Cadillac HQ To Return To The Hood And Abandon New York Digs

Honestly, should never have left there in the first place.
Was just another whim by that shyster De Nyssen

I'm not saying there aren't advantages to having all of the operations together in Detroit.

But, in addition to the rest of the new President Carlyle's background, I worry this is part of a continuing return to same-old same-old, business as usual.

I worry that without the lifestyle and headspace present in New York, a lot of the decision makers are going to fall back in to the mindset of "let's put some wood in a Chevy Equinox" or "hey, we have leftover carpet and window switches from a Malibu!" The move to New York didn't fix that overnight, but I think it was a positive influence that will now revert to midwestern "humble blue collar" luxury.

Maybe that's okay. Maybe there's a good market for that, and Cadillac can exist there. But if that's the case, don't expect to be differentiated from Buick, don't expect your customer base to live long enough to buy too many more of your cars, don't expect to ever be spoken of in the same breath as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, or Lexus, and DEFINITELY don't expect to command the same prices or profit margins as they do; you won't be good enough to have that respect.

Hopefully I'm wrong, and times really are a-changin' over at Cadillac. But I doubt it.

I'd say you have a point if the products that have resulted from their being in NY were remarkable. They haven't been. And Detroit is an evolving place. It's had to be in the name of survival. It's become a much younger, more vibrant and aware place in the last 10 years.

It had to be that way, all of the establishment upped and moved out when it went down the tubes

I have to admit, the move to New York did not immediately show much of a difference. There was a different attitude in some of the talk and press literature, but not in the material quality of the cars.

I was still willing to give DeNysschen the benefit of the doubt there, and wait until a car fully developed under his tenure was released, but that would have taken 6-7 years, and he didn't last that long. Now we'll never know.

This piece sums up how I think many high net worth individuals would feel about Cadillac moving to Detroit.

It's a very sarcastic and satirical piece to be sure, and in the context of the population at large, it's very judgmental and elitist. In the context of the luxury world and well-heeled buyers though, it's spot on if you ask me.

https://jalopnik.com/a-guide-to-fabulous-fantastic-warren-mi-cadillacs-ne-1829337905

I knew that Jockitch DeNiacin was a moron when he took the utterly stupid CTS/STS/ATS/STS/SRX naming scheme that meant nothing and replaced it with an equally stupid naming system.

I'd have immediately repositioned the CTS to a $35K base, the ATS to a $30K base and the CT6 to a $40K base. I'd have increased content without ramping up prices much.

I'd have built the Elmiraj and the Escala. Or if the Elmiraj was not doable, I'd have named the CT6 Elmiraj. I think naming the CT6 the Elmiraj now would still be a good move.

Escala would be a good CLS competitor and the CT5 should be called Seville.

As a side note, I don't get the silly names. I really don't. They're not even that clever, if I'm being honest. Surely we can all at least act like adults. There's a lot of interesting automotive news to talk about.

I'm indifferent on alphanumerics, but I know a lot of people hate them. The one currently in place at least makes more sense than the last one. CT = car, XT = crossover, numbers are the position. SRX means nothing, ATS and CTS are a little better, but not great. Besides, quick which one is bigger, the Hyundai Tucson or the Hyundai Santa Fe? I have no idea. But the BMW X1 or X3? easy.

I think if you lower the prices, that might work in the short term, but it's better to try and get to a higher price point with quality design and engineering, and earn the dollars. Maybe you have a vision for Cadillac to be a lower-tier of luxury, and that's one way to go about it, but it would be a shame to let the Europeans (and some of the Japanese) have a stranglehold on luxury, when I feel like Americans can put forth a quality entry.

No: "it's better to try and get to a higher price point with quality design and engineering"

It's better to have quality design and engineering that people are buying. Cadillac charging more will not magically save the company.

Business 101: When the product is not selling at the desired price point and sales are desired, you reduce the price and learn from your mistakes.

Once again, I'm w/Matt. If Cadillac wants to be a "me too" and join someone else’s fight, one that they're already losing, that’s not a good strategy. What Matt lays out is common sense. Pack Cadillacs with content, (not the GM way of giving customers "just enough") so the vehicles represent a superior value. BUT a gorgeous interior and stunning exterior are not only an excellent value they’re gorgeous and luxurious. Names should evoke something where as the current crap is simply hey, this is where the car lines up in our portfolio. "A means it’s the cheapest..." I don't like that because a luxury car should say something about me not about the spot it occupies in the lineup. Regardless of what some might say people buy Mercedes, nearly regardless of current quality, value or engineering because they want the star, the name alone means something. (IMO MB doesn’t represent the finest in any of those 3 categories, most of all value). As Cadillac is currently trying to regain the crown they must do more than just try to stay with the current champion, they need to do more. Did Tiger Woods do “just enough” or “as much as the other guys” to come back after a 5-year drought and tons of problems or did he out work everyone to get back into the fight? Cadillac has a chance to break away with the onslaught of new vehicles that is coming, a new ride every 6 months. Naming their cars would be one way of setting them apart and high content a way of creating their own new fight. Unfortunately, the current leadership of GM, I don’t think is up to it, which is really disappointing.

