National Newsroom

SOURCE:  Lucas Bell - Road & Track

General Motors announced today that Cadillac Celestiq Chief Engineer Tony Roma will take the position of Executive Chief Engineer of Global Corvette, an extension of his role as the leader of the newly formed Luxury and Performance Car team. The announcement comes after long-time Corvette Chief Tadge Juechter announced his retirement from GM after a 47-year career back in April.

Roma’s transition to the head of Luxury and Performance will see current team leader Brandon Vivian transition to the automaker’s Advanced Vehicle Development Center. Vivian will serve as the Executive Chief Engineer, as well as the brand strategy coordination lead for that program. Roma’s previous experience with both the Cadillac and Corvette brands makes him a logical choice to helm the new group, which has a focus on up-market, high-performance vehicles. 

Roma got his start at General Motors back in 1993, where he worked on the calibration team for the 4L60 automatic transmission found in the Corvette and Camaro of that era. He later worked in engine development for the LS1, LS2, LS6, and LS7 platforms, before a long stint in powertrain integration for some of GM’s most exciting cars. Roma also spent time as the high-performance vehicle operations manager for GM Performance, as well as a performance variant manager for Chevrolet and Cadillac. You will be familiar with his work as chief engineer on products such as the Cadillac CTS, ATS, CT4, CT5, CT6, and Celestiq. That includes the V-Series and Blackwing models.

His personal collection is full of some serious performance cars as well, including a C4 Corvette ZR1, a C6 Corvette ZR1, a C8 Corvette Z06, and a CTS-V wagon. Chevrolet says he’s hoping to end up with a C8 ZR1 as well.

As you would expect from the executive chief engineer of the American sports car, Roma is no stranger to the race track. He served as the race engine team manager for Cadillac’s World Challenge program and has done a fair bit of racing himself. Roma currently carries GM Level 6 driver certification, which is the highest level within the company. As such, Roma has turned more than 1500 laps of the Nürburgring during industry-pool testing for GM. He recently competed in a 24-hour endurance race at the famed circuit as well.

“I’m approaching this opportunity with deep respect and admiration for the hard work from those who came before me, going back to the first-generation Corvette in the 1950s up to this day,” Roma said. “Corvette earned and continues to earn its place in American car history thanks to the people behind it, like Tadge Juechter. These are big shoes to fill, but we will work every day to continue the strong legacy this nameplate deserves.”

While the departure of Juechter has been hard for fans to come to terms with, Roma appears to bring a similar amount of passion to the table. The products he’s been a part of at General Motors are some of our favorites, so here’s hoping that trend continues in this new era for the Corvette.

• Ken Morris and Josh Tavel named to new leadership roles in product development under GM President Mark Reuss
• Rory Harvey to assume leadership responsibility for all global regions; Marissa West named senior vice president and president, GM North America
• Global Product Development leader Doug Parks to retire after nearly 40 years

DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is making several changes to its product development team and creating a new role to oversee its global regions. These moves will streamline the organization, allow for faster implementation of new vehicle and technology programs, and accelerate the company’s go-to-market strategies.

This realignment is driven by the retirement of Doug Parks, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, after a nearly 40-year career at the company. Parks started at GM in 1984 and led various engineering teams responsible for the development of dozens of vehicles across all GM brands and regions, including the foundation of our current generation EVs.

“We’ve spent years preparing GM to transition to an all-electric future, and Doug's leadership has been pivotal. We are grateful for his many contributions to GM's success,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “The changes we are announcing today will continue to drive technical excellence and deliver groundbreaking vehicles to our customers around the world.”

Global Product Development Leadership

• Ken Morris, currently vice president, Global Vehicle and Propulsion teams, will be promoted to senior vice president, Product Programs, Product Safety and Motorsports. Morris retains his current responsibilities leading global vehicle programs and will add global product safety, launch excellence and motorsports product development.
• Josh Tavel, currently global vice president of Customer Care and Aftersales, will be promoted to senior vice president of Energy Storage and Propulsion, R&D, and Manufacturing Engineering. This role will integrate GM’s products and processes in key areas critical to accelerating the company’s electrification strategy, including battery development and manufacturing engineering activities.

Global Market Leadership

GM also announced leadership changes to increase collaboration across its global markets.

