#NAIAS: de Nysschen Pinpoints Cadillac's Weaknesses - Entry Level Crossover And Sedan Take Priority

This guy needs just to shut up and produce. If the CLA undercuts the ATS, you drop the price of the ATS to $1K below the CLA. It's that simple. If Cadillac dropped their prices, they would get more sales. Recipe for success:

(1) LOWER prices
(2) use a "Hyundai" warranty
(3) treat customers as if they drive a Mercedes S Class
(4) move toward stand alone/apart dealers

Completely agree... and yes, fill in the line up... Customer Service at the pathetic dealerships is critical... you can have the best products out there and morons interacting with the customers... that goes for jack @$$ "sales managers" who sit up in the booth, that looks down over the whole sales process... You've got to fix the 1970's way of selling cars and interacting with the customer...

The biggest issue here is that he doesn't appear to be acknowledging their existing shortcomings. The problem wasn't the HQ's location. The problem wasn't in the naming structure. The problem isn't in the number of products offered.

The problem is image. The problem is dealership/service experience. The problem (esp. with the CTS) is price. The problem is design.

+1!

There are zero problems with design. The ATS & CTS are world class. The Escalade, though not my cup of tea is selling like hot cakes. The SRX is over due for an update and the XTS is as well. There will be the new CT-6 which will also be world class. Caddy has its hurdles, but product is not one of them for once...

de Nysschen's argument is that Cadillac isn't covering potential market segments in which they might make some sales.

My belief is that Cadillac's CURRENT offering isn't compelling enough for significant numbers of consumers, and the way Cadillac runs their business, they have a hard time being profitable doing what they're doing. (Recall the recent GM bankruptcy and bailouts).

Take a look at BMW as an example. For most of their history, they've had few models, leaving most market segments to others, and yet BMW's vehicles have always been highly desirable, and the company has always been consistently profitable, even during severe economic downturns (the exception is the year in which they paid to unload Rover, but the following year, they were back in the black).

With due respect to MDarringer's post, I'm not sure that competing on price and customer service is the recipe for creating desirable products and consistent profitability. For example, Hyundai doesn't offer the "Mercedes treatment" to its customers, but they do offer a solid warranty and "good service" considering what you're paying for your vehicle.

In any event, Caddy is struggling to redefine itself. I truly wish them success. I'd love to see them restored to their former glory, but those conditions no longer exist, so they'll have to use some clever thinking to get there.

FWIW, I believe the American people are amazingly resourceful, creative, and inventive. Names like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and The Manhattan Project tell us America creates people who can do amazing things! I believe in the American people. As for American giga-enterprises and bureaucratic organizations: not so much.

Here is the problem. The names you mentioned are the people who died a long long time ago, and the United States that was highly respected in the past no longer exists.

For example, the U.S. is considered the wealthiest country in the world, all because of this GDP thing.

But turns out, the U.S. GDP was completely misleading and does NOT show that the U.S. is economically growing, at all.

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/dan-collins/american-gdp-the-fantastic-fiction-of-american-economic-strength

http://sustainabilityadvantage.com/2011/03/08/5-reasons-why-a-gpi-should-replace-the-gdp/

And as this article states, GPI(Genuine Progress Indicator) should replace GDP, as the U.S. GDP only shows how bankrupt America actually is. But the Americans still believe in this religion of GDP, and think the U.S. is the wealthiest country in the world, when in reality the U.S. is nothing more than a mega bankrupt third world country.

In fact, the European Union wants to push GPI, but the U.S. does not want to use it, why?

Because then the world would know America, the king has no clothes.

The current America is all about lies, debt, bankruptcy and unemployment. All the former glories no longer exist. The United States lives in the 1920's, and the Europeans live in the future.

Why do you think the Europeans always rank at the world's top on education, health care, infrastructure, quality of life, fashion brands, automobile brands, and on and on and on, when the U.S. is struggling to compete with the third world countries?

And also, Steve, just so you get my point clearly, I will post this again.

"The United States has been in decline relative to other countries for the last 30 years. On key metrics, we've fallen behind our peer group of industrialized countries, such as the UK, France, Germany, and Japan."

"Speaker of the House John Boehner repeatedly proclaimed (with passionate intensity) that America has the "best health care system in the world." Boehner is correct only if you exclude the entire developed world from the comparison. The U.S. ranks 50th for longevity and 49th for infant mortality, where we're barely ahead of Belarus, Croatia and Lithuania."

"Many Americans still have an almost cult-like belief that America is the greatest nation on earth. They systematically reject evidence suggesting we have significant room for improvement."

http://www.businessinsider.com/america-slouching-towards-third-world-status-2012-5


"Fundamental characteristics that define a 3rd world country include high unemployment, lack of economic opportunity, low wages, widespread poverty, extreme concentration of wealth, unsustainable government debt, control of the government by international banks and multinational corporations, weak rule of law and counterproductive government policies. All of these characteristics are evident in the U.S. today."

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1321029120.php


"As CJ Werleman points out over at Alternet, while America is the wealthiest nation in the world, and has the most billionaires in the world, not a single U.S. city ranks among the world's most livable cities."

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23535-usa-the-worlds-newest-third-world-nation


"France may be the most-visited nation in the world, but that doesn't make it the most popular country. That title belongs to Germany, according to the results of the BBC's annual Country Ratings Poll."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/most-popular-country-world-bbc-poll_n_3325708.html


I mean, look at all this. Do you really think this kind of country knows what luxury even is?

