With de Nysschen gone...I Suddenly Feel Less Excited About the Future of Cadillac.

"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke)
04/19/2018 at 21:46 • Filed to: cadillac, rant

It’s official, Johan de Nysschen is gone from Cadillac. After four years of many promises and 50% actual deliverance, GM has decided he’s not doing enough to save Cadillac, so they’ve uprooted him and replaced him with the former head of GM Canada. While de Nysschen’s promises and plans may have not come to fruition as many had hoped, I still can’t help but feel semi-uneasy about the future of Cadillac after this. So, I’m going to give some thoughts about this.

Cadillac’s journey has not been easy in the past couple of decades. The art & science philosophy brought along some interest in the early 2000s, but ultimately failed to really help much. The V-Series garnered attention from enthusiasts, but they found themselves clamoring for Ms and AMGs instead. Cadillac’s been trying for nearly 20 years now to gain back that glamorous image from 50 years ago, but it seems that every time they gain traction, they lose their way.

When de Nysschen stepped into the frame in late 2013, Cadillac was just rolling out the new CTS, which poised huge potential. Couple that with the ATS that had just gone on sale, and the brand was pushing towards a real world-beating lineup. However, what they lacked was a real presence in advertising, and some definite continuity among the line, with outdated models such as the Escalade and SRX being their top sellers. Johan de Nysschen promised a humongous turnaround for Cadillac and presented plans such as the New York HQ move and the alphanumeric designation change to bring Cadillac up to spec.

Some of these decisions did prove controversial, but they were smart considering the market that they were aiming for at the time. Lincoln was not flipping the genre on its head by bringing back actual names at the time and New York seemed like a more exquisite place to hold a luxury car HQ versus crime-ridden Detroit. There was logic behind these changes, despite what many people may thing (including myself, Cadillac-apologist be damned). Johan also pushed forth a new idea behind the pricing of the lineup, bringing Cadillac MSRPs into the range of their German and Japanese competitors. This was also controversial, but logical, as they were really trying to shed that image of being the “cheaper alternative.”

During de Nysschen’s tenure, we’ve seen the introduction of some fantastic cars, the CT6, the new Vs, the XT5. All of which pose a definite move in the right direction for the brand, but his ideas for how to advertise this brand have not helped sales at all. Some might argue that they’ve mostly hurt them. So, I can see why GM has decided that de Nysschen deserves the boot, and perhaps it may be for the better. It clearly wasn’t working out, so why pump more money into stuff that isn’t working?

In all honestly, de Nysschen’s firing isn’t what scares me, though, it’s their replacement for him that does.

As mentioned prior, de Nysschen’s replacement, Steve Carlisle, is the former head of GM Canada. While his tenure at GM Canada, he’s focused a lot on labor and production in the great white north, with a rule that seems largely business like. Basically, he seems more like a bean counter.

What made de Nysschen so interesting to people like me was that he seemed like a man with a vision, he was one to dare to do risky stuff, hence some of his controversial decisions. I personally feel like that’s what Cadillac needs in the CEO seat, and while it’s uncertain whether or not Carlisle can provide such a vision, I’ve got a bad feeling that it won’t be the same as what’s leaving. The fact that GM has decided to replace from inside the company rather than seek an outsider like de Nysschen makes me feel as if GM is trying to get their grubby hands onto Cadillac, which makes me fear that we may end up going backwards in terms of innovation, meaning that the future Cadillac lineup will once again be loaded with rebadged Buicks like it was 15 years ago.

I will always hope for the best for my favorite brand, and I’m always happy to see them change. I just only want them to change for the better, but you can never trust GM, as much as they may change. I wish all the best to Carlisle and I hope he can bring upon the much-needed renaissance that can finally boost Cadillac to where they need to be, but hopefully you can understand my skepticism.

And please, Mr. Carlisle...you know what to do.

DISCUSSION (10)

Gerry197 > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/19/2018 at 22:04

“Mr. Carlisle...you know what to do”....

Yes, build more crossovers.

Their slow response to crossovers while all their competitors were churning them out was a serious misjudgment.

