Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen has suddenly left the brand, as first reported by Cadillac Society. The executive joined the brand in 2014 and has headed up its operations since then.
Taking de Nysschen’s place will be Steve Carlisle, President and Managing Director of GM Canada. As part of his appointment, Carlisle was also named GM Senior Vice President. Replacing Carlisle at GM Canada will be Travis Hester, currently vice president, Global Product Programs.
Carlisle will report to GM President, Dan Ammann, while Hester will report to GM North America president, Alan Batey. All appointments are effective immediately.
de Nysschen did not provide comment for the General Motors announcement, but Ammann said the following of the now-ex Cadillac chief:
We appreciate Johan’s efforts over the last four years in setting a stronger foundation for Cadillac. Looking forward, the world is changing rapidly, and, beginning with the launch of the new XT4, it is paramount that we capitalize immediately on the opportunities that arise from this rate of change. This move will further accelerate our efforts in that regard.
On his appointment to the top role at Cadillac, Carlisle said, “The potential for Cadillac across the globe is incredible and I’m honored to be chosen to be a part of mapping that future. I look forward to building on our current momentum as we continue on our mission to position Cadillac at the pinnacle of luxury.”
Update: de Nysschen has broken his silence and spoke with Bloomberg for a brief phone interview. He told the publication his exit was cordial and there was no single argument that led to the sudden departure. Without going into detail about the matter, he said, “We agree to disagree and we move on. There wasn’t a fight. Let’s call it philosophical differences.”
This story is breaking and we will update it with additional information as we receive it.
Comments
Here we go again.
The leadership at Cadillac has been a revolving door. This has been their greatest issue.
I hate to see another insider come in as they are always intimidated by the GM board. This leads to cost cutting and short cuts that lead to poorer models.
GM treats Cadillac leaders like the Cleveland Browns treat Quarterbacks.
Any word on sexual assault allegations? Not being funny, many CEOs and politicians are suddenly resigning these days because lots of secrets are being exposed. Too sudden to be planned or expected.
As a Browns fan, well put!!!
Cadillac is becoming a joke.
JDN doesn’t respond well to consumer demand…He wants to shove $100K+ sedans down our throats…
I would agree with this. Johann knew Cadillac needed to be separate to be better, and that “good enough” wouldn’t cut it.
Hiring a company man back in to that position means the 2021 Cadillac Malibu, maybe you’ll get some plastic chrome tipping on the window switches, if you’re lucky, to trick you in to thinking you’re driving a real luxury car.
And enough with the “he turned his back on what customers wanted”. He gave the enthusiasts the V cars, and committed to making more of them. He came in to a portfolio full of entries in the slow-selling sedan segment, and planned to consolidate them, while greatly expanding the crossover portfolio. He promised (though we can’t really know for sure now) a grand flagship that would “stun the world”.
Performance cars for enthusiasts, more crossovers for mommies in the mall parking lot, flagship for rich people. How is this not exactly meeting the demands of the market?
He acknowledged the need for improved quality. He acknowledged the DIRE need to improve interiors (and said in a recent interview, it couldn’t happen overnight). He acknowledged brand snobbery, and devoted resources to improve the brand’s image.
He understood the Corvette V8 was very powerful but did not have a refined-enough characteristic for a luxury brand, and thus Cadillac needed its own. I can’t tell you how much that understanding alone elevated my opinion of him. I have a current generation BMW 750; I can tell you refinement is as important, or more important, than horsepower for a car like that and a buyer like me.
Without making too blanket of a statement, I would wager most people who think the Corvette V8 is perfect for a Cadillac are not in a position in life to buy a new Cadillac anyway. There is a disconnect between what “internet car people” think Cadillac needs, and what fickle, discerning, snobby customers actually want. Johann at least understood the latter and how to balance it against the needs of the market.
Some people will cheer that this means Cadillac will finally build a massive floaty barge with tufted velour interiors and cheap plastic, return to Detroit, and make “American” cars for “American people” (whatever that means), and sell it to you at a bargain!
I’ll tell you what it means. It means Chevy-based vehicles with GM parts-bin interiors, and cars for a customer base that’s dying off faster and faster every day, all on the cheap so people who have no idea what luxury, style, fashion, or taste are can afford one and continue to drive the brand image in to the ground.
Granted, I’m exaggerating, but tell me that wasn’t the strategy for decades that got them in to this mess in the first place.
I also allow the possibility of HR misconduct; when a high profile exec leaves abruptly like this, that’s often a reason these days. In the absence of that, I have to think it was the bean counters at GM winning once again; it’s just a shame Mary Barra let that happen.
You just wrote the best break down of the Cadillac situation!
+1
Cadillac will end up selling high end Avenir-like crossovers. This is the market that is rapidly growing, and I doubt GM wants to spend additional billions waiting for a US image change that most keenly impacts the shrinking sedan market.
GM has watched Lincoln do it’s transform on the cheap. Lincoln is far from a sales champ but Cadillac has already spent a decade spending billions to transform the brand. At this rate 25,000 units monthly plus China will satisfy management.
GM has become an increasingly capital expenditure conscious company under Mary Barra and Dan Amanan. Many if not most decisions currently being made are not based on long-term strategy but instead elevating stock price to $50 a share. They quit growth ready India due to accomplish this and such thinking certainly affectes Cadillac.
Five SUVs and two cars makes Cadillac a winner for General Motors regardless of global perception.
DREW WINS !!!!
Congratulations, Sir Nostradamus.
Thanks Old Trombone. I did feel a bit lonely in my opinions here, for quite a while. Congrats to the GM board for eventually seeing what I thought was obvious. And good luck to Mr. Carlisle; he has the right background, I hope he has the right vision.
Drew on que!!!…..
JDN to head Opel for PSA’s Tavares (you heard it from OT first)
Indeed, absolutely this. Drew and smooth riding Cadillacs, for the win.
DTS and XTS for the win. What people want when they think of “Cadillac” are smooth riding, flashy boulevard cruisers. The numbers do not lie and I’m sure upper management seen the writing on the wall. One of the most important aspects of success is timely cyclical trends before they happen. The trend of cars riding and feeling like BMWs is coming to and end, quickly. In fact, that is so 90s. I kept saying a new trend is happening and big classy smooth riding cars are back in the luxury realm.
Drew you have been vindicated, you own these comments, sir. +1 to you.
Enjoy your DTS and my favorite Cadillac, the XTS was always the dark horse competitor.
Also if I happen to double post, sorry, the comment section wasn’t quite working for me.
Also, maybe we’ll finally get some super cool XTS commercials on television, finally. Marketing is everything, but even without any whatsoever, the XTS still dominated. I want a new XTS commercial, filmed at night, use Sade’s – No Ordinary Love instrumental version please as background and to set the mood.
Worst notice for Cadillac…..i shocked
Because money destined for Cadillac?
It has to be Pinnacle related. Johan did to Cadillac what Jac Nassar did to Ford with “Blue Oval”. Just make great exciting cars and market them well. The rest will take care of itself.
This saddens me as I lime Cadillacs newest vehicles and give him credit for them.
Interesting. Wonder what led to this and what it means for Cadillac going forward. From Ammann’s statement (especially last line) it almost seems like Johan wasn’t quick enough in turning things around. While we have had to wait it does take time to design and engineer a great car, not to mention testing and production ramp up
I was thinking the same thing. JDN probably wanted Cadillac exclusive engineering, but GM was tired of waiting. This probably means we’ll be seeing more parts bin vehicles as GM just pushes out “good enough” cars.
It is completely embarrassing what GM has done all these years with Cadillac
Sadly, I think you are correct. Cadillac deserves exclusivity and now that idea might be shelved.
And here I was thinking Barra & Co. we’re on board to give Cadillac the funding, independence, and time it needs to turn around. Barra especially should recognize they can’t keep reaching in the parts bin because she’s been at GM her whole career and lived through the times when Cadillac was a shell of its former self, and still is. As much as people didn’t like JDN I liked him because he was brash and unapologetic. Had he stayed on I can only imagine how stunning the upcoming Escalade and Escala flagships would be. Let’s hope GM is still committed.
Not sure Mary and Mark had much to do with this. Cadillac issues almost always lead back to the board.
The board has final call even over Mary.
But let’s first wait to see if the truth leaked out.
With the exception of the new “Hot-V” V8 engine…
As opposed to those completely “bespoke”(God I f**king hate that word) Audi’s and Lexus’ which share no parts of platforms with lesser cars from the same manufacturer ……..right?
