mgescuro
07-31-09, 05:22 PM
Cadillac: The Art of Irrelevancy
... a commentary by mgescuro ...
http://www.getchevatgan.com/images/cadillac_logo.jpg
Just 10 years ago, we as a car loving community saw a glimpse of the possibilities of an American brand finally competing with what was considered the de facto standard of the world for luxury -- the Germans. In 1999, we saw a glimpse of a new defining style that was to spread throughout Cadillac. It was groundbreaking, aggressive, brash yet sophisticated. It was technologically advanced yet retained a proud luxury. Art & Science was to be the new gold standard for luxury and image. This appeared pre-Bangle BMWs and L-Finesse Lexus. Cadillac's Art and Science was the new bar.
http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/03/28/cadillacevoq_420x220.jpghttp://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/2582/cadillac/evoq/evoq2.jpg
It took 3 years for Cadillac to launch a car with the Art & Science design language. It took far too long for product to reach the hands of consumers. And the first product, CTS, didn't quite have the pizazz and brashness of the Evoq. Expecially, since after Evoq, Cadillac premiered Imaj and Vizon.
http://static.autoblog.nl/images/wp2007/reviews/cadillac-srx/cadillac_vizon_concept.jpghttp://www.iceposter.com/thumbs/A18993_b.jpg
http://gallery.havesov.eu/data/media/17/mini-cadillac_imaj_2000_03_s.jpghttp://www.forbes.com/images/2001/04/02/feat3_377x275.jpg
This trio of Cadillac concepts were truly superb! They showed the possiblity. Groundbreaking technology. Leather wrapped interiors. Real metal accents. Sheer unabashed beauty and sophistication. A true Cadillac for the 21st century luxury buyer. They made no apologies as to what to was to come. Cadillac was back. The Germans knew it. Reports from Stuttgart had Mercedes redoubling its efforts on the new E and S classes because of "renewed strength" from Cadillac. Cadillac was a rising power again, intent on reclaiming its crown as "Standard of the World."
The Beginning of the End
3 years later, Cadillac launched the CTS. A replacement for the unloved Catera -- a car that zagged instead of zigged and was plagued with poor build quality and strange quirks like cupholders and power receptacles that didn't fit American electrical products. Yup. Typical GM. CTS was to be the start of something new.
http://www.autowire.net/cadillacCTS.jpghttp://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/vehicle-pictures/2007/cadillac/cts/05122431990002-480.jpg
:bigroll:What happened? CTS had some awkward angles. The LED taillights that had become a staple of Cadillacs since the 4th gen Seville were suddenly missing. The interior had lost a decidedly large amount of what made Cadillac a Cadillac. And it wasn't quite reflecting what we had seen in 3 years of stunning concepts. Where was the modern design? Where was the style? It looked like a poorly cobbled piece of bad art. The exterior fared better. It was definitely daring. But it lacked a refinement that was also present in the concepts. Sales were decent but weren't lighting up the charts.
XLR came next. The high tech roadster that debuted as Evoq 5 years prior in 1999. While it had some interesting technology options, and a stunning stealth plane look, it somehow didn't look like it was worth the $75,000 asking price. But it did win a few awards for Best Interior among others. Interior quality wasn't befitting a car of this price class either. And it sold 1/5th-1/4th of annual expectations, despite its initial buzz and record sales through the Neiman-Marcus catalog.
Next came SRX. Initially priced so far above market expectations that they just didn't sell. It looked nothing more than a taller CTS with a poor interior but exceptional performance and handling. Enough to be rated a 10Best a few years in a row.
Then came STS. A car that was to be the flagship. Lutz's first product in which he had any influence. The design was more refined It was cleaner. It was more luxurious. More options were offered. A more fitting car for Cadillac. The design was purposely less "aggressive" because it was believed that buyers that buy this class of car wanted something less brash.
The Problem?
Hindsight is always 20/20.
