What's Happening at Cadillac?

"lorem ipsum" (nothing123456789)
04/07/2015 at 08:30 • Filed to: Cadillac, Electric, ELR, Johan de Nysschen, Future

After reading Patrick George's news that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! won't be making a replacement for the ATS, CTS, or the XTS, I started thinking— something that only happens once in a very brief while.

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This means a big shift within Cadillac; a massive change of direction. If they stop producing cars that compete against mainstream German luxury (BMW 3 and 5, Mercedes C and E, Audi A4 and A6, etc), then what will they make? And how will it be profitable to them? As I see it, they're turning their back on the mainstream market they've been pursuing, and are trying something new— something niche, untapped, and profitable. I think they've got two directions to head in.

The first is the ultra-luxury route. Cadillac would become a competitor to Rolls Royce, Bentley, and Mercedes-Maybach. This would mean that the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! GM is allegedly investing in Cadillac in the next five years will go towards R&D for ultra-luxury technologies and materials. While there is a massive profit-margin involved in this sort of market, it doesn't make sense to me that a company as large as GM would invest so much in something they can't apply to the rest of their lineup. This brings us to the second direction Cadillac could take.

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The electric car lineup. This is what I think makes the most sense— bear with me here. Johan de Nysschen has somehow managed to convince Mary Barra that she should spend $12 billion on Cadillac in the next five years. If I were her, I'd want to be spending my money on something that I'd be getting a massive return on down the line. We all know that electric cars are most likely our future; hell, even !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! thinks so. Spending that sort of money at the flagship company to come out with halo technology makes sense— and getting that technology to spread across to other, more mainstream brands makes even more sense.

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Of course, all of this is just speculation, and possibly entirely wrong. If we take a look at the press release from yesterday, de Nysschen specifically mentioned working on the sedan part of Cadillac's lineup: "As we move into the future refining our sedan portfolio, there will be no direct successor to the CTS. There will be no director successor to the ATS. There is no point to renaming those cars because in the future those cars will disappear".

Maybe they'll be focusing on Escalades and SRXs.

DISCUSSION (16)

JR1 > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:40

I would not be surprised to hear Cadillac invested 12k in R&D for a Tesla fighter. Look at the sales success that car has had. It seems like a natural step to make.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:40

Kinja'd!!!

If Cadillac becomes ultra-luxury, Buick will become relevant. Then maybe we will get a GNX to compete with ze Germans rather than a V?

Quadradeuce > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:41

I think the announcement by Cadillac more alluded to the fact that they are changing their naming conventions. The CTS and ATS are going away in favor of CT5 and CT3.

Or not. Who know with this guy.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:41

This means a big shift within Cadillac; a massive change of direction.

No it doesn't, it only means that those cars will get new names, and will be slightly repositioned, in size, proportions, price, specs etc.

spanfucker retire bitch > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:41

I think people are reading too far into what he means by "no direct replacement."

lorem ipsum > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
04/07/2015 at 08:43

Mmm yeah, maybe (probably), but that's not as interesting to write about

lorem ipsum > Quadradeuce
04/07/2015 at 08:44

In the first article I linked to, JDN said that there's no point in renaming those cars because they'll disappear.

Quadradeuce > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:46

He says that, but my bullshit detector spiked.

lorem ipsum > Quadradeuce
04/07/2015 at 08:46

Fair enough!

spanfucker retire bitch > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 08:48

Right, so instead of renaming the ATS to CT-something before it has a chance to go to a totally new architecture, they're just going to keep the ATS name around. Same for CTS.

Basically, they're going to avoid doing what Infiniti did with the G37 coupe, by renaming it the Q60. There's nothing about it that links it as the coupe version of the Q50, which is indeed a brand new vehicle. They just did it to realign the naming scheme.

I think that's what he's getting at.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 09:05

Interesting thoughts - it would be awesome to see Cadillac take on the worlds best, but I don't see it happening just yet. But I do think you're on to a few things.

I suspect what he means by no "direct successor" the ATS and CTS is that they will stay with those names until their platforms end their run. I suspect part of the $12 Billion investment is to develop new platforms for Cadillac's 3/C/A4 and 5/E/A6 competitors. One of the issues they've always faced is their cars don't match up to the competition, size wise. The ATS slots in between the 1/CLA/A3 and the 3/C/A4, and the CTS between the 3/C/A4 and 5/E/A6. This is a highly competitive segment and one where people make direct comparisons. No one goes "Oh, I like the CTS because it's just the right amount of car for me." You don't win sales in this segment by being the oddball, so it makes sense to develop platforms that, dimensionally equal the competitors so you can compare cars head to head.

Also, with the CT6 it sounds like Cadillac had done some serious engineering on the platform, using a combination of aluminum and high strength steel to optimize chassis performance and balance NVH requirements. So I think that's another area where money is going. That and the new powertrains that Cadillac has been working on.

So there are 3 areas already where that $12 Billion can go that will help put Cadillac back in contention for the title fight, and pay dividends to the other GM brands - new platforms, new materials engineering and manufacturing, and new powertrains.

I also think you're right about EVs. Unfortunately for us petrolheads, that seems to be the way the world is going. So it would make sense to invest heavily in new EV technologies and debut them in flagship models, and allow the trickle down to other GM products, vice the ELR approach of tarting up a Chevrolet.

Round headlight enthusiast > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 09:13

I think they're moving more towards the idea of what they used to be in the 50s, but with less bloat and more finesse. (Ie I think they've realized the people who buy caddies don't want what BMW offers)

lorem ipsum > Snuze: Needs another Swede
04/07/2015 at 09:27

The CTS and the 5 series are actually nearly identical in terms of length, width, height, and wheelbase (source: just looked them up). The same goes for the ATS and 3 series. I believe that with the last generation of CTS, it filled an awkward medium b/w the 5 and the 3.

Textured Soy Protein > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 09:39

Since the talk of "no direct successors" is coming from a guy who said "LOOK AT OUR TOTALLY NEW NAMING SCHEME" about using the exact same two letters as another car in the lineup but adding a 6, I have a feeling he has a somewhat specific idea of what it means by not having a direct successor. I don't think there are going to be any earth shattering changes.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 14:17

I haven't worked with him, but I'm getting a very "loose cannon" feeling from de Nysschen.

Even if it's true, launching two new well-reviewed models that are important to your revenue and reputation (ATS and CTS) and then giving the impression you're not interested in updating them in the future doesn't instill confidence for your customers and salespeople today.

ranwhenparked > lorem ipsum
04/07/2015 at 15:36

The CTS and ATS won't have next generations, because they are getting replaced with the CT5 and CT3 (speculative names), which will be fairly similar cars, but shifted downmarket a bit to make more room for the CT6 at the top, since there will also be a larger car positioned above the CT6 arriving later in the decade. The CTS replacement will still be a midrange car, the ATS replacement will still be at the low end of the luxury scale, and there may be an even smaller entry luxury car added below that.