General Motors has again postponed the launch of its luxury brand Cadillac in Austral

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General Motors has again postponed the launch of its luxury brand Cadillac in Australia - this time indefinitely. By RICHARD BLACKBURN.


Plans to launch the iconic American luxury car brand Cadillac in Australia have been postponed indefinitely.

The famous nameplate was due to make a return to Australia next month after an absence of more than 70 years, but the growing economic gloom and currency fluctuations have forced parent company General Motors to postpone the launch. The move mirrors that made by local car importer Ateco, which has postponed plans to bring in a Chinese brand, Great Wall Motor, to Australia.

"t's a tough announcement for me and Holden with the decision in the last week to indefinitely delay Cadillac's introduction to Australia," said Holden boss Mark Reuss.

"We have one chance to launch the brand in Australia and in these challenging times we just believe that we couldn’t give it the best chance that it deserves as our flagship brand,” he said.

"This is painful and it is one of those tough decisions that you've got to make but we have to focus ourselves on re-inventing Holden and the small car that we're going to localise.

"We want to be able to do Cadillac right and there's time in the future to do that. Right now there's probably a bigger risk than reward in doing it."

Luxury car sales dropped off dramatically mid-way through last year as the sharemarket headed south.

The shock decision comes just a week before Australian media were scheduled to drive the car for the first time on local soil. Holden has already imported 89 CTS models.

It is a body blow for the 16 dealers who signed up for a Cadillac franchise last year in anticipation of an October 2008 launch. Holden is set to compensate dealers who have invested in Cadillac, although the company said most hadn't yet made major investments.

"There's a couple of dealers that have spent money that we're in very close communication with," said Reuss. "We'll work through the issues with the two dealers who have spent money. They're happy that we're not years down the track with this."

Reuss said the decision would not affect any jobs, and that the company was "more than happy to be looking at [Cadillac's reintroduction to the Australian market] on a month to month basis".

"We want to preserve the right to bring Cadillac back in here because we think there's a great market for it here, we've had a great reaction and we want to protect the future for Cadillac here," he said.

This is the second time the brand’s launch has been postponed. It was initially scheduled to go on sale in the last quarter of 2008. Holden says right-hand-drive production of the Cadillac CTS will continue.

The decision throws into grave doubt the local future of Holden’s GM Premium Brands portfolio, which comprises Saab, Hummer and Cadillac.

GM has announced that Saab is under “strategic review” and is looking for a possible buyer for the troubled Swedish brand, while Hummer is already up for sale. Locally, there were just over 1000 Hummers sold last year, while Saab sales dipped almost 40 per cent to 1158. Reuss said the cloud over the future of the two brands had affected the ompany's decision to postpone Cadillac.

GM planned to start the Cadillac brand with just one vehicle, the CTS sedan, a mid-sized rival for the likes of Audi’s A4, BMW’s 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class.

The CTS uses a more powerful version of the Holden Commodore’s 3.6-litre V6 engine. It was expected to be followed late this year by a sporty coupe version and possibly a wagon and compact 4WD.

GM held a glitzy launch of the Cadillac brand at the Sydney motor show in October last year, and the company’s local director of premium brands, Parveen Batish, told journalists the recent drop in value of the Australian dollar against the US currency had not affected the company’s launch plans.

"We negotiate our price with the factory in Australian dollars so there is no effect," he said at the time.

But Reuss admitted that the slide in the value of the dollar against the US currency had played a part in the decision.

"Since [the Sydney motor show] the market for new cars has continued to deteriorate, the challenging broader economic environment remains largely unchanged and the exchange rate has worsened for imports."

Cadillac was expected to continue a recent invasion of American cars, following the launch of Chrysler’s Dodge brand in 2006.

Overseas, the CTS has sparked a revival for Cadillac since its launch in September 2007, with sales up 60 per cent. Holden says the CTS will continue to be produced in right-hand drive.

[MethodX]

Probably for the best.
I doubt they would have sold many.
Styling is a tad out there.

[Bossxr8]

I agree. I couldn't see them selling more than a handfull. I don't even think they had a single order for one and it was only weeks away from launch.

I think Holden had it forced on them by GM, who wanted something in return for sending cars over to the US, luckily for them the financial crisis gave them an out.

[Sprint XR8]

89 Cadillacs for sale
Holden’s chairman and chief executive Mark Reuss has 89 new Cadillacs for sale.

Mr Reuss told NBR that Holden, the General Motors Company that serves New Zealand and Australia, has called off plans to introduce the Cadillac brand to New Zealand and Australia at the last minute.

Mr Reuss said that he made the decision because he did not think that market conditions would allow Holden to give Cadillac its best shot at the down-under market.

But Holden has already taken delivery of 89 Cadillacs.

Mr Reuss said one of Holden’s options was to look at re-exporting them to other right hand drive markets.

The cars, some of which were destined for New Zealand, are currently in storage in Melbourne.

NBR estimates their retail value at $NZ8-9 million.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/89-cadillacs-sale-39827

[Bossxr8]

They will be onsold to other RHD markets.

[robertjp]

And Paul Gover will once again state how fantastic this is for GMH (Which this time it will be) allowing them to sell more Caprice's. If the yank in charge of GMH wanted a status car how about the Corvette then! (The ZR-1 is a nice toy)
Would anyone buy a $85,000 car from Holden?

[Gobes32]

I would buy a ZR-1 for 85k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daymoe]

Instead of bringing over Cadillacs why not bring over the Corvette and the Camaro? I'm sure you'd get buyers for them.

[GS608]

i think they wanted something to compete with the 300C & SRT 300C as the Caprice is no match for that (nor was the fairlane)

[LUXO_8]

i actually like the CTS..... so this is a bit of a shame....
have been seeing a few around on the roads lately - i think they look great - better than the 300C IMO.

[Gobes32]

I personally think it's the wrong car at the wrong time and Holden have realized this before they blew a load of cash.

[Chris D]

I quite like the CTS-V but considering GM aren't making it for RHD markets, I'm not interested in the same V6 you can get in a Commodore Omega.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Lol they landed 89 here then decided they are going to ditch the program..

Are these guys in business, or are they running a small town circus...

They do stupid things like this all the time then expect the governments to give them some package to bail em out.. Rediculous..

Where is it suposed to fit in the GM lineup neways.. Even tho its badged as a Cadillac its main rival would be the statesmen / caprice?? How does that make sense.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by robertjp

And Paul Gover will once again state how fantastic this is for GMH (Which this time it will be) allowing them to sell more Caprice's. If the yank in charge of GMH wanted a status car how about the Corvette then! (The ZR-1 is a nice toy)
Would anyone buy a $85,000 car from Holden?

If they sold the ZR1 here it would be lucky if they could get the price under 185K. Exchange rates, taxes, cost of RHD conversion etc. They won't be coming in factory RHD.

[Dr Smith]

Originally Posted by bfiipursuit

Lol they landed 89 here then decided they are going to ditch the program..

Are these guys in business, or are they running a small town circus...

They do stupid things like this all the time then expect the governments to give them some package to bail em out.. Rediculous..

Where is it suposed to fit in the GM lineup neways.. Even tho its badged as a Cadillac its main rival would be the statesmen / caprice?? How does that make sense.

...maybe for the more extroverted bogun with some spare funds still left in their home mortgage...although I still have memories of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry bought his dad a Caddy....