Just to have the privilege of being allowed to sell a Cadillac Catera (Malibu with leather for $20,000.00 too much), a Cadillac dealer has to lay out somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 plus a parts package. Just to be allowed to sell Catera a dealer has to redesign certain aspects of his dealership, restructure his training and dress code and subscribe to some standards for excellenceall for a car that has had far less than an excellent reception by the public. Rumor has it that only 30% of the Cadillac Dealers even signed up for the Catera. I guess if "you gotta zig when they zag", 70% of the Cadillac dealers decided to "zag" instead of "zig".
R.L. Polk (highly respected research firm) says the Catera is at the very bottom in the category of entry-level luxury class vehicle sales. Besides that, every publication I have read has agreed with me that the "Caddy That Zigs" advertising campaign has to be a contender among the worst campaigns of the decade.
Of course, I was all over that dog in this magazine more than a year ago. Sometimes the appearance of stupidity is all too blatant a temptation for me to pass on. Why would anyone pay $36,000 for a little up-graded six-cylinder Opel/Chevrolet Malibu? Especially when you can get a really nice tricked out Oldsmobile Aurora with a Northstar Engine and great looks and features for roughly the same money. How can you call that thing a Cadillac with a straight face? Didn't the Cimmaron and the Allante teach these people anything? To add insults to injuries, I predict they will further slap their dealers in the face with some stupid "Value-Pricing".