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Automotive News & Views Can GM make Cadillac the standard of the world Again?
6098 messages, Last post on Aug 14, 2009 at 4:43 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: british_rover (Sep 19, 2007 3:40 pm) The leather is hand-sewn, just like that found in the STS-V and XLR-V. The SRX will benefit from Cadillac's new "cut and sew" technique that employs craftsmen to cut, stitch, stretch, and install many of the interior's leather panels. This enables such upscale details as French stitching, and GM hopes it will also eliminate the large gaps and poor fitment they've come to be known for. Jim Taylor, Cadillac's General Manager hopes the old-world charm of hand craftsmanship will help lure more customers to the SRX, saying, "The SRX is the latest and most complete example of our new approach to interiors, blending advanced technology with the hand craftsmanship that was once, and is again becoming, a Cadillac trademark."
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The U.S. President still rides in a Cadillac. But more than three out of four Americans who buy a luxury car these days opt for a European or Japanese model. Nowhere has the Detroit-based carmakers' loss of market share been more dramatic than in the luxury segment. General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler sold fewer than half of all light vehicles in the U.S. for the first time in July. But foreign brands captured 78.3 percent of the luxury market. Their share rose further to 79.4 percent in August, according to Autodata, a market research group. What is more, the luxury segment is growing faster than most others and is expected to be relatively resilient in the face of the softening economy. "We haven't seen anything [of a downturn] in the U.S. so far, and don't expect anything in our business for the remainder of the year," Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of DaimlerChrysler Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand and the market leader, reported a 5.2 percent gain in sales in the first eight months of the year, compared with January-August 2006. BMW's sales were up 8.7 percent, and Audi's 10.8 percent. Audi, Volkswagen's premium brand, last week said it had set a target of more than doubling U.S. sales by 2015. It plans to retool its dealer network and develop a small sports-utility vehicle. GM, Ford and Chrysler gave the foreigners an opening in the 1990s by focusing on SUVs and pick-up trucks. GM's Cadillac brand was outsold by Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the first eight months of this year. Ford neglected Lincoln, its domestic luxury brand, instead acquiring four European-based carmakers: Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover and Aston Martin. Lincoln sales have also fallen behind Honda's Acura. Cadillac gained a new lease of life in 2002 with a flurry of new models, notably the CTS saloon and the big Escalade SUV. But it has recently run out of steam, with sales down more than 10 percent so far this year. Demand for Cadillac's SRX crossover has been flat while rival Acura MDX is up by 13 percent. The Lexus RX outsells the SRX four-to-one. Cadillac is banking on a fresh boost from a new CTS. A hybrid Escalade will follow next year. Lincoln has also recently launched a flurry of new models. But Tom Libby, director of vehicle analysis at consultancy JD Power, says Cadillac and Lincoln are not perceived as having the same quality as a Lexus." One problem in Mr. Libby's view is that the two domestic brands do not have image-enhancing, top-of-the-line models to compete with BMW's 7-Series and Mercedes' S-Class. A Cadillac spokesman said it plans to fill that gap, but declined to elaborate. But the foreigners are not sitting still. Mr. Libby points to Mercedes' and BMW's success in extending their range of vehicles to derivatives such as sports models and SUVs. At last week's Frankfurt auto show, BMW premiered the X6, a "sports activity coupé" that combines elements of an SUV and a sports car and is due to go on sale next year. Lexus has expanded the luxury image to its dealerships. One $75 million outlet that opened in Newport Beach, California, last year includes marble floors, a grand piano, a games room and a café. |
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Although the upgrades probably won’t send CTS sales barreling past those of its rivals, they place the car on firmer footing against the best from Germany and Japan. Inside, nary a floor mat is carried over from the previous model. Thoroughly modern, high-tech and luxurious, the interior surpasses what most will expect from a car of this ilk. Infotainment and heating/air conditioning controls are less intuitive on this model, but with several redundant buttons and a dial that centralizes several functions, operation becomes second nature quickly enough. The ’08 CTS isn’t merely an improvement on the previous generation. The redesign marks a giant leap that takes the car out from among the also-rans in a crowded segment and puts it right alongside those at the head of the class.
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Sep 20, 2007 5:02 am)
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Sep 20, 2007 2:55 am) Be interesting to see the procedure they are using to keep costs down. That kind of work is very expensive. |
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Replying to: british_rover (Sep 20, 2007 6:48 am) It is far more likely that machines are used, but someone make be guiding them. My SRX has leather covered seats. I am not sure that there is leather anywhere else though. The dash is covered with a softish material, with a finish that does not look leatherish. The armrests could be covered with leather - not sure. However, there are stiches visible even on hard plasic parts... http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/MediaNav/articleId=117281/firstNav=Gallery/- photoId=32522 In the above picture, the light colored stuff on the console is hard plastic, which has stiching... I will comment on my SRX door panels. The material used under the windows is the same stuff on the dash, and has a softish feel to it. Under this is a piece of wood trim (real I think), and then there is a soft trim material which could be vinyl or leather, with stiches in it. Then there is the armrest. Below the armrest on the front doors is a storage bin (a nice touch), but this is hard plasic. With the doors closed, the lower part of the door is not all that visible, so the hard plastic is not a big deal. In the good old days, eBay Motors has a lot of good picture, GM luxury door panels were covered with soft vinyl from the armrest down, with the lowest part covered with carpet. I think the addition of storage bins in todays cars is better than a soft vinyl armrest to extended downward, but the hard plastic could have a bit of carpet covering it.
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Sep 20, 2007 5:02 am) Reminds me of one of those advertising 'stories' in recent mags, or a Sunday paper 'review'. |
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Replying to: sls002 (Sep 20, 2007 6:44 am) Every article from the media I read says the CTS interior is top notch. So it must be that they are all reading the same GM pitch and writing down what they are told to write. Darn that C&D and the rest of them, bought out by GM. The only one I heard of that says anything somewhat bad (except for a poorly located cupholder) is the Automobile mag which I have not read. The car has been out for awhile and there are all kinds of media stories out there. Can anybody find a link that supports a deficient interior in the CTS? |
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Replying to: british_rover (Sep 20, 2007 6:48 am) Do you have any info on this? I really doubt it and cannot find where they are doing it.
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Replying to: sls002 (Sep 20, 2007 8:13 am)  They are probably made just like the seats. Most of the seat sources (Lear, JCI, etc.) have a plant in Mexico or some other low paid nation with a bunch of people using sewing machines to stich the seats together. In there own right they are craftsman. The same sources make the interior IP and doors so they are probably also sewing the parts. http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/model/gallery.jsp?model=cts&year=2008&id=3&p- rimary=4 Per the website they call it stiched accents so probably some of the interior is vinyl. And today the vinyls used are hard to tell from leather and in some cases even have a better hand. i.e. silk infused leather |
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