There may be those amongst you who believe that Cadillac should offer an entry-level model below the CTS. There may even be readers who give the ailing brand a better-than-even chance of creating a car that can compete with one of the most highly evolved models on planet Earth (BMW's 3-Series). But there's another group of car folk who consider the introduction of a [more] affordable model for Cadillac a form of brand suicide (Catera anyone?). In this camp, count GM's main marketing maven and former Cadillac GM Mark LeNeve, and current Caddy GM Jim Taylor. On the pro-how-low-can-you-go side, stands GM Car Czar Bob Lutz (like a Colossus), whose delusions of grandeur aren't all that grand, apparently. Automotive News [sub] reports– surprise, surprise– Lutz wins. His argument? A baby Caddy will help the brand in overseas markets– even though the Saabillac (BLS) has been a dismal failure. So, in 2011, General Motors will launch its baby Caddy on a "modified" version of its forthcoming rear wheel-drive Alpha platform. Caddy Jr. will be built in GM's Lordstown, Ohio factory; the same assembly plant that currently produces, wait for it, the Pontiac G5 and Chevrolet Cobalt.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Well, at least it’ll be rear-wheel driven.
Will it be marketed as a hearse for little people?
Why bother having a “luxury” brand? If I wanted a $20K Caddy, I’d go to the pre-owned side of the lot.
..Which is where I was this weekend. My friend (not a car guy) is looking for a new car. His choices were a
1.) ’06 Black Charger R/T with leather, chrome door handles and oddly sized (18″, and wider than the car) blingtastic wheels. $25K
2.) ’06 Black Caliber R/T AWD with leather. 20K miles, $19,500.
3.) ’07 Red G6 Convertible with leather. $29K
Not in my top five, but anyway, it was a learning experience. Chysler seems to offer a lot of hoon for your buck, but the interiors in everything I saw looked like it was carved from a solid peice of cheap, even the leather. On the GM lot, I could not get over the “perception gap” of paying 30 large for a Pontiac. I even test drove a Pontiac GXP (V8). That was a fun car, but again, nearly 30 large for a Pontiac, and the resale is something like terminal velocity.
The last time they tried making a Cadillac in Lordstown, the result was the Cimarron, which is exacty how Cadillac got into this mess in the first place.
Instead of Cava-Caddies we’ll have Coba-Caddies!
Great idea Bob!
The last time they tried making a Cadillac in Lordstown, the result was the Cimarron, which is exacty how Cadillac got into this mess in the first place.
thalter — is that true? Was Lordstown where the Cimarron was built? Talk about re-opening a nasty corporate wound. I drove one of those for many years (given to me as a hand-me-down), and it was everything that you imagine it to be. Sometimes i still wish I had it, just to remind me of what ‘was’….
“…looked like it was carved from a solid peice of cheap.” -RyanK02
NOTICE: This phrase is instantly granted TTAC’s Lexicon Award in the Most Succinct Way to Describe the Failure that is American Car Interiors category.
Congratulations Ryan!
The whole Art and Science theme needs to go away, or be isolated to one or two vehicles.
Auto manufacturers need to create distinctly different automobiles. Common styling themes spread across many different vehicles make it hard for the average consumer to distinguish between models. (The alphabet soup naming convention does not help either).
Driving past a Cadillac lot reminds me of stereo shops from years ago that would have 5 different models of the same loudspeaker, going up the line meant buying the same speaker in a bigger box.
Ford’s “Gillette Razor” grille seems to be on every product they make (not really, but it seems that way). Is that a Taurus/500 in my rear view mirror, or a fusion?
I’m not sure specifically if the Cimarron was built in Lordstown (the J cars were assembled in multiple plants, of which Lordstown was one).
The point is, with very few exceptions (such as the Audi TT, and even that’s debatable), platform sharing luxury cars with econoboxes is never a good thing.
I’d like to thank God, and my mom and dad, and..
thalter :
The last time they tried making a Cadillac in Lordstown, the result was the Cimarron, which is exacty how Cadillac got into this mess in the first place.
The Cimarron was assembled at their Janesville, Wisconsin plant.
zerofoo, I must disagree. Art & Science might be polarizing, but that’s a good thing as it elicits strong emotions. A common design element is important in branding, particularly in the automotive arena; people are buying the brand more than the car the can afford within the brand often times. Cadillac has struck on a very unique, tasteful and identifiable design language – w00t! Might not play well on a Cobalt, however…
As to the grille similarities concept, see that dual kidney shaped grille in your rearview? Is it a 3-series or a 7? Or an X3 or an X5 or a 6 series or a 5 series or the new X6?
