Combative de Nysschen defends Cadillac move, naming change

Mon, 29 Sep 2014

Johan de Nysschen isn't afraid of taking quick, decisive actions, even if they are criticized. Since taking the wheel at Cadillac, he instigated moving the luxury division's base of operations to Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood and introduced a new naming scheme for the future of the brand, like he did at Infiniti. The polarizing boss recently explained his feelings about the future of Cadillac in more depth on his Facebook page, but unfortunately only his friends could read it. Thankfully, Daily Kanban posted much of the strongly worded missive for the whole world to see.

Much of the message examines the decision to move some employees to New York. De Nysschen claims that it's all about giving Cadillac distance from Detroit to reshape itself. It allows for, "No distractions. No side shows. No cross-brand corporate considerations. No homogenized lowest common denominator approach. Just pure, unadulterated, CLASS."

De Nysschen's isn't afraid of stepping on some toes to make his point, either. He claims that after announcing the move to SoHo, he received, "emails from GM retires suggesting that is the dumbest idea since the Cimmaron. I quietly wonder if any of them had a hand in creating that masterful monument to product substance."

De Nysschen also briefly takes aim at those critiquing the model naming scheme change, as well. "I do not determine strategy based on the unfiltered observations of people who do not have a 360 degree understanding of the problem," he writes.

The new boss curtly ends the message: "So, Detroit fans, I love your city, the success of Cadillac will be your success, the majority of our jobs remain in Detroit, and as we grow, these will increase too. But other than that – don't mess with me."

The current goal for Cadillac's leaders is to raise its brand perception and maybe take a step towards being the standard of the world again. After only being at the task for a few weeks, de Nysschen is certainly showing laser focus on getting the job done, no matter who gets upset at how he does it.

By Chris Bruce