When Johan De Nysschen took over at Infiniti, his first moves were to move the brand’s headquarters and revamp its naming structure. That led to a jumble of confusion as industry observers and enthusiasts struggled to make sense of the new naming convention. Fresh off of moving Cadillac from Detroit to NYC, we have word that De Nysschen will implement a new nomenclature for Cadillac.
The first car to use the new convention will be the unnamed flagship, dubbed the CT6. According to Cadillac, the new system “…will only change a product’s name when the product itself is redesigned or an all-new model is created.”
There’s also no word on how this will relate to trucks and SUVs, but surely destroying the Escalade brand equity in favor of some alphanumeric combination is a criminally stupid idea.
… and I thought that nothing can be worse than current three-letter mish-mash.
Well, it wasn’t. They managed to make it worse.
I was hunting through the trademark registrations last week looking for the name and saw the CT6 registration, but didn’t think it was “the” name. I guess I was wrong.
They should just call it the 6000SUX because that’s what it will end up being. Moving Cadillac from Detroit to “Delta City” ain’t going to save it. This new Cadillac guy is a no talent fool, no one remembers “part numbers” only names, unless the brand is strong like BMW, but that’s rare. GM is a complete joke making cars that leak oil at 60K miles. Wow, this guy really turned Infiniti sales around- NOT. Of course the fools at GM hired him.
“They should just call it the 6000SUX because that’s what it will end up being.”
+1 big time! (What a dumba$$ idea)
So much impotent ‘Enthusiast’ rage at a non-issue.
Believe it or not, the people who actually buy cars from a showroom don’t remember, know, or care what an Eldorado or DeVille is.
This is a Non-issue, easily one of the smallest tempests in Cadillac’s current teapot.
I can’t figure out today’s nomenclature. I honestly don’t know the difference between most of these cars:
ATS
CTS
DTS
ELR (I know this one)
Escalade (I know this one, too, and so does everyone else)
STS
SRX
XLR (I knew this one)
XTS
Maybe the “City 6” will be better than a “City 4”, or whatever, and then people can understand the differences better.
Whatever happened to real names, like “Seville”, “Eldorado”, and… “Cimarron”?
2 things, I guess:
– imitating the Germans in the sense “real cars” don’t have “real names” (don’t laugh, I’ve read and heard that statement before);
– focusing on the brand and trying to transfer prestige and focus to it (when asked, most BMW owners simply say, “I have a BMW”, instead of saying, I have a Mustang).
Can’t really speak to the effectiveness of it, but it’d seem Acura, Lexus, Volvo, among others, agree.
It is a combination of easy internationalization and laziness. No need to worry about having a terrible name like the Nova appear and screw you.
Of course the best part is just as Cadillac is getting traction, they jack the prices, start changing the names, and basically making a hash of everything. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Completely not in it for the long haul if this is how you play.
Sort of. Deville, Eldorado really mean very little from an international view point, while the name Cadillac has a degree of recognition. More and more this kind of decision will be based on a global view, afterall globalization is bringing people closer. Some suggest that GM used Buick in China because that was easier to pronounce than Chevrolet.
It is hard to understand and accept but looking at it that way it explains what makers, especially American ones are doing. Case in point, FCA’s Cherokee, the new Mustang, the whole Cadillac idea.
If it works or not remains to be seen, but the signs are good.
This is why Buick is popular in China:
http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/01/credit-a-communist-chinese-leader-for-buicks-survival-and-record-sales/
Having said that, there is no reason at all for GM to keep buick as a brand here in the US of A. I would like to think that despite the naysayers, GM is more than capable of getting rid of buick here and keeping buick alive in China.
Thanks. That’a another story.
As to having Buick in both US and China, why not? You can use similar add campaigns, logos, dealer decorations and style and repeat for greater volume and profit. The cars don’t have to be exactly the same, but the more commonality, the better for the company.
“… when asked, most BMW owners simply say, “I have a BMW””
Since when do you have to ask them?
That whole “putting ‘real’ names on the ‘wrong’ kind of thing” really is pretty freaky sometimes, though. It bugs the heck out of me, for example, when people give their dogs “people names” like Max, Otto, or Sara, in stead of “dog names” like Rex, Spot, or Fido.
