Cadillac. How is the company?

Looked at a Cadillac this summer. Didn’t buy but thought the car rode and drove well. Is Cadillac selling well? Thanks

That can be answered by a Google search - ( Cadillac sales by year ) in your search engine will most likely get you actual numbers .

No, not particularly. Cadillac has struggled to define itself.

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The Cadillac dealer here (part of a Pontiac/Nissan dealer) shut down about 10 years ago. You wouldn’t know it though by looking at cars on the street. Pickups aside, it seems like the majority of what is on the road around here is Escalades and Altimas.

And someone is using an Escalade to haul cattle feed in…

I agree with Mustangman that Cadillac has had some issues trying to figure out who they are. Wasn’t it just a few years ago that Cadillac moved their HQs to NY in an effort to reinvent themselves?

These days, Cadillac is doing better than Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn, but not nearly as well as Chevrolet or GMC. Hope that helps.

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Doing better than Lincoln and Chrysler for starters, all brands are down in sales compared to a year ago. https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2020-us-vehicle-sales-figures-by-brand/

brand_name Q2 2020 Q2 2019 Change
Smart 0 244 -100.0
Fiat 1,339 2,889 -53.7
Genesis 3,585 5,805 -38.2
Alfa Romeo 3,735 4,751 -21.4
Jaguar 4,320 6,060 -28.7
Mini 5,288 8,678 -39.1
Porsche 12,193 15,233 -20.0
Mitsubishi 12,197 29,030 -58.0
Chrysler 13,857 32,831 -57.8
Land Rover 14,500 21,095 -31.3
Infiniti 16,097 28,743 -44.0
Lincoln 21,280 25,941 -18.0
Cadillac 23,297 39,739 -41.4
Volvo 23,770 28,062 -15.3
Acura 27,458 37,382 -26.5
Audi 34,839 53,325 -34.7
Buick 35,521 55,373 -35.9
Tesla 36,800 53,300 -31.0
Dodge 43,756 117,582 -62.8
Lexus 50,458 68,944 -26.8
BMW 50,956 82,551 -38.3
Mazda 61,199 67,722 -9.6
Mercedes-Benz 69,505 80,463 -13.6
Volkswagen 69,933 98,736 -29.2
GMC 101,759 151,701 -32.9
Kia 125,302 168,248 -25.5
Ram 127,682 196,155 -34.9
Subaru 136,519 182,771 -25.3
Hyundai 139,378 185,743 -25.0
Nissan 161,317 322,442 -50.0
Jeep 176,713 243,477 -27.4
Honda 266,044 370,026 -28.1
Chevrolet 330,381 486,884 -32.1
Toyota 347,571 539,448 -35.6
Ford 411,035 613,098 -33.0
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Caddy’s been struggling to establish a ‘new’ reputation for years, and has failed. Tried to compete directly with BMW, people want BMWs.

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There is a lot of competition in the luxury car market. 30 years ago General Motors began to change the Cadillac image from limousines and hearses to something a younger generation would be interested in, at the time most customers were retired and purchasing their last vehicle, few repeat customers. Will the Cadillac image ever be distanced from the car your grandfather owned?

Acura has a similar sales volume, perhaps if GM would look into the Acura problem they might find a solution to their own. Or perhaps the market is flooded with luxury cars.

They used to say that Oldsmobiles were for people whose bosses had Cadillacs. I never could own one. Not to speak ill of the dead but my boss always had one and I just couldn’t see it. The minute I’d buy a new car, he’d have to trade again. One thing though you might want to check on the price of some of the parts just to see. You can check on line with a GM site. Years ago when I needed a tail light for my Lincoln, they wanted $80 for it. I thought that was outrageous.

We had an Oldsmobile Achieva as a rental in Colorado back in 1994, brand new with a temporary tag and it rattled like a car with 100,000 miles on it. Good thing we only needed it for a weekend.

In my neck of the woods, the local Cadillac dealership switched over to selling Kias several years ago. That should tell the OP something, I think.

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I too agree that Cadillac is and has been struggling to find its image.

All my life, when I thought of Cadillac, I thought of big, luxurious, top of the heap cars you aspire to. Like from the 1950s through maybe the 80s. Land yachts.

Now… I’m not quite sure what Cadillac stands for. Seems like they’re trying to make luxury sports cars? And the Escalade is clearly just a higher trim level of the Tahoe/Yukon. So aside from the Cadillac badge…why pay the extra money?

I don’t know anyone that aspires to have a Cadillac anymore. Maybe a Lexus or BMW, something like that. It makes me sad.

Based on the list above, MY2020 sales are average for luxury vehicles. Their sales were better in my2019, but the ranking is about the same for both years. I’ve read that The Escalade is what keeps them going. They are moving away from cars, despit having good vehicles. The CT6 was a very nice ride. I’m sure depreciation will be steep. Consider a used oneIf you are in the market for a large luxury car.

MY2020 — I assume that means Manufacturing Year 2020 .

Yes. I should have written second quarter to match the table above I was reading.

A quick read shows that the Cadillac move to NY to reinvent themselves only lasted 4 years. GM moved the HQs back to Detroit and ousted the CEO of Cadillac.
Said CEO also leased 34,000 square feet of office space in NY at 72 dollars per square foot for 10 years.
GM is still on the hook for the remaining lease unless they can find someone to take it over and given the current situation that does not look likely.

Cadillac styling has left me cold for a long time. As a matter of fact, I’ve referred to Cadillacs as Robo-Caddies because with some flat black paint they would be right at home in a Robo Cop movie.
They were ugly 10 years ago and uglier now…

I expect Cadillac to go the way of Oldsmobile and Pontiac.

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They did move to NY. But that exec is gone and they moved it back to Detroit. Much like Lincoln’s move to LA a few decades ago. A few years later, they moved back to Dearborn.

Edit: Posted this before I got to the bottom and saw @ok4450s post

I remember reading about their relocation to the now-expensive, very chic Soho section of Manhattan, and thinking… They are relocating their headquarters to a place where the environment for driving–and even for parking–is nothing short of hostile?

I wish them well, but if all of their business decisions are as… well thought-out… as that one was, then they are done for in the long run.

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Well, yeah, but at the time, they said “New York is the luxury capital of the world”. So by that logic, being located in a city where everything is absurdly expensive would magically make their brand successful–and give the appearance of success. You know, like how some people buy expensive homes and vehicles that they really don’t need–and can barely afford–to show off that they’re “successful” and have “made it” in life.

Yup!
Sort of like an old acquaintance who leases a new Caddy every 2 or 3 years, despite the fact that he has little in the way of savings or investments. He says that he does it because, “The doorman at the casino is really impressed when I pull up in a new Cadillac”.
:roll_eyes:

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