[tinman]

Article in Autoweek:

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/can-cadillac-thrive-again?utm_source=DailyDrive20150407&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=image-center&utm_content=body&utm_campaign=awdailydrive

 

[cruiser68]

Interesting read, thanks for posting.

 

[tinman]

You're welcome.

 

[vfaninva]

Best de Nysschen interview yet IMO. There may be hope for this guy after all. Maybe.

 

[gohawks63]

I admittedly was a skeptic of this guy, but I actually agree, pretty strongly, with just about everything he said.

 

[tinman]

I also liked what he said.

 

[Xaqtly]

If you needed any more proof that he's at least a little bit delusional, look no further than this quote:

Cadillac is in a good position in that it is already established as an aspirational brand, with a high degree of global brand awareness, and that’s good, too.

Talk to people in European countries. They are barely aware that Cadillac exists. Cadillac has almost no presence at all in countries outside the US. I agree with most of the rest of what he said, including the part where he said perception needs to catch up with the cars. If he can make that happen, that's good for everybody.

 

[tinman]

Delusional/optimistic/making lemonade

 

[vfaninva]

Talk to people in European countries. They are barely aware that Cadillac exists. Cadillac has almost no presence at all in countries outside the US.

I have been all over Europe, courtesy of the U.S. Navy, and haven't seen many Cadillacs, or other American cars.
However, Cadillac is known around the world just like Coca Cola, Nike, etc.. Problem right now is perception, and I think de Nysschen addressed it pretty well.

 

[pissedoffwookiee]

I have been all over Europe, courtesy of the U.S. Navy, and haven't seen many Cadillacs, or other American cars.
However, Cadillac is known around the world just like Coca Cola, Nike, etc.. Problem right now is perception, and I think de Nysschen addressed it pretty well.

exactly right

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If you needed any more proof that he's at least a little bit delusional, look no further than this quote:



Talk to people in European countries. They are barely aware that Cadillac exists. Cadillac has almost no presence at all in countries outside the US. I agree with most of the rest of what he said, including the part where he said perception needs to catch up with the cars. If he can make that happen, that's good for everybody.

you miss Johans point

the word Cadillac is ingrained in cultures throughout the world and has even become part of our language ...if you say "x is the Cadillac of phones", "y is the Cadillac of tv's", "z is the Cadillac of whatever" people will know what you are saying and even appreciate the turn of phrase....the quote "we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams" was in a major hit song a little over a year ago...people truly know Cadillac and that is valuable beyond imagination, it is exactly what Lexus and Infinity didn't have, and why Hyundai's Equus, and Kia's K900 have higher hills to climb in terms of brand awareness.....the challenge Johan is describing is that the world forgot that 'Cadillac is the Cadillac of cars' which speaks to his point that with continued execution this eventual truth (not there yet) cannot be contained

 

[GM-4-LIFE]

Cadillac has a bigger battle on it's hands than Johan can solve in the short term. Sadly, I don't think Johan will last at GM more than a year or two. His approach is for the long term and GM wants results yesterday. I say good luck to him, but his plan doesn't move metal currently sitting on dealer lots collecting dust and costing GM money. GM will ultimately get rid of him and go back to the old culture of making sure the cars sell. What's the point of being in charge at a luxury vehicle brand if you don't really care to sell a lot of units? Johan has made that clear. Makes no sense. He said he's ok with losing Cadillac's current customer base. A very unwise statement.

While I agree with most of his approach, I highly disagree with his pricing strategy that has cost Cadillac former vehicle brand owners and potential buyers with sky high pricing without proving the brand in the marketplace against the German luxury vehicles. Cadillac has raised prices so high so quickly without a renewed public brand perception. People shopping Mercedes, BMWs and Audis aren't really looking at Cadillac and if they are, they don't feel the vehicles are worth what Cadillac is charging for them on the window stickers. They feel that for the price of the Cadillac, they can easily go get the German counterpart. Old GM's mentality is to offer huge incentives to lure potential customers into dealer showrooms, but Johan's strategy is the opposite. So raise the prices so high that current Cadillac owners walk away and potential owners run away from them and don't offer any incentives to get these cars on the road? Doesn't seem smart at all in the short or long terms.

