Cadillac Executive Says Dealerships Are Part Of The Problem

Personally, a lot of shared franchise Cadillac stores need to be taken way and just have stand-alone stores and the sales staff needs to be retrained all over again. Most sales associates that I encountered with recently don't bother going over the features enough with you.

The Mercedes test drive was the opposite. The sales associates went over every detail (mostly Command System) with me over the S-Class regardless if I was buying the car or not. On top of that, he gave me a bottle of water when I was test driving it. That kind of experience want me to come back to the dealership, not so much with the Cadillac dealership.

So, I agree that Cadillac experience needs a total revamp ASAP.

So first it was the cars, and then it was the marketing, now they decide it’s the dealers fault..................

Soon, they'll run out of fingers to point with or people to blame.

Yet Cadillac consistently ranks at or near the top of dealership satisfaction surveys.

The vaunted Germans are mid-pack, or below.

Ed753 said:

So first it was the cars, and then it was the marketing, now they decide it’s the dealers fault..................

Soon, they'll run out of fingers to point with or people to blame.

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Oh look, they've got another excuse already in the chamber...........

The other issue that de Nysschen brings up is the sales staff. He feels that Cadillac dealers struggle with attracting a top-notch sales staff that can represent the brand as it should be. Often the folks on the floor lack the talent and the knowledge to pitch their car against the default choices from BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus.

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This is the kind of placement Cadillac could only dream of nationwide...

http://www.stevefoley.com/

Ed753 said:

So first it was the cars, and then it was the marketing, now they decide it’s the dealers fault..................

Soon, they'll run out of fingers to point with or people to blame.

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Exactly. All of these excuses they're putting out are complete and utter bull****. And they're starting to run out of 'em.

In my opinion, dealers are actually one of Cadillac's strong suits. In the past, I would have agreed that they were a huge issue, but the new corporate look of the dealerships looks and feels fantastic, and most, if not all of the sales/service staff are friendly and willing to help.

Too many shops, too little per-store profit, not enough incentive to make investments in upgrades.

Envoy4Life said:

Exactly. All of these excuses they're putting out are complete and utter bull****. And they're starting to run out of 'em.

In my opinion, dealers are actually one of Cadillac's strong suits. In the past, I would have agreed that they were a huge issue, but the new corporate look of the dealerships looks and feels fantastic, and most, if not all of the sales/service staff are friendly and willing to help.

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Never mind the same group of sucky-Dealers sold a significant amount more cars last year…………...

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Now, just thinking out loud here, but if Cadillac goes all "upper-crust" and "hoity-toity", while I agree it would help gain-ground with the button-down collar types, won't it steer away some of the "simpletons" who aren’t looking for all that?


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The Dealer average volume difference between BMW and Caddy is amazing, if GM were to "fix" that, in-total, they'd probably have to buy-out 1/3 - 1/2 the Dealers and then allow another 100 or so brand new stores to open, simply closing some of the locations isn't going to fix the entire problem.

Envoy4Life said:

In my opinion, dealers are actually one of Cadillac's strong suits. In the past, I would have agreed that they were a huge issue, but the new corporate look of the dealerships looks and feels fantastic, and most, if not all of the sales/service staff are friendly and willing to help.

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Are you kidding me with this?

Since when has dealerships EVER been Cadillac's strong suit?? They have greatly improved over the course of the last 10 years, mostly when forced by the bankruptcy, but other than that, Cadillac dealerships are largely buildings that barely project the necessary image and brand that Cadillac needs projected onto the market.

And de Nysschen is right. The sales staff is bad. They're not as educated on the product as they should be. And they're poorly dressed. Polos and khakis should not be considered proper attire. A properly fitted dress shirt and suit and tie should be considered de rigeur.

Yup. Any way you slice it, it's a huge mess.

mgescuro said:

Are you kidding me with this?

Since when has dealerships EVER been Cadillac's strong suit?? They have greatly improved over the course of the last 10 years, mostly when forced by the bankruptcy, but other than that, Cadillac dealerships are largely buildings that barely project the necessary image and brand that Cadillac needs projected onto the market.

And de Nysschen is right. The sales staff is bad. They're not as educated on the product as they should be. And they're poorly dressed. Polos and khakis should not be considered proper attire. A properly fitted dress shirt and suit and tie should be considered de rigeur.

