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Originally Posted by davis449
The other part of the equation missing from this discussion in terms of dealerships is that it's kinda hard to convince a franchise owner that he needs to stop selling his Cadillac inventory on the same showroom floor as his Chevy's and Buicks because of the costs involved with such a seperation. So, now, the argument is going to be "Well Cadillac should pony up to help them!" Yeah, with what money??? That's the problem they are faced with, currently, in terms of dealership infrastructure. Go read up on it. This is something that Cadillac is already working on, it is SO much easier said than done. Here, a lot of people buy Cadillacs. Is it a coincidence that both our Caddy dealers are independent (of other GM dealers owned by the same groups) and free-standing? IDK...I really don't. I will say that, in my experience, both of them measure up to other luxury marques. As for Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti they had the benefit of time being allowed to think through their dealer structure before launching. So it's still not fair to compare their abilities to be where they are and do what they do to Cadillac's.
For me, I love the exterior styling of the newer Caddy's, but I have to live INSIDE the damn thing. I just don't like the interior of a Chevy Volt, sorry...
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Oh, it's plenty fair to compare because it's proven to have an effect. That's part of Cadillac's woes. The difference is that Caddy is an established marque, while Lexus, etc. weren't at the time of their nascence. And in this case, being established is a very, very bad thing because it prevents change.
It characterizes the challenges Cadillac faces versus many other luxury marques: its parent company has never had the capital or the foresight to properly reposition Cadillac, Lincoln, etc. to compete with those brands' contemporaries. That puts them at an automatic disadvantage that's only exacerbated by the Cadillac stereotypes (you know what I'm talking about ... median age, minority appeal, perceived lack of refinement, etc.), which I'm sorry to say still apply somewhat.
I'm not going to get into some of the technical and creative reasons Cadillac still lags. But there are those factors, too. Thing is, none of that matters because Caddy operates at a disadvantage with its target consumer -- a target that, by the way, is decidedly different than who actually
buys Caddys because of the stereotypes mentioned above, which is a massive, MASSIVE issue -- because of its availability structure (read: dealers).