Following the shock news that General Motors had ousted Johan de Nysschen, now-ex Cadillac President, we began to wonder what happened behind the scenes. Now, it’s become clear de Nysschen and upper management had very different timelines for Cadillac’s turnaround, and it was somewhat of a mutual decision for the executive to depart the brand.
After just under four years on the job, we look back at where de Nysschen, once hailed as the brand’s saving grace, went right, and where he potentially went wrong.
Right: More Exclusivity
de Nysschen realized Cadillac needed to move further away from GM’s other brands, and his vision placed the brand far outside the typical GM orbit. The executive took hold of Cadillac as it moved out of Detroit and into New York City for greater autonomy; he brought an exclusive Cadillac engine to life in the 4.2-liter twin-turbo LTA V8 engine; and he fought to stay away from heavily incentivizing Cadillacs to preserve future residual values. Not to mention, he called for more attention to vehicle quality and improved customer experience.
Wrong: FWD Crossovers
The Cadillac XT5 was already on the docket to replace the SRX before de Nysschen’s arrival, but the XT4 and upcoming XT6 have de Nysschen’s fingerprints all over them. Unfortunately, they’re based on shared GM architectures. The 2019 Cadillac XT4 sits atop the same platform as the Chevrolet Malibu, something we always felt was a bit of a rush job, and the 2020 Cadillac XT6 will likely ride on GM’s extended C1 platform—much like the Chevrolet Traverse. The Alpha and Omega platforms would have been better fits in our eyes, but development could have been too long for GM brass to swallow.
Right: Overhauling Cadillac Dealerships
de Nysschen got a lot of flack from dealers after rolling out Project Pinnacle, but Cadillac’s dealership model was in need of a transformation. In fact, the executive never even got his full wish after offering buyouts to the brand’s smallest dealers and dropping various elements of Project Pinnacle along the way. However, Cadillac dealers needed the change, and we think the franchises will be stronger in the long-run because of it.
Wrong: The Turnaround Timeline
For GM brass, de Nysschen’s 10-year “journey” to see Cadillac flourish again wasn’t good enough. The executive’s vision clearly took time, and it’s time that—from GM’s tone in the departure announcement—upper management wasn’t willing to dish out. After just under four years in the position, Cadillac is only now rolling out its first new vehicle, the XT4, this year. And, despite its good looks, the XT4 isn’t groundbreaking.
Right: The Turnaround Timeline
We see the GM point of view, but we also believe a Cadillac rush job is not what the marque needs. Although Cadillac’s revival has been slow and steady, and U.S. sales haven’t improved much, the timeline seemed right. de Nysschen began to overhaul Cadillac’s culture and plant the seeds for what the brand will be six years from now. It takes time to get things right, and we only began to see what de Nysschen had in store for Cadillac with the refreshed 2019 CT6 and 2019 CT6 V-Sport. Although the XT4 is slightly underwhelming, it’s also priced to undercut rivals, and we think it will still be a success.
Wrong: de Nysschen’s Brash Tone
de Nysschen freely spoke his mind in every encounter GM Authority had with the executive, and we have a feeling that ethos didn’t sit well with upper management. Perhaps it would even come off as negative at times. He was blunt, and perhaps even combative at times over his vision, and placing Steve Carlisle into the top role will likely erase those attributes.
Right: de Nysschen Was a Fighter
On the other side of the coin, de Nysschen’s personality was refreshing at Cadillac. The executive often called out German rivals and we adored the fighting spirit he brought to the brand. He always made it clear what the end goal was for various topics, and he’d push back when deemed necessary. Although we didn’t always agree, we’re not the ones running Cadillac, and we’ll never know if the attributes and vision de Nysschen fought for will pan out.
Wrong: The Advertising Message
“Dare Greatly” was poised to be Cadillac’s “Born by Fire” moment, but the message never really took off. Only now has the brand begun rolling out much more effective ads. Cadillac executives under de Nysschen insisted the advertising and marketing message was always intentional, however. The goal was to build the brand ahead of the product onslaught, which will really kick into gear in 2019. Unfortunately, those ads never translated to increased dealership traffic or sales. But, it also likely has something to do with the fact Cadillac has offered just one crossover and numerous sedans in today’s market climate.
Comments
Cadillac has one true gem in its lineup: a plug-in hybrid luxury full-sized sedan.
But have you driven it?
Cadillac needs to be Cadillac, I have owned them for 60 years and Powerful good looking cars that ride good and handel well is what Cadillac needs to be. Exclusivity is and always should be what cadillac is all about. I walked away from the brand when it cloned their cars of the 80’s and was more than happy to see the 2nd gen CTS come on board. I hope that GM doesn’t mess it up again..
Congrats…..on making it to 124.
100% Made in China.
For the CT6 PHEV, even though the final assembly point is in China, it still has 43% United States / Canadian parts content and the 4EL70 transmission is USA manufactured. So weird about GM, since they manufacture the regular CT6 here for the USA market, why not the PHEV? Having the PHEV version of their flagship car manufactured in China was a poor decision.
References:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/2017_aala_alpha_year.pdf
http://gmpowertrain.com/assets/docs/2018_Final2_Information_Guide.pdf
The CT6 PHEV was never intended to stay in the U.S. for a long time, that’s why it wasn’t sold here. You’ll see more news on this soon(ish).
Now you have peaked my curiosity…….
I neveriked the man. He F’d up model naming at Infiniti and to a lesser extent doing the same at Cadillac. He push for brand exclusivity at a time when BMW Audi and Merc are all diluting amongst their brands and offering lower end models with FWD. I know he took over the brand at a bad time in terms of products, ie lack of crossovers. But his timeline doesn’t fit market demand especially when platforms and engines are available at GM. XT4 and XT6 should have been on dealer lots last fall.
Johan was just a slick salesman who was especially good at selling himself. Audi USA would have succeeded whether or not he was there, because Audi of Germany was coming out with good product, and there was a fad in the USA for embracing German luxury cars.
As to Infiniti, it’s laughable how much he ran the same playbook there as he took to Cadillac, as if Infiniti in Japan and Cadillac in the USA are interchangeable brands and markets. Or that his ideas of 1. Move the HQ, 2. Rename the cars with near-identical number/letters, and 3. copy BMW was the great secret of success. But those are the exact things he did at Infiniti and Cadillac. Other than Infiniti cars now start Q (for sedans) or QX (for crossovers), while Cadillacs start CT (for sedans) or XT (for crossovers).
JdN wasn’t even consistent, saying that he wanted to have a premium product (and high prices to establish that), then offering cheapened base versions with vinyl seats, and little plastic cars like the XT4. The guy had no real vision, but he pretended he had some sort of wonderful road map to the future. And some people fell for that, including GM, for a while. He tried to give himself 10 years, claiming he had a 10 year plan. He got 4, and that was 4 too many.
Now he’ll probably whine from the sidelines about how his cars would have “stunned the world” if he only had the chance. Hey buddy we saw the XT4, we were not stunned except stunned by the mediocrity after so much hype. He already whined about Infiniti after they killed his “Eau Rouge” program, shortly after his departure – so he has a history of this. The reality is that he was lucky to collect so many big paychecks, from Audi and Infiniti and Cadillac, before they figured out that he had no great powers or great map of the future.
What are you talking about? They already had base models of each Cadillac before JDN took over Cadillac. Did you not pay attention to the XT4 “Y trim strategy? It is obvious that JDN felt that way like how you felt not having base models.
Also, you need to get your facts straight: One is that GM executives wanted to move Cadillac to NYC, not JDN, but agreed to the move for more autonomy and second; once again the GM executives before JDN already decided that the new alphanumerics were needed before JDN and JDN went along with it.
However, I do concur that Cadillac should not offer base models of any model they offer.
