The common perception is that Packard was the best selling luxury brand until Cadillac finally topped them in the post war era, consistently so starting in 1950 (also for one year in 1947). But that’s by brand, and once Packard expanded its range downmarket into the mid-price field with the 120 in 1935, it was no longer exclusively a luxury brand. Which explains this ad, where Cadillac points out that they’ve been the best selling car over $1500 for a number of years. And that they actually sell almost as many cars above that price point than all the competitors combined.
So the common myth that Cadillac was somehow playing second fiddle to Packard prior to 1950 or so doesn’t exactly stand up to the facts. Of course Cadillac didn’t have to go down market after the start of the Depression; it had the cheaper LaSalle, and there were GM’s mid-premium brands to take up the battle with Packard’s 120 and such.
You’ve gotta love Madison Avenue. The unstated premise is: “We’re defining luxury car as ‘over $1500’ because it makes us look good.”
In 1395, the cheapest Cadillac was $2345, which was in line with the cheapest Senior Packard at $2385.
In 1936, the cheapest Cadillac became essentially a Senior LaSalle, and was priced at only $1645. Packard’s Senior Eight continued to start at $2385. Guess which one sold better?
The pricing gap continued until 1939, when Packard reduced the price of the Super Eight to start at $1650.
In 1941, the definition of luxury at Cadillac must have changed again, since the Series 61 was now starting at a low $1345, with the discontinuation of LaSalle.
Meanwhile, the Packard V-12 outsold the Cadillac V-12 and V-16 combined in 1934, 1935, 1937, and (V-16 only) 1938 and 1939.
That said, you can certainly make a case that Cadillac had seized luxury leadership from Packard in the late Thirties.The prewar Cadillac was a fine car and sold very well, and their marketing strategy really paid off after 1940. It’s just that the ad is so…monocular?
For 1936, Cadillac began re-defining what the owner-driven luxury car was in specifications and price with the Series 60. Notwithstanding that it was essentially a V8 version of the concurrent 1936 LaSalle, the $1,695 price sedan placed it into a largely untapped segment. The Series 60 was the next step in rationalizing Cadillac model component sharing with other GM makes, the mandate given Nicklaus Dreystadt as General Manager to return Cadillac to profitability. The first test case was the 1934 LaSalle.
Packard took no note of this seemingly minor addition to the Cadillac line-up, its focus turned to the lower-medium priced segment below that being contended by their 120. Preparations for introduction of the popular-priced 1937 115 six were well underway, would remain the primary thrust for Max Gilman and George Christopher who were largely directing the company.
Only after the success of the Cadillac 60 abetted by the 60 Special did Packard respond with the rationalized 1939 Super 8 which shared the 120 platform. It was for naught, the combined total of the directly-price-competitive Cadillac 61 and 60 Special exceeded 11,426 versus Packard Super 8’s 3.962.
With the introduction of the 60 Special-inspired 1940 GM C-Body Torpedo sedans and coupes, Cadillac and the other GM makes were affectively eating Packard’s lunch across all directly competitive price segments in which they competed. Packard was, a one observed opined “Scared to death of GM”, feverishly hurled into developing the 1941 Clipper.
But, one final blow would seal it: a 12-15% price reduction for the 1941 Series 62 caused the sales to explode: 24,734 cars versus 1940 62’s at 5,903. Dreystadt had accomplished not only his mandate to make Cadillac profitable again but also had wrestled the crown of popular-priced luxury car from Packard. Cadillac never looked back, just kept building momentum from there on…until the 1980’s.
That should say: “In 1935, the cheapest Cadillac was $2345.” I don’t have any records of Caddy sales in 1395!
Rollfast brings up a good point. The luxury market was changing in the 1930s, as the Depression and technological improvements in lower price cars were placing downward pressure on prices in the luxury segment. Plus, there were different price segments even within the luxury market.
It’s my understanding that Packard dominated the upper tiers of the luxury market, with its V-12s and large eights, which were not mass produced in the modern sense. The problem for Packard was that this segment steadily dwindled as the 1930s progressed.
Cadillac took the lead by developing the modern luxury car – mass produced cars made with a fair amount of off-the-shelf GM parts, but burnished with Cadillac styling cues and featuring Cadillac engines. It was also considerably cheaper than Cadillacs had been at the start of the 1930s.
