Leaving the nest: Cadillac will seek greater independence from GM, chief says - Digital Trends
Since taking over the luxury brand last year, Cadillac chief Johan de Nysschen has tried to improve its image by distancing it from the rest of General Motors. By 2017, Cadillac will report its own financial results, and it will also soon have a dealer network separated from the rest of the GM brands, according to a new report from Automotive News. Speaking to Wall Street analysts at a recent conference, de Nysschen said Cadillac will soon achieve a “higher degree of autonomy and self sufficiency. The Cadillac chief — who previously helmed Audi and Infiniti — said the brand will focus heavily on distinguishing its dealer network from the rest of GM, including revamping incentives to focus more on brand building than outright sales performance. Even with that shift in focus, though, de Nysschen hopes to increase Cadillac sales from 263,697 units in 2014 to 500,000 by 2020. Like many luxury brands that are divisions of larger, mainstream carmakers. Models like the Escalade, XTS, and SRX are based on platforms shared with other GM brands, which makes them seems less exclusive and puts Cadillac at a disadvantage compared to German brands in critics’ eyes. A replacement for the aging SRX is expected soon, and de Nysschen has discussed simply scrapping the Chevrolet Impala-based XTS at the end of the current version’s lifecycle. Source: www.digitaltrends.com
