General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) will soon be taking its luxury Cadillac brand Down Under, as an Australian market introduction is slated for sometime in 2008. GM has called Australia the next step in Cadillac's global expansion plans.In recent years, the once passed-over luxury brand has made a very nice comeback and has become one of GM's brighter stars. Brand recognition, an aura of luxury and design innovation have made Cadillac a hot topic in its established markets. It's something GM hopes carries over into newer markets as well.
But, it won't be easy -- the flagship European luxury brands are already entrenched into Australia and unseating them for even a microsecond in the customer's mind won't be easy.
GM executives said that Cadillac was taking into the account the needs of a global buying audience in designing new Cadillac models, along with being able to court the "right-hand drive portfolio" and other design features found in countries outside the U.S. (which, buy the way, has a left-hand driving portfolio).
Caddy's numbers are impressive this year -- a sales growth of 45.3% in European, 98.4% in Asia Pacific and 49.4% in Latin America, Africa and Middle East has been a beacon for GM through the first three quarters of 2007. It hopes a Cadillac introduction into Australia next year will bolster those numbers even more.
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