I don't want to sound double negative about Caddy's new $71,685 gas – electric Escalade Hybrid, but the man in charge doesn't have a clue about his brand's positioning. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal about tanking sales (down 12 percent year-to-date), Cadillac's Product Guy seems to think Caddy's target market are the uber-rich. "'Many people, despite the economic times, are still doing well,' said John Howell, Cadillac global products director, noting that sales of luxury yachts and private jets are on the rise. 'These peoples' needs haven't changed. They still want the top-of-the line products.'" Assuring his place in the nominations for TTAC's Bob Lutz award, Howell goes on to repeat Maximum Bob's maximum gaffe. "'Image also is a factor, he said. The 'green' movement sweeping the nation has wealthier buyers thinking twice about a gas-guzzling SUV, but not because they can't afford the fuel. 'There's negative karma around SUVs,' Mr. Howell said. He hopes a hybrid Escalade will ease some of those image problems." So, how does all this square with Caddy's relentless march down market? Answer: it doesn't.
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If he’d said “there’s no one reason not to buy this,” I’d agree with him…
“Now, if you go to a Cadillac store, there’s no reason not to buy this”.
To be charitable, Mr. Howell obviously left off the part of the sentence before the comma, which should read “to buy an Escalade”.
Otherwise there are dozens of reasons not to buy this.
Also, I find it astonishing that a spokesperson from a company which has one of the worst image problems in the business should even be talking about image.
Are the yacht and private jet set really wanting to buy a car most closely associated with gangster rappers circa 2004 (but GREEN)?
Just wondering. I kind of think Cadillac Burberried itself with the Snoop Deville.
I don’t remember where I first read it, but there is something to be said for the Escalade becoming the new top end Caddy. Working against it is the loss in SUV cachet and those lame ass ‘hybrid’ side graphics.
As lame as the marketing speak around this vehicle sounds, living in Los Angeles I know for a fact there is a lot of stupid money out there.
He’s partially right. There aren’t that many full-sized SUVs with a better image than the Escalade. The Range Rover and G-Wagen (and possibly the Cayenne and LX570) are the only SUVs that come to mind that would make more of an impression than the Escalade. Despite some negative ‘gangster’ connotations, there are still plenty of people who can afford nearly any vehicle on the market that would put an Escalade at or near the top of their lists when looking at SUVs.
“Those people” is never a good way to refer to your customers.
John Howell (Caddy’s Program Guy) just has a different perspective that’s all…. Seriously.
He’s referring to (potential)customers that are agonizing over Dodge Aspens, GM big rig’s, and Lincoln SUV’s. For the most part they’ve pretty much given up on selling to the Euro SUV crowd.
There is still a large (yet getting older every minute) market of people that if given the opportunity want to move up from their Buick’s to a Caddy. People like my dad who is adamant that Chevy’s only come from America.
…with the proviso “If you were really set on an Escalade in the first place, and money was no object.”
It’s just that the market for this car is vanishingly small. The number of people who are concerned with being sort-of green and would buy SUV despite that and would consider the Escalade over another product is not huge. Even positioned as the “top of the line” Escalade isn’t going to generate a lot of sales.
Why GM refuses to admit this is beyond me.
Yes, Lutz was right that rich people don’t really care about gas prices, but that’s not the point. Rich people are also few and far between, compared to the middle class, and are extremely fickle in what they buy: not exactly a smart market to be throwing development dollars at.
I’d say there are 71,685 reasons not to buy an Escalade Hybrid.
I can think of about 72,000 reasons!$$$
Sorry n85523, when I left to enter a comment, yours wasnt there, honest! Oh well, 70 some thousand is alot of money for something gm thinks people should desire but wont.
You know you’ve got it made when your beater car is a Caddy. That’s the only reason the rich buy a Caddy.
It looks like GM is using every excuse in the book to justify their hybrids, as they know that they are gigantic bellyflops.
i drive one of these occasionally. its a pickup truck ferchrissakes. Drives like one, bounces like its riding on old bed boards.
I liked the power folding rear bucket seats for about 10 minutes. And the rear hatch for another 10. Its HUGE. It gets 12 miles per gallon. The hybrid supposed to get 20. Probably more like 13. Horray.
So when are the Hummer hybrids due out ?.
“‘Many people, despite the economic times, are still doing well”
Well, I feel better.
“These peoples’ needs haven’t changed”
And these people’s needs haven’t ever gone un-met. These kind of people are the not the first in line when logic is being handed out.
“… There’s negative karma around SUVs…”
Can’t imagine why. Besides, how could any harmless GM executive know anything about bad karma.
“…no reason not to buy this”
I can think of a few.
Let’s forget the eco-conundrum that a full-size SUV hybrid presents here for a second and lets look at the Escalade itself.
I would understand why an Escalade sells so well (as well as a luxury SUV would sell these days) if it were a car-based crossover, but in its current form, it just doesn’t make sense to me. It will never be a competent off-roader because its non-defeatable Stabilitrak system will slow you to a craw (literally) on the dirt roads and it lacks a low-range so steep grades on off-road trails are out of the question, and it will never be as comfy on-road as its competitors because of the limitations that a live-axle in the rear presents. Why would GM pour their funds into incorporating a hybrid powertrain into an engineering anomaly like the Escalade? Its neither a proper SUV, nor a crossover.
Forget the fact that most SUV owners love the “not that you would, but you could” feeling they get about taking their vehicles off the pavement (even though most most will never go off-road). The Escalade effectively kills any of its credible off-road prowess with the popular 22-inch wheel option and no low-range gearing. So in reality, this makes the Escalade a truck that has been diluted by the manufacturer to the functions of a…dare I say it? Station wagon.
But why bother making a ladder-frame, live-axle luxury station wagon? The market has more than enough car-based unibody crossovers for the consumers to choose from. No wait, better question.
Why would anyone buy this?