Cadillac: Good cars, bad sales; what's the fix? - USA TODAY

Cadillac's fresh car line is considered high-class, high-quality, high-performance. In fact, the November sales report shows that General Motors' Cadillac cars in the U. S. drove off a cliff. Within two days of the November sales tally, Cadillac fired its ad agency, Detroit-based Lowe Campbell Ewald, and hired Publicis Worldwide, headquartered in Paris with offices in New York. Cadillac said Publicis has "undisputed expertise in luxury-brand building" and "will further our progress globally. Cadillac's XTS, a big sedan that was supposed to edge the brand closer to its German rivals, withered 50. 3% in November. ATS, small, entry sedan intended to match the BMW 3-series, was off 33. 7%. And the newest car model, the recently redesigned CTS midsize, was down 7. 5%. Even booming SUV sales at Cadillac, as it follows the overall industry trend back to SUVs,... com show that the big, truck-based Escalade SUV had sales up 75% in November and is taking just 14 days to sell after it arrives at the dealership. Both are being discontinued -- the Jag because it doesn' fit the brand's lineup and the Audi because a new version is replacing it. Part of the reason for Cadillac's slow car sales is obvious. "You're putting the brand at a different price point than the traditional Cadillac customers are used to," says Cadillac's new president, Johan de Nysschen, who took the job July 1 -- the brand's third boss in two years. Source: www.usatoday.com