Breaking News regarding the 2017 Grand National

[Ronnie]

The Executive Committee of the 2017 Grand National is pleased to announce that Johan de Nysschen, President, Cadillac, will be a guest speaker at our Awards Banquet on Saturday Night.  Mr. de Nysschen has been instrumental in moving the Cadillac Headquarters from Detroit, Michigan, to New York City, and is developing new marketing plans and many exciting new models of cars and SUV'S.  We are really honored that he is taking time from his extremely busy schedule to attend our car show on Saturday and then share remarks during our banquet.  This is a rare opportunity to see and meet this exciting gentleman.

[chrisntam]

Wow, that is great news!



While he is there, would someone be so kind to politely ask him to ditch the alpha-numeric monikors and bring back car names that actually mean something?  I nominate Scot to be our spokesperson!

I suppose I could shoot him an email.......

[Rich S]

Many thanks to all those who have worked towards making this appearance possible! It is great news for us Cadillac enthusiasts! Hopefully, this is our opportunity to showcase to him the "special world of Cadillac," that we all know and love, through our beautiful vintage Cadillacs.

[Ronnie]

In regards to the Cadillac model names today. I was a Cadillac dealer some years back, and Cadillac spent mega bucks conducting focus groups and surveys to make the decision to change to the present vehicle names. It was determined that the Millenials and younger market that would constitute the majority of the future of Cadillac sales wanted the three letter names.  Unfortunately, we baby boomers, etc. lost out as our market share is dwindling and we alone cannot support the needed sales. It is hard to believe that much discussion was even given on changing the Cadillac script to a block letter identification, but this idea was finally killed. I too miss the wonderful names we enjoyed with Cadillac over the years, but I guess we have to learn to change with the market and the future of our beloved brand.  A great friend used to say"change your thoughts and you change your world".

[Walter Youshock]

So disregarding a HUGE swath of the population with the means to purchase and the memory of what it meant when "the Cadillac of..." or instantly got what "Cadillac " in a song lyric meant was a "smart" marketing move...

Who did they ask?  I know I wasn't polled. 

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I will be looking forward to hearing Mr De Nysschen's presentation.

Kudos to Ronnie Hux for arranging this visit from Cadillac Division's President.

[64\/54Cadillacking]

In regards to the Cadillac model names today. I was a Cadillac dealer some years back, and Cadillac spent mega bucks conducting focus groups and surveys to make the decision to change to the present vehicle names. It was determined that the Millenials and younger market that would constitute the majority of the future of Cadillac sales wanted the three letter names.  Unfortunately, we baby boomers, etc. lost out as our market share is dwindling and we alone cannot support the needed sales. It is hard to believe that much discussion was even given on changing the Cadillac script to a block letter identification, but this idea was finally killed. I too miss the wonderful names we enjoyed with Cadillac over the years, but I guess we have to learn to change with the market and the future of our beloved brand.  A great friend used to say"change your thoughts and you change your world".

As a millennial myself, I've been appalled and heavily disappointed in the new Cadillac name schemes. I don't like it one bit and never will. So please let Mr. Nysschen know this.

So it's not just an "old guy" thing, I can understand the importance of Cadillac maintaining it's rich history/heritage of what it meant to own a Cadillac and what the brand once stood for. They started cheapening the product in the 70's, mostly in the 80's and the brand suffered as once would be buyers, turned their backs against the company as they headed for the imports. The grandiose, good ole days were the 50's-60's and this is where the brand needs to focus it's efforts at building cars that are mind blowing and shocking to the masses or else no one will care about Cadillac until they do.

There shouldn't be any shame in continuing your heritage and being who you are, but the problem with a lot of big companies is that they think focus groups are what the majority wants, and most of the time, these focus group people are idiots or no nothing about the brand or company they are working for. It's so stupid.

Ask the fans, everyday folks on the streets, the real car guys what Cadillac should be building, it seems like 95% of the public dislikes the name CT6 and XT5, and CTS because it doesn't give an emotional response like a real name does, it's a soulless, lazy naming convention which is totally obvious to everyone and it doesn't work for Cadillac because it's an American luxury automaker that has seriously lost its way in trying to become something that it is not and the buying public knows this as well. I don't care how great their current cars might be, they have a problem connecting emotionally with potential buyers and still aren't really sure how to do it because millennials aren't the answer.  Not to mention, their marketing campaigns as of late are a joke, just terrible, and don't do anything to make anybody really want to go out and buy a Cadillac. It's a bunch of weird, eerie, sort of depressing nonsense that those Dare Greatly Ads portray to me. I want them to show off the cars more, talk about it's styling, performance and the likes, luxury car buyers don't really care about safety too much, so the focus in new Ads should be more about showing the car off and how it makes other people envy you. It's really an easy concept that Cadillac seems to have forgotten about. They are possibly overthinking things and it is hurting them badly.

They need at least ONE other car with a real name beside the Escalade, and this car needs to be it's future true flagship sedan. A car with class, sophistication, size, and masculinity, no more soft curves. A car that is not ashamed to be big, and brash.

I truly hope the people that get a chance to talk to Nysschen, relay some of what most of us here have discussed already. He really needs to hear our side of things and maybe, just maybe our voices will be heard and taken into serious consideration.

[Chuck Patton]

Kudos to Ronnie Hux & Team for their diligence to provide us with a fantastic 2017 Grand National!

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I truly hope the people that get a chance to talk to Nysschen, relay some of what most of us here have discussed already. He really needs to hear our side of things and maybe, just maybe our voices will be heard and taken into serious consideration.

While many here agree with many of the sentiments you've expressed, bear in mind Mr de Nysschen will be taking time out of his busy schedule to support the CLC at the Grand National. My opinion is the CLC GN is probably not the appropriate venue for critique/criticism of Cadillac products/naming, marketing strategy etc. to be raised.

