Podcast Episode
Cadillac – The Standard of the World

About this episode
Cadillac has been the benchmark of American luxury for over a century, the brand against which all other American prestige automobiles have been measured. Its famous slogan — "Standard of the World" — was not marketing bravado when introduced in the early 1900s; it was a literal claim backed by extraordinary engineering achievement. In 1908, Cadillac became the first automaker in history to win the Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club of Britain, the most prestigious automotive award in the world at the time, by demonstrating that its parts were so precisely manufactured they were fully interchangeable between cars. Cadillac defined American luxury through the mid-twentieth century with a series of breathtakingly styled vehicles that embodied the optimism and extravagance of postwar America. The tail fins of the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado — the most dramatic automotive styling statement ever made in America — were inspired by the Lockheed P-38 fighter aircraft and remain the ultimate expression of 1950s American excess and confidence. These cars were rolling sculpture, and owning one signaled arrival in American society. Today Cadillac is repositioning itself as a technology leader with the CT5-V Blackwing — producing 668 horsepower from a supercharged V8 — and the Lyriq and Celestiq electric vehicles that represent the brand's ambitious future. The Celestiq, Cadillac's handcrafted electric flagship, is built to order in Detroit at a starting price of approximately $340,000, reclaiming Cadillac's position at the absolute pinnacle of American luxury. Cadillac's story is one of the most dramatic in automotive history — from world-beating pioneer to near-irrelevance and back to relevance again.https://serseapodcasts.com