You may have heard that Cadillacs aren't real big in Europe. In fact, part of their barely noticeable presence is their sheer size. The company tried to remedy that problem with a small sedan based on a Saab, but no Euro was buying that one. It also didn't help that they were sold through some third party distributor that eventually went belly up after giving a good try for a few years.
Now Cadillac has announced that it is going full steam ahead once again in Europe. This time it will sell its latest models through franchised dealerships just like the U.S. According to the release, Cadillac Europe will start off by selling all the various iterations of the CTS, so sedan, coupe, sport wagon and V-series versions of the first two.
Sure the new CTS will give the Europeans something to consider seriously. But the real question is, with all of GM's troubles in the U.S. is this a good time to be branching out into a market is notoriously difficult to break into with U.S.-based products? We'll see by this time next year.
estreka says:
06:16 AM, 02/22/10
It's actually a pretty good time to expand into other markets. With the USD down, Caddies are cheaper to produce.
I'm not expecting a plethora of conquest sales, but Cadillac isn't the same company it was a few years ago.
throwback says:
07:53 AM, 02/22/10
When will GM learn. You need diesels to sell in Europe. Also, the fastest growing luxury segment is compact Luxury (BMW 1-series, Merc A&B class etc) Cadillac has nothing in there. As for styling, Europeans don't like Caddy's styling, which is the one thing that distinguishes the car from all other luxo cars.
bankerdanny says:
08:25 AM, 02/22/10
Does GM have a good diesel to offer? Because I can't see them competing with BMW and Mercedes in Europe without one.
greenpony says:
10:31 AM, 02/22/10
I see another failure on the horizon.
thejohnp says:
08:04 PM, 02/22/10
Maybe they can slap a Caddy badge on the new Cruze or Spark platforms to compete?