CA&E: Interesting.
JM: To this date Buick is a very, very strong brand. And we sell more Buicks in China than we do in the United States. Believe it or not, it's that heritage. Now BMW does great over there. Certainly BMW is a huge player there with the luxury market, but Cadillac and Buick are very strong there too. Very strong.
CA&E: Now are you at all affected by what other OEs are doing in terms of design?
JM: Every day. We look at everything they do. I'm sure they look at everything we do.
CA&E: In terms of the CTS, the refinements on there I thought were just stunning. I was wondering if you could tell us maybe about the process of that. How the changes occur and how you determine it and maybe give us a sense of the scope of the team that works on these things.
JM: When we first started that program the first generation of the CTS, which came out in 2002, was the first car that really embodied the idea of art science as a design philosophy for Cadillac. Cadillac was at a point where we were really having difficulty in the marketplace, and we said (at the time I wasn't working there, but it was Cadillac nonetheless) that Cadillac needs to make a strong bold statement. We need to make design part of our strategy, just like Apple does, just like Microsoft does, just like Harley-Davidson does.
CA&E: Right.
JM: Design needs to be part of our strategy. So with the art and science design philosophy, Cadillac is now back. Design is going to be how we're going to differentiate ourselves. And you may not like the way this car looks, but we're making a statement and we're going to tell the world that this is going to be who we are. So the car was very polarizing. A lot of people loved it, but a lot of people didn't like it.
CA&E: Yeah, exactly.
JM: When it came time to do the car, the new one, the one that came out for 2008, we said, OK, we made a real strong statement with the first one, what can we do to this new one where we don't walk away from art and science, don't walk away from the people who bought the first car because they liked the design, but in addition to that we add a few of the people who are kind of on the fence about it. Plus, we can pull the interior execution up with all the materials. So we said, OK, let's add just a little more art. The art and science design philosophy. We won't make it a soft jellybean, but we'll just dial a little more art. So the 2-inch increase in the track, both front and rear, was a huge enabler for us to get this real soft fluid shape around the wheels. But kept these real sharp angles and edges on the rest of the car. So you've got this counterplay between the soft and the real hard and crisp. Of course, you know, the face of the car is such a bold face. It's got that strong Cadillac grille to it.
CA&E: The front is amazing.