After four years in New York City, Cadillac is leaving, and no, it’s not moving to a bigger place in New Jersey. General Motors is moving the brand’s head office back to Detroit, where the design and engineering teams have stayed all along, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The move comes under the new leadership of Cadillac executive Steve Carlisle, who took over the brand in April, joining around 110 executives and marketing staff in New York. He replaced Johan de Nysschen, who led Cadillac for four years, which included the move to New York and a push into luxury branding. During that time, Cadillac sponsored fashion shows and hosted art exhibits.
The relocation also comes just months after a Cadillac spokesperson told the Detroit Free Press that the brand was was staying in New York, “100%.”
So why the sudden change of scenery?
Carlisle told the Journal that he wants the brand’s leaders in closer proximity to GM’s vehicle design and engineering teams that are located in suburban Detroit as the parent company readies several new models for Cadillac. The brand’s U.S. sales are currently in decline.
“We have a huge number of launches ahead of us,” Carlisle said. “We’ve got to think about how we take inefficiencies out of the communication process between the Cadillac team and the GM partners.”
Auto analysts appear to welcome the move. “Cadillac has spent a lot of time and money trying to emulate the Germans,”wrote Edmunds manager of industry analysis Jeremy Acevedo, “but perhaps this is a sign that the company is ready to embrace its Detroit heritage.”