America's Last Luxury Marque Flexes Its Muscles

A Cadillac CTS or BMW 5 Series, which one is the better car? It's a close race, but in value for money it's no contest

By Michael Frank

Based on recent events, it seems painfully clear there is precisely one American carmaker with a shot at long-term viability. Care to guess which?

Ford (F) Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally is cutting dealers, labor, and production at a rate that makes great sense on one level, because there's bloat in each of those arenas. What you don't see are the cars, the actual product that can save Ford's future.

Only recently has Ford awoken to the fact that small cars are selling well in this country when just about nothing else is. Meanwhile, Ford's Focus is a dog compared to the version sold in Europe, and planners at the blue oval are still dithering about whether to bring hatchback versions of the Fiesta to this country (BusinessWeek.com, 3/13/08)—when the Fiesta finally gets here. News flash: Leave Dearborn, Mich., once in a while and see what's selling on the coasts (the hatchback Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, and Toyota Yaris). Better yet, do it when gas hits $4 a gallon (or $5) and see what buyers want.

And Chrysler? Please. The very name is like the punch line to a mean joke.

That leaves General Motors (GM). And wow, has GM been at last responding to the pressures put on it by Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC), Nissan (NSANY), and German brands including Volkswagen (VOWG) and BMW (BMWG).

GM Factor

The new Chevy Malibu is a tremendous car. Recently I drove the new Honda Accord and the Malibu in quick succession, and while the Honda engine is slightly more free-spirited, the handling, steering, taut body control, and accommodations of the Chevy were all on par with what the Honda had to offer. Cross-shopped against a Camry or the wan Ford Taurus, or the Accord, the Malibu should take back a nice chunk of Chevy market share.

And Saturn may be GM's best division, going from a capital-L "Loser" to a serious big-time winner in record time. I'll just reel off the Saturn lineup quickly: The latest Vue has become one of the better crossovers on the market after its first iteration was at best mediocre, while both the Aura and Astra (donated from GM's German-produced Opel division) are fun, smart, and frugal.

Cadillac Credit

And Cadillac has the only complete line of American luxury cars left. (Lincoln sells antediluvian livery vehicles, rebadged SUVs and trucks, and with the exception of the very nice MKX, a good redo of the Ford Edge, there's nary a ghost of that marque's once-proud swagger.)

Cadillac deserves buckets of credit. In the face of skeptics like me, the second-generation Page 1 2 Next Page