There goes Cadillac. The first real leader of the brand that made an effort to break away from traditional GM limitations and actually try to set it up like a top-notch luxury brand. You need a luxury brand executive to run Cadillac, not another GM insiders that has moved all around. I had high hopes for Cadillac after seeing JDN’s work, but now that’s over. How long until we are back to complete badge swaps from Chevys?
I mentioned somewhere that to call their flagship a CT6?? was a big mistake. I sat in the CT6 and thought it was too tight a fit but then again I’m an older guy. I didn’t sit in the XT4 but it looks nice even though I wouldn’t buy one. I like the ATS, ah if it only had another inch or so of headroom, lol. I could do a better job with their product line! GM give me a call, lol!!
Wow just wow. Say this isn’t so.
I hope I am completely wrong but this completely wreaks of Bean Counters getting their way within GM once again. If that is the case, Cadillac is done. Will never become anything more than a novelty Luxury Car maker.
Unreal.
Lets not discredit the GM board yet…I dont think after all that work Mary Bates would allow Cadillac to fall again. Just like Ininfiti I think Johan set a pretty good tone for Cadillac moving forward. And do remember that without Johan we did get great product like the CTS and ATS. I think the Cadillac Team know what they got to do. And Johan just helped in setting that course.
I can’t speak for anyone else here but, with the designs that they’ve released recently, they’ve done well and it’s made me start pinching the pennies so i can afford a down payment on a CT6 V-Sport in a years time. Johan and the designers of Cadillac have really inspired (although not a fan of the XT4) and I hope Cadillac stays on course. Hope he lands on his feet somewhere and that nothing terrible happened behind the scenes.
I can already see the crybaby rants……”he was the worst guy that ever ran Cadillac and he was trying to turn everything into a BMW and they all wished he was gone”……now that he’s gone, ” he was the only person that could have saved Cadillac and now Cadillac is doomed without him waaaaaaaaaaah waaaaaaaaaaaahh”
If he was so great why did sales fall? There is no way he could do the job. Anyone could see that from the start. Now after a loss of four years the truth is out!
It is too soon to comment on the why. But from this point they need not to repeat past sins of cost cutting and coming up short.
I know Mary and Mark in the past has supported JDN. Even they could not over rule the board if they wanted to force the issue.
JDN did slap the board in the face when he moved to NYC. It was all in the fact he wanted them not to meddle.
Here is what I fear. The CT6 was a car overseen by Mark Reuss while there was a void of another leader that left abruptly. Even with Marks fighting for what was right he was forced to accept lesser funding and product and the result is a decent car but not one that it needed to be.
GM needs to avoid this again of they have just wasted a lot of time and money just to be a Lincoln competitor for life.
Anyone who knows how the market works knows it takes 5 years for totally new product and it can vary based on what platform it is on and when GM can get it into production. GM still has to work in the GM system even being independent.
We may never know what happened as often when these things take place the non disclosure issues come in and everyone parts politely and silent.
The GM board is the main part of the old GM still in place and they need some new faces there.
“Even they could not over rule over the Board” Let’s not forget who the Chair of the Board is, Barra. She has the highest authority in the company. If he was forced out you can at least point part of the decision making on Mary.
She may not have been given a choice. The board votes and she has to act.
If there are more board members against her she can only do as they wish or she could be removed.
For sure she was part of this but she may not have agreed to it.
Let wait just to see why this happed before we Blame anyone. In this climate JDN may have said someone in the office looked nice and HR had to remove him.
I liked the direction Cadillac was going but I think it may not have had the “sense of urgency” that was required. The refresh of the CT6 looks great but the real test was the XT4 and while I think it will do well in the market, it didn’t do enough to separate itself from it’s competition.
Additionally, we have no idea what may have happened from a Human Resources perspective…as suggested earlier, sudden C-Level departures are often tied to HR violations. Time will tell.
He was there for 4 years. So what new things really happened? The XT4 was probably in the process of being thought up anyway. the naming structure changed which was stupid. XT5 should have stayed SRX. Leave the ATS, CTS bring back STS and go from there or just bring back names. Moving Cadillac to New York City is a waste of Money. They moved it to a city where most people don’t own a car and if they travel they rent a car.
He did nothing for Infinity at all, their cars aren’t attractive, they look all the same and their reliability is not great. So I’m glad he gone and they have a person who has a proven track record at a company he has been employed with for years.
So well said!
I was mixed, I liked that he was an outsider, but I think that he too often thought “what would Audi do?” whenever he was presented with a plan for Cadillac. The naming scheme I was “meh” on, I didn’t hate it, and I understood it( I don’t know how people were always confused by it), I like heritage names, but I understand that they come with baggage too. I like that there is now going to be a V8 in at least one non-V sedan, though again, a new Cadillac V8 had been in the works before JDN joined Cadillac.
I honestly don’t like the XT4, it looks like a CRV, I really think they could have upped the styling on it more.
Noooooooooooooooo. Bean counters are back again?????? *uuuuuuuuuucckkkkkk…
I really hope JDN’s projects(CT7 – coupe, CT8, XT7,XT8) won’t be cancelled. And I hope RWD plans won’t be cancelled too.
Why? Just why. MCE CT6(JDN’s influence) gave me such a big hope. And now again.
Listen Cadillac, don’t *ucking cancel his projects.
Note to Steve Carlisle. Don’t unpack you won’t be staying long. I am not being mean, it’s just I can see the future. Tonight’s lottery numbers 1 9 17 22 23 39.
That was easy to see coming. GM doesn’t tolerate losses and JdN wasn’t delivering. I’ve said repeatedly that he wouldn’t last only to be downvoted and derided.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see all his plans dismantled too and future Cadillacs to return to FWD and to a more badge-engineered Chevrolet-type strategy. I hope not because I think in many ways, JdN was on the right track but the notion that GM was going to tolerate another ten years of losses to rebuild the brand was simply never going to happen.
I suspect that the way Cadillac was again upstaged by Lincoln in New York was a kind of final straw. Aviator stunned while Cadillac’s much hyped “first ever” XT4, the first JdN product, was a big dud.
So Cadillac again starts over and will shift direction. Here’s to hoping that someday they’ll figure it out.
“Wouldn’t surprise me to see all his plans dismantled too and future Cadillacs to return to FWD and to a more badge-engineered Chevrolet-type strategy.”
Ohh, please God nooo. Please nooo.
“Wouldn’t surprise me to see all his plans dismantled too and future Cadillacs to return to FWD and to a more badge-engineered Chevrolet-type strategy.”
Because thats what Cadillac had before JDN? Because Cadillac wasn’t making RWD non-Chevrolet rebadges for a decade before JDN?
You either are blatantly dumb/ignorant and bitching for bitchings sake, know nothing about Cadillacs line up or probably a mixture of both……
The board has just as much responsibility to bare the blame as JDN on being outshined by Lincoln at the auto show. The board has oversight of the whole company and probably restrained things that Cadillac wanted to do. Recall the article about the Caddy team fighting for funding on the lighting elements of the XT4.
Kyle, the board can’t be blamed for JdN losing the spotlight to Lincoln at the NY auto show. The XT4 was supposed to be JdN’s first real project, it was supposed to show everyone what he could do. GM gave JdN $12 billion to draw upon. GM wanted a sub-SRX (or XT5 as Johan renamed it) fast, but JdN said he was taking his time to get it right. Then it turned out to be a mediocre car that seemed more in line with a Chevrolet than a luxury car, and far from being worthy of the Cadillac name.
As to the story about JdN’s team fighting over the taillights, they basically got what they wanted, but it had to fit into the budget. I don’t particularly like the XT4 taillights (the front lights are good), especially since they remove one of the last style vestiges of the brand, which is Cadillac’s classic vertical taillights.
I think Cadillac’s team should have kept the XT4 looking like a Cadillac, but should have spent more time and money making the interior luxurious, rather than cheap plastic everywhere, exposed front cupholders, etc. Also the front legroom is far too small for a Cadillac, or even for a mid-range Chevy. Maybe JdN’s team was focused on the wrong parts of the car, rather than deprived of funding by GM. Or maybe the XT4 just shouldn’t exist under the Cadillac name. But if it took the XT4 to get rid of Johan, then it’s worth something at least.
I think the tail lights look too much like a CRV……
And surprises no one…I have parroted that he wouldn’t last multiple times in past GMA articles about JDN; to my surprise some of you who are big Caddy fans actually agreed with me…
Interpretation: More cross-overs now! Cadillac is still 12-18 months away from a full-size cuv which is something they need now. For the US market they need a rebadged Enclave to bridge the gap. Exclusivity is not the priority here, it’s sales and profits.
