The Cadillac CT6 has so many positive and redeeming qualities that it’s nearly impossible to list them all of them at once. So we thought we’d cover them one at a time. Let’s start with the front armrest, as first seen on Cadillac Society.
First and foremost, the armrest serves its primary purpose of providing a comfortable, ergonomic, and attractive place for the arm/elbow of the driver and passenger alike. But it goes beyond that, as it can be opened either towards the driver or towards the (front seat) passenger.
Cadillac CT6 Front armrest in closed position
Cadillac CT6 front armrest open towards driver
Cadillac CT6 front armrest open towards passenger
The GM Authority Take
Cadillac interior designers deserve a hand for a well-executed feature that will hopefully be appreciated. It sure was appreciated by us during our time with the CT6.
Comments
even on this photos….interior needs to be updated with luxury materials. too much plastic for this class.
Why is it asymmetric? A perfect rectangular armrest cover would look better and may be later installed in the other GM models.
My 2005 C Class had this feature.
More than likely, that will be a norm for most flagships in this class but a worthy feature nonetheless. I expect ’19 refresh models under JDN to get some worthwhile features currently lacking on the current design cycle.
I’m waiting for the day when Cadillac is compared with the S-Class Mercedes, Audi A8 or BMW 7 series in all the car magazines. The Cadillac CT6, which I assume is the top of the line, is always compared with the E-Class Mercedes. I think it’s about time that Cadillac upped their game and started putting all quality components in their cars along with a V8 engine so that Cadillac will be a Cadillac again.
I agree with most of that, except for the comparisons. They can keep the E Class comparisons.
What I want is for Cadillac to confirm the CT8 and execute it in a way that competes with the Mercedes-Maybach S600 for regular S Class money.
I’m guessing it might look more luxe and innovative if the photography was professional and well-lit.
These look like iPhone shots of some guy’s beatup wallet, there’s a weird white lintball on the fabric surface … doesn’t exactly say top quality and attention to detail.
They should yank these 2d rate photos and do it right. Or at least clean it up in photoshop.
Oh this was taken with a top-rate DSLR.
The deal is that a diamond still looks like a diamond no matter the lighting or the camera.
The wallet in the photo actually brand new and lint is a part of life.
Ultimately, the purpose of the photos is to show how this feature works to those that have never seen it… not to produce recreate the Mona Lisa within the CT6 😉
Ok, I guess a cubic zirconium in one person’s eye is a diamond in another’s.
Looks skanky to me, but if you’re cool with the look, by all means, have at it.
Looking a little Auto Trader to me, though. Seems like every Cadillac brand expression out there should be a positive brand statement.
Maybe this will totally resonate with the market – I could be totally off base: could be this brand expression in spot-on ?
This is definitely a vehicle with a lot of interior wear. Although the functionality of the center console is represented, the photo of Cadillacs quality materials are definitely misrepresented here.
and where is the sexy model caressing the armrest ?!?!? how about the hipster nyc background??? how about filling that armrest with diamonds/rubies. very disappointing.
Or they could rear hinge it so the driver and passenger can use it at the same time .
Or perhaps have the cover slide toward the rear of the car. This would allow both front seat occupants to use the storage area simultaneously while requiring a smaller range of motion than a rear hinge would require and would prevent the lid from slamming shut.
The rear-hinge is practical and cost effective. The reversible switching hinge has a ‘wow’ factor; something that every Cadillac should have.
Rear hinges generally work well for shorter armrests. The longer armrests (as the one in the CT6) are less practical and significantly less comfortable to open rear-wards… hence, they’re significantly more convenient and comfortable to open sideways. Hence the reason for the armrest opening sideways in the CT6.
I should also add that the side-opening armrest is significantly more comfortable if you need to open it while driving. By comparison, the rear-hinged armrest in my ATS is a PITA to open at high speeds… requiring much more attention/concentration.
My Suburban is side hinged and occasionally I bump the button if I have something in my left front pocket while driving and it pops open. My Silverado is rear hinged and I would guess is longer than a CT6 armrest. Between a Silverado & Suburban they are both easy to open.
I agree withe rear hinge idea . Makes just as much sense for use by both front passengers . Although it’s a ” cool ” idea , it’s an over-engineered play thing .
What I think a well executed feature by the designers that would be appreciated and actually add a touch of class to the interior would be to find a place for an actual clock . A nice tailored timepiece . Something small I will admit ( to some people ) , but found in other luxury cars from the S and E-class to the G-90 & 80 and Lincoln to name just a few .
Even the old 2010-12 SRX had one . Now that would be something to appreciate while spending time in the CT6 and would be worthy of a ” spot-light ” . 😉
There nice cars but if i had $80 grand to spend on a vehicle it wouldnt be the CT6, if your gonna spend that much $ jing ona Cadillac u might as well buy the new CTS-V series car, now thats a car id spend $100 grand on!