• Rory Harvey, currently executive vice president and president, GM North America, will move to a newly created role as executive vice president and president, Global Markets. Harvey will work with the global regional teams to bring the right vehicles, software and technologies to customers around the world.
• Marissa West, currently president and managing director, GM Canada, will join the Global Markets leadership team as senior vice president and president, GM North America, reporting to Harvey. 

All leadership changes will take effect on Jan. 2, 2024.

A timeline of the Cadillac crest, from its French roots to the modern symbol.

1902-1904 Cadillac name in cursive

1905 Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac's coat of arms adopted in circular badge

1906-1931 Various slight variations of the Cadillac coat of arms in a circular badge, with an exception in 1926 where the exterior was a shield

1932-1942 Circular badge replaced with wings sprouting from the coat of arms, with exceptions in 1936 and 1937, where the badge's shape was triangular and circular, respectively

1943-1944 Wartime badge as Cadillac factories switched entirely to wartime production

1945 Victory badge as war ends, flag bearing the words "Army" and "Navy" waving in front of the Cadillac coat of arms

1946-1969 Cadillac coat of arms over a heavily stylized "V-wing"; coat of arms gets progressively wider as decades go on, with an exception in 1947 with more traditional wings

1970-1972 Wings dropped; Cadillac coat of arms retained without badge border

1973-1994 Cadillac coat of arms now surrounded by laurels

1995-1999 Cadillac coat of arms with laurels once again in circular badge

2000-2013 Merlettes removed from Cadillac coat of arms; laurels remain without circular badge

2014-2020 Cadillac coat of arms without merlettes

2021-2024 Monochrome Cadillac coat of arms

Cadillac's emblem is directly based on the coat of arms of Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, the colorful and imaginative French founder of Detroit. Thus the iconography comes from a tradition of European heraldry during the age of exploration and colonization of the New World.

Each element of the Cadillac crest has a different meaning, according to Cadillac. The original logo, introduced in 1905, had a number of elements that aren't present on the original: the coronet studded with pearls and the merlettes.  The main part, the shield, is a combination of the symbols of two noble houses (neither of which Antoine Laumet, Cadillac's real name, may have held any real claim to). Cadillac's own history of the crest notes that several elements indicate various positive qualities, such as purity, charity, virtue, and knightly valor, as well as honorable service by ancestors of the families involved during the Crusades.

Cadillac President Steve Carlisle outlines GM's plans for the luxury brand to be mostly, if not entirely, electric vehicles by 2030. (Photo: Jamie L. LaReau/Detroit Free Press)

SOURCE: Jamie L. LaReau/Detroit Free Press)

General Motors luxury brand Cadillac's entire lineup could be electric by 2030.

That means production of its internal combustion cars and SUVs could move from the plants where GM currently builds them.

All of this will happen in a slow transition with some overlap as internal combustion engines (ICE) are phased out and electric vehicles (EVs) are introduced,  Steve Carlisle, Cadillac president, said Thursday.

"None of us knows how long this transition will take. We will be there with internal combustion engines as well as electric" for a period, said Carlisle.  "But the majority, if not all, Cadillacs will be electric by 2030."

Carlisle dubbed it the "end of the ICE age for Cadillac."

New names, same cars

Cadillac's popular models, such as the Escalade, will likely continue, but the full-size SUV will be propelled by an electric engine.

"We have no intention of exiting that segment," Carlisle said of the Escalade.

But Cadillac's electric vehicles will get new names. Gone will be numbers like the current monikers, replaced by words.

Carlisle made the announcement at a media event in Detroit.

He said that there is still upside sales potential for internal-combustion engine vehicles.

Through the third quarter, Cadillac's total global sales are up 8.8%; in China total sales are up 10.9%. 

"We feel like we're headed to a second sales record this year globally," Carlisle said.

In the U.S., sales sputtered because of the 40-day nationwide UAW strike, which  disrupted production. The strike started Sept. 16.

U.S. year-to-date total sales are up just 2.4%. Still, Carlisle said the brand should finish the year with sales gains in the U.S., the first time in five years.

Technology leadership

The Escalade will finish the year leading the full-size SUV segment, said Carlisle.

Cadillac has sold 4,351 of the new XT6 SUVs, which launched in August. Carlisle expects to sell 10,000 by year-end.

