Quote:
Originally Posted by markform
I think you are right. Funny how things turn out though. I sold cars when Lexus arrived, and the Cadillac people were extremely arrogant about it. Their attitude was, "Lexus competes with BMW and Mercedes, not Cadillac. And just remember who's #1 in luxury car sales....Cadillac!" Turns out they were right. They just never realized B, M and L were competing for a huge growth market, leaving Cadillac to feast on dying market.
|
Of course I'm right. And this is one time I wish I weren't.
But this is a standard textbook case of a product being pushed out of the market for failing to recognize changing market dynamics. When a new "game changing" entrant appears in the marketplace, the existing leaders must adapt and change; otherwise, they will leave a window of opportunity for a foothold to be gained. And that is exactly what Cadillac (and Lincoln) did!
What did the Europeans do? Exactly the same thing the Americans did -- they balked too. But they all realized what was going on. If they were to continue their rise in marketshare and mindshare in the hotly contested US market, they needed to recognize the newcomer and put up a fight. And they did.
But by the time Cadillac quit dawdling with FWD cars and CTS came to market, the next-next generation BMW and Mercs were already on their way, blowing right by CTS. CTS might have been Cadillac's best effort, but it had no chance.
The Germans didn't come out of this battle with Lexus unscathed. Mercedes lost its reputation for over-built cars. But they're retooling themselves as fast as they can. And now Lexus has produced its first truly credible competitor to the S-Class. It still completely missed the target, but it's closer than ever before. It's a very credible warning shot.
Do you think Mercedes will rest on its laurels? You can bet the 10th Gen S-Class will exceed even what we can dream up today.
The point is, the luxury market is one of oneupsmanship. Lexus came on board, the Germans redoubled. Lexus tried again, the Germans redoubled and exceeded.
Cadillac barely keeping afloat. Its cars never matched the prestige offered by its rivals. It might have matched them in performance, but that's only one characteristic of a luxury car. And that's something I've said since I joined GMI. Luxury is more than HP and leather and technology. It's about image. And today's Cadillac failed to deliver on image.
Quote:
Originally Posted by markform
Yeesh. You're right about Bay Area Cadillac dealers. But Ellis Brooks is the biggest dump of them all.
|
It is one big dump. I wouldn't buy a car there. The entire place is right out of some Crazy Eddy commerical.
http://www.mapjack.com/?vdAnWfv4bFDE