Sean, do your homework don’t take the GM marketing department’s word. The move to NY was already decided, announced and well in motion when Yo Han was hired. Why that myth continues to be perpetuated we’ll never know, especially since it’s such a controversial topic. How naive and wrong to say to your home town, “in order for us to rebuild our great Cadillac, we have to leave this crappy city, get away from our company, and live with the elite in New York City.” Meanwhile, engineering, design, manufacturing… all remained where it was. Cadillac never really moved to NY, they transferred a few people from Detroit, and blew giant annual promotional budgets on fashion parties (copying Mercedes), slick Cadillac House decorating and embarrassingly irrelevant marketing. NY was wrong, but it wasn’t his.
Chris B,
I didn’t write that de Nysschen moved Cadillac to NYC. I said he “took hold of Cadillac” as it made the move out of Detroit. I’m well aware the New York move wasn’t de Nysschen’s doing.
Thanks for reading,
-Sean
Mea culpa, Sean.
-CB
Some people are saying that the move to NYC wasn’t JdN’s idea, but I never heard about it in the press until he had the top job at Cadillac. And if he didn’t like the idea of the move, I bet he could have killed it. The move has JdN written all over it – he did the same thing with Audi USA (Detroit to Herndon VA) and with Infiniti (Tokyo to Hong Kong). Isn’t he also the one who talked about how NYC was always a little ahead of the rest of the USA, or was that Uwe Ellinghaus? Both guys were terrible for Cadillac, and had zero appreciation of what Cadillac means to Americans.
It’s a shame to lose him. This man was the first manager in years to have a comprehensive vision for Cadillac. Yes, it was going to take time, but all good plans do! It’s a shame the bean-counters and GM Board don’t understand what it takes for a full brand turn around. They fought JDN every step of the way. I can’t imagine what Cadillac would be like today if it weren’t for JDN being there for the last four years. Yes, XT4 is a bit bland with FWD and design, but can you imagine what it would have been like with no JDN fighting for it at all? We would have gotten a gussied up Equinox. GM and the internal management don’t have what it takes to build top luxury cars. Lower down the GM chain, dealerships are even worse. My Cadillac dealership is under the same roof as a Chevy dealership, and I see no difference between the service I get with my CTS and the services the guy next to me gets for his Malibu at half the cost. GM should have given this man the room he needed to break Cadillac away and make it what it once was: The Standard of the World.
His advertising campaign sucked though.
But what about that designer that was allowed to play with dolls? The image of him jumping in the air in slo-mo I’m sure sold so many CT6’s………
I for one am sorry to see him go. He had fresh ideas and a distinct vision plus the wherewithal to see that vision through.
If the reports are true that the GM brass grew impatient with the pace of turn around then they got it wrong.
It takes time to right the ship just like it took decades of lacklustre products and ineffective marketing to bring Cadillac to its current state. Remember Cimmeron, Seville, Catera and DTS to name only a few.
Like JdN or not you could see things were starting to change for the better.
Even with the list above, he got more right than wrong.
You’re blanket statements make it seem dubious that you even know what you’re talking about….
Remember the Seville?
Yes, I do, which generation of the 5 that were made were “the bad ones”? Or are you implying that all Sevilles are bad? All DTS too?
You couldn’t even spell Cimarron right…..
Guy had some great visions for Cadillac but I guess Mary Barra got impatient.
You’re blanket statements make it seem dubious that you even know what you’re talking about….
Remember the Seville?
Yes, I do, which generation of the 5 that were made were “the bad ones”? Or are you implying that all Sevilles are bad? All DTS too?
You couldn’t even spell Cimarron right…..
May not been her idea but went along with it due to the board of directors. It is mostly two executives disagreeing the turnaround time and JDN got fed up and left.
I kind of understand why no Caddy CUV based on the Omega platform has been released, but why not any on the Alpha? That’s been around for six years, right?
Cadillac’s “brand” is still known for being brash and bold (which I don’t think Johan either got or if he did, was OK with), and thus it should dominate that large SUV / CUV space. Where is the rear-wheel drive XT7? Where is the next generation of the Escalade (the current version, along with the XT5, is currently carrying Cadillac but it’s increasingly under pressure from the Navigator)?
So I wonder if the rapturous praise for the 7-seat Lincoln Aviator, along with the “ehhh…that’s good” for the XT4, helped put the final nail in his Cadillac-career coffin.
I take GM at their word — he needed to go faster. He didn’t recognize and focus on SUV / CUVs quickly enough, which is where the luxury market has been heading for the past few years, and Caddy needs to pick up the cadence.
GM foolishly took the luxury CUV market for granted long before JDN took office. Actually, it was JDN who asked for funding for the XT4 due to the fact that the board was not convinced due to lackluster sales before China took off. JDN wanted the CUVs to be done right the first time rather than a rushed job. We have to wait and see what the XT4 reviews and test drives are like before we can understand the whole story and if the XT4 was indeed a rush job or job that took its time to get here.
Well before this thread gets clogged up with a lot of personal interest and ideas here are some independent thoughts.
#1 Exclusivity or more of it is a must no matter who is in charge. I hope the board understands this.
#2 we do not have the full story on many of the what, where and whys to make this all add up at this point. like the case of the FWD XT4. Well RWD would have been grand but on what RWD platform? The Alpha is going to change or go away so where do you put it. It would be interesting to know more facts on why it was chosen as I suspect there was more than just JDN wanting it there. I would not be surprised if the XT4 was not the first choice of JDN but what he was left with.
#3 Yes the dealers needed fixed but there is still more work to be done. Again I hope the Board understands this.
#4 #5 Time Table. Well it takes time to change things and it takes more time to change an image. The board taking short cuts will not make the latter come any faster.
#6 #7 Brash tone. Well to deal with GM you have to be brash and a fighter. We saw it in Delorean and to an extent with Lutz but not to the point he was willing to be taken out. This is a trait of a leader and confidence is often taken the wrong way. If you do not believe in yourself you are going to just be another puppet.
#8 Advertising could always be better/ Cadillac advertising has lacked since the Penalty of Leadership ad in the teens.
Right now it is what it is. GM is holding the bag and put another puppet lifer in place to stamp his name to the boards decisions. I just pray that they have learned that it will still take full commitment and no more short cuts to the top. The rebadging of Chevy based models is not the way forward.
They really need a real car guy in place and leave him the hell alone if they want to save the division if not they will be like they have been a revolving door of leaders who come up short with product that keeps them competing with Lincoln and not the world.
For Cadillac to lead GM has to let them lead. No name no number no emblem no anything else will fix what is wrong.
It will take only Exclusive products of the highest quality and of absolutely soul stirring design. Anything less will not cut it.
You can’t take a Caprice and rebody it to make a real Cadillac. That was just about as bad as the Cavalier idea. If they go back to that well you may as well pull the plug and put Cadillac in Hospice like many of their owners.
Cadillac needs a strong leader to survive and with out that we are doomed to repeat the past. that is not my opinion it is just reality. How many times do we have to see it happen over and over.
“You can’t take a Caprice and rebody it to make a real Cadillac. That was just about as bad as the Cavalier idea. If they go back to that well you may as well pull the plug and put Cadillac in Hospice like many of their owners.”
scott, there is a fundamental of business that it seems neither you nor JdN understand. We (Cadillac buyers) are revenue. Everything/everyone else is expense.
That puts us in the catbird seat.
GM understands that.
You and those like you will be the reason Cadillac will fail if GM the GM board chooses to compete only for your purchase.
There are not enough people like you that are buying now, For Cadillac to prosper they need to get outside the small circle of buyers they have been failing with.
This is about more than just you and the small circle of buyers you represent. Cadillac needs a new infusion of blood (Customers) or they will die.
scott
You have been placing what you consider Cadillac’s shortcomings at my doorstep since my first contribution to GMA.
1. Please expand on how I ruined Cadillac.
2. When will you spend your first penny on a new Cadillac?
Thanks!
It is not that you ruined Cadillac. It is the idea you profess that they should go back to what they did before.
The ideas you cover are what got us here in the first place.
The problem is you want to save the old customer where to survive Cadillac needs to bring in fresh customers that will carry them forward into the future.
The reason Cadillac is where they are at now is they kept catering to the traditional buyer as that buyer base declined in number. My father was one and he is gone now having passed on. To this point they have not offered anything other than a V that I would even consider to buy.
