Cadillac, Chrysler Make Transitions With Bold Designs
11-01-2003, 08:58 PM
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Cadillac, Chrysler Make Transitions With Bold Designs
Posted on Fri, Oct. 31, 2003
New Tricks from Old Dogs
CADILLAC, CHRYSLER MAKE TRANSITIONS WITH BOLD DESIGNS
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
Two venerable American car brands -- Cadillac (1903) and Chrysler (1924) -- are staking their futures on new vehicles with radical designs.
Each hopes that eye-catching style will turn heads, especially younger ones.
J.D. Power and Associates reports that the average age of Chrysler buyers is 50 and of Cadillacs is 55. The industry average age is 46, and almost all of their luxury-car rivals attract a younger buyer base.
While it's far too early to see if the moves will be successful, results have been mixed.
Here's a look at Chrysler's and Cadillac's near-future prospects:
Chrysler, owned by German automaker DaimlerChrysler, launched the Pacifica sports wagon and Crossfire sporty coupe earlier this year. Unlike the PT Cruiser in 2000, neither vehicle has become a hit.
``The Pacifica hit with a thud,'' said Mike Wall, an auto analyst with CSM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Next up is the 300C, a rear-wheel-drive replacement for both the Concorde and 300M front-wheel-drive sedans. It goes on sale next spring, as a 2005 model. It's described as ``a modern interpretation'' of Chrysler's legendary 300 cars from the '50s and '60s by Steve Bartoli, who was director of Chrysler car marketing until being named the company's vice president for strategy this week. He said the 300C will continue Chrysler's push to become a brand that's ``a little bit premium.''
Pacifica sales have been picking up lately, as some lower-priced versions have arrived at dealerships. Sales of 7,600 Pacificas in September mean that vehicle was more popular than the Acura MDX, Buick Rendezvous, Nissan Murano, Volvo XC90 and Lexus RX330 last month.
Still, Chrysler has had to offer $3,000 cash rebates or zero-percent financing on the Pacifica. And sales so far this year of 33,353 are a far cry from Chrysler's annual production capacity of 100,000 to 120,000 units.
Chrysler's sales are down about 6 percent so far this year, compared to 1.6 percent for the overall industry.
Crossfire sales have been tepid, too, according to industry paper Automotive News. The company had hoped to sell more than 8,000 of the $35,000 two-seaters this year, but its dealers only had sold 2,171 Crossfires through September.
Outlook for 300C
The 300C will be a bold departure for Chrysler. It's not a retro car like the PT Cruiser was, said Mark Hall, Chrysler's senior manager for product design.
The car has classic proportions, he said, but with a bigger grille and a wide Chrysler badge that represents the brand's new face.
There's a line that flows around the car, called the belt-line, that's significantly higher than what's found in most other cars.
On the inside, features from razor-thin gauge needles to a tortoise-shell-look steering wheel connote elegance, Hall said.
Wall said the 300C's ``love it or hate it'' design and its use of a Hemi V-8 should attract buyers, but he also questions how many Chrysler will sell and at what price.
Chrysler hasn't disclosed pricing information or a sales target, but Bartoli said lower-priced 300 models equipped with V-6 engines will be sold, too. In 2002, the company sold about 64,000 units of the two models it replaces.
Cadillac, General Motors' top domestic brand with an avowed global appetite, has just released the SRX, an upscale wagon-like utility, and the XLR, a two-seat roadster that's built on the platform of the next-generation Chevy Corvette. Both vehicles have edgy styling, in the vein of the Escalade SUV and the CTS sedan.
Cadillac's sales are up 5.7 percent this year, mostly on the strength of the Escalade and Escalade ESV sport-utilities. The first XLR roadsters were sold in September (85), while it was the second month for SRX (257 in September and six in August) sales.
Cadillac has ``done a heck of a job'' tapping into a reservoir of buyers who were waiting to buy modern luxury cars from a Big Three brand, said Wall of CSM Worldwide.
Cadillac, like Chrysler, is another brand that looked backward to move forward, said Jay Spenchian, its marketing director.
The brand's turnaround strategy has its roots in the past, with an emphasis on bold designs and strong driving performance, he said.
``We've really turned the corner,'' Spenchian said.
Cadillac's bold look
Over the past several years, the Escalade SUV, the Evoq show car and the CTS sedan arrived with radical designs, full of sharp edges, making them far removed from the fuzzy and familiar lines of their luxury-car rivals.
Some praised it as a bold move, while others said Cadillac had gone too far, Spenchian said.
``Four or five years ago, we were trying to figure out what should we really be doing, what would make Cadillac relevant again,'' he said. ``When Cadillac was really great, it was always standing out from a design standpoint. You always knew a Cadillac when it was half a mile away.''
That, plus the fact that the No. 1 purchase reason for luxury buyers is styling, sealed Cadillac's future.
That bold look, plus a marketing campaign that surprised some with its use of Led Zeppelin music, has been effective.
``It was borderline shocking in terms of shaking up perceptions,'' Spenchian said.
But it has worked. The average age of Cadillac buyers continues to drop.
