Frankfurt Auto Show Update: Cadillac Sixteen Just a Dream

Frankfurt September 10, 2003; James Mackintosh writing for the FT reported that General Motors is unlikely to build a super-luxury Cadillac to compete with BMW's Rolls Royce and DaimlerChrysler's Maybach marques after concluding that there are too many $250,000-plus vehicles.

Bob Lutz, vice-chairman, said the 1,000 horsepower Cadillac Sixteen concept car, shown earlier this year, was unlikely to make it into production in the form originally suggested, in spite of his initial enthusiasm.

He said the rash of super-luxury vehicles launched recently - including the Rolls, the Maybach and Volkswagen's new Bentley - were all planned at the peak of the dotcom boom. The original Sixteen, on which this year's concept was based, was itself designed in 1928 just before the 1929 stockmarket crash heralded the great depression.

"I think it is a very limited market and I think it is going to be very difficult for everybody to sell to capacity," he said.

Mr Lutz's alert echoes a warning by Franz-Josef Paefgen, chief executive of Bentley, who told the FT earlier this year that there were not enough multi-millionaires in the world willing to spend money on the super-luxury marques. Bentley is just about to launch a cheaper model to appeal to people willing to spend around EU160,000 on a car.

However, Mr Lutz did not rule out completely launching a version of the Sixteen as a very low-volume vehicle.

"You would want to find a way to make it share a lot of main components with mainstream cars which is the only way you could make it pay off," he said.

Both Rolls and Daimler have dismissed similar concerns voiced by financial analysts. Daimler has sold out the first year of production while Rolls says early sales are good.

GM remains committed to bringing in Cadillacs more expensive than the current range, in an attempt to push the brand - just being re-introduced to Europe - upmarket.