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| The Cadillac 2019 CT6 V Sport is unveiled at the 2018 New York International Auto Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City on March 28. GM's luxury brand relocated its headquarters to Manhattan in 2015, but will return to Detroit next year. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
By Ray Downs, UPI
After four years in New York City, Cadillac is moving their headquarters back to the Detroit area, the company announced on Wednesday.
Cadillac Senior Vice President and President Steve Carlisle told the Wall Street Journal that he wants to move Cadillac closer to the design and engineering hub of its parent company, General Motors.
"We have a huge number of launches ahead of us," Carlisle said. "We've got to think about how we take inefficiencies out of the communication process between the Cadillac team and the GM partners."
The decision is a change from what the company said in June, when Cadillac spokesman Andrew Lipman told the Detroit Free Press that there was "never a question" the brand would stay in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood, where it moved to in 2015.
The idea was for there to be a separation between General Motors and its luxury brand and give Cadillac "more freedom to cultivate the brand in pursuit of further global growth," the company said before the move.
But critics said that hasn't worked out.
"Whatever perceived advantage there was to moving to New York was not realized," Rebecca Lindland, an analyst for Cox Automotive, told the Detroit Free Press. "They have not been good stewards of the brand, and I think by moving back to Detroit, and by embracing their roots, they can start rebuilding that foundation."
The move will take place over the next few months and is expected to be finalized by April 1, 2019.
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