Cadillac headquarters to return to Motor City

Following a trend of ongoing good news for Detroit’s automotive sector, Cadillac is relocating its headquarters to the Motor City, or more accurately, to Warren. News of the decision was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, and has since been confirmed.

GM’s luxury brand moved its headquarters to New York City four years ago. While the move did not cost Metro Detroit a tremendous amount of jobs, it was still a blow to the city’s reputation as America’s automotive capitol.

At the time, Johan de Nysschen was running the brand and the City of Detroit was just beginning to recover from having filed bankruptcy. There was still doubt as to whether or not the North American International Auto Show would continue, and much of the downtown renovation had yet to occur.

De Nysschen’s shift to the trendy Soho area of New York appeared to be an attempt to position the brand in a more luxury-oriented market, and to try to reinvent itself to a younger generation of luxury buyers. The company created a modern office space and established Cadillac House on the ground floor to show off vehicles to the public and create a different image through an open design, a café, and pop-up exhibits and installations. In a nod to millennials, they described it as “a public space for innovators, creators and the curious.”

The direction now seems to be a little less about image and a little more about innovation. Earlier this year GM made several management changes at Cadillac. Among them was installing Steve Carlisle, a GM veteran, as President. Now the brand is making a commitment toward ambitious product reinvention.

“Cadillac’s move to Michigan will further support one of the most aggressive on-going product expansions in the brand’s history, with the introduction of a new vehicle every six months through 2020,” GM said in a statement.

“The move will place the Cadillac brand team closer to those responsible for the new Cadillacs, including design, engineering, purchasing and manufacturing, ensuring full integration of Cadillac’s global growth strategy.”

The new headquarters is expected to be in the former Campbell Ewald building, near the GM Tech Center in Warren, with an official move-in date of April 1, 2019.