Unfortunately this is true
GM does not have the platform ready yet so Cadillac has nothing to put the Escalade on till it arrives.
Cadillac while working to be independent are still reliant on GM platforms and their schedules. The Chevy, GMC and Cadillac all will arrive around the same time.
Same with the CUV models as they have to wait their turn and even plant integration. You just don’t toss in a new model on a plant line when ever you want. You have to work with, GM, the plant, the suppliers and more to get it all timed up to make it work.
In come cases too they would also like to get a year in with the Chevy models first to make sure quality is up before you sell the Cadillac built on the same line.
Hurray! Hiring him was the worst mistake ever. He has no concept of what Cadillac is. Trying to make it a German car company and moving the office to New York was FOOLISH! Cadillac was named after the founder of Detroit. And if his ideas were so great why are sales down? Simple. His ideas were wrong. He started to learn but Cadillac could not afford the four years and the move to New York to educate the man.
Wtf are you talking about? Look at the MCE CT6. Look what hes done to a boring and dated looking CT6. He has turned a dated looking car to a “wow” car with only refresh. If not JDN Cadillac would have been just expensive Chevys.
Oh, wait. Its not late for GM to ruin all his projects. *ucking hate GM and their Ucking bean counters.
I don’t doubt that MCE for the CT6 was probably already planned out when it came out in 2016, similar to how the 2019 Camaro SS re-style was already hiding in plain sight on the Transformers car in 2016. I any event , its not like jDN styled the car himself, its an ok refresh, but I liked how the current CT6 looks to and don’t find it dated at all, in spite of what you claim in your rant.
What Cadillacs were “expensive Chevys” before JDN, save of course for the Escalade, one of the best selling, luxury SUV’s for more than a decade and an icon that practically defines the segment in addition to being Cadillacs most profitable vehicle……..but hey…..
The “refreshed” 2019 CT6 is a step backward anyway. About all JdN did was make the grill more generic and he screwed up the classic Cadillac vertical taillights. I completely agree with Colin and I hope every “project” initiated by Johan is killed ASAP. Just like Infiniti killed Johan’s “Eau Rouge” project after he left that brand for Cadillac.
The “refreshed” 2019 CT6 (I agree with the quotations) was good, in my opinion. But it wasn’t nearly enough.
It was still undersized and under-quality. The V8 helped. I think the grille was a good choice, and still undecided on the taillamps, but willing to give them a shot.
If Johan’s projects were a flagship halo car (it sounded like he was hinting at a Bentley Continental competitor), a more relevant sedan portfolio, greatly improved interior quality, more V models, and a healthy string of crossovers to make up some volume and pay the bills…I don’t see what’s bad about that.
NewQ, I think the V8 (twin turbo) is only for the V-sport CT6, right? The regular 2019 CT6 would still have no V8, I believe. Not everyone that wants a V8 wants a -V or V-sport model. Also worth mentioning, while Johann didn’t create the CT6 himself, he did give it the name, and it’s a bad one. Even if you accept the idea of having generic, German-imitating letter/number combinations, it seems to me that 6 is unambitious for the top line car. Especially when they want it to compete with “Series 7”, A8 and such. Minor point there, but another JdN screw-up.
I don’t know where you have the idea that JdN’s “shock the world” halo car (coming “sometime” after 2022, oh wait now it won’t come at all) was going to be like a Bentley Continental (a car that starts in price over $200k). I’m not saying JdN didn’t “hint” at that, but I never saw it hinted at. JdN seemed to like making bold but vague promises about the future, as some sort of job insurance, but it didn’t work anyway.
I realize that a lot of people on this website get excited about -V and V-sport models, but those sell in very small numbers and I don’t think they add much to the cachet of the “regular” Cadillacs. Any more than someone is going to buy a Ford Focus because Ford makes the very racy, very limited production “GT”.
And a healthy string of crossovers would be nice, but they need to have Cadillac values, not BMW values and certainly not Chevy values. Johan seemed to have no clue what Cadillac was supposed to be, and no coherent brand strategy – the highly mediocre XT4 proved this, and may have been his undoing at Cadillac. And the idea of making an even smaller crossover? That’s just not Cadillac.
I know that some people here deride the “Sloan ladder” for some reason, but it makes a lot of sense for GM to sell their cheap/entry level cars as Chevrolets and their actual luxury cars as Cadillacs. Now maybe you can price a Cadillac cheaper than the most expensive Chevrolet (I’m not counting Corvette), but the cheapest Cadillac should still have Cadillac core values – and the XT4 and ATS do not, nor does the CTS base version, nor did the Cimarron or the Catera – why does GM need to keep relearning the same things?
Hopefully that this South African – who never understood Cadillac and wanted to make it into a BMW-imitator – is gone, Cadillac will go back to making real Cadillacs. And marketing them proudly, not being embarrassed that they have different values than BMW. It’s not too late. And with a bold brash truly American luxury car, they can actually sell it all over the world as something different from German hard “track performance” luxury. In other words, people might actually have a reason to buy Cadillacs which are actual Cadillacs, not a copy of someone else’s vehicle.
The V8 was just for the V-Sport model, that’s true. And truthfully, I would have preferred a way to get a V8 without going the “sport” route too. But, he insisted it was unique to Cadillac because of its refinement, so that gave me hope.
He mentioned a few times during the New York Auto Show (interviews are online) that Cadillac would have a flagship that would “stun the world” in his words. Best estimates were around the 2021-2022 timeline, but no one knows for sure. He also said it wouldn’t be a traditional three-box sedan. That could mean a fastback, but I took it (maybe wishful thinking) to mean a big luxury GT coupe, of which the Bentley Continental is the representative model, even if it wouldn’t have realistically been quite that high on the ladder.
If “Cadillac values” mean a clear attitude/style, industry-leading design, an ineffable “cool” quality, the best interiors with the highest quality materials (no more plastic), and a smooth luxurious ride without being an underpowered floaty barge (think S-Class, not DTS, just as a point of reference), and a price tag to match, then I’m all for that.
I happen to think he was moving the whole brand in that direction, especially in terms of quality, or at least he talked that game. We may never know if he truly was able to execute it. Even the XT4 wasn’t born under his watch, and whatever his first cars were still have an opportunity to be cheaped-out by the accountants.
Toss in the crossovers to pay the bills, and there you go. And yes, those crossovers have to be elegant, high-quality, and live up to modern-day handling and performance expectations (not a race car, but let’s not go back to the 1970s either).
Something like the XT4 did register as a mixed bag, even for me. I liked the styling a lot, I questioned the quality of the interior and the potency and sophistication of its engines, but I haven’t been in one. And, while disappointing to me personally, it seemed roughly competitive for the segment on the whole.
I would agree the XT4 could have stood to have some more of those “Cadillac values”, but I also think the GM bean counters got in the way of that, and Johan tried to fight them off and lost.
From the stories that are coming out, it sounds like he wanted to build a true luxury brand from the ground up (engines, platforms, switchgear, headquarters, financials), but the board wanted results now now now, and to churn out a Chevy-based crossover or three in the next year or so.
At this point all the V8 applications have yet to be shown. It will be used in more models as they need more volume to have made a business case
I believe the V8 will also be available in the Platinum trim at least.
Exactly. The stupid in these comments is unbelievable. And no you morons, JDN didn’t change Cadillac’s naming scheme, that was done before he joined. Every single thing JDN did was logical and welcome to anyone who wants to see Cadillac be a successful luxury brand. It’s only those fools who think anyone spending big coin on luxury gives a crap about big, FWD, soft, cheap garbage with antiquated names like Eldorado and Seville who think JDN didn’t do a good job. This is a terrible blow for those of us who want Cadillac to be world class (as opposed to Detroit class).
Yeah the real high class comes from NY as exemplified in the oval office.
JDN incorrectly gets too much credit, check your press release dates. The move to NY was in motion way before he was hired. So was the change to ABC 123 naming, again before he arrived. Under his watch, the CT6 launch was a total dud. A “car guy” who can’t launch a big sedan from Cadillac. GM decided to move to NY (maybe it was Bob F who sold that?) and Book was an experiment he reluctantly and barely supported because GM brass loved it, and if you want to call that cheap, tin can, too little too late mini XT5/SRX that’s launching this year his baby, then go for it. He was once a successful importer of increasingly amazing products from Audi, and here, merely provided entertaining quotes to the media about why he was failing to create new demand for Cadillac, with hundreds and hundreds of millions of marketing (every year) and all the support of GM. Just another arrogant white guy know it all who blew it.
SO this means that *ucking bean counters are back again and JDN’s plans are ruined? No more exclusive Caddys?
