Cadillac CTS
Cadillac CTS
6th August 2008 17:40
I am heading out to a country hotel this evening where GM is hosting a Cadillac CTS event. There’s a presentation and dinner and an opportunity to drive the car tomorrow and speak to the designer. Must be tough for GM’s UK people. It’s not exactly a brand that is flying, the CTS flagship finally arrives in RHD (requiring investment) and then you launch as the credit crunch bites (and used car residuals go through the floor, along with house prices). But there it is guys. Now go sell. Actually, the volumes look pretty cautious, so maybe it’s not quite as big an ask as it sounds.
THE EDITOR’S INTERVIEW: Jonathan Nash, MD Saab GB and GM UK’s Caddy man
Your Comments
Have just re-read the Nash interview and he is being very open and honest, but Cadillac needs to cover all the angles to get a foothold in the UK. Given current economic climate a major element means pretty much guaranteeing good residual values for BLS and CTS, a semi-costly but perhaps worthwhile exercise given the low volumes at this - to quote JN - “phase 1″ stage. Cadillac also needs a ‘hook’, and that needs to be Hybrid powertrain to be seen to be akin to Lexus and market leading. I should imagine GM has conceptually engineered hybrid powertrain packages to fit all its medium & large car platforms. Diesels are perceptually a German domain, Hybrids Japanese, so create Cadillac Diesel Hybrids as the best of both worlds, leaping ahead of the field and make a mark…or should I say re-create a marque. As for operational overhead, the Park Lane site will be obviously be expensive for as long as the lease runs, so make it a showcase with the Sixteen Concept taking centre stage amongst its production siblings. Rolls-Royce & Bentley are just down the road in Grosvenor Sq, so it should endeavour to hold its own, and be a city/tourist talking point). But in truth it needs to crack London to gain the latter ripple effect, and that means more suburban presence head to head with BMW, Merc, Audi before Jaguar & Alfa makes their real come-backs and the likes of Infiniti join the party. GM investors want to see well constructed, detailed plans and Cadillac’s European campaign will be demonstrative of GM’s ability to turn the corner.
Turan Ahmed - investment-auto-motives.com, United Kingdom
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