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Originally Posted by DGthe3
I understand the market considerations. But brand image is important as well.
But when you think of Porsche, do you think crossovers or sports cars?
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You think 911, but of course their best selling vehicle's are crossovers because that's what the market demands. Although Porsche and Cadillac are not the best comparison. Cadillac and Audi perhaps. Porsche is a premium performance car manufacturer that also offers a few luxury products. Cadillac is a luxury car manufacturer that also offers a few performance products.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGthe3
if you ask anyone to think of a Porsche odds are they'll come back with the 911. That is the heart and soul of the brand. With BMW, its the 3 series. For Cadillac, the role of the iconic, brand defining car is held by the El Dorado. Now, its been about 15 years since they had an El Dorado & even more since they had a good one. But thats still the car that most people think of when they picture what a Cadillac should be.
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Porsche - 911
BMW - 3-series
MB - S-class
These companies spent decades building these products that now define their respective classes. Cadillac (as it exists today) is behind in building its brand image but I disagree that people think of an El Dorado when they think of Cadillac. Hell, I just had to Google image search El Dorado to remember what one looked like. Maybe it's just my generation but when I think of Cadillac, I think of the Escalade. Big, brash, American. It also happens to be the most expensive and profitable model Cadillac offers.
People don't want sedans right now. "Brand image" doesn't mean much if the brand fails because its not building what the market wants.
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Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65
To be fair though, we don't really know anything at all about CT8. If it was the $300k+ super luxury sedan rumored, I had my doubts as to the viability of that program in the first place. If it was the S-class competitor, then its cancellation is much more disappointing.
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MB sold what, 20,000 S-classes last year? BMW sold 9,000 7-series. Porsche sold 5,000 Panamera's. Audi sold 5,000 A8's. If Cadillac currently had a full line-up of products EXCEPT an S-class competitor, then I suppose you could make the case to try and break in to this market. But Cadillac has much bigger needs right now in much bigger markets.
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Originally Posted by shaffe
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars...ct8-cancelled/
According to road and track it was to be an S class competitor.
What the hell is going on at Cadillac. They have these great cars that arent selling, they are in the middle of introducing an awful naming structure and now cancelling the flagship program.
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Nearly every luxury sedan was down last year, except for the cheapo A3's and CLA's of the world. Global Cadillac sales were up 7.5%, and of course SUV's/CUV's led the way...so why not give the market what it wants instead of throwing away money on a large, high-dollar sedan nobody will buy?
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Originally Posted by khell86
My opinion is the exterior styling. It's just rather bland compared to other offerings. Their interiors are great now and I think they're # 2 in class behind MB, but yeah those exterior looks. Didn't the Caddy chief say they were going to start adjusting their designs and move towards a more softer and rounder look instead of the edge thing they're doing now?
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Funny I would have said the opposite. I find the exteriors to be fantastic and the interiors to be marginal vs competition. Sure the ELR and Escalade interiors show Cadillac is capable of more. I haven't sat in the CT6 or XT5 yet so I can't comment but MB, Audi, Jaguar, Porsche, Volvo, BMW, Aston, Maserati interiors at the high end are fantastic. It's the one area I feel Cadillac is dragging its feet.