Correspondence along these lines are best made through the proper channels where it will receive better attention therefore more effective in bringing about change if received in sufficient numbers.

[Dan LeBlanc]

I have to agree with Eric on this one.  While we are all passionate about the brand, his first hands-on experience with the club is not the place to bombard him with opinions.  It's a place to continue building the relationship we have with Cadillac already at a much higher level.

This is huge for the club - let's not mess it up.

[Ronnie]

I agree with Eric and Dan. Mr. De Nysschen is coming to see our cars and observe how we conduct a Grand National and to evaluate if what Cadillac is sponsoring is in the image the corporation wants. I sincerely hope that no one asks or starts any conversations that are negative in any way.  We need him to remember this event as one of the great Cadillac events and for Cadillac to continue to sponsor the CLC and other venues.  Please correspond directly to him at Central Office with your requests and comments. There is NO question and answer time allocated during his remarks on Saturday night.  We will be on a really tight schedule and have to move on.  If you encounter him on the show field, please speak in a positive manner and keep your remarks positive.  We need to make a good impression as our club is fantastic, with great members, awesome cars and appreciate his support.  Thanks for listening..

[Jay Friedman]

I agree with Eric, Dan and Ronnie.  We want Cadillac to support us.  Keep in mind that they are in the business of selling new cars and any attention paid to members and cars in our club is because they see us as somehow being a plus for their business.  IMHO you should tell your local Cadillac dealer or the company's public relations people what you don't like about Cadillacs today, not Mr. De Nysschen when the club is hosting him at the GN.  If you meet him on the show field with your car, tell him what a great Cadillac(s) you have


PS Nothing to do with the above, but my personal problem with discussions of this type is that I've never totally grasped what the terms "baby boomer", "Generation X", "millenial" etc. actually mean regarding the range of years of birth of members of these groups.  Until retirement my work involved demographics to an extent, and we used more "numeric" descriptions of age groups that were understood by all.

[jagbuxx #12944]

I was a service director for an Audi dealership when De Nysschen took the helm of Audi. In my opinion he made changes that made it more difficult for dealers to earn margin and service departments facilitate warranty.
While I won't be attending the GN, if I did, I wouldn't walk across the parking lot to hear him.
My 2 cents..

[Roger Zimmermann]

Interesting discussion. If everybody tell Mr. De Nysschen everything is fine, he will think "all people agree with what we are doing". Maybe with some diplomatic words, he may understand that there are many aspects people don't agree.

[Big Apple Caddy]

I am sure Cadillac is well aware of and has considered the sentiments of classic Cadillac enthusiasts just as they also regularly evaluate preferences of likely luxury new vehicle buyers, current market conditions and other factors.  The fact that some still prefer "actual" names over alphanumeric names (myself included), would like to see larger cars, etc is not a secret.  It's also not a secret that many luxury brands have had great success with alphanumeric model name, the large car market has shrunken, etc.

Cadillac sold over 300,000 vehicles globally in 2016, a level not seen since the 1980s, and will no doubt see sales rise even more in the coming years as the Chinese market continues to grow, new crossovers and other models are added, etc.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

BAC...that may well be true but it should also be pointed out that 300,000 units represents a much smaller percentage of the market share than that of similar production figures had done back in the 1980s, especially for the luxury car segment. 

All the same, these figures give reason for encouragement but there's still a long way to go.

I concur with the rest of your comments. Let de Nysschen enjoy the show as our guest and leave "shop talk" for business hours.

[64\/54Cadillacking]

I completely understand what everyone is saying here, but it would be nice to have a friendly conversation with the guy if the setting is right to discuss Cadillac's direction and maybe talk about the concerns some people here have and our recommendations on how to improve the company. It's a perfect opportunity and a golden one at that.

Maybe after a few drinks...

[Big Apple Caddy]

BAC...that may well be true but it should also be pointed out that 300,000 units represents a much smaller percentage of the market share than that of similar production figures had done back in the 1980s, especially for the luxury car segment. 

Yes, it's a different world today.  In addition to the shrunken large car market, a lot of competition has joined or brought themselves down closer to Cadillac price levels since the 1980s.  While new car prices overall have fallen, "cuts" from some brands like Mercedes-Benz have been particularly significant e.g., 30 years ago, the starting price of the entry 190E was close to $60k inflation adjusted.  Today, the larger 2017 CLA with more standard features starts at under $34k and many other Mercedes models (C-Class, E-Class, SLC-Class, GLA-Class, GLC-Class, GLE-Class, etc) start less than that $60k figure.  If Cadillac adjusted prices similarly, they'd be selling cars starting at under $20k.   Fortunately they haven't lowered themselves that much and hopefully have no plans to do so.   $35k is already too cheap IMO for a luxury car especially in today's low payment aggressive lease deals, longer term financing environment.

I concur with the rest of your comments. Let de Nysschen enjoy the show as our guest and leave "shop talk" for business hours.

Yep!

[Glen]

I bet he has had that discussion before.       

[Scot Minesinger]

All,

Let's focus on the great idea that the president of Cadillac is speaking. 

Get over this name thing.  No one decides to buy a car or not due to the name.  It is doubtful that anyone who can afford a brand new Cadillac and wants to is stopped by the name.  I have never heard of a luxury car buyer saying he choose another model because of the name.  If anyone plans to buy a new Cadillac, but did not strictly due to the name then OK, it would be interesting to hear from you on another post, but otherwise this is beating a dead horse over, over, over, over, over, over, and over again.  I posted this vary question that if the name was changed would that increase sales and it came back as a no, but it would be nice. 

Let's have some more positive on this good news, if we need more negative - just read the news.