Cheap,dated and boring looking Cadillacs will rule again? And they will be based on fwd platforms? Oh Jeez.
If this is true, I won’t look at Cadillac anymore. I don’t need Chevyllacs.
I doubt someone with your vocabulary, class, awful grammar and typing could afford anything beyond a Craigslist 98 DeVille…….
^That is a really good one lol.
But more likely just a stolen WalMart shopping cart. LOL
BEST NEWS I’VE HEARD ALL DAY LONG!
Johan screwed Caddy up something fierce.
Time to get back to the basics. Time to do away with the newest naming structure and go back to what people are familiar with and works. ATS, CTS, XTS for cars and something like ATX, CTX, XTX for suvs. And while you are fixing everything that Johan screwed up, green light a CTS/CT6 coupe with a TRUE V-Series version of it!
I think in many ways Johan de Nysschen was on the right track with things like the move to New York, an exclusive engine, and elevating the standards for their dealers but in other ways he was leading the brand astray and was stubborn and intransigent. The whole Cadillac as BMW persona thing was wrong, the brutal V-Series cars were wrong, the naming scheme was wrong. I’m not sure where the dividing line was and how much of that was his fault but my prescription for Cadillac has always called for more focus on Cadillac’s roots and less copying of BMW. To that end, exclusive RWD platforms are needed, exclusive Cadillac engines are a must, a dedicated Bowling Green-like home plant for Cadillac is needed. Beyond that though, Cadillac has never been a carmaker known for raw performance and trying to turn them into one was a mistake. Cadillac should never be the purveyor of Corvette sedans; somebody seemed to be intent on making them into that and if that someone is gone, perhaps this is a good day.
Once again, back to the drawing board. Now watch all Cadillacs will get names to follow Lincoln.
It’s time for GM to consider shuttering the brand. Enough money has been wasted here and there’s no hope of competing on an equal basis with the German brands.
Maybe JDN came to that same realization?
That’s my real concern. Cadillac is on verge of being Oldsmobiled.
The difference is Cadillac is making money Olds was losing money and had no ATP to even mention.
I bet any money he is heading back to VW Group in some format… They just had a huge management shakeup and I could easily see him moving into a higher executive level there.
A comment from Ayylelmao over at Jalopnik:
“Stop trying to make the market’s American German car and just make a ground-up American luxury car with swagger and balls. You’re never going to beat the Beatles by doing Beatles covers. You gotta be the Stones.”
So simple, so true. My thoughts exactly. Nobody is going to buy an imitation BMW when they can have the real deal for the same money. GM needed to be building genuine Cadillacs; something different, something original.
That’s a great comment. Why is it so obvious to us, yet GM keeps thinking they have to make Cadillac a German wannabe instead of being the proud, brash, American luxury brand that it once was? The German-wannabe problem started before Johan arrived; he simply made it worse.
The comparison of a band doing Beatles covers instead of their own music is perfect. And you are right, be original. Leave the copying to brands like Hyundai/Genesis. Cadillac made its name as a leader, not a follower. Have some Cadillac core values and stick to them!
What a sad day…
I really hope his projects won’t be canceled or smth.
Ya, I thought he was doing well for Cadillac. I’m not an automobile executive so I am most likely wrong. Hopefully, Carlisle will be effective in making Cadillac a strong competitor to premier luxury companies like BMW and Mercedes.
Lincoln has claimed to out shined Cadillac several times and yet they fail in the end. Remember the Continental?
The Navigator will just be out for a short while when the new Escalade will appear and upstage it again. That is if the GM board does not cancel it and try to pass a rebadged Denali for a Cadillac.
I do not expect a lot of changed to the next few models as it is too late to change much. We at least have the TT V8 now too.
Anymore major changes would just delay things even more.
That is a shocker. I wonder what really happened. There is more here than they are letting on.
Another one bites the dust…
But Queen Mary keeps her $28M salary.
You saying as a women, she should even get less? Ford are paying their top guy and previous one more than that.
I look at the monthly North American sedan sales figures and shake my head. Pro sports team analogy here?
Wtf, Drewww!!!!!…..
I’m blown away, GM truly have no direction for cars at all….
It’s about time. No midsized SUV, poor quality as per Consumer’s Reports. All vehicles in the Cadillac line up are rated below average in quality. Dealers upset with pricing model. New blood at the top is was needed.
GM strikes again, what a mess. How do they expect someone to fix the brand if they don’t give him or her enough time to see their plan comes to fruition? JDN’s product assault was just getting started & the GM boards decides to play musical chairs again. At this rate, Cadillac will never recover, Might as well kill it now & put it out of its misery.
I don’t know much about Steve Carlisle beyond what’s in his GM page, but I wish him luck & I sincerely hope he’s not just another spineless GM yes man.
Also, don’t unpack, dude, you’re at least the 4th Cadillac CEO in less than 10 years.
F*&$$& GM.
Carlisle is a GM lifer who will report directly to Dan Ammann, a finance guy. What could possibly go wrong?
I’d give him about 3 years before they sack him too … Just enough time for whatever Cadillac currently have in the pipeline to see the light … If they don’t cancel them that is.
Actually he’s an engineer, but hey, WTF is reading comprehension when you’re throwing a good temper tantrum right?
Mark Reuss is an engineer as well & we all know how that turned out …
Hmmmn, reading comprehension, eh? Let’s take a look under the hood…
WHAT I SAID: Carlisle is a GM lifer who will report directly to Dan Ammann, a finance guy.
WHAT YOU SAID: Actually he’s an engineer, but hey, WTF is reading comprehension when you’re throwing a good temper tantrum right?
REALITY…
Steve Carlisle – Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Sloan School of Management
Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Business Administration and Management, General
1998 – 1999
University of Waterloo
BASC, Systems Design Engineering
1981 – 1986
***He began his career with GM as a co-op student in industrial engineering at the Oshawa Truck Assembly Center in 1982***
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=27225594&privcapId=61206100
Now Dan Ammann…
Dan Ammann – Education
Bachelor’s Degree
The University of Waikato
***Mr. Ammann served as the Chief Financial Officer at General Motors Company from April 01, 2011 to January 15, 2014 and also served as its Executive Vice President since 2013 until January 15, 2014. Mr. Ammann served as the Principal Financial Officer at General Motors Holdings LLC. He served as Vice President of Finance and Treasurer at General Motors Company from May 1, 2010 to April 1, 2011 and also served as its Senior Vice President from April 2011 to January 2014. He served as a Managing Director and Head of Industrial Investment Banking for Morgan Stanley, since 2004.***
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=105658479&privcapId=61206100
^ So it sounds like–if I’m *comprehending* this right–Steve Carlisle has an engineering degree. And he’s been with the company since 1982. Is that not the very definition of a GM lifer? And Dan Ammann, who is GM’s former CFO, is in fact a finance guy then, right? So who exactly has the reading comprehension issue again?
Carlisle has a background as an engineer (in production), so that’s in his favor right away. He’s also from Woodstock in Ontario, which is about 130 miles from Detroit. So it’s likely that he understands what Cadillac actually means to North Americans, unlike Johan from South Africa. And he’s 55 years old, which is experienced enough to know what he’s doing, yet still energetic enough to run a major brand. Looks like a very good choice, from what we can see.
My guess is that Cadillac eventually returns to Detroit, and that Melody Lee will be in tears when they leave New York City. If she still has a job at that point, which I doubt very much. Wouldn’t it be great to be rid of Uwe, Johan, and Melody within the same 12 month period? That’s what I’d call winning the trifecta! Congrats to the GM board and/or Barra for finally waking up to Cadillac mismanagement.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Watch Steve turn Cadillac into another BMW knock off, just like Bob Ferguson & the dude before him ….. If he lasts that long
During the same period, Volvo and Jaguar actually turned around. Arguably from deeper depths. Product overhaul, sales momentum, new demand from younger buyers, …. the job that was SUPPOSED to be done at Cadillac. Arrogance and bad casting. in 5 years, GM will sell Cadillac to their China JV for $20B and move on. That’s what they should do, how many DECADES (literally decades) of shrinking sales and reputation does the board need to admit, they can’t compete at the high end anymore? They may have been the kind once, but nobody at GM, clearly, knows how to create and sell top tier brands. Make the touch call, focus on what you can do, and move on. So much wasted time and resources on a fool’s errand. You’re right, one or two more of those arrogant, poor decision making execs to go, then we’ll see.
Great news! Maybe the real Cadillac brand can be saved after all. Under JdN, Cadillac meant nothing, no connection with what made them great. The XT4 was the final nail, it wasn’t luxury, wasn’t “Cadillac” in anything but name.
