mmarshall

Deborah Wahl has been hired as Chief Global Marketing Officer for Cadillac. She will report directly to Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen. At one time, she worked for Lexus.

http://www.gm.com/mol/m-2018-mar-0306-cadillac.html



Cadillac has appointed Deborah Wahl as Global Chief Marketing Officer, effective March 26. Wahl will be based in the company’s New York headquarters and report to Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen. Deborah will lead the strategic marketing for the Cadillac brand around the world, building on the transformational work that has been done over the past several years.

“Deborah’s diverse experience, as well as her proven track record of building successful global brands, makes her a natural addition to our leadership team,” said Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen. “Cadillac has made incredible progress over the past several years in our long-term journey to regain our position as the pinnacle of premium luxury brands. Deborah’s experience and strategic vision will build on that progress and help propel Cadillac forward during our next phase of global growth.”

Wahl, who brings over 20 years of experience with high-level marketing and brand work, serves on the Boards of Directors of Groupon and media software company Mediaocean. She helmed marketing for three years as Chief Marketing Officer at McDonald’s, where she played an instrumental role in transforming the business and increasing brand perception.

Previously, Wahl served as the first-ever CMO at PulteGroup, one of the country’s largest homebuilders. Additionally, Wahl brings deep automotive experience, having served as VP and CMO at Chrysler, VP of Marketing at Lexus, and having held multiple Marketing and Communications roles at Ford.

Sulu

Upon the start of her stint at Cadillac, she will have been Chief Marketing Officer for 2 iconic American brands.

mmarshall

Maybe she can talk them into (finally) getting rid of the CUE system. It has cost Cadillac dearly in customer complaints.

Aron9000

If they'd fire their interior and infotainment designers and start from scratch it would solve a lot of their problems IMO. The infotainment systems used in other GM products are FAR superior to the CUE system.

But yes, Cadillac's marketing has sucked in recent years, IMO they were doing good back in the mid 00's to about 2013 or so. I liked their Led Zepplin themed ads, made the cars not seem so stodgy, that there was something different from your father or grandfather's boat Cadillac. Yet they still did feature classic Cadillacs from the 50's/early 60's in the ads. Then they hiked their prices, introduced the awful CUE system and IMO really tried too hard to be a better BMW, right at the same time as the market shifted away from sport sedans to crossovers(and guess how many different crossover models BMW sells now).

mmarshall

Agreed. The Chevy, Buick, and GMC systems are definitely more user-friendly....though still a bit complex for my tastes.

Not sure if you will agree wth me or not, but IMO the true boat-Cadillacs went out with the RWD 1996 Fleetwood. The FWD DeVille/DTS, though soft and floaty by today's standards, felt almost like a sport-sedan in comparison.

Aron9000

I had a 1995 Fleetwood for a while, love the boat Cadillacs. I also think another huge part of Cadillac's problem is their lack of reliability/shoddy construction. My 1995 had a Chevy V8 engine and truck transmission, mechanically it was a great car, very reliable. Fit/finish on the interior was crap, even for 1995. Same thing applies to current Cadillacs, fit/finish on the interior is a lot better, but the competition is still way ahead. The really bad part though is just how many problems newer Cadillacs have, I read the Cadillac boards and it just isn't those crappy 90's/early 2000's Northstar V8 cars that have problems. Its the 2nd CTS with the 3.6 V6, the ATS, the 3rd gen CTS, people who bought them new, they've been in the shop a lot more than they should be under warranty. And there is a pattern to all the problems, its poor engineering in almost all respects, not the guys bolting them together.

Toys4RJill

Corey140

It's already been replaced, just not renamed

Toys4RJill

rogerh00

I just love reading all the Cadillac hate on this site. My XT5 is as good or better in some ways as any of the 4 Lexus' I've owned in the past.

mmarshall

First, I wouldn't necessarily call it Cadillac-hate. It's possible to constructively-criticize a vehicle without showing "hatred"....which, I think, is what most of us are doing. And it's not limited to CL or Car Chat by any means.....even professional reviewers, auto magazines, and publications like Consumer Reports have had some less-than-stellar things to say about the brand's recent overall reliability record and the user-unfriendliness of the CUE system. Second, I agree with you that your XT5, overall, may compare favorably to recent Lexus models....Lexus, IMO, despite a still-excellent reliability record, doesn't seem to use the same material quality in its newer models as it did years ago. However, reports of the new LS500 say that problem has has been rectified on the LS, so I'll save further comment on it for now.

Just out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get used to the XT5's E-shifter? I own a new Lacrosse, which uses the same shifter, and it took me about two weeks or so.

tex2670

Maybe. But that doesn't sound like it comes under the Marketing Manager's purview. In fact, if anything, it's now her job to get customers to like the CUE system by marketing its attributes.

rogerh00

I'll concede that hate was the wrong word to use. It's mostly criticism I read and I guess GM deserves it considering their checked past. I however think the new gen XT5 and CT6 are not in that old category. They are well done for it's market. As far as profession reviewers most seem to me as wanting only low 0-60 times and a race car look. CR and JD powers ratings are not representative of the XT5 since it so new. Reliability and dependability, what is the difference? Probably the reviewer I consider to be the best in the business is Alex on Autos. He gave a favorable review for the XT5. Here is his review of the 2017 XT5 when it first came out if anyone is interested.
The only issue I have with the CUE system is the XT5 has no on/off/volume button for the radio. I don't like this trend of not having any buttons for controls. Everything else is fine. I waiting to try Android auto which is new to since Lexus doesn't have or ever will I guess. All I know I am glad to be away from the Lexus NX touchpad and the NAV. I never become comfortable with them.

As far as the e-shifter is concerned, It is different and it took me a week or two. Considering, I first started driving on a 3 on the column manual many many years ago. It really is simple to use and it allows for cubby storage underneath the console which is handy. I like the e-shifter, my first experience with one.

I'm really interested to see the new XT4 soon, it should raise the bar on compact crossovers and the Cadillac brand.

mmarshall

Other opinions may be important, but my (respectful) advice is to go check out their products for yourself...you be the judge.


Agreed. The auto press has too concerned with 0-60 times and skidpad/G-figures for decades.

CR and JD Power ratings are often not even representative of each other LOL.

Absolutely. I agree. He certainly is the most thorough.

Agreed on the extra storage-space underneath the console (I use it for the Owners' Manual), but what irks me about the E-Shifters is that the manufacturers could design them to work like a traditional PRNDL lever, and yet don't. Confusing patterns are why the Government stepped in, back during the mid-60s, and made the PRNDL sequence mandatory. That (may) have to happen again.

Latest info I have is that we won't see the XT4 in dealership still the later part of the year. Its on my review list...I especially want to compare it to the Lincoln MKC.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

exactly... good article on it here - says it went from awful to pleasant to use. oh and it's going in other gm vehicles too...

https://blog.caranddriver.com/cue-ti...inment-system/