Thanks to this recent burst of “Justification” I dug out my old Southern Red Neck Gospel music by Bill Gaither CD’s and played them in my Cadillac on my way to work, Wonderful stuff. Thanks Again
What in the hell do you need a clock for? There’s one one cue system! Talk about over engineer!
My 2006 C230 has one of those too.
Let’s face it. Cadillac is not going to do anything right if this many of you can find this much fault over a damn arm rest and photo that has absolutly nothing wrong with it.
While some claim over engineered here I say over critical.
Many here really need to save the vitriol for things that really matter and thecars meant to change the brand we have yet to see.
This is an armrest that works it looks fine in the real car, the photo was not shopped or computer generated. What is to complain about.
This here shows what Cadillac is facing with many that no matter what they do many of you are going to complain.
Nice idea yet way to shallow to put anything in, I always ask why don’t they use their time figuring out how to incorporate things customers want like CD players, instead of all the nonsense.
Just another example how they do not know what their customers want, they just dream up stuff.
Agreed Steve. A CD player be standard (at least it’s optional on the CT6, but can you really get the model you want in stock?) on any luxury car. How cheap can you get to eliminate the CD player?
I guess this is part of the theory that it’s more “modern” to delete the CD player, so if you include one somebody might not buy it because it’s “old fashioned”. I’d like to see a poll of who would never buy a car that didn’t have a CD player (which would include me), vs. people who would never buy a car that DID have a CD player (idiot self-annointed “hipsters”, wearing their knit hats indoors at the coffee bar, who belong in a Prius anyway).
Including a CD player in every luxury car is a no-brainer. Including a two-way opening armrest instead is brainless.
It probably has nothing to do with being ‘old fashioned’, and everything to do with luxury consumers who are unwilling to physically lug around CD’s and accept lower quality sound over that of steaming or that of FLAC.
Your little internalize war isn’t against hipsters (because there aren’t any hipsters anymore), but it’s really in your reluctance to realize that nobody has any need or desire for a “CD wallet”.
That’s both technical and practical objections to CD players in cars, and yet I’m sure you’ll consistently think it’s inter-generational friction. We already have albums being released that aren’t available on CD, and if you have old CD’s, there’s nothing stopping you from either ripping them or download higher quality tracks from online vendor.
I won’t even get into the fact the CD’s you have in your collection that you don’t actually them or the music on them. Rather, you’ve paid a licensing fee legally demanded of the publisher to listen to the music encoded on them.
But please, tell us all why it’s Drew vs. the world when it comes to not having CD players in cars.
Tell us how, with your excessive and weak emotional pleading instead of technical or practical considerations, that this is really the crux that bringing America down from within and it was all perpetuated by those dreadful young hipster people who last existed 5 years ago.
Did you want your next Cadillac to come with a blue Kenwood CD head unit with fancy LCD graphics and a factory sub in the trunk too? Are you THAT behind the times that you want to relive the ricer age?
How did you ever recover when cassette players were removed from cars? Was that the result of those awful hipsters too who wanted more ‘modern’ things in their cars?
I can’t believe the CD issue is still being discussed after all of these years. I also can’t believe that they still produce CD!
Waste of space
Waste of time
Waste of money
You can put thousands of songs on one thumb drive, and talk about sound quality who cares you driving a car! Your not sitting at a symphony orchestra! Your just playing background music while you drive.
Plus with all of the streaming services both free and pay using mp3’s might one day be a thing of the past!
CD’S are not needed anymore just like 6 disk CD changers are no longer needed or offered! Time change and we need to move on. Next thing they are going to be asking for is tape decks and 8 track players!
Brian, probably true that most people can’t tell the difference between MP3 quality and CD quality, in a moving car. And you could add one more advantage to MP3 – in today’s Cadillacs with the jarring “sport ride” (compared with past Cadillacs), I suppose someone’s CD player could be shaken enough to mistrack. It’s interesting though that Cadillac once offered a car with a record (vinyl LP) player. Imagine the smooth ride Cadillac must have had to make that possible.
As far MP3 quality being good enough, well tell that to the people buying the 34 speaker Bose Panaray on the CT6. I’m pretty sure they are going to want at least CD quality, even if you don’t think they can tell the difference.
Also an advantage of CD is that you can take it straight from your home stereo (where MP3s sound really bad if you have a decent sound system), to your car, back and forth. Who is going to do that with an MP3 file?
But the bottom line is – even if you don’t think CD players are no longer needed, and even if that were actually true – if Cadillac is losing sales due to not having CD players installed, then that is a problem for Cadillac, not for the customer. It’s funny how so many of you lose sight of the fact that this is a business, while merely trying to envision the car that would suit your own personal needs and desires, ignoring the rest of the market.