JdN was always about “the future”. But “the future” kept getting pushed back further and further. Big promises of “shocking the world”, but not until after 2022? Meantime US sales were collapsing. As I’ve said, it’s easy to sell “the future” to the naive. Looks like Barra and the board finally wised up.
JdN never should have been hired to run Cadillac in the first place. A guy who grew up with no Cadillacs anywhere near his country, and who thought only BMW and other German cars were the best, was not right for running an American icon. JdN had a very limited playbook, the same one he tried to run at Infiniti. Step 1, move the HQ (Tokyo to Hong Kong, Detroit to NYC). Step 2, rename all the cars with similar letter/number combos (Q and QT for Infiniti, CT and XT for Cadillac). Step 3, copy BMW (always one car generation behind), even if your home country isn’t particularly suited for BMW imitations.
JdN was not even consistent in his strategy. He said he wanted to make Cadillac “premium” by raising prices, and derided past Cadillac sales as “wrong driveways”. But then he gave Cadillac cheap decontented vehicles like the base ATS and CTS, both having vinyl seats and halogen headlamps. He said Cadillac needed a small CUV to get young people to be Cadillac customers for life, then delivered the mediocre, Chevy-like XT4. How can a brand be premium with a bunch of cheap base versions, lots of black plastic and vinyl? And then his “customers for life” theory showed its flaws, when he offered $10k rebates to existing Escalade owners to stay with the brand. If they were customers for life, why would anyone look at another brand.
JdN didn’t understand what Cadillac meant to Americans, and he wasn’t an engineer, a designer, or a production line expert. In the end, JdN was simply a salesman, and was very good at selling – himself. He leaves with a boatload of cash, while he’s confused customers as to what the Cadillac brand actually means. Hopefully the new guy actually understands what Cadillac means and has a coesive plan.
Drew,
Much of what you say is right but if GM, and their newly installed Caddy chief, thinks they can rehash more FWD Chevys and turn Cadillac into a Tier 1 luxury brand, then we would’ve been better off with Johan.
As I said earlier, he had a lot right particularly about separating Cadillac so folks specifically attuned to the luxury market were in charge at Cadillac. He had the RWD focus right although I know you disagree there. He also sought in the downtime before new models launch to work on improving dealers which was a wise move. The new V-8 is exactly what Cadillac needed. However, it was hard to square the grandiose promises he’d made with the shockingly poor execution of his first product, the XT4. I don’t know if that’s the best he could get out of GM or if he actually thought it was good and believed his own hype leading up to its debut. He lead us all to believe it would be a big departure and begin an onslaught of amazing new products. There’s been near universal agreement that it didn’t live up to expectations and comes across as a upgraded Chevy Trax rather than a game-changing Cadillac.
A couple of thoughts really trouble me: Could it be that the GM Board has seen Cadillac’s upcoming line of JdN influenced products and is not impressed? Or, perhaps, the “disagreement” meant the GM Board was unwilling to fund world class products and JdN simply didn’t want to be a part of an organization unwilling to do what it takes to win. Either proposition is bad.
I do agree with you that Cadillac has a special place in American history and in the psyche of Americans over about 45 and JdN did not understand that at all. His notion of luxury was European-based and his ideas for the brand were all seemingly geared towards remaking Cadillac into his more Germanic vision of luxury. That’s not the right path in my estimation.
Not all that surprising in view of exit from Europe, ultimatum in Korea… Sadly it may not be what WE want, but the board runs the company for the owners, the stockholders. Let’s not forget that Cadillac was and is still a division of GM and GM decides where the division goes, not Cadillac management. Stockholders, specifically funds, are mostly looking for gratification now–not five years down the road. They want increased value that is MOSTLY driven by financial results! Sorry, but this is the American way!
Keep in mind it was never likely Cadillac would be totally autonomous. They would owe GM the $12 billion investment and the only likely place the future Cadillacs could be built was in plants shared with other GM products.
I hope Steve Carlisle makes a public statement very soon regarding Cadillac brand strategy
Best news from GM and Cadillac in ages.
With JDN’s update comment of “Let’s call it philosophical differences” you have to wonder if the Buick Enspire received so much unexpected positive reception that GM Corp told JDN, “The Enspire received a better response than the XT4, let’s fast track electrify it”…
Those of you who think it will now all be FWD cars or boring crossovers haven’t been a P100X yet…The Buick Enspire has the same 0-60 and “range” as a current SS Camaro…
Johan de Nysschen was out of sync as he felt Cadillac should be like a Fabergé egg, very precious and rare while what de Nysschen should have tried doing was to try getting people to think of Cadillac cars like the Apple iPhone.. while expensive, it should be something people would line up for especially when Cadillac is building world class vehicles like the CT6 and XT5.
CT6 looks good but there are too many quality issues. Waving a wand declaring issues “characteristic” does not make owners happy or repeat buyers.
Nothing against this guy, but I for one am glad he’s gone. I think he was taking Cadillac in the wrong direction.
‘Dare Greatly’ was ‘Doomed Immensely’ from the start.
Mission Statements usually can be ignored but not with a dated enthusiast abandoned brands like Cadillac. Where Chevy has so much to gain by improving as a brand, Buick had nothing to lose as a brand, Cadillac is in… a pickle.
How do you convince someone that Mercedes and BMW and the like are garbage but Cadillac is THE BEST? That, to me, is the pickle. Saying DARE GREATLY and WAVING NYC CRED does NOTHING in this regard.
Ask yourself if Cadillac will ever beat Mercedes, BMW, and the like in quality and cool? Ask yourself how possible that could be in 10 years? My gut is: impossible. And so if it’s impossible to build a better cooler car, as much as hit hurts…
… GM must abandon that quest.
So what’s left? I see two brand choices —
1. In what would be admittedly a strange concept at first, “Affordable reliable luxury. Cadillac.” Yes, I know. ‘Affordable’ and ‘Luxury’ do not belong together in the marketing of a flagship brand. For Buick it’s okay. Not cool for Cadillac. But if you can’t build a better car than the big boys you could offer a better price. Noticeably better.
If you think of the $1000 iPhones and the $1000 Samsungs this position makes more sense. Do you really need either? Really? “Look at me! I’ve got animojis!” Yawn. THAT is the attack angle, on price. Don’t ‘dare’ people to imagine how ‘great’ Cadillac is. Instead mock how overpriced and MEH the competition is.
Reliable is the second component. This is where Cadillac is totally — ked. They’re at the bottom. Perfect.
Reliability has to be fixed crazy stupid fast. The band-aid would be to offer ten years unlimited miles bumper to bumper warranty. This, in turn, feeds the ‘affordable’ notion yet again. Pay less, pay once. Again the band aid until more reliable cars happen. But ifd (BIG IF) they pull that off they might want to keep that warranty around anyhow. If the cars are way more reliable the amount of repairs diminish.
Cadillac, in fact, could become the way GM makes all its other cars more reliable. Imagine if Caddy aimed to be at the top of the reliability list? Where Toyota sits now. THAT would win respect. Toyota isn’t cool but that reliability sure is.
Unfortunately the fast patch to reliability is doing just what Caddifanboys hate: taking other reliable GM cars and simply rebranding as Caddys with bells and whistles. But if you asked me — that’s the only reason I’d buy a Caddy. “You mean it’s that crazy reliable Encore but with way better spec? And much less money than it’s prestige rival? Maybe sold.”
And irksome as this ‘affordable reliable luxury’ option sounds, it’s the better of two choices. Because it is attainable. The other is —
2. — Cadillac becoming GM’s Tesla. All new, all electric, all luxury. This is a scary desperate move because if THIS fails Cadillac is done. Since within this idea is the idea of ditching Cadillac anyway. Ginormous gamble.
But it would suddenly ditch the prestige class it is losing in and challenge only one other major brand. I believe GM could bury Tesla if Cadillac competed directly against it instead of Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and all that. But the cool thing is —
— there’s an ‘electric prestige’ thing going on for a while. Where you get to show off your spare money by purchasing a ‘Tesla’. And it seems electric engines are more reliable. So instead of ‘affordable reliable luxury’ you could have —
— ‘prestigious reliable green’.
—————————–
I see no other paths for this brand. Instead of being a thumbsDEBBIEdowner why not suggest a path I’m missing. I dare you greatly to do so. 😉
No thumbs down, but I’m scratching my head why Cadillac couldn’t have lengthened their warranty along with raising prices. It would have helped justify the higher cost of ownership AND said something about the brand. Resale values would have increased (likely) and more people would have been inclined to buy them vs. leasing them.