Their higher (premium) pricing strategy was really delusional, what was he thinking? They didn’t have the name equity to be equal with German aspirational name plates.

HammerheadFistpunch > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/19/2018 at 22:06

Cadillac doesn’t need visionaries and risk takes. Cadillac needs a steady hand that can improve what can be improved and build out a portfolio. When they have strong sales prospects then you can take risks. Cadillac needs to look inwards first, Johan was always looking out.

What the new guy needs to do is anything but halos and flagships.

jimz > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/19/2018 at 22:07

the problem is that he tried to make Cadillac into Audi and BMW, without realizing a big part of why people buy Audis and BMWs is because they’re Audis and BMWs.

HammerheadFistpunch > jimz
04/19/2018 at 22:19

His strategy felt very pieche era.

Maxima Speed > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/19/2018 at 22:26

Guarantee the first thing he does is axe the mid engine car that everybody seems to think is a corvette, but is secretly a Cadillac.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/19/2018 at 22:30

I wanted Cadillac to succeed. I wanted to give my money to an American luxury brand over German or Japanese ones. I considered the ATS and later the CTS very strongly but they always had some thing or the other missing. It was always “Close but no cigar” whether it was Cue, the guages, interior fit and finish quality or the overambitious pricing even with traditional GM discounts. They HAVE to be better than the competition in every single aspect to draw buyers away from BMW Audi Mercedes or even Lexus. Good enough wont cut it.

I don’t like what Johan did to Infiniti. The branding and advertising and the move to become a New York City based Fashion house-esque lifestyle brand for Millennials, Melody Lee marketing missteps, Out of touch comments etc. irked me (Hope you read the FP post). Now I know I am grossly oversimplifying here. but appeared that his entire strategy was:

1. change names to Alphanumeric scheme

2. Move HQ

3.??????

4. Profit!

You do raise some very good points about how he bought about good things like the twin Turbo v8 and was visionary but I felt he put the “brand” first before the product. The XTS sells 3 times more than the CT6 which only does 9-10K units a year. I understand product lifecyles and all and enthusiasts don’t care about them but but he should have pushed hard and fast on the Crossover bandwagon much earlier.

But forgetting the past, let’s look at the future. I think Cadillac will be fine because GM is steadily churning out better and better cars these days. They are turning the ship around. CUE is getting better and they’ve started the rotary dial based system already, the exclusive Turbo V8 should help the CT6 . XT4 should do well, they’re already working on an XT6 to counter the aviatior. They’re discontinuing the ATS and CTS and replacing it with the CT5 which I am expecting to fix all the shortcomings of both. They should also offer a liftback/sportback option on the CT5. I would love to see NA and supercharged V8 offerings in their sedans in the future. Imagine a CT5 coupe/Sedan as a luxury upgrade to the Camaro.

Spanfeller is a twat > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/19/2018 at 22:39

Is Kia also poaching him?

Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/20/2018 at 00:09

Lots of good thought starters.

For the foreseeable future, Cadillac will be about crossovers and suvs, (unless this mid engine thing actially is a Cadillac, which I’m about 50/50 on)

Pricing is a big issue. They are still building the brand. It’s working, but it takes forever to do. The cars are finally starting to get seriously competitive, they’ve had a dominate race team and the road cars are even outperforming in some specific metrics. But they just don’t have it... yet. They should still rely on the “for the price” disclaimer and be seen as the bargain on the segment to really make people consider them an option. Then, the following generation could start seeing price increases.

Sometimes I think they should just bail on this poor people shit and just go full-on Bentley competitior with the El Mirage and Ciel which technically shooouuld be electric.

Axial > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/20/2018 at 04:14

There is one way, and only one way, for Cadillac to become a major player: build a product better in every way to the competition and undercut them on price. Use the mothership that is GM to subsidize their recovery, carried on the backs of Silverados and Yukons.

The only problem is that GM needs to do the same thing with the rest of Chevrolet, too.

boxrocket > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
04/20/2018 at 07:59

I really wonder if they gave him enough time, and/or if they already have given that time and saw what was in the pipeline ajd this is the result.