By Kamil Kaluski
From a recent AdAdge.com article about the recently launched Cadillac XT5:
“Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus said the goal is to gain the attention of fashionistas, rather than cater to car buffs and auto journalists. Because in his view, younger customers are less interested in the technical details of cars, and don’t read car magazines as often as they used to”
There you have it. You, car enthusiasts, car lovers, you are not important to the recently recreated Cadillac brand. And that is a shame, too, as some of the new Cadillacs seem pretty amazing. For instance: the ATS-V comes with a 464hp engine and a manual transmission, the CTS-V has a 640hp supercharged V8, and then there is the whole Pirelli World Challenge GT race team.
On a personal note, I think this is sad because I have a little bit of history with Cadillac. When the new CTS-v was introduced in 2009, Bob Lutz put up a challenge to all the journalists to race against him in a comparable sedan. I stepped up to this challenge, and a good friend of mine, who just happened to own a new BMW M5, actually kind of raced against Bob Lutz. And if the whole thing wasn’t a rigged GM publicity event, he may have won, too.
What’s important here is that at the time, the M5-killing CTS-v, became the halo car for Cadillac. Cadillac, amazingly, offered it in three body styles; sedan, coupe, and the much coveted but seldom sold, sport wagon. Even if the CTS-v itself did not sell well, it pushed the model line to sell about as many CTSs as the previous generation, despite the ongoing recession at the time.
But here we are now, with the supposedly overhauled Cadillac brand, now headquartered in glamorous New York City. It is one of the big four fashion capitals of the world and often, erroneously, thought of as city which hates cars. Can Carrie Bradshaw-inspired fashionistas sell more Cadillacs than Bob Lutz and his team of enthusiasts by making Caddy a lifestyle brand? I guess we will find out soon enough.
Perhaps another question should be directed at Cadillac products themselves. I have given it a lot of thought, and I recall only one acquaintance of mine who has actually owned a new Caddy, and it was a CTS-v, to boot. On the other hand, I know more new BMW owners then I can count. AMGs, sure, at least three people. Heck, I know people with Porsches, Ferraris, GT-Rs, Ariel Atoms, and a ton of other exotic hardware, yet I can’t think of anyone who would actually consider buying a Cadillac. Perhaps if these guys were just able to read about them in buff magazines, they would consider buying them?
William Byrd 
Jeff Glucker
It is interesting how Cadillac seems so lost trying to define a market for itself, there is a whiff of desperation about it. And desperation, of course, is not sexy.
With everything that’s been written about Cadillac trying to reposition itself, what is missing, is a crystalclear statement of what they are trying to build. Why would a 500hp car and race pedigree appeal to a “fashionista”? Why would another iteration of the same old “sharp and edgy” Cadillac-design even raise anyone’s eyebrows? The way I see it, there are three options to stand out:
Go retro (Fiat).
Go avantgarde (Jaguar/Citroën).
Do what you do best (Volvo).
I’m not sure Cadillac has muddled itself into of these positions yet.
It’s not shocking Cadillac’s taking this angle – Lutz is out, and even after more than a decade of reasonably well respected efforts (and the CTS-V, which I feel comfortable calling investment-grade at some point in the future), it’s really done nothing for their perspective.
What Cadillac absolutely needs to do is just invest in all the crossovers imaginable, and the sooner, the better. I know they’ve already got the SRX replacement shown, so now they need something smaller (although a 2.0T-equipped, reskinned Buick Encore might be a little too cynical), and a three-row model as well (the Lambdas are long in the tooth anyhow, it’d be good to get those replaced soonish, Cadillac could lead).
It might be good for them to carry on with electric cars. The ELR was an interesting idea, but not many people want a really tiny Cadillac. But an enlarged Volt, or a full-sized Model S competitor could maybe catch on. Just emphasize how electric motors are smooth and quiet and all that, like a Cadillac used to be.
I’d say try the mall marketing scheme, get in the same environment as the other disposable goods that are part of the current luxury consumer starter pack, but that might be a little Me Too after Tesla.
I actually saw an ELR yesterday, and I did a double take. I’ve never seen one in the flesh, which tells you how popular they are.
I think I’ve seen two, but one was at a GM Canada facility, and the other was wearing dealer plates.
Cadillac is in a weird position where they have good products and no idea how to sell them. Calling them all CT whatever and unrolling a baffling ad campaign is unlikely to change that.
I don’t know about it, it worked brilliantly for Infiniti.
Oh… wait…
And Lincoln!
My only real brush with the technical details of a Cadillac was about 25 years ago when I helped a friend carefully remove an entire GuideMatic automatic headlight dimmer system, with harness, out of a junkyard ’65 in order to put it into his own ’65. He sold the car a few years later. I don’t think I’ve worked on, or ridden in, a Cadillac since then.
I believe it’s safe to conclude that Cadillac is justified in being entirely unconcerned with my automotive preferences.
Both ’65s seemed pretty well put together, though.
If I could thumbs up this more than once, it would certainly be done. Excellent Hoon response.
That’s only because your automotive preferences border on the maniacal. NTTAWWT.
Given the percentage of companies in your stable that no longer exist, I suspect if you bought a Cadillac management would have cause to be very concerned.
Now that I’m reunited with my Skyliner perhaps it’s a good time to sell FoMoCo short.