But as I laid out here, Cadillac established the design bar with Art & Science in 1999. And the bar was set high. Expectations were that Cadillac would make good on its promise of higher technology and groundbreaking style and sophistication. The Germans were redoubling their efforts as they saw Cadillac as a credible threat to their market position.
But when the CTS launched, while impressive to most Americans, the glaring and typical GM deficiencies were present. It began a series of "not good enough" efforts from Cadillac. And while some of the essence of Art & Science made its way through to product, the stunning designs, technology, and overall presence of these designs failed to come through. Every product had cut corners. And for a luxury car, that was unacceptable.
The partnership with Bvlgari was shut down as quickly as it began, with only 2 Cadillacs ever getting Bvlgari enhancements. The reason given was that the partnership didn't prove beneficial to either side. Yet Cadillac failed to really push Bvlgari design into their cars. And its production cars certainly didn't look sophisticated enough to warrant the inclusion of a brash, sophisticated, edgy Italian jeweler. The other argument was that Cadillac's customers didn't know what Bvlgari was. Granted, part of the partnership with Bvlgari was to bring greater prominence to Bvlgari in the US. But those "in the know" or who are part of certain luxury circles already knew Bvlgari.
So that begs the question, "What market demographic was Cadillac targeting with its cars?"
As a result of the Germans redoubling of its efforts to prepare for Cadillac's resurgence, they too ended up with stunningly beautiful cars which deviated from their traditional staid designs. Bangles designs started to resonate some dissonant notes throughout the industry. BMW designs were starting to turn heads. Mercedes was coming out with more daring (for Mercedes) designs. A new design language was evolving. Jaguar had modernized its classic designs to some significantly positive response.
Suddenly Art & Science had competition.
The key problem is that Cadillac failed to deliver on the promise of Art & Science. So not only were its cars not meeting expectations, the competition had become even tougher because they were expecting a far stronger Cadillac. The competition didn't materialize to the level that was expected.
The Decline
A chance came to redeem themselves once the mid-cycle enhancements dawned. First was SRX. It debuted with a stunningly more sophisticated interior. It looked better. It was much cleaner and more elegant and more sophisticated. But nothing else changed -- especially to the exterior.
Another chance came to correct the wrongs of STS. The year prior, Cadillac debuted the STUNNING SLS in China. The look of the interior was American. And it was worthy of competing with the best in the world. Businessweek debuted a shot of the new STS interior, with slight modifications from the SLS: different window controls, slight variations to the center console and a different 4-spoke steeringwheel. Ultimately what we got was a poor rehash of the old STS, with a cleaner look, but still the same overall unrefined look. Furthermore, Cadillac decided that all new cars would have a side vent -- no matter how ugly or misplaced it might be. XLR got it. Escalade got it. STS got it. And the only one that actually pulled it off was the CTS. Why? Because it was integral to the design and not some poor after thought.
Instead of putting money in to making Cadillac a success, GM deemed it necessary to cut its losses. It made sense to GM's spreadsheets. But this decision ultimately will cause Cadillac to fail in a very hot and very cutthroat market. Cadillac has managed to put out substandard products into a market where customers are far more discerning and far more demanding.
In short, Cadillacs products were unacceptable in the luxury market. And their sales echo that point.
Losing Itself
No money. 1 decent product. 5 failed products. And 1 truck rebadge. That is what Cadillac is today. The reason Cadillac spent nearly $6B to kick off the Renaissance was to re-establish the brand as relevant in today's market. What $6B managed to do is damage the brand further... perhaps irreparably.
In the 1990's at least Cadillac had its traditional market to fall back on. With their push to the more sporty European cars, they've managed to alienate them. Now that market barely exists. And they're older.
In its push to be "younger" and be a "Cadillac for the 21st Century," Cadillac managed to lose the essence of what they were. Cadillac lost its history. Cadillac lost its own image. Today's 21st century Cadillac is defined by the Escalade. A Tahoe/Yukon rebadge that isn't differentially more luxurious than a GMC Denali. Ask anyone on the street. And they more than likely say "Escalade" is the car they think of when you hear Cadillac.
