Cadillac Versus Lincoln

hpmctorque

For decades before the late 1990s Cadillac was the leader in North American car sales, and maybe (or maybe not) the entire world. Then in 1998 Lincoln took the lead. Lincoln was helped a lot by the Navigator, while Cadillac, which had called itself the "standard of the world" for a long time, hadn't yet introduced the Escalade. In 1999 Mercedes took the title of best seller of luxury vehicles, and since then the title has rotated between Mercedes, BMW and Lexus.

The two leading domestic brands have mounted a serious effort to regain market share, and are going about it in very different ways. Cadillac is trying to outdo the German brands. According to the enthusiast magazines its more than closed the gap in terms of driving dynamics, but sales suggest that shoppers aren't as impressed as the professional car testers.

Unlike Cadillac, which has invested a boat load of money to convert to rear wheel drive, in a bid to better the Germans, Lincoln is using Ford's FWD platforms. The Navigator remains the exception, as it still uses a RWD truck platform. Lincoln has or is extensively restyling and redesigning it's cars and SUVs to conform to what it promotes as "American Luxury." Although that doesn't imply a return to the floating mastodons of yesteryear, the emphasis will be on comfort and luxury that's more in keeping with American than teutonic tradition. Lincoln's approach is less of a moon shot than Cadillac's.

Questions: Which brand will ultimately be more successful in the marketplace, Cadillac or Lincoln? How about in terms of profitability? Finally, do you think that either brand will reclaim the North American luxury sales title within the next 10 year?

Mr_Shiftright

I think Cadillac should forget about the Germans and attempt to become more Lexus-like. This is obviously Lincoln's strategy and I think it's going to work.

Cadillac once built its reputation on luxury. It doesn't have a performance or racing tradition, so why pretend?

I remember saying in the late 1990s that Cadillac will never regain its place in the world until all the people who owned new Cadillacs from 1977 to around 1990 were dead. (Dead men tell no tales). Well, that has pretty much happened. 40 to 50 year olds shopping luxury in 2016 have no, or a dim, memory of Cadillac's horrendous crash and burn. They were too young to own them. If you doubt this premise, think about how Buick succeeded in China when it could not succeed in the USA---that's because the Chinese had no knowledge of Buick's fits and stumbles in the American market 1970-1990.

Lincoln's reputation was obscure and mediocre at best. There hasn't been a Lincoln worth crowing about since the 1960s. This "meh" reputation wasn't great for building brand loyalty, but on the other hand it didn't alienate tens of thousands of buyers. In fact, its many years in livery with the Town Car might have actually enhanced its reputation, although not in quite the way they might have liked.

texases

While Caddy's making some great German imitators, their adoption of German prices will greatly limit their sales, I think. The CT6 was reviewed in the latest CandD, they liked it, but it was $90k. Yikes.

hpmctorque

The competition between Cadillac and Lincoln will really heat up with the introduction of the 2017 Continental. Cadillac may lead it's Detroit competitor in sales, but I'm guessing Lincoln is ahead in terms of return on investment (since it uses Ford's FWD architecture).