When last we spoke with Mahmoud Samara, at the 2015 Canadian International Auto Show, he was brand director for Cadillac Canada. He's since moved on to become the outfit's sales and marketing director; we reconnected as he was hosting a handful of Cadillac dealers in his hometown of Dubai.
The occasion was the Dubai International Motor Show, an event that is hardly a staple of the global car show circuit. Nevertheless, the brain trust at Cadillac figured it was a strategic stopover for a brand in the midst of a major reimagining. They may be right. Only time will tell.
For this most American of luxury car brands, the auto show circuit remains a staple on the marketing calendar. At the Los Angeles Auto Show last year, Cadillac pulled the wraps off the ATS-V, its most serious attempt yet to dethrone the BMW M3/M4 in the compact performance car sweepstakes. At this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, it introduced the CTS-V sport sedan. In New York, it kept the momentum rolling with its new executive sedan, the CT6.
The brand had one bullet left in its metaphorical gun for 2015-16; this was the replacement for its popular but outdated mid-size crossover, the SRX. Given that the bulk of sales for this new crossover would come from North America and, especially, from its home country, logic dictated that that vehicle would debut at this year's Los Angeles show. But the markets jumped the gun by bringing the 2017 Cadillac XT5 to Dubai a week prior, securing some extra pre-L.A. publicity and raising eyebrows along the way.
"Why Dubai? We're getting that question from a lot of people: dealers, journalists, brand people," Samara said. "But this city is a symbol of vision and success. The first tower was built here in 1977; it was a very daring project. Now, the city has the world's tallest building [the Burj Khalifa, standing 828 metres] and when it was built, one-third of the world's construction cranes were right here."
The message: It's all about the linkage. Plus: bigger is better. And the Cadillac tag line: Dare greatly.
Since the arrival of a new president, Johan de Nysschen, in 2014, the Cadillac brand has undergone an injection of bravado. The South African auto executive was previously responsible for Audi in America and, under his watch, sales for that brand soared by 42 per cent. In between the Audi and Cadillac years, there was a two-year stint at Infiniti where de Nysschen tipped his hand.
While at Infiniti, he was part of the team that moved the corporate headquarters from Yokohama to Hong Kong and he initiated a change to the vehicle-naming convention. Since taking over the reins at Cadillac, he has moved the head office from Detroit to New York City and has triggered a change to the vehicle-naming convention. If this sounds like history repeating itself, well, there are distinct similarities, but de Nysschen is aiming for better results at Cadillac.
For sure, the brand is in a better position image-wise than it was at this point last year. Both the ATS-V and CTS-V have been earning rave reviews. The latest Escalade, which debuted last year, represents a much-needed update to a popular vehicle with an unwieldy, old-fashioned image. The XT5 looks good on paper and on stage. But sales continue to be a challenge in key regions.
From a global standpoint, the Cadillac brand is up in 2015; in America, year-to-date sales figures show the hometown luxury team losing ground compared to last year; In Canada, Cadillac is generally keeping pace with its record-setting year of 2014.
For an American luxury brand to flex its marketing muscle in one of the world's luxury hot spots is no small decision. It requires a good amount of cash and no small amount of hubris. At the Dubai International Motor Show, there were no significant debuts from the Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz. The star of the show was Cadillac because the show was conspicuously free of stars.
But this was not a "big fish, small pond" type of decision. "This is the most cosmopolitan city in the world, the city with the tallest building in the world, the city with the first seven-star resort and man-made islands," Samara says. "This city embodies the ethos of our brand. And there's not a better place in the world for us to be."
The writer was a guest of the auto maker. Content was not subject to approval.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Add us to your circles
Sign up for our weekly newsletter