What happened to classics like the Seville and the Eldorado? Well, STS is dead. Eldorado is now "CTS Coupe." And Cadillac has a horrible product positioning mess on its hands, as it kills the last of its Renaissance cars. CTS is going to take the place of the STS? Good luck trying to convince people of that Cadillac. For 5+ years, Cadillac has managed to sell the CTS as "entry level." Now CTS is going to take on the flagship role after STS is killed? Now Cadillac expects people to jump on the bandwagon for an Epsilon II Cadillac?
Irrelevant
General Motors needs to ask the hard questions here:
-- What exactly is Cadillac?
-- What made Cadillac a symbol of luxury for 50-60 years?
-- What is different today that no longer allows Cadillac to compete at the highest echelons of the market?
No one knows what exactly Cadillac is. It is a lost brand. GM seems content to throw nonsensical products at the problem, hoping sales will hide the fact that Cadillac isn't catering to true luxury customers anymore. Image is everything. Cadillac doesn't have that positive and attractive luxury image anymore. Nor does it have a product lineup conducive to rebuilding that image.
Cadillac is back where it started in the 1990's. Lost. Only now, Cadillac has no image, no focus, no product, an alienated customer base, and twice the competition.
It is ironic that the program that was destined to pull Cadillac out of irrelevancy managed to do everything except pull Cadillac out of irrelevancy. Art & Science forced the competition to rethink its designs and its luxury strategy. Art & Science indirectly strengthened Cadillac's own competition. And when Cadillac's own A&S cars made it to market, they weren't up to the market expectations Cadillac themselves set. It was a double whammy.
Can Cadillac come back? I have to say no. And that's truly unfortunate. GM is in no position to allow Cadillac the ability to spread its wings. They had one chance, and they blew it completely. So Cadillac must resort to product repackaging to get product out the door in attempt to spur sales.
Sales Cadillac might get but image and respect and recognition is something that will not come. Such is the existence of Cadillac and the art of irrelevancy.
... a commentary by mgescuro ...
http://www.getchevatgan.com/images/cadillac_logo.jpg
Just 10 years ago, we as a car loving community saw a glimpse of the possibilities of an American brand finally competing with what was considered the de facto standard of the world for luxury -- the Germans. In 1999, we saw a glimpse of a new defining style that was to spread throughout Cadillac. It was groundbreaking, aggressive, brash yet sophisticated. It was technologically advanced yet retained a proud luxury. Art & Science was to be the new gold standard for luxury and image. This appeared pre-Bangle BMWs and L-Finesse Lexus. Cadillac's Art and Science was the new bar.
http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/03/28/cadillacevoq_420x220.jpghttp://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/2582/cadillac/evoq/evoq2.jpg
It took 3 years for Cadillac to launch a car with the Art & Science design language. It took far too long for product to reach the hands of consumers. And the first product, CTS, didn't quite have the pizazz and brashness of the Evoq. Expecially, since after Evoq, Cadillac premiered Imaj and Vizon.
http://static.autoblog.nl/images/wp2007/reviews/cadillac-srx/cadillac_vizon_concept.jpghttp://www.iceposter.com/thumbs/A18993_b.jpg
http://gallery.havesov.eu/data/media/17/mini-cadillac_imaj_2000_03_s.jpghttp://www.forbes.com/images/2001/04/02/feat3_377x275.jpg
This trio of Cadillac concepts were truly superb! They showed the possiblity. Groundbreaking technology. Leather wrapped interiors. Real metal accents. Sheer unabashed beauty and sophistication. A true Cadillac for the 21st century luxury buyer. They made no apologies as to what to was to come. Cadillac was back. The Germans knew it. Reports from Stuttgart had Mercedes redoubling its efforts on the new E and S classes because of "renewed strength" from Cadillac. Cadillac was a rising power again, intent on reclaiming its crown as "Standard of the World."
