Cadillac chief Johnan is planning on a CLA rival, but on ALPHA with RWD. The idea is to still be luxury, with enthusiastic performance, and a cheaper price to compete with the Germans entry sedans that have chosen to use economy set-ups. One ride or drive in a Mercedes CLA and GLA and one should, with non-rose colored glasses come to the conclusion that the cars may be on Chevy levels when U get down to it. A Cruze LTZ comes across as a better luxury car than the CLA.. A Verano certainly. That's fact.
My view is that Cadillac needs time, without all the constant focus on their sales numbers to pull itself back to where it needs to be. GM has the sales numbers when looking at its premium operations. Between Cadillac and Buick, not even including GMC.. they sold 1.4 Million last year, Buick bringing in 1.1 million+. Cadillac should focus on its CT2 (ATS) CT4 (CTS) CT6, and CT8 and XT3(Alpha based 5door) XT4 (Alpha based 3door), XT5(SRX), XT7(Omega or Lambda based 5door) along with the Escalade and a Super car. 10 cars max.
Johnan is succumbing to idiotic public media pressure concerning last years measly 6% drop in sales, after a 22% increase the year before. Lack of PRODUCT PRODUCT PRODUCT is the culprit, and it seems as if no one, in the media is seeing it.
That being said.. if GM pursued a dual-channel strategy, utilizing Buick as the go-to, would people give Cadillac a pass when it comes to their sales not being as high as a Mercedes Benz which is fluffing sales using cars that are on Buick levels???
So we get from observers who kno.. but choose to ignore:
"Cadillac sales are in the dumps. They are selling some of the best cars in the segment, but their sales are down.. Must mean they aren't prestigious enough. Of course let's gloss over and FORGET that they are only selling 6 cars versus Benz who is selling 16. Let's also forget that Benz has a whole new host of entry level luxury vehicles, FWD based, that would otherwise be Buick competitors at best. "
So again. Will Cadillac get the pass??? Or if GM combined sales of the Cadillac and Buick brands.. with Buick essentially becoming the "Lasalle" of the day.. would people who care about sales let it slide that they are selling in two different slots like Mercedes is doing, under one name, to garner more sales? I say NO. I say every chance most haters get they will mention the strategy. I say that those very same people will constantly ignore the fact that Benz is selling low end cars that have very little to do with luxury, to shore up their CAFE requirements and aspirations of luxury segment sales supremacy.
It calls up the questions: Are sales important in the luxury segment? Are sales the gauge by which success is measured in this segment?
GM could take on Benz straight up with this line-up and would pull in as many sales with Cadillac selling a version of the Cruze, a Sonic, a Equinox, etc. Or are we saying that Cadillac must make as many sales with an exclusive, RWD based line-up of over the top performance cars while Benz gets to essentially cheat, and give us warmed over economy cars?
I believe that Cadillac should have CT2 CT4 CT6 CT8 and XT equivalents along with an Escalade and a Super car. 10 vehicles, but none of them have to be compromised in such a way as Benz has unleashed with the CLA.
I say that GM has an advantage with Buick. They could, for the sake of negative, almost exclusive to them, press releases about sales utilize Buick as their entry level brand. Between the two last year, GM garnered 400,000 sales in the U.S. That would have, under Benz rules (of putting mainstream level cars in the luxo line-up) that would have easily made them the best selling group of the year.
I agree that Cadillac still has to prove itself. The biggest problem I have with them having to prove themselves is that they seem to have to jump thru 30 hoops for those 30 years of troubles.. while brands like Audi.. which continues to have quality issues, get a pass. Ironically, in terms of sales, Audi really had a BAD year versus Caddy considering the amount of vehicles it sells. No one mentions it tho.. in fact just the opposite.
I will say that a back to back drive with "brand blinders" on would make most come away with a review that the top of the line Chevy, Ford, Honda, or Mazda as being on par or better than the $30K+ CLA.
The game has been rigged in such a way that Mercedes is essentially pulling the wool over sheepy eyes and selling them a vehicle, under the guise of luxury, that otherwise would be considered no better than a Chevy.The CLA has no place in a luxury car line-up. It is a sales and compliance vehicle that fluffed up Benzes sales. The GLA is another one. They are getting a pass simply because they are Mercedes.
