September 12, 2022

Fin Tales
Saving Cadillac, America’s Luxury Icon
John Smith
Aviva Publishing (2022)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-166-0 (hardcover)

New Book Shares Inside Story of Cadillac’s 1990s Renaissance

Fin Tales: Saving Cadillac, America’s Luxury Icon is an inside look into how Cadillac went from being almost forgotten by the American public to regaining its previously legendary and popular status in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Author John Smith, who was promoted to the general manager position at Cadillac in 1997, tells the story as he and his team experienced it, providing a look into the automobile industry and particularly this iconic brand in a way no one else could.

In taking on this assignment, Smith knew Cadillac was in trouble. Its sales were less than half what they had been in the 1970s. Cadillac had once been so deeply embedded in the American psyche that it was featured in more than 200 songs, sung by artists like Aretha Franklin, The Stray Cats, Bruce Springsteen, and Don Henley. By the late 1990s, GM was struggling to keep its seven vehicle brands fresh and compelling, and wasn’t investing enough in Cadillac to maintain the air of exclusivity that made it desirable to high-end customers. People were turning to Mercedes, BMW, and other luxury cars instead. Smith set about to change all that, and he details every step of the turnaround in Fin Tales. With the help of Wayne Cherry, head of GM design; Rick Wagoner, president of GM’s North America division; Ron Zarrella, head of GM’s marketing; and several others, Smith set about to reestablish Cadillac’s “gotta have” reputation.

Smith discusses how he, Wayne, and their combined teams developed the “Art & Science” repositioning strategy for Cadillac, and convinced GM’s senior leaders to make the massive investment needed for implementation. “Art & Science” would give Cadillac a unique and edgy new look, totally in keeping with his dramatic historic stylings . . . like the riveting ’59 Eldorado. It would also deliver technologies and features right for the post-boomer luxury audience that Cadillac was targeting.

In the large and sometimes unwieldly company that GM could sometimes be, implementation of “Art & Science” wasn’t always easy, and Smith touches on some of this throughout the book but most especially in the aptly named chapter, “Friendly Fire.” Smith and Cherry soldiered on, convinced the strategy would save Cadillac.

Smith also had to persuade Cadillac dealers to get on board, no easy task as their sales, profits and franchise values had declined significantly over the preceding decade. He visited numerous dealerships and dealer meetings, instilling hope in the owners that Cadillac would recover and prosper. As they were closest to Cadillac customers, they offered good advice and insights, and committed to improving the buyer’s experience in terms of improved facilities, sales consultant training, etc. as part of implementing “Art & Science.”

This new strategy began rolling out to luxury vehicle customers with the first generation CTS in the fall of 2002, followed by a series of new products all bringing the package of new styling and technology to different segments. Growth in sales and market share followed. But Escalade was the tonic that arrested Cadillac’s sales decline and attracted both automotive media and new customers to the brand. Affectionately renamed ’Slade, and unapologetically marketed to George Thorogood’s song “Bad to the Bone,” America soon embraced Cadillac’s new attitude. It began appearing in music videos and as the Super Bowl MVP’s reward. Customers and dealers were both happy, and important time was bought for the development of the CTS and other models to come.

Smith describes the birth of Evoq, a concept car created to communicate to the public what they could expect from the new Cadillac . . . greeted with “applause, hoots, and hollers” when first revealed. Then came the development of Cadillac racing cars, leading to Cadillac’s participation in Le Mans from 2000 and 2002. While racing wasn’t really Cadillac’s thing, it helped to create media interest for the introduction of the all-important CTS . . . introduced to the public with the help of both Led Zeppelin and the film Matrix Reloaded.

All of these efforts and more are described in Fin Tales. Escalade arrested Cadillac’s decline and “Art & Science” enabled growth in sales, share, profits and better customer demographics. Smith observes that momentum has since been lost in Cadillac’s home market, the United States, which has been more than offset by growth in China. He is hopeful that dependency on China doesn’t mean any sacrifice to the Cadillac’s historic pedigree of leading-edge styling and technology. He is also hopeful that the brand regains momentum in the U.S. market and becomes the luxury vehicle of choice because, in his words, “Cadillac is the very best that GM can be.”

A couple of bonuses in reading Fin Tales includes a Foreword by Robert “Bob” Lutz, hired to be GM’s vice chairman of product development in 2001, who witnessed firsthand many of the changes described by Smith. Also included are several images of the various gorgeous Cadillac models, concept cars, and logos that visually mark the journey back to relevancy.

Anyone who loves cars, and especially Cadillacs, will want to read this book. It’s an important document in the history of GM and the automobile industry. In fact, it’s the kind of story good films are made of—perhaps it will one day be the next Ford v Ferrari. It is definitely a car buff’s dream read.

John's book at Amazon.

— Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and award-winning author of When Teddy Came to Town