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Ballers looking for a much smaller Cadillac Escalade may need to wait four years before such a beast arrives, per president Johan de Nysschen.
Reuters reports the small crossover will be priced under the Escalade’s current $72,970 base price, and will be part of the brand’s overall $12 billion lineup expansion plan that will see eight vehicles introduced between now and the end of the decade.
Also coming in 2019: diesel-power for both cars and crossovers/SUVs. De Nysschen said he wants to start pushing for market share in Europe during the 2020s, explaining that “if you want to play in Europe, you better have some diesels.” Said diesels would also be sold in the U.S. market.
Meanwhile, he expects sales to remain flat for 2015, linked to the lack of new product beyond the upcoming CT6 flagship until late into 2017. De Nysschen adds that the strengthening U.S. dollar would leave a dent in his brand and those of his U.S.-based competitors, while Asian and European automakers use the currency challenge to cut prices on their respective offerings.
“the small crossover will be priced under the Escalade’s current $68,000”
It better be about $30K under or beside the fact that it’s about 4 years too late it will be way too expensive for anyone to care
Well I think it would depend on the size. If its the size of and X5/ML then no. I would would expect maybe about 45 to start. If its the size of the RX then maybe 38 to start is right. If its the size of Encore then 30 to start.
Now if they surprise us both and make a Arcadia size crossover then to be honest I have no idea what they would charge. Maybe 55? to start?
The small crossover will be about the size of the X3/GLC, as the midsizer will be the SRX replacement (getting a but larger) and the full size being based on the Omega platform.
The thing is, Cadillac really messed up in being incredibly slow in expanding its CUV lineup – which is the main reason why sales have stagnated (meanwhile, Buick continues to grow and will continue to do so with the addition of the Envision CUV).
Cadillac should have had a compact CUV ready about a year after the ATS was launched, but we’re still talking another 4 years away.
This leads me to believe that Cadillac realizes that they can’t build a competitive compact CUV on the current Alpha platform as it would have the same disadvantage as the current ATS (not competitive when it comes to interior room) which is why they are delaying development until after the new, larger ATS (built on a modified larger, Alpha platform).
Oh, they’ll care.
This gives Melody 4 years to work her Conquest Through Clothing strategy.
Yes, a small crossover with matching handbag
“What I Wear To Work” won’t just mean garments.
Egad! I think I’ve just tumbled to her mad plan!
“Ooohh! *squeal* That Escalette looks SUPER on you!”
“Escalette”
Great name but, CTX3 Escalette more then likely for the “Caddy Girl” line of trendy clothing accessories
Obligatory interactive photo & click-on accessory chart when mentioning Melody Lee’s corporate mindset as a representative of Cadillac:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-25/what-i-wear-to-work-cadillacs-melody-lee
In 4 years perhaps Wagons will be the hot segment. Seems like a long time for this. Not really feeling the whole European strategy. I guess they want to compete against Benz/BMW/Audi on their home soil, but they don’t really compete here so I’d fix that first. Seems like a tough nut to crack though…like the Japanese and full size trucks here but at least there is significant reward if they can crack the truck market. I don’t see a ton of untapped demand for Luxury cars in Europe.
What would sell here is probably a small CUV though…everyone seems to be able to move them which is why the 4 years is crazy.
Wishful thinking? The part about wagons becoming popular again in America.
Wait, isn’t a “small crossover under the Escalade” basically the SRX? Or do we mean “a small crossover, under the SRX”
I agree, since the SRX is their number one seller it won’t be going anywhere, so I assume “small CUV” would be slotted under the SRX, but who knows?
I’ve just realized that this Reuters report, saying that a smaller crossover will cost less than the Escalade…
Is a giant moment of DURRRR.
I mean, it better. I haven’t seen a 2015 Escalade priced under $80K. The Escalade ESV is, for all intents and purposes, a $100K vehicle now.
I would like Cadillac to try to peddle a $100K Trax though.
I thought that $68k sounded too low (ha, $68k Tahoe Brougham sounds too low). I guess that’s a 2WD with zero options and no window tints?
The two Cadillac had at the Detroit Auto Show were $86K (Escalade) and $97K (ESV). Those two vehicles did have more people around them than the rest of the Cadillac display combined. No one wanted to sit in the poor ATS.
“No one wanted to sit in the poor ATS.”
4 of us got in and imagined we were hooning around in an E30.
Also, listening to the guy on the stand talk about the CTS-V, I could have sworn it was John Tesh.
MSRP¹ STARTING AT
$72,970
1 The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price excludes destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment. Click here to see all Cadillac vehicles’ destination freight charges.
http://www.cadillac.com/escalade-suv.html
It’s just shocking to me to consider how MANY new Escalades I see driving around (and you certainly notice those huge tail laps now). And how many superior cars there are for equal or slightly lesser money.
(So the $68k is just incorrect all around.)
I sat in the ATS, and I probably could have taken a nap in there.
