April 14: I like Cadillacs

Out of the mist it came. No fanfare. No hurrahs. Absolutely no indication that, this was going to be Cadillac's next big thing. This image showed up on an ad run earlier this year, during the Super Bowl. Sharp eyes identified it as a teaser for Cadillac's new flagship model that was going to be unveiled at April's New York Auto Show. For years, Caddy has been trying to re-establish themselves as the "standard of the world", the tag line that they used successfully for so many years. Well, that time has come and gone and the mantle has passed to, probably, Mercedes Benz. So at the very least, Cadillac is trying to be a dominant player once more with meaningful, high quality cars.

For years, consumers have worshipped at the shrines of the two German prestige marques (BMW & M-B) and one Japanese brand (Lexus). Cadillac was slow to react and often with the wrong product. This started to change with the introduction of the CTS, back in 2002. Anyway, call it my age or whatever, but I've always been enamoured of this American luxury brand. In my home town, there was maybe one sold a year, so not only were they unattainable, but they were also rare. When one of my brother's friend's dad bought a new '58 Sedan de Ville, it finally confirmed to us that, he had serious coin. He followed that up with a '61, then a '64 and finally a '65. Don't know what happened in '68, but the Caddies were replaced by matching Ford LTD's for he and his wife. Oh, the shame!

But, as I said, I've always liked Cadillacs. At one time, they said that you had arrived. Moving to Toronto in the early '70's and having a good corporate job, I felt that the time had come to be a real shooter and get myself a regal ride - a new Cadillac (or almost new). So, in 1976........

.......I traded in my '73 Grand Prix for a lightly used demo 1975 Coupe de Ville - blue on blue on blue brocade (ah, the '70's). A huge boat of a car - perfect for one person! Finally, I was a real shooter and I was only 28! Well, longing for this ride and actually having it, were two different things, so a short ten months later, I traded it in on a '76 Corvette. More my style.

But the Caddy bug lingered on and in 1987, I was able to pick up a collector car.........

.........a very elegant (in my mind) 1967 Coupe de Ville, black on black on black. This car taught me a valuable lesson.......if you can't work on it yourself and if you couldn't pay someone else to, then you should stay with new cars. Lesson learned, the '67 was sold, money lost and I moved on (or so I thought).

After a string of sports coupes, then sedans, I once again started looking at the new Cadillac's. Things had changed, they were actually sporty and could take a corner quickly. Try that with my '75 and you'd be in the weeds, as they say. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll know that I now have a 2013 ATS and more than likely will replace it with a 2016, when my lease expires next Spring.

But back to that car coming out of the mist, the new for 2016 CT-6 (I don't know where those names come from, either). A flagship model to hopefully compete with the big guns.

A beautifully styled car with a very luxurious interior and according to Cadillac, technology that jumps ahead of the class leading Germans and Japanese. Well, we shall see, but this is the first time Caddy has taken on the big guns top sedan models. Buy an $80+k Lexus, BMW or a Benz or take a walk on the wild side and go for a Cadillac? This will be a game changer, if it works. This is a long term strategy, so patience will be necessary. In my opinion, dedicated showrooms would be an asset, rather than have this expensive ride sitting next to a Chevy Cruze.

A very long term strategy, but do they have the time? I like Cadillacs, so you know who I'm pulling for.

Until next time.......