The Beginning of the End
3 years later, Cadillac launched the CTS. A replacement for the unloved Catera -- a car that zagged instead of zigged and was plagued with poor build quality and strange quirks like cupholders and power receptacles that didn't fit American electrical products. Yup. Typical GM. CTS was to be the start of something new.
http://www.autowire.net/cadillacCTS.jpghttp://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/vehicle-pictures/2007/cadillac/cts/05122431990002-480.jpg
:bigroll:What happened? CTS had some awkward angles. The LED taillights that had become a staple of Cadillacs since the 4th gen Seville were suddenly missing. The interior had lost a decidedly large amount of what made Cadillac a Cadillac. And it wasn't quite reflecting what we had seen in 3 years of stunning concepts. Where was the modern design? Where was the style? It looked like a poorly cobbled piece of bad art. The exterior fared better. It was definitely daring. But it lacked a refinement that was also present in the concepts. Sales were decent but weren't lighting up the charts.
XLR came next. The high tech roadster that debuted as Evoq 5 years prior in 1999. While it had some interesting technology options, and a stunning stealth plane look, it somehow didn't look like it was worth the $75,000 asking price. But it did win a few awards for Best Interior among others. Interior quality wasn't befitting a car of this price class either. And it sold 1/5th-1/4th of annual expectations, despite its initial buzz and record sales through the Neiman-Marcus catalog.
Next came SRX. Initially priced so far above market expectations that they just didn't sell. It looked nothing more than a taller CTS with a poor interior but exceptional performance and handling. Enough to be rated a 10Best a few years in a row.
Then came STS. A car that was to be the flagship. Lutz's first product in which he had any influence. The design was more refined It was cleaner. It was more luxurious. More options were offered. A more fitting car for Cadillac. The design was purposely less "aggressive" because it was believed that buyers that buy this class of car wanted something less brash.
The Problem?
Hindsight is always 20/20.
But as I laid out here, Cadillac established the design bar with Art & Science in 1999. And the bar was set high. Expectations were that Cadillac would make good on its promise of higher technology and groundbreaking style and sophistication. The Germans were redoubling their efforts as they saw Cadillac as a credible threat to their market position.
But when the CTS launched, while impressive to most Americans, the glaring and typical GM deficiencies were present. It began a series of "not good enough" efforts from Cadillac. And while some of the essence of Art & Science made its way through to product, the stunning designs, technology, and overall presence of these designs failed to come through. Every product had cut corners. And for a luxury car, that was unacceptable.
The partnership with Bvlgari was shut down as quickly as it began, with only 2 Cadillacs ever getting Bvlgari enhancements. The reason given was that the partnership didn't prove beneficial to either side. Yet Cadillac failed to really push Bvlgari design into their cars. And its production cars certainly didn't look sophisticated enough to warrant the inclusion of a brash, sophisticated, edgy Italian jeweler. The other argument was that Cadillac's customers didn't know what Bvlgari was. Granted, part of the partnership with Bvlgari was to bring greater prominence to Bvlgari in the US. But those "in the know" or who are part of certain luxury circles already knew Bvlgari.
So that begs the question, "What market demographic was Cadillac targeting with its cars?"
As a result of the Germans redoubling of its efforts to prepare for Cadillac's resurgence, they too ended up with stunningly beautiful cars which deviated from their traditional staid designs. Bangles designs started to resonate some dissonant notes throughout the industry. BMW designs were starting to turn heads. Mercedes was coming out with more daring (for Mercedes) designs. A new design language was evolving. Jaguar had modernized its classic designs to some significantly positive response.
Suddenly Art & Science had competition.
The key problem is that Cadillac failed to deliver on the promise of Art & Science. So not only were its cars not meeting expectations, the competition had become even tougher because they were expecting a far stronger Cadillac. The competition didn't materialize to the level that was expected.
The Decline
A chance came to redeem themselves once the mid-cycle enhancements dawned. First was SRX. It debuted with a stunningly more sophisticated interior. It looked better. It was much cleaner and more elegant and more sophisticated. But nothing else changed -- especially to the exterior.