Drew,
Sound quality in a Cadillac is no longer a concern. We listen to the noise of the RFT on the road. lol
Quit assuming that newer is automatically better. Research CD sound quality vs that of an mp3 so you know WTF you’re talking about.
Simmer down, Grawbuddy. You sound like those young people who starts breaking windows and attacking others, when someone says something they disagree with. I guess they didn’t get enough participation trophies as kids. All I did was to express a preference and opinion about CD player inclusion; I didn’t threaten to take away your USB or your streaming or your favorite knit hat (or maybe you call it a tuque up there in Canada, eh?).
If you want to sell more cars, it’s best to offer more ways to access music, not fewer. And sure there are some higher bit resolution formats accessible via new formats, and I’m all for them. But don’t kid yourself that most people in their 20s and 30s are listening to better-than-CD format, because they aren’t. MP3 has about 1/10th the bit rates as CDs. No wonder music has gotten so bad since at least the early 1990’s – because not much music gets through on MP3, so it’s all about “words and beats” instead of real music.
Steve was talking about what his customers want, not about where they “should be”. You can go to every Cadillac dealer and try to educate the public about how they can just rip their CDs to flash drives and SD cards if they want, but if they see there’s no CD slot, they are a lot less likely to buy.
I like the convenience and option of playing a CD. Sure I’ve also done the ripping to flash drive and SD card, more as a test than something I really wanted. On one car I test drove with SD card, the card played the songs in the wrong order (they had song “11” following song “1”) and put gaps between the songs, when there were no gaps for a live concert recording. Maybe they’ve fixed some of those issues, but I don’t always want to deal with a playlist or someone else’s choices of songs.
I also don’t want to go through and rip every CD to digital format, I like being able to grab the CDs I want to hear, and hit the road. Recently I was listening to the remaster of “Candy-O” by The Cars. It sounded great by the way. It’s a new album, out maybe one month. All I had to do was open it up and put it in the car’s CD player, no ripping necessary. And no doubt a lot better quality than the MP3 version.
And wow, I am so impressed that you listen to albums that haven’t even been released on CD. Much of what I listen to hasn’t been released on CD either, since I have a lot of concert recordings that have never been released on CD. But I transfer them to CD-R (gold, for better fidelity and longevity) so they wind up in the car’s CD player.
As I said, I bet if you took a poll, you’d find more people refusing to buy a car without a CD player, than people who would refuse to buy a car which did have a CD player in it (along with all the other popular music accessing options). But for some reason you blew a gasket over that opinion. Are you against greater choice? Are you against more car sales?
Maybe you have the snobbish JDN attitude about “wrong driveways”. Perhaps you don’t want people who like to play CDs in their cars owning Cadillacs. You have the right to be a snob, but Cadillac is part of GM, which is about profits. If CD players means more Cadillac sales, then GM owes it to the shareholders to include them. Steve is an actual Cadillac salesman, so I’m pretty sure he’s got a handle on this.
“If you want to sell more cars, it’s best to offer more ways to access music, not fewer.”
And that’s where you’re wrong right off the bat. Thinking that quantity is a substitute for quality.
If you can’t figure out why quality is more important than quantity, then you have no business looking at Cadillac or any luxury car.
Nothing in the rest of your dribble is worth reading if you keep getting it fundamentally wrong.
I bet you still use a green marker on your CD’s.
“If you can’t figure out why quality is more important than quantity, then you have no business looking at Cadillac or any luxury car.”
Grawduddy, thanks for one of the most hilarious quotes I’ve seen all year. Especially in the context of giving the driver more options, more choice. This is not a choice of quality over quantity, but if it is, CD quality tops MP3 quality. However, I’m not saying that the bluetooth and USB connections should be ended, or the satellite radio or whatever, just give the customer more choice including a CD slot. Where’s the “quality” in deleting it?
I’m pretty sure that you are one of those “more gears are better” people, deriding the smooth and reliable 4 forward gear DTS transmission vs. today’s unreliable but impressive sounding 8 gears or more. How does your “quantity is not better than quality” mantra stack up in that case?
But more choices is not a “quantity over quality” calculation. More choices IS quality, to many people. Look at paddle shifters, I don’t like them, but they give people more options with an automatic transmission. They are considered a mark of quality to some people. Then there are the choices of “sport mode” vs. other modes, again an option for the driver to use or not. The better cars have these options.
Many high quality cars also give you a choice of dashboard layout. I guess you just think they should get the one YOU would choose, because that’s the “quality” choice. Or there’s the choice of setting your headlights on when you want, or “automatic” when it gets dark. I suppose you would be in favor of deleting one or the other of those (whichever one suits YOUR driving habits) because after all, quantity is not as good as quality.
Or how about making the seats just have one position, the one that fits your body perfectly? It’s unnecessary “quantity” to give the driver so many seating position choices. And of course the steering wheel should be set in one position too, no power adjustment like my DTS, no adjustment at all, for anyone. Just make them all at the perfect Grawbuddy position and stop giving people other options.
