After three years in New York’s SoHo district, Cadillac is moving back to Michigan.
Cadillac made the decision to move its headquarters back near the rest of GM to support development on its new vehicles. Back in 2015, under former president Johan de Nysschen, Cadillac moved to New York City. The move was made in an attempt to transform the luxury brand into a global player. A veteran of Audi and Infiniti, de Nysschen wanted to re-establish the brand as the “standard for the world”. To do that, he pitched the idea to move the brand away from the rest of GM. Instead, the idea was to headquarter it in one of the world’s top luxury car markets.
Now, however, current Cadillac president Steve Carlisle told the Wall Street Journal that plan is changing. Instead, the brand is moving back to Michigan in order to streamline “the communication process between the Cadillac team and the GM partners.”
Mixed results
After it’s move to New York, Cadillac’s revenue increased over the past few years. In 2017, the brand reported a 15.5 percent in sales from the previous year, mostly thanks to sales outside the U.S. market. As Cadillac seeks further progress – releasing a new or redesigned vehicle every since months through 2020 – it makes sense to pull at least some of Cadillac’s 110 New York-based employees to work more closely with the rest of GM’s teams. Although the move gave Cadillac more independence from General Motors’ other brands, communication between Detroit and New York slowed development at points.
The brand also aims to reposition its lineup, revamping its sedans while introducing more crossovers. According to an Automotive News report, a source familiar with the brand’s move stated the new headquarters will be located near GM’s technical center in Warren, Michigan. Today, Michigan House Representative Sandy Levin issued a statement confirming Cadillac’s move back to Warren.
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