Cadillac shortened the warranty in 2017. My ’16 has a 4 year b2b. The 2017’s are 3 year b2b.
The CPOs now have limited warranty with a $100 per visit deductible.
We do not know why he is leaving but he did make Changes for the Good of Cadillac. We would like to purchase the XT4 after a trial time to ensure the Vehicle does have problems.
We liked the 2008 SRX 4X 4 , We bought in 2007 gave it to my brother in law in 2014 still going strong. With little to none problems. Only wish they would have used the ATS Platform.
This is not good–was very interested in upcoming CT5 to replace my 2008 CTS–how will bean counters treat this car as it goes through final testing. Will start researching Mercedes E 400 coupe now with 329 hp six–a slightly more expensive car–but will give CT5 a chance.
This can’t be a good thing for Cadillac . Some of JDN’s vehicles are to far in development to pull them .
This just looks like a Board thing to me . Moving to New York was still not far enough away from Detroit .
JDN came on when Cadillac was in need of help and product that wasn’t selling because of the hot crossover market . I really hope that Cadillac doesn’t go back to the badge engineered vehicles of the past . Todays customer is way to smart for that .
This is like pulling a quarter back after he has been working out withe team all summer and then pulling him before the fall season starts . WTF !
Besides the Cimmarron and the 1st gen Escalade, what vehicles has Cadilllac sold in the past that are “badge engineered”?
I’m trying hard to come up with more than 2 examples in the 115 year history of the company.
Do you even know what that term means?
The Catera comes to mind …
What model Chevrolet was based on the Catera? Please, thrill me with your acumen……..
Sure thing, first things first, there’s no mention of Badge Engineered Chevrolet being the criteria in your post, see:
“Besides the Cimmarron and the 1st gen Escalade, what vehicles has Cadilllac sold in the past that are “badge engineered”?
I’m trying hard to come up with more than 2 examples in the 115 year history of the company.
Do you even know what that term means?”
Second, I can name a few more, but let’s set the record straight first … The first generation Escalade is a badge engineerd GMC Yukon Denali , not a Chevy Tahoe. Two can play this game. 😉
The second generation Escalade is a Denali with a pretty face, taillights & some body cladding.
The third generation Escalade is also a Denali with a pretty face, taillights & some bright work … This time they added a unique dashboard, wow! The rest of Interior remained unchanged.
The fourth generation Escalade is also a Denali with a pretty face & taillights … Only this time they actually remembered to give the interior unique door panels *gasp* Unlike the third generation. Thanks to the Tahoe RST, you can replace the Denali base for
Both generations of the Escalade EXT were a Chevy Avalanche with a 6.0\6.2 & a pretty face.
Thanks to modern manufacturing techniques, you can now somewhat conceal Badge Engineering behind a different face & a bunch of bills & whistles … Heck, you can tweak the sheet metal on the cheap.
Oh and incase you were sincerely asking, the Catera is based on the Opel & Vauxhall Omega. 1 Car, 3 Brands …
OK guys, fun is over, everyone back to Detroit!
NOPE. JUST CHECKED, APRIL FOOLS PASSED.
WHAT IN THE WORLD….
I had total faith in this guy and he leaves before he even turns it around. One has to wonder if it was GM restrictions… I feel like the xt4 was a let down and maybe he just doesnt like what he has to work with.
Darn…. I really wanted a nice cadillac and was hoping for some big new models coming out… now i just wonder if this will go back to being boring… ugh.. sad day for cadillac.
Jeez… like if i was in his position, why leave. Its like getting a cake ready, sticking it in the oven and leaving without taking it out.
He must have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel… poor guy. Everything wasnt working out for him… project pinnacle, the xt4 wasnt stunning…
Austin,
If you really thought this guy was going to stick around for 10 years and turn Cadillac into a great success story, then you just don’t know GM. I’ve been saying de Nysschen was going to have to start delivering soon or he’d be gone. GM is short-sighted and have been for as far back as I’ve been observing them. They are not going to allow a product or a person to hang around that isn’t making money for the company. The long-road, do-it-right kind of strategy JdN wanted to implement was never going to be tolerated very long. I’m sure when GM embarked on this journey with de Nysschen, he promised profits by the fifth year and instead GM was looking at many more years of losses before de Nysschen’s plan was ever going to deliver a return on investment. Thats also why Cadillac can never have a halo vehicle because halo products often don’t directly make money for the company. Other companies tolerate that for sake of the cachet they bring but GM is far too practical for such considerations.
I suspect Cadillac’s ambitious plans for the future will be scaled back and the ‘Escala’ due in 2022 is a dead man walking. The future will be more XTS and Escalade type products that are cheap to build and make easy money.
I wish all that wasn’t so but it is. Old dogs don’t learn new tricks and this has been GM’s play book for a long time.
Austin, if you liked where JdN was trying to take Cadillac and you wanted to buy one of those vehicles, all you have to do now is buy the BMW of your choice.
Now Cadillac can go back to making brash bold proud modern Cadillacs, instead of mediocre imitations of someone else’s car.
Given his Bloomberg call, his recent Yahoo interview, I can’t help but think that the Board refused to play ball from the beginning & dangled that $12B in front of him like a carrot (without actually giving it to him) to maintain the illusion of giving him full autonomy to the public without it being so. GM never change … I really thought this time would be different.
Since his resignation is effective immediately, I believe he had enough of them … I’d be fed up too & I can’t blame him.
anyway, I wish both Johan & Steve best of luck with the next chapter of their lives. And I hope Steve is up to the task & won’t screw this up.
ICEDree, I agree 100,000,000%.
Hurry, put Bob Lutz in charge of Cadillac–pay him anything–our last hope for a turn around.
To calm you guys down, I will share some inside information that I’ve received from my friend.
1) All the projects started under the leadership of JDN will be brought to production. Including the CT7 /8, work on which began last week. Many of them are at a very high stage of development and contracts with the suppliers have been concluded (and already paid).
2) There were no plans to move cars to FWD. The modular RWD platform VSS-R (which supports SUV variants) is a part of GM’s global long-term strategy, no matter who controls the brand. Expect XT7/XT8.
3) JDN’s retirement is not connected with the financial and other indicators of this company (they have improved many times over the years of his leadership).
4) The current leader of the Cadillac is temporary. Now GM is looking for a new president..
5)Cadillac wil stay in NYC.
Cadillac had rear wheel drive cars and V cars well before Johan showed up and as you say they still will. And they are built in a special plant. As for New York what a silly mistake! And of course all the stuff he’s put in place even if it’s bad cannot be changed because the car industry takes years to put ideas into Place. He left Infinity and now thankfully he’s gone from Cadillac. Hopefully we can correct his errors soon. Oh and by the way the prophecy came mostly from the Escalade and the SRX which he had nothing to do with. The truth is the truth.
Bronx,
Trust me on this. All of that is subject to change and most likely will. Companies often say they’ve made leadership changes but no fundamentals about how the company is run will change only to later quietly announce individual changes that collectively represent sweeping change. Ask yourself, why would GM put Cadillac under new management if they were going to stay the course mapped out by the previous leader. That makes no sense. New leadership will bring change and in this case, I suspect it will all be aimed at increasing profitability.
I don’t know you or your friend & this being the internet, I have to take it with a big grain of salt… No offense, Bronx. But if what you are saying is true:
1) I’m not surprised, most cars are almost ready & that fits with the “New car every 6 months starting with the announcement of the XT4). GM is too cheap to cancel or take a hit on anything once they paid for it … The grilles of the MkIII CTS & MkIV Escalade comes to mind for an example. The CT7/8 being signed off last week is new though & I hope its true.
2) again, I’m not surprised. Also, again GM is too cheap to take a hit on both Alpha & Omega lol.
3) Yep, Cadillac is doing better than ever in China & it was only a matter of time before things turn out in the US. Plus, they had their 2nd best year ever recently.
4) Holy Mary Mother Of God! The dude haven’t even started his first day (did he even arrive to New York? Lol) & not only they gave his old job to someone else, they are already planning to kick him out too! That’s cold. Hope he knows.
5) Yep, at least until the multi-year lease is over … Again, GM is too cheap lololololol.
Again, No offense & I hope you’re right.
He was destroying Cadillac, I am rejoicing that he is gone. It took 4 years too long.
Steve, totally right. JdN was in fact destroying Cadillac. He was trying to turn it into his personal brand, essentially a follower of BMW. Now Cadillac can be Cadillac – this is a great day for an American icon. Not that JdN ever understood what Cadillac meant to Americans.
