Cadillac Advertising on The Academy Awards

[stzomah]

It was nice to see Cadillac pay homage to some of the old classics last night.  They certainly have a rich history and they should use it!

[marty55cdv]

   My thoughts were along those lines, the commercials last night were infinitely better than what the  "dare greatly" campaign started out with. 

[Scot Minesinger]

Did not watch that, is there a link?

[Big Apple Caddy]

Carry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SB4CbFB7OU

Pedestal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfs1w-mcvns

Pioneers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMD5KXYJq_w

[JerRita]

Yes better campaign than driving fast and sitting in the rain

[Scot Minesinger]

All the admiring and envious looks from the public in the "Pioneer" commercial is what my drive is like in a 1970 Cadillac.  I hear all the time "Mom, we need to buy a car like that".  Cadillac realizes that their past is important and a valuable asset.   Glad we are able to all help.

[WTL]

Maybe this will be the year they stop running away from their brand...


Come on Cadillac...Eldorado Fleetwood.  Not CTS-V. 

Dare Greatly. 

[Big Apple Caddy]

I really don't think Cadillac is trying to suggest that they want to bring back cars of the past (large land-yacht sedans) or names from the past (DeVille, Fleetwood, etc.) but rather that they want to make vehicles in the future that are admired, contemporary, leading-edge, etc. like their cars were in the past.  This includes semi-autonomous or self driving vehicles, high-tech vehicles, electric vehicles, performance cars, more crossovers, SUVs, etc.  That's what "the future" is about.

While things can certainly change, Cadillac and de Nysschen have laid out at least tentative plans for the brand over the next several years.  These include transitioning car model names to CT plus a number (e.g. CT6) and crossover model names to XT plus a number (e.g. XT5) with Escalade remaining Escalade.

Various exterior and interior styling cues will be taken from the Escala concept car featured in the "Pedestal" commercial.  Models to be introduced include a new flagship which is not a four door sedan, a crossover between XT5 and Escalade, a crossover below XT5, an XTS refresh (important to fleet business), and replacements for CTS and ATS.

[stzomah]

I first saw the ads on YT then saw them again during the Oscars.  While I was on YT, I saw the Escala unveiling and saw an episode of Jay's Garage with one of the designers.  The future is amazing with these vehicles.  I had my 56 out for a spin this past weekend.  It was over 70 deg here in Jersey.  I got home and put it back in the garage.  I immediately had to go out shopping for the week with my wife.  We got into my brand new 2017 Audi A4.  Cars have come along way for sure!  Still can't beat the ride of the Caddy!

I considered Cadillac when buying my "Sports Sedan" but in the end, I did not buy Cadillac even though I have owned my 56 for 41 years.  That's the market they are seeking... Sport/Luxury.  I notice a lot of the features in my A4 in the Escala and the ElMaraj.  The virtual cockpit (no more gages) in my car is what they are all going towards.  it's a matter of personal taste and I chose something different at this time.  I will be buying more cars we'll see how I feel in a few years...

[WTL]

They don't have to bring back the cars of the past, but the ethic is different...it seems the brass admires the cars of germany more than the Cadillac of the past, and that is a problem.

Im fixing to take a 2 hour drive.  I can just about garantee you on that drive, I will hear a song or 2 where a Cadillac is mentioned.  And those songs, in spirit, wont be evoking the memory of a sporty performance sedan...no no, it will be the old Cadillac...oversized, outlandish luxury...oppulence.  d' Elegance.

You can't tell me it would not sell.  Just cause it doesn't quite make sense doesn't mean there isn't a market.  Cadillac is never about being a car someone needs, but rather, what one wants. 

Eventually, de Nyschen will have to leave.  Eventually, they will learn that people dont want new coke. Not sure when that will be, but it will be some day. 

It doesn't have to be a 4 door sedan.  But it does need to be named right.  And it needs to be big.  Bigger, both in name and substance than a ct6.  Or escala. 

I think a crossover the size of an escalade would be intriguing. 

[Scot Minesinger]

Cadillac does have to produce the car people want and not necessarily need.  I remember when first saw the advertisement for a 1994 Fleetwood RWD and the 260hp V-8, and I had to have it.  Bought a 1995 Fleetwood soon after and it was the best car ever.  Same when I saw Cadillac convertibles back when I was a teenager, although it took until 2005 to buy one.  Looking for a car that screams " I have got to buy one".  The CT6 is close for me, let's see what the Flagship is.

[Big Apple Caddy]

Cadillac is focusing on the German brands because that is where a lot of the luxury buyers have gone.  Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche have all enjoyed record sales here in the U.S. in recent years.  In fact, Mercedes sold more vehicles in the U.S. in calendar 2014, 2015 and 2016 (record year after record year) than Cadillac was ever able to achieve here in any year in its entire history.

