General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre wants Cadillac to treat customers better.
At a June 3 meeting in Chicago, GM managers told 300 salespeople how a Texas salesman had dissuaded a friend of Whitacre's from buying a Caddy. When his buddy test drove a CTS- V sedan, it ran out of gas. Whitacre's e-mailed response was projected in large letters on a screen: "If true, awful."
The gathering -- a combined pep rally, lecture and confessional -- was part of a GM offensive to revive Cadillac, which has fading appeal, aging customers and trouble persuading buyers it's worth paying a premium. GM brought in trainers from Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., a unit of Marriott International Inc., to show dealers how to reconnect with customers.
"It's truthfully a new beginning for us," said Kurt McNeil, Cadillac U.S. vice president of sales and service. "We know we've got a lot of work to do on the product side, the marketing side and the customer service side. We think we do pretty well, but we know we have to do better."
Cadillac, which once called itself the "Standard of the World," ended a six-decade run as the top-selling U.S. luxury brand in 1998 and hasn't placed higher than third since 1999. Though U.S. sales rose 32 percent through May, Caddy's results last year were the worst since 1953.
The GM brand finished eighth among 12 upscale makes in the Luxury Institute's 2009 survey of buyers who make at least $150,000 a year, said Milton Pedraza, the New York-based group's CEO. About a third of the wealthy respondents said Cadillac was worth paying a premium, compared with 57 percent for BMW and 63 percent for Mercedes.
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