Cadillac claws for gain in 2005

[avant1963]

Cadillac was flying through 2005. The CTS was selling at record numbers even though the car is four model years old, the Escalade was keeping steady and the STS was beating the Seville sales by over 200%. Then October came and took a 7.9% year-over-year gain and turned it into a 4.9% gain. Ward’s Auto World talked to Cadillac’s General Manager Jim Taylor about Cadillac sales worldwide and optimism that Cadillac will gain 5% in 2005 and another 5% in 2006. Will the V-Series cars and 2007 Escalade have enough “umph” to add an extra 10,000 units next year?

Ward's articleWard's article

[balthazar]

What is this piece exactly??"Battles to keep", "was flying, was selling, was, was, was"??
Sharks circling, hoping for blood?

Cadillac was up 7.9% over Sept '04.
Cadillac was up 4.8% over Oct '04.... OMG!! TROUBLE!!! Cadillac is going down!!! 'Journalists' suck.

Another gripoe, this time directed at Cadillac GM Taylor:

>>"Taylor is confident Cadillac still has a lot of opportunity to grow its volume....
“We have 30 years of not-stellar performance that we have to overcome.”<<

He was talking about sales volume, then called the last 30 years 'not-stellar performance'. Cadillac will never exceed '78-79s sales performances; circa 375,000 units. And I hope they don't attempt to. All those hack journalists and hack analysts who think Cadillac should be all about ever-increasing volume have absolutely no clue whatsoever.

[Drew Dowdell]

Why do we never talk about Mercedes or BMW market share?

[Cadillacfan]

How dare you question their integrity!!!!! It's freedom of speech! You're a fascist republican for asking why they don't question other brands and you like destroying the environment! ^_^ Edited November 25, 2005 by Cadillacfan85

[aaaantoine]

How dare you question their integrity!!!!!  It's freedom of speech!  You're a fascist republican for asking why they don't question other brands and you like destroying the environment! ^_^

[post="48230"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Now now, let's not get political.

...You commy liberal democrat. :P

[Member55]

I leased a 06 CTS a couple of days ago, I hope that helps a little. :)

[turbo200]

it does :) congrats on the new car!

[Hey Now]

  Will the V-Series cars and 2007 Escalade have enough “umph” to add an extra 10,000 units next year?

Yes.

[Member55]

it does  :)  congrats on the new car!

[post="48280"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Thanks. :)

[Northstar]

The Escalade line alone is done about 6k units for the year. I see no reason why the GMT900 Escalade won't return to at least the levels that it sold in 2004. So that's 6k units right there, and I think the STS will make up some more sales because it wasn't at full production for the whole year. I think the DTS could pick up some sales over the Deville as well, so a 10k unit gain is easily doable.

[balthazar]

"October was a killer"

October was up 4.8% over last year.

We cannot sit and allow ourselves to be subjected to the endless manipulation of monthy (and soon hourly) sales data by 'journalists' in order to attempt to drum up some news drama.

[VenSeattle]

I think the DTS could pick up some sales over the Deville as well, so a 10k unit gain is easily doable.

[post="48381"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I completely agree! I don't understand why the journalist and Jim Taylor completely ignored the DTS in this article. The DTS is one of Cadillac's high volume vehicles that can dramatically impact sales for better or for worse.

[mystik]

Its fashionable in the auto industry to take pot shots at GM and Cadillac. After all, the Escalade is just a crummy GX470. CTS a sad excuse for an A4, STS a pathetic 5 series...every single time GM is mentioned in any sort of news, journalists will try their hardest to squeeze in a pot shot here and there. It wont stop until GM goes under, after which they will focus all their attention on Ford. Not until one of these companies merges with a foreign market will they recieve any praise... coughcough300cough.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

What is this piece exactly??"Battles to keep", "was flying, was selling, was, was, was"??
Sharks circling, hoping for blood?

Cadillac was up 7.9% over Sept '04.
Cadillac was up 4.8% over Oct '04.... OMG!! TROUBLE!!! Cadillac is going down!!! 'Journalists' suck.

Another gripoe, this time directed at Cadillac GM Taylor:

>>"Taylor is confident Cadillac still has a lot of opportunity to grow its volume....
“We have 30 years of not-stellar performance that we have to overcome.”<<

He was talking about sales volume, then called the last 30 years 'not-stellar performance'. Cadillac will never exceed '78-79s sales performances; circa 375,000 units. And I hope they don't attempt to. All those hack journalists and hack analysts who think Cadillac should be all about ever-increasing volume have absolutely no clue whatsoever.

[post="48172"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

LOL, what a surprise... Cadillac starts getting negative press again this year and their sales slump. They're just letting GM know that Cadillac isn't untouchable and Taylor is just bowing down to kiss some rear.

Seriously though... Could it be the press? Could it be gas prices cooling the Escalade? Could it be stiffer competition in the market? (New Lexi, new 5 series, etc.)

Through September, Cadillac's U.S. light-vehicle sales were up 7.9%, well outpacing the market's 2.8% gain overall. But a 19.1% decline in October has cut into that growth, and Cadillac sales now lead like-2004 by a smaller 4.8% margin.

And what's wrong with that again?

“A lot of customers don't even perceive that we have a new STS or XLR,” Taylor says.

There are so many things wrong with that statement.... And GM should address this in a HUGE way!

[Northstar]

"October was a killer"

October was up 4.8% over last year.

[post="48522"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

You should re-read it again:

"Through September, Cadillac's U.S. light-vehicle sales were up 7.9%, well outpacing the market's 2.8% gain overall. But a 19.1% decline in October has cut into that growth, and Cadillac sales now lead like-2004 by a smaller 4.8% margin."

So the overall sales for the year slipped from up 7.9% to up 4.8% because of a 19.1% decline in October.

[balthazar]

I read it fine: sales Y-to-Y were up in September and also up in Oct. The fact that they dropped from Sept to Oct overshadows the fact that Y-to-Y numbers (one of the leading focal points for hand-wringing 'journalists') are up, baby. Leave it to the media to trumpet the degree of decline Sept to Oct and gloss over that collectively, Cadillac is still increasing sales and still exceeding the market growth rate.

It's all good news at this point yet what catches your eye: down 19%.

[vdoh182]

No blath, Oct 05 sales are 19% lower than Oct 04 sales for caddy. OVerall i think they are fine however. New DTS and escalade should mkae this easy next year, and the new CTS the year after that. Too bad the SRX is a dud.

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet...n=3&docid=20121

[Northstar]

No blath, Oct 05 sales are 19% lower than Oct 04 sales for caddy. OVerall i think they are fine however. New DTS and escalade should mkae this easy next year, and the new CTS the year after that. Too bad the SRX is a dud.

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet...n=3&docid=20121

[post="49169"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Exactly. Oct 05 was down 19% when compared to Oct 04. Jan-Oct 05 sales are up 4.8% vs. Jan-Oct 04 sales. There's no manipulation going on by the author.

[balthazar]

OK, I see, my bad. Frankly- I never in my life gave much creedence to monthly sales figures; it's only the annual numbers that tell the clear picture how that year's models performed.

And I agree with Oldsmoboi: >>"Why do we never talk about Mercedes or BMW market share? "<<