As Peter DeLorenzo over at autoextremist.com has said on more than one occasion this past few years. (To paraphrase) “The True Believers get it but upper management has no clue what to do with what they have been given.”
IMHO, Cadillac (and GM as a result) could possibly once again be the World Standard. C’Mon, a V-longroof! Unfortunately, by directing their marketing along the lines of fashionistas, I didn’t even know that was a word, Cadillac is missing an entire group of potentially influential buyers, of both today and tomorrow.
In order to succeed, again IMHO, they need to draw buyers into the GM family early on and “move them up the product chain” similar to what was done in the days of old. With Buick effectively moving to China (for now) and Cadillac moving their ass to NYC, they both have probably removed themselves from any opportunity for that to happen. As a result, with none of the current technology (excepting the Corvette and to a certain extent Camaro) filtering down the GM line, what is the incentive for younger buyers to be interested in “grandpa’s Cadillac?” Especially when any discussion of performance across the brand is seemingly cast aside and the “canyons of NYC” are the featured items of their ad campaigns.
Which to me is just sad. At a time when the i8 and Porsche’s new electric sedan (and what is coming from Audi?) are all the buzz in this community I love so much, here we are talking about Cadillac’s misdirected marketing campaign of some pretty sweet offerings.
But then what does this olelongrooffan know? I just schlep used cars for a living.
Apologies to my fellow Hoons…how the hell can I upvote my own comment?
Whenever I’ve inadvertently done this my own vote has disappeared, seemingly spontaneously, a short while later. I assume the software occasionally sweeps for such things.
Second Gen CTS-V was held in very high regard by my son.
A 11 yr old wants a Caddy wagon. Bang. Who ever saw that?? Even the Caddy autoshow lackys were impressed with the kid’s knowledge.
Gen III… kid can’t give a shit. ATS? Whatever. Me too to be honest.
He has warmed up to Hellcat, Tesla and GT350 these days.
Car companies should hire pre-teens… they kinda know where it’s at.
I have always liked Cadillacs from the time I was little, because of what they represent. Grandpa’s Cadillac is exactly what I wanted when I was a kid.
Ah, a fellow Autoextremist reader. I’ve been following Peter’s site for several years, and write the occasional letter to the editor.
Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus said the goal is to gain the
attention of dealers, rather than cater to car buffs and auto
journalists. Because in his view, salsemen are less interested
in the technical details of cars, and don’t read car magazines as often
as they used to.
Fixed that for him.
I think you’re taking this statement out of context and making more of it than is warranted. He’s not dissing car guys. All he is saying is that they are targeting ads at a market segment they have identified as being fashionistas. The car guys are most likely buying based on performance which is well documented and well publicized in cars mags and internet articles. Marketing is about finding new customers, acquainting them with your product and selling it to them. Let Cadillac go out and find these new customers and wish them well.
How many people here bought or are likely to buy a $60k car any time soon?
(assumed crickets)
How often do people who buy $60k cars follow our advice about what $60k car to buy?
(assumed crickets with a possible shout from the back of the room)
Enthusiasts are a small market. If you want to stay in business, you chase the larger market.
Urban hipsters with a short attention span might be a large market, but for Cadillac, or even cars in general? I know, overdoing the point here, but it is just so much fun.
“Urban hipsters” are why Ducati are selling loads of Scramblers lately, so who knows.
True, but they’re not 60k$-2 ton-accessories.
First off, I think the CTS-V is utterly awesome.
That said, if they want to go style and luxury, that’s traditonally what Caddilac has been right? Is there a market for a genuine 21st century land yacht that’s not a Bentley Azure? I thought the Ciel concept was an interesting direction. Make something big and outrageously opulent in the 50s sense but then use 21st century tech like a hybrid drivetrain to make it socially acceptable.
http://www.topcarrating.com/cadillac/2011-cadillac-ciel-concept-8.jpg
I agree on that one. As long as the Escalade is the top of the line, a lot of people will struggle to take Cadillac as a car producer seriously. This is one of the sleekest studies presented in the last decade.The slightly raised chrom line is making the whole thing pretty sleek and light, and it needn’t be priced in Bentley-territory.
That is gorgeous.
Otherwise disinterested yuppies buy Audis and BMWs only derivatively because of their quality, performance, capabilities, etc. They buy on perception, which is not altogether a bad thing, but if an ATS is every bit as good as as a 3-series, it does you no good when the image of the 70 year old guy with the hiked up slacks waiting for the buffet to open at 4:00 keeps you out of the showroom. Sounds like Cadillac wants a piece of that action, superficiality be damned.
Cadillac is still chasing the fabled “Younger Buyer”?
Average of a Cadillac buyer in 1995: 63 years old
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-10-29/travel/9510290165_1_cadillac-car-s-engine-luxury
Average of a Cadillac buyer in 2014: 63.5 years old
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/10/04/24-7-wall-st-cars-oldest-buyers/16587437/
I hadn’t looked at those numbers before, but I’ll consider scraping together the resources to buy a brand-new Cadillac if it comes with a guarantee to slow my personal rate of aging to three months per decade.
This whole thing hardly ever works. When Volvo presented the 340 in the 70s, to attract younger buyers, old people who didn’t need a big Volvo bought them instead. Much the same happened with the MB A Class, even though they managed to press buyer’s ages just below 60.
The PT Cruiser is another example of unintended buyer syndrome. Despite being marketed to young active-lifestyle types most of the buyers were older retired empty nester types.