 

[pissedoffwookiee]

Cadillac has a bigger battle on it's hands than Johan can solve in the short term. Sadly, I don't think Johan will last at GM more than a year or two. His approach is for the long term and GM wants results yesterday.

you can't know this for sure...i'm sure you base this assumption on history but the historical GM is a different company generally referred to as 'Old GM' and they don't make cars anymore, 'New GM' has a new CEO and She is a woman, GM's first, this alone speaks to a changed culture and who knows with a changed culture might come some long term thinking.....it's very unlikely Johans views were unknown to GM before stealing him from Infinity

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What's the point of being in charge at a luxury vehicle brand if you don't really care to sell a lot of units? Johan has made that clear. Makes no sense. He said he's ok with losing Cadillac's current customer base. A very unwise statement.

Really?, Has Johan told you he doesn't care to sell cars? his statement about losing the current customer base is not bad or unusual in business especially if this base is holding you back from greater heights.....Cadillacs traditional base are very old and shrinking if Caddy stayed on their traditional course in ten years time the oldies Cadillac counted on will be gone and the new oldies will be buying BMW's...why ...Because BMW feeds their base pool with new younger entrants and lets them grow old with the brand something Cadillac hasn't done in decades.....another example of this is Apple, perioidically they completely toss their computer systems and start from scratch which is one reason why they work so well...Microsoft on the other hand opted to keep every windows user and program which has partially led to a whole industry of exploiting microsoft products..it makes little sense that in 2015 Windows 8 is still compatible with Windows 95 and earlier, a situation we might see addressed somewhat with Windows 10 and the goal of windows 10 everywhere....do you have a 1G or 2G phone in your pocket, the wireless industry has left those behind too...there are many examples of letting go of your base clientele in order to move forward

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I highly disagree with his pricing strategy that has cost Cadillac former vehicle brand owners and potential buyers with sky high pricing without proving the brand in the marketplace against the German luxury vehicles. Cadillac has raised prices so high so quickly without a renewed public brand perception. People shopping Mercedes, BMWs and Audis aren't really looking at Cadillac and if they are, they don't feel the vehicles are worth what Cadillac is charging for them on the window stickers. They feel that for the price of the Cadillac, they can easily go get the German counterpart

None of this was Johan, everything we're seeing now was done before he got there, and with a slight adjustment to CTS pricing a few weeks ago (about $3k reduction) you can't change these prices too much without the risk of really hurting those who bought the cars earlier...what Johan can do is hold the pricing because car prices across the board go up about 1%-2% every year, holding the price will have a correcting effect.....also if you actually take the time to price Caddys vs the competition what you'll notice is base prices are very similiar but content is very different with the german cars needing some options added to become level with the Caddy thus making them typically a few thousand (typically $3k or more) more expensive so here you are a little off, but i will agree with you that the value judgment buyers make in regards to the imports is at least worth that price difference maybe even more

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So raise the prices so high that current Cadillac owners walk away and potential owners run away from them and don't offer any incentives to get these cars on the road? Doesn't seem smart at all in the short or long terms.

these new cars are so much more than the previous models and should be more expensive, how much more is a delicate question...but i would argue that the buyers scared off weren't truly interested in the brand or loyal instead they were cheap and they valued cadillac much in the same way Equus, K900, Genesis buyers do in which case wanting to separate true high end buyers from bargain hunters isn't terrible, and once they have the clear focus and vision of who they want to sell to make cars and develop brand they will buy.

 

[thebigjimsho]

Personally, I'm sick of V2 owners whining because they can't get bargain basement pricing anymore. Perception is the problem, not pricing...

 

[tinman]

I have read lots of posts where folks complain about the prices of
used V's, particularly Vagons.

