Cadillac: Europe’s latest niche player?

Cadillac has long been GM’s premium brand, at least in the US. In Europe, a few muscle cars and large SUVs have been sold under the Cadillac name, mainly through specialist dealers. Moreover, like other US brands (Jeep apart) Cadillac has always been a marginal, somewhat esoteric presence on Europe’s roads. And when GM pulled out of Europe entirely when it sold Opel-Vauxhall to PSA it seemed that GM’s global ambitions had finally come to an end. Now, however, with an all-new electric platform (Ultium) using LG (and potentially Samsung) batteries ready for wide deployment, Cadillac has returned to Europe. It is now being positioned as a luxury brand. Having invested US$35bn in electric and autonomous vehicles, GM needs to maximise sources of potential return on this investment.