When Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Jermaine Dupri and countless African American athletes who are influenced by rappers began flossing the Cadillac Escalade and other upscale General Motors vehicles like the GMC Yukon Denali in their videos and at award shows, GM’s top brass were admittedly shocked. Initially, of course, GM was slow to embrace the hip-hop culture or publicly proclaim rap’s influence in helping to increase the sales of these pricey whips — which, by the way, were never designed to appeal to rap fans nor the urban, youth demographic.
At least not at first. But at the dawn of the new millennium, GM execs could no longer deny it. The Escalades and Denalis had accidentally become hip. By 2005, they were hosting secret meetings and viewings for the nation’s most iconic rappers and athletes to preview their Escalades — even before the media and the public — and asked for their input. It also helped GM’s fortunes tremendously to have a slew of Cadillac CTS sedans featured in the iconic blockbuster, The Matrix, a film beloved by hip-hoppers and young people alike. GM was slowly but surely entering the modern age.
“For me, to see Cadillac go from being an old man’s car to being the hippest, coolest car out there is great. Whenever you have the rappers and music guys and entertainers all want the Escalades and everyone wants the Cadillac CTS Coupe, it‘s exciting for me,” says Leno, who is extremely loyal to domestic automakers and openly cheers the renaissance GM in particular. “The Cadillac CTS Coupe the most powerful car sold in America, just about. And it’s got a proper manual gear box. So, to me for Cadillac and Buick to flip it around, to me that’s real progress.”
Many people know Leno is also one of the nation’s most prolific classic car collectors. His input is greatly coveted by GM, and he has spent a lot of time down at the spectacular GM Advanced Design Center in North Hollywood, Calif., which is why the corporate giant puts considerable stock in his opinions. And what Leno said is basically this: He hated the direction that General Motors went in the era that followed their golden years of the ’50s and ’60s, particularly as it relates to their flagship brand, the Cadillac.
In the ’80s and ’90s, young buyers felt the same as Leno did. They turned their nose up at domestic brands for the sleeker, more aesthetically pleasing and more reliable foreign vehicles like Lexus, Nissan and especially Toyota. But when GM began to get a clue and modernize their brands to be in line with their foreign competitors, Jay Leno and hip hop stars began to take notice — and so did the American consumer. That’s why the sales of Chevy, most notably the Camaro, and Buick are up significantly.
Don Butler, vice president at Cadillac, foresees everyone from the hottest rappers to CEOs driving the new Caddy CTS V Coupe.
“You know what? You don’t have to be a rapper or an executive to drive this car. What was so helpful about that, is that [rappers and entertainers responding to Cadillac] reminded us that Cadillac is about emotion,“ says Butler. “You absolutely have to have the solid product credentials. But you can’t be sterile, you can’t be cold. It’s about being able to connect with the passions of our target consumer. It reminded us how important emotion is for the Cadillac buyer and that we need to keep tapping into that and touching into that.” –terry shropshire
