Yahoo Autos Cadillac's Johan de Nysschen Is Out
Johan de Nysschen, the Cadillac CEO once heralded by General Motors as its “premier change agent” for the luxury brand, has left. Steve Carlisle, formerly president of GM Canada, is taking over “effective immediately,” according to GM.
De Nysschen’s departure had been rumored within GM headquarters for months, despite a slew of new product, rising transaction prices, soaring sales in China, and a new Cadillac-exclusive V-8 engine all introduced under his 42-month tenure. Unusually, GM’s statement included nothing from de Nysschen himself, only a head nod to an executive it once praised for his “unmatched record, skill set, and determination.”
“We appreciate Johan’s efforts over the last four years in setting a stronger foundation for Cadillac,” said GM president Dan Ammann in the statement.
Reached by Bloomberg, de Nysschen said, “There wasn’t a fight. Let’s call it philosophical differences.”
Back in August 2014, GM CEO Mary Barra plucked de Nysschen from Infiniti, where he had worked out of Hong Kong for just two years. Previously, he was Audi’s U.S. president between 2004 and 2012. Within a month on the job at Cadillac, de Nysschen announced that the division was moving the majority of its product and marketing staff to New York City, where he claimed they would draw global inspiration and a younger clientele. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo approved a $1 million grant for the division’s headquarters, at 330 Hudson Street in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo district, where about 150 Cadillac employees work in the top two floors above Cadillac House, a swanky art gallery and public meeting space with a handful of cars on display.
As he did at Infiniti, de Nysschen also quickly introduced a new alphanumeric model nomenclature-CT for cars, XT for crossovers-with the Escalade excepted. The new compact XT4 and the CT6 large sedan were part of his effort to expand Cadillac's relatively small portfolio. Replacement models for the current ATS and CTS are in the wings as GM pours as much as $12 billion into Cadillac over the next few years.
Cadillac claims its $54,000 average transaction price is the second highest among its luxury competitors, and the brand has seen 22 months of consecutive sales gains through March, including a 40 percent year-over-year increase in China. In January 2017, the company was first to offer a monthly subscription service-initially in New York and now in Dallas and Los Angeles-where buyers can swap into new cars without the long-term commitment of a lease or purchase.
Yet underneath the fanfare and hobnobbing with Instagram lifestylers, de Nysschen hasn’t increased Cadillac’s U.S. sales even as the auto industry posted all-time records in 2015 and 2016. At the end of de Nysschen’s first full year in 2015, Cadillac’s 175,267 sales saw a 3 percent gain, but that was promptly wiped out in 2016, when sales dropped back to 2014 levels. In 2017, Cadillac sales fell to 156,440, just a few thousand more than Acura or Infiniti. Lexus and BMW each sold nearly double; Mercedes-Benz, the top-selling luxury automaker, moved more than 375,000 cars. De Nyscchen, however, went on record to stress Cadillac’s image over its outright volume. He insisted on keeping MSRPs high, lowering retail incentives, and encouraging Cadillac dealers to upgrade their facilities through Project Pinnacle, an $800 million reimbursement program based heavily on customer-satisfaction scores.
But while dealers have begrudgingly acceded to Cadillac’s demands, the cars haven’t exactly become standards of the world. Despite exemplary steering feel and lightweight, balanced chassis in current Cadillacs-especially the V-series sedans and coupes-the division hasn’t delivered luxury-class interiors. And flawed designs, such as the CUE infotainment system with its touch-sensitive controls, have dogged Cadillac. Most of the division’s engines, derived from mainstream GM cars, have been too coarse and unrefined.
The competition, meanwhile, has been heating up. During de Nysschen’s reign, Hyundai launched Genesis and a competitive (although hardly class-leading) flagship sedan, whereas Cadillac is still promising to build one. The automaker’s best concepts, such as the Elmiraj coupe, have stayed parked in the design studio. Meanwhile, Jaguar introduced a five-year warranty, Lincoln is showing new signs of life, and more luxury automakers are hurriedly launching dedicated EVs to challenge Tesla. Cadillac’s only such car, the ELR plug-in hybrid, failed miserably.
It’s unclear what’s next for Cadillac or where de Nysschen will end up; he said in 2014 that he still had “10 years left in my career.”
“It was very clear to me that in terms of the evolution of the brand and the availability of corporate resources to execute a resurgence strategy, Cadillac is where I wanted to be,” he said when accepting the CEO position. “And 10 years from now, I think I will look back on a task that has been comprehensively completed.”
Will he? On Monday, de Nysschen posted a solemn note on his Facebook page. “This is getting tired. Following a week away from home crisscrossing the country, I will be in Detroit this week. And Sunday morning to China. Feeling sorry for myself this morning.” At least now, it looks like he won’t have to make that China trip.
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