Exhaust Notes

Exhaust Notes Vol 26- Make Cadillac Great Again.

Anyone who reads Exhaust Notes has no doubt noticed that Cadillac is a frequent subject for EN essays. Admittedly, this author has a great affection for historically significant American automakers such as, well, Cadillac. How can you be an American car guy and not have at least a small place in your heart for the brand that was once synonymous with the American dream itself?

My love of cars began with cars built in the last 20 years. The glory days of Cadillac that transpired decades before i was born are of no sentiment to me or really anyone else my age for that matter. Millennials don't think of the old land yachts with gaudy wings, excessive chrome and white-walls with the same warm nostalgia as our grandparents did. "El Dorado" has no more relevance to my generation than Walkmans do with kids born in the 2000s.

To my generation, the greatest Cadillacs wear a "V" badge.

I fell in love with Cadillac when i first laid eyes on the gen2 CTS-V. The wagon, in particular, was the apple of my eye. I mean, here was a wagon with gorgeous styling and a ZR1 V8 from the same brand that builds cars for people who value the same qualities in a vehicle as their favorite Lazy Boy recliner. Driving dynamics aren't exactly a priority.

Yet the same company producing the dreadfully dull DTS- The vehicle bought by the type of person who's other vehicle is a custom, extra wide Rascal scooter-was also producing a ZR1 powered station wagon with nearly 600 horsepower. In addition to the wagon, there was the sedan, which was Cadillac's take on the tried and true German formula(mid-size sedan+ powerful V8 engine+slightly more aggressive styling). There was even a rakish, coupe with a bold, futuristic and slightly polarizing take on Cadillac's Art & Science design language.

While the sedan was a sports car in a sport coat, the coupe was about as subtle as a face tat. Still, the wagon was the most audacious of the bunch. Americans buy lots of sedans and stylish coupes, but they don't buy station wagons and those who do typically don't prioritize high performance. Yet Cadillac built a CTS-V wagon knowing all of this because Cadillac was smart. They knew it wouldn't sell very well, but they gave it the green light

So who did they build it for? Auto journalists. It is no secret that car scribes love wagons. They also loved the CTS-V. Motortrend was given a long term tester and they must have wrote 100 glowing pieces extolling the virtues of caddys hot new wagon. This car got more good press for caddy than any other in recent memory. That alone made it worth the relatively low development cost of creating it.

The Wagon and the coupe did not sell very well. They were never expected to. They were meant to get people talking about Cadillac but also show the world that Cadillac was a true competitor to the best German luxery performance cars. This was a solid strategy and one that ultimately brought Cadillac to the cusp of being a true player in the Luxery-sports car game. People were finally taking them seriously again.

Yet here we are, a decade later and Cadillac is now a brand without even a trace of identity. Their own marketing often mentions other directionless brands such as Acura or Infiniti as direct competitors, indicating that they have now given up on beating the Germans and settled for competing amongst the junior varsity of the luxery game.

To make things worse, while Cadillac was busy trying to half heartedly imitate BMW, Ford was cooking up big plans to reinvent Lincoln. But rather than imitate the Germans, Lincoln decided to abandon any pretensions of sportines altogether and focus on a quality, comfort, tech and features.

Lincoln rebranded itself as the modern, American Luxery brand. They ditched alphanumeric names in favor of real names, like Continental. They prioritized hot selling crossovers and SUVs rather than going after the 3 series and E class segments dominated by the Germans. Luxery, tech and comfort took priority over handling and sportiness. They started building vehicles with none of the compromises usually expected from American luxery cars. Not surprisingly, this strategy has been a massive success.

Lincoln's turnaround proves that anyting is possible. They established an identity and revitalized their Lineup in just 5 short years. Lincoln became laser focused on the goal of being the classic American Luxery brand and this inspired their designers to create products which embodied this identity. Top of the line navigators are selling for 6 figures, prices that while unthinkable a few short years ago, prove that the American brands don't need to win exclusively on price.

Cadillac dearly needs to find an identity. They need products that meet the current demands of the market The bad news is that these things take time and brand new, ground up products require massive development money. Cadillac is heavily invested in China and electric vehicles, so it is not feasible to expect a portfolio of new RWD crossover platforms anytime soon.

