“If you build it, he will come”; now this may be the whisper heard by Kevin Costner in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, but it also stands true for any product –and especially cars.
No matter what your image or marketing strategy, in the long term the product itself makes or breaks a carmaker. Recent “rags to riches” stories include Hyundai, Kia and Skoda, all of which a little over a decade ago were offering below par, or at best acceptable, models but are now posting record sales year after year thanks to their new, much improved range.
Cadillac, once the default choice in the luxury car segment in North America, witnessed a streak of uncompetitive products ruin its image and sales before GM buckled up and began reshaping the brand starting with the CTS.
Now, things appear to be looking better for Cadillac, which is planning a barrage of new models. The brand’s offensive that will help it compete with the German and Japanese rivals include models like the BMW 3-Series-challenging ATS, the large luxury XTS sedan that will replace both the DTS and STS, and of course the ELR, the production version of the Converj EV coupe concept.
But GM thinks that, to truly rival the opposition, Cadillac needs a flagship model that will also act as a “halo” model for the rest of its range. And it seems to have found it in the Ciel concept that was revealed at the Pebble Beach event and which gathered largely positive reactions from both the press and the public.
According to Autocar magazine, GM insiders claim that the Omega project, as it is code-named within the company, is expected to be given the green light very soon. Official GM execs such as Cadillac General Marketing Manager Don Butler, admit that the company is “studying its options.”
It is yet unknown if the production version will actually be a four-door convertible like the concept or, more likely, a range-topping premium sedan.
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