Posted on Monday 14 April 2008
Over the last few decades the American auto industry - including Cadillac - has seen brand image slide steadily lower, both at home and abroad, while rivals in Germany and Japan have been becoming progressively stronger. It looks like we may already be seeing the pendulum swing back toward Cadillac, however. Just a couple months ago, Consumer Reports ranked Cadillac’s latest offerings above the best Germany or Japan had to offer, and word from the company indicates this is just the beginning.
Rebuilding brand image is a difficult, often slow process, but Cadillac is committed to achieving perception levels equal to or better than its German rivals. Speaking with MotorAuthority, Cadillac Communications Manager Kevin Smith said the company’s short-term plan is to provide a driving experience as good as what Audi, BMW or Mercedes have to offer while priced well below the competition. In the longer term, as the company rebuilds brand perception it aims to not only meet but exceed Germany’s very best.
In order to do so, Cadillac will need to offer more models, and it has several in development. Already we’ve heard from company executives like Bob Lutz and Jim Taylor that the CTS and CTS-V will be joined in the new Cadillac line-up by an upcoming CTS coupe - including a possible AWD variant, a single model replacement for the STS and DTS large sedans (click here to read our review of the STS), a sub-CTS-sized model, the next-gen Escalade and an all-new crossover that may be called the BRX.
All of these new models are being designed with an eye to global use, meaning they will be built to fight the European marques on their home territory. Build quality, design and features will all have to meet or exceed their primary rivals in order to steal away market share, and that’s precisely what Cadillac plans to do. The new CTS already delivers on this promise, and the high-performance CTS-V is expected to be even more of a good thing. The next iteration of Cadillac’s new plan should come in the form of the CTS Coupe, which we’ve already seen in spy shots and was confirmed in January to begin production in mid-2009. Whether the CTS Coupe will see an all-wheel-drive option will depend primarily on whether the drivetrain development and production can be justified on the Coupe’s expected lower volume sales, says Smith.
After the CTS Coupe, which Cadillac sees as a smaller sales-volume body style, the 7-series/A8/S-Class fighter that will replace the STS and DTS and a car aimed squarely at the 3-series/A4/C-Class that will slot below the CTS are planned. An even smaller car, possibly aimed at the 1-series/A1/A-Class could be called the ATS, but so far all we know is that the car could be coming in 2011, and may feature a RWD powertrain developed in conjunction with Holden, GM’s Australian arm.
When asked about the possibility of a new small hatchback for the U.S. and European markets, Kevin Smith said, “I can’t comment on that. To be more precise, I could comment but I won’t.”
We’ll leave it up to you to decide what he means by that.
What about the next gen SRX?
i really hope cadilalc follows thru on this, it would be great to have a real american luxury brand again
I hope ford can get their excrement into a pile and push lincoln back into competition with caddy. that would be nice. There are few brands I would consider outside of the ford family, but caddy is on that very short list (with BMW and Audi).
Well at least Cadillac already has the CTS out. Ford doesn’t really have anything that can compete with it, and everything at Lincoln is just a Ford + 20kg of chrome, so I wouldn’t expect much from them anytime soon.
paulie: MKR soon. may be a turbo 6 in a mustang frame. another sign that lincoln is now filling the place of mercury because it’s basically what the cougar should be (instead of a rebadged and reskinned contour). but it promisses to be one hell of a machine. maybe not a 5 series fighter but then again that CTS is the biggest “midsized” car around.
If ford can get their crap in a pile and get some volume sales back, expect more thought to go into lincolns looks. maybe ford might use lincoln as their test-bed for future platforms instead of mazda and ford EU.
Cadillac is a true success story. Here in Newport Beach, they are every bit as fashionable as the latest from Germany.
If Caddilac can turn themselves around (from the bling crap days of the 80’s and 90’s) then anyone can…
Gus it depends what your taste is but that bling crap of the late 90’s with the escalade is what started the resurgance of cadillac but their cars were horrific thought, especially the 80’s and early to mid 90’s models. the 03 CTS is what put caddy back in the luxury game and they’ve been improving ever since, their not back yet, far from it they are missing a s-class/7-series rival with a 12 cylinder version and they also need a quality super-performance car like lexus LFA maybe rebaged ZR1 with updated luxury components and that 100g piece of sheetmetal does not count(XLR) or maybe bring back that cadillac 16 concept ( ahh we could dream can’t we?)
That STS is a nice car, isn’t it? That’s their big sedan, I thought…
I saw that CTS concept, it sucks. Cadillac too the back of their Cien model and put it on the CTS and made it enough to fit on the CTS model. They should have just made the Cien its nicer than that, and more power behind it.
It’s “1-series/A3/A-Class”. The A1 will be even smaller (subcompact vs compact).
Really PLEASed to see the words of Autobody passion as Gus has shown. The 16? at least for American Ambassadors or Gates but for it to strut the Champs Elysees or the U.K. Mall representing the ‘ugly americans’ allow it to be 400hp in hybrid. This new Coupe (de Ville) is so sadly stubby as Pumpernichel Loaf where previously I would eat the Cien as much as enjoying Lemon cake. The last real Cadillacs were made in 1958 IMHO with metal integrity and human repairable mechanicals and the Public Image I want Cadillac to have. Please image search 1955-56 Espanada(Espanola) and Cadillac El Camino prototypes. They Rank! D Kaylus P.O. Box 640696, 34464