I remember when Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen were all subsets of a larger brand: "German car." Although Mercedes best exemplified what is now called the moniker's "mindspace," all three German manufacturers were known for selling better-built cars than American machines. And don't tell me they weren't. Read Arthur Haley's seminal work "Wheels" and you'll appreciate Detroit's horrifically lackadaisacal attitude to product quality during the 60's and 70's. Suffice it to say, the exploding Ford Pinto was neither a surprise nor an aberration. When VW went native, becoming the first foreign manufacturer to plant its factory flag on American soil, the results were, initially, disastrous. Fortunately for VW, the brand's German car rep was so strong the company survived its own inability to build quality products on U.S. soil. And then Mexico. And Brazil. These days, everyone builds cars everywhere. Although globalisation has forced Americans to build better cars, I reckon it's removed something important from the car branding equation. Can Alabama or South Africa build a world-class automobile? Of course. Is the result something less than a "real" Mercedes? At the risk of pissing off the entire planet, I'd say yes. I can tell the difference. In the same sense, I can tell a "real" Cadillac from a Sigma-platformed, Nürburgring-fettled, European sports sedan wannabe. Is the difference all in my head? Of course. Where else would it be?
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Dang. Reminds me to check the VIN prefix and get out the special decoder to determine my car was built in the country of…Canada. But I knew that.
The Escalade certainly passes the “it’s huge and everyone knows what it is test”. But, the carbon-copy-of-a-Tahoe rear hatch hurts its unique appeal.
Personally, I think the best Cadillac is a Chrysler 300C that has the CTS’s interior.
As one of your 3-4 podcast listeners that doesn’t always have time to search the site for podcasts, I ask :
Would it be possible to post all podcasts in the podcast section (https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/category/podcasts/) AND also have it uploaded to iTunes? Just an idea/suggestion/request :)
Thanks!
I’m of mixed opinions on the CTS – Lexus has the IS and GS, the SC, RX and so on, but at the end of the day, the ES and LS they started with seem to embody what Lexus’ luxury ethos. Where’s Cadillac’s LS?
Wouldn’t they be better off making something to compete with their rivals’ flagship models before working their way down the pricing food chain instead of the other way around?
As with nearly all blog posts dealing with brands, you couldn’t be more wrong if you tried. To say that the CTS is somehow less than a Cadillac solely because it’s a sport sedan and Cadillac “isn’t supposed to make them” is ridiculous. You’re painting Cadillac into a corner. Either they’re stuck making huge luxobarges that people don’t seem to want in the numbers they did in the 50s and 60s, or they make great cars like the CTS and “destroy their brand”. As far as I’m concerned, this car should be the first to change Cadillac’s stuffy old image.
@CarShark:
Good points. I agree that Cadillac needs to ditch the bad parts of its image (i.e. FWD barges for old people). BUT, the part they need to keep is “the finest automobiles in the world” and “aspirational”.
When the CTS is a “mere” great car, and a 30 something yuppie can afford it, it is neither THE benchmark car for the world nor something that only the truly rich in America own.
That is my biggest objection to it.
There is a market for comfortable, reliable, not necessarily sporting, aspirational, and otherwise unquestionable cars in the US today that Cadillac held in the 60s and before. The problem for Cadillac is that Lexus dominates it. The CTS could be taken as a sign that Cadillac would rather attack the sporty market than attempt to dislodge Lexus, a tack that’s worked for Infiniti ever since the G35 came out. Whether, like Infiniti, this sporting ethos is going to dominate the lineup is a different matter. Sometimes, heritage is untenable in a new environment. The New South is more industrial than agricultural, but does that make it any less Southern? (Rhetorical, not politically-charged question)
Add me to the list of persons who wants the VIN of their MB to start with W. Does anyone know what the VIN letter code for South Africa is and what percent of U.S. C’s will come from there?
Justin: twenty five years ago, Caddy had already been on the skids for a long time. They last time Caddy successfully competed for the title of “the finest car in the world” was in the thirties. A lot has changed since then. Its time to give cadillac a chance to be what it needs to be in the realities of today’s marketplace, not some long gone mythical era.
When the CTS is a “mere” great car, and a 30 something yuppie can afford it, it is neither THE benchmark car for the world nor something that only the truly rich in America own.
Well, I’m neither American nor “truly rich”. But we do have a six-figure household income and I can’t afford a CTS because of little trivialities like mortgage payments, student loans, and saving for a putative retirement.
In that sense it is “aspirational” in that I’d love to be able to afford one, even though I’d likely spend my money on something else.
Dinu: So you are one of the 3-4 listeners of the podcast. I’m one. That means we are perhaps the majority of the listening audience. I second your question regarding why the podcasts are not placed in the “Podcast” section of the website. The majority has spoken.
As for this whole Cadillac controversy, where I am down South, Cadillac is basically a car for old folks that want to splurge, as opposed to just getting a Buick or Crown Vic. If you aren’t drawing Social Security, I am not sure they’d even sell you one.
Now if the reviewer is saying the Cadillac is not a “real” Cadillac because this cohort isn’t gonna buy one, he may have a point. But then I’d say “Good riddance” to that so-called “real” Cadillac, and welcome to the new “pseudo” Cadillac. Cadillac finally makes a turn in the dirction of making a car someone under 65 would want to drive…and they get flack from a reviewer at TTAC because of it. Are you kidding me?!
If that is destroying the brand, then this is a brand that needed to reinvent itself.
The Flexible Despot :
Dinu: So you are one of the 3-4 listeners of the podcast. I’m one. That means we are perhaps the majority of the listening audience. I second your question regarding why the podcasts are not placed in the “Podcast” section of the website. The majority has spoken.
I hear ya.
Thanks to our boffins, the podcasts now appear as both news blog items AND podcasts. How great is that?
I still wish the CTS was a Pontiac. Not literally, but that Pontiac occupied the luxo-sports market. I’m talkin’ 1960s Pontiac: back then it was 8-lug wheels, real wood trim, class leading powertrains, independent rear suspensions…all the stuff that Pontiac used to stand for is what they SHOULD stand for right now.
Those who think Cadillac should occupy their current spot aren’t remembering the glory days of GM. More importantly, the unassailable days of pure profit.
Brand degradation didn’t start with the CTS, nor the Cimarron–it was probably the entry level Calais models of the late 1960s–but Cadillac is holding itself back with the CTS.
Until Cadillac moves up, Buick and Pontiac are doomed to even more overlapping products and poor performance. At some point the downward spiral will hit rock bottom for those two brands.
This is too good Robert! Thanks!
You know how much I like podcasts? I got the new Nano just for TTAC (but now use it for other great podcasts too).
And for the record: I’m a 27 yr old guy and b/c of the arrival of the new CTS, I finally stepped inside a Cadillac dealership a few weeks ago, so they (GM) must be doing something right. A back to back test drive of the Bu, Accord and 6 is next to see how they all compare.