Danio-
That’s who he reminded me of! He was still better than the fake lumberjack/hipster guy talking about the Titan. I felt bad for that guy though. When he did his presentation, it was only me and a few Ford and GM engineers (all work on trucks) there. They did not seem impressed. I was offended by the front of the Titan.
“(So the $68k is just incorrect all around.)”
That was the base price of the 2014. So, maybe that’s where that comes from
Oh I’m glad they upped the MSRP then.
@bball Aren’t you too tall for the ATS?!
I liked the John Tesh CTS-V guy, made for some easy listening about 200mph and brembos n junk.
“He was still better than the fake lumberjack/hipster guy talking about the Titan.”
I noticed that guy too and also felt bad for him. They might as well have dressed him up in a clown oufit it was so obvious. They should have made him business casual to better mirror the demographic that’ll buy that truck.
Did you check out the Alfa girls? Mio dio!
I’m too tall for it to be my daily driver. The car is set up where I fit in versions without the sunroof (legroom is fine). The problem is that if I put the seat all the way back, I get kicked in the head by my 2-year old in a car seat.
I took one home for a weekend. While I liked many things about the ATS, the interior space and trunk space is a dealbreaker.
Danio-
Alfa had more girls than cars I think. Smart move. The lady that was presenting the Ford GT was asked a few times to move out of the way so people could take pictures of the car. Also, if the Tesh guy busted out a keyboard and broke into “Roundball Rock”, I would have called my local Cadillac dealership this morning and placed a deposit.
” lumberjack/hipster guy talking about the Titan.”
Not to be confused with the lumberjack/hipster girl over at Subaru
That’s a different sort of flannel over at Subaru.
I think they mean “a small crossover that’s presently called Encore”.
It’ll take them 4 years to get around to it because decorating their NYC offices can’t be rushed and is, of course, all consuming.
Slapping Cadillac badges on cheap Chevys (Trax) is harder then it looks
Especially when they have to be sewn on with unicorn hair by real Italian gnomes, not just short guys from Mulberry Street.
Saturday, at NAIAS, was the first time I’ve sat in a Chevy Trax. I don’t understand why an American would buy that vehicle (or any vehicle based on it). It has headroom, but that’s all the room it has. I don’t even want to take it for a test drive.
Is it much different size-wise than the Encore platform? I thought they were the same.
They are. I haven’t been in an Encore in a couple years. Maybe the cheapness made it seem smaller. I don’t understand the draw of the Encore either. Why wouldn’t someone just buy a Terrain from their local Buick/GMC dealer?
My C-Max feels gigantic compared to the Encore/Trax, and it is almost too small of a car for me. I can’t imagine buying the next size down.
I have never been in one, but the styling and two-tone makes them look cheap and ridiculous to me.
I was assuming (maybe wrongly), that a similarly equipped Encore would be at least $10k cheaper than a Terrain?
Good point, bball. These mini-CUVs all seem to offer room in only the vertical dimension. Encore, Trax, Renegade, Soul.. etc. all seem mighty tight width-wise.
Corey-
Maybe. I haven’t been pricing out small GM CUVs lately. I know that I have been in both the Terrain and Encore, and the Terrain is so much nicer, even with the basketball jersey cloth seats.
The Terrain I was in did have leather, but boy was it cheapo. And the intrusive dash made it feel very tight inside. At the rear, there was nowhere for my legs or feet to reside, and I’m only 6′ tall.
The Terrain has an adjustable rear seat. Was it adjusted all the way back?
Now that I’m not sure on. The seat seemed to be “where it would normally go” I guess. I didn’t know it was adjustable, but I try and not adjust things in other people’s cars anyway, ha.
Corey, I’m thinking the seat was all the way forward, that rear seat, when all the way back, puts just about everything else on the market to shame with the amount of room it has. Though I will say, don’t roll down those rear windows at speed, insta-headache, never in my life have I been more sure a vehicle was going to spontaneously implode.
Honestly other than the rear seat room, I really couldn’t find much redeeming about that vehicle, it was so boring, it had poor sight lines, it sat way to low, and the electric steering just sucked all the life out of the driving.
If I’m ever in there again, I will try and move the seat back. It probably would be back now anyway, as that guy has a new baby.
The gen1 Highlander has a similar window-explode-helicopter issue.
They must be talking about a crossover under the SRX because the current SRX is already five years old. But there’s no mention of the SRX, which seems like it doesn’t even exist.
I am certain de Nysschen won’t be at Caddy in 4 years. I am not sure Caddy will be Caddy in 4 years. I’m envisioning them breaking the Escalade off to its own brand and shutting the rest of it down. Truthfully that would make more sense… basically ape the Range Rover line with an array of S, M, L, XL Escalades built on various platforms. A little Escalade would do awesome. Still can’t believe they bet the house on dynamics. Dynamics! The luxury market has a wide-on for SUVs and you go all in on sports sedans. SMH
I’m guessing folding Cadillac into Buick and then taking Buick upscale. That new Buick concept car would make a very nice flagship
I was looking at LaCrosses yesterday – and man does that car have a ton of wasted space in it. 30% of the interior is filled with door panel.
