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Is ATS here to stay?

4K views 30 replies 20 participants last post by  artscadillac 
#1 ·
On average a 2014 ATS took 138 days to sell. This was the 10th worst car in 2014. Cadillac selling roughly 30,000 units. This is a shame for such a well balance luxury sport 4 door coup. Cadillac buyers tend to be older, more interested in luxury and comfort. As a 63 years old with a 2013 ATS 3.6 I tend to run against the norm. I have had alot of sport coups over the years: ist year Lexus IS, Suzuki Kahshi, Camaro's, Mustangs and Audies. The ATS in the 3.6 verson tops the list in terms of balancing sport, performance and luxury in one package. Hopefully Cadillac will figure out how to do a better job of attracting buyers. This car needs to stay..:worship:
 
#2 · (Edited)
Some thoughts/observations:

Completely agree - I just got my ATS in February after much research, especially with the help of this site. It's one of the best driver's cars around - and this is coming from someone who is biased on Italian, mid-engine V8s.

Marketing is lacking, but also difficult due to the effort to change the image/mindset of the marque.

Fantastic car that is on par with its competition (or better), striking looks, wonderful chassis. Problems? Yes, but most of the competition has issues as well.

All three of the Cadillac service facilities I have seen were an absolute filthy, messy disgrace of a shop - I hope they are not all like this. I'm afraid to bring my car in to any of them. Buyers of BMWs etc would probably not be too motivated to buy a Cadillac after seeing these shops.

Also, now that Cadillac has established the ATS and CTS monikers, they want to change them - not too smart in my humble opinion.

Anthony
 
#5 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?



Couldn't agree more! My guess is that Cadillac's management understand that there is a problem, but they don't know exactly what it is. Therefore they take the easy, but costly, way: throwing money at the problem! For some reason they htink there is something wrong with ATS and CTS and they are going to redisng these cars ans change them, hoping that it will fix the problem. But I would say the problem is more about perception and service, rather than products and the quality of cars.
For sure ATS and CTS are not perfect cars. But their design problems are not what stops people from buying, it is the perception and after-sale service that repels the people. My Cadillac dealership has been disgusting! Absolutely disgusting, and it will be the same disgusting dealer even after arrival of ATS and CTS replacement.
 
#3 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

I think it will take time. The performance luxury segment will take a while to crack even with excellent product. Brand perception is a tough thing to conquer. When I used to think Cadillac, I thought of big, fat, crappy handling boats that looked like ass. However the gen 2 CTS changed that perception. I think for the ATS, Cadillac just needs to continue to make excellent product, price it better than the competition and start to offer some more visually appealing (less boring and more aggressive) packages like the BMW M-sport, Audi S-Line or even Lexus F Sport.

Also the dealerships need an upgrade. My local dealer offers great service, but is pathetic compared to the local Audi and BMW dealers in terms of presentation. Hard to be premium when you do not look the part.
 
#4 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

I don't know where you guys live.. But here, in the St Louis area.. All the Cadillac dealers are top notch.. I've bought a few new cars in my life.. A couple of new Grand Prix's .. A Mustang GT ... None of them even come close to the service I receive with my new Cadillac..

Here is an example.... When I took my car in for the sunroof recall, I mentioned that the car would sometimes idle ruff when sitting at a stop light..

Well they fixed the ruff idle with a service bulletin to replace the motor mounts.. And the service rep told me that if the motor mounts had not totally fixed my complaint.. They would have then replace "ALL" the power train mounts.. And if that still didn't do it, they would have replaced "ALL" the body mounts too..

That's Cadillac style service..
 
#7 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

I don't know where you guys live.. But here, in the St Louis area.. All the Cadillac dealers are top notch.. I've bought a few new cars in my life.. A couple of new Grand Prix's .. A Mustang GT ... None of them even come close to the service I receive with my new Cadillac..

Here is an example.... When I took my car in for the sunroof recall, I mentioned that the car would sometimes idle ruff when sitting at a stop light..

Well they fixed the ruff idle with a service bulletin to replace the motor mounts.. And the service rep told me that if the motor mounts had not totally fixed my complaint.. They would have then replace "ALL" the power train mounts.. And if that still didn't do it, they would have replaced "ALL" the body mounts too..

That's Cadillac style service..
Conversely, my experience buying my wife's new "lowly" Hyundai Santa Fe was immeasurably better than my experience buying my new ATS only 6 months later. Same with experiences following the purchase. I dealt with it because I'm not driving almost an hour every time I need something done to my car. It's far too convenient to have the dealership a couple minutes from my work.
 
#6 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

Yeah I definitely haven't had the same poor dealership experience as it seems some people do. I haven't taken mine in for service yet, but when I was buying the car, the sales manager showed me around the place, introduced me to my service advisor, let me check out the service department. I don't have a lot of experience with many dealerships in general (I've often bought used and serviced myself), but the Cadillac showroom in Austin was nice and clean and totally adequate as far as my expectations of a car dealership. Nicer and less of a "sales warehouse" than the local Ford and Nissan dealers, much nicer than a KIA showroom, about on par with a newer Hyundai dealer, more inviting and interesting than Infiniti. I guess I do have some experience. But I mean, the place was bright and clean, people were friendly, good furniture and TVs; it seemed like a perfectly fine place to take my car for occasional service. Maybe I have low standards; I don't think a pedestrian dealership building would ever be the deciding factor in my vehicle purchase. Ours is a standalone Cadillac dealer, so maybe that makes a difference when compared to shops that sell multiple GM lines together. Or maybe independent businesses just have different priorities.

