Cadillac Will Join The $100,000 Plus Playground

DETROIT, Jan 5, 2003; Michael Ellis writing for Reuters reported that Cadillac, General Motors Corp.'s premium vehicle brand, must have a large, ultra-luxurious sedan that only the very rich can afford if it is to reestablish itself as the standard of the world, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on Monday.

"It's clear that Cadillac can go up (market), and probably must go up," Lutz told reporters at the Detroit auto show. "If we're going to reestablish ourselves as the standard of the world, we have to do an uncompromising luxury vehicle at the top that only a few people in the world can afford."

The last two years, GM has shown at the Detroit show ultra-luxurious Cadillac concept cars, that if the automaker built, would easily cost more than $100,000 each. This year, Chrysler unveiled a V12, mid-engine concept sports car, while Ford Motor Co. will begin selling this year its Ford GT mid-engine sports car.

GM had no Cadillac concept vehicle for the Detroit show, but Lutz said the automaker still intends to take Cadillac upmarket.

GM executives have said that they plan to put a V12 engine in a future Cadillac which would cost more than $100,000.

Lutz said on Monday that a luxury rear-wheel drive Cadillac sedan will be larger than the Cadillac DeVille full-size car, and have an engine larger than a V8.

"The so-called ULS, codename ultra luxury sedan, is still very much a part of our projected product plan," Lutz said.

Just a few years ago, Cadillac was widely regarded as a dying brand that only appealed to aging buyers. But on Monday, Cadillac posted its best annual U.S. sales since 1990 with an 8 percent gain in 2003.

Cadillac's resurrection shows how GM will revive each of its brands over the next few years with a wave of new vehicles, Gary Cowger, GM's head of North American automotive operations, said when unveiling the new Pontiac G6 mid-size car on Monday.

"That's the level of power and focus that we're putting into each of our brands," Cowger said.