The bottom line is that not everyone drives the way you do, not everyone likes your preferences in dashboards and headlight settings, etc. Not everyone is your size or likes to sit and hold the wheel the way you like to. Not everyone listens to music the way you do. Having options for those things makes the car more luxury, not less.
Right on point. They are not listening, their minds are made up, this blog is for us to tell them how wonderful they are.
For many years I had the pleasure of selling Industrial safety equipment for a company that excelled in quality, they out sold their closest competitor 3 to 1. Management thought that if they would cut their prices in half and sold through wider distribution they could make a lot more money.
I left the company, and moved on. Today they are no longer manufacturing those products. they handed it all to their competition and stopped production. My old customers still call me.
When the factory forgets who their customers are, and what they are supposed to be doing they are in trouble.
I never once said MP3. That was your doing, and only yours
I did say FLAC, and we all know FLAC and streaming (neither of which are MP3’s, may I remind you) offer far better audio quality than a CD ever could. Furthermore when it’s on a phone or EXS, you also escape the total embarrassment of being seen with a CD wallet.
That why I still stand for a demand of quality and you simply don’t.
Perhaps there is a used 300 with a CD player that might be more to your liking, as I’m sure the 300 would look ‘right’ in your driveway.
Grawbuddy, FLAC is actually data packing software, that allows lossless compression of files from whatever size. That doesn’t mean they are automatically better than CD, in fact I would guess that most FLAC unpacks to WAV files which can then be burned to CD-Rs. There currently isn’t a lot of music which is higher bit rate than CD.
I don’t know what you have in mind as far as “streaming”, but streaming comes in a variaty of data formats as well. Pandora is a popular “streaming” service, and their cheapest service streams at 64 kbps, which is worse than the rate of the worst MP3s (which can go from 96 kbps to 320 kbps, and are typically 128. kbps). For comparison, CDs run at 1411 kbps. I’m unaware of any streaming services for the CT6 that have higher bit rates than CD, though one called “Tidal” has a bit rate equal to CDs.
I had assumed that by “quality vs. quantity” you meant you didn’t like the “quantity” of many choices for auto music play, which IMO should also include CD. Your post simply wasn’t clear, except of course in your own mind. But if your case is quality over quantity and you insist on better-than-CD only, then your car should prevent you from playing MP3s as well as CDs, as well as streaming services with CD quality or lower. So unless you’ve got a portable blu-ray audio, DVD-audio player, or high bit memory stick, hooked up via the USB port (bluetooth maxes out at 768 kbps), then your car will only be capable of playing the “sounds of silence”, and I don’t mean the Simon & Garfunkel song.
You want a CD player? Why bother
Why bother with a CD player you ask? Because present customers want and use them. Not memory sticks, not transferring through Bluetooth on their phones. Not every one listens to head banging noise. There is enough of that without Panaray Sound Systems.
I have driven in the CT6 with it, and find the Panaray to not be a selling feature. Not worth the admission price. we don’t order it, unless a customer spec’s it. Several of my customers like to listen to Classical music, there are thousands of those CD’s in the market.
Another advantage is a CD removes the constant Trump bashing in the media these days.
Granted, I am aligned with the customers I deal with.
We listen to Classical Music, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s & 80’s Rock and Roll, Flatt & Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, 40’s music etc. Not eveyone likes “Cowboy” music, or “Soul Sounds” some find them offensive. A CD lets a customer choose what they want. Not what they are forced into.
XM is good, but not the same. Lots of customers say that without a CD player, they just turn the radio off. Not mute it, turn it all the way off.
We are talking about a Car, not a set of headphones. so the argument respecting sound quality, is nice but not as important as middle level worker bees trying to justify their jobs, wish it to be. If it were there would be no road noise, wind noise, Wiper noise, Tire noise etc. Bose Noise cancellation helps but still does not eliminate enough background.
My wife asked me, why do people with hearing aids, buy quiet cars?
I said, because hearing aids amplify background noise. Quiet cars make for a more pleasurable ride.
Designing cars for their tastes and not their customers, is missing the point.
I could swear that I was in a 1990’s Lincoln Town Car that had this feature.
CD player? I saw one at the Smithonian last summer. It was next to a typewriter and flip phone.
If you put a CD player in next someone will want an 8 Track and then a 45 RPM record pLayer under the dash.
You guys don’t get it. A lot of customers still use CD’s. They can listen to what they want without the advertising. A lot of audio books are on CD’s, but then again you would have to be literate to now what books are. The cloud is not safe.
It is a hassle to transfer to a media stick. Half the time the car does not recognize the format used. ITunes is not that great, and the cars have trouble playing them too.
Oh that’s right, you have to buy CD’s how silly of me.