Making a smaller ATS, a world class sport lux, is no different than BMW making a smaller 3series with the 2. I can get behind that, if sales supremacy is a non-issue. In order to compete with Benz tho.. Cadillac will need to do this.
Benz took an A-Class, essentially a Sonic competitor, not even a Cruze, and told U it was something else.
My view is that Cadillac needs time, without all the constant focus on their sales numbers to pull itself back to where it needs to be. GM has the sales numbers when looking at its premium operations. Between Cadillac and Buick, not even including GMC.. they sold 1.4 Million last year, Buick bringing in 1.1 million+. Cadillac should focus on its CT2 (ATS) CT4 (CTS) CT6, and CT8 and XT3(Alpha based 5door) XT4 (Alpha based 3door), XT5(SRX), XT7(Omega or Lambda based 5door) along with the Escalade and a Super car. 10 cars max.
Johnan is succumbing to idiotic public media pressure concerning last years measly 6% drop in sales, after a 22% increase the year before. Lack of PRODUCT PRODUCT PRODUCT is the culprit, and it seems as if no one, in the media is seeing it.
That being said.. if GM pursued a dual-channel strategy, utilizing Buick as the go-to, would people give Cadillac a pass when it comes to their sales not being as high as a Mercedes Benz which is fluffing sales using cars that are on Buick levels???
So we get from observers who kno.. but choose to ignore:
"Cadillac sales are in the dumps. They are selling some of the best cars in the segment, but their sales are down.. Must mean they aren't prestigious enough. Of course let's gloss over and FORGET that they are only selling 6 cars versus Benz who is selling 16. Let's also forget that Benz has a whole new host of entry level luxury vehicles, FWD based, that would otherwise be Buick competitors at best. "
So again. Will Cadillac get the pass??? Or if GM combined sales of the Cadillac and Buick brands.. with Buick essentially becoming the "Lasalle" of the day.. would people who care about sales let it slide that they are selling in two different slots like Mercedes is doing, under one name, to garner more sales? I say NO. I say every chance most haters get they will mention the strategy. I say that those very same people will constantly ignore the fact that Benz is selling low end cars that have very little to do with luxury, to shore up their CAFE requirements and aspirations of luxury segment sales supremacy.
It calls up the questions: Are sales important in the luxury segment? Are sales the gauge by which success is measured in this segment?
GM could take on Benz straight up with this line-up and would pull in as many sales with Cadillac selling a version of the Cruze, a Sonic, a Equinox, etc. Or are we saying that Cadillac must make as many sales with an exclusive, RWD based line-up of over the top performance cars while Benz gets to essentially cheat, and give us warmed over economy cars?
I believe that Cadillac should have CT2 CT4 CT6 CT8 and XT equivalents along with an Escalade and a Super car. 10 vehicles, but none of them have to be compromised in such a way as Benz has unleashed with the CLA.
I say that GM has an advantage with Buick. They could, for the sake of negative, almost exclusive to them, press releases about sales utilize Buick as their entry level brand. Between the two last year, GM garnered 400,000 sales in the U.S. That would have, under Benz rules (of putting mainstream level cars in the luxo line-up) that would have easily made them the best selling group of the year.
I agree that Cadillac still has to prove itself. The biggest problem I have with them having to prove themselves is that they seem to have to jump thru 30 hoops for those 30 years of troubles.. while brands like Audi.. which continues to have quality issues, get a pass. Ironically, in terms of sales, Audi really had a BAD year versus Caddy considering the amount of vehicles it sells. No one mentions it tho.. in fact just the opposite.
I will say that a back to back drive with "brand blinders" on would make most come away with a review that the top of the line Chevy, Ford, Honda, or Mazda as being on par or better than the $30K+ CLA.
The game has been rigged in such a way that Mercedes is essentially pulling the wool over sheepy eyes and selling them a vehicle, under the guise of luxury, that otherwise would be considered no better than a Chevy.The CLA has no place in a luxury car line-up. It is a sales and compliance vehicle that fluffed up Benzes sales. The GLA is another one. They are getting a pass simply because they are Mercedes.
Making a smaller ATS, a world class sport lux, is no different than BMW making a smaller 3series with the 2. I can get behind that, if sales supremacy is a non-issue. In order to compete with Benz tho.. Cadillac will need to do this.
Benz took an A-Class, essentially a Sonic competitor, not even a Cruze, and told U it was something else.
