I seem to remember the Cadillac Catera was essentially a rebadged Opel Omega, which was considered an upper market car in Europe, compared to the Astra, anyways
That is essentially what GM had planned for Saab . . . ?
I clearly remember that the Catera “didn’t take”
I also remember that it was perceived as an “old man’s car” . . . and the sales were dismal
No offense intended to any seniors reading this
I’ll be there someday, too, and my career is already taking its toll on my body
At least in this neck of the woods, the perceived advantage of a SAAB being a great winter car traveling to the ski slopes, was dismissed completely with the advent of awd cars. Around here, the fall of the SaAB can probably be linked to the rise of one other car…the Subaru. The feeble attempt to use a Subaru chassis and a GMC SUV to address this disparity is perfect example of too little too late in a name plate now built on merchandizing instead of real engineering.
My wife has a close exercise friend who for 25 years was kept in high maintenance SAAB cars because they were so called, great winter cars. One day during the winter while her husband was away and the two planned a late winter trip to a flower show, she couldn’t get out of her drive way from the night before foot deep snow fall. My wife just casually pulled into her drive with her RAV and her change over became just a matter of time. A year later, she now has a RAV awd and it could have just as easily been a Subaru or any other small SUV awd. The SAAB lost one more customer who now realized the difference between hype and performance.
The problem with the Catera is that too many people remembered the Cimmaron, and that reduced general public interest despite rave reviews in the auto press. All Cadillacs were considered cars for geezers at that time, as were Oldsmobiles and Buicks.
Another problem with the Catera was that people who traveled to Europe frequently saw them (sans Cadillac badges and wall-to-wall tail lights) being used as lowly taxi cabs. The upscale cabs in Germany are usually Mercedes sedans, and the low-end cabs were these Opels.
But the Opel Omega was by no means a loser car in Europe, at least not the non-Taxi versions
Within the Opel hierarchy, it was a step above the Astra and Vectra (Kadett and Ascona, if you can remember those). It was definitely a middle class car.
But seeing firsthand that the Catera is just a fancier, rebadged version of that strippo Omega taxi probably left a bad taste in your mouth, for visitors at least
My SIL’s father asked her to buy him a C-class MB when she taught at the base school for a couple of years. He wanted a yellow one, and all she could think of was that German taxis were yellow C-class sedans. But she didn’t have the heart to tell him and she bought him exactly what he wanted.
The official name for the taxi color is Sahara Beige
In Germany, I believe that ONLY taxis had that color
German visitors to the US always laughed when they saw decked out Sahara Beige SLs, S-Classes, E-Classes, and so on
I don’t think that color has been an option in the US for quite some time, though
LOL
“Within the Opel hierarchy, it was a step above the Astra and Vectra (Kadett and Ascona, if you can remember those)”
The Ascona was never sold in The US, but the Kadett was, and I can still recall their advertising campaign from the '60s. The star of the TV commercials was Joe E. Ross, the “ooh-ooh” guy from the old Car 54 comedy series and the old Phil Silvers Show before that.
In the commercial, Ross is ecstatic about the new Kadett models because, “They have two coat hooks!”.
I know that they were relatively decent cars, but…if the biggest thing that you can find to brag about in a Kadett commercial is having two coat hooks, that certainly doesn’t say much for the rest of the vehicle!
;-))
If they picked Ross for the commercials, they weren’t producing a serious commercial. Silly commercials are a time honored tradition. Many of my favorite commercials are silly. The “more taste, less filling” Miller Lite commercials were terrific, but nothing touches Spuds Mckenzie. In an automobile commercial, the Leno/Seinfeld flying squirrel NSX commercial was sublime.
I like the wireless commercial with the puppet kid that gets caught in the ceiling fan. Gets your attention, entertains, gets the point across, but doesn’t insult your intellegence.
The Catera tried to be an upmarket car but the Omega was used as a fleet/police/taxi car in europe so it wasn’t as upmarket as you might think. Brought up memories of the cimmaron for too many buyers.
The Ascona was on the same platform as the Cavalier
The Kadett was on the same platform as the . . . Chevette
LOL
The Cimarron may go into history as one of the biggest marketing blunders of all time, right up there with “New Coke”. GM may never live that one down.
“If they picked Ross for the commercials, they weren’t producing a serious commercial”
Without question, but…ask yourself this question…If people recalled only the “two coats hooks” part of the commercial and nothing else about the Kadett…was it an effective commercial?
Similarly, there are some commercials that I see from time to time that I find amusing, but even though I can later remember the funny or creative parts of those commercials, I never recall the product that they are advertising. In my book, that is not an effective commercial.
Not sure what their resale value is today but I can mention my son’s experience with a Hyundai he bought his first year out of college around 15 years ago. He bought a low mileage sedan and a year after he bought the car he was struck by a drunk driver while his car was parked on the street. His car had dropped in value so much his insurance company sent him a check for 50 bucks. Needless to say it was the last Hyundai he has purchased.
@johnbarry That sounds like a problem with the insurance company. Low mileage sedan 15 years ago, what did he pay, around 8,000? In one year the value drops from 8 grand to $50? Thats not real.
Now Hyundais and Kias are at the top of the satisfaction list. Friend just rented one, was very happy with the car and the 40 mpg he got on the freeway. I’d forget about what happened 15+ years ago.
An effective commercial gets you to remember the product. That may then get you to look at the product in person.
“An effective commercial gets you to remember the product. That may then get you to look at the product in person.”
Agreed!
And, since Opel was not sold in the US for very long after the Joe E. Ross commercials aired, apparently not enough people went to look at the cars. Or, they looked at them and found them…wanting.
;-))
America just wasn’t into small cars at the time. And GM pulled Opel out of the market just when small cars were starting to make inroads. But they still had the what’s good for GM is good for America mindset, so they would not have seen the advantages of selling small cars. And in my town, they were sold at the Buick dealer. Probably not the right dealership to attract small car buyers.