Cadillac is being established as a separate retail operation in Australia, and that involves selling its cars directly to customers instead of using franchised dealers.
That’s in contrast to GM Specialty Vehicles (GMSV), which offers a mix of factory-produced (Chevrolet Corvette) and locally remanufactured (Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Yukon) right-hand drive vehicles through a network of franchise dealers, many of which used to sell Holdens.
Cadillac is opening its first ‘experience centre’ this year at the Rosebery Engine Yards retail and lifestyle precinct in Sydney, housing several parking, delivery and servicing bays and “state-of-the-art” servicing facilities.
It has previously announced it would also open an experience centre in Melbourne, however it has yet to lock in a location.
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Cadillac’s experience centre in Sydney
“We do have to build a network as well and so part of this is we’re not on a timeline on this,” Shilpan Amin, senior vice president and president of GM International, told media from Australia and New Zealand.
“We’re not forcing it into having X amount of customer experience centres at a certain time and sell all of these products because that’s when we get into trouble, that’s when we walk away from truly building a customer experience and a brand out there.”
“We’re not going in just thinking about get in fast, get in with scale, because a lot of negative experiences come along with moving too fast and just going into traditional networks.
Cadillac’s Zurich, Switzerland showroom
“Which is why when we take the pressure out of the system around timing and locations and volume, what we find is the teams will execute to the true customer experience, like no detail will be left behind, and we’ll learn as we go.”
This retail format is reminiscent of rival luxury brand Genesis, which also launched in Australia with a limited number of locations that it runs itself.
Cadillac will allow buyers to use an online ordering system, and said it will use this to identify geographic trends.
“They might come on in the online order system and say, hey, I’m in Brisbane, and we’ll deliver a vehicle there,” said Lauren Indiveri-Clarke, communications director for GM International.
“But if we get 50 people in Brisbane, then maybe we’ll look at an experience centre for there. So it’s actually really a good opportunity for us to kind of wait and see and take some learnings along the way and look at what’s happening in the market.
“So it’ll be very strategic, and service is a critical part of that for us.”
Cadillac is returning to Australia this year with the electric Lyriq, a rival for the BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV.
It’s planning to only sell electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia, and has teased additional product announcements will come next year.
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