A brief recap. When it began, Caddy was truly, no joke, I swear to God, the standard of the world. After the Depression, not so much. After the Oil Crisis, not at all. Since then, close but no cigar. And then, with the Saabilac BLS (sold in the Eurozone, Mexico and South Africa), not even close. While I still consider the new CTS sports sedan the finest Pontiac ever built, I'll spot you that one. But how about this: the $42k Cadillac BLS Station Wagon. Why, you ask? "Launching the first-ever wagon in Cadillac's history gave us the opportunity to revise the 2008 BLS Saloon model line-up to enhance our presence in the premium UK market," Cadillac UK head Jonathan Nash told just-auto [sub]. What presence? The BLS is a sales catastrophe; it barely racked-up double digit monthly sales. Seriously, they can't even sell a thousand of them. And yet, hope– like Caddy's brand defilement– springs eternal. Fleet sales! "The two new engines – the 180ps diesel and the 200ps Flexpower petrol/bioethanol unit – give us an opportunity to highlight the upgraded models' attributes to the business market." Meanwhile, Henry M. Leyland has just completed his forty-fifth grave spin.
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The BLS is GM’s Trollhatten charity project.
“GM charity project” is a line Bob Lutz used when he talked about bringing the Astra over to Saturn from Opel despite the falling US dollar.
Better than a minivan.
$42k?? Eeeeek
quasimondo :
Better than a minivan.
And a heart attack is better than stage III cancer. Theoretically.
I thought the SRX was the first Caddy station wagon!
From the angle in the picture it looks like a big Mazda Protege 5.
Well that Caddy PR fella said a week or so ago that a Cadillac can be anything and this proves it, although it doesn’t make it right.
quasimondo:
Better than a minivan.
Our household – minivans: 2, station wagons: 0
How is the SRX not a CTS wagon?
This begs the question, does GM do any actual research that involves talking to customers?
axual,
If GM does research, they could save a few bucks by firing everyone in that dept. Some folks are going to get great deals on these after they sit on dealer lots for a bit.
As we say in internet speak…
Epic Fail.
As bad as this is, it’s not coming here to the US, right? Cause they don’t sell the BLS here. Yet.
It’s the Cadillac of minivans.
The rear angle looks like a SAAB 9-3 with some minor Cadillac styling touches.
@axual: No, they must not talk to customers. Nor do they talk to brand management experts. (which begs the question, where do their legions of MBA’s come from, university.com?
How is the SRX not a CTS wagon?
Simple. The SRX is built on the STS platform, not the all new CTS.
At least from that angle, the nicest looking thing to come out of GM in a long time. But it’s not a Cadillac. It would make a nice looking Buick.
And with 42K I could get a 3 series wagon. If it were priced in the 20s, and I had a family, I’d find it very tempting. Provided you could get it with a stick.
As usual, there’s nothing wrong with what Cadillac is doing. I don’t see why luxury and station wagon doesn’t go together. In fact, I’m rather surprised there hasn’t been a Cadillac wagon ’til now.
These last few posts about the brand have been the same. “Caddy isn’t making the outdated luxobarges with engines the size of Madagascar like I think they should be making. They are doom-ed!”
Is the automotive industry as a whole trying to force a new trend on folks with these full-sized wagons?
I guess I’m young. I don’t understand what a Cadillac stood for then and now…well besides land yachts and rebadged Opels and Yukons…and well the CTS now. No idea what it stands for. Buick I think stood for rebaged GMs for cheapskate doctors / lawyers. Pontiac was…well we try to make a standard Chevy exciting by making it wider. GMC – professional grade rebadged Chevys that cost more. Oldsmobile – was never anything I even considered except cars driven by people w/ one foot in the coffin. Saturn – a new kind of cheaply built car for people afraid of haggling over cars.
They might be. And if they can make them more fuel efficient than a V-6 minivan, I’m not sure it would be that bad. As long as they still make minivans. They’re irreplaceable.
I guess it will make a fine mini-hearse!
i wish there was a DTS wagon. I dont liekethe huge wagon thing they have now, it looks like a herse. A proper DTS wagon would have a place to put my bicycle, my other obsession. Audi 6 Estates cost alot too.
Who would have figured that bringing back and rebadging the Cimarron for a second try would fail again?
Didn’t they learn anything from the first effort?
I think they must have been trying to go after the huge untapped market that was uncovered by the Jaguar X-Type.
@kericf:
yes, it does bear a resemblance to a Protege5, just if you made it more pixelated or more american looking. Of course that one angle of the BLS wagon is the only one that bears any resemblance at all.
I’ll keep my Protege5 though. I’d just get the 9-3 wagon if I wanted a GM.
also to anyone annoyed by the price tag, just consider this is a UK/Europe model, with the price just converted to U.S. dollars (I hope).
At a Pomona Swap Meet a few years ago, some bozo was tryin’ to off-load a mid-’80s Chevy Cavalier wagon that had a Cad Cimarron front clip on it. As I recall, he called it a Cadalier. On a more serious note, in doing research for my upcoming American Station Wagon book, I was surprised and impressed by some of the after-market Cadillac wagon conversions that had been produced in the late ’60s & early ’70s.
