Cadillac considered for Oz – again

General Motors premium brand Cadillac is back under consideration for Australia.

Cadillac was meant to launch in Australia in 2009, but that was scuppered at the very last minute by the GFC.

A dealer network had already been appointed and 60 CTS sedans were in the country when the plug was pulled.

Holden has been back in discussion with Cadillac for some months. It is also part of a review of potential new markets for the brand being considered by its new global boss Bob Ferguson.

“Our team is talking to the global Cadillac group about if and when it would make sense to properly, 100 per cent, both feet in, launch that brand. But we would not do that until the conditions were absolutely rock-solidly perfect,” Holden Managing Director Mike Devereux told motoring.com.au.

Working in Cadillac’s favour for a move into Australia is GM’s determination to make it a truly global brand to rival the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Working against it here is that Cadillac still does not have a full model line-up, something Mr Devereux regards as crucial.

“We are in discussions about the viability of the product portfolio,” he said. “You would have to have a full right-hand drive portfolio of the line-up.”

The current Cadillac line-up includes the newly launched ATS – a BMW 3 Series fighter - the mid-size CTS family, large XTS sedan, the SRX mid-size crossover and the hulking Escalade truck family.

The Chevrolet Volt-based Cadillac ELR coupe is due to launch at Detroit motor show today (Tuesday).

Mr Devereux would not speculate on Cadillac’s potential arrival timing in Australia, although a green light would certainly be given soon enough to go Cadillac on sale here well before the end of the decade.

“You would have a renewal of quite a few things in that Cadillac line-up before the end of the decade and I would imagine we would have made that decision before then, and either have done it or not done it,” he said.

Mr Devereux said that the aborted 2009 launch should not affect the brand if and when it does actually go on sale in Australia.

“I think for us to launch Cadillac, if we were to do that in Australia, you have to have every single key volume entry have the exact spec that we know Australians would want and need, and we are looking at the viability of that as we speak.

“We wouldn’t do it if it absolutely didn’t have every single thing that you would need out of the blocks to be able to have a robust approach to a dealer network and have the right portfolio. And that is what GM’s intention is with Cadillac globally.

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