Cadillac Chief: Dealers Open and Forthright

There's a big difference between engineering and marketing,” says Jim Taylor, still relative new as general manager of Cadillac Div., a job he assumed in a management shuffle last September.

“There are so many market actions that are out of your control,” Taylor notes. “But there's a lot of data in marketing that are similar to engineering” and require engineering-style analysis, he says.

The resurgence of Cadillac in the past few years has dealers more willing to invest in their facilities and hire better sales personnel, Taylor says. “Success breeds success.”

“The dealers are very open, very direct and forthright,” he adds. Dealers call a lot, and most want to talk about incentives. They are concerned with how the incentives cash is used, and want to make the cash as invisible as possible.

“The dealers have to live with incentives on an ongoing basis.” Taylor says. “Luxury car buyers still don't want to pay retail.”

Taylor says half his time is consumed visiting dealers here and abroad. He entertained 400 dealers at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville, FL, in February.

In addition to the all-new DTS, which is targeted at Cadillac's loyal mature customer base, Taylor thinks sales of the STS mid-size sedan also will increase, especially with the availability of all-wheel drive in 6-cyl. engine STS models. Previously AWD only was available in the $60,000 V-8 model.