Sue, If you want me to buy one so bad you need to let them make a Cadillac better than they have in a long time.
Lets face it GM need to reach these other buyers as the other MFGs have taken them away due to better offerings. They did not stop buying a Cadillac because they lacked a name or a wreath.
None of these makes are perfect and that is why I believe Cadillac can gain ground but they have to do better to do so than the board limited products they have done for decades.
The day GM decreed all cars including Cadillac were to be down sized and FWD back in the early 80’s killed Cadillac. They never have fully recovered.
So you personally are not to blame but the kind of thinking you present is what killed Cadillac as it is just settling for close enough.
Scott3, when Cadillac was focused on American-style luxury, they were far and away #1 in US luxury sales. When they started to chase the little German sports-sedans, their sales and profits dropped substantially. That’s an indisputable FACT, even if you personally prefer German-style sports-sedans to American luxury cruisers.
And you know what Scott? There are plenty of choices in German-style sport-sedans already for you, without Cadillac doing the me-too imitation. What I can’t understand is WHY you want Cadillac to throw away their history and become a copy-cat wannabe. What’s it to you? It’s clearly not about business success for GM, because they’ve tried and failed for over 35 years now to imitate the Germans, and it hasn’t worked. At what point as a business should they go back to what did work for them, rather than endlessly trying what doesn’t work for them?
So it must be about what you’d personally like to see on the road, rather than as a business case for GM. Why do you think EVERY luxury brand should be made to your personal desires? Cadillac as a business needs to end this stupidity and go back to doing what they do well, and are known for doing well.
As someone pointed out yesterday regarding the Jalopnik site, you don’t beat the Beatles by doing cover songs of the Beatles. You offer something different. Your own brand, as a leader not a copier. The public already has the Beatles. The public already has BMW, Audi, MB. If people want a German-like car, they’ll buy a German brand. That doesn’t mean there’s no market for Cadillac, there’s just no market for Cadillac as a German imitator. In fact Cadillac hasn’t even been imitating recent German cars, they are always a generation, even a decade or two behind. JdN was basically benchmarking BMWs from the 1990’s and 2000’s. Even the real BMW is moving more toward comfort luxury and away from sports-luxury.
The sports-luxury fad is over, and Cadillac could be leading the way back to its roots. It’s just people like YOU that prevent this. It’s about time someone called YOU out, rather than you calling out someone like Susan. Part of JdN’s stupidity was that he thought he should market exclusively to millennials, because people over 45 would eventually die out.
Which is about like saying Gerber should stop making baby food, because eventually every baby grows out of their taste and need for baby food. But there are new babies coming along to replace the old ones, just as there are new people over 45 being created all the time – an endless supply. Which doesn’t mean that a nice luxury Cadillac only appeals to older people, but making Cadillacs exclusively for Millennials was an idiotic idea. Cadillac is a LUXURY brand, and their are a lot more people over 45 that can afford an expensive car, than can Millennials. JdN basically tried to make the cars HE wanted, without regard to what the Cadillac brand meant, and without regard to the market dynamics and financial situation. And you think he was on the right track! Sorry but GM does not agree.
I’m still trying to figure out where this wide swath of 45 plus years olds that want large soft sedans are? Where are they hiding? Where were they when Cadillac was still making the DTS?
The is a lot of 16 year olds looking for cheap DTS because they can buy them cheap.
Mr. R – you asked where the 45 plus year olds were when Cadillac was making the DTS. You mean when Cadillac sold over 58k DTS cars it sold in the USA in its first full year of production, even though it was barely advertised and had to compete with the Lincoln Town Car? Or the over 51k it sold in the USA the next year? All despite the DTS being barely different than the DeVille which preceded it, and selling for about $50k back then (not adjusted for inflation).
You might not like the DTS, and yes the styling wasn’t updated much from what Cadillac sold in the 1990’s. But customers clearly loved the way it rode and drove. No Cadillac sedan since the DTS has come anywhere near the sales numbers of the DTS, not even the ATS and CTS, even though they are cheaper.
There was no updating of the DTS, but the closest replacement was the FWD XTS. Even though the XTS did not have a V8 across the board like the DTS, and even though it has a stiffer ride, it still outsells all the Cadillac RWD “performance” sedans. And although Johan wanted to kill it, the XTS outlived Johan – how’s that for irony?
Bottom line, if you actually cared about the bottom line of Cadillac, you’d want them to keep making updated versions of the DTS. If all you care about is what YOU want personally, then you automatically hate anything that isn’t RWD and doesn’t have German-like track performance. But the public does not agree with you, the public buys what it wants to buy, and that’s NOT the performance Cadillacs of any kind, whether sedan or SUV. Why can’t you figure that out?
The problem was that those 50,000 buyers you rave about from 14 YEARS AGO have all moved on to a one door car with no windows……that sits underground……the upholstery choices were similar, and if its worth anything, most of them rode to Forrest Lawn in the DTS too!
I also like how you conveintently use the best 2 years of DTS sales in your post, and not the 30,000 they dropped to in 2008, or the 17,000 they further dropped to in 2009……
BTW, the CTS regularly outsold the DTS throughout its entire model run, save the one year you used as an example, where the DTS outsold the CTS by 4,000 units, someone must have put in a big hearse order at the end of the year I guess……
R – You will always see the best sales of any model during the 1st and 2nd full calendar years of production. You can’t compare the 5th year of production of one model to the 1st year of production of another model. The DTS could have been updated and improved, but the reality is that no other Cadillac sedan has had nearly the success when comparing apples-to-apples years of production.
And your attempt at “humor” by claiming that all DTS owners are now dead is morbid, ludicrous, wrong, and has nothing to do with what car buyers want today. Anyone who bought a new Duesenberg is now dead, does that mean that they were bad cars for their time?
The DTS was a very popular, and very high profit car for GM. It was very little changed from the 2000-2005 DeVille. So yes it got old when it was in essentially it’s 11th and 12th years seeing little other than a name change. It also had no advertising for many years. So naturally sales fell off at that point. The powers at Cadillac wanted to pursue “performance” and RWD and didn’t even have a replacement for the DTS in the 2012 model year.
Even so, the XTS, not as nice as the DTS in many ways (stiffer ride, smaller engine, goofy CUE system), is today the strongest selling Cadillac sedan. And of course, JdN wanted to kill it. In many ways the DTS was the last real Cadillac sedan. Imagine what Cadillac could have done if they’d only made improved, modern versions of real Cadillacs. They still have that chance, now that JdN is gone.
Drew it is not 1959 anymore.
Cadillac kept offering the American luxury as the market changed. People went more for the Luxury but with handling.
The market changed and left Cadillac behind. Now they are playing catch up.
What you do not understand the market is not German but the Germans are on point in the market segment.
You can build a car like you describe and we will see Cadillac just fall back even more and vanish.
The CTS with a V8 is right we’re the market is. It is being done as a Cadillac not a Benz.
Right now GM holds an advantage if they can get their SUV models out as they do them as well as anyone. The Germans are now chasing the Americans in point in the CUV segment.
As for the sport luxury mode it never left it just became the norm and is now showing up in the CUV ranks.
“The Germans are now chasing the Americans”.
Are you serious?
The Germans are the gold standard in the luxury segment and they have gone downmarket to pick more share.
Cadillac has 3% of the world luxury auto market share. Sorry to say, that’s insignificant and even less for Lincoln. Cadillac isn’t even sold in most markets and the majority of luxury buyers don’t even consider the brand.
VW is just now trying to get into the CUV market. The others are low volume luxury and limited in sizes. Yes they do some low end third world stuff but not in the same numbers.
The countries that sells the most are America or the Asian brands depending on who has th e newest models.
Go to any parking lot and just see how many German CUV models there are.
Your comment applies only to certain areas of the US.Depends where you live. Both US coasts are dominated by import brands. Some cities around Toronto are dominated by German brands. The Mercedes dealership near my home averages 400 cars per month. Mercedes is the #1 luxury brand in Canada.
