So much goes on behind the scenes ahead of a vehicle debut, and Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen wants the brand’s procedures to change in the name of quality.
The executive spoke to Automotive News at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show where he said future Cadillac vehicles will likely debut further ahead of production to test them at greater lengths without spy camouflage. Camouflage hides designs and features from competitors for obvious reasons, but it also obstructs aerodynamics and cooling in a real-world setting.
Furthermore, de Nysschen wants more General Motors employees to start driving future Cadillacs and not just engineers, either.
“We want to put more of our development cars into the hands of ordinary drivers, not just engineers, so people can see how they perform in normal usage conditions, he said. “And that really requires the removal of camo.”
The “ordinary drivers” comment is intriguing and could suggest Cadillac may invite the public to drive its future cars ahead of production.
Of course, the strategy can have repercussions. Many automakers wait until the last minute to reveal a new vehicle as to not cannibalize sales of the current model.
“The sales guys are concerned about that,” de Nysschen acknowledged. But he said putting out the best product possible is his top priority.
“Right now, I think getting the very best Cadillacs out there, that are a standard for the world, is top priority for me. If you do these things well, the sales will follow.”
Comments
Well as a victim of bouncing headlamps on my GTP because of this issue I can say it makes sense.
You can hide all this but once it arrives it means little if there are issues. These cars have to get their quality spot on if it wants to earn trust of buyers. No more nagging first year issues.
I would wager that we may see some of these cars sold first in China to uncover any issues in a more forgiving market before they bring it out here.
I think we now have the reason for C7 Z06 cooling failures…
Very well could be.
The C4 Z51 had a very harsh ride that was corrected in 85. The reason the car rode so bad in 84? Well since they were hiding it from sight since it was a new C model it never left the MI and AZ proving grounds. They never drove it on real roads till it was late in the game.
A change in shock valving fixed the issue.
Headlights, cooling and other things are compromised with Cammo.
I’m liking more and more the way de Nysschen’s thinking! His vision for Cadillac is slowly, but surely shaping up nicely! I never would’ve guessed that camouflaging cars would hold some impact on it’s overall aerodynamics! Very insightful! I’m also intrigued by Cadillac potentially allowing access to pre-production models for quality feedback! Very well played! Love the renewed focus on quality: the Achilles heel of many luxury automakers! I just hope it all comes together to make Cadillac great again! While I’m still skeptical, I’m very much open-minded!
I agree. I’m pleased to read this…as quality is the all important long term solution.
Johan de Nysschen, is right especially and the factory workers will have time since it’s de Nysschen’s goal to continue reducing sales volume of all Cadillac vehicles and make the sighting of any Cadillac similar to a sighting of the Loch Ness monster.
You could experiment with a few different designs, and go with the one that the Koreans don’t copy.
Well i live in Saudi Arabia and we have the worst roads, drivers and traffic let alone the sever weather, so i will be glad to test new Cadillacs for free
Just waiting for @Drew to have a problem with this too.
It is nice to read that Cadillac is paying more attention to quality. I am just hoping this is more than just publicity.
GM is excellent at generating the right kind of publicity.
It is nice to read that Cadillac is paying more attention to quality. I am just hoping this is more than just publicity.
GM is excellent at generating the right kind of publicity.
Today’s GM products arent known for their quality but I hope one day they may become known for quality and not as money pits.
This is something that actually has been done before but stopped as a program .
As someone who has worked on a Product Development Team , early production vehicles as well as the hand built cars werr given to not only the engineers but the folks working on the team and would drive a vehicle for a weekend to assess the build quality and listen for noise and rattles and any other problems that might have come up . You were also told to put a certain amount of miles on them as well .
Even back in the 60’s and 70’s my father would bring home Oldsmobile’s for evaluation . But he was an engineer too .
It;s good for Cadillac to have their cars tested in real world conditions because a lot can be learned and fixed before the factory starts their build process .
Quality is key , or like Fords old tag-line , ” Quality is Job One ” . Maybe this will get rid of the notion to not buy a car in it’s first year until all the bugs are worked out .
It sounds like JDN is truly focused on doing things right .
I’m really curious to if “quality” really is looking for just noise and rattles? “Quality” is such a subjective word which can include reliability, fit and finish or even infotainment performance…The pre-2016 CUE infotainment system has complaints in every Caddy forum and there are reports of salesmen saying test driving customers loved driving the car until they decided to interact with the infotainment system…
Why the change, what in the lineup isn’t up to par with quality?
If you have ever owned a cadillac that you tried driving for more than 3-4 years and more than 100k miles you would know how many issues a Cadi has.
Many of the complaints people have in the Cadillac forums could/should have been discovered in the
testing phase and fixed before production.
One thing the full article states:
“Vehicles will be unveiled publicly about six or seven months ahead of production, he said, two or three months sooner than has been customary for the brand”
Finally, a good and wise move from JDN and if GM could adopt the same policy for the whole of the company.