Cadillac will reveal the next-generation Escalade in Los Angeles in February ahead of the Oscars. The new Escalade and all of Cadillac's future lineup, including the new CT5 and CT4 sedans, will have Super Cruise.

Super Cruise is Cadillac's hands-free driving technology. Currently, Cadillac only offers Super Cruise on the CT6 sedan.

But Cadillac is at its best when it is leading GM's brands in technology and innovation, said Carlisle. Most luxury customers are open to electric cars, Carlisle said. That's why GM said in January that Cadillac would be its electric vehicle brand.

 In January, Cadillac debuted the concept of an all-electric crossover that will be brought to market in 2022.

It's unclear where GM will build it, but it could likely be at Detroit-Hamtramck where GM said it would invest $3 billion to build a new all-electric pickup that will go on sale in the fall of 2021. That pickup has not yet been assigned a brand or name, Carlisle said.

"Our production footprint will migrate" as GM changes from internal combustion cars to electric, said Carlisle. He said GM will have discussions with the UAW on how factory work will change and which vehicles might move to other plants. But it is most likely that over the next decade some plants that build ICE vehicles will be retooled to build electric cars.

"We're going to enter the decade as an internal combustion brand," said Carlisle. "But we'll exit the decade as a battery-electric brand."

Reprint from Detroit Metro Times - Devin Culham

Nearly four years after the luxury car brand moved its headquarters from Detroit to the fashionable SoHo district in New York, representatives at General Motors have announced that Cadillac will make its move to Warren.

The initial move to New York was made with the intention of creating greater autonomy for the Cadillac brand to operate. However, with thousands of Cadillac employees still based in Michigan, that wasn't so easy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the luxury brand still relied on decisions made by Michigan employees – everything from style designs, vehicle features, and even pricing.

Steve Carlisle, a GM executive who took over the Cadillac brand in April, spoke about the decision to the Wall Street Journal, saying that decision in part comes down to a necessity to streamline. "We have a huge number of launches ahead of us," Carlisle says, “We’ve got to think about how we take inefficiencies out of the communication process between the Cadillac team and the GM partners.”

This decision comes after the departure of Cadillac's former head, Johan de Nysschen. Mr. de Nysschen who formerly worked Volkswagen AG’s Audi of America was said to not have an aligned vision with Detroit-based GM executives, causing disputes. Under de Nysschen, Cadillac sales began to slump in the U.S., falling behind luxury car competitors like Audi and BMW.

Cadillac's current New York headquarters house roughly 110 employees – mostly executives and marketing personnel. Carlisle says that the new headquarters will be based in a renovated space in Warren, near the GM technical facilities where thousands of Cadillac's engineering and vehicle design employees are already based.

Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen is leaving General Motors and will be replaced by the head of GM Canada, Steve Carlisle, the company said Wednesday. As head of the Cadillac business and a senior vice-president of the parent company, Carlisle will report to GM president Dan Ammann.

The automaker also named Travis Hester as the new president of GM Canada. Hester is currently vice-president of GM’s global product programs.
Carlisle has been at the head of GM Canada since November 2014.

Carlisle led a resurgence of the GM Canada franchise, the company said. The automaker led retail auto sales in Canada last year, and Buick, GMC and Cadillac set sales records in the country that year.

"We appreciate Johan's efforts over the last four years in setting a stronger foundation for Cadillac," said General Motors President Dan Ammann in a release. "Looking forward, the world is changing rapidly, and, beginning with the launch of the new XT4, it is paramount that we capitalize immediately on the opportunities that arise from this rate of change. This move will further accelerate our efforts in that regard."

The move comes as Cadillac takes steps to improve its performance in the luxury segment. De Nysschen had overseen a number of efforts to turn the brand around after years of lost market share in the United States. It moved its headquarters to New York City and said it would completely revamp its lineup with 11 new vehicles through 2021.

Cadillac has garnered praise for its luxury and high-performance sedans such as the CT6 and the CTS-V, but the brand has missed out on the shift in the market away from passenger cars and toward SUVs. Cadillac has recently attempted to address this shift with crossovers such as the mid-sized XT5 and the new smaller XT4 crossover, which debuted just before the New York Auto Show in March.

Cadillac also recently appointed a new chief marketing officer, former McDonald's executive Deborah Wahl, in early March.

De Nysschen had previously served in top roles at Infiniti and Audi of America before taking the helm at Cadillac.