Yes, it would be nice if Cadillac didn't have to or choose to position itself against the imports so much but nothing else seemed to have been working particularly well, especially on the car side of the business.  Cadillac's once beloved, traditional large sedans just hadn't been and aren't selling anything like they used to.  The large luxury coupe market had sharply declined as well, Coupe deVille gone after 1993 and Eldorado gone after 2002.

Cadillac had to move away from its past because consumers had, especially younger consumers.  The saying may be "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" but in this case it was broke and they had to do something.  Additionally, the auto market is more global than any time in the past.  It's not just about the U.S. anymore.  Where things go from here for Cadillac will be interesting.

[Cadillac Nut]

And why did the luxury buyers go to German automakers?  Largely because Cadillac stopped being the innovator it was and made garbage cars starting in the 1980s.  That's when they lost their reputation.    It was nice to see Cadillac pay homage to it's past instead of trying to sweep it under the rug.    The 1950s Cadillacs will always be remember as one of the pinnacle cars of that, or any era.    People born long after they were made realize that, I consistently get comments to that effect about mine.   

Garrett

[Walter Youshock]

Again, count me out.  No monster trucks or station wagons for me...

Mercedes, BMW, Audi all seem to be able to build and sell some appealing coupes, convertibles and large sedans and not just in Europe...

[Big Apple Caddy]

And why did the luxury buyers go to German automakers?

For one thing, tastes changed.  Buyers, especially younger buyers, became less interested in large "boulevard cruising" cars (Cadillac's forte) and became more interested in smaller “performance and handling” cars (the imports' forte).  Lincoln faced the same issue and, like Cadillac, saw sales decline.  Both brands have struggled to shake their "land yacht" images.

Largely because Cadillac stopped being the innovator it was and made garbage cars starting in the 1980s.

Cadillacs were still very popular in the 1980s.   Their U.S. sales were over 300,000 as late as 1986 and over 260,000 annually the remainder of the decade.   Well above the German brands at the time.

[WTL]

Should we be making the assumption that volume sold is the end all be all? 

I think we need to look at Cadillac as a marquee brand, not a division of GM which actually needs to be a big money maker.  They make money with Chevy trucks, or GMC, or even Buick. 

As far as I'm concerned, it would be better to cull the number of Cadillac models, really focus on what their name has (in the best years) meant - so as to give them a real distinction again.  Cadillac is your lighthouse, it marks the way style wise, it sets the aspirations, and if you get people to pay $90k for one, you are getting some nice margin.  Forget about BMW or Mercedes...Mercedes' volume is gonna kill them some day.   I see more Mercedes in some areas of Birmingham?! than Chevys.

Take on Bentley and Rolls Royce.  Those are your competitors, those are the companies making a car that is what Cadillac was, a completely nonsensical, unnecessary, massive statement of prestige, taste and daring.   It does good for all of GM, really all of American cars when you do.  So what if every Granny can't buy one, if every hipster can only dream...you want that.   When a Tesla drives by, or a Maseratti, I stop to look even if its not my ideal.  We now live in a world where good solid cars are easy...Kia is comfortable, competent. Thats only going to become more common, not less, as Big Apple Caddy observed.   Dare Greatly is actually a good slogan if they'd live it.  And stop telling us how they are taking on the germans.  That market segment is and has been owned, and if Cadillac can't do Cadillac right, how are they going to do BMW right? 

But you have to make the car, and you have to market it right.  So, no CTnumeral, its boring, its forgettable by design, worst off all it immediately telegraphs inferiority for all of your cheaper models. They don't have to implement everything I am saying here, but for Gosh sakes, they are going to have to do something.  They are drowning in boredom, as if the Carter Malaise attached itself to the luxury division while the 4100 was being developed, and has stuck.  So do something daring, and give us the Elmiraj and cars and ideas in that stratosphere.

[Scot Minesinger]

Big Apple Caddy is right that the 1980's was a great sales decade for Cadillac.  However, it was probably the worst decade of Cadillac product.  I was out of college and working during that decade and was well aware of the drivetrains and had no interest in owning a new Cadillac, unlike the 1970's decade.  If Cadillac had decent product during the "Roaring 1980's" we called it, they may have sold 400k per year.  In any event their product caused a vacuum in the luxury car market during the 1980's and all the other worthwhile luxury brands gained market share at the expense of Cadillac.

I think Cadillac is on the right track to recovery.  It took over a decade for bad product to catch up to them in the past and that was when the average used car was under ten years old.  Now the average used car is over ten years old, so it may take longer to recover.  Great looking cars with exciting reliable drivetrains will be a great start.  The CT6 seems a step in the right direction.

[Big Apple Caddy]

Should we be making the assumption that volume sold is the end all be all?