 

[pissedoffwookiee]

That's because Vagons are on the verge of becoming collectible....i suspect they will become this generations grand nationals

 

[gohawks63]

people truly know Cadillac and that is valuable beyond imagination, it is exactly what Lexus and Infinity didn't have, and why Hyundai's Equus, and Kia's K900 have higher hills to climb in terms of brand awareness.....the challenge Johan is describing is that the world forgot that 'Cadillac is the Cadillac of cars' which speaks to his point that with continued execution this eventual truth (not there yet) cannot be contained

Although I often hear "Lexus" and less so "Mercedes" when people say, "it's the _______ of x".

I think Lexus is still perceived as the benchmark of luxury and reliability. Maybe not so much from a performance standpoint, but definitely luxury. Kind of where Cadillac was except for better reliability.

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Cadillac has a bigger battle on it's hands than Johan can solve in the short term. Sadly, I don't think Johan will last at GM more than a year or two. His approach is for the long term and GM wants results yesterday. I say good luck to him, but his plan doesn't move metal currently sitting on dealer lots collecting dust and costing GM money. GM will ultimately get rid of him and go back to the old culture of making sure the cars sell. What's the point of being in charge at a luxury vehicle brand if you don't really care to sell a lot of units? Johan has made that clear. Makes no sense. He said he's ok with losing Cadillac's current customer base. A very unwise statement. While I agree with most of his approach, I highly disagree with his pricing strategy that has cost Cadillac former vehicle brand owners and potential buyers with sky high pricing without proving the brand in the marketplace against the German luxury vehicles. Cadillac has raised prices so high so quickly without a renewed public brand perception. People shopping Mercedes, BMWs and Audis aren't really looking at Cadillac and if they are, they don't feel the vehicles are worth what Cadillac is charging for them on the window stickers. They feel that for the price of the Cadillac, they can easily go get the German counterpart. Old GM's mentality is to offer huge incentives to lure potential customers into dealer showrooms, but Johan's strategy is the opposite. So raise the prices so high that current Cadillac owners walk away and potential owners run away from them and don't offer any incentives to get these cars on the road? Doesn't seem smart at all in the short or long terms.

Completely agree on the premature price increases and the lack of perception from the public that Cadillac is on par with the Germans.

 

[Trapspeed]

Like him or hate him, this was priceless: "I’m waiting with amusement for AMG to put one of its big turbo V8s in the smart car, because it seems like they pop up everywhere else."

 

[musclecar6]

I'm probably all wet, but he reminds me of an elitist arrogant BS artist, who's been passed around as a division president at Audi, Infiniti, and now landed at GM. He's got all the corporate speak lingo down pat, but can he deliver. For Cadillac's and GM's sake, let's hope he's the real deal and will be instrumental in putting Cadillac at the top of the luxury heap. For us performance junkies, I think our V's are the best value by far for a super street sedan/coupe/wagon out there. The V3 will build on that. If he's successful, the price of our bargain basement V's will go up to BMW, AMG levels. Only time will tell what happens. The C7/CTS-V/ATS-V's are still thought of as part of the "Chevy" empire and the elitist pompous ass crowd shun anything that doesn't have a BMW,AMG,Porsche, etc label attached to it. For our wallet's sake, let's hope he fails and we keep getting these bargains in our corvettes and caddy's.

 

[Tedboss1]

At least Johan makes me laugh.
As an answer to a question "what was the thinking behind Cadillac’s move to New York City?" he says
"New York is not a car city , and anyone who thinks we moved here because we think we can put Cadillac center stage of the world by selling more cars in New York simply underscores that they know nothing about this business."
So he is definitely not interested in selling more cars anywhere?

 

[thebigjimsho]

At least Johan makes me laugh.
As an answer to a question "what was the thinking behind Cadillac’s move to New York City?" he says
"New York is not a car city , and anyone who thinks we moved here because we think we can put Cadillac center stage of the world by selling more cars in New York simply underscores that they know nothing about this business."
So he is definitely not interested in selling more cars anywhere?

How many people have been to NYC? Pretty much everyone. And it's probably #1 in a USA travel destination for those from around the world.

Do none of these people drive?

Some of the best driving roads in the country are in the Appalachias. Should they move Cadillac to Asheville?

The move to NYC is shrewd business, period.