Cadillac has made wagons for decades in the U.S. They just send them to a “special coachworks” for finishing. You can find them in use any day, in any town in the U.S. Just look for your nearest hearse.
Last time I’ve seen so many yentas kvetch like you guys, I at least got a pastrami sandwich out of it from the deli tray.
It’s one thing to say that Cadillac’s wagon is a bad product. It’s another to say that a Cadillac wagon is a bad idea and I’m hearing the latter which is absolute malarkey.
If Audi can have an A6/A4/A3 wagon, if BMW can wagonize their 5 and 3 series and if Benz can keep rolling out German poops on wheels wagons then why the hell can’t Cadillac join the fray?
The product may suck but not the idea.
Actual U.S. sighting: I live in Houston, Texas. Last weekend, when it was raining like hell, I happened to be driving near one of these things, right near the Astrodome. It was on the opposite side of the road, stopped in traffic. Unmistakably a Cadillac wagon. Sadly, no camera in hand to grab it with, but if I saw one, you can bet other people will start seeing them as well.
Now why they should be testing a Cadillac wagon in Houston, of all SUV-overloaded cities, I can’t even imagine.
does the BLS stand for “Behold, Lutz Stuff”? (or words to that effect)
And I thought everyone knew that when GM holds a focus group session, only Bob and the voices in his head turn up.
I saw one “in the flesh” yesterday and it really looks like a pimped Opel Vectra Wagon – even inside.
If Cadillac really wants to get some european customers there’s a lot of work to be done…
The business market in the UK is the heart of the near-luxury sedan business. Professionals get company cars as a matter of course. It is entirely different from the US situation.
From the angle in the picture it looks like a big Mazda Protege 5.
That’s just funny.
@AKM
“$42K – Eek”
$42K where a CTS 3.6 goes for $60K – RF just tried to shock you with European prices including 19% VAT ;)
Hey Rodster205:
Maybe Caddy thinks they can make more money off the hearses if they take out the middle man. Anybody in the market for a true Cadillac (is anybody actually in a market for that?) won’t buy this.
Way back when there was some noise about GM giving SAAB the SRX platform. Caddy balked, so SAAB got the 9-7, er, Trollblazer, a car which made no sense whatsoever, even with the key on the floor. Clearly GM with SAAB, unlike Ford with Volvo, had no idea what they had bought.
Now, Caddy does a small wagon. I recently wanted to buy a big wagon, but short of a 60k german marque, it simply does not exist here in the US, all of us who’d buy one are pushed into SUV’s or minivans. I ended up with an SUV because there are no reasonably priced wagons.
Blame CAFE and the fact that SUV/minivans are not “cars”. Bogus.
I think the SRX fills the bill nicely for Cadillac. V6 or V8, all wheel drive and optional 3rd row power folding rear seat make this an ideal choice.
Packard was the pre-eminent luxury car till the 1940’s, not Cadillac. In fact when Billy Durant formed General Motors in 1908, Oldsmobile was the most expensive car, Cadillac the cheapest. Cadillac played catchup for years, being outsold not only by Packard, but by Pierce-Arrow as well.
Personally I love wagons…Audi Allroad owner, and I also like the Caddy SRX (wife’s car) so… Would have to see, but if the wagon had 300+ hp/torque…
New plan for GM.
Add a brand.
I can hear you all screaming, “What!!!???”
Okay, now that I have your attention. The point about the long slow decline of Cadi gave me the idea.
Perhaps GM should shake up the mix every decade or so and come out with a new top of the line brand.
Of course, simultaneously, then need to KILL a brand (or two or three).
There is a lot of money to be made buy creating a great brand, and then milking it for all it’s worth. When the cachet is gone, kill it off, and start fresh. We all know that is what happened to Cadi.
In this strategy, Cadillac is the new Buick. Buick, and Olds are dead. GM then comes out with their own Maybach brand which in forty or fifty years may have been milked to death, again.
Could GM make this sort of thing work?
Well, the truck-based Escalade SUV and Escalade EXT truck seem to be doing well enough to stay in production since they were introduced many years ago, so a Cadillac station wagon doesn’t seem to be too much of a stretch.
A blinged out Caddy wagon, perfect for the aging gangsta set in So Cal, they of many kids and women. Perhaps this is one way forr GM to get some of their lost urban market back. Now that is planning from the Detroit boys.
While their have been no production Caddy wagons…Bowman & Swartz and Hess & Eisenhardt, among others, built custom bodied Cadillac station wagons for (mostly) film stars.
btw: It’s Leland, as in Henry Martyn, not Leyland.
Leland was not only the long time President and Chief Engineer of Cadillac (nee FoMoCo), but the founder of the Lincoln Motor Car Company.
one problem with this whole story is you need to do a bit more research … Cadilac had built and sold station wagons fom the 1950’s up to 1979/80 yes extreemly low numbers but there still out there ……… i have a friend that owns one
I dont like this new one GM has realy messed up their entire company…. sad very sad
ssgrader, I’m pretty sure all Caddy wagons (including hearses) were custom built, not production, vehicles.