SIDEBAR
I started commenting on this post before the update. I saw all sorts of comments. My post was long. When I was done I posted it and saw the updated article. And no comments but my own. (?)
The next time I checked back all your comments were back. And mine was gone.
Nice.
Like I called hours ago, the GM Bean Counters strike once gain. They lost the best Cadillac leader in the last 20 years b/c they don’t want to pony up the real capital to make Cadillac great once again. GM is going cheap again everyone. I feel a bad road is coming up for them. Hope I am 100% wrong.
I’m at a loss for words right now!….. I genuinely fear where the Cadillac brand is headed….In the meantime I’ll be sticking with “harsh-riding”, “over-engineered” Euro sport saloons consistently dominating the American luxury sales chart!!!!
Wake me when this joke of a luxury brand gets its act together and return to the “standard of the world” it used to be; about 4 decades before I was born!…
I commend JDN for his hard work pushing through old GM mentally, but with the many, many, billions spent over 14yrs, I would of hoped by now Cadillac would of been a leader not a follower (XT4). Much has been accomplished, but too much time has passed to set the brand apart from others. Not all the blame on JDN, but he should of bailed earlier if clearly on the Board.
I love my V, and hope Cadillac can accelerate its historical reputation.
Anatomy of a big company executive:
Year 1: Get excited about the new job and opportunity to make a difference. Meet the team. Get the message out. Review the future roadmap and realize you’ll be a world beater soon. The bean counters approach you to cut costs, so you decide to be accommodating and stop all development on existing products, because the future products look so good!
Year 2-3: Still basking in the aura of the new job, you unfortunately realize you have executive responsibility, but little ability to enact decisions. You still exercise your limited decision ability by moving locations and engaging in some meaningless aspects of marketing awareness activities. When the bean counters approach you again, you realize you have to wipe out and delay much of your roadmap of exciting products, but you consent because such is life in a big company.
Year 4-5: Sudden realization that all the cuts you consented to are driving your business to the ground. No more mr nice guy. Scramble to address the gaps in your lineup. Get some midlife refreshes, pull in schedule on much needed new product. Finally squeeze out a refresh of an existing car that looks like a winner (CT6 vsport), but your first brand new & much needed product that you rushed (XT4) appears like it’s something that could have been done years ago and carries precious little market differentiation. Bean counters approach you yet again, but this time you tell them to pound sand. You get labeled as difficult but soldier on pushing a more aggressive agenda. Bean counters approach you again, this time to negotiate a severance.
You leave on “good” terms.
I’m not saying this is what happened, but just saying…
Finally!!! Hes gone! Time to return Cadillac to greatness
JdN suddenly leaves and the only hint he gives us is “philosophical differences”. So, what had happened recently that might have lead to this? What would the difference in philosophy be tied to?
Here’s a thought: GM just announced a $10,000 discount on Cadillac’s most expensive model that has the highest ATP, which is a metric we know to be important to de Nysschen and that he’d worked hard to raise believing it would elevate Cadillac’s prestige. Taking $10,000 off the Escalade is going to lower the Average Transaction Price for the brand. Maybe he felt undermined by that move. Maybe he fought it out with Mary and the Board and they won so he’s now gone.
It’s a guessing game for now. I have several theories but this seems rather plausible.
Can I just ask what all of you mean by “the real American Cadillac” or “Cadillac values”? I really would like to know.
Also for those criticizing the performance cars, do you not understand that Motorsport has led to almost all major automotive innovations for the last 100 years. If you want to be at the forefront of innovation you have to be an engineering company. Now this doesn’t mean every car should have sub 7 minute Nurburgring times but I can not see how getting rid of the V program and going to fwd boats,like some of you are saying, will be benificial.
Real American values… like the ones Trump is promoting. LOL
Don, Cadillac is an American luxury car brand, and part of the GM family. Johan de Nysschen wanted to make every Cadillac a superior performer on the Nurburgring track. That’s just silly. He recently said that his future big sedan (the one that would “stun the world”) would “certainly lap the Nürburgring faster than anyone of our competitors in that category, if they care about that”.
Obviously race track performance was what JdN cared about. But is that what buyers of big luxury sedans actually care about? I don’t think so. I realize that this website is dominated by people who care more about performance cars than about Cadillac, that’s simply a fact. But I’m glad to see that GM actually cares about Cadillac, rather than letting JdN impose his personal values on this iconic brand, all while sales and profits go down the drain.
Since you asked what are classic Cadillac core values or American luxury car values, here they are:
CADILLAC CORE VALUES
– Exterior styling should be bold, angular, and reflect classic Cadillac elements such as the iconic vertical taillights.
– Seating should be roomy, head and legroom for driver and passengers.
– Ride should be comfortable, best among the mass-produced cars (aka “The Cadillac Ride”)
– Car should be highly reliable. That includes being reliable in poor weather, not just perfect days.
– Car should be very refined – no loud engine, no hard shifting gears, no squeaks and rattles, etc.
– Interior should be real luxury. Seats comfortable and supportive, real leather not vinyl or cloth.
– Electronics should be up-to-date, including very good sounding stereo.
– Engine should be smooth and powerful; easy merging and passing
– Cadillac should not sell cheap cars under the Cadillac name, including “base” versions with cheap seating surfaces, cheap headlights, cheap stereos, downgraded engines, etc. in other words, every Cadillac should be worthy of the name.
– Cadillac flagship especially should be offered with very few if any options, so that all who drive or ride in it will be getting the best that Cadillac has to offer.
There is no reason that Cadillac can’t build MODERN cars that include all of the above core values. These values should not change even when the times change. A Cadillac should be an amazing experience, not a car that does things just because other brands do it.
Cadillac is a global brand and, therefore, if GM wants healthy profits, the preferences of other nations must be considered–the Chinese hate stealth angular and The General wants lots of Yuan.
Companies like Volvo, Jaguar, and Range Rover, just to name three, have done a great job designing global luxury brands.
Cadillac is growing briskly in China even with sub par interiors and a limited range. In the US Cadillac just isn’t on the radar for Millenials/Gen X. It’s the car grandpa owed. Older Boomers and the Silent Generation are most prone to see Cadillac as a status marker.
Ultimately, GMC Delani holds more status to a below 50 year old buyer and with Avenir I could see Buick become a profit powerhouse when compared to Cadillac minus Escalade. Avenir is GMs Lexus killer and back up plan should Cadillac stay weak in the US.
Cadillac needs solid marketing, a dedication to quality and a product line aimed at Millennials. Baby Boomers can buy Americana at FCA with Chrysler 300 or Dodge Charger–not exactly luxury but very much in line with the core values of yesterday’s Cadillac.
Thank you NewQ, Steve and Drew, I don’t agree with everything said by you lot but for sure your points are well presented and I think are mostly very relevant. Actually, I like to point out that for the most part you don’t even agree with each other!
I think it’s tuff for a fine dining chef to work with a crew of hamburger flippers . No disrespect to the fine engineers at GM but I’m referring to management. Both above and below JDN were people observed with cutting cost and pretending to know what class and money is. Hop into a Mercedes, any Mercedes and you see fine workmanship and material. Hop in a Cadillac and you see a nice Chevrolet. That’s not suppose to happen. You hop in and close a Mercedes door and your ears pop! It’s dead in quite in here. You close a Cadillac door and it rings like a mechanical bell. This is not meant to be an insult, it’s an observation. The important thing is , we can do better. The Germans and Japanese’s are walking all over us because we don’t care to do our very best and soon it will be the Chinese’s. I’m sure the engineers are dying to build a fantastic vehicle but the bean counter care only about the bottom line and the marketing people are preparing their lies as well as a list of stupid things we don’t want .
JDN will be off to some proveyor of luxury goods where he’ll meet with stafff over wine somewhere nice. Meanwhile back in Detroit , Cadillac staff will be at the olive gardens with bottle of alcohol with names they CAN pronounce.
Finally, don’t blame Mary, she is still just a cog in the wheel.
All of a sudden, ignorance once again prevail on here due to JDN’s sudden departure that Cadillac is going in the toilet.
People need to calm down and think for a minute about how far advance Cadillac came before JDN came on board back in ’14. The current Cadillacs are the best yet. We have no idea of how far the successor models will be post JDN’s departure.
It is too soon to judge on what actually happen with JDN, management and the board and he may tell his side in further detail in the future rather that is thru a book or television talk show and etc. Again, maybe he won’t mention anything and let by-gone be by-gone and move on.