– “This is our new dog, Max. And hey, look, you have a new baby! What’s he called?”
– “Eh, his name is… Max.”
As to people names for dogs and other pets agree, completely, animals, no matter how loved, are not people. As to things, still remain unconvinced either way. When a product is great, it owns the name. Though the brand does have a point in protecting its turf, sort of like the Yankees not putting player names on their jerseys. I can easily see the wisdom behind that thinking.
The *TS naming convention arose almost by default. STS was an acronym for Seville Touring Sedan, and then DTS became an acronym for DeVille Touring Sedan. Then the regular Seville disappeared and the regular DeVille became “DHS,” and other names followed from there.
ATS rides on the Alpha platform so I’m thinking its Alpha Touring Sedan. CTS name is based off the Catera Touring Sedan.
What Cadillac needs is German fit and finish. Not the cold vagueness of their naming system
So I tried to register POS as an automobile trade/model designation and guess which U.S. automaker has reserved it?
Yeah, you’re right, all of them. I have owned a few of them POS cars over the years, but no more. I won’t get fooled again.
So I’ll just chill out, have a good ole American beer… a PBR…and then see if I can trademark it for… hey wait a minute…it’s Russian?Cypriot now???
Anybody got WTF yet?
They should resurrect the Cimarron. Just bling up a Cruze or a Sonic sedan and voila, the 2016 Cadillac Cimarron. Of couse it would have to come with the 1.8 non-turbo engine, Bonneville SSEi style body cladding and a red velour interior complete with bench seats. It would sell like crazy to rental fleets. Then people would get one and say “this is a Cadillac? Gross! I’m going to buy an A3/A4/CLA”. And the GM cycle of $hitiness would continue to infinity.
It’s very easy, actually. They only have 3 products: Escalade (the gilded truck), CTS (the old awesome), and ATS (the cheap thing that rides CTS coattails, like the C-klasse to E-klasse). Everything else is immaterial and you don’t need to remember all the dumb acronyms.
But the CTS isn’t old at all.
I don’t understand this new classification system.
Funny. I can tell you what each of those models are as far as type, how old they are, and if they’re based on anything else GM, as well as whether they are FWD/RWD/AWD.
“CTS
DTS
…
STS”
Catera, DeVille, Seville.
“The little one, the medium one, the big one”.
Works for me.
The others? No.
I wonder what the significance of 6 is? The Chevrolet Cruze hatch is called Cruze Sport6. Never really got a satisfactory answer as to why that is.
Oh, and I’m also happy this is not about the new Mustang! Last thing Ford needs is a Boss the same as the old (from an international perspective).
I looked at the registration database again and in addition to CT6, they’ve registered CT5 (serial number 86343063).
goes to prove, to me at least, that this new fella is as clueless as John Smith, Ron Zarrella, Joel Ewanick, and the rest of the pack. much as I never cared for the guy, at least Pete Gerosa had some sense in his head. I’m convinced that GM will never get it. great cars, wonderful employees, and dumb as they come leaders.
I know that at least you, Dan & I are just in awe at the incompetency illustrated by GM regarding Cadillac as of late.
It’s really incredible what they’re doing & quite perverse.
CT6. Interesting. Leaves a lot of room for growth above. Could the CT7 be the Range Rover-ized, de-Suburbanized Escalade replacement I’ve been harping about? Could the CT8 be a Pullman or even Bentley competitor?
Lots of space under, too. That could also be interesting.
They’ve already registered CT5. I couldn’t find anything else.
“CT” apparently refers to cars, so it won’t be on anything that relates to an Escalade.
Is this just another guy who, like Ferdinand Piëch, no one can say ‘NO’ to?
Not that the current naming scheme is great, but at least it is more recognizable, with less confusion (i.e. ‘A’ is smaller than ‘C’, but doesn’t refer to the number of cylinders it has). Infiniti switched schemes because they had no where to go, but I can’t imagine Cadillac is having the same struggle.
When it comes to making an ELR 2.0, I guess nobody had the guts to admit the mistake that ELR 1.0 is.
He’d get my respect if he killed that car.