Many countries outside the US have next to no US cars yet Korean cars are almost everywhere and Americans love them too.
Scott3, yes it’s not 1959 anymore, thanks for the time check. It’s not 2005 either. It’s an era where sedans aren’t very popular compared with SUVs, CUVs, and pick-up trucks. And why do you think that is? Because the hard ride of the “sports sedans” isn’t any better than a typical SUV or CUV. So for the average (non-sports) driver, there’s no advantage to a sedan of that type over the cargo capacity and high riding position of the SUV/CUV. It’s laughable to think that Geman-style sedans are “dominating” when they lose vehicle market share every year. Even Johan remarked about the issue of bad roads and young drivers not caring about performance, a month or so ago.
Fads come and go, and the German “track car” fad peaked more than 10 years ago. That doesn’t mean those cars will no longer be made, but it’s a shrinking market. Let me ask you this – do you think the low-performance tire fad will be here in 20 years? I would make you a massive bet that it will not be. It’s a fad just like white wall tires, which have come and gone twice, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them come back again, even as pointless as they are. A fad is a fad.
Human bodies have not changed since 1959, in fact if anything they’ve gotten fatter, weaker, and on average – older. It might be fun for kids to zoom around like they are Speed Racer, but that just doesn’t have the same appeal to most people over 45. They want a nice relaxed comfortable luxury ride for their daily driver, if they can afford it. That should be Cadillac’s target – that’s where Cadillac made its name. And they should advertise the plush Cadillac Ride once again, instead of listening to the professional auto press which is perpetually in their Speed Racer and Hot Wheels phase. Now if someone wants to make a luxury riding car that also has some performance, that’s ok – but ONLY if none of the ride quality is compromised, as has been the case with most modern sports sedans.
Today Cadillac’s best selling, highest profit vehicles are the Escalade, the XT5, and the XTS. NONE of those are “performance” cars. Two of them are FWD. Have a clue. Even BMW is softening their ride and reducing their emphasis on track performance. They can see that the sports-ride fad has peaked. The idea that CUVs will become “performance” vehicles is simply a ridiculous dream of the professional auto press. Sure there will be a few sales of a Porsche or an Alfa Romeo CUV, but the mainstream buyers just aren’t into “performance”, luxury or not.
I realize that my views on this will be heavily voted down, but that does not mean they are out of step with the general public. The people who participate on websites like this tend to be performance-oriented self-described “enthusiasts”. It’s similar to the people who are in journalism today, heavily skewed to “liberal” views. But that doesn’t mean that the public votes for the politicians favored by today’s journalists, and likewise the auto-buying public does not have the same preferences as the professional auto press or the website participants. The PROOF is in the sales figures, and even Johan seemed to admit this before he was fired.
“It is not that you ruined Cadillac. It is the idea you profess that they should go back to what they did before.
The ideas you cover are what got us here in the first place.”
Scott,
If you are referring to building quality vehicles, I’m guilty. Until this car when anyone put a wrench on my Cads it was maintenance or wear and tear. I had great cars and I loved them. That’s why I never shopped anything else.
The Cadillac I have now was bad out of the box. The selling dealer (in the Pinnacle time frame) was/is a total waste. The answer to any concern was “they all do it. trade it in on a new one.” I wonder if they were even aware of the irony? This was in less than 90 days of purchase.
GM/Cadillac CS is a coffin nail. They go along with anything a service manager tells them. A curt VM is left before the customer returns from the dealership scolding that “the file is closed”. They are crazy as hail. The issue I presented with was a safety issue.
I took the car to a different dealer. Several issues were resolved. There are a few remaining. One is significant enough to me that I will never even consider a GM product if it cannot be resolved. In all honesty buying a GM product in the future is unlikely.
The need to bring in additional customers is normal to continue any business. I have posted that here. Loosely quoting myself I said it makes no difference if you sell candy bars or Cadillacs, market expansion is necessary.
My beef with GM/Cadillac is that they do not stand behind their products. Nothing else. Everything a customer pays for should work. If it doesn’t, fix it. Full stop.
Your choice of transportation is your own. It’s absolutely, positively none of my business. They only way I would expect a vote is if I funded the purchase. We both know that is not going to happen.
I’ve asked you and I think one other person here about getting off the $$ for the brand that is defended to the death. I was simply making the point that the devotion to the brand and the then division chief stopped at the wallet.
JdN? I had no idea he existed not did I care prior to purchasing my CTS. I was online trying to research issues with my car. That’s how I ran across deNysschen and this blog.
What I found remarkable about the gentleman is inelegant remarks he made about the people who made his paycheck happen–Cadillac buyers. Not too long ago he had some nonsense about the young buyer not appreciating his driving dynamics. There was another comment about our roads. Silly for an accomplished person. There were other disparaging remarks from JdN as well but his tenure is finished. No reason to continue with that.
The Cadillac take is down on his watch. Scapegoating did not change that. Yes, I am aware of China. Big volume, tiny profit. Profit is good even if it’s thin.
I am still bewildered as to why anyone, division chief or peanut gallery would blame the people who support a brand with their $$ for it’s perceived decline? That’s a head scratcher.
I would *love* another big body Cadillac. CT6 is a good looking car. Under different circumstances it could be the ticket. I wouldn’t touch CT6 because there are too many know issues with CT6. Fix the CT6 for crying out loud. What is Cadillac thinking?
Back to young people not appreciating Cadillac’s driving dynamics, I disagree. Last week a young tech changed out a rim and tire for me after a blowout. He was 20ish give or take. He was glowing when I handed him the transponder. He loved the car. It was very obvious.
Cadillac’s MSRP may be a little steep for many young people. Student debt and getting started in life takes considerable financial resources.
While the younger people are getting established enough to buy Cadillac should they chose to do so why not let us dead but too dumb to lie down customers enjoy our cars without the peanut gallery placing blame on us for Cadillac’s fortunes, good or bad?
Thanks for reading.
Susan. We both would like to see Cadillac make it but we just don’t agree on how.
You have been lucky as Cadillac quality was trash in the 80’s and the NStar engine after the first couple years had major head gasket issues..
Electrical and AC issues were rampant in some models like the DTS.
My in laws got the extended warranty and used ever dime they paid and then some on their DTS. They are now in a 300 because of it. They are just one of many I have seen and know. Today most of the cars are better but they still have room for improvement.
So I think. We agree there.
As for what they offer and what type of products to sell we differ.
Cadillac has to remain relevant with cars like they have but just make them better and more Cadillac vs Chevy.
The CT6 is fine. But no more Fleetwood or DTS boats.
I am not pro V Series everything. But no bench seats and DTS ride.
Now Cadillac should not be discount luxury for anyone. But if you really look there has been a youth movement with the used market to Cadillac cars.
I have a large number of younger employees at work that are now buying low mile turned in lease Cadillac models. We have a few CTSV models but also a number of ATS and CTS models. They love the,. In time they will get more pay and will be able to move up to a new one. This is not an isolated deal.
They love them as they are cheaper to maintain than a used BMW and they even can work on them.
As for putting money down I would if they would step up and make the cars they should be. I see no point paying big money for what I can get in a GMC.
JDN was going the right direction but he appears not willing to compromise may have gotten him enemies. He is not the first the GM board has taken out. Read Deloreans book on a clear day you can see GM and just see the power of the board and how they drove GM to bankruptcy.
The reason Cadillac has the wrong customers is they had low priced luxury and that damages a brand. Just look at the Town Car. Fleet sales and discounted prices killed Lincoln.
As for dealer you may have just a bunch of bad ones there. Here we have good and bad. It is a product of too many dealers GM can not afford to buy out or legally close. It will remain an issue till the goverment lets mfg close dealers and I do not see it happening.
Scott,
My only issue with Cadillac now is quality. If it’s on a new car it must work. If it doesn’t work, fix it. This is during the warranty period, of course. I don’t expect any product to work forever or without cost to me.
When I bought this car I knew it was smaller and had a different ride than the traditional Cadillacs. That was ok with me. I am in Ohio. I bought the car from Central Cadillac. Once I paid for the car the experience went downhill. I’m no longer a Central customer.
