ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996 TAG: 9612180025
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DETROIT
SOURCE: BRIAN S. AKRE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THIS IS NOT your father's Cadillac. That's the message the luxury car's maker is trying to send with the introduction of the Catera, which is meant to compete with imports.
Name a luxury car that's sporty, irreverent and fun - a car for ``makin' whoopee.''
Chances are you didn't say Cadillac.
That's the problem for General Motors' venerable luxury division. For most of the last two decades, Cadillac has conjured up an image of cushy, conservative luxo-barges driven by gray-haired retirees.
Cadillac has tried to change that image for years, with little success. But with a new entry-level luxury sedan aimed at baby boomers and an even more ambitious plan to go global, Cadillac's hopes are riding high.
``We need to have the image out there of being with the times in terms of the size of our product, the way it performs and handles, and what it communicates to the owner,'' said Cadillac general manager John Grettenberger. ``A lot of younger people have an impression that Cadillac is still their father's type of car.''
Cadillac's new advertising is trying to change that impression even for the big, conservative DeVille sedan, whose buyers' average age is near 60.
The DeVille TV ads show aging, carefree yuppies frolicking about their DeVilles as a fast, jazzy rendition of ``Makin' Whoopee'' is sung in the background.
Advertising for the Catera (rhymes with Sahara) goes further in trying to break from Cadillac's staid image. Featuring an irreverent, animated duck, the ads proclaim Catera as something different - ``the Caddy that zigs.''
Indeed, the Catera has more in common with the imports it seeks to take on than with any other Cadillac, in part because it is a product of Germany, not Detroit. GM turned to its German subsidiary, Adam Opel AG, to produce the baby Caddy.
The Catera actually is an Opel Omega MV6, a refined, sporty sedan, redesigned to fit American tastes and priced starting at $30,000 to compete with the likes of the Lexus ES300, Infiniti I30, Mercedes-Benz C-class and BMW's 3-series.
It also is key to Cadillac's makeover. Cadillac is betting on Catera to represent a quarter of its sales by the end of the decade.
``Today the average Cadillac customer is in retirement,'' said analyst Maryann Keller of Furman Selz Inc. ``Unless a division can be infused with new consumers to keep its average customer age down, it's a brand that's likely to find its sales and market share diminishing.''
Catera's launch brought back memories of Cadillac's past attempts to redefine its image.
Cadillac's entry-level sedan of the early 1980s, the Cimmaron, was a rebadged Chevrolet Cavalier that probably did more to tarnish its reputation than any model in its history. Then there was the poorly conceived Allante, a $60,000 Italian-designed two-seater.
``Cadillac has had a lot of false starts in its 20-year attempt to court younger, wealthier buyers,'' Keller said. ``Those feeble attempts made things worse. They turned Cadillac into kind of a joke.''
THE LOCAL COMMENT
Preston Collins, vice president of Valley Cadillac Oldsmobile Inc. in Roanoke:
"There's no question [the Catera] will appeal to a younger audience." So far customers who have seen the Catera have liked it, but most of them were traditional Cadillac buyers who were in the showroom anyway. The true test, he said, will be when younger customers - those looking at Infinitis and Acuras and BMWs - stop by specifically to look at the Catera.
Customers shouldn't compare the Catera to the inexpensive early-'80s Cimarron, he said. With this new model, Cadillac "started off with a whole lot more car than last time," he said.
- MEGAN SCHNABEL
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Steve Belham of Royal Oak, Mich., looks at aby CNBCadillac Catera on display in a Detroit dealership last week.
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