I refuse to believe the move was technology driven, it just allowed the general to increase profits and deliver less. Typical bean counter thinking.
Your’e wasting your time. These people are idiots.
Last time I check I was told we were not allowed to call people names on this site. Has the rules changed? Please tell me this is the case cuz I would love to give choice words to certain people on this site!
This CD argument is a joke, just because somebody looked up a comparison between CD’S and mp3’s and there’s a difference in sound that only a music composer could tell. And if a person says they can tell the difference the two while driving down the road is full of you know What!
So we choose to use a format that is easier to have just about every song you have ever heard just one click away on the radio.
So if a few people still used cassette tapes we still feel the need to offer those?
This argument needs to go away!
You say it’s your preference should manufactures still offer drum brakes front and back just because that’s what you are use to? NO IT’S NONSENSE!
Instead of forcing people to buy cars with CD players why can’t Cadillac start a program that will teach a buyer how to convert their music or do it for them as a perk for buying the car.
Arguing about sound quality in a car is ridiculous, it is just a way of trying to justify keeping a CD player.
Not talking about Cassette players, you bring silly arguments to justify your errors.
After you guys ruin the company, you will sit around and wonder what went wrong.
I bring it up to display how dumb it is to still want things that have no use anymore
Because you do not use them any longer, is no reason to discontinue it.
It’s not that I don’t it’s that 95 % of the people don’t!
Sounds like you guys are using the DNC to determine what people use. I noticed how accurate their polling was in the last election.
Brian, what is wrong with offering people a choice of options? Just because YOU never use CDs doesn’t mean only 5% of the public uses them. I’d guess it’s more like 40-50% of luxury car buyers who use CDs. Among all cars buyers, it’s lower, but like it or not the luxury market skews older.
I don’t use paddle shifters, and I’d guess that far fewer Cadillac drivers use paddle shifters than use CDs in their cars. But Cadillac is including them on their premium cars anyway, because some people want them.
Every car manufacturer wants to increase demand for their products. Cadillac/GM is no different. They may choose to price their cars high in an attempt to maximize profit, and the higher the demand, the higher they can price them (or have the least discounting at the end of the model year run). If the demand for Cadillacs is significantly higher when they include CD players, then Cadillac should include them, whether or not you personally feel it’s a technology that you don’t need.
Steve,
They will need a name for that book. What Happened is already taken. 😉
The library is full of books, and they are FREE to borrow, as long as you bring them back. When I find one I like, I buy it to help the author, he doesn’t get paid for using the Library books.
Try reading Eisenhower in War and Peace, by Jean Edward Smith, one of the best books you will ever read. A Wonderful author well researched, his other books are just as interesting, The one of FDR was a very interesting one.
I am a Speed Reader, so it does not take me all that long to go through a thousand page book. The key is remembering it.
Of course anything by Napoleon Hill is a must read for anyone in business.
And of course The Holy Bible, which is my most often read book.
I am in trouble now.
As Paul said, Those that come to God must believe that he is and that he will reward those that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Forgive him, that was a pretty harsh Adjective to use. Sometimes words just escape when looking for the right one to use. Obviously not a lawyer.
Thanks to this recent burst of “Justification” I dug out my old Southern Red Neck Gospel music by Bill Gaither CD’s and played them in my Cadillac on my way to work, Wonderful stuff. Thanks Again
Steve,
“You guys don’t get it. A lot of customers still use CD’s. They can listen to what they want without the advertising. A lot of audio books are on CD’s, but then again you would have to be literate to now what books are.”
I think the issue here may be that some contributors don’t use luxury products. People who don’t deal in luxury can’t be expected to understand that the luxury buyer has expectations. If Cadillac doesn’t meet expectations another auto maker will.
In some respects that may be the motivation for Cadillac’s push for the youth market. They wouldn’t know luxury if they tripped over it. Bean counter’s dream.
Where are you getting this advertising crap? When you put songs on a thumb drive and you put that drive into your car there are no commercials.
You click from song to song album to album. And if you have a live album and you want to listen all the way threw with no breaks all you have to do is turn shuffle off!
You make up reasons to still use cds when there is zero reasons for them to be used in this day and age definitely in a car where road noise takes most of the clarity away.
Like I said before it’s just background music while you drive.
I’ll go one further having all of your songs on a thumb drive is safer then flipping threw a CD case like we use to!
It’s getting close to 2020 so start acting like it
Brian makes very valid points. I’m not sure why he is experience such harsh treatment. Many things get relegated to history. The CD is one of them. It’s not the end of the world nor is it a hindrance to luxury.
Advertising is on the radio.
Thumb drive are a pain, the GM system does nor recgonize a lot of the formats that various pc’s load on them, tablets do not have USB ports so that is a waste
New laptops are coming without DVD drives.
It is guys like these that are forcing needless unwanted change on the consumers.
