What's Wrong With This Picture: Cadillac Dealerships Get A New Look Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Cadillac dealers were disproportionately targeted by GM’s bailout-era dealer cull, with some 900 cut before GM reinstated many of them after enduring a downturn in Cadillac sales. The problem, as we noted in a meditation on “Detroit’s Small Town Luxury Lament,” is one of identity:

Is Cadillac a European-grade maker of world-class, dynamically-focused and fashion-forward driving machines, or the small-town America symbol symbol of petty-bourgeois success, with an emphasis on the old-school American values of wide seats, big power, and a cosseting ride? The brand’s product line displays this identity crisis (compare CTS and DTS) as much as the dealer network does.

The answer: yes. GM is keeping a lot of small-time Cadillac dealers on the roster, and is asking them to upgrade their facilities to a new design created by San Francisco-based architecture firm Gensler. GM talks up the new look’s “contemporary architecture and premium materials” in its presser, but it too seems to try to bridge the yawning gap between a fashion-forward, Euro-inspired look and a more traditional, conservative look aimed at a more “traditional” customer (see image above?). But does it work? Does the new look communicate “Cadillac values” to you, or does it strike you (as it does me) as a bit of a compromise?



Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Ubermensch Ubermensch on Jun 12, 2011

    I happen to like the new design, but I am biased. I am typing this while sitting in a Herman Miller aluminum chair similar to the ones pictured. :)

  • Cdnsfan27 Cdnsfan27 on Jun 13, 2011

    After I retired from the Army I sold Fords in Kingston ON while waiting for my green card to join my wife in DC. I loved the experience and the hours...and I found that I was very good at sales. When we moved to Tampa I thought I would go back to sales...until I saw the store hours..8-8 M-F, 8-7 Sat and 11-6 on Sunday. In Kingston our hours were 9-8 M-T, 9-6 F, 9-4 Sat in winter, closed Sat-Sun in summer. Closed all major holidays. I hear dealers bemoaning the lack of professionals wanting sales jobs but with those hours how can you balance work and family?

  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
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