Not entirely, no, but sales volume is one of the more objective evaluators of a brand's overall appeal or success.  It is also what most analysts, the media, even the companies turn to when discussing the success or struggles of a brand at a particular moment or over time.  Sales numbers are the measure or gauge and then other factors, which can get more subjective, come in to try to determine the "whys."

Gauge: Cadillac and Lincoln sales are notably down compared to say 30 years ago.

Why:  I think one of the biggest issues for Cadillac and Lincoln is that the types of cars that had long been their "specialty" have gone out of favor.   The cars that appeal to consumers today are more what the imports have long been better known for.  Cadillac and Lincoln have a land-yacht stereotype to overcome that the imports don't.  Additionally, as younger buyers moved to imports, Cadillac and Lincoln also gained more of an "old man car" image.

Cadillac and Lincoln had a choice.  Continue to focus on cars that used to sell so very well for them (DeVilles, Town Cars, etc) and be content with lower sales and an older demo or try to reinvent themselves a bit and offer vehicles that appeal to more buyers in the current market.  They've largely chosen the latter but it takes time, including in the minds of the buying public, to shift out of something you had so long been well known for or associated with.

As nice as the CT6 is, in my subjective opinion, it's not selling nearly as well as large Cadillac sedans used to.  As late as 2000, Cadillac was selling over 100,000 DeVilles a year in the U.S. with higher inflation adjusted base prices than the CT6.   The CT6's BEST month so far was only 1,343.  It's not just a Cadillac situation, however, as Lincoln and other brands have seen large sedan sales sharply decline and before that saw large coupe sales decline.  In many minds, Cadillac still equals large sedan but when people go out to buy their next new car fewer and fewer want large sedans.

[Rich S]

     It's been reported that GM has invested around twelve billion dollars in Cadillac, with little to show for it. Sales in the home market (U.S.) continue to decline, and globally, it is the Chinese market that has shown significant growth (and we're told the Chinese do not prefer daring styling, and this has "toned down" the new Cadillac designs, preventing production of something like El Miraj or Ciel concepts).
     The dealership my family has dealt with for decades tore down their previous building and built a new building, but I've been told everything in it is dictated by "Cadillac corporate," and though they've existed since 1938, there are no Cadillac mementos or automobilia of an historic nature. Although seeing vintage Cadillacs in the ads during the Oscars is welcome, it is a mixed message, along with making social statements, as I've lost confidence in Johan and his minions. I sense that they do the minimum to acknowledge Cadillac's past greatness, and continue to make statements such as the elimination of design cues associated with the brand, such as the Escalaadding the horizontal element to the tail lamps.
     I would like to see Cadillac offer fewer models (there are four Sedans--the ATS, CTS, XTS and CT6--all comparable in packaging), but more variations (i.e. a Coupe, Convertible, Wagon variant of fewer model offerings--or an ultra-plush "Platinum" version of each model.) For example, the ATS does not compare favorably to the new Mercedes C-Class Cabriolet (all wheel drive, stylish and great color offerings, and equipped with all available options, it stickers around $55,000 to $60,000)--with their "Designo" package optional, including Porcelain (White) leather interiors, red convertible tops, and variations of colors. The same could be said of Audi or BMW convertibles. Here is an example with a White body with Red Top and Sand Beige leather:


Cadillac should "own" a palette of broad color choices, based on their history of offering unique color selections, often prior to their availability by other GM divisions. The styling is acceptable, but it could really generate showroom traffic if a Convertible or Coupe were offered and tweaked it up a notch. When the CTS Coupe was offered, it was leading all its competition in sales, but it was dropped for the next generation CTS. The ATS Coupe has not matched such success (but it is more blandly styled). I try to like the new Cadillacs, but it is difficult, and I am among the brand's most loyal fans. I hope the brand does not follow the path of Oldsmobile and Pontiac.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

The trouble is that the majority of Cadillac lineup is supposed to compete in a market that had been saturated for decades. How many so-called "European" sports sedans do we need? And what about Cadillac's origami architecture? Looks like it came from the waste can of the Aztek studio. That's right I said it.

If you want a big roomy comfortable Cadillac that actually rides like a real Cadillac should, you're in Escalade country, which, it comes as no surprise is Cadillac's best selling model, not to mention the most profitable. I could make the Cadillac division more profitable with the stroke of a pen without spending a dime: Axe every single model but the Escalade!

So keep it up GM - another $100B thrown at Cadillac isn't going to save it from GM and government morons who think they are going to decide for the American buyer what it should buy, instead of what it wants to buy. Tails don't wag dogs and ere long, GM will be have its hand out for another big fat check, compliments of you and me.

Insanity: Doing the same thing while expecting a different result.

Hello GM -- anyone there?