Just more proof everytime a comment is made trying to justify a decision without any research or proof.
Kind of like the 1849 gold rush, No there can’tbe any gold there, I never saw any. Says the drunk at the bar in the East.
No they are not! thumb drives are very simple! Every car including GM recognizes mp3 format. There’s android auto, Apple auto, if you don’t want a thumb drive.
You have gone threw every possible scinenoio to justify having a CD player and they all are b.s.
So let me ask you how long should they have CD players?
Brian, I am not sure about thumb drives, but when I tried to load an an album onto an SD card in a car I was test-driving, it had a couple of problems.
First was that the tracks were played out of order. For example if there were 12 tracks, it would play track 1, then track 11, the track 12, then track 2, then track 3, etc.
The second problem was that it put gaps between the tracks, even though I didn’t want gaps there. I often listen to live concert music, which sould play seamlessly without gaps between the tracks. CDs play without gaps, the SD card added them. If other forms of digital play add gaps, that’s a big negative.
Bottom line though, in a luxury car you should have choices. Deleting the CD player gives the driver fewer choices. That’s not a positive. But at least they get a two-way armrest, to make up for it.
You want options
Do you think drum brakes should be a option? They are outdated!
Do you think carberators should be a option? They are outdated!
How about a bench seat in the front? They are outdated!
What about a tape deck? They are outdated!
I could go on but most people get the point there comes a time when you have to move on!
Maybe we just have to wait until the old guys and gals die off and we don’t have to worry about what they want anymore!
I think Cadillac has figured out that selling to younger people will pay off in the long run. Instead of trying to corner a market that won’t be around in 5 to 10 years!
What would you rather have 5 good years of sells or 20?
You are making a big deal for no reason. Thumb drives, SD cards, they all work the same. Just download the songs, setup play back setting so they play in order, and select no gaps between songs and you are all out of excuses.
Whast are you going to come up with this time to justify keeping a CD player? A old ladies opinion that is going to be in a old persons home in a few years? Or a person that has 20 to 30 years left of actually driving cars?
I can’t wait to hear this one, but you had better hurry you ticker is running out of ticks!
I am sorry that you have to resort to those kind of options to try and make a point. The items you talk about are nothing that effects the customer’s perception of the car. Other than a tape deck, which caused endless problems for service departments, the CD was a Great advancement!
For the most part the customers want a car that is comfortable, quiet, and goes when they put their foot on the peddle.
For many years Automakers including GM would put the same engine and transmission in a car and change the body, the Federal Government changed that with emission controls, and when you look at those standards, they are Way out of date, but that is the Government for you.
So now instead of spending engineering money on design, we spend money on satisfying how armrests are made.
Granted people die off and another generation comes to take their place.
Keeping the “Good things” and updating others is a wonderful idea. Changing things because someone thinks a customer no longer needs it, is not the right approach.
Use Q as an example. Put it in all the cars, and force customers to take it or buy something else. Which is exactly what they did.
Had they put in as an option, everyone would have loved it and clamored for more.
It is easier to pull a rope than push one,
It seems Cadillac is trying to push a rope down the road.
Luxury car customers have the options of many different seating positions, many different steering wheel positions, use of paddle shifters or not, different “sport modes” or not. They also have various buttons on the steering wheel which are duplicated elsewhere, such as volume control. Remote controlled locking, or internal locking. Keys to open or key fob (or key fob with internal key). As far as music, even if they delete the CD option, there’s bluetooth, USB, and various external “over the air” sources.
According to you, that’s way too many choices. One choice for everyone should suit the customer base. One seating position, one way to access music, one driving mode, maybe just one type of music too (only Justin Bieber, Beyonce, Ariana Grande and other heroes of Millennials). Sounds like you would have been comfortable in the old “no choice” Soviet Union (look it up).
If I merely live to be the age of my maternal grandfather, I’ll have another 35 years of car-buying ahead of me. He had a 2 year old large luxury car when he died. I have a lot of money to spend, and I expect to have a lot more as the years go on. But I won’t be buying an Cadillacs once they have JDN’s stamp fully upon them.
As for the idea that you can sell something to young people and have them as customers for life, I don’t think so. People’s tastes can change as they mature. Many people love hot dogs and bubble gum when they are young, yet they no longer like those but like fine wine and filet mignon when they are older.
Cadillac has decided to give up it’s classic American luxury values including a 1st Class ride, with the idea that they can pursue young people’s tastes instead. The problem is, not many young people are buying Cadillacs, and Cadillac will no longer be making cars that appeal to mature tastes. Sales will nose-dive to 9th or 10th place in US luxury sales under JDN, and he’ll say “that’s great, those were wrong driveways anyway”.