Oy. Cadillac has been fortunate in that its names were at least *somewhat* easier to keep up with than those of Lincoln and post-2013 Infiniti. Not anymore. But at least Cadillac will wait until the next redesign to change each product over to this new naming scheme.
And I’m sure the Escalade will keep its name.
And I’m sure the Escalade will keep its name.
I dunno. Escalade is pretty much that last non-alphanumeric name left in the luxury market. If there’s one thing you can count on car companies to do, it’s to slavishly follow fads.
I think the writing is on the wall. And it’s an illegible mishmash of letters and numbers.
If the Escalade name is kept, it will be as if its its own brand. All Cadillac SUVs will be an Escalade with some random letter/number combination.
Odd that its chief competitor, the Navigator, is the only other such vehicle to have a real name.
Poor, poor Equus. Nobody loves you.
Equus me, I forgot about that one.
“I dunno. Escalade is pretty much that last non-alphanumeric name left in the luxury market.”
Bentley and Rolls still have proper names unless I’m not up to date on future model.
“I think the writing is on the wall. And it’s an illegible mishmash of letters and numbers.”
Nice turn of phrase.
More lipstick on pigs.
Get back to me when Porsche starts doing this nonsense.
Heard of some cars called the 911 and 918?
You mean two cars that have designations going back decades and name recognition so wide that even illiterate farmers in Afghanistan have heard about them?
Originally conceived as the 1822, one of the pair of prototypes rolled off the ark. Hence 911.
Quick someone patent every unused 3 letter sequence.
Just when you think someone gets it, they pull this crap, I thought they were trying to grow cadillac sales not lose potential customers in a sea of confusion.
CT6, seriously? Name it the Aztek, that name, soiled as it is, has more value.
Pray this doesn’t go the way of the disposable razor market:
First Audi brings back four digit designations.
Then BMW trumps them with FIVE alphanumerics!
Next thing you know, we’re all driving around in social security numbers and PC passwords.
Hire the Pythons before they’re senile, use faux Latin and let the new Caddy be Biggus Dickus. Equally appropriate names will ensue for lesser models.
QVC
Which model is the A S S?
What, de Nysschen at it already before his NY penthouse suite is even remodeled?
I do declare this person is a one man automotive wrecking ball. Secretly on the Piech executive compensation scheme to ruin other premium automakers while appearing semi-rational on the surface.
That 1+1+1+1 Infiniti Q something or other can be easily outdone by a USA supersized 2+2+2+2 Cadillac ST8 and yes, wait for it, a real trunk will be included.
Should be a major hit worldwide.
Wrong place…I’m rusty at posting.
Before looking overseas wouldn’t it be prudent for Cadillac to reclaim its status in the North American market?
And popular culture is rife with references to Coupe De Villes, Fleetwoods, etc.
Stand out from the alpha-numeric pack.
Reclaim your throne.
Bring back names that reflect the prestige of what owning a Cadillac once represented.
Let’s ignore China as that luxury market explodes to pause and try to fix the US. Good strategy. You should apply for the positions available in New York because they should definitely not move into China until they get back to where they used to be in the US.
By chance, were you ever employed by Zenith TV back in the early 90’s?
China is the worlds 3rd biggest economy, with 1/2 the GDP of either the US or the EU. Plus to do business in China, GM has to be partnered with a Chinese company. Buick is perfect for GM to focus on in China, as it was dead in the states so if it is lost in China, like during the GM bankruptcy when their Chinese partner owned 51% of their joint venture, they will not take such a huge hit in the states or elsewhere as if they gambled on the Chevy or Cadillac name there.
Buick is doing well in China, keep on that path, and rebuild Cadillac starting in the US where it has some brand equity left, using names that mean something to the market, like Fleetwood, and DeVille, and expand the brand in the EU as you can. Position the brand correctly in those markets, and the rest of the luxury buyers will come to it.
Really, China is so overrated as a market, especially for a true luxury brand like Cadillac should be. The only attraction to China right now is that it is fragmented between so many automotive manufacturers, and if you are in the right position when consolidation happens soon, it will be a good market for winners, but again, GM has to partner with a local manufacturer to do business in China which limits their gains. So let the Buick brand play its role in China, and let Cadillac get it done in the US and EU.