And, designs that now extend across several different vehicles ``starts making sense to people,'' he said.
Cadillac considers the SRX a medium-luxury utility, a segment that's continuing to grow rapidly. Cadillac will sell 30,000 to 35,000 SRX models a year, just below what BMW does with the X5 and Mercedes-Benz does with the ML models and significantly below the sales of the Lexus RX300/330 and Acura MDX.
Sharing its rear-wheel-drive Sigma platform with the CTS sedan gives the SRX credibility as a performance model, Spenchian said.
Available with V-6 or V-8 engines, the SRX sells for $38,690 to $47,290.
The XLR, a hardtop convertible at $76,200, becomes Cadillac's halo car.
``We set our sights on being the best handling, most dramatically styled vehicle'' in a class that includes the Mercedes-Benz SL roadster, Jaguar XK convertible and Lexus SC430.
Next for Cadillac is a performance version of the CTS, dubbed CTS-V. It will have a 400-horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8, a six-speed manual, Brembo brakes and 18-inch wheels. It will sell for $49,995 when it goes on sale in January.
Then, next summer, Cadillac will unveil the redesign of its Seville model, to be known as STS.
``It's a very important segment,'' said Spenchian. ``It's where luxury started.''
No preconceived notions
There's also talk that Cadillac will move further up the pricing scale and eventually compete in the ultra-luxury sedan segment with the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series.
To spur that talk, it showed off the Sixteen, a 16-cylinder show car, at this year's Detroit auto show.
Spenchian said that a third of the people who have expressed interest in getting information about the XLR roadster are 16 or younger.
``They don't even have a driver's license yet,'' he said. ``They look at the Cadillac brand with no preconceived notions about it. And these kids are influencing their parents to consider Cadillac. That's pretty cool.''
While Wall sees some similarities in the two automakers, Cadillac's transition has been more successful so far.
``Once you cross that $30,000 barrier with Chrysler, people start to raise their eyebrows,'' he said.
New Tricks from Old Dogs
CADILLAC, CHRYSLER MAKE TRANSITIONS WITH BOLD DESIGNS
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
Two venerable American car brands -- Cadillac (1903) and Chrysler (1924) -- are staking their futures on new vehicles with radical designs.
Each hopes that eye-catching style will turn heads, especially younger ones.
J.D. Power and Associates reports that the average age of Chrysler buyers is 50 and of Cadillacs is 55. The industry average age is 46, and almost all of their luxury-car rivals attract a younger buyer base.
While it's far too early to see if the moves will be successful, results have been mixed.
Here's a look at Chrysler's and Cadillac's near-future prospects:
Chrysler, owned by German automaker DaimlerChrysler, launched the Pacifica sports wagon and Crossfire sporty coupe earlier this year. Unlike the PT Cruiser in 2000, neither vehicle has become a hit.
``The Pacifica hit with a thud,'' said Mike Wall, an auto analyst with CSM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Next up is the 300C, a rear-wheel-drive replacement for both the Concorde and 300M front-wheel-drive sedans. It goes on sale next spring, as a 2005 model. It's described as ``a modern interpretation'' of Chrysler's legendary 300 cars from the '50s and '60s by Steve Bartoli, who was director of Chrysler car marketing until being named the company's vice president for strategy this week. He said the 300C will continue Chrysler's push to become a brand that's ``a little bit premium.''
Pacifica sales have been picking up lately, as some lower-priced versions have arrived at dealerships. Sales of 7,600 Pacificas in September mean that vehicle was more popular than the Acura MDX, Buick Rendezvous, Nissan Murano, Volvo XC90 and Lexus RX330 last month.
Still, Chrysler has had to offer $3,000 cash rebates or zero-percent financing on the Pacifica. And sales so far this year of 33,353 are a far cry from Chrysler's annual production capacity of 100,000 to 120,000 units.
Chrysler's sales are down about 6 percent so far this year, compared to 1.6 percent for the overall industry.
Crossfire sales have been tepid, too, according to industry paper Automotive News. The company had hoped to sell more than 8,000 of the $35,000 two-seaters this year, but its dealers only had sold 2,171 Crossfires through September.
Outlook for 300C
The 300C will be a bold departure for Chrysler. It's not a retro car like the PT Cruiser was, said Mark Hall, Chrysler's senior manager for product design.
The car has classic proportions, he said, but with a bigger grille and a wide Chrysler badge that represents the brand's new face.
There's a line that flows around the car, called the belt-line, that's significantly higher than what's found in most other cars.
On the inside, features from razor-thin gauge needles to a tortoise-shell-look steering wheel connote elegance, Hall said.
Wall said the 300C's ``love it or hate it'' design and its use of a Hemi V-8 should attract buyers, but he also questions how many Chrysler will sell and at what price.
Chrysler hasn't disclosed pricing information or a sales target, but Bartoli said lower-priced 300 models equipped with V-6 engines will be sold, too. In 2002, the company sold about 64,000 units of the two models it replaces.