So what should they do? I don't have all the answers, but i see a few glaring opportunities for Cadillac to make the dramatic changes without spending tens of billions. For starters, they need to build an Omega based crossover like the Xt6 was originally supposed to be. The Blackwing V8 needs to be saved at all costs and the CT6- one of the best Cadillacs of all time- must be spared

I have detailed three basic ideas that would help Cadillac to right the ship.

1. PUT A "V" IN (the marketing)"TEAM"
There is no "i" in "team", and for Cadillac, there has been no V in marketing. That should change immediately.

Notice how Dodge only shows tire smoking Scats and Hellcats in all their commercials? The V6 version of the Dodge Challenger is actually the best selling version of that car. Yet when is the last time you seen a V6 Challenger in a Dodge commercial?

This is called the "halo effect" and it is as old as marketing itself. The idea is marketing your most highly desirable products creates more demand and cache for all of your products.

Caddy needs to market V cars like they are the only cars they make. Every car that appears in any marketing medium should be a V badged, quad exhaust tipped beast with red calipers showing through the wheels as it blasts over a salt flat.

2. V ON TOP OF V ON TOP OF V.

Every car should have at least 2 V trims. I like the new strategy of replacing Vsport cars with a proper V nomenclature and replacing the old V cars with a new moniker(rumored to be blackwing).

Just as Mercedes now offers several AMG variants in nearly all of their products. Caddy should stick a V on everything they have. Purists will hate this, but remember, Porsche purists hated the Cayenne, but without it, porsche may not exist today.

There is already the CT4V, CT5V and CT6V using this new, more accessible V strategy. Soon there will be hardcore variants of the 4 and 5, but i believe the regular V cars are going to be smash hits

They both look like real V cars, with the best interpretation yet of Cadillac modern design. They are both more than powerful enough for anyone who doesn't track their car but more soft and livable than before. They both come standard with super cruise and can be had with magnetic ride control.

3. EXPLOIT THE DEMAND FOR HIGH MARGIN PRODUCING LUXURY CROSSOVERS and SUVS

Caddy should up the ante on crossovers and SUVs. Throw the nicest materials you've got into a range topping Cadillac Best of all, it would be rather easy to make their existing cars fit into this new brand philosophy using existing components. Here are a few examples

1.Start with putting a 400hp version of the transverse 3.6tt from the xts vsport in the XT6 to create an XT6-V. This is the hottest segment in the game right now and crosstown rival Lincoln's new Aviator is superior to the XT6 in every way, with the base Model making 400hp.

The XT6 is a good looking vehicle, but inherently limited by its FWD architecture. But this isn't a supercarwe are talking about, and driving dynamics aren't the biggest concern. While this platform couldn't handle much beyond 400hp, that is more than enough for this segment

Offer the new XT6 at the first refresh intravel and offer a 350hp/350tq XT6 Sport base Model, The 400hp XT6- V as an option and a fully decrked our, fat cat XT6-V Patinum topping the range

This same strategy could be used on all vehicles. Base models are Sport, V is Midlevel, V-platinum, is a top non "blackwing" trim. RWD vehicles would also get hardcore performance variants similar to the upcoming "blackwing" cars.

With that said, none of these cars are going to have much relevance long-term. As the Auto industry as a whole transitions towards EVs, many legendary automakers will have to re-establish themselves in this new market. For Cadillac, this could be a golden opportunity blow it all up and start anew.

Our beloved Cadillac is at a crossroads right now. The brand is like a middle-aged former rock star who still makes good music, even putting out a few hits here and there, but they've never been able to recapture the glory of their heyday. Stuck awkwardly between a illustrious past and an uncertain electric future, the coming years will be crucial to how Cadillac will be positioned moving forward.

Hopefully Cadillac looks to the V subbrand for inspiration as they decide how to transition to electricity. This may be their last chance to reinvent themselves as a brand, so hopefully the ones pulling the strings recognize the opportunity at hand and allow the great engineers and designers at GM the leeway to once again make Cadillac the standard of the world.