The US may be king of the luxury car market for now, but China has more growth potential than any other car market in the world.
Any automaker that wants to be around thirty years from now needs to have a China strategy. Any automaker that ignores China runs a serious risk of being on the endangered species list. It’s as simple as that.
The people who want to buy Fleetwoods and DeVilles are dying faster everyday. That’s not a strategy to build on for the future.
Meanwhile, China surpassed the US as the largest auto market in 2009, and the population of people there who want to buy cars exceeds the US two-fold, at least.
‘Sundridge’ It appears that ‘Agent534’ not only answered your questions but demonstrated the fallacy of your argument.
I often differ with Sunridge, but he got this right and you did not.
There’s nothing holy and sacred about the US market. There is no good reason why the US has to come first, when the momentum is clearly coming from somewhere else.
Any strategic sampling will demonstrate that if you lose your home market, you will eventually either fade away or move to the market where you are strongest.
Therefore Cadillac would either permanently move to China (China only sales, China only manufacturing or sell of the name to a Chinese manufacturer) or just become extinct.
North America is still Cadillac’s biggest market. Should they just walk away from it? Meeting the needs of the North American market is akin to ‘picking the lowest hanging fruit’. And therefore cost efficient and effective.
Remember that the US is still the 2nd largest market. And in sales the truism is that it costs less than 1/3 the price to retain/upsell an existing customer than it does to gain a new customer.
That is how you build momentum.
GM demonstrated that they learned this lesson when the retained the Buick nameplate. Keeping it allowed them to retain a strong presence in its strongest market, China.
Building new Cadillacs with the Chinese market as the primary target would currently be an unsound business policy for the Cadillac marque.
“Any strategic sampling will demonstrate that if you lose your home market, you will eventually either fade away or move to the market where you are strongest.”
Is that supposed to mean something? Yes, if a business declines in one place and does well in another, then it will decline in one of them and grow in the other. Seems kind of obvious.
As are all of these companies, GM is a multinational. The world is its home. China is part of the world. If that’s where the profits are, then it would be foolish not to pursue them.
Pch101, they do have a strategy for China, its called Buick.
And even then, the forced partnerships eat into their profits.
Sure they sold 1 million Buicks because of China, but North American remains their top market.
Minus recall costs, in Q2 GM’s revenue was $2.4 billion from North America compared to about $500 million from its China income.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-24/gm-sets-aside-at-least-400-million-for-ignition-recall-victims.html
GM has market share in North America, owns it all themselves.
Buick should be doing its thing in China as the brand was dead here, and Cadillac and Chevy shouldn’t be bent with things like silly names that ignore the value of known names to chase a potential in China
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/04/29/is-gm-investing-too-much-in-china.aspx
Again, China is the future. It isn’t just about today.
Any automaker that doesn’t have a China strategy is potentially setting itself up for failure.
The math is fairly obvious: China has four times the US population and more growth potential. It isn’t just about today.
@PCH101
As GM’s China sales are already more than the US, but their revenue is a fraction of the US revenue, if GM is banking on a China as the future to the detriment of the North American market by making it secondary or beholden to the Chinese market, then the future doesn’t look too good for GM.
“And popular culture is rife with references to Coupe De Villes, Fleetwoods, etc”
Not these past two decades or so, really.
And even then, the only ones I can think of are BBoys songs.
Go where the big guys aren’t. Infiniti’s new scheme is still totally unrecognizable. There’s also zero automatic prestige in just stringing together some letters and numbers on your cars. Mazda does it. NBD.
The problem however is that Cadillac doesn’t have the historical naming heritage that Lincoln had and subsequently threw in the garbage for no good reason.
Aside from the Calais which I doubt anyone remembers, Cadillac has the DeVille and the Fleetwood. Does anybody really want those back? The Cimmaron and the Allante are obviously tarnished beyond repair.
They’d have to come up with completely new stuff, and that’s not easy. CT-blah on the other hand takes one second to think up.
I want a last run fleetwood brougham badly. I would love to see a modern version also. Bespoke long wheel base sedan with rwd a 6.2L and perhaps the option of three across front seating. It would be a truely obcene thing today dwarfing Rolls Royce’s Bentlys the new Phaeton and equal the Escelade in every direction but up. And I would totally buy one fifteen years later at my nearest Buyherepayhere.