It’s a shame that Cadillac has decided to cater to the Justin Bieber-loving crowd, and is eschewing the Heinrich von Biber appreciating crowd, but that’s life. I can take my dollars elsewhere, and I will. I’ll still be buying new cars long after JDN has been fired from GM, even though they seem willing to give him another 10-15 years to show positive results. I do feel bad though for the GM shareholders, who would be making a lot more profit under a different strategy.
By the way, you wrote “A old ladies opinion that is going to be in a old persons home in a few years?”, and “… you had better hurry you ticker is running out of ticks!”. Yet you also whined “Last time I check I was told we were not allowed to call people names on this site. Has the rules changed?” (September 19, 2017 at 6:58 am).
Those comments are Way off base.
None of those things are what I have been trying to tell you guys.
You have thin skins and take offense to the truth.
Just proves to me, you have no clue what our customers want.
If you did, Cadillac sales would not be sliding as they are.
I am going to enjoy watching you eat your words when in the coming years Cadillac will start climbing the sales charts. While doing it the wrong way as you say!
I used those examples because it just shows how ridiculous it is for someone to still want them. One day we will all look back at these cars and say why did we keep installing CD players in cars! What a waste!
You don’t ask old people what the future should be like, you ask that question to young people! Because they are the ones that will be here.
You have tried to come up with every excuss possible to keep them and they all have been proven to be crap reasons!
It’s time to learn how to use the new technology or you get left behind!
Brian, Cadillac’s removal of CD players in cars is a probably just a small factor in declining Cadillac sales, but as Steve pointed out it’s a symptom of Cadillac ignoring what a sizable portion of what the customers want.
Cadillac was the number 1 US luxury brand when it had its own standards, used its own naming conventions, just built great cars for Americans, regardless of what the Germans did. But starting in the 1980’s, Cadillac started looking in the rear view mirror and his been adopting piece by piece what the Germans are doing, with disastrous results every time. The V8-6-4, the Cimarron, the Catera, all disasters thanks to imitating the Germans instead of remaining true to Cadillac.
And it’s gotten worse since then, in terms of trying to imitate the Germans and sales falling further as a result. With JDN, a guy with two decades at Audi but who had very little to do with Audi’s success in the USA, has been handed the reigns at Cadillac to complete the transition into entirely a German wannabe. JDN/Cadillac now uses only letters and numbers like the Germans, instead of real names they used as a leader. JDN only wants to copy the existing German cars spec-for-spec (“proper” cars, some call them), instead of making something unique. JDN only wants RWD cars in the future, all of them “sports” riding (aka “driver’s cars). JDN is ending Cadillac’s distinct angular styling (arguably the best part of Cadillac today), in favor of bland German rounding.
In the current century, although Cadillac has reduced itself to being a shadow of what it once was in the prior century, the most successful cars have been the Escalade, the DTS, the CTS of the first two generations (the “tweener” CTS), the second generation SRX, and now the XT5 (which is essentially a continuation of the second gen SRX).
So what is it about the above models that made them sell well? The Escalade is the SUV version of the old “land yachts”, plus some angular Cadillac styling and interior touches; it also is the only Cadillac that retains a real name. The DTS was the last Cadillac sedan to fulfill the Cadillac core values, especially the roomy comfortable ride and strongly powered refined engine and smooth transmission; it’s also FWD which is favored by many people who don’t write professionally for auto blogs. The CTS of the 1st two generations was a unique “tweener” rather than a “proper” copier of German specs, plus attractive angular Cadillac styling. The third generation CTS and the first (and only) generation ATS which replaced the CTS are “proper” German spec copiers and do not sell well. The 2nd gen SRX/XT5 have attractive angular styling and FWD.
As you can see from the above 21st century success stories, none would make the cut as a new car under JDN. JDN is going to make the brand entirely a German car clone; if the Germans aren’t already doing something, he’s not going to do it either. How does that make Cadillac climb back in the sales charts? If people want a German car, they are going for a German brand. If they want a car from a leader, unfortunately that no longer includes Cadillac.
Brian there is no possible way that JDN will succeed at doing anything but driving sales lower. Obviously you are tickled that Cadillac is aiming cars at your demographic. But the fact is, there aren’t enough of you with enough money that love JDN’s Cadillac to move the needle. Cadillac is 5th and sinking. You are the one who will eat your words in the future, as Cadillac sinks further and further. You will come up with excuses and will say that JDN is really on the right track, even though he isn’t. And eventually, as you get older, wiser, and richer – you’ll buy something other than a Cadillac. Because Cadillac stopped being the classic American luxury leader, in order to pursue the Hot Wheels and bubblegum crowd.
As I’ve said before, I will not enjoy seeing the demise and death of Cadillac as a brand. But it’s clearly happening, and JDN is gleefully driving in the stake through Cadillac’s heart. The future is inevitable to anyone with even a modicum of foresight. Unfortunately wisdom tends to come only with age and experience.
