Will China-made Cadillac XTS Change Caddy's China Fortunes?
A China-made Cadillac XTS was announced and expected for “this fall, just months after the car’s North American launch.” It has not appeared yet. But they are working on it hard, as the picture by Carnewschina attests.
The car was caught on a highway near Shanghai, being shuttled between the many locations GM has in and around the city.
According to Carnewschina, “the China-made Cadillac XTS will debut on the April 2013 Shanghai Auto Show, it will be launched on the Chinese car market in the first half of next year.” Better late than never.
Cadillac needs Chinese production badly. In the wake of the mentally challenged punitive tariff on Chinese tires, China retaliated with a punitive tariff on cars imported from China. The tariff was expertly crafted to hurt GM the most. Said The Guardian last year:
“General Motors faces the greatest impact, almost 22% extra on some sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and other cars with engine capacities above 2.5 litres. Chrysler faces a 15% penalty, while a 2% levy will be imposed on BMW, whose US plants make many of the cars it exports to China.”
The XTS will be followed by other Made-in-China Cadillacs, such as the CTS and ATX. Currently, only the Cadillac SLS, a long version of the STS, is being produced in China. Reception of the Cadillacs in the Middle Kingdom has been lackluster. January through October, 24,000 Caddys were sold in China. As a comparison Audi sold 36,000 cars in China in the month of October alone, and sold 330,000 January through October.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Well, it will definitely be more competitive, but it's still going to be something of an uphill slog. The Hongqi HQ3 has far more presence for only slightly more money.
Didn't that "mentally challenged" tarriff on Chinese tires expire recently? If so then when is the 22% due to expire or is it?
I thought it was the Mercedes-Benz SLS. First to file?