Whoops! Johann, I take it all back! Well some of it anyway.
Bertel Scmitt reports the Infiniti Q80 is a 2+2, not a 1+1+1+1. Straight from the mouth of Andy Palmer, departing Infiniti Europe chief who was saying his goodbyes in Japan, before departing for Aston Martin and sales that outdo Infiniti in Europe. Well, not far off. Cubic money hasn’t stirred Euro taste for Infiniti.
So where did TTAC come up with the Q80 being a centipede anyway. Which other blog can be blamed for TTAC’s mistake this time?
From Infiniti’s own press release
“A concept as impactful as Q80 Inspiration is set to push boundaries in more ways than through the beauty of its attention-grabbing skin. The cabin is able to bring together the four occupants in a highly stylized and personalized ambiance of the highest quality. Carbon fiber, aluminum and leather surround those inside in spacious “1 + 1 + 1 + 1″ seating.”
That could mean 2 + 2 with a little extra space between the seats. Hopefully it won’t be a stretched Elio.
Edit: From USA Today:
“Infiniti describes the car as having “1 + 1 + 1 + 1″ seating. That would be four seats each offset from the one ahead, loosely grouped into two rows. Such an arrangement could keep the car narrower than if two front seats were side-by-side and the two rear seats likewise.”
I misread again. Instead of “personalized ambiance,” I got …highly stylized and personalized embrace of the highest quality. It made no sense, but seemed like a good time.
Without hyperbole, I can say that the Infiniti naming scheme is the worst idea anyone ever came up with in the history of everything.
Alphanumeric names wouldn’t be so bad if they actually stood for something.
Agreed. Not only is “Q” the most useless and stupid letter in the alphabet, it threw away a decades worth of “G” equity.
Q is useful to me. :(
Oh, sorry. Kwintin, perhaps?
This guy’s gotta be trolling.
For those saying it’s forgettable, just remember:
CT = Cimmaron Today
If true, that name for the flagship is a big pile of meh. Just calling it an Elmiraj would have been great.
Cadillac will be fine. GM’s real luxury sales are $50,000 Tahoes/Silverados and $60,000 Denalis. Most companies would kill to sell 650,000 high margin full size trucks a year.
Cadillac is starved for product the price increases aren’t helping. They’ve got one CUV that is 5 years old when luxury cuvs are hot. The Escalade is too expensive to provide any meaningful volume to the brand. A new 4 cyl CTS is way more expensive than a 2013 6 cyl CTS. Domestic car buyers care about getting at least a 6 cyl when paying $40K or more. An Audi or BMW buying badge whore wouldn’t mind paying $40K for an underpowered 4cyl engine car. Cadillac has too much internal competition too. Buicks and GMCs are too close in price to luxury vehicles. The Acadia and Enclave for example have ATPs very close to several luxury CUVs. Cadillac needs to screw moving to NYC and concentrate on product. It would need two more cuvs, one smaller than the SRX, one larger, an emergency SRX refresh and one AWD BOF SUV based on the GMC canyon. This would help Cadillac in China too where luxury CUVs sales are exploding.
BOF and luxury don’t go together. You can’t get a well-controlled ride with it. If you want a SUV/CUV that’s trucky but has a luxury feeling it needs to be unibody (or at least unibody-with-frame) with serious off-road hardware, like… well, every big luxury SUV currently on the market except the Escalade and G-Class. Range Rover, GL-Class, LX 570, QX80, Q7… not a true BOF product among them.
You can get a well controlled ride with BOF, look up LJK Setright thoughts on the subject, but IRS and magnetic dampeners would help greatly.
BOF and luxury don’t go together. You can’t get a well-controlled ride with it.
Actually, a Yukon XL Denali with MagneRide is bliss. You can run right over Priuses (Prii?) and small children and not feel a thing. I’ve tried it. Also, the QX80 and LX 570 are absolutely body-on-frame.
So now Cadillac owners of the future can put up with the question – oh you drive a CT6, is that the car Oprah gave away?
