Ford_News
07-26-2014, 02:29 PM
Filed under: Performance (http://www.autoblog.com/category/sports/), Hirings/Firings/Layoffs (http://www.autoblog.com/category/hirings-firings/), Aston Martin (http://www.autoblog.com/aston+martin/), Cadillac (http://www.autoblog.com/cadillac/), Dodge (http://www.autoblog.com/dodge/), Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/), GM (http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/), Infiniti (http://www.autoblog.com/infiniti/), Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/), Nissan (http://www.autoblog.com/nissan/), Luxury (http://www.autoblog.com/category/luxury/), Read This (http://www.autoblog.com/category/read-this/)
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/54f0c504f85fbff78a0dc1e0736b9322/200482926/cadillaclincoln.jpg
Both of America's domestic luxury brands seem to be stuck in neutral.
It's ironic that Cadillac (http://www.autoblog.com/cadillac/) and Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/) got new bosses within days of each other this month. It's also a commentary on the fact both of America's domestic luxury brands seem to be stuck in neutral.
Cadillac has received barrels of good ink in recent years, thanks to its sporty, fun-to-drive cars with gaudy horsepower figures and eye-catching designs. The problem is sales have been uneven, and this year they've fallen 1.9 percent to 82,117 vehicles.
Enter Johan de Nysschen (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/11/cadillac-snags-de-nysschen-from-infiniti-new-president/). You know him from such roles as the head of Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/) in the United States and more recently, as the global boss of Infiniti (http://www.autoblog.com/infiniti/). Both brands have somewhat underdog status compared with segment leaders Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/), BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/) and Lexus (http://www.autoblog.com/lexus/), and de Nysschen was lauded for his work at his previous stops, overseeing sales and product successes.
Cadillac went out and got a "name" with a proven track record. The 54-year-old South African brings strong leadership and industry credibility to a brand that needs both. He'll be tested right away, as 554,328 Cadillac CTS and SRX models were recalled in June (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/30/gm-recalling-8-million-cars-ignition-problems-official/) in the United States for ignition switch problems. More recalls involving Cadillacs and other General Motors (http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/)vehicles for a welding problem was also announced in July. (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/23/gm-announces-6-recalls-covering-nearly-720k-cars/)
He's taking over for Bob Ferguson, who had been dividing his time between Cadillac and handling GM recall response on Capital Hill. Ferguson moved to a full-time role as GM's top public policy and government relations executive in July.
Meanwhile, Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) tapped a relatively obscure engineer, Kumar Galhotra, to lead Lincoln. He's replacing an industry star, Jim Farley (http://autoblog.search.aol.com/search?q=Jim+Farley&s_it=header_form), who's giving up the reins at Lincoln to focus on his other job - overseeing Ford's global marketing efforts.
Galhotra doesn't have as much name recognition as Farley or de Nysschen, but that means nothing. Lincoln needs momentum, and the only way Galhotra will ultimately be measured is through increasing sales and strengthening the product portfolio.Continue reading Weekly Recap: New bosses try to jump-start Cadillac and Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/)
Weekly Recap: New bosses try to jump-start Cadillac and Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Sat, 26 Jul 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20935861/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/)
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/54f0c504f85fbff78a0dc1e0736b9322/200482926/cadillaclincoln.jpg
Both of America's domestic luxury brands seem to be stuck in neutral.
It's ironic that Cadillac (http://www.autoblog.com/cadillac/) and Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/) got new bosses within days of each other this month. It's also a commentary on the fact both of America's domestic luxury brands seem to be stuck in neutral.
Cadillac has received barrels of good ink in recent years, thanks to its sporty, fun-to-drive cars with gaudy horsepower figures and eye-catching designs. The problem is sales have been uneven, and this year they've fallen 1.9 percent to 82,117 vehicles.
Enter Johan de Nysschen (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/11/cadillac-snags-de-nysschen-from-infiniti-new-president/). You know him from such roles as the head of Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/) in the United States and more recently, as the global boss of Infiniti (http://www.autoblog.com/infiniti/). Both brands have somewhat underdog status compared with segment leaders Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/), BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/) and Lexus (http://www.autoblog.com/lexus/), and de Nysschen was lauded for his work at his previous stops, overseeing sales and product successes.
Cadillac went out and got a "name" with a proven track record. The 54-year-old South African brings strong leadership and industry credibility to a brand that needs both. He'll be tested right away, as 554,328 Cadillac CTS and SRX models were recalled in June (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/30/gm-recalling-8-million-cars-ignition-problems-official/) in the United States for ignition switch problems. More recalls involving Cadillacs and other General Motors (http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/)vehicles for a welding problem was also announced in July. (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/23/gm-announces-6-recalls-covering-nearly-720k-cars/)
He's taking over for Bob Ferguson, who had been dividing his time between Cadillac and handling GM recall response on Capital Hill. Ferguson moved to a full-time role as GM's top public policy and government relations executive in July.
Meanwhile, Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) tapped a relatively obscure engineer, Kumar Galhotra, to lead Lincoln. He's replacing an industry star, Jim Farley (http://autoblog.search.aol.com/search?q=Jim+Farley&s_it=header_form), who's giving up the reins at Lincoln to focus on his other job - overseeing Ford's global marketing efforts.
Galhotra doesn't have as much name recognition as Farley or de Nysschen, but that means nothing. Lincoln needs momentum, and the only way Galhotra will ultimately be measured is through increasing sales and strengthening the product portfolio.Continue reading Weekly Recap: New bosses try to jump-start Cadillac and Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/)
Weekly Recap: New bosses try to jump-start Cadillac and Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Sat, 26 Jul 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20935861/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/26/weekly-recap-cadillac-lincoln-bosses-aston-martin-lagonda-nissan-cube-dodge-charger-hellcat/)