GM Brings Cadillac Back to the Motor City
After a controversial move to New York roughly four years ago, GM is moving its Cadillac headquarters back to the Detroit area in early 2019. The luxury brand is looking to move into the old Campbell Ewald building in Warren on April 1st of 2019. This article briefly looks at the reasoning behind this move and what it may mean for the brand and the Motor City.
A Bold Move
In 2014, former Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen boldly announced that Cadillac would be leaving its roots in Detroit to start a new headquarters in Manhattan. The reasoning behind the move was partially to further position Cadillac as a luxury brand independent from its more casual parent company GM, and partially to immerse the brand in one of the luxury lifestyle capitals of the world.
In a campaign aimed at firmly establishing Cadillac not as a luxury car brand but as a luxury lifestyle brand, the company sponsored art and fashion shows, concerts and public events at its “Cadillac House” in Manhattan since it moved there in 2014. The modern building featured Cadillac vehicles and branding throughout the interior while providing ample space for a variety of events inside. The brand plans to hold on to the “Cadillac House” until it establishes a new long-term plan, but unfortunately its purpose proved to serve better on paper than it did in real life. Since Cadillac moved out of Detroit, sales have dropped roughly 12% and Cadillac’s share of the luxury car market shrunk by about 2%, according to Edmunds data.
Coming Home
The decision to move back to the Detroit area comes under Cadillac’s new President, Steve Carlisle, who recently replaced Johan de Nysschen as head of the brand. The move to Warren will bring the brand’s executives and marketing team closer to GM’s design and engineering teams. This will, in theory, provide more efficient communication between those that are designing the vehicles and those that are selling them, which will be important as Cadillac looks at big production goals ahead. Cadillac is in the process of launching its new XT4 compact crossover, officially kickstarting the company’s plan to release a new or redesigned vehicle every six months until 2020. This will hopefully make the brand more competitive amongst its European counterparts like BMW and Audi, which boast much larger product lines than Cadillac.
Moving Cadillac back to Michigan could be a great thing for the suburbs around Detroit. While the city itself is experiencing a revitalization, the surrounding suburbs have yet to see surges in popularity of their own. By bringing more jobs and luxury presence to Warren, we could potentially see an uptick in the local economy. Finally, the move further reestablishes Detroit as the Motor City, securing our position as the main hub for the automotive industry for years to come.
At Holbrook Auto Parts, we’re excited to see Cadillac coming back to the Detroit area. As a company that has been an integral part of the automotive industry in the Motor City for nearly a century, we pride ourselves in our knowledge and experience working with all cars- from something made by Detroit’s Big Three to an import no longer in production. If you’re looking for affordable, high-quality auto parts and service in Detroit, there’s nowhere better than Holbrook Auto Parts!
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