedan, XT5 midsize crossover and Escalade full-size SUV.
The expansion comes as General Motors significantly reduced its presence in Russia in 2015 by discontinuing its Opel brand in the market, which it later sold to PSA Groupe, withdrawing Chevrolet from the country’s mainstream segments, leaving only the Camaro, Corvette and Tahoe, and shuttering the GM St. Petersburg production. At the time, the pull-out was characterized as an effort to focus on Cadillac in Russia and the CIS regions. The strategy appears to be changing, however, as GM is reportedly planning to expand the Chevrolet lineup in the region, starting with the all-new 2018 Chevrolet Traverse.
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Geopolitics will doom GM. America is public enemy number one in Putin’s playground.
You’ve been watching too much CNN, CNBC, or FOX. Time to expand your horizons with some media that’s not biased, or looking for a reason to start WW3.
Also, Putin could not care less about America as an enemy, and does not see it as such. He has much bigger problems to solve internally.
what alternative news sources are you alluding to? i was under the impression putin was against the united states and western europe.
Putain does not like us but he will take any money he can from any country or company..
The risk here is if we put sanctions on them again.
Putain needs money to try to restore Russia back to Soviet level of power and influence. He is spending much in the Middle East and been trying to make alliances with anyone we oppose.
In other words he is trying to undo everything Reagan and Gorbachev accomplished.
He is old school and needs to be watched. In the last 8 years he went from isolated to dangerous and if pushed will no flinch.
As for the public most like America but there is an element of the old school Soviet think still with some. Also they have issues in outer areas with radical Islam like we do.
It is a large complex country with no absolutes.
Alex, you’ve spent too much time in the US and English speaking world.
Economic nationalism is real. Our sanctions against Russia as well as high profile Russians has created rage and a sense of humiliation. The US trying to steal Ukraine is a national shame for Russia.
Let us also not forget that to secure his popularity Putin needs an enemy and the US (epitomized by American brands like Cadillac) sums up an untraditional, decedent polor opposite of Russia. Putin crafted his anti gay laws to demonstrate Russian exceptionalism and a multi polar approach.
Do you know any Russians who live in Russia? Read Russian press? I think it is you my friend who watches too much Fox.
Japanese, Korean, French-owned abc German brand have a political advantage you seem to be overlooking.
Oh Steve,
You should probably know that not only do I speak Russian and have played hockey in Russia, but I also have friends who live there and I read the press in Russian. I follow relevant developments closely both from the Russian and American press, and the reality is extremely different from any of of the items or sentiment reported on by the aforementioned outlets. So I would wager that I am more informed on these matters than most.
You say “Economic nationalism is real”, but can you still say the same when Russians buy German cars by the boatload every month, sometimes importing them from Europe and paying European taxes AND Russian taxes?
Then you say that, “Let us also not forget that to secure his popularity Putin needs an enemy and the US” sums up an untraditional, decedent polor opposite of Russia”.
This is actually not the case, far form it, really. There is very little anti-US sentiment in Russia, with or without Putin. And to add to that, Putin actually has no anti-US agenda.
Bit at some point, when you keep pushing a person (any person) into a corner and keep putting (unnecessary) pressure to advance your own global political agenda as a country, said person will react — and it probably won’t be too nice.
I’m curious — how did you come about the idea that Putin “needs and enemy and the US”? How did you come to the idea that the US “is a polar opposite of Russia”? In what ways is this the case?
Furthermore, would you care for some examples about how not anti-America Russia and Russians are? I’ll be delighted to enlighten:
1. The iPhone is Russia’s most popular smartphone, despite Apple having no official presence in the country and Samsung having a very official presence.
2. Russians were buying Chevrolets by the boatload prior to the brand’s withdrawal from the country in 2015; these cars were mostly produced locally at the time and the relationship at the primary factory in St. Petersburg between GM and the workers was superb.
3. Russians bought nearly 15,000 Tahoes, Corvettes and Camaros (the only Chevrolet vehicles currently sold in the country) in the first half of 2017, despite the “economic nationalism” that you say supposedly exists. That’s a lot of very expensive cars for people who supposedly have negative feelings towards America, wouldn’t you say?
In all, the mainstream U.S. media reports a lot about the supposed anti-American sentiments from the current Russian government and the Russian people, but this simply is not the case and the anti-American sentiment in Russia does not exist. In fact, I would say that Americans have a much greater sense of anti-Russian sentiment than the other way around.
