CONSIDER yourself lucky. As a car nut you have more than 50 vehicle brands to choose from in Australia and that number is growing.
As a nation of discerning petrol-heads, we like choice and as long as a vehicle is a bit different and has an automatic transmission, it will normally sell on the red dirt.
With the demise of the Ford Falcon and the future of big rear-drive Holdens hanging in the balance, there could be a glimmer of hope for high-performance large sedans from General Motors.
It may have failed to launch in Australia on two previous occasions but US luxury vehicle authority Cadillac may be gearing up to have another crack at the local market.
At the launch of its new CT6 large luxury sedan in New York, GoAuto caught up with Cadillac’s top dog and learned that, despite two failed attempts, the brand is still eyeing our market as part of a worldwide expansion plan.
“I’ve heard it suggested to me that there are one or two people in Australia who like high-performance cars so I think we should consider it,” said Cadillac Global president Johan de Nysschen.
Mr de Nysschen explained that the company had a strong strategy to expand out of its United States stronghold and into international regions starting with the largest expanding market in the world, China.
“We have to take things one step at a time,” he said. “The market where we can get the biggest return in terms of expanding our presence is China.
“It’s now the world’s largest luxury car market and so our primary focus right now is to establish China as the second volume hub for the brand.”
After Cadillac is established in China, Mr de Nysschen said a focus on Europe would include right-hand drive for the United Kingdom market, and with right-hook models available, the brand would almost certainly come to Australia.
“Come the other side of 2020 I think we then need to start looking at other markets and of course including Europe, and you cannot play in Europe without being in the UK,” he said.
“That means you also need right-hand drive. If you want to invest in generating right-hand driver variants of your cars, you will never finance it with UK volume alone. So where else do we find right-hand drive volume? Japan, Australia, South East Asia and South Africa.”
While the likelihood of Cadillac dealerships springing up in Australia is “definitely in the plan”, Mr de Nysschen said the process could take up to “seven or eight years.”
But have we heard it all before? In 2009 the company was just two weeks away from rolling out the Wreath and Crest badge when it made an abrupt about turn and fled back to the US as the global financial crisis unfolded.
Had it gone ahead, Australia would have got the potent Cadillac CTS large sedan range which included a very Australia-suited supercharged V8 version, capable of lapping the Nurburgring in under eight minutes.
This time round, in Australia’s SUV-centric market, Cadillac would almost certainly offer the SRX Crossover as a competitor to Audi’s Q5, the BMW X3, Volvo’s XC60 and the Lexus RX 350.
Beyond that, the company’s sizzling ATS Coupe would offer an unusual alternative to existing high-performance rear-drive coupes, and the freshly launched CT6 large sedan would happily fill the gap left by the doomed Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore, if its replacement turns out to be front-wheel drive.
But it’s a tough market and the company would have to get everything just right to compete in the lucrative Australian market. Pricing, equipment, performance and image would all have to be spot on.
With the imminent exit of Holden’s local manufacturing outfit, would the Cadillac luxury range uphold the General Motors flag in Australia and, more importantly would you drive one?
Daniel Gardner GoAuto.com.au
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