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I'm absolutely not kidding. The dealers may suck over in San Francisco, but here in Detroit, they're top notch. I'd actually even put them on the same level as the vaunted Lexus in that regard. They're certainly better than the Mercedes-Benz dealer we got our MLs from. Every single Cadillac store around here has their sales and service staff in a suit and tie (dress shirt and tie when it's unbearably hot for service staff) and they generally know their product from top to bottom.

From the sound of things, they need to send some of the excellent dealership staff in Detroit over to California to teach the people over there a thing or two about how a good dealer looks and runs.

If they wear a polo and khakis and don't know their product, then yes, they suck. It's not like that over here, though. I actually enjoy going to the Cadillac dealer around here.

While that's part of the problem, the overall no.1 problem is the lack of CUVs aside from the aging SRX.

Envoy4Life said:

I'm absolutely not kidding. The dealers may suck over in San Francisco, but here in Detroit, they're top notch.

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Then by your own statement, there is INCONSISTENCY in the Cadillac dealership network. That means the dealerships are not where they should be

Envoy4Life said:

I'd actually even put them on the same level as the vaunted Lexus in that regard. They're certainly better than the Mercedes-Benz dealer we got our MLs from. Every single Cadillac store around here has their sales and service staff in a suit and tie (dress shirt and tie when it's unbearably hot for service staff) and they generally know their product from top to bottom.

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Certainly not my Cadillac salesman, with his poor fitting slacks and shirt. He wasn't sure if ELR had a sunroof option, but "was sure it did."
He also said he'd contact me when the ATS Coupe would be on the lot. That never happened.

mgescuro said:

Then by your own statement, there is INCONSISTENCY in the Cadillac dealership network. That means the dealerships are not where they should be

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I guess. I haven't really experienced other Cadillac dealerships except for the ones here. And like I said, pretty much all of them are excellent.

mgescuro said:

Certainly not my Cadillac salesman, with his poor fitting slacks and shirt. He wasn't sure if ELR had a sunroof option, but "was sure it did."
He also said he'd contact me when the ATS Coupe would be on the lot. That never happened.

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That's downright embarrassing.

The premier Cadillac dealer here switched from the area's premier luxury store (MB, LR, Jaguar, Infiniti, Lexus, Audi, BMW, and Fisker under one roof) to a combined Chevy/Cadillac store on a busy strip.

I walked into the new Cadillac store to briefly look around, maybe grab a cookie and a cup of coffee, and left. After I was out the door a sweating, large fellow (okay, it was a hot day and summers here are painful) chased me down and said "SIR! SIR! SIR! CAN I HELP YOU! SIR!"

I knew what was happening so I picked up my pace a bit. He then caught up to me, finally, and I told him I was just browsing.



The whole experience came across as cheap and unprofessional.

Ed753 said:

So first it was the cars, and then it was the marketing, now they decide it’s the dealers fault..................

Soon, they'll run out of fingers to point with or people to blame.

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Yeah, and if they read GMI regularly they might take a quick look at QA.

megeebee said:

Yet Cadillac consistently ranks at or near the top of dealership satisfaction surveys.

The vaunted Germans are mid-pack, or below.

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Shhhhhhh!! DO NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS!!!!

Ed753 said:

Never mind the same group of sucky-Dealers sold a significant amount more cars last year…………...

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Now, just thinking out loud here, but if Cadillac goes all "upper-crust" and "hoity-toity", while I agree it would help gain-ground with the button-down collar types, won't it steer away some of the "simpletons" who aren’t looking for all that?


----------------------

The Dealer average volume difference between BMW and Caddy is amazing, if GM were to "fix" that, in-total, they'd probably have to buy-out 1/3 - 1/2 the Dealers and then allow another 100 or so brand new stores to open, simply closing some of the locations isn't going to fix the entire problem.

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Look, ya gotta understand. CLASS car companies don't give a crap about those poor simple souls. Those people suck the big one as any high class person can tell you!! They need to go buy KIAs or some other POS like that!!

YEH said:

While that's part of the problem, the overall no.1 problem is the lack of CUVs aside from the aging SRX.

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Well, there's that. :fall:

I kind of get how Cadillac dealers shouldn't share the same space as other brands, but like here in Grand Rapids, Harvey Cadillac is right beside Harvey Lexus.

If we're talking about luxury brands, I bought my Forester at a Subaru/Audi/Porsche dealer