Who cares, silly! It’s a Bimmer with a rich guy driving it. That’s all you need to know. Ford just needs to do a better job of incorporating the razor grille on some of their products (Taurus, Focus) but the Fusion and Edge pull it off well.
A baby Caddy – obviously Bob never heard of the baby Jag (X-type), and look what that did to the brand…. well, i guess theat brand was already heading south, but this ‘affordable’ Jag just helped it along.
I don’t mind Art & Science that much, although it is limiting in that many women seem to hate it. I think the CTS execution is pretty good, but the XLR’s version is horrible. The Cien was pretty much perfect.
More importantly, Cadillac needs to understand that a bigger car is not a better car always, and that if they want to take on the 3-series they don’t have th e goodwill of the Japanese brands which have taken numerous gos at it, so they will have to be better in every way.
akatsuki:
…so they will have to be better in every way.
What are the odds?
You know for awhile I completely agreed that a down market Caddy was a brand killer…however one possible route is the one taken by Lexus with the ES and the IS series. Both cars are priced in roughly the same segment however they don’t directly compete for customers. I can totally see them offering a model that is smaller than the CTS which is 5 series sized anyway but keep it at $30K and a 260 HP engine only. Its the car for people who don’t want such a large car and evidently with the great sales of the A4, 3 series and G35 there is a market for it. We all want caddy to remain an uber luxury car or at least try to regain that status however if they keep sticking to current markets then are going to limit themselves unnecessarily. If Companies like BMW and Mercedes can build $100,000+ and still make small that sell why can’t caddy?
Shinrah :
If Companies like BMW and Mercedes can build $100,000+ and still make small that sell why can’t caddy?
How long do you have?
Maybe if they’d actually sell a 5-series size car (like the CTS) at 5-series money, a 3-series size car with more international appeal sold at 3-series money (or even G35 money) wouldn’t be such a dumb idea. However, when push “value” to move product in the luxury segment – NOT GOOD!!!
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it…
It’s clear now that GM will never get it right unless they simply turn all their dealers into GM dealers. Everything they make, sold under one roof (not really all that different than what’s going on now at a lot of dealers). If they did this, they might be able to focus on keeping the brands distinct rather than trying to have something for every dealer to sell to every segment.
Now, let’s go over this slowly enough that even a GM exec can get it. Caddy – that’s your high end luxury car. It’s suppossed to be expensive. Caddy isn’t suppossed to be a full line vehicle maker.
Chevy – that’s your low end basic trasportation.
Everything else has to fit somewhere in between. You do see that a $29K Pontiac and a sub $30K Caddy ruin the whole concept, right?
RF:
More proof that Lutz is nutz
Or alternatively, you could use the equally applicable and ever-popular phrase:
“More proof that Lutz is a putz”
Cadillac has a BLS wagon now that they say will improve sales in Europe.
I am very confident GM has no idea what it’s doing, and that includes the Cadillac brand.
It’s the wagon aspect of the thing that gets me. Performance wagons, while they have their adherents, are still a bit of an oddity.
And the practicality of the wagon format can not be denied but who ever said, “Gee, I’m in need of a practical car. Maybe I should shop Cadillac?”
Is Lutz thinking “downsized Escalade?” Downsizing the Escalade sort of kills the entire point of the Escalade, which is in-your-face blingism.
Cadillac *might* have a chance with a sport sedan of some sort (and I like RWD, too) but I’m thinking the wagon is not going to bring flocks of people to the showrooms.
Still, whatever it does to the brand, if that thing in the picture truly sells for $20,000 with anything resembling Cadillac equipment levels, I’m seriously interested.
More likely, it will cost within $5000 of a similarly equipped Bimmer, and with freefall depreciation, cost more than the Bimm to lease.
It’s clear now that GM will never get it right unless they simply turn all their dealers into GM dealers. Everything they make, sold under one roof
That is a cool idea. Though it would require some serious consolidation. It would be a way for GM to trim down and become a leaner company but it might not actually be the most profitable move.
I don’t mind Art & Science that much, although it is limiting in that many women seem to hate it. I think the CTS execution is pretty good, but the XLR’s version is horrible.
I can see why chicks hate it because it is angular and masculine. I generally hate it because of the stupid crease in the middle of the rear bumper more than anything. I happen to disagree with you about the CTS vs. XLR. I think the XLR is the one Caddy that gets the Art & Science style right! It should be a small, Vette-shaped thing, which the XLR is. OR, the Escalade ESV – the other extreme – seems to work well too. But all the models in the middle are way ugly.