Re: IML: Is it a Old Man's car or Prestiage driving?

[richard burgess <lecrown60@xxxxxxxxx>]

My partner and I just discussed this when I recently saw a Cadillac billboard in Atlanta that was clearly aimed at the younger black crowd.  Too guys wearing lots of gold behind the wheel.  When did the ducks dissapear from the Cadillac emblems and become bling, and the size of a small frisbee?  This market applys to Chrysler 300s as well I believe, at least in Atlanta.

 

Now my partner had a a very good answer and considering he is not a "car" guy I thought it likely dead on.  He told me that GM was so late to responding to the fuel crisis in the 70s, Chrysler too, that the younger generation started buying Toyotas and Hondas.  For the first time they were not buying a Chevrolet and working up through the ranks to Cadillac.  or, Plymouth working up to an Imperial.  They started with imports working up through the ranks to Mercedes and BMWs.  I think that at least in a city like Atlanta this is very true.  This only left the older genrations still working up through the old American car ranks.  Now that that generation is fading, GM and Chrysler find that their original market strategy is gone.  Cadillac is marketing bling and I can't say that the 300 is'nt driven by the same crowd here.  No wonder the large Imperial concepts didn't make it.  I have always associated large cars with wealth and prestige.  My partner thinks just the opposite.  Small high performance sport cars he associates with prestige.  I am sure his view is the more current one.

 

It's a theory anyway.

 

Richard Burgess

'60 Crown

mamrom@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> My Question: When, exactly, did Cadillacs, Lincolns and our beloved IMPERIALS go from being
>  a prestige car to an "old people" car, at least in the eyes of reviewers. Surely the prestigious people that bought them as late as 1974 could not all have reached old age by 1987!?! I cannot believe fuel economy is the cause either, after all the 1980s Broughams can get 20 mpg on the highway, not too shabby for the 1980s! When did successful people switch from Cadillacs to BMWs and Lexuses, and what was it that did it? Because surely a successful 40 year old in 1975 would buy a CaddyImperial or Lincoln , not a BMW. What made him decide that by age 50 Caddies/Imperials were too "old man?"
>
> ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com -----------------
> This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
> reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
> shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
> Administrators should be sent to iml.webmonster@xxxxxxxxx
> To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to
>  http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm

---

Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. 
 Make Yahoo! your homepage.