The car is serviced serviced at Classic Cadillac. I’m pleased with Classic Cadillac. They worked through a two page list of issues very quickly. The significant remaining one will be addressed as soon as the weather breaks. Winter is hanging on this year.
I have no specific idea of what products Cadillac should offer. I’m the garden variety consumer. If I like a car I give it more consideration.
Maybe my previous life with Cadillac was charmed. They were great cars. I had no issues at all. If I had to identify a weak point it would be the transmission. No biggie. Just trying to find something in the spirit of cooperation.
The original trans never lasted more than 60,000 miles. I had them rebuilt at a transmission shop. They ran for the rest of the time I owned the car. I easily got another 200,000 miles on the rebuilt transmission. I really don’t consider the trans a fault on those cars.
I liked my cars so much that when I bought a replacement I kept the old Cad. Just couldn’t part with them. Eventually I gave them away or donated them.
The trouble free Cadillac ownership experience was seductive. Why look elsewhere when I had it so good?
My husband’s cars never passed a service department. Mine never passed a gas station. 🙂
I genuinely hope Cadillac does well. I’ve enjoyed so many smiles in Cadillac. I will always have a fondness for the brand.
Here’s hoping Cadillac thrives.
Good luck to Mr. deNysschen on his next endeavor.
Scott3, how can GM/Cadillac address the fact that no matter how good of a car looks wise or performance wise that many consumers such as many owners of BMW and Mercedes have never even opened the hood of a car.
Unfortunately in some circles there are consumers that are buying BMW for the badge no matter what Cadillac brings to the market. style wise the ATS and CTS look classier than the BMW’s compact and Mid offerings….BMW’s style (not that it necessarily looks bad) is dated and has not changed much in the last 10-15 years.
It seems like that is a tough thing to do to get the Prestige back up at Cadillac, It did feel that JDN was trying to lift that at the Caddy division.
What steps can they take to combat the German brand’s image?
Various stats show that 55% of people lease luxury vehicles but the pure base models for compact sedans/crossovers leasing rate is even higher…Overwhelming majority of people who lease do not comment on forums/articles…I’m very active on here, while there can be GMA regular posters who owns Cadillacs, from what I’ve seen they ONLY post in Cadillac articles and ignore Buick/Denali/Silverado updates/etc…Most of the active GMA posters do not share what they drive but when they do its tends be a Chevy/GMC truck or a Camaro…Overall point being, a lot of the comments on here are not real world views…
True. many people on GMA most likely don’t own Cadillacs.
perhaps my views aren’t accurate, but one thing for sure is BMW’s dated styling. anyone with vision can see that.
My daily is a 2016 CTS 2.0 AWD Luxury.
Cadillac is the only GM vehicle I’ve ever owned. Cad has been my daily since my first car purchase.
There are other branded vehicles in this household. My husband prefers imports.
Gino here is the issue.
Cadillac has really not been anything special. They have been selling cars based on general GM platforms. They have used the same engines that other GM brands use with a different plastic cover. They have about the same quality level as a Chevy just with better leather.
So where is the incentive to pay $50K-75K for the same thing I can get in a Chevy at half the cost.
Case in point the ATS and CTS are offered with the same engines as my HHR SS had and my Malibu has. Heck the V6 is the same one in the present CTS as my truck. Whey would I want to pay more money for the same thing?
Speaking of my truck. I have leather, GPS, Vented and heated seats. Heated wheel and much of the same things in a CTS. but yet I paid $20K less for the same things including the 8 speed tranny.
You first need to add incentive to drive people to pay more. You offer special Cadillac only features. You offer Cadillac only engines if not complete new at least tuned with more HP and Torque than the HHR. You offer better quality interiors than any other make.
Case in point the door handles on the CT6. They are parts bin parts because Mark Reuss was stopped from spending more on them. The first thing a driver touches is the door handle and that should have a better feel than a Chevy.
Just slam the door of the Benz vs the Cadillac. While it may or not be better the sound is more dampened. The little details like this give people a much better impression of quality.
I had it explained to me years ago by a Ford engineer on paint. Ford had lots of orange peel. He said we could take it out but people see it on Benz and they think they use more paint because it looks thicker. It was a bad paint job but what the customers impression was is what counted. Good marketing takes advantage of ignorance.
As for Changing an image or building a new one in this case it can take years. It took GMC 20 years to get the Denali where it is today. The Denali really is not that special but people now perceive it as being so. That is something you can not buy or engineer you have to earn it over time with continued good product.
The Luxury market is ego driven. No one needs a car like this. You have to give them a reason to want it and show how it represents them in status. You need to give the customer a reason they will look taller, smarter, more trendy and more important by being in a Cadillac.
It is all vanity but it sells.
Cadillac was doing more right than wrong but I hope GM will not go back to the old build a car by committee process to build them cheaper. That is what got us here in the first place.
Many think little was wrong with the last 50 years and while we did have some high spots most of it was low. A V series is nice but it will not carry the day.
I looked at the ATS when I bought my truck and while nice it was not enough to get more money out of me and I still bought the crew cab truck.
I have the money but they have yet offered me a car worthy of me spending on their products.
same on the XT5. we bought the Acadia as it was the same vehicle with the same engine and nothing to make It worth the extra price. If it had a Turbo V6 or something then yes but not the same engine as I have now.
In the old days Olds, Buick and Cadillac all had just a little more to offer than the other. When that went away Buick, Cadillac and Olds become just a different grill.
So in your mind……and let me see if I can wrap my mind around this laughable idiocy….
Because the 3.6 is available in a Colorado and version of that engine is also available in the CTS…..they’re “the same thing”…..really? Wow…..just wow…..
So you really think the 3.6 engine is different in every GM vehicle?
They may have different tunes but the are the same design, same block, same heads etc.
Even some like the LFX code engine they were identical be it Camaro, , Terrain, Colorado, or CTS, ATS or SRX.
The new Versions LGX, LGZ hold very small changes for the truck applications mostly with added cooling for towing.
You just lost all your credibility with that post.
Here are the details and GM has many more press releases stating the new engine and all the vehicles it is in.
So you really think the Cadillac 3.6 is substantialy different engine?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_High_Feature_engine
So because a Colorado has a 3.6 and a CTS has a 3.6 they’re “the same thing”? If you had any credibility at all you would have lost it with your post….
I mean, I guess I can just fill the back of a CTS with logs and go off road……
Do you even reading comprehension bro?
Vipers and Rams both had V10’s…..so they’re the same thing…..Ford GT and Lightning……same 5.4 V8….so they’re “the same thing”…….
I swear I can’t decide which is the dumber GM news site this or the other garbage dump…….
Johan wants to create image and prestige for Cadillac
GM wants sell cars.
I liked the Johan´s idea, and now that Cadillac goes to sell good, Johan is fired?
Don´t understand you; GM
Hear me out, and then make your judgments.
I feel like the FWD CUVs were not necessarily bad. Cadillac builds amazing sedans, and even though they are “too sporty” For myself, they are still (being near the oldest in the set) extremely competitive with the German rivals. That’s all well and good, but that’s sedans. When it comes to crossovers, it seems like FWD based models sell a bit better compared to RWD models. Think about it, people who buy sedans WANT that sporty feel. But when someone buys a CUV (more often than not) they want something safe, comfortable, roomy, utilitarian or a combo of all of these. I cant think of a person who would buy a 5,000lb CUV just to take it to the race track.
Cadillac has the second best selling CUV, and from personal experience I can say that it is a wonderful car. Its far from being as sporty as the 2014 CTS we had, which is a bit disappointing; but on the same token, the XT5 is much better in the snow, feels much more reliable (so far) and gets about the same MPG. All of these things can make me look the other way on the “sportiness” factor.
I feel like if Cadillac were to continue with their world class RWD sedans, but focus on FWD with the CUVs, they will have a big win.
FWD CUV models are not the end of the world if done properly. They at this point are also a necessary evil as what else are you going to put it on that could be built now?
