Shane KiteCadillac has yet to shed its Florida grandpa, retro longhorn hood-ornament image in the U.S., though it keeps trying.
The General Motors luxury brand momentarily succeeded with the giant, gangster-esque Escalade SUV, which saved Caddy’s bacon. But that was ten years ago.
U.S. market share has slipped and domestic sales stagnated since: Cadillac sold roughly 156,000 vehicles in America last year; not half the 337,246 vehicles purchased domestically from top luxury automaker Mercedes in 2017.
Sales peaked for Cadillac, a brand once associated with high-roller largesse and rock-n-roll VIPs, 40 years ago, when Caddy sold some 374,000 vehicles in America.
On the bright side, Cadillac now sways more in the world’s biggest car market: China, which, incidentally, buys more Buick’s than any other U.S. luxury automaker. Cadillac sold 175,489 vehicles in mainland China last year, surpassing the company’s domestic sales for the first time.
GM has allocated $12 billion to develop new Cadillac models in an effort to turnaround U.S. sales for its New York-based subsidiary at a planned rate of about one new vehicle released every 6 months through 2021.
“Cadillac’s portfolio reinvention has begun,” announced Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen Wednesday at the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS).
Part of that new lineup includes a late entrant into the luxury compact SUV market, the Cadillac XT4, which debuted on Tuesday at a pre-NYIAS event in the Manhattan neighborhood of Soho, which two decades ago transformed from an art enclave into a luxury shopping district.
Canny location: GM would like to experience something similar to the “Soho effect” in Cadillac’s U.S. sales division.
Yet while most focused on the tail-chasing compact SUV story, we felt America’s oldest luxury carmaker offered a much more compelling narrative in the “reinvention” of Cadillac’s top range sedan, the CT6 V-Sport, which debuted Wednesday.
First, it’s a beautiful car. Sort of a Mercedes-in-the-front, splash-of-Bentley-in-the-back mix, the CT6 V-Sport nonetheless seamlessly combines these elements and so is well-designed to be its own unique self. Declivous curves and clean front lines finish in a bold yet refined, acclivous rear profile that taken together radiate a serene, high-end strength. The sport version of the car leans forward more than its predecessor and its mesh grill is much more tasteful.
Most importantly, the novel yet unforced elegance of the CT6 V-Sport proves Cadillac has finally doffed its boxy past.
The new design smooths out the hard edges of the top range CT6, which debuted three years ago. The V-Sport looks much more polished and urbane.
Our only suggestion: Get fully rid of the logo.
Sorry, but the truth is, Cadillac’s logo is the ugliest, most nonsensically messy design in the business.
If Cadillac really wants to own luxury again, it needs to jettison its tacky past by getting rid of this overly busy, crayon-colored emblem of yesteryear for a much cleaner and simpler badge.
Things are better engineered behind the shield: The V-Sport carries a completely new, twin turbo 4.2-liter V8 that provides 550 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque coupled with a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Vroom.
And while the sedan market has dipped in the U.S., the luxury crossover and SUV trends are neither forever nor for everyone. Few luxury buyers, for instance, will want to be confined to hopping out of an SUV in black tie during the social season. Truth be told, the only “fashion” certainty is that today’s trend will be tomorrow’s gauche joke, and vice versa. Cadillac will do well to remember such counterintuitive nuance in tailoring its new lineup.
NYIAS is open to the public through April 8.