How do failures and/or dullards keep getting great jobs in the industry whereas if the B&B applied to product planning positions (even entry level), many would be rejected?
I hope this is some sort of sad joke, if not this new boss has lost any respect I might have had for him.
I await the irony of a V8 powered CT6.
Finally a chance to comment on the absurd 3 letter number nonsense that Cadillac is using for their “Nameplates”. These so-called names just make me sick, an alphabet soup that is meaningless to me, so uninspiring, that I have no desire to own one of these XYZ things as a gift. Look at Chevrolet, GM’s price leader with wonderful names like “Volt, Impala, Malibu”. Where did Cadillac go wrong? Until they have a new “Eldorado”, or DeVille”, I’m not the least bit interested in what Cadillac has to offer. If this idiot turns the Escalade into a ABC, I predict that sales will tumble.
The 6000 SUX can’t be far behind! Another Robocop prediction eerily comes true…
What’s next, using Taurii for police interceptors?
“What’s next, using Taurii for police interceptors?”
Hmmmm, I thought they already had those. I’m certain I have seen the Ford Taurus Police Interceptor in the wild, usually waiting to bag an unsuspecting speeder on the Interstate.
In fact, yes, I’m certain I have seen them!
The prohpecy was foretold.
I don’t get how anyone can think this could work. I remember being at the Vancouver Auto Show shortly after Infiniti changed to their new nomenclature and basically giving up and walking away on translating the old vs new names so I could re-picture their vehicle hierarchy in my head.
It’s cool to keep classifying cars by digit and engine size (i.e., LS460, S600, 540i, et al.) if it’s been done since the beginning and at least has logic to it, but shifting to this for a company that has never done it before is just nuts. Wasn’t this move at Infiniti considered basically the biggest branding mistake of the year (I know it was by many on here).
because no one cares about Infiniti’s names any more than they do about Cadillac’s names. They’re stupid, they don’t make a lick of sense, and no one will miss them.
everyone is crying about brand recognition and name value. You know what? There is no value. It’s just a name. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that should matter about the naming convention of a car line is that it’s easy for a 3 year old to look at two names and instantly figure out which is bigger/more expensive. That’s it. That’s all. Nothing more. XTS? ATS? CTS? who gives a flying fornication. A/B/C/E/S? good. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7? good. A3/A4/A5/A6/A7/A8? good. MKS/MKZ/MKS? not good.
And I’m sorry but the move to NY is a good move in my opinion. the vast, vast majority of luxury car sales, particularly the Germans, are made at the coasts. you can argue the east/west vibe differences, but the left and right edges of the country are pretty much a different country than the rest of the country. Might as well be where the customers are.
There’s money on the coasts, but no one there wants a Cadillac. The middle of the country is where domestics still reign supreme, and that’s the only place where anyone still dreams of owning a Cadillac.
Many smart, successful and articulate people comment here.
*Somebody* should be able to tell me just what would be lost if Cadillac went extinct.
I don’t know how successful or articulate I am, but here goes a shot.
From a business perspective, in the Sloan model, why not try to keep someone who has been a frequent buyer of yours in your line? Outside that model, the same question, why not try to bring that person who would buy lux German over? Remember, these are high margin cars. Doing like VW and being smart in the sharing of parts, you can have clients not feel it, while profiting from volume at Chevy and margins at Caddy.
From a more ethereal point of view, it’s a dream you know? If GM can make Cadillacs and they are so good, aren’t Chevies good? It does have a halo effect on the rest of the line, lending credence to the “real” business. Being successful, it becomes a real business unto itself.
I’m sure others will explain it better and have better reasons as to why.
Sorry, Marcelo, I was unclear. I meant what, in 2014 and to highly car-literate people, would the general market lose if Cadillac disappeared. Why do the B&B appear to care so much?
Is it just some vestigial patriotism of the baby boomers? What in the entire world of automotive needs and preferences would suddenly become unfufilled by Cadillac’s demise?
Well, in that case you lose an alternative. Not everyone is in love with the German lux trio or the Japanese pretenders. It’s always good to have choices. As Cadillac cars have become more and more credible alternatives with each new car launch, you just have more choice.
But you are right. If they closed shop today not many would miss it and there are plenty who would find satisfaction in owning the cars currently on offer.
