Today you can find a $35,990 BMW 320 priced right on top of a loaded Honda Accord ($35,630).
"Which is a bit shocking, isn't it?" says Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen. It also puts Cadillac's path ahead into sharp relief.
The Big Three German luxury brands are moving into segments that pits them price-wise against mainstream brands. The result for Cadillac? An opportunity. Caddy's perceived disadvantages of a) being an "American" luxury brand which is b) smallish by German standards and c) nested inside a sprawling global conglomerate can be turned upside down.
The Germans are successful and we should salute them, says de Nysschen. But by becoming "almost ubiquitous," by chasing sales in a race to be the No. 1 luxury brand, they have moved down market to compete at least on price against a Honda Accord.
"They have to play to the centre stage where their products appeal to the widest possible audience," he says, adding Cadillac must be "exclusive."
Global sales of 500,000 by 2020 is the target – more than doubling Caddy's full year sales in 2014, but a quarter of what BMW will do in 2015. Caddy will replace its whole lineup, add eight new vehicles and move into five new segments. Picture what the wealthy Chinese buyer wants for an idea of the Cadillac blueprint.
"It (China) is the fastest growth opportunity," he says. That's where GM/Cadillac can get the best and quickest return on the reported $12 billion (U.S.) Cadillac product blitz now in the works, starting with the flagship CT6 sedan unveiled at the recent New York auto show. China makes Cadillac's finances work.
So it was not a surprise to see Cadillac show the plug-in version of the CT6 in Shanghai. Caddy will build and sell the CT6 plug-in in China this fall, according to various reports. And the target is those German carmakers, with Cadillac playing catch-up.
Mercedes is busy launching 10 plug-ins and BMW has plug-in versions of the X5 and 3-Series coming shortly, with more to come in 2016. Then there is the Audi A6L eTron, also unveiled in Shanghai, made in China, for China. Caddy officials say their CT6 plug-in is faster, has a bigger battery, is rear-drive (versus the A6 front-drive layout) and is more sophisticated – an electrically variable transmission, for instance.
Overall, the latest Cadillac revival plan is not particularly new or novel. Ford Motor's Lincoln luxury brand is trying to stage its own revival and the latest step there was also shown in New York – the Continental concept. Both Caddy and Lincoln will build on their respective histories and both will focus on being "American."
"If we want to make a huge mistake, then we should try to out-German the Germans. We cannot do so," he says.
The way forward for Cadillac, he adds, is not to follow in the footsteps of GM's now successful Buick brand. Cadillac is luxury; Buick is premium.
"I consider you to be a friend, but it's my duty to enlighten you," he says, not quite smiling.
So enlightened, here are the next Caddy steps:
- Quickly go up-market first with the CT6 and then later add another flagship car above it.
- Expand the product range with an eye to global markets. GM’s investment makes no sense if “we continue to mine (customers) only in the U.S.”
- Push into all the many luxury segments without a Cadillac model.
- Refine the sales as service experience and upgrade dealerships.
- Soften the current hard-edged designs, make them less wedgy and more three-dimensional.
- Deliver technology, from powertrains to electronics, that is luxurious and Cadillac’s own.
"We take all of those together in a uniquely American expression of performance – great engines, great refinement, fantastic luxury, great drivability, all executed with precision. That blend of recipe – while the ingredients may be recognizable in all successful luxury car makers, it's the way you execute the recipe that makes the difference," he says.
If, over the next four-and-a-half years, de Nysschen's team manages to get all this right, sales will follow. Rest assured that for now and for the future, you won't find a Cadillac priced against a Honda Accord.
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