If you do gain some wisdom in the future Brian, one day you’ll look back and say “Drew was so right about Cadillac, and it’s so obvious now that there was no other possibility under JDN’s direction. For now, you can imagine that I’m wrong, until time proves me right. Watch those US sales numbers and US market share numbers decline further and futher, under JDN.
You are full of it! Like I said before it’s going to be great watching you and all the others eat your words when Cadillac starts climbing the sales charts!
Just like the people who said to new Chevy full size truck would never be a sales hit! Where are those loud mouths now?
60,000 trucks a month is not to bad!
Well good lord!
Climb down off the cross, Drew, – somebody else could likely use the wood!
I bet the neighbors are just lovin’ this!!
Ps-
Checking: $42,600
Savings: $122,000
Money market: $467,800
CD 1-7 ~ combined = $52,000
LOC1: 100,000
LOC2: 100,000
LOC3: 25,000
401K: 2,475,500
Checking 2: $155,000
Savings 2: $8,900
Savings 3: $725,000
Christmas club: $ 9.75
“I am going to enjoy watching you eat your words when in the coming years Cadillac will start climbing the sales charts. While doing it the wrong way as you say!”
Lead by example. Go to your local Cadillac dealer and cut a check for your very first new Cadillac.
Ranting and raving on here does not put a penny in the Cadillac division’s till.
“I can’t wait to hear this one, but you had better hurry you ticker is running out of ticks!”
Drew is the same age as JdN. If Drew is too old for Cadillac the division chief is as well.
Try to make substantive contributions. Ranting and raving adds nothing to a discussion.
Until you spring for a new Cadillac lol
Wrong. I just delivered a young lady, a previous customer, picking up a New 2017 $85000 + Escalade, Paid Cash. She said she would not buy a car that did not have a CD player, She put in her Eagles CD that she bought at one of their concerts. She said, I love my CD’s, I do not want to get involved in copying to something else.
You guys forget, What makes for successful Sales, is: Giving the Customer What THEY want.
Not what you want. I guess that is what makes us different, I try to give the customer what they want.
When you forget that, you are done.
Great post Steve. Unfortunately JDN seems uninterested in giving Cadillac customers what THEY want, he is intent on making cars that HE likes personally. If the customers don’t like what JDN likes, then he calls them the “wrong driveways”.
Meanwhile Cadillac is headed toward 7th place in US luxury car sales, down from 5th place last year, and down from 1st place in 1998 and prior. And even that is with cars like the XT5 and XTS, which JDN has said will have no future with the brand (as both are FWD and both have angular Cadillac styling instead of German rounding).
Sounds an awful lot like Congress and their reaction to the Donald trying to drain the swamp.
Christ said a Man’s enemies would be those in his own household.
Your quoting bible verses about a car! Now this is really ridiculous
It does not matter where the quotes come from, The Bible has been a standard for wisdom and knowledge for the last 2000 years, at least for those that care to read it.
“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Perhaps a better example is this: Take all the Spouse’s favorite CD’s and hide them, then also take all her jewelery and hide that.
When she asks, Honey where are my CD’s?
If you reply, “I got rid of them, there is an app from the app store, that you can use.
That will save me lots of money!”
When you wake up in the ER, and your bride is standing over you smiling, asking, “Honey, Where is my jewelery?”
That answer will not fly there either.
I have the 2017 CT6 and I absolutely love it. Let me be clear,- I am a car nut. I currently own five vehicles 2011 or newer. I have three old muscle cars. In the past I’ve owned two other Cadillac’s and currently own two. My prior caddys include a 2007 Escalade and the 2007 XLR-V. I currently own the CT6, a 2017 Escalade, 2016 S63 (wife) 2011 Jeep, and 2015 F250.
Prior to the wife’s S63 she drove the 760i – 2007. My XLR was one of my all time favorite cars. So much fun, and so fast!
Anyway,- the CT6 is a fantastic vehicle which was around $75K.
Of course the wife’s S63 is also wonderful with a price tag of $118K. There are things each vehicle does exceptionally well. There are things both vehicles shine equally with. Now, specifically regarding the CT6,- during my research I was a little taken aback regarding no option of the V8. – That lasted until my test drive and now it’s a non-issue. You can switch from mode touring, sport, and weather. Two of the models are turbocharged. My V6 provides 404HP, and when in the sport mode rides like a super train on rails. My favorite things include the very impressive night vision options and the real time extended rear view mirror live feature. The vehicles technology is outstanding, and its connectivity and voice recognition is on par with all other top vehicles I’ve operated. The rear passenger doors and rear window have sliding sun visor placements. The CT6 also has heads up display with several pictorial view setting options. The vehicle has its own wireless hot spot network with capabilities of connectivity to 7 devices which is fantastic during long trips and in poor reception areas. In short- go drive the car before you open mouth and insert foot.