In any event, to stay on topic. Yes I also hope the ATS sticks around. I have to imagine it will. It's far too early for GM to abandon this segment, regardless of how competitive it might be. They have a good product. They just need to get the attention of their target market and get more cars on the road. I wasn't even considering an ATS until the day I noticed one on the highway for the first time. Had one in my garage a week later. Get people into the showroom. Put butts in seats. Let the car sell itself.
 
#14 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

Understand they are making changes during refresh (larger back seat/trunk) but they are also talking about inserting a CT2 which should be more sized like the ATS we know. My over all point being that Cadillac is not going away from the smaller sport sedan segment which I took as the OPs concern not the name.
 
#16 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

I have a 2015 ATS 2.0 standard RWD ordered in Oct delivered late Dec and with the exception of the Run Flats which I will change out to standard Michelins hopefully before I damage a rim I think the car is great,unfortunately for Caddy the month to month sales numbers are really in the toilet. Mar ATS down 31% CTS down 48%[car starts at 50K what does GM expect, same 2.0 same platform as ATS] the real bad news is year over year sales ATS down 20% CTS down39% the new Dutch Master has a formidal road ahead for Cadillac.
 
#19 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

unfortunately for Caddy the month to month sales numbers are really in the toilet. Mar ATS down 31% CTS down 48%[car starts at 50K what does GM expect, same 2.0 same platform as ATS] the real bad news is year over year sales ATS down 20% CTS down39%.
Wow, that is really bad. The craptastic advertising sure doesn't help. A couple of gems:

Buy an ATS as revenge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h9KSvR1Eaw

ATS that seems to be stalking a geek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSdJCt2vACQ

The music in that one was like nails dragging across a chalkboard after a while, so glad when they quit running it on TV.
 
#17 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

In spite of any name changes, models last 5 to 6 years max! Just like a 2nd Gen CTS from the 1st Gen was somewhat changed, though looking similar. The 3rd Gen CTS looks somewhat more different.

Changing names from say an all letter moniker to two letters and a number; to most people it really means very little. More important is that the new models are a major improvement in design and innovation.

I am sad to hear of negative Caddy dealer experiences. I have been lucky around here. Having dealt with Cadillac dealers for over 25 years, I would say that I have had much more dignified sales experiences than say the Toyota, Ford or Chevy dealerships in the AutoMalls.
 
#20 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?

Hard to say if this is a new issue or what they expected. New head of Cadillac said he wanted to get away from heavy discounting and I don't know if true or not but if so it would be expected that numbers would drop further from where they were.

When I go on Truecar and compare their price to what they gave me last April when I was looking for a car it isn't as low. Last year I was looking at a Premium RWD V6, no sunroof, heated seats (ended up buying CPO) and they listed I could get one for about $43,500 with incentives. Just went and looked and price is $46,407 and only one incentive available (I wouldn't qualify). Dropping incentives would raise the profit per car but lower the number of cars they sell.

Just a guess, I really don't know.
 
#21 ·
#22 ·
Re: Is ATS Here TO Stay?



Caddy has announced that there will be no "direct successor" to the ATS. Conventional wisdom is that that the next generation, which adopts the CT_ naming, will be larger, and a smaller A3 / CLA sized car will be slotted into the entry position. If they struggle selling the ATS, I wish them luck selling 2 separate models....
 
#26 ·
its strange, my wife has an SRX and that seems to do fairly well as far as popularity goes, I see a lot of them, but from the article I read the ELR, ATS, and XTS are all dogs from a sales standpoint. Shame as I love my ATS and still would take one over a 3 series or an A3 if given the same choice today but here is to hoping Caddy can turn it around.
 
#28 ·
The current CTS uses the same platform as the ATS curb weight is only 400+ lbs more and 2.0T is standard,it should really be standard on the ATS as the base 2.5 is marginal power.Starting with Premium model pricing and dropping base model on the CTS has really affected sales[near 50K start]
 
#29 · (Edited)
There are 2 versions of the Alpha platform, the CTS is on the (LWB) longer wheel base version.


Automobile Magazine
It’s long been thought that the next generation Camaro would ride on General Motors’ newest rear-wheel drive architecture, Alpha, which underpins the Cadillac ATS and CTS. According to Automobile, the Camaro will ride on the long wheelbase version of the Alpha platform, like the CTS, but it will be five inches shorter than the luxury sedan.

Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/06...pha-platform-with-cadillac-cts/#ixzz3XxWSzk6w
 
#30 ·
GJB said:
There are 2 versions of the Alpha platform, the CTS is on the (LWB) longer wheel base version. Automobile Magazine It’s long been thought that the next generation Camaro would ride on General Motors’ newest rear-wheel drive architecture, Alpha, which underpins the Cadillac ATS and CTS. According to Automobile, the Camaro will ride on the long wheelbase version of the Alpha platform, like the CTS, but it will be five inches shorter than the luxury sedan. Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/06/sixth-generation-chevrolet-camaro-will-share-lwb-alpha-platform-with-cadillac-cts/#ixzz3XxWSzk6w
Looks like it'll be on the ARS chassis. Here's a more current article: http://blog.caranddriver.com/2016-chevrolet-camaro-will-have-wheels-brakes-more-structural-rigidity/

We’re guessing that, similar to Cadillac’s strategy for the ATS (which donates its Alpha platform to the Camaro), for which 18-inch wheels are the biggest you can get, Chevrolet will cap the Camaro’s wheel sizes at 18- or 19-inchers and reducing the total number of options to just two or three diameters.
 
#31 ·
If the ATS grows a few inches and doesn't lose anything
in the perf area, it should be the most popular Cadillac car
then, as a CT3 or CT4.

I am thinking loyal Cadillac buyers won't much care about the
new names, since they are already confused where their CTS
and DTS went. Trying to attract the Audi, BMW, imprt buyers,
Caddy thinks the CT# name will help them look at the number
they like.
 
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