The board members are not stupid and they are more informed of the luxury brand industry than what people prefer not to believe. The truth of the matter is, do they want Cadillac to be the best of the industry but find someone who can turn things around very fast or keep someone currently that turn things around slowing but both making profits for the brand we never know.
We may hear more of the universally shocked news and what may appear in the next few months in detail.
People need to stop acting foolish with bunch of silliness that Cadillac will be rebadge FWD this and that nonsense.
And for the same posters who keep posting the same stuff over again, it is not helping this thread and you are making a spectacle of yourselves more and more. I think the naysayers on here need a hobby badly because a good number of you don’t have anything better to do.
I am positive about Cadillac’s future, regardless who is currently running the brand.
And for those who keep harping on the XT4 in a negative light and think that is one of the reasons for JDN’s sudden departure, you already proven that you guys don’t have anything better to comment on and want to hear yourself type with bunch of nonsense and foolishness.
I am a JDN supporter and wish him a lot of luck same as for the temporary president as well or anyone in the future for that matter.
The facts are inconvenient, buddy. He had four years and pulled off nothing but sliding domestic sales. China is truly on auto-pilot, every single luxury brand there has been riding high. Let’s see how many Chinese are repeat/loyal to the brand after they experience that unique version of plastic, recalls and dated looks. He failed to launch the CT6, it was the biggest large sedan launch failure in the history of the brand. A brand known as THE big sedan brand! Like Porsche failing to sell a 911, if you can’t sell your core product my goodness. And the world is still buying plenty of luxury sedans, JDN. Just not yours. He alienated his CMO, he alienated Cadillac design, he allowed his PR snakes to give him “credit” for that costly, stupid NY move, and he ignored the white hot passion and reactions to the concepts cars (again, something he had nothing to do with, concept cars are the GM design department’s hobby/territory). If the XT4 is truly “his,” let’s see. How many people (ideally younger first time lux buyers) are going to pre-order, or put down deposits, or get excited about it? What’s more likely is the XT4 grows at the expense of other GM cross overs or long in the tooth SRX owners trading in. Or, it will be a huge hit and you’ll say “I told you so, JDN had it right!” Wanna bet cash on that joke of a scenario?
How is the CT6 launch a failure? Some of the materials was questionable like the blacked-out plastic air-bag covering on the Platinum models from ’16-’17 which was not his car to begin with in the first place. So you have it all wrong.
Most of your comments is subjective and misguided. You are seriously naive to think he can turn around Cadillac in four years. Do you seriously think Cadillac should offer incentives to move inventory quicker? That is not how you build a luxury image.
China is not on auto-pilot. He added dealers and manufactured cars there and done things that increase volume sales-wise. So nothing auto-pilot there. I bet a good number of Chinese consumers will be repeat customers in the future.
Again, you just like everyone else, complaining about the XT4 is just foolish and no one had never experience it in person. I don’t understand so much hate for a vehicle that had came out yet by the press with videos and images.
I’m not going to criticize you on every sentence word to word but the only thing I can say it that it is misguided and objective thinking.
“Carlisle will report to GM President, Dan Ammann”
Why’s he reporting to the beancounter & not the CEO & Chairwoman (Mary) like JDN did? That sounds fishy, is she about to get canned too?
JDN reported to Dan too, actually.
Maybe this is a good thing…… we see what happened when Uwe went away.
Not at all surprised by this. everything today is a revolving door flash in the pan temporary mess. There wasn’t much this guy did that impressed me anyways starting with his stupid naming convention.
This is where the rubber would’ve hit the road with Daring Greatly. This is the car that would’ve led to a design Renaissance at Cadillac and a surefire transformation of the company and the public’s lukewarm perception of it. The choice not to build it was sadly just business as usual at Cadillac. No Daring Greatly here, carry on…
wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/the-cadillac-elmiraj-concept-a-little-british-a-little-french-a-lot-american/
gmauthority.com/blog/2013/08/cadillac-elmiraj-concept-very-doable-according-to-reports/
Those guys in Detroit just don’t get it. When you change the names, it is like an entirely new manufacturer. You have to start all over again. They should have learned that lesson under Roger Smith, but no, they never learn, make the same mistakes over and over again.
Then they announce a new model, Years before it comes to market, and when they finally get around to it, all the thrill is gone.
When GM was King of the car business, they kept everything secret until the official introduction, Created Lots of interest.
Then the Bean Counters, said, No, that’s no good, lets stagger that introduction. So then there is no hype, no excitement.
Business falls off. They cannot understand what went wrong.
Changing the names of Cadillac, was a Major Mistake.
Yes Steve and CT6 was an especially bad name. A lot of people apparently thought it was a version of the CTS. If it had a name like “Fleetwood” people would have seen it as a new flagship full-sized sedan. And if they didn’t want to call it Fleetwood or use one of the old names, it could have had a name. CT6 is even too low a number for a flagship. How about CT8, if they had to go the CT route?
I don’t blame the beancounters for the name though, that was all Johan. And the launch was underwhelming too. Instead of saying they had a new flagship sedan, with a lot of hoopla, they announce it with a tv commercial where people are walking backward, in slow motion, on the streets of New York City. Just what everyone wants, a backhwards slow motion car, in a city where people take taxis instead of owning cars. With barely a notion that this is an entirely new car, not the next iteration of the CTS, which was already in its 4th generation. That’s on Uwe, but it’s also on Johan for not firing Uwe. Thankfully both are gone now.
Bring back the Coupe De Ville. Now that was a sexy bi*tch of a car. I would be proud as a peaco*ck to drive that in my neighbourhood.
Drew, NYC was chosen for Cadillac because the City is seen as elegant, sophisticated: The headquarters of all thing luxury may this mean Tiffany’s or the World’s finest architecture.
Benz and BMW fit well with the New York aesthetic. Cadillac is viewed by too many as geriatric or fly over corn country luxury. Cadillac could serve as a sponsor of the Elks and Rotary Clubs instead of young professionals that are keys to Cadillac’s future.
Chevrolet and Buick suffer this same handicap thriving in middle America but cursed on the coasts where the majority of weath is. GMC and Jeep are the only domestics that I see in NYC.
America is divided by age, income and location. Johan was right to approach demos who favor imports. While NYC isn’t exactly a driver’s city, nonetheless, I’ve never seen so many luxury cars. NYC also serves as a fine backdrop for sales to driver-friendly cities like San Fran with it’s amazing wealth.
Will a millennial remember Fleetwood? I remember my eldery uncle driving an 80’s Fleetwood that was simply a blinged up Buick. Names have a place in luxury but should be recognizable to a global audience given that China will be Cadillac’s biggest market. Lancia used Latin which was fantastic. Maybe a brand should try using the planet’s rivers or flowers?
Steve, I get the NYC “elegant sophistication” idea, though maybe the ads should show pulling up to Wall Street or driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, instead of rain on the cobblestone. As to San Francisco, interestingly there’s an XTS commercial shown only in China that has Brad Pitt driving across the Golden Gate bridge. They sell a lot of XTSs in China, so perhaps it was effective.
And yes maybe “Fleetwood” wouldn’t have been the right name for the CT6, but even if Millennials didn’t know it was Cadillacs name for their full sized flagship, at least they’d know this was a new model and not another version of the CT6. Not everything has to be about the Millennials anyway, I disagree with that strategy.
Cadillac has always sold well with older drivers, in part because they’ve got the money to blow on a car beyond what they “need” (unlike most Millennials, as of now). JdN kept trying to sell to a demographic that didn’t really exist in numbers – the nearly mythical very rich, very young, who wanted domestically produced “performance luxury”. The idea that older drivers would eventually die off was silly – there will be more older drivers than ever in the future, not fewer. They won’t be the same people as now, but they’ll keep making more older people forever. But JdN turned up his nose at them anyway. It made about as much sense as selling mansions but limiting them to people under 36.
I’m not really seeing flower names for Cadillac. The Marigold? The Daisy? The Petunia? Rivers might make some sense I suppose. Or cities. I first thought you were suggesting planets, like the Mars or the Uranus. At least GM already has the Saturn name locked up, but they might have trouble getting Mercury from Ford.
I do not believe a word of that.
Nyc is the last place they should have located.
People don’t drive there.
You could not find a more anti automobile city outside of NYC than DC.
It was all political, they thought Hillary was going to win.
Just shows how right their decisions are.
Why would Hillary care where Caddy was located? She isnt from NYC, served one term as our senator.
Stop taking those defective Alex Jones vitamins!
A great education, and ability is no substitute for wrong ideas.
Lots of smart well educated people are useless anyway,
It is not the knowledge that is important, it is what you do with the knowledge you have that is important.