Initially when these cars were in planning stages the global economy was in an upswing, with fresh dot.com money feeding luxury goods retailers in unprecedented volumes. Ironically the originally Cadillac V16, the spiritual muse for this year's Sixteen concept was launched in 1928, one year prior the 1929 stock market crash that eventually led to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
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| Originally planned in the dot.com era, the sharp change in the economy shrunk the Sixteen's possible market considerably almost overnight. (Photo: General Motors) |
On the subject, Bob Lutz, GM Chairman and product guru told the Financial Times, "I think it is a very limited market and I think it is going to be very difficult for everybody to sell to capacity."
Interestingly Franz-Josef Paefgen, Bentley's CEO, commented that he felt there weren't enough multi-millionaire clients globally that would part with the money necessary to buy one of the super-elite sedans. This statement, of course, supports his company's direction of introducing a much less expensive luxury car.
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| GM will continue to push the Cadillac brand up market, especially important with its reintroduction to European customers this year. (Photo: General Motors) |
But to the contrary, DaimlerChrysler, Maybach's parent company, and BMW, Rolls-Royce's owner, are bullish regarding future prospects. The former has already sold out its first year while the latter reports sales are good, according to the Financial Times.
In the end Lutz wouldn't rule out building a version of the Sixteen as a very low-volume vehicle, commenting, "You would want to find a way to make it share a lot of main components with mainstream cars which is the only way you could make it pay off."
Currently Cadillac is launching its XLR roadster, the most expensive model at CAD$110,000 to ever in the brand's long history. GM will continue to push the brand up market, especially important with its reintroduction to European customers this year.