Welcome to 50% of the market haha, if you can find someone that knows how to make custom door panels from scratch, I’m all ears.
It would be damn hard in that car, the way the door panel swoops up and meets the ultra-tall dashboard. Though I do like how the wood makes a full surround, from door-dash-door and on back. Similar effect achieved in the late 90s Q45.
Corey,
This is one of my biggest issues with alot of current vehicles, including the Verano. Inch for inch, it is almost the same size as my dearly departed Alero, but the Alero had a hugely more usable trunk space and also less protruding interior panels, resulting in a bit more interior space.
Furthermore, my dad was visiting this weekend so we went to check out a Canyon crew cab. Cool truck, but the cab felt much smaller than it ought to. It was pretty disappointing, as it actually had far less at hand storage (cubbies, pockets, etc) and overall felt barely bigger than the Verano. Big disappointment.
Ballers looking for a much smaller Cadillac Escalade is statistically equal to 0.
More folks would go for a baby Escalade than the ATS, at least from what sales of similar CUVs from other brands show. They would have to be unibody CUVs obviously but I think the Baby Slade would have been a much better use of the Alpha platform for Caddy’s bottom line. Maybe once de Nysschen leaves they will get a clue
Let’s tot up Cadillac’s recent wins. Brand relocation to New York — huge success! Adoption of the CT# naming scheme — sales immediately bounced! I’ll just leave this ELR here so we can admire it… Oh and the new flagship won’t be an El Miraj, it’ll remind you more of the last STS… V6. And now we hear that the market where Audi and Merc and BMW already play very well, small luxe cross-overs, a market I personally could care less about, will not have a Cadillac until, what is that, 2019? Well what’s not to like!
Seriously does anyone else think De Nysschen was sent by the competition to retard Cadillac’s reformation?
He is a symptom of a bigger problem within the overall company.
They need to build a stopgap on the bones of the small Buick, the encore?, asap! 4 years is ridiculous, Caddy might not even be around by then if they keep this bs up.
You complain a lot about GM repeating mistakes they’ve made in the past yet here you are suggesting they repeat their past. A quick stopgap Encore for Cadillac? Really?? Sales volume for volume sake? Ooookay!
Absolutely this Sunridge.
If you are trying to rebuild a brand you don’t do it by chasing volume. Jeez, most of you were pillorying BMW for building X’s a couple of days ago.
GM wants Cadillac to be their halo brand again, you don’t do that with rebadged Encores.
Whatever new Cadillac shows up in 4 years, it won’t be sold by Cadillac. That brand will be gone. Perhaps Cadillac will be a trim level at Buick. The NYC headquarters will be used for reality TV series only.
I honestly doubt the complete demise of the marque but what they may finally realize is they cannot use it as a volume luxury brand as they attempt to now.
I believe that they already realize that it’s no longer a volume luxury brand. I think they are taking Buick upscale to replace Cadillac on the volume sde and they are trying to take Cadillac farther up the chain to take on the 6 figure MSRP crowd.
Maybe now, but the product to this point has been mass market intended to give Cadillac’s 933 dealers something to sell.
“Cadillac farther up the chain to take on the 6 figure MSRP crowd.”
Funny you say that as I have argued it for some time, going to have to do something with those excess dealers though…
Well that is the other edge of the sword isn’t it?
Performance wise the ATS and CTS are competitive. Once they stretch the ATS and drop the price on the current size to compete with the CLA and A3 they’ll have a fairly competitive car line-up.
The problem is all those Chevy dealers who don’t have the facilities to deal with the customers Caddy is chasing. It seems to me that the boutique idea is a way to get around that problem.
As for CUV’s, why not just let Buick have them for now? Cadillac is a brand, not a company. It is worth it in the long run for Cadillac to continue build their performance credentials and build the brand.
Yes, the brand will take a sales hit, but that is to be expected.
“Funny you say that as I have argued it for some time, going to have to do something with those excess dealers though”
Requiring a separate showroom, service department with dedicated staff would separate those who are willing to commit versus those who just like the opportunity to sell an Escalade a month.
You act like there are 900 plus stand alone Cadillac dealerships. There are not. The overwhelming majority of luxury vehicle sales/leases happen in about 20 markets.
Cadillac is just trying to get to 500k global sales through growth in China and segment growth in the US over the next 5 years….far behind BMW, Mercedes, and Audi and in the neighborhood of Lexus.
Oh please, Cadillac can’t keep up with demand for the Escalade (esp. the top trim) and sells way more sedans in the lux mid-price segment than Audi, Lexus and Infiniti.
They just bungled big time by not expanding their CUV lineup earlier.
4 years – that means the only development work has been the announcement that they will have an X3,Q5,GLK competitor ready for launch in 2019 – 15 years after the launch of the first generation X3. Given that the CUV craze started with the RAV4, CR-V, and RX300 in the 1990s, that is really very impressive planning on GM’s part.