Another chance came to correct the wrongs of STS. The year prior, Cadillac debuted the STUNNING SLS in China. The look of the interior was American. And it was worthy of competing with the best in the world. Businessweek debuted a shot of the new STS interior, with slight modifications from the SLS: different window controls, slight variations to the center console and a different 4-spoke steeringwheel. Ultimately what we got was a poor rehash of the old STS, with a cleaner look, but still the same overall unrefined look. Furthermore, Cadillac decided that all new cars would have a side vent -- no matter how ugly or misplaced it might be. XLR got it. Escalade got it. STS got it. And the only one that actually pulled it off was the CTS. Why? Because it was integral to the design and not some poor after thought.
Instead of putting money in to making Cadillac a success, GM deemed it necessary to cut its losses. It made sense to GM's spreadsheets. But this decision ultimately will cause Cadillac to fail in a very hot and very cutthroat market. Cadillac has managed to put out substandard products into a market where customers are far more discerning and far more demanding.
In short, Cadillacs products were unacceptable in the luxury market. And their sales echo that point.
Losing Itself
No money. 1 decent product. 5 failed products. And 1 truck rebadge. That is what Cadillac is today. The reason Cadillac spent nearly $6B to kick off the Renaissance was to re-establish the brand as relevant in today's market. What $6B managed to do is damage the brand further... perhaps irreparably.
In the 1990's at least Cadillac had its traditional market to fall back on. With their push to the more sporty European cars, they've managed to alienate them. Now that market barely exists. And they're older.
In its push to be "younger" and be a "Cadillac for the 21st Century," Cadillac managed to lose the essence of what they were. Cadillac lost its history. Cadillac lost its own image. Today's 21st century Cadillac is defined by the Escalade. A Tahoe/Yukon rebadge that isn't differentially more luxurious than a GMC Denali. Ask anyone on the street. And they more than likely say "Escalade" is the car they think of when you hear Cadillac.
What happened to classics like the Seville and the Eldorado? Well, STS is dead. Eldorado is now "CTS Coupe." And Cadillac has a horrible product positioning mess on its hands, as it kills the last of its Renaissance cars. CTS is going to take the place of the STS? Good luck trying to convince people of that Cadillac. For 5+ years, Cadillac has managed to sell the CTS as "entry level." Now CTS is going to take on the flagship role after STS is killed? Now Cadillac expects people to jump on the bandwagon for an Epsilon II Cadillac?
Irrelevant
General Motors needs to ask the hard questions here:
-- What exactly is Cadillac?
-- What made Cadillac a symbol of luxury for 50-60 years?
-- What is different today that no longer allows Cadillac to compete at the highest echelons of the market?
No one knows what exactly Cadillac is. It is a lost brand. GM seems content to throw nonsensical products at the problem, hoping sales will hide the fact that Cadillac isn't catering to true luxury customers anymore. Image is everything. Cadillac doesn't have that positive and attractive luxury image anymore. Nor does it have a product lineup conducive to rebuilding that image.
Cadillac is back where it started in the 1990's. Lost. Only now, Cadillac has no image, no focus, no product, an alienated customer base, and twice the competition.
It is ironic that the program that was destined to pull Cadillac out of irrelevancy managed to do everything except pull Cadillac out of irrelevancy. Art & Science forced the competition to rethink its designs and its luxury strategy. Art & Science indirectly strengthened Cadillac's own competition. And when Cadillac's own A&S cars made it to market, they weren't up to the market expectations Cadillac themselves set. It was a double whammy.
Can Cadillac come back? I have to say no. And that's truly unfortunate. GM is in no position to allow Cadillac the ability to spread its wings. They had one chance, and they blew it completely. So Cadillac must resort to product repackaging to get product out the door in attempt to spur sales.
Sales Cadillac might get but image and respect and recognition is something that will not come. Such is the existence of Cadillac and the art of irrelevancy.