General Motors' Cadillac luxury car division, founded in
Motown and named for the city's founder, is moving 650 miles east to
New York's SoHo neighborhood. Cadillac, which has been steadily
losing sales to its foreign rivals, is hoping that a trendy New
York address will give its products an image boost. GM said in a
news release that Cadillac needed to be in "a city renown for
establishing trends and setting standards for the global luxury
market."
Cadillac will become a separate business unit and about 50 jobs
will be moved to New York. However, most design and product
engineering will remain in Detroit. Cadillacs will continue to be
manufactured in plants in Michigan, Texas, Mexico and China. Johann
de Nysschen, who became Cadillac's new president in August, is
no stranger to corporate moves. He was chief of Audi's U.S.
division when it moved its U.S. headquarters from metro Detroit to
Virginia in 2007. And, he took over Nissan's luxury Infiniti
brand when it had
