NEW YORK: Cadillac is introducing a new strategy for its dealer network to upgrade and elevate in the premium vehicle segment.
The GM luxury brand will have new concepts for facilities, such as high-technology showrooms with digital displays and possibly even holograms.
Within its 900 stores in the U.S., 200 of them are flagships, and the other 700, smaller dealers will be geared toward being boutique locations focusing on exclusive Cadillac consumer touch points, highly trained sales and service staff and luxury amenities,” GM said.
Our recently announced $12 billion investment in product must be accompanied by corresponding upgrades to the customer experience,” Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen said in a release. “For all dealers, including multi-brand outlets, we should strive to create a premium showroom atmosphere and the sophisticated brand experience that luxury consumers expect.”
Some of that vision includes “virtual showrooms,” where customers can customize vehicles on digital displays, or potentially with holograms.
The brand will also be developing new ways to incentivize dealers based on customer satisfaction and upgrades to their facilities. Those new standards will be in line with local sales and market potential for each dealer, GM said.
There are no plans to reduce number of U.S. dealers, the company said.
A strong, financially healthy dealer organization is an essential element of Cadillac’s expansion plans, de Nysschen said in the release. “The stronger our dealers are, the better our service quality will be. Cadillac is on a journey back to the pinnacle of premium brands, and dealers will contribute every step of the way.”
GM announced in September it is spinning off Cadillac as a separate business unit and moving its global headquarters from Detroit to New York City. The company has framed the move as one aimed at being part of a strategy to re-position the brand closer to the crest of the global luxury market and its buyers.
It came one month after de Nysschen was hired on as president to help turn-around Cadillac’s struggling sales.
The Nysschen was previously at Nissan Motor Co., where he oversaw the relocation of its Infiniti luxury brand from Yokohama to Hong Kong. The move was aimed at part in helping the brand explore new markets.
Cadillac unveiled the CTS-V, the most powerful vehicle the brand has ever produced, at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit this month.
It will debut the Cadillac CT6, a new luxury sedan meant to set and define a new direction of the Cadillac brand, at the New York International Auto Show in April.
The CT6 will be positioned above Cadillac’s current CTS and ATS models. Cadillac said the model name comes from its use of CTS for its centerpiece carline. The CT6 moniker signals a shift toward more simplified nomenclature for future models.