@JDMUSMuscle: Your information focuses on the politics, policies, and other challenges the American nation faces. I don't challenge any of that.

I, on the other hand, focus on the individuals America has created in the past, and continues to give us. Recent contributions include "Kid Genius" Steve Jobs, and current billionaire-philanthropist Bill Gates, who's pouring billions of his own bucks into a multitude of worthy causes. Burt Rutan is another contemporary. He and his non-government team were able to do what NASA and multi-billion-dollar budgets couldn't: create an aircraft that could circumnavigate the globe without refueling, and create a vehicle that could "cheaply" (that's a relative term) put private citizens into suborbital space.

In my opinion, America has no shortage of genius! You'll see it in individuals (if you're looking for it). You're less likely to see it in governments, politics, policies, or economics.

But why should we look at the people like Steve Jobs...who is no longer alive, and Bill Gates who is now retired? Microsoft keeps making marketing mistakes, as to how their Xbox One has failed miserably due to bad marketing, Windows 8 was a disaster and Windows Phone failed to be an Apple competitor.

And Apple keeps making the same thing every year, the people are slowly getting tired of this, too.

Even though I really wish for all the great success of the United States, I am quite sick and tired of so many fools in America who seriously think the U.S. is a rich country just because they are rich, and refuse to help anyone in America.

There is this one of the most successful videogame franchises called Grand Theft Auto. In the new one, GTA5 (This one already made billions of dollars), the game makes fun of the American society, the political corruption in the U.S. and so many things about America.

And ironically, all those bad things about America, actually make America look....beautiful for some reason. I do not know if that is even a good thing or not but sadly, America's problems themselves are somehow entertaining enough to be in a big political videogames like Grand Theft Auto series (And ironically, the publisher of the game is an American company). And what is even more ironic? This videogame always makes fun of so many social, political issues of America and this is always the best selling videogame in every continent (Yes, even in the United States).

And if that is all that the American culture can be, then sadly, I just don't know how we can expect some sort of great innovations and such from this country anymore. I mean, who even respects America still? How many people in America actually are interested in seeing the success of America?

I just truly wish there were more opportunities for the majority of Americans (And they can't have it, because they have economic disadvantages), because honestly, the current America looks a lot more like a poser trying to look like a medieval times of Europe.

And I also am sick and tired of super rich 1% Americans;

1) Buying and loyally supporting only the super luxury European automobiles (who cares about the American automobiles, right? Mitt Romney drives Audi Q7. That says a lot already)
2) Buying and loyally supporting only the super luxury Swiss timepieces (Who cares about Timex?)
3) Buying houses that are like English manor, Venetian or the French style palaces (Who wants some ranch style homes? Only poor people do!)
4) Loyally supporting the preservation of European legacies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eys0-kYe2XQ

(Oh my, look at all those happy rich Americans gathered to help the preservation of the French palace. Question is, did they care about Detroit?)

5) Super yachts are quite expensive (Even Justin Bieber can't afford one apparently), and mostly, the billionaires around the world get the yachts made by the Germans. And now the Swedish, Briti

And now the Swedish, British and Italians are trying to compete with the Germans on the super yacht game. America, is nowhere in this game.

Not to mention America does not even have a high speed trains, when the Germans, French and the Japanese lead on this technology. What kind of a first world nation does not even have a high speed trains nowadays? Even China has those.


I can keep complaining and complaining, and that does nothing.

But Steve, I am with you on this, and I just truly wish more Americans could have more opportunities, so that they may be able to live life to the fullest.

Cheers, Steve.

First, there is a major issue with the fact that, it is an American brand. That alone already means the brand sucks.

But we need to take that as an advantage. This means, Cadillac needs to lower the prices, and make it compete with Hyundai. Lower the prices to the level that almost as if there is no price difference between GMC and Caddy.

Just lower, the friggin prices. An American brand can NOT compete with the ultra mighty European brands (Especially the Germans), as the European luxury cars ALWAYS have been the toys of the rich elites, and the Americans made cars just because they needed something that they could use instead of horses.

Japan's Lexus BARELY can compete with the Germans right now, what makes Cadillac think their dying brand will actually sell by just raising the prices? Not to mention Cadillac does NOT even have a single crossover (SRX? That sorry excuse of a car? The thing that looks like a chick car? That doesn't count), and Cadillac does NOT even have a big coupe (CTS Coupe? That outdated coupe? And that is not even big enough).

What is Cadillac? It is just a brand that is on the level of Acura, Buick and Infiniti. Not to mention it is also a German-wannabe brand.

Hi JDMUSMuscle -
Don't you have a job? Are you not supervised at your job? If that's the case - how do you have time to leave us all "murder-mystery" length commentaries on all these posts?

Or do you work for the US Government, in which case, I guess, my question is answered.

Just wondering...

MrE30

MrE, all that you need to know is that, I care about America, my friend.

Here we go again...entry level Cadillac = rebadged Chevrolet with more sound deadening...aka the $35k Cadillac Cruze and the $35k Cadillac Trax. Of course, they will each have the signature Cadillac front and rear vertical light treatments.

The best way to enjoy these threads is to scroll past those filler JDMUSMuscle posts. Think of them as the site filler advertisements that none of us read.

Or, you could just read them and appreciate the time that I actually took to educate you.

I mean, it's not like I am telling lies, or am I?