Finally, guess it provokes discussion partly out of the vestigial nationalism you mention, partly out of a misguided nostalgia for days gone by and partly because there are those not satisfied with being the Germans and Japanese the only purveyors of luxury automotive appliances.
I think much of the American fondness for the marque must stem from happy childhood associations. Parents, grandparents, other positive adult influences who owned Caddys have kept a warm spot glowing.
*Somebody* should be able to tell me just what would be lost if you went silent.
If cadillac were lost so would be America’s reputation as a builder of world class vehicles.
I have the strangest feeling you’re saying that with a straight face.
I don’t see what’s so bad about names. Names work, ask Land Rover. They even decided to ditch the LR# business here in the USA because it was dumb and had no name recognition.
MB got it “right” for themselves a long time ago (300SL, 250SE, 280SL, etcetera), and they’ve even mucked it up.
So, naming conventions, especially for the international buyers, is going to be increasingly difficult going forward.
The only answer is to send out surveys to existing and potential customers with a list of copyrighted/patented names in each potential market for the vehicle, and selecting a name based on customer preference.
If the survey reveals that the majority of people (in the USA) looking at the Cadillac pictured above should be the “Eldorado”, then — (in a deep male voice) “Cadillac Introduces The NEW, 2016 Eldorado… Just For YOU.”
In the EU, such things will be tougher, due to the multiple languages, so an alphanumeric naming convention may be more appropriate.
Well, except in France, where this car could be the “Cadillac du Soixante-Neuf” or some such thing – the automotive equivalent of both men and women getting everything they want from this car.
From the time I heard about the new flagship sedan, I assumed it would be either a Fleetwood or an Eldorado. Bringing back the meaningful names would be the best attention-getting move Cadillac could make. The CT6 name does not evoke any luxurious image. The “C” is too low on the scale and the “6” indicates to me a 6-cylinder engine.
There are not a lot of historical “names” to choose from, but it certainly seems like Cadillac could do better. If I were in charge, I would go with Eldorado for the new sedan (yes, I know Eldorados have always been 2-doors). The name has magic and oozes class. The other names get a bit tough. The XTS seems like a DeVille, but the CTS line has coupes and sedans that go with the DeVille name nicely. Seville, Biarritz and Fleetwood are all good Cadillac names of the past. I personally like the Cimarron name, but it could never be used again by Cadillac. None of these names work well for the SRX, so something new might need to considered there.
The alpha-numeric names have to stop at some point. Infiniti’s new scheme is a nightmare. BMW has completely destroyed its original concept, which made some sense at one time. Mercedes seems to be trying to consolidate its system, but it’s not working well. The days of a car name creating an exciting image seem to be long gone.
Anyone that works in a corporate environment knows this is just the new manager trying to put his mark on Cadillac and make it his, no matter how dumb and pointless this appears to the rest of us. So now any new products that have success will distinctly be remembered as being launched as under Johan De Nysschen, especially the new flagship.
Its a cornflower blue stamp on a product that pretty much wouldn’t have any other input from him. As other redesigns come out, it will be ‘oh the xxx-stupid name launched under Nysschen’, not the redesigned DTS was released. And it creates some separation for him from past Cadillacs- oh that DTS wasn’t mine, I had the xxxother stupid name. It doesn’t really cost much money to do, so its easy for him to push through. Stupid Stupid Stupid.
They should have just called their new flagship “Fleetwood”.
I have a 1985 Cadillac Eldorado “Business Coupe” in my storage garage and am about to purchase a 2000 Eldorado ETC. I’ll ship the 2000 Eldorado to Ft. Worth, Texas to Carroll Classic Cadillac for the new Northstar headbolts and get it back better than new!
In 2002 I bought a 1983 Coupe deVille from Spokane, Washington and drove it to southern California in three days. I remember stopping at Hubacher Cadillac in Sacramento and seeing all the customers lined up to test drive the NEW Catera (CTS!).
I agree on the naming of cars properly. ETC means Eldorado Touring Coupe but the ELDORADO name is there as well!
Too bad 2002 was the last year.
ATS, CTS, DTS and the rest don’t do it for me…
Ask the folks in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania!