American premium carmaker Cadillac has lifted the covers off its first direct-to-consumer ‘Experience Centre’ in Australia, and the General Motors luxury brand believes it will deliver superior customer service than traditional dealerships.
Days after confirming the location of its first New Zealand store in Auckland, GM officials this week confirmed that Cadillac’s new boutique 841 square-metre Sydney site will go live on November 7.
Plans are also afoot for separate sites in Melbourne and Brisbane, which are set to open in 2025.
The Sydney facility is located in the inner-south suburb of Rosebery, a short drive from the domestic airport, and is part of the larger Rosebery Engine Yards retail and lifestyle precinct.
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Speaking with Australian media at the showroom in Rosebery, General Motors International senior vice president, Shilpan Amin, vowed that Cadillac would “learn” the best buying practices of Aussie consumers.
“We brought the direct-to-consumer model to Australia so that we could create awareness of the brand and its models,” he said.
“The idea is the same as Europe, where we want to personalise the experience to consumers, which gives you flexibility to adapt to those markets. So what we’re doing in Germany is different to what we’re doing in France, which is different to what we’re doing in Sweden.
“It’s about understanding the consumer enough that you interact with them the way they want to be interacted with, and providing the experience that they want to have.
“We’re going to learn the Australian consumer well and adjust the future network as we go.”
The new Rosebery experience centre houses five garaged and seven external Cadillac-branded parking bays, three secure undercover servicing bays, multiple delivery bays, and ‘state-of-the-art’ vehicle service facilities.
Cadillac says it’s committed to a direct-to-consumer, online sales model rather than traditional showrooms – a strategy also employed by Hyundai’s luxury brand, Genesis.
The strategy will be reinforced by subsequent experience centres in Brisbane and Melbourne, giving Cadillac coverage in Australia’s three largest eastern-seaboard cities.
“Our Auckland site will launch early in the second quarter of 2025, and Brisbane is slated for the middle of next year,” said General Motors Australia managing director Jess Bala.
“As for Melbourne, we are still looking for our forever home. However, we will be launching in the first quarter with something a little bit different that will still offer test drives, plus a sales team – but it will be managed through a few different locations.”
Separately, Cadillac’s Australian arm has confirmed it will open seven service centres dotted around the country, to support customers who aren’t based in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The Cadillac brand launches in Australia later this year with a solitary model for now, the Cadillac Lyriq mid-sized electric SUV.
In addition to pricing that undercuts its German rivals (starting from $117,000 plus on-road costs), Cadillac will back its vehicles with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty, five years of roadside assistance, and five years of free scheduled servicing.
The battery is backed for eight years or 160,000km.
Additionally, all Lyriqs will come with one year of free public charging through the Chargefox network.
Once that year is up, you can then opt to receive another two years of free Chargefox charging. Alternatively, you can opt for JET Charge to deliver and install a 7.4kW Autel home charging unit, free of charge.
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