Analyst Says Cadillac Is Getting Lost In The Shuffle - How Would You Fix That?

The new president of General Motors Co.’s Cadillac luxury brand, which has its best lineup in years but is struggling to move cars off dealer lots, expects “at best a flat-lining” of U.S. sales in the short-term as part of its ultimate growth strategy.

Johan de Nysschen, who joined Cadillac in August from Infiniti Motor Co. Ltd., said that as Cadillac tries to increase the average selling price of its cars and backs off using big rebates and other incentives to move them off dealer lots, sales in the U.S. for now likely will remain flat.

GM wants to build Cadillac into a global luxury brand by expanding its lineup into unfamiliar segments and new locations. de Nysschen expects the transformation of the brand to take 10 to 15 years, with milestones set up along the way as he and his team try to hit gains in brand image, owner satisfaction and customer loyalty.

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randy3023 - 9/23/2014 12:54:35 PM

+1 Boost

Cadillacs were once upon a time all about comfort.

Now the idiot marketers and design managers want to make it all about "sport" and "youth" and "excitement".

Cadillac should go back to its roots and build cars that move rich people more comfortably than anything else.

The ELR and ALS (or whatever the fuck that cheap FWD one is) are the OPPOSITE of what I am talking about.

skytop - 9/23/2014 7:20:34 PM

+2 Boost

Cadillac has bee deep six'd from GM. It is a separate entity now based in NYC. Good luck in far left socialistville.
Caddy will need a lot more than a change of address to become a player in the global luxury car tier.

MDarringer - 9/23/2014 8:36:41 PM

+1 Boost

lower price
increase content
increase wheelbase on the sedans
go racing

dodgedart - 9/24/2014 1:54:50 AM

+2 Boost

A front wheel drive Cadillac is bad enough. Despite the steady supply of elderly retirees Cadillac has abandoned it's core demographic AND it's GM family of Quality Badges. New York City? Might as well skip that move and shift management AND production to China now.

TomM - 9/24/2014 10:43:37 AM

+1 Boost

Cadillac has to decide what it wants to be
If it wants to compete with the Germans - it will have a limited market in the USA because it does not have the Panache of the German names around the rest of the world.
In the USA - Cadillac would sell well if it made cars for Americans - ie - cars that were Larger inside - however - the CTS is a SMALL car inside - both in interior room and trunk space - and is therefore no more of an option over the ATS - both are essentially two seaters with no rear room for other than kids (and would you choose these cars if you had kids?)
However - Cadillac COULD sell to two levels of customers - Luxury and Sport - by producing the Alphabet soup cars for the sports buyers - and using NAMES for the Luxury buyers - the Luxury cars could be LONG (4-5inches longer) versions of the sport cars.

Add a large rear wheel drive car - and a smaller 4x4 and they could compete here as long as they also understand that they cannot compete directly with the Germans price wise (About 15% lower would be good)

And of course - residual value is where Cadillac loses - because it drives up the prices of the leases - where LOTS of these level cars are "purchased". (rented?)

kysrsoze1 - 9/26/2014 10:52:00 AM

+1 Boost

I certainly wouldn't have hired Johan "CT6" de Nysschen.