Here’s to looking outside the box.
you wrote … How did you come to the idea that the US “is a polar opposite of Russia”? In what ways is this the case?
i was under the impression that the last thing putin wants is any semblance of a working democracy in russia. he leads a kleptocracy and does his best to suppress any dissent.
he does this by physical violence. look at all of the opposition leaders/journalists who have been assassinated/jailed. he also needs an enemy to rally the support of the citizenry. that would be the united states and western europe. he wants to project the image of a strong leader protecting mother russia against the evil west.
so you say that putin is more focused on internal problems and doesn’t have time for america as the enemy. the economy is in trouble with declining oil prices. it seems putin uses america/west as a foil and distraction to the problems that can be attributed to him and his corrupt government.
Again, your perception associated with Putin needing an enemy and his supposed way of dealing with dissent is total bollocks. Pure poppycock made up by US media sources that want you to believe in this so as to create a reason for conflict, which benefits the socio economic military complex driven by big military money (such as the likes of Halliburton).
I asked you for specific examples but you provided none so I’m going to conclude that your understanding of the topic at hand is either nill or close to it. Allow me to elucidate you.
If you actually had any tangible, in-depth knowledge and understand of the topic, then you would know that Russia and the Russian people generally have nothing against the US.
You would know that the Russian political climate is highly democratic, much more so than that of the US. For instance, there is no electoral college, to start.
You would know that there are many political parties in Russia, and that each has a very different approach to how they would run the nation (compared to two very basic parties in the US that are more similar than different). These Russian parties and their candidates are all given a lot of room in terms of free speech and campaigning and protesting and dissent. It’s like carte blanche. And unlike in the US, no one calls them names/labels. No one calls in the troops to stop them.
Third, there are daily political programs on the radio and TV that present various viewpoints from political experts and the candidates in each party. They are not restrained or otherwise controlled like they are here. Heck, here a different political party would not even be allowed or invited on a CNN or FOX show.
Specific examples show a lot, and here is one: on Russia channel 1, there is a show with Vladimir Saloviev as the host. Google it. American journalists and political experts are on there almost every week arguing their point of view. There are politicians and political experts from Europe, from Ukraine, Belarus, etc. It gets argumentative at times but it’s kept civil for the most part. That’s freedom of speech and media, and it exists in Russia. Tell me, when was the last time that Fox, CNN, CNBC, etc. had a politician on a political program that wasn’t from the US or Canada? I can’t think of such an instance. Heck, are there actual political programs hosted by these so-called unbiased outlets, that will let experts speak freely? No, there aren’t. All there are are “interviews” of supposed subject matter experts during which one must stick to the script, and if they don’t, the channel mutes them and switches topics or goes to commercial.
So give this Russia phobia thing a break. I know that the US mainstream media is peddling Russian-related fear mongering, but I thought people were smarter, more educated and better informed than that. i guess I was wrong.
Where is Russia? I think I’ve heard of it, but perhaps a map would come in handy. Just kidding.
Seriously, interesting article and comments. And for something really out of left-field (yet related to Russia, Ukraine, and autos) – there’s a tv show currently available on Netflix called “The Sniffer”. It’s a detective series set in Russia and in Russian language, though produced and filmed in Ukraine. I’ve watched the 1st two seasons, I liked the first season better because there was more of an emphasis on humor, while the second season had more of an emphasis on violence.
Anyway, the main character (aka “the sniffer”) has a very sensitive sense of smell, and he helps the Russian version of the FBI to solve crimes. It’s unrealistic in terms of his “sniffing” abilities (and ability to connect that with other elements) but at times interesting, and there are some surprisingly modern locations in the story.
And the big payoff is: “Sniffer” drives a red Dodge Challenger, and the other main character – his buddy with the Russian police – drives a lime green Jeep. I have no idea if Fiat-Chrysler paid anything for the product placement, or even gave them free vehicles. I don’t think they have a big presence in Russia, or in Ukraine for that matter. Maybe Cadillac should try to get “sniffer” to drive a red ATS-V in the show, as part of their return to Russia.
In a world where we see Putin’s government trying to create chaos in our country by medelling in our Presidential election like they have been doing in Ukraine and countries in Western Europe I don’t understand why GM is investing in that country .
I would understand it if our relations with Russia were like they were when Gorbachev was President , but times have changed dramatically since then . Putin and his olaguards have a strangle hold on the country , he kills journalists and gets rid of his opposition by trumping up charges ( couldn’t resist the { Trump}ing ) and throwing them in jail where they literally disappear .
He controls the press , so anything that Russians read or American writers for forums get a filtered version of what the government wants them to read . Same thing with televised news casts .
That government is our enemy , is GM so hard up for world dominance in auto sales that they can overlook the human condition of the people of a dictatorial regime .
The number of sales of Cadillacs in that country are small and until Putin is removed from the Presidency , which elections are suppose to be in 2018 , and relations change between us this move by GM just does not make sense. .