GM Prices 2016 Cadillac CTS-V at $83,995

[archtaan]

Love the design and the price is definitely in line with the competition. Only thing I am not 100% on is the grill. Looks like they took styling cues from the Acura line, but at least they toughened it up. Cant wait to see the numbers on this!

[SpeedIsLife]

Cadillac has been gunning take on the Germans on their own terms for a while now. The ATS was the first shot at this new attempt and while I haven't seen any sales data I do see a few ATS's here around Portland but for the most part when up and comers are going for a status symbol they're not buying a Cadillac, they are buying an Audi or a BMW or a AMG Mercedes.

I'm really interested to see how this new CTS - V is going to do with others in the segment. there is a very big gap between $65,000 and $85,000. I firmly believe that the newest series of Cadillacs coming out are every bit the equal of German competitors in the segment, however the perceived quality, status, and image is dramatically different. Cadillac has a long way to go to gain the admiration of people in that segment, and for some people that will never happen

[MEDISIN]

Originally Posted by SpeedIsLife

Cadillac has been gunning take on the Germans on their own terms for a while now. The ATS was the first shot at this new attempt and while I haven't seen any sales data I do see a few ATS's here around Portland but for the most part when up and comers are going for a status symbol they're not buying a Cadillac, they are buying an Audi or a BMW or a AMG Mercedes.

I'm really interested to see how this new CTS - V is going to do with others in the segment. there is a very big gap between $65,000 and $85,000. I firmly believe that the newest series of Cadillacs coming out are every bit the equal of German competitors in the segment, however the perceived quality, status, and image is dramatically different. Cadillac has a long way to go to gain the admiration of people in that segment, and for some people that will never happen

A decade of accolades has done wonders for the V. I have yet to meet an AMG, M, RS owner that doesn't admire the V's raw performance and driver engagement. They may still prefer more luxury accoutrements, AWD, badge preference, etc. Some will never consider a domestic regardless of how good it is. I wasn't considering it either until I drove it. Had to look past my preconceptions and acknowledge what Cadillac engineers accomplished in building a better BMW.

[Bhobbs]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

How are you going to build up brand image if you keep selling your cars at discount prices? Then you become known as the bargain luxury brand and in the luxury world, that gets you nowhere.

Is it better to sell them at discount prices or have them sitting on lots for the same price as your competition?

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Bhobbs

Is it better to sell them at discount prices or have them sitting on lots for the same price as your competition?

Like most things, it depends on how you define better.

Is it better for a luxury brand to be popular, or exclusive? Is it better for the company to achieve profits through high volume & low margins, or low volume & high margins?

[shaffe]

Originally Posted by MEDISIN

A decade of accolades has done wonders for the V. I have yet to meet an AMG, M, RS owner that doesn't admire the V's raw performance and driver engagement. They may still prefer more luxury accoutrements, AWD, badge preference, etc. Some will never consider a domestic regardless of how good it is. I wasn't considering it either until I drove it. Had to look past my preconceptions and acknowledge what Cadillac engineers accomplished in building a better BMW.

That is the battle that Cadillac faces, they have made damn fine cars. They just need to continue to showcase it, and convert some of those "snobs" haha

Originally Posted by DGthe3

Like most things, it depends on how you define better.

Is it better for a luxury brand to be popular, or exclusive? Is it better for the company to achieve profits through high volume & low margins, or low volume & high margins?

I would say popular. I don't know about your area, but around me you go through the nice suburbs, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and even Infiniti are a dime a dozen, and Cadillac is a rare sight. They are everywhere even the M, AMG and S models are pretty damn common, so I would say that they are popular. Something that is exclusive may not be around as long as something that is popular.

[90503]

If Cadillac included this in their sales pitch, it would attract more buyers of other brands, perhaps.....

[Bhobbs]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

Like most things, it depends on how you define better.

Is it better for a luxury brand to be popular, or exclusive? Is it better for the company to achieve profits through high volume & low margins, or low volume & high margins?

It's better for it to sell cars. BMW and Mercedes have no problem selling their cars at the price the charge. Cadillac just can't expect people to buy their car over the others without the reputation to back it up.

No matter how you look at it, having months worth of surplus cars sitting around isn't good. Especially when your sales are dropping year over year.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Bhobbs

It's better for it to sell cars. BMW and Mercedes have no problem selling their cars at the price the charge. Cadillac just can't expect people to buy their car over the others without the reputation to back it up.

No matter how you look at it, having months worth of surplus cars sitting around isn't good. Especially when your sales are dropping year over year.

GM is a decade into rebuilding the brand, and its taken them this long to get product that roughly on par with the Germans. Its going to take time for the buying public to realize this. Nobody expects people to buy Cadillacs in the same numbers as BMW & Mercedes at the same price. Not at the moment at least. GM realizes they need to build the reputation (and expand the product line) of Cadillac in order to do that. But discounting their product goes against their goal of building brand image. As a consequence, they accept slower sales. For once, GM is actually thinking about whats best for the brand in 5 or 10 or 20 years instead of 5 or 10 or 20 weeks.

[FenwickHockey65]

Cadillac ATPs are super high right now if I'm not mistaken.

[Bhobbs]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

GM is a decade into rebuilding the brand, and its taken them this long to get product that roughly on par with the Germans. Its going to take time for the buying public to realize this. Nobody expects people to buy Cadillacs in the same numbers as BMW & Mercedes at the same price. Not at the moment at least. GM realizes they need to build the reputation (and expand the product line) of Cadillac in order to do that. But discounting their product goes against their goal of building brand image. As a consequence, they accept slower sales. For once, GM is actually thinking about whats best for the brand in 5 or 10 or 20 years instead of 5 or 10 or 20 weeks.

That may be but they should adjust production as needed. If I remember right, they had 8 months worth of CTSs unsold not too long ago. I don't know about you but that would be a big red flag to me.

The ironic thing is the car that is the least Cadillac is the one they are selling and the one they want to change. The Escalade is a reskinned Chevy and people have no problem paying for it yet they want to remodel it to fit in with the rest of the Cadillac portfolio. Changing the vehicle you have no problem selling to be more like the cars you can't sell doesn't make sense to me. Maybe they should look at why the Escalade is selling.

[King Sun]

They should make a regal version aka budget version and watch it fly off shelves

[King T]

Originally Posted by King Sun

They should make a regal version aka budget version and watch it fly off shelves

The hot segment right now is the small luxury SUV. The SRX is still very competitive coming in 3rd in sales last year

and still 3rd in sales as recently as March

We all know that the SRX replacement is coming up, so those sales might improve, but if Cadillac had a model below the SRX (XT5) that went against the new Lexus NX and Acura RDX those would get some sales.