Cadillac CTS Has Fans in Japan
By Michelle Krebs February 21, 2008
News that will come as a welcome fillip for the team at General Motors: Cadillac's new CTS has landed in Japan and has been earning rave reviews after the first media drives.
GM's local arm, GM Asia Pacific (Japan) recently laid on a ride-and-drive for the media down in Yokohama. This was the first local drive of the 2008 CTS following its launch back at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.
Japan's CTS crosses the Pacific with two engine choices â 2.8-liter V6 (211 bhp) and 3.6-liter V6 (307 bhp). It also comes with standard rear-wheel drive, left-hand steering and 6-speed auto.
Yes, it's true LHD has long had a certain cachet within the upper echelons of Japan's small but lucrative import market. But Japan is an RHD market and the LHD cool factor is no longer nearly as strong as it was. Thus, a right-hook CTS will come to Japan with the 2009 model year this fall.
The 2.8 enters the fray, strategically priced below the ¥5 million barrier at ¥4.95 million (some $45,900); the 3.6 is in the catalog at ¥6.2 million ($57,470).
Positioned at that level (quite some way above the American MSRP, it's true, but the Japanese CTS comes with a very full spec and needs to meet local regulations), the CTS ostensibly is up against top domestic versions of the Toyota Crown and Nissan Fuga.
In Japan, the CTS sticker also straddles both the BMW 3 and 5-Series segments and Mercedes C and E-Class. Competition doesn't get much tougher than that.
Down in Yokohama, Japan's media could only drive the top spec 3.6 CTS but the car's crisp, polished dynamics, comfort, style and impressive performance soon won it many friends. The previous CTS was good but this new model was something else again.
One long-established Japanese journalist (a former Cadillac owner, no less) was even moved to rate it as the "the best Cadillac ever..."
High praise indeed and it's also worth remembering the CTS is well suited to Japan because of its relatively compact size â space always being at a premium in Japan. Full-size Cadillacs have their fans and created the Cadillac lore in Japan but the CTS is far better suited to the nitty-gritty of everyday driving.
Not that such rationality is always a factor when it comes to shifting American cars in Japan and some might counter that because it's too 'normal,' the CTS doesn't have the vibe and showiness Japanese have come to expect from American cars, especially Cadillac.
Still, one big factor and huge commercial advantage GM has in Japan is its longtime links with the Yanase dealer network.
Yanase's connection with GM stretches all the way back to 1915 when it began importing the first Buicks and Cadillacs. To walk into a Yanase showroom has been likened to entering a prime fashion or jewelry store. The level of customer service is legendary, just as the level of trust engendered in the Yanase 'brand' is something other franchises would kill for.
GM, however, took over as official importer some five years ago and today has its own independent dealer network as well as Yanase's to cover Japan.
GM is not setting any public sales targets for the new CTS in Japan but it is setting up a CTS roadshow, the first of its kind, to cover the country and promote the new model.
As impressive as the new CTS is, though, the world around it is still what might be termed challenging.
Cadillac has a tiny share of Japan's tiny import market (the brand sold 766 units in 2007, down 21.2 percent, to put it in 24th place in Japan's import league), just as Japan all-vehicle market continues to sag due to weakened demand.
GM's posting of a record $38.7 billion loss the day before the CTS media drive in Yokohama was hardly ideal timing, either.
Nonetheless, at the end of the day, the auto business is all about product and GM has shown with the CTS it can deliver on a product to compete with the best in the world. Now all it needs is buyers.
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