Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
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
|
As far as I know the American auto industry back in the old 50's days wasnt that good. It was the competition that hadnt caught up yet, they were far worse. The Japanese industry was in its adolescence, still trying to match American quality. The Germans? They were still struggling from the mess left from WW2. Over the years the Japanese and German industries made bigger steps in advancement, eventually catching up with the Americans who didnt make as much progress as the competition. The result is what you people see now. Of course, not all of them succeed. Look at Jaguar, theyre basically in the same condition as Cadillac and Lincoln, even worse since Ford bought it (and now they sold it again). I'm not sure as of what happened to the US brands, but personally I chalked it down on arrogance. They got overconfident and didnt think the others would ever catch up, well, they did. I believe Mercedes walked a similar path, they got too confident in their products, making slow progress while charging stratospheric amount of $$$ for their cars. What happened o them? They slipped while Audi, BMW and even Lexus caught up with them. |
|
|
Replying to: 62vetteefp (Jul 21, 2008 5:03 am) Absolutely. Build product so I can buy one again. Then, it will be my World Standard along with a whole heck of a lot of other good folks. Yes, the change is apparently happening...but world standard is so far a reach from here, IMHO. Regards, OW
|
|
|
Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 20, 2008 1:34 pm) The Vega was junk, the engines were aluminum, and the design was faulty. The Lexus 400 was built to compare with the Mercedes S-class. Cadillac bodies were still designed to flex. I think that GM had come to realize that they were way behind in body design about 1990. Of course Mercedes had been building stiffer bodies in the 60's, but GM ignored them. But GM started working on the so called G-body which went into production in 1994 as the Aurora and Riviera. J. D. Powers surveys suggest that GM does well relative to the industry average, with most brand near or above the average. Saturn is not so good, but better than Volkswagon. I very seriously doubt that you can substantiate your claims with facts. |
|
|
Replying to: circlew (Jul 21, 2008 6:02 am) I think that Cadillac was tops only in the USA market in the 60's because there was no real competition. Lincoln, and Imperial were the competition, with imports of no concern in terms of sales. The Mercedes 600 was considered to be a far better car by the Car magazines, but it was priced with the Rolls Royce, and so was not considered to be a real car at the time. The current Rolls is so expensive that almost no one can afford one, and so is not a serious car.
|
|
|
My facts are simply the loss of market share of the Big 3, and the growth of the imports at the expense of the Big 3...it is also odd that one of the traits often stated when someone is asked why they abandoned Big 3 and bought imports is "quality"...scientific or not, when the buyer leaves one product because they believe the other product has better quality, whether it is actually true or not, the Big 3 have lost a sale...and, as long as the buyer believes his import is better, he will continue to buy the "better" product...that, is a fact... When an entire nation is buying fewer of their own products and buying imports, SOMEBODY does not "see" the quality in the American product that you do...so you may argue with me all you want, but the perception of the buyer is their reality until something happens dramatic with the import to shake that reality... The Big 3 are in trouble, the imports are not...while not scientific fact, that is sufficient market proof for me... COOTER: I have no thoughts on that in Mississippi except to wonder why...
|
|
|
Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 21, 2008 8:01 am) The primary reason that people bought Japanese cars in the mid-seventies is because they had the highest fuel economy ratings and people expected fuel to be rationed. Once people owned an import they found quality was better than expected and many continued to buy them. AS I SEE IT: if people have a choice of 3 product lines of equal quality, they will choose on average about equal numbers of each. So, Ford, GM and Chrysler should have each had about 30% of the market in the 60's, with the last 10% going to lesser car makers, imports or whatever. NOW: with all manufacturers building quality cars (including Chrysler), I see about 6 distinct major manufacturers (GM, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chrysler, everyone else). This means that anyone with more than about 15% of the market has more than their fair share and keeping it will be difficult to impossible. GM with 30% of the market in the 1990's could not hope to keep that much. GM currently has over 20%, and can't possibly keep that much. This does not mean the GM products are junk, and saying that it does mean that is a stupid argument. The market in the US is expected to be about 15 million this year->meaning that GM should only have sales of about 2.5 million, anything more is over their share. Customers have far too many choices that are all good quality these days. Back in the 60's there were two good choices, GM or Ford, with Chrysler a shot in the dark to speak. American Motors was a fair choice perhaps, but clearly did not have the sales. |
|
|
Replying to: sls002 (Jul 21, 2008 6:30 am) World Class to me is Bentley and Rolls. Not Caddy.    You can SEE why. Regards, OW
|
|
|
when you were getting hosed? Before gas hit $4 a gallon, General Motors relied on large trucks and SUVs for most of its profits. In fact, one GM exec once told Leftlane that it only costs about $6,000 to $7,000 more to produce a Cadillac Escalade than it does to produce a Chevrolet Malibu – resulting in an incredible $30,000+ profit difference! However, the good times are over for GM and the auto giant is now looking to its small cars for big profits. I guess the cat's out of the bag! Imagine if they would have invested some of those killings that in world-class design and parts? Who knows? Could have been a contender. Regards, OW
|
|
|
Replying to: circlew (Jul 21, 2008 9:14 am) At one time in the 70's I thought that the Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special was something I would like. When I was looking at trading in my 71 Riviera, I drove a used 73 Fleetwood for a short test drive. It took about two blocks to see that it was an oversized car. I really liked my 86 Buick because it was smaller. The problem I see with picking a "Standard of the World" today is that there are too many very good choices. If the "Standard of the World" is supposed to be the car that most people would choose if they could pick out any car they wanted, price of no consideration, then I think that there would be several cars on the list, none of them with 50% of the total. Personally, if there were a BMW dealer within a 100 miles, instead of more than 300 miles away, I would probably own a BMW wagon, probably a certified used 5 series. Still the SRX is a good choice for me, not too big and heavy, but burns more fuel than I would like. If the winters are shifting back to more snow then I probably have the right vehicle.
|
|
|
Replying to: sls002 (Jul 21, 2008 9:58 am) Enjoy the SRX. Winter is coming soon! BTW, I saw some really nice pricing on late model A-8's yesterday. Very interesting. Regards, OW |
|
You are here:
Forums
Automotive News & Views Can GM make Cadillac the standard of the world Again?
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
2010 Cadillac Escalade
2009 Cadillac XLR
2010 Cadillac STS
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
