To the Editor:
In response to "Caddy in Europe? Heard it before -- it won't happen," (March 1): Cadillac does have the potential to be a viable brand in Europe, but not until the right models are selected and priced below the premium European brands, aiming for that gap between mainstream and niche where buyers want a large car or estate (your station wagon).
It should be distributed through existing Vauxhall/Opel dealer networks as a top-end offering, like Audi was for many years to Volkswagen before it became strong enough to go it alone.
Marketing should underscore the North American qualities, not try to emulate the European ones ineffectively.
The model choice should exclude any pastiche of a European model line such as the BLS did of the Saab 9-3; that size is not Cadillac, the culture of the car is wrong, and people are not stupid. And we must include right-hand-drive markets.
Chrysler doesn't get much right these days, but it has made a case for the 300C saloon/estate through strong image marketing. General Motors could do that with the CTS and certain of the new models coming through as long as a decent sales and marketing budget could be invested.
