Can lightning strike twice?
Cadillac hopes so. In fact, it’s counting on it as it prepares to unveil an unnamed two-seat roadster that will serve as its new flagship model.
“We are going to play it like (the Dodge) Viper–display it as a concept at auto shows and hope we can create a groundswell to build it,” a Cadillac source said here at a preview of the 1999 models coming from Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile.
The roadster will first be introduced at the Paris Auto Show this fall with a series of renderings.
The first appearance of the concept car will be at the Detroit Auto Show in January, where Cadillac will pat itself on the back for bringing out a new high-priced signature model for the annual gathering of executives from all its rivals.
Then, in February, the car will travel to the Chicago Auto Show for judging by the consumers who will be asked to buy it.
The Detroit show will be used to gauge industry reaction, the Chicago show to determine consumer reaction.
The Detroit unveiling serves another purpose that Cadillac officials are reluctant to admit. Ford Motor Co. will introduce the concept of its reincarnated Thunderbird there, and Cadillac wants to upstage its competitor.
Cadillac is hoping its concept roadster will lure some folks away from the Ford exhibit and take the edge off the expected media frenzy over the T-bird by giving the press a second concept to fawn over.
The Big Three automakers are still being treated for wounded pride over the introduction of the new Beetle in Detroit this year. Volkswagen attracted more attention than the three of them put together.
If Cadillac gets favorable nods in Paris and Detroit and giggles in Chicago, it has time to make changes because the roadster isn’t due on the market until 2002.
You may recall the Cadillac Catera concept car was greeted with universal yawns if not raised eyebrows at the Chicago Auto Show a couple of years before going into production. So designers took the concept back to the studios and performed major surgery.
While the concept could prove a dud, Cadillac sources say they are betting it will get a universal thumbs up.
And if the roadster bombs?
“We really don’t expect that to happen,” the source said.
The roadster is being developed to be the Cadillac flagship in styling, performance and technology and influence all models in the lineup.
Cadillac says it wants to return to the days such as 1959, when Cadillac was not only the envy of most consumers, it also was one of the most distinctive models on the market.
The concept car, powered by a V-8 engine, is built on a platform adapted from the Chevrolet Corvette’s, but sources take pains to insist the roadster isn’t going to be a Corvette with the Caddy crest or even resemble the ‘Vette.
The rear-wheel-drive Cadillac will be built on a 5-inch longer wheelbase than Corvette, but be 11 inches shorter overall. If those dimensions hold, the roadster would have a 109.5-inch wheelbase and be 168.7 inches overall.
The roadster would compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class.
Cadillac’s last attempt at a two-seater was the Allante, a $54,000 car plagued by quality problems. Only 20,443 were sold from 1987 through 1993.
Escalading matters: Cadillac’s portion of the preview was designed to show off the 1999 Escalade sport-utility vehicle based on the GMC Yukon Denali coming this fall.
Can’t report on the driving impressions of the Escalade yet, but those who think it’s simply a Yukon with a Cadillac crest on it will be pleasantly surprised.
Escalade was rushed to market (from corporate approval to finished model in seven months) because Cadillac looked at the sales figures for the Lincoln Navigator and had to revise its product plans.
Cadillac wanted to bring out a hybrid vehicle–part sport-ute, part station wagon–of its own rather than doll up a General Motors vehicle.
It still will have a hybrid, in 2003 or 2003 1/2, built off the next-generation Catera platform. But until then, Escalade is designed to keep a few folks out of those Lincoln showrooms.
And while Escalade may be a quick Yukon conversion, look for a remake in 2001 that’s more Cadillac and less Yukon with a more powerful V-8 engine.
Look for Cadillac to sell Escalade alongside the hybrid, rather than drop the Escalade when the hybrid appears. Cadillac said it plans to bring out one new model each year for the next 10 years and half will be sport-utility vehicles.
Sporty Catera: Look for a sport version of Catera in the spring, with a sports tuned suspension and deck-lid spoiler, yet no 5-speed manual transmission until 2002, when the next generation Catera arrives.
Brandishing LeSabre: Not much new from Buick this fall, but stay tuned because its all new 2000 LeSabre will arrive on the auto-show circuit just after the first of the year.
Doubters, by the way, will still find a Riviera coupe in the Buick lineup for 1999. Though there had been rumors questioning the longevity of the slow selling coupe, sales have picked up since Ford announced it would drop the Lincoln Mark VIII for 1999.
Riviera sales are running at about 14,000 units annually, still far from superb numbers.
“The market will tell us if we keep Riviera,” said Buick general manager Bob Coletta. “If we can’t keep at 14,000 units, if we go below that number, we’ll have to ask, `What are we doing here?’ “
Signia signals: Buick attracted attention this year by displaying the Signia concept vehicle on the auto-show circuit, a part wagon/part sport-utility vehicle.
Coletta says Signia “will not be built, but we did learn from that vehicle what you can do with a longer four-door sedan and we are going to do something with those ideas.”
As for a hybrid Buick in the future?
“As fast as we can get one, we’re going to have one. Hybrids are where the market is going,” he said, without saying just how fast Buick could get one despite speculation it could be 2001.
Coletta said Buick has another concept in the works for next year’s show circuit, but he wouldn’t say whether it was Gen II Signia.
Intriguing engine: The long-awaited 3.5-liter “Short Star” V-6 rendition of the Cadillac Northstar V-8 arrives at Oldsmobile this fall and will replace the 3.8-liter V-6 in the Intrigue sedan.
10-4 to 88: Olds will begin the phaseout of its long-lived 88 sedan starting Dec. 23, said Darwin Clark, Olds general manager.
Olds will rely on the inventory of 88s built through then to get it through as much of 1999 as it can.
At the end of the ’99 calendar year, Olds will start producing the successor to the 88, the model year 2000 Aurora, which will be offered in V-6 and V-8 versions.
The Olds 88 won’t be the only model to be phased out. Look for the Cutlass to disappear after the 1999 model run. Cutlass’ cousin is the Century sedan, which will continue to be marketed by Buick.
Cutlass sales, by the way, are going gangbusters, but Olds now has the Alero sedan and is counting on it to pick up any and all of the slack once Cutlass is dropped.
Who’s who: It’ll be easier to spot an Oldsmobile in the ’99 model year, thanks to management’s decision to put the name back on the deck lid.
The Olds name had disappeared from the car for a couple of years.
“It was almost as if we were embarrassed by the name,” Clark said.
No reason for embarrassment considering Olds sales of 312,000 units in 1997 grew to 380,000 for 1998 and are forecast to reach 400,000 in 1999.
Before the ’99 model year is out, any vehicle boasting Olds’ heritage will have the block letters tacked back on, Clark said.
The motivation for restoring the name, other than rising sales?
“I got a letter from a man who rented an Olds Intrigue and loved the car, but there wasn’t any Olds name on the car. So later when he went to buy the Intrigue he loved so much when he rented it, he ended up at a Dodge store looking for an Intrepid instead.”
Good enough reason.
