2007 Cadillac BLS Sport

[Sixty8panther]

1. lipstick on a pig

2. FWD should NEVER rear its ugly inferior head in the Cadillac lineup!

3. number 2. is also tru for transverse mounted motors & front-biased AWD.

4. I have less respect for some SAABs than I do for J-bodys.

[ZL-1]

On par while using the corporate stereo and the 9-3's door panels...what a joke.

Have you ever sat inside a BLS so you can form an opinion regarding materials and interior fit and finish? And btw, the Escalade doesn't sell well here because of its size and huge (for European standards) engine. It's not that hard to understand that streets in Europe are slightly narrower than in the USA and that we tend to pay around $4 per gallon of gas. This makes smaller more fuel efficient vehicles much more attractive.

[Intrepidation]

Have you ever sat inside a BLS so you can form an opinion regarding materials and interior fit and finish? And btw, the Escalade doesn't sell well here because of its size and huge (for European standards) engine. It's not that hard to understand that streets in Europe are slightly narrower than in the USA and that we tend to pay around $4 per gallon of gas. This makes smaller more fuel efficient vehicles much more attractive.

I never said anything about the interior materials or fit and finish, thank you. Unlike some people on this board I don't comment on materials unless I've been in the vehicle or it's horribly apparent, same with fit and finish. I also never said I didn't like the car. However, I do not feel this is worthy of being a Cadillac, and the sales in Europe, combined with the fact that it's not even on sale here backs up my point.

Edited January 10, 2007 by Dodgefan

[Z-06]

I agree with 68 that Caddy in US should not have a FWD or FWD-biased AWD. I think Caddy's should be totally RWD. I like Lutz Idea of bringing a 1-series competitor. It would be like a cat among pigeons especially cars like Mazda3. It priced around 20k-25k I do not see why it will not sell well partly because it will be a bit expensive than the similarly sized FWD cars and partly because it is a very entry level vehicle..

[ZL-1]

I never said anything about the interior materials or fit and finish, thank you. Unlike some people on this board I don't comment on materials unless I've been in the vehicle or it's horribly apparent, same with fit and finish. I also never said I didn't like the car. However, I do not feel this is worthy of being a Cadillac, and the sales in Europe, combined with teh fact that it's not even on sale backs up my point.

Point taken. I responded purely according to my interpretation of what you wrote.

My personal view regarding Cadillacs and Corvette salles in Europe is that Europeans just don't care about American car brands. I don't think there's one American car brand that would qualify as 'highly desirable' in Europe: most people here would still go for a given Porsche or Ferrari, even if the Corvette smokes them both at half the price and with equivalent build quality. Brand equity is extremely important here and I suspect that has a lot to do with the Cadillac/Corvette low sales figures. I think that even a very interesting product such as the new CTS will have a hard time here, so it's not an issue of something being 'worthy' of the brand or not. It's just that Europeans don't see any positive attributes in American brands that would make us aspire to such cars the same way we aspire to buy BMWs and Mercedes.

Edited January 10, 2007 by ZL-1

[Intrepidation]

Point taken. I responded purely according to my interpretation of what you wrote.

My personal view regarding Cadillacs and Corvette salles in Europe is that Europeans just don't care about American car brands. I don't think there's one American car brand that would qualify as 'highly desirable' in Europe: most people here would still go for a given Porsche or Ferrari, even if the Corvette smokes them both at half the price and with equivalent build quality. Brand equity is extremely important here and I suspect that has a lot to do with the Cadillac/Corvette low sales figures. I think that even a very interesting product such as the new CTS will have a hard time here, so it's not an issue of something being 'worthy' of the brand or not. It's just that Europeans don't see any positive attributes in American brands that would make us aspire to such cars the same way we aspire to buy BMWs and Mercedes.

They think pretty highly of Fords.

Cadillac has never been able to make much inroads because none of their vehicles have met the qualities they desire. They either handled like crap and/or had lousy interiors, and/or they were too big. The CTS handles well but is complained about as being too big to be a 3-series competitor and it's cheap interior held it back. Every other Caddy has the same problem: interiors. I don't know how nice the interior in the BLS is (it looks nice though), but the cost cutting is apparent, and it's designed on the cheap...they won't respect that. The new CTS is probably the first Cadillac that can truly go head-to-head with the Germans, but it's now a 5-series competitor.

[Robert Hall]

They think pretty highly of Fords.

Yes, but I don't think European Fords are thought of as American..Ford has been big in Europe for many decades and has built distinctly European cars in Europe for the European market..

Cadillac is selling distinctly American cars in Europe (except for the BLS) ...