1979 Cadillac Coupe Deville on 2040-cars

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Cadillac plans new branding campaign to go with new products

Cadillac's new leader says the GM luxury brand now has "thousands of people" working on its behalf back at its soon-to-be new headquarters in the Detroit suburb of Warren, with a new branding campaign under development and plans to fix longstanding quality issues. Cadillac President Steve Carlisle granted an interview with the Detroit Free Press in which he said he'll unveil a new strategy to redefine the luxury brand, which he's calling a "master brand," in the first quarter of 2019. "Cadillac has its own values — boldness, optimism, innovation, sophistication — that will reflect in the master brand," Carlisle told the outlet. The challenge is "how to bring those to life." He added that Caddy won't be defining itself simply as a viable option to gold-standard Germany luxury cars. "We're targeting customers versus competitors. Cadillac has to have its own persona and not be defined by where other brands are and are not. It has to have its own definition and that's what we're reflecting in our master brand." Carlisle, who was promoted to lead Cadillac in April, put his first stamp on Cadillac last month when the brand announced it will move its headquarters back to Warren, Mich., across the street from GM's massive Tech Center, after more than three years in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood. He said its Cadillac House showroom, a ground-floor space used to display models and stage events with partners, will remain open "for the time being" and that the brand will use what it learned well outside of its Detroit auto-industry bubble to move the brand forward. He'll have his work cut out for him. Cadillac plans to launch a new or redesigned vehicle every six months for the next three years, and Carlisle said he wants the brand to be GM's technology leader, the first to deploy self-driving and electric-vehicle technology of GM's stable of brands. Yet the brand just ranked second-from-last in Consumer Reports' new reliability survey for 2018. Jon Linkov, deputy auto editor for CR, said the brand suffered for widespread complaints about its Cadillac User Experience infotainment system, with owners reporting frequent crashes, frozen screens and problems with voice control. "Most of (the complaints) really ran through the CUE system being a major culprit for Cadillacs," Linkov said. Through September, Cadillac's year-to-date sales had dipped a half a percentage point from the first nine months of 2017 to 113,240 units.

2013 Cadillac ATS Premium 2.0T 6MT

The new Cadillac ATS is an impressive sport sedan, often considered one of the most serious threats to the BMW 3 Series. Unlike GM's previous attempts, this four door brings aggressive styling, commendable chassis dynamics and class-leading handling to the highly competitive battle. And, like its daunting German foe, Cadillac offer several powertrain choices.
I recently spent time with the ATS 2.0T Premium on my home California turf. Fitted with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox with a limited-slip rear differential, my tester was lightly optioned, with only a paint upgrade and a cold weather package. That brought the as-tested price to $46,305, configured the way I imagine most enthusiasts would prefer. This meant I fully expected to enjoy a week with a tossable sport sedan that boasted "fun-to-drive" as its middle name, but all was not well...
Driving Notes

Cadillac vehicles to go electric by 2030, will get real names

DETROIT — The head of General Motors' Cadillac luxury brand said on Thursday that a majority, and possibly all, of the brand's models would be electric vehicles by 2030. Cadillac President Steve Carlisle also said Cadillac was on track for "low double-digit" sales growth in China in 2019, despite a drop in overall sales in the world's largest vehicle market. Retail Cadillac sales in the United States were on track this year for their first increase since 2013, Carlisle said. Cadillac has previously signaled a move toward electric models. Carlisle also confirmed Cadillac would offer a large electric sports-utility vehicle (SUV) similar to the Escalade and that it could continue to sell internal combustion models alongside electric vehicles, depending on consumer demand. GM expects to begin production of the large Cadillac electric SUV in late 2023 at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant as part of a planned $3 billion overhaul of the factory, sources have previously told Reuters. GM's luxury brand also plans to introduce a compact electric SUV in China in 2022, with a companion model slated to go into production in the United States in late 2023, suppliers said. Cadillac showed a concept for a midsized electric SUV earlier this year. The division will use names for its future electric models, moving away from number and letter names such as CT6 or XT5. "Escalade is an awesome name," Carlisle said. Cadillac will refresh its existing gasoline-powered models one more time over the next decade and then focus on the electric models, he said. "None of us knows how quickly the transition will take place," to a fully electric lineup, Carlisle said. A key challenge for electric vehicles is driving range and Carlisle said Cadillacs will need a range of 300 miles to be competitive. Eventually, he said, "you need to be at 400 miles" with charging times in minutes. Cadillac also will expand the number of models equipped with GM's Super Cruise semi-automated driving system, Carlisle said. GM executives have previously suggested that a more advanced version of Super Cruise was in the works. Earnings/Financials Green Cadillac Electric Luxury