In a recent Motley Fool article its was stated that..... Cadillac may not position the CT6 as a direct rival to the S-Class and BMW's 7 Series. As reported by the Daily Kanban, new Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen recently said, "CT6 is not positioned against S-Class, 7 Series or [Audi] A8. It will have more advanced technology, better dynamics, similar refinement but it is smaller."
WHAAAAAAAAT!!! 'SMALLER' Stop the Train let us OFF.. SMALLER!! It's weird because everyone though the new Fleetwood.. OOPS, CT6 was going to be a direct RIVAL to the 7 Series BMW, the S-Class Mercedes, the Audi A8. It's weird GM is not taking the new Fleetwood, there I go again, the new CT6 and penning it directly against those top models. GM spent huge and I mean HUGE dollars to design and engineer this car, what happened -- did someone for get the measuring tape, did someone not bring a competitor car into the design room and see the sizes of the competitors.
What's going to happen now and remember my words. This new Fleetwood-- OH DAMMIT-- new CT6 is going to take and you will read huge comparisons the what the original CTS was, not exactly the same size as competitors. This could be a great thing or bad thing. Now the world will once again be left wondering, when and where will an OFFICIAL FULL SIZE CADILLAC COMPETITOR COME FOR THE full size luxury cars of its true competitors.
I am going to ask new Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen a direct question and I hope he reaches out to me. WHERE is Cadillac really headed, design wise, marketing wise, engineering wise. Once again we were made to believe a true full size luxury car was on its way and the CT6 was it, but is not it..
The title for my article leads to my point now. Has Cadillac lost it's true MOJO, it's FACE and REAR. This size Hiccup of the new CT6 makes my point even sharper. I look at and have be harsh on Cadillac's 'Art & Science' design language for a while now. I feel this language is not engaging consumers at all. Sure some buy into it, but the majority still flock to BMW, Mercedes, AUDI. I don't believe the recent comments I read, that the buyers of those brands don't see Cadillac's cars on their list yet, because they don't see Cadillac as a competitor to them. I think this is truly wrong, I do think Cadillac is a true competitor to those luxury brands, (Engineering wise, Technology wise) but the issue is 'Art & Science' itself. To me right now that design language is the true flaw that does not resonate with consumers.
I look at Cadillac cars and especially the new Escalade. Look at the front ends of these SUV's and Cars, look at the rears of these cars. Each ATS - CTS - XTS and the SRX and Escalade. Each of these vehicles in a brand have totally different grill designs that to me don't relay the 'FACE of the Brand Properly' and don't get me started on the rear ends of these vehicles. My point is Cadillac really needs to set a new 'Design Standard' a 'Design Language' that engages coffee time conversations, bar conversations, conversations in competitors design and board rooms. Where everyone says "HOLY S^&T" have you seen the new Cadillac Fleetwood, the new Cadillac Seville, the new Cadillac Deville, the new Cadillac Cimarron, ok not the last one LOL. I want Cadillac to come at us, say "YEAH RIGHT, AHA, YOU GOT IT -- This is the NEW FACE of Cadillac Luxury. Screw the new Naming language too.
I keep hearing and we all know this, they want Cadillac to be American. Johan de Nysschen and his team have stated that they will never be, nor should be though of as European Luxury, they should be American luxury. In order to do American luxury though, don't you think Cadillac Brass should not make the new naming moniker of its cars less European in nature. Pull it's punches from the past and use the old beautiful Cadillac names, names that have not gone away from generations of minds, names that have stood strong in the face of time. Cadillac needs to get it right and do it right. Make sure all Cars and SUV's and I still say they need a luxury Truck at Cadillac, make sure the new Cadillac has a 'FACE' a 'Rear' that is recognizable to every person out in public as Cadillac.
I want people to see themselves in these cars, drool over these cars, want to steal these cars right out of the showroom, I want mad panic rushes to Cadillac showrooms where the sales people there say, um sorry we are sold out. I want Cadillac to have a new design language that oozes luxury, that oozes sexy style 'NO' oh 'Yes Baby' I want the new face of Cadillac to be a new front end style where its truly the standard of the world and people recognise that face anywhere. I want the design team to design these cars from front to back where they look like one car, not two cars chopped together. The rears of Cadillacs need some serious help. Whoever is leading this design team needs to be pulled and let some fresh thinkers in. The problem that happens with designers is this. When they design something and its theirs, it too hard to get them to let go of that ownership over what they created. So they just get in that habit of trying to reformulate that design language, only each time it turns into a bigger disaster.
Look at Audi today, it has found it's way and its cars have that amazing AUDI grill and Face, when you see one, yep you know it's an Audi. The thing is AUDI is not scared to reinvent itself. Soon we will see an all new design language from Audi, that I know will exude awesomeness in every man and woman's heart, where they want to own this new AUDI. PERIOD!!
What shocked and dismayed me once again, is the size of the new CT6 and it got my blood boiling, all that money spent on the CT6 and they got the size wrong and now have to figure out where it fits in. Cadillac needs, focus here, stop saying two things, stop saying that Cadillac is not European, then go and pick a European naming system. Cadillac needs to say we are American, they need to not ever compete with the Europeans. Keep the Fleetwood, Seville, Deville, Eldorado names, they ooozzze Cadillac and OOOze American, names that like I said are still strong today. They need a new design language pronto, they need to make sure the front ends of their cars say Cadillac and make those grills cohesive from one car to another, they really need to spend time on the rears of their vehicle's, I feel that its time for some new rear lighting, the current one is bland and boring and oozes low end luxury. The sides of Cadillac cars need to speak like the design language of the Stingray Corvette, let it be loud, give is some cool side treatment.
Only then will people take Cadillac serious, that's when Cadillac figures itself out 1st. Who are they really. Who do they want to sell too. Trust me, the world is waiting, they know who Cadillac was and should be. Now GM bosses need to stand up and say, throw out the current playbook, we got it wrong, wrong, wrong. Yes our Engineering is spot on and says World leader, World Beater, but our vehicle naming is stupid, our cars have no identity, we cannot even get the size of our cars right. FIX this now, before it's too late again. Cadillac needs to do its own thing. Make cars that stand out, don't directly compete with the others, I think the CT6 is the right thing to do though, it does not compete with who it's supposed to size was. Make some cool SUV's like the Range Rover Sport, high luxury, high performance, make a sweet luxury full size crew cab high luxury- high performance truck, get a car the size of the Kappa Saturn Sky a nice sexy convertible, another convertible/coupe that targets a mid size performance car, another Full Size SUV based of the Escalade, but with even more awesome design language and make it a high performance Escalade line called "Escalade Series 1"
You can do it Cadillac, just throw out the current play book, yesterday!!