The Alpha is being replaced and the new CT5 platform is not done. GM has no other small RWD based platform. So while I am not a big fan of the XT4 it was their only real option for this class for now.
My thought at this price point FWD is forgivable. Now you get to $70K and higher it is not acceptable,. But low end there is a market for them. Also in sport mode most can be given RWD bias.
Exactly!
Whether it be for just 2 years or the next 10, the cars work and its not the end of the world. I would much rather have a well-engineered FWD CUV than an un-reliable, half-baked RWD CUV.
And yes, when in “Sport mode” the XT5 is pretty fast IMO; once again, not half as sporty as the CTS but its also not designed to be.
It’s pretty clear GM wants to capitalize on hot CUV market and wants cars out quicker. de Nysschen wanted to take time and do it right. I understand both sides here, but if you’re going to take extra time to create something it better be a world beater, a new standard for the segment and the XT4 isn’t. It’s a nice small CUV but there is nothing about it that says….Aha! that’s what we’ve been waiting for for so long. It took forever to build a small CUV on an existing FWD platform, with one engine choice and nothing that takes this segment to a new level. To me, it’s a failure and the XT6 won’t be anything better than what the XT4 already is, just bigger version of it.
Yes, is there an explanation why the XT4 — as it will exist — took so long? It’s on an existing platform (that was used the new Malibu in 2016 and Regal in 2017) and its design is evolutionary, so why wasn’t it out in Fall of 2017, instead of Fall of 2018? And why the XT6 (using the same platform as the XT5, which was out in late 2016) isn’t coming out this year?
So taking the choices as they are (e.g., FWD CUV focus using existing platforms) he was too slow.
There’s a lot I do not like about JDN, however, he is a straight shooter…He seemed to have a plan remove “GM” from Cadillac and I have to believe GM at the time agreed to that, agreed to moving Caddy to NYC, agreed to Pinnacle, etc…The big problem is, GM-Corp perhaps backtracked…While JDN fought incentives, there’s still big incentives on almost all GM vehicles including Caddy right now…What about that $10K loyal incentive off an Escalade which seems to be over reaction to the Lincoln Navigators success? Things change, he, along with most on here still think crossovers and EVs are a phase…His XT4 only had a lackluster reception while the Escala was met with great criticism…Like it or not, the most positive reception GM has received in recent years was the Enspire which I believe was the final nail in the coffin for his “sudden” departure…You can imagine all the texts/calls/emails he/Caddy received asking when his XT4 will get a 0-60 of 4.0 seconds or even quicker when his 4.2TT ICE engine will probably at best get about the same…You have to adapt and we could see by his combativeness to blaming teenagers, which ARE (or would have been) his future customers, are the problem…Leasing/Crossovers/Self Driving appliances are coming…
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” ― Charles Darwin
American industry is looking for:
1) Yes me who conform to “group think”
2) Fall guys/gals for them to blame because of their lack of long term plans and thinking.
I personally am happy to see him go. I have no problem in challenging the old norms, but he always came across to me as an arrogant foreigner and not embracing the history of Cadillac. Tried way too hard to make Cadillac a copy of the German makers when there is no way they will ever be able to compete directly. I’m the right age and demographic and a GM fan yet not at all interested in anything they are selling or the image they are going for. If I wanted a Bimmer I would just buy one. Since I’m not an insider, I can’t speak to what decisions he did or did not do, but as far as I’m concerned the problems with Cadillac are:
1. Hate the XT, CT names. The only Cadillac that sells has a real name (Escalade). Bring back the classic names.
2. Too expensive. Cannot compete with Audi/BMW so don’t price it like them
3. Weird marketing. “Dare greatly” blows as a slogan and why target young urban snobs that might not even want to own a car and if they do will buy German
4. Not enough SUV’s and where are the V-sport versions?
5. Cramped interiors on the ATS and CTS
6. Never liked the Art & Science styling and still hate it
7. Should of had a 4 cam V8 years ago–no pushrods at this level
I
1; He didn’t start the alphanumeric naming convention; he just tried to make it make sense. (didn’t have the time to get rid of the old models with the random-ass names).
2; Literally the opposite problem Cadillac has had. Being cheap killed the brand.
3; What was he supposed to market? The product they didn’t have?
4; Again, he was only there for 4 years. We just saw a new v-sport by him and a new crossover.
5; Neither of those cars were his; try again.
6; Again, that predated JDN.
7; Again…. 4 years. This isn’t the smartphone industry.
You come across as an ignorant xenophobe because JDN embraced the history of Cadillac (only the good parts) better than the last 40 years of brand heads. He actually wanted Cadillac to be the world’s best; not a chromed-out Chevy….
Hey -vorg, JdN’s firing is the gift the keeps on giving! Because not only can GM now get back to making real Cadillacs, but people like you who were in love with JdN are now clearly so unhappy.
And you must have the word “xenophobe” plastered everywhere, because it’s your go-to word when you disagree with someone. Even though you constantly misuse it, you must just like the sound of it.
I’m so glad the JdN is gone – and the icing on the cake is the misery you (and people like you) are now experiencing as a result. You xenophobe you!
You give this guy way too much credit. He screwed up Infiniti too.
ATS cramped interior? it’s in the compact segment….
Gino the ATS is “a Cadillac”. Cadillac should be making Cadillacs, not filling someone else’s “segment”. The ATS seats are too cramped for a Cadillac. Cadillac should have standards, even if others don’t – perhaps especially since others don’t. Cadillac means a special experience, not something that everybody else does. The ATS is basically an updated Cimarron – a car that never should have been called a Cadillac.
Lol you’re reply is a bit funny.
It is a compact car. If it has a bunch of interior space and a lot of cargo room…it would not be a compact any longer.
Where you you get the extra room from? Thin air.
Cadillac has 2 full size vehicles. XTS and CT6
1 midsize. CTS
1 compact. ATS
The larger models are great. I even think the FWD XTS is a nice car in the line up.
Why would you make the ATS bigger?
Just go to the mid or large models.
You want all cars in Cadillac’s line upto be full size, just to have plenty of interior room?
Gino, not all Cadillacs have to be full sized, but all should have a very large amount of room for driver and passengers, including leg room. The ATS is probably too small to accomplish this as a 4 passenger vehicle, and certainly too small for an RWD vehicle (since RWD robs the interior of legroom). The ATS in China is stretched by 4″ into an ATS-L, but even that seems redundant when they also have the CTS.
Henry who contributes to this website had a great idea for the ATS replacement. Which was to give an ATS sized car 2 large seats instead of 4 cramped ones. And I think he possibly had the idea of making it a liftback, but maybe that was someone else’s idea.
But I am someone who does not think Cadillac should make cramped little cars, just because other so-called luxury cars do it. The brand has to stand for something, and it’s always been a smooth comfortable ride, until they started copying the Germans, which trashed the brand – and not coincidentally, losing massive market share as they did so.
The thing is, Cadillac is part of GM. If GM wants to sell cramped little cars, they can sell them as Chevrolets. If GM wants to sell sporty cars, they can sell them as Corvettes. Trying to turn Cadillac into a maker of cramped little cars makes as much sense as Ferarri making generic minivans. So yes I do want all Cadillacs to have a roomy and comfortable ride. Part of the brand values. There’s no need for Cadillac to offer non-Cadillacs under the Cadillac name. In fact they’ve been doing that since the early 1980’s, with the Cimarron, and it hasn’t been good for the brand.
“Cadillac should be making Cadillacs.” Are you suggesting they go back to the STS and DTS? Holding on to those two vehicles for so long nearly killed the brand.
James, NO. Why do I have to keep saying the same thing again and again? What IS a Cadillac to you? It’s not a single car from a single time, Cadillac should make MODERN cars, not replicas of the past.
But you are wrong that the STS and DTS nearly killed off the brand. They also weren’t similar cars, other than the styling. The STS was a performance car, the DTS was an American luxury car. They were fine products for their time, and the styling was quite good for their time. But time moves on.
