News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

Article: Cadillac losing to competition in today's market.

Started by Rich S, August 15, 2007, 10:33:43 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Rich S

This link is to an article by a Forbes Magazine automotive journalist (one of my least favorite of the bunch of them) talking about the challenges facing Cadillac today:


http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/08/15/flint-cadillac-gm-biz-cz_jf_0815flint.html





Rich Sullivan CLC #11473

1971 Eldo Conv., 2013 CTS Cpe

Johnny F #662

Quote from: Rich S on August 15, 2007, 10:33:43 PM
This link is to an article by a Forbes Magazine automotive journalist (one of my least favorite of the bunch of them) talking about the challenges facing Cadillac today:


http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/08/15/flint-cadillac-gm-biz-cz_jf_0815flint.html

As a Cadillac enthusiast for over 50 years, I usually approach articles such as this with an jaundice eye, but this time the author is right on target.  It seems to me, that GM still has that "What is good for GM is good America" attitude!  Combine this with being almost worth as much as Fort Knox, you are left with an arrogant company management who don't posses the wisdom of Pogo!










Terry Wenger CLC # 1800

I have just finished reading "My Years with General Motors" by Alfred Sloan Jr.  General Motors and Cadillac could sure use someone with his abilities now!

Doug Houston

Y'know, we are a unique society here. We revere cars that are so unlike what's on the market today, that for me, at least, to appreciate any passenger car in the world today, is an impossibility.

Last year, I wrote a little missive about this very thing. It was about General Motors in particular, and is vary much to the point, as many things I say, tend to be. It's something that Jeff would never dare to allow in this forum.

GeneralMotors fell into the hands of the financial manipulators as soon as Alfred Sloan and Harley Earl were out of the way, and it has been down hill ever since. GM couldn't even conjure up a sprty rugged vehicle; they had t start building a version of the Army's HMWWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle), which was an AM General design. Amusinmgly, the name is an obsolete expression: "On the Hummer" means:"Kaput; on the fritz; out of order".That's what I think when I hear that name. It was indeed, AMG's name for the vehicle, but a bad choice, nonetheless.

The bean counters shot Cadillac in the foot with the Cimarron; a cheap, dinky Chevy with leather seats. Nobody was fooled; it was a piece of crap. Did they sweep away the world market with the Catera; that cute little Opel?  This is still going on in other forms. The thing that GM needs for its very survival is what it doesn't want: product awareness, and a feel for what the customer WANTS.  I have no idea which Cadillac is which. They adopted their alphabet soup model designations, and they have no meaning to me, nor hordes of others.

Until another Alfred Sloan comes along, with another guy who can design cars that look like automobiles that will appeal to the American people, don't hold your hopes too high. Tearfully,we'll lsee the whole thing disappear in a very few more years. 

35-709

"Y'know, we are a unique society here. We revere cars that are so unlike what's on the market today, that for me, at least, to appreciate any passenger car in the world today, is an impossibility."

My sentiments also ---- and to what the Cimarron and the Catera did to Cadillac's (and GM's) image you can add the 350 diesel, the 4100 engine and the transmission behind each of them.  All in roughly the same decade.  I had both, but not at the same time!  To make matters worse they ruined the terrific straight six Chevy, etc., engine when they went to the integral head in the 70's, again that same decade.  Whether they dig themselves out of that debacle still remains to be seen, but there are many who think it is already just a matter of time ----

"Tearfully,we'll lsee the whole thing disappear in a very few more years" 

Geoff N.       
1935 Cadillac Sedan resto-mod "Big Red"
1973 Cadillac Caribou - Sold - but still in the family
1950 Jaguar Mark V Saloon resto-mod - Sold
1942 Cadillac 6269 - Sold
1968 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible - Sold
1950 Packard 2dr. Club Sedan
1935 Glenn Pray - Auburn Boattail Speedster, Gen. 2

Morgan Murphy

Jerry is one of the wisest and best in the business.  He's been writing these articles for years and years and has become a crotchedy old crank.  I worked with him at Forbes as the junior automotive critic, and I will say that I learned a lot from Jerry.  I remember one dinner for the Buick Century at Le Circ 2000--it was a private dinner for the automotive press and just plain painful.  The Buick brass made a big deal at that time about the Century and the year (2000) and the restaurant Le Circ 2000.  Get it?  You could hear the collective groan from the journalists.  They also made a big deal about taking whitewall tires and wire wheels off the car.  Please.  And then, from the back of the room, Jerry got up and said, "Is it just cheaper to make cars so god*^%$ed ugly?"  I thought the Buick people were going to cry.  You should have seen their faces.

A lot of what Jerry says is meant for shock and awe (after all, that sells magazines).  But I will say that I think he underestimates Buick and Cadillac both.  Who would have thought that they'd be in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively, on quality back in 2000?  In this particular article, Jerry doesn't mention that E-class sales are down, that Mercedes and BMW quality are terrible, and that Cadillac's newest offerings this year should boost sales by at least 5%.  I think that's unfair.  In my view, it isn't so much the cars that hampers sales, it's the dealers.  You generally only see one Lexus dealer per town, whereas there are as many as 3 or 4 Cadillac dealers in major cities.  That weakens the brand, slims margins, and forces a general downward pressure on prices for our beloved brand.
"If the man wants to buy a Cadillac, let the man buy a Cadillac."
J.M. Murphy, 1959