DEAR EDITOR: Johan de Nysschen Would Like To Have A Word With YOU

In a controversial management shuffle, Johan de Nysschen moved to General Motors' Cadillac division to be the head honcho. Since his latest move to Cadillac from Infiniti, there's been a flurry of speculation, criticism of his strategy and, of course, serious doubts about his decision to relocate the company to New York City. In fact, he responded to a story written by Automotive News' Keith Crain titled "Cadillac is Making Big Mistakes."

Unlike other auto execs I've dealt with firsthand, we have to say de Nysschen is certainly not a coward.

Concerning the move to New York City, de Nysschen writes:

...It is about structurally entrenching a challenge to the status quo by reinforcing the psychological and physical separation in business philosophy between the mainstream brands and GM's luxury brand. In any event, the handful of jobs lost to the city is insignificant compared with the more than 1,600 jobs secured by the decision this month to produce our flagship CT6 in Detroit...

In addition to the move, a lot of flack has been given for his decision to change up the nomenclature at Cadillac. Considering the confusion that happened during his time at Infiniti, this is a point of concern. de Nysschen responds with the following:

...The obvious emotional appeal of historical subbrand names such as Eldorado, Fleetwood, etc. should be balanced against the fact that those names resonate more with baby boomers and are U.S.-centric. Cadillac must go global. Those romantic names have little relevance to a millennial premium shopper in China, for instance, where the reality is that alphanumeric nomenclature is a deeply entrenched industrywide practice...

Lastly, de Nysschen wanted to drive home one final point:

...Regardless of where its executives are located, Cadillac is and always will be from Detroit...

Now, we have to ask: is THIS letter to Automotive News gaining your respect or further cementing your ill thoughts on Cadillac's all-new leader, Johan de Nysschen?

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MDarringer - 10/19/2014 7:05:00 PM

+3 Boost

So he's taking credit for a car that he had NO INPUT in except changing it from LTS to CT6. What a moron.

TomM - 10/19/2014 8:57:17 PM

+3 Boost

AS I said before -

1 - A good manager could - without any trouble - separate Cadillac from the rest of GM simply by putting his department on another floor in the same building. Of across the street in another - or on another END of the same floor for that matter. There is NOTHING about moving to NYCity that accomplishes that any more than the other choices - except noting that moving to NY just makes it more expensive to be separate.

Since he MUST depend on the rest of GM to actually produce the cars - they won't be as separate as he implies. THey will still share LOTS of things - especially if GM is serious about reducing the number of platforms they use. They won't have a complete set of different engines (At least some will have to cross over to other cars to be viable) - and they WILL have to share the corporate platforms coming. ANd the cars are not being manufactured in NY - they will be in the Detroit Area. Moving to NYC is hardly an answer to anything they need

2 - The naming convention is certainly not something that will sell cars - no one is going to buy a CT6 just because of the Name. It is essentially much ado about nothing.

For the forseeable future - however - Cadillac is still and AMERICAN car - regardless of all this nonsense - and it may have to go global - but it better sell here in the USA - and to do that - the US luxury car market AND China are going to have to be addressed. ANd that means cars that have A lot more space inside (ANd more trunk space) - in the USA because that is what Americans want for their cars - and in China where luxury cars have chauffeurs and need more rear seat room than either the ATS or CTS currently have. The current cars do not address THESE issues for the major markets that Cadillac actually has a presence. It appears that the "wunderkind" is attacking BMW - not HIS global market. I doubt Cadillac will ever become part that the currently Top 3 in Europe - but aiming the cars at that market - instead of the home market and China - is simply wrong to me.

chewy - 10/19/2014 11:29:12 PM

+1 Boost

Obviously it will take some time before any products are developed under him, but we can see if he has any impact by how successfully the CT6 is launched and marketed much sooner.