The vehicles that nearly killed Cadillac were all related to their attempt to copy German cars. The Cimarron was Cadillac’s attempt to compete with the BMW 3 series, a small luxury car. It was no Cadillac and it hurt the brand. The V8-6-4 was Cadillac’s attempt to offer fewer cylinders (albeit on demand), just like the Germans. Another disaster. The next try at copying the Germans was to take a car that was designed, engineered, and built in Germany, with the “sporty” ride Germans prefer, but with a Cadillac badge – the Catera. The Catera came really close to killing Cadillac, and a year after it was introduced, Cadillac lost 1st place in US luxury sales to Lincoln. Lincoln then lost it to Lexus. Cadillac has never regained the top spot (US luxury market share), and is currently number 5 or lower.
Just yesterday I named Cadillac’s core values, the ones that Cadillac needs to return to in order to regain their former greatness. At no time did I say they should start making STS and DTS replicas. Why is it so hard to understand MODERN cars with Cadillac values? But as a public service, I will reprint it here for James:
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.
Drew, how old are you? Seriously. Do you not see what people with bucks are driving TODAY? GO look at an auto chart. The days of Boss hog and his Fatillac are gone.
Namarow, my list of “Cadillac Core Values” above does not mean every Cadillac has to be a Boss Hogg convertible, much as I do love that car. I remember reading on “The Truth About Cars” that every Cadillac should have “Texaguido” styling, a term I think is awesome. But look at my “core values” list again. It does not say Cadillac needs to build replicas of Cadillacs past. They do not have to all be monster cars either, in order to yield a roomy and comfortable ride. But cramped hard-riding, unreliable, unrefined cars with cheap plastic all around are not Cadillacs. In ANY era.
You are also making a mistake by saying “look around” and then assuming that those are the only types and styles of cars that will ever sell. That was the JdN mistake, always looks at the “current” cars and then trying to build copies, such that by the time the car reached the market, it was not only a copy of someone else but it was outdated by then. Did Tesla look around and say “There are cars like this on the market, so we shouldn’t build them”? Was there a car like the 1967 Eldorado before it hit the market? Yet that was a big winner and major car for the Cadillac brand, helping define it for future decades to come.
I’m tired of seeing people say “Oh you want to build replicas of Cadillacs from the past”. Of course not. The should build modern vehicles, not just in time with but ahead of the others. Cadillac doesn’t have to do what everyone else does, nor will they become a premier name again if all they can do is copy. They can be a leader again and true to their own standards. If they want to add anything to their core values, that’s fine, just don’t subtract from them. People should know they are getting “the Cadillac of cars” experience when they get into a Cadillac. From a bold leader, with known core values. Not the “Hey we looked around and copied everyone else, for better or worse, and by the time we made it we were one or two generations behind” experience.
I had an ATS service loaner for two days. It was a blast to drive! The second day I used cruise control to avoid getting traffic citations. The ATS was a little to small for my tastes but I enjoyed driving it!
I’ve actually owned an A4 and G35 in years past and both had superior packaging compared to the ATS. Neither were large cars of course but didn’t feel claustrophobic. Especially the back seat which is a joke in th ATS. Clearly I’m not the only one that feels this way as Caddy manages to sell about 1000 per month. Even in a crossover crazy market, that’s unacceptable. Like I said in my earlier post, I don’t know what decisions were made or not by JDN. I’m just pointing out things I would change.
Both the A4 and G35 have longer wheelbases and lengths than the ATS… which was developed between the period of 2008-2013 to fight the then-current batch of compact luxury cars. In other words, it was done during bankruptcy and it was benchmarked against products that were reaching the end of their lifecycle. The replacements of the cars the ATS was benchmarked against arrived bigger, and the ATS was “stuck” as a smaller product. That said, I’ve never had anyone tell me that the back seat of my ATS is in any way “cramped”… and I’ve owned an A4 in the past as well.
Mt friend leased an ATS sedan for his wife and coupe for him, and I’ve ridden in back of the sedan several times and I’ve never found it cramped and I’m 6ft and 230lbs.
Alex Luft wrote: “…the ATS… which was developed between the period of 2008-2013 to fight the then-current batch of compact luxury cars. …. products that were reaching the end of their lifecycle. The replacements of the cars the ATS was benchmarked against arrived bigger, and the ATS was ‘stuck’ as a smaller product. ”
And that’s the problem when you are copying someone else in the car business. Due to the time it takes to develop a new model, if you copy someone else’s car spec-for-spec, you wind up “competing” with the cars that were made one car generation or two ago. So yes, a car like that ATS was designed to fit the dimensions of the competition of one or two car generations early, while the competitors had moved on to larger dimensions.
What if Cadillac decided not to base their cars on the specs of other car companies, and instead just made great cars to their own specifications? That’s what a leader would do. That’s a lot better than saying “But but but.. we made our cars to match last generation’s competition, you can’t fault us for coming up short against what they have now”. Because – to paraphrase the great philosopher Gretzky – a smart company doesn’t skate to where the puck is now, it skates to where the puck is going to be.
I like the Audi naming convention, 1 through 8
Could not be simpler.
And, my last Audi went 374,000 miles
The Board will kill GM again…..
I’ve attempted on several occasions to contact the right person At Cadillac and ir GM ! Persistently , over the last some four years ! Twice , I couldn’t get to the Man who’s name I was given Steve Haener …… without my vin # ! I don’t own a Cadillac or Correction didn’t then ! NOTE ….. I have Historical information that possibly could be the best way for them to find out who the Brand truly is ….. The deeper we look into the past …. the further we can see into the future …….. God….. help save this pioneering Automobile Manufacture
After sitting on it last night I believe Cadillac made a big mistake in firing Johan de Nysschen–yes in his four years sales have gone down–but his vehicles are in the pipeline after four years of work–keep him while the XT4 and CT5 are released–then make your decision after this vehicles have been in the showrooms and roads for six months–Cadillac will regret this I believe.
No, two things killed JDN, Marketing these car’s right and not getting those crossovers out quicker. Those too factor’s is reason JDN was booed. Cadillac will still have it’s exclusivity and more. Cadillac will not leave new York, Cadillac programs aren’t going anywhere. VSS-R XT7/XT8 RWD/AWD, next gen XT4/XT6/XT5 that’s on going etc.
And so it goes.. American corporations continue to shoot themselves in the heel. It’s all about big profits now, and big payouts to management, CEO’s-CFO’s etc. The product and labor suffer as a result.
The employees at the very bottom of pay range and rank suffer as well.
The Timeline was a huge issue among the other execs in the corporation . Johan was looking to far into the future and others that make the decisions were watching sales at home stagnate . And other automakers are bringing new product to market at such a pace Cadillac had nothing to offer but it’s XT5 and Escalade .
The other thing that went wrong was Johan wanted to make Cadillac more European and seemed to forget that Cadillac is an American luxury car maker and should remain American .
When GM announced that they were not going to give out monthly sales figures anymore , that raised a red flag and may have had something to do with Cadillacs slow sales numbers .
I am a Cadillac owner and have been for quit sometime , and one thing that bothers me being an owner of a XT5 is that it has the same gauge cluster that my old SRX had and other switches are from GM’s parts bin . Some of his cheerleaders will say Johan didn’t have anything to do with that car but thats just not true . He was at Cadillac for 4 years and development times for new products these day are 3-5 years . He may not have been there at the start of the program but the fact is he still had engineering control of it .
The new XT4 will sell but there is no mistaking the design is so closely aligned withe XT5 , meaning the front end . That’s not a bad thing but expected something a bit more fresh because this was Johan’s first ground up vehicle .Now what he has done for the CT6 is awesome , that car is the best new car from Cadillac in years from the new front end to finally getting the engine it should have an exlusive to the brand . That car should have never been offerred with a 4-banger , thats not the image you want to portray on your flagship car .
Getting rid of the wreath from the emblem was actually a good thing , but the the new alpha-numeric stratedgy again looks more European than American . I’m not saying that Cadillac should bring back some of their old names but surely there are people in the Cadillac team could come up with names for their new vehicles .