Cadillac, General Motors' top domestic brand with an avowed global appetite, has just released the SRX, an upscale wagon-like utility, and the XLR, a two-seat roadster that's built on the platform of the next-generation Chevy Corvette. Both vehicles have edgy styling, in the vein of the Escalade SUV and the CTS sedan.
Cadillac's sales are up 5.7 percent this year, mostly on the strength of the Escalade and Escalade ESV sport-utilities. The first XLR roadsters were sold in September (85), while it was the second month for SRX (257 in September and six in August) sales.
Cadillac has ``done a heck of a job'' tapping into a reservoir of buyers who were waiting to buy modern luxury cars from a Big Three brand, said Wall of CSM Worldwide.
Cadillac, like Chrysler, is another brand that looked backward to move forward, said Jay Spenchian, its marketing director.
The brand's turnaround strategy has its roots in the past, with an emphasis on bold designs and strong driving performance, he said.
``We've really turned the corner,'' Spenchian said.
Cadillac's bold look
Over the past several years, the Escalade SUV, the Evoq show car and the CTS sedan arrived with radical designs, full of sharp edges, making them far removed from the fuzzy and familiar lines of their luxury-car rivals.
Some praised it as a bold move, while others said Cadillac had gone too far, Spenchian said.
``Four or five years ago, we were trying to figure out what should we really be doing, what would make Cadillac relevant again,'' he said. ``When Cadillac was really great, it was always standing out from a design standpoint. You always knew a Cadillac when it was half a mile away.''
That, plus the fact that the No. 1 purchase reason for luxury buyers is styling, sealed Cadillac's future.
That bold look, plus a marketing campaign that surprised some with its use of Led Zeppelin music, has been effective.
``It was borderline shocking in terms of shaking up perceptions,'' Spenchian said.
But it has worked. The average age of Cadillac buyers continues to drop.
And, designs that now extend across several different vehicles ``starts making sense to people,'' he said.
Cadillac considers the SRX a medium-luxury utility, a segment that's continuing to grow rapidly. Cadillac will sell 30,000 to 35,000 SRX models a year, just below what BMW does with the X5 and Mercedes-Benz does with the ML models and significantly below the sales of the Lexus RX300/330 and Acura MDX.
Sharing its rear-wheel-drive Sigma platform with the CTS sedan gives the SRX credibility as a performance model, Spenchian said.
Available with V-6 or V-8 engines, the SRX sells for $38,690 to $47,290.
The XLR, a hardtop convertible at $76,200, becomes Cadillac's halo car.
``We set our sights on being the best handling, most dramatically styled vehicle'' in a class that includes the Mercedes-Benz SL roadster, Jaguar XK convertible and Lexus SC430.
Next for Cadillac is a performance version of the CTS, dubbed CTS-V. It will have a 400-horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8, a six-speed manual, Brembo brakes and 18-inch wheels. It will sell for $49,995 when it goes on sale in January.
Then, next summer, Cadillac will unveil the redesign of its Seville model, to be known as STS.
``It's a very important segment,'' said Spenchian. ``It's where luxury started.''
No preconceived notions
There's also talk that Cadillac will move further up the pricing scale and eventually compete in the ultra-luxury sedan segment with the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series.
To spur that talk, it showed off the Sixteen, a 16-cylinder show car, at this year's Detroit auto show.
Spenchian said that a third of the people who have expressed interest in getting information about the XLR roadster are 16 or younger.
``They don't even have a driver's license yet,'' he said. ``They look at the Cadillac brand with no preconceived notions about it. And these kids are influencing their parents to consider Cadillac. That's pretty cool.''
While Wall sees some similarities in the two automakers, Cadillac's transition has been more successful so far.
``Once you cross that $30,000 barrier with Chrysler, people start to raise their eyebrows,'' he said.
11-02-2003, 03:45 AM
#2
Fahrvergnügen'd
Well, if they want to start selling cars in the $50k range, they have to start somewhere.
The fact that the Crossfire hasn't sold well isn't a real indication of how good the car is ... the fact remains that I rarely see any commercials for Chrysler cars but I see commercials for Cadillac all the time.
I think the reason Chrysler can't sell their new cars is no one knows about them unless they read Car & Driver
The fact that the Crossfire hasn't sold well isn't a real indication of how good the car is ... the fact remains that I rarely see any commercials for Chrysler cars but I see commercials for Cadillac all the time.
I think the reason Chrysler can't sell their new cars is no one knows about them unless they read Car & Driver
11-02-2003, 11:31 AM
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Originally posted by charliemike
Well, if they want to start selling cars in the $50k range, they have to start somewhere.
The fact that the Crossfire hasn't sold well isn't a real indication of how good the car is ... the fact remains that I rarely see any commercials for Chrysler cars but I see commercials for Cadillac all the time.
I think the reason Chrysler can't sell their new cars is no one knows about them unless they read Car & Driver
Well, if they want to start selling cars in the $50k range, they have to start somewhere.
The fact that the Crossfire hasn't sold well isn't a real indication of how good the car is ... the fact remains that I rarely see any commercials for Chrysler cars but I see commercials for Cadillac all the time.
I think the reason Chrysler can't sell their new cars is no one knows about them unless they read Car & Driver
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