Cadillac sedan reveal bucks SUV trends
Cadillac is committed to sedans despite the growing consumer preference for SUVs and pickups.
To prove it, the General Motors luxury brand is bringing two new sedans to market and revealed one, the CT5, through a social-media campaign online Monday.
The other, a smaller sport sedan called the CT4, will be revealed later in the year and land in Cadillac showrooms in 2020.
“We’re committed to sedans. If you look at who buys a sedan today, they’re SUV and crossover rejecters,” Cadillac president Steve Carlisle said at a media lunch last week.
The demand for sedans is growing at “a considerable rate” among customers in China, which is the world’s largest market and a strong driver of Cadillac’s global sales, Carlisle said.
“So we have to look at that too,” he said. “We grew market share last year in four out of six sedan models,” he added.
Cadillac plans to launch a new vehicle every six months through 2021.
Cadillac will show the CT5 at the New York International Auto Show, which runs April 19-28. The CT5 in effect replaces the CTS sedan, which is reported to end production at GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly in June. GM has invested $211 million at the Lansing plant to build the CT5 there.
A Cadillac top designer called the CT5 sedan “a car lover’s dream” with all-wheel drive, a 10-speed automatic transmission and a standard 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. It is also available in a 3.0-litre twin-turbo engine.
Cadillac is not yet releasing pricing or a date for when the car will go on sale. The 2019 CTS started at $46,995 US.
The exterior design of the CT5 is meant to be bold and dynamic with a wide, aggressive “stance” and big wheels. It uses LED lighting in the vertical headlamps for a dramatic and “signature” look, said Andrew Smith, Cadillac’s executive director of global design.
“The sedan becomes a driver’s car,” said Smith. “It’s got great proportions, it’s really, really wide. Like the XT6 [SUV], it has an aggressive front for the sport version” with all black instead of chrome accents.
The interior design will reflect “a passion for driving,” but be spacious for comfort too, Smith said.
The driver-centric cockpit offers high tech controls. Cadillac will offer the new sedan in luxury and sport models.
The CT5 is Cadillac’s first “digital-first launch,” Carlisle said. The idea is to present the new car to new consumers by sharing a series of videos about the CT5 in the leadup to the car’s public debut in New York. Carlisle said the video on social media will use “autonomous sensory meridian response” to give viewers a sensory experience as to what it’s like to be in and around the CT5.
ASMR is a recent Internet craze, and it was used in many Super Bowl spots. Basically, it is when video is so vivid the viewer can hear, for example, the burning ashes of a cigarette as a person inhales it or the pop of a soda can when it’s opened. ASMR usually elicits a tingling, often-pleasurable sensation people might feel from sounds or visuals that please the brain.
“We have an abundance of different noises and senses we can convey through ASMR video,” Carlisle said.
The CT5 “Sensory Symphony” video series is on Cadillac’s YouTube page and social media channels Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The videos focus on distinct sounds such as the rev of the CT5’s available 3.0-litre Twin Turbo engine, audio from its Bose Performance Series speakers and the whisper of its custom black-andwhite camouflage wrap slowly being peeled away to reveal the new sedan’s exterior.
“The Cadillac CT5 is meant to overwhelm all of the senses, and that’s why we’re using ASMR-style videos to showcase its features,” said Deborah Wahl, Cadillac chief marketing officer, in a media statement. “The ‘Sensory Symphony’ videos are designed to convey for viewers the same satisfying feeling that arises from driving this car.”
Cadillac will feature a new video each week leading up to the New York auto show, culminating in a “Sensory Symphony” video of vehicle sounds April 16.
“Sound leaves a lasting impression,” said Brandon Vivian, Cadillac executive chief engineer. “With standard sound optimization and active noise cancellation, our goal is to deliver a world-class cabin experience with a Cadillac-exclusive curated sound library.”
Last year, Cadillac sold 382,184 cars globally, a record figure not seen since 1978, Carlisle said. While much of the growth came from China, he is predicting “double-digit” percentage sales growth in the United States this year as the brand targets its marketing toward younger customers new to the brand.
“We’re going for a more youthful, vibrant, colourful and fun advertising and back to our musical roots,” said Carlisle.
Cadillac also will do more performance marketing around the CT5 and its other new vehicles, such as the XT4 compact SUV that went on sale last fall and the XT6 midsized SUV revealed at the Detroit auto show in January.
Performance marketing is advertising that can be measured. One such example was Cadillac offered consumers a $100 voucher with Ticketmaster for test driving a Cadillac vehicle. The result was “over 71 per cent of the people who participated in that program are conquest customers,” said Carlisle.
Cadillac recently advertised heavily during the Oscars on Feb. 24 with measurable success, he said. Cadillac searches rose by 46 per cent that day and the brand reached a younger audience given that 90 per cent of Oscar viewers are under age 55, he said. Also, Cadillac dealer website traffic rose 24 per cent and Cadillac got 1.2 million views on YouTube within 48 hours of the Oscars, Carlisle said.
“Part of it had to do with the ads and a lot of it had to do with the social activation,” said Carlisle.
Cadillac will continue the strategy, advertising next during professional golf tournaments such as the Masters golf tournament in mid-April.