It's business 101 in the common or mainstream goods marketplace. It's much different, and much harder and more fickle in the luxury marketplace.

To your point, I agree that Cadillac's product isn't good enough to charge as much as the competition right now. Simply raising the price on existing vehicles, on its own, is not helpful and is probably damaging.

However, rather than settle for the quality of the product they have now and lower the price to match, I assert it's better to continue to improve the product and the reputation of the brand and raise the price to match, once it has achieved that. In the meantime, it's important to price it commensurate to its standing in the market, and that is lower than the competition.

Once they're there though (if that ever happens), with the quality of the product vis-a-vis the rest of the marketplace, deep price undercutting can become problematic in the luxury space, as those customers will start to use price as one measure to gauge which product is "better", since luxury can be such a nebulous concept. It's a variation of something called a "Veblen good". Buyers in this segment (which Cadillac cannot compete in yet) are not looking for a deal, not the majority of them at least.

All major manufacturers share parts among their cars. We find BMW parts in Rolls Royce - and GM parts in BMW - as well. THe GM style alternator - once made by Delco - was used in cars around the world - as was the GM A/c COmpressor too.

I think that the way Cadillac cars are shaking out - they will always be different than their stablemate counterparts because they are all Rear Wheel Drive - so that is not a problem. I believe that the only way Cadillac and others could bring crossovers to the market within reasonable time - was to used existing platforms for now. I still expect a largish Omega (Ct6 platform) based Crossover to signal the shift for Cadillac there. ANd I believe the new Escalade will have an independent rear - for a change.

WIth maybe the exception of styling - it just did not make sense to spend extra money to put Cadillac in NYC - where there were few from the business to work with anyway.

Early in to DeNysschen's tenure, they said something about parts sharing under the skin where it makes sense, such as a bolt, or a brace, or something like that. However, when it came to customer-facing touch points or interior pieces, nothing could be parts bin from GM. That was a goal of course, and not an ultimatum, but it spoke to how they (accurately) understood the quality and luxury of a car to be portrayed to potential buyers in this segment.

Rolls-Royce and BMW are perhaps the ultimate example. I own a 7-Series, and I've been in several Rolls-Royces, I don't know what's under the skin, but inside there is almost nothing shared between the two, and I've looked VERY closely, because this stuff fascinates me. You wouldn't know the two companies are related, and that's intentional and for the best. If I remember correctly, the infotainment interface was a reskinned iDrive, but Rolls-Royce lucked out there, since iDrive is probably the best premium system in the industry. Other than that, I think the rear seat controls on models with a fold-down arm rest in the back were the same as mine, and the button to turn off/on the safety systems was the same as mine. Other than that, completely bespoke Rolls-Royce interior.

The point is, I think (maybe hope is a better word?) the move to New York would have ultimately been reflected in the quality of the car. After enough time there, living in a place where everything is expensive, rich people are everywhere, and high luxury abounds, the head design and build/craft team would have had some of that rub off on them. They would see a plastic Malibu door switch, carpet, glovebox handle, or headlight toggle and say "ugh, what is that doing in a Cadillac? Who's idea was that? It's so ugly and cheap. Get it out!" And hopefully that mindset would carry throughout the vehicle.

We'll never know for sure, since there wasn't enough time to tell, and maybe it never would have happened at all, that's certainly possible. I worry with Detroit (really, Warren), the standard of living is MUCH lower on a day-to-day basis. Yes, there's some good stuff and some rich people in parts of Detroit, but not like New York. I hope the product doesn't come to reflect that.

Going to New York was asinine as were the CT/XT names.

Bravo!

Guess the psychotic radical liberals in NYC did not make Cadillac feel comfortable or welcome. Maybe Caddy should have released a car that runs on pure HATE and DECEIT.

Amen, brother! Amen!

PTL!

fitting end to an idiotic idea from a failed fraud

GM can do "more" financially with it's brand back in Detroit.

Where was the Cadillac offices in NYC? Some old renovated building that looks like all the 5,000 other buildings there? Even if they return to the RenCen for the short-term that'll probably save some coin for added R&D expenses.