Ask a Brit to describe the Cadillac brand, and their response will probably be limited to ‘big’, ‘American’ and ‘expensive’. If they’re being nice. They’re unlikely to have driven a Cadillac and chances are they won’t know anyone who owns one. Instead, their impression is more likely to have come from film and television: this country seems to import far more Cadillac related media than it does actual vehicles.
My own impression comes from the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry bought a Cadillac for his retired father and condominium president, only for his jealous friends to impeach him. This informed me and many non-Americans that these are big, luxurious cars that are seriously desirable, at least for old people. What they are absolutely not is racing cars. Why then will the first new Formula 1 team in 10 years enter under the Cadillac brand? And why has General Motors, for whom the Corvette has been immensely successful in GT racing, given its Le Mans Hypercar a Cadillac badge?
While the Cadillac brand may mean little to Europeans, in North America it is one of the oldest and most prestigious marques and the brand’s identity has remained consistent throughout its 123-year history. Unlike Ford or Chevrolet, the brand was not founded by an engineer named Mr Cadillac. Instead, William Murphy, Lemuel Bowen and Henry M. Leland named their company after French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit and whose coat of arms adorns all Cadillac cars. In this way, Cadillac, from the beginning, has represented not just the ideas of a single person, but of all of Motor City.