+1
LaSalle was an interesting car, created by Alfred Sloan to plug the gap between Cadillac and Buick. Another rung in the infamous Sloan ladder, so to speak. But LaSalle had the unfortunate luck to be introduced just prior to the start of the Great Depression, not fertile ground for an upper middle-class brand. Making matters worse was Packard’s 1935 introduction of the mid-priced 120, a direct competitor. Packard received untold criticism for introducing the 120, as it was perceived to diminish the prestige of the marque, but the 120 was fairly successful. LaSalle also competed internally with Buick. The result was that LaSalle never met sales expectations and GM pulled the plug in 1940.
With most model names being recycled over the years, it’s interesting that LaSalle never was. It would certainly be better than the confusing alpha-numeric models Cadillac uses today.
Supposedly the LaSalle nameplate was under serious consideration for what became the first Seville. But then a Cadillac executive read an article that called LaSalle the division’s “only real failure” (this was in the early 1970s). The division decided to go with Seville instead.
The other point was that LaSalle was a junior Cadillac and with quite Spartan /8-generation Mercedes selling at prices above their full-size models’ they were at great pains NOT to create the impression that the new “International Size” Cadillac, priced above all other Caddys save the Series 75 limo, was a junior model.
Cadillac did toyed the idea to revive the LaSalle name earlier like the 1955 show car at the Motorama and what’ll became the 1963 Riviera was once studied as a possibility to revive the LaSalle name as well.
The Buick Riviera was originally dubbed LaSalle II in anticipation of being a new Cadillac model. Cadillac wasn’t interested and it ended up being built by Buick
It’s my understanding the top Buicks of those days were very nice cars indeed. I’m surprised there was thought to be any gap at all between them and Cadillac, let alone a gap big enough to park a new brand in.
Rollfast answered most of my questions with the “over $1500” thing. You can almost always get the answer you want so long as you frame the question correctly. 🙂 I also love how the pictured Cadillac sports blackwall tires.
The entire decade of the 1930s was an economic disaster. I read somewhere recently that unemployment in 1939 was higher than it had been in 1933-34. That was not the market buying Cadillacs, but showing off your money was not cool as the 30s progressed, something that played perfectly into Cadillac’s strengths – and to give Cadillac credit, they gave the luxury market exactly what it was looking for at the time.
In looking at some old ads, I noticed that where it had been popular to tout prices in ads, prices never showed up in Lincoln Zephyr ads – at least not in 1940. Lincoln tried selling style, not price, a concept that would take over upper-end car advertising after the economy got better in the postwar years.
RE: LaSalle fulfilled its original role but was fortuitously placed when the Depression created a need for a car to test the market response to new luxury concepts without sullying the Cadillac reputation. Thus, the $1,695 1934 LaSalle served as proof of concept, a smaller owner-driven luxury car of distinctive style could find acceptance. LaSalle would have been ended for 1933 had it not taken on this task.
As the concept proved valid, it was turned over to Cadillac for the 1936 Series 60. LaSalle served its time throughout the remained of the decade as entry to the upper medium-price segment. It would then be sacrificed when Cadillac could take the position over with the 1941 Series 61 without tarnishing its luxury reputation. Harlow Curtiss also backed up this move with the introduction of the 1940 Buick Series 70 Roadmaster in the segment as choice for anyone who couldn’t quite encompass a Cadillac.
Here’s a pic of a 1940 Packard 120 next to a 1940 LaSalle from a recent cars & coffee. More or less direct competitors in their day. From a cursory online search, it looks like the Packard retailed for about $1200, while the LaSalle was between $1300-1400.
RE: LaSalle fulfilled its original role but was fortuitously placed when the Depression created a need for a car to test the market response to new luxury concepts without sullying the Cadillac reputation. Thus, the $1,695 1934 LaSalle served as proof of concept, a smaller owner-driven luxury car of distinctive style could find acceptance. LaSalle would have been ended for 1933 had it not taken on this task.
As the concept proved valid, it was turned over to Cadillac for the 1936 Series 60. LaSalle served its time throughout the remained of the decade as entry to the upper medium-price segment. It would then be sacrificed when Cadillac could take the position over with the 1941 Series 61 without tarnishing its luxury reputation. Harlow Curtiss also backed up this move with the introduction of the 1940 Buick Series 70 Roadmaster in the segment as choice for anyone who couldn’t quite encompass a Cadillac.