I really hope that speeding up products to market doesn’t mean that they fall back to their old ways which is what ruined Cadillac for the last 20 years .
Trying to retain their old customer base and bring new customers in the doors of showrooms is where the focus should be .
Johan de Nysschen’s biggest failures was the marketing of Cadillac as he inherited a company that was moving in the right direction; but de Nysschen drove Cadillac into the ground, you’ve got to wonder why de Nysschen wasn’t willing to do what Buick did with the importing of the Envision to the United States as it would have been great to see whether there was a market for a ATS long-wheelbase especially given how insufficient rear passenger legroom is a major complaint of ATS customers.
It would be lower CTS sales if they import the LWB ATS here. I doubt it would improve sales volume much but help it a little with or hardly no advertisement.
How about pointing out that Johan was an arrogant South African who loved only German cars, and wanted to throw away the American brand equity that was built up in Cadillac for over a century? All for his own silly dream of – nothing but being a total imitation of the Germans. In a market that already has plenty of real German cars. THAT’S a huge problem.
As to the FWD thing – I don’t understand the fixation of so many so-called “enthusiasts” about RWD over FWD. Yes FWD is less expensive to implement, so what? A gold plated engine would cost more to implement too – does that make it “better”? FWD has numerous advantages over RWD, and in fact FWD goes back to the 1966 Olds Toronado and the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, when GM perfected FWD as other brands couldn’t do it. FWD yields more legroom, is much better in snow and slippery conditions, even yields better gas milage. And there are plenty of high horsepower, high torque implementations of FWD.
The XT4 is definitely underwhelming, but I doubt that many actual potential buyers of the XT4 will be turned off by it being FWD. The top selling luxury CUVs are from Lexus and are FWD. Let’s try to stop this insanity that FWD is hated by the majority of luxury car buyers – it isn’t. Yes there is a very vocal minority of no more than 15% who insist that a car just isn’t a car if it isn’t RWD. And for those people, there’s BMW, have at it. The XT4 is a cheap looking little car that doesn’t deserve the Cadillac name. But the problem is NOT FWD. Give it RWD and the cheap and little problems remain, it just would cost more now, and would sell even less.
As to “Exclusivity” that was a dumb idea by JdN too. He thought that by limiting production, by raising prices without raising content, somehow Cadillacs would be appealing because they were rare and relatively expensive. But even rich people expect something for their money, rather than just excess profit per car for the manufacturer. And another problem JdN missed was that due to the high fixed cost of developing each model, you can’t make much money even when you price each model well above your marginal costs. In other words, the guy was clueless about basic economics. And he wanted only platforms and engines that were exclusive to Cadillac, not even sharing with Corvette. How is GM supposed to pay for all of that, on a limited production basis? The guy wanted what he wanted, but he had no understanding of how profits work.
As far as being “exclusive”, what if Cadillac actually made cars that were real Cadillacs – i.e. not just clones of what the Germans did 10 years ago? That’s a much better form of exclusivity, being a leader and not a follower. Even when JdN had a chance to do something a little different with the Escala, he balked for 2 years (it was shown as a concept in 2016) before finally greenlighting – something after 2022. He didn’t do anything with the Ciel or Elmiraj either. I’m not saying those would have been the only tonic Cadillac needed, but JdN seemed to think he could just execute the same game plan that everyone else did, rather than actually “daring greatly” as advertised. When the XT4 showed that he couldn’t even execute a clone product well, he got canned. Hard to believe anyone would think that’s a bad thing.
Yes, I care all Cadillac models should/will be RWD/AWD configuration. Yes Cadillac V series /V sport models should be/will be around. These things were around before JDN got here and they are not going anywhere, people seems to forget that.
New:: VSS-R RWD/AWD, Omega ,alpha chassis’s that’s not going away.
The board in its infamous shortsighted wisdom & impatience wanted a Yes man who can deliver quickly on the cheap. Anyone who stands up to them or annoy them about expenses, gets the boot or reassigned… JDN is not the first & won’t be the last.
I had some issues with some of JDN’s decisions, but I gave him a chance to if he can delivers … Unfortunately, the results of his work won’t show up for another 2 years once his line up replaces the current cars. At least he left on his own terms. And I wish him the best of luck with the next chapter of his life. He left Cadillac in a better shape than he first got it.
Anyway, I’ll extend the same courtesy to the new CEO, Steve … But it doesn’t look good since he have to report to a beancounter. Good luck to him.
When you don’t have any crossover’s out here and your marketing is not good it’s hard to be patience. If these marketing was good and crossover’s were out here, you would hear a word from them. Went your competition pumping out crossovers all these time and you do have any, the problems come’s. Marketing should have been better even if the models were older.
Its not 1999 anymore, you can’t just slap a Cadillac badge on a Denali & call it a day. Cars take time to develop properly & there are consequences for a rushed job … GM went through that dark path before & should know better. Remember the Chevy Cobalt? That POS took 2½ years to develop from a thought to a production car.
If the Board can’t wait 3 years-ish for cars to reach production, how can we ever seriously expect GM & Cadillac to develop a world class flagship that goes toe to toe with the Germans and not do a “good enough” car?
The Germans spend 6 to 8 years working on their flagships. Remember the BMW 7-series E65 that was introduced in 2001? Work on it began in 1993 … 2 Years before its predecessor’s first model year (E38 in 1995). Another example is the current Mercedes S-class, work began on the current generation W222 once the W221 was signed off to production … The W221 first model year was 2006.
Granted, we are talking about entry level & midrange Luxury crossovers here, but you have to remember that they needed to assess the situation, work out a 5-year plan for the company & decide on the next generation of Art & Science design language before they can even start working on the cars … And those are no trivial matters that can be decided overnight. The time line fits once you put everything together. Around this time next year Cadillac should have a healthy 4 CUV\SUV line up covering all the main entries between $35k & $100k … Before someone says “But BMW have 7 CUVs”, Cadillac mentioned from the get go that they won’t build niche CUVs like the X4, X6 & so on.
Are they late to the party? Absoluty, work on new crossovers should’ve started once the development of the XT5 began. Half assed CUVs are not the answer though … Lincoln have had a 4 CUV\SUV line up for some time now (MKC, MKT, MKX & Navigator) & they are still behind.
I’m not worry about Cadillac’s future with JDN, which was nothing wrong with him, or future ceo over Cadillac.
Bottom line, despite new models, Cadillac market share is down in the US in a market which has grown by 1 million units. And no improvement internationally overall which means MIA in most markets.
http://www.autoline.tv/journal/?p=54981
Not Nysschen biggest fan , so oh that NOTE
BYE !!!! Especially all the letters & numbers for the cadillac models . Advice to the new Boss Just bring back the Names of the Cadillacs of OLD . make a big luxury Coupe and updates the interior cluster by now they should be OLED or HD clusters I own a 2017 CTS the car drives wonderful it just needs that wow factor when you push that start button cadillac has dropped the where there concepts should be on the Road now & not 2021 or 2022. It’s an EASY FIX
1. JdN wasn’t responsible for the naming nomenclature, as that decision was made before his tenure. Even so, names aren’t what sell cars – no one ever said that they won’t buy a Cadillac because it’s called a CT6 or an XT5. But it will definitely alienate many potential customers they’re trying to attract if the “names of the Cadillacs of OLD” are brought back. NOT a good idea.
2. The entire Cadillac sedan lineup was done pre-JDN.
I really have to laugh at how defensive some of you get about JDN. It’s like you feel personally attacked. Are you related to the guy? I’m a big GM fan and want Caddy to succeed as much as you do, but let’s get real. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is results. To all you defenders of the ATS, for example, have you bothered to look at the results.
2017 US Sales
3/4 series. 99,000
A4/A5 34,000
Q50. 40,700
ATS 13,100
You can call me names and argue all you want, but whether it’s the price, name, styling, features, marketing, back seat size, or anything else for that matter, for some reason people are staying away. Isn’t it the President’s job to figure out what’s wrong and fix it? And no the answer can’t always be it will take 10 years and everyone needs to be patient. That line doesn’t work at any company, not just GM.