Cadillac's near-death and rebirth

"The Standard of the World." That's chutzpah, isn't it? It was once Cadillac's slogan.

GM's luxury division has known huge triumphs and equally huge defeats. But in all of Cadillac's 105-year history, few would dispute the '80s were rock bottom.

No, It's a Cadillac, Really
Pressed by rising gas prices and the increasing threat of smaller German cars like the BMW 3-series, Cadillac moved its small car timetable up and hurriedly introduced the Cimarron, based on GM's J-platform that also underpinned the Chevrolet Cavalier, in 1982.

The J-platform cars improved to merely "mediocre" by the end of their lives in 2005, but when they were introduced in 1982 they were horrendous. They were underpowered, noisy, and handled poorly. What a great starting point for an entry-level luxury car, eh? Onto this, GM slathered leather, exclusive colors, and all of the electric toys, and christened it a Cadillac.

If you think it sounds like a whored-up Cavalier at twice the price, you nailed it. And Ernest Borgnine in drag that makes him look like a $1,000 hooker is still Ernest Borgnine.

Of course, manufacturers still share platforms among different models. But today the starting points are better, and more effort is usually made to differentiate. The Cimarron is possibly the worst example of platform-sharing ever. In fact, according to Car and Driver, current Cadillac product director John Howell has a picture of the Cimarron on his office wall captioned "Lest We Forget."

When the Cimarron was introduced, Cadillac had already laid a few recent eggs--the V8-6-4 cylinder deactivation was a technical fiasco, and the bustleback Seville was, uh, controversial--but the Cimarron was the first and worst in a series of true turds that nearly killed the division.

Small and Styleless, But Still Expensive as Hell
In addition to this insult, GM was busily shrinking all of its larger cars, including Cadillac, dramatically. Acting largely on the bad advice of a single consultant (perhaps apocryphal, but oft-repeated), GM became convinced that $3/gallon gasoline was a sure thing by the late '80s. So the "large" cars GM starting trickling out in 1985 were anything but. Further, they all looked alike, with pinched front ends and near-vertical backlights. A Cadillac Seville looked way too much like an Oldsmobile Ninety Eight with a bunch of Cadillac crests and an eggcrate grille slapped on (because that is essentially exactly what it was). The Pontiac Bonneville of the era was a little more distinctive, but its corporate roofline still gave it away.

A Beautiful But Average Car, Built Very Inefficiently
Cadillac even blew the Allanté, its exclusive Italian-bodied convertible introduced in 1987. Few deny it was a gorgeous car, but it was front-wheel drive and still only marginally competitive with its target, the Mercedes-Benz 560SL. Also, in what was then called "the world's longest assembly line," the car required two transatlantic flights to build. The chassis was assembled in the U.S.; it was flown to Italy to have the body installed; and then flown back to the U.S. to be finished. Sounds efficient, yes? The car was beautiful but underpowered until its last year, when it received Cadillac's new Northstar V8. GM then promptly killed it. So far, despite total Allanté production of only 21,000, 1993 has been the only Allanté year to be even somewhat collectible.

Worse, the Allanté was the wrong car. Cadillac desperately needed a competitive 4-door sedan, not a low-volume plaything for the rich (the '87 Allanté stickered for $54,000, roughly $96,000 today). Hopes that it would make a good "umbrella" car were misguided, as everything under it in the line was too mediocre to be credibly elevated.

Finding the Way Back
Cadillac's renaissance started with the 1992 Seville.

It drove, rode, and handled well. It was well-equipped, competitively priced, and a stunning styling success--the first truly pretty 4-door Cadillac in many years. With the addition of the Northstar V8 in 1993, it became the first credible alternative to the European and Japanese luxury cars of the time that an American manufacturer had ever fielded. (All trims are called STS today.)

They didn't rest. The DeVille was next and retained the "poshmobile" role in the line, but with modern attention to detail and engineering. (It's called the DTS today, and if your grandmother has always had Cadillacs and won't drive anything else, this is the one to recommend.)

The Catera, a rebadged (and therefore sometimes compared to the Cimarron) Opel Omega MV6 from the European market, was introduced. Though it was not very successful, its successor, the CTS, has been. (Incidentally, comparisons to the Cimarron are largely unfair; the Omega MV6 was a much better car than was the Cavalier.)

They've done the Allanté correctly. The Cadillac XLR is stylish, fast, and luxurious. It shares its platform with the Chevrolet Corvette and is built in the same plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. No transatlantic flights are required for assembly.

The Escalade has gone from hurriedly-rebadged GMC Yukon Denali to icon status. For a big blingy SUV with a lot of buttons to push, which is exactly what its buyers want, it has no equal. The SRX crossover SUV, though a fine car, has been less successful. How Cadillac reacts will tell us a lot about its crisis management skills in this new, successful world.

Cadillac's new V-Series division produces even higher-performance versions of the CTS, STS, and XLR, with dramtically upgraded suspensions, engines, and styling cues. The V-Series cars are intended to compete with other manufacturer "tuner" houses, like Mercedes-Benz's AMG.

Restoring Distinction
Cadillac has rediscovered a consistent design language as well, giving the line its most distinctive visual identity in decades. During the '60s (and for some of the elements, the '70s and early '80s), the cars had a long hood and short deck; stacked headlights; distinctive grills; and narrow, vertical taillights. To these, a modern addition is a long center high-mounted stop lamp (CHMSL), requiring most of the width of the car.

When I first heard that Cadillac was going to restore these visual cues to their cars, I had my doubts that they could all be pulled off attractively in a modern styling idiom. But restore them they have, and though the look is not universally loved, was it ever? Cadillacs look like nothing else again, and in a new car world in which it's impossible to purchase a truly bad car, distinction is critical.

Keep It Up
So, is Cadillac "The Standard of the World" again?

No. But no one is, really. All of the major manufacturers build good cars, GM included, and the key is giving the consumer something s/he will want to choose. Cadillac is doing that magnificently, with cars that stack up well within their segments, and yet are not substantially similar to any of the competition. In many niches, including luxury cars, that is success in today's auto industry.

Cadillac's back and hitting on all cylinders, even if there is an occasional bump in the road. Though history is less than fully encouraging, let's hope GM leaves the division alone. There is much wrong with the American auto industry, and though sustained successful products can't save it singlehandedly, they are a necessary component. Keep it up, Cadillac.

All images are from GM literature.