Cadillac is running in circles: Is it a luxury brand or a car company or...? - Fortune
Cadillac can’t seem to stay out of the news. In the past six months, Cadillac has taken on an Audi veteran as its boss, moved its headquarters from Detroit to a high-rise in New York City, and revealed a whole new scheme for naming its car models. It is as if someone had decided that frenetic activity would be enough to banish any remaining memories of floaty Fleetwoods and Sedan de Villes, not to mention rebadged Cimarrons and Cateras. But like a football team caught in the midst of rebuilding with a squad of aging veterans and untested rookies, Cadillac is vulnerable. In a robust run of new car sales, Cadillac has fallen down 5. 9% for the year. Longtime Cadillac loyalists are running out of patience. They fear that the 112-year-old car line has been taken over by outsiders who don’t respect the Cadillac name, its history, and what it stands for. The published comments of two recently arrived Cadillac executives would appear to confirm suspicions that Cadillac’s new leaders are ignoring the most important rule of the of the car business: It all starts with product. First came remarks by Uwe Ellinghaus, the German-born chief marketing officer who joined Cadillac a year ago. Source: fortune.com
