Hoping to kick-start the struggling Cadillac division, one of the “bookends” of a downsized and restructured General Motors, the automaker will replace one of its most important products and add a new model that could become its global best-seller, a senior GM executive tells TheDetroitBureau.com.
The shake-up at the ailing maker has forced a complete rethinking of its luxury car strategy. Of GM’s three high-line brands, two - Hummer and Saab - will soon go away, notes Steve Shannon, marketing chief at the automaker’s Premium Channel.
That means Cadillac will have to carry the weight alone, though it’s not necessarily a bad thing, Shannon is quick to add. If anything, the elimination of those two premium brands, along with more mainstream Saturn, and the sharp reductions at Pontiac should mean more resources for Caddy.
“Cadillac (will) be a beneficiary of not having so many mouths to feed,” Shannon says, as he settles back at the GM booth at the 2009 New York International Auto Show.
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