Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Marketing/Advertising, Crossovers/CUVs, Cadillac, GM
African-American: Cadillac launches in South Africa
GM's on a mission to take over the South African market. Just one day after the first HUMMER H3s rolled off the assembly line at GM's Struandale plant in Port Elizabeth, General Motors today announced it's bringing Cadillac to South Africa.
The first models to be offered in "the rainbow nation" will be the overseas-market BLS (based on the Saab 9-3), the SRX crossover and the STS sedan. The Caddys will be sold through a direct distribution network, with new dealerships opening in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
GM also markets several Chevy models, Saabs, Opels, Isuzus and Suzukis in South Africa, and operates two manufacturing plants in Port Elizabeth. With all that love for the liberated republic, don't be surprised if GM shows up as a major sponsor when South Africa hosts the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
[Source: GM]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
cars profile 3:00PM (10/11/2006)
i think this mark a new era in south africa
http://www.carsprofile.com/
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Agent 3:38PM (10/11/2006)
Why is 'African-American' in the title of this post?
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Aaron Bluestone 3:40PM (10/11/2006)
oh the jokes about a certain demographic of caddy buyers which would just be too wrong to make! I suspect they'll do well in their new market.
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Finished Law School 4:11PM (10/11/2006)
"Why is 'African-American' in the title of this post?"
Why not? Are you racist? Or are you an overly sensitive unreasonable member of a minority group who screams racism every chance he gets?
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Agent 4:28PM (10/11/2006)
"4. "Why is 'African-American' in the title of this post?"
Why not? Are you racist? Or are you an overly sensitive unreasonable member of a minority group who screams racism every chance he gets?
Posted at 4:08PM on Oct 11th 2006 by Finished Law School"
Why not? Again. Cite in this referenced article where Americans of any ethnicity are mentioned. Why is there a hyphenated American in the title?
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sd 4:53PM (10/11/2006)
I think you meant to say "American-African" buddy. See.. you first indicate place of origin, and then indicate place of migration. If anything "African-American" would fit the story you did a couple of days ago on the Hummer production line in South Africa.
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Erik 5:13PM (10/11/2006)
Will everyone put down their PC grammar books for just a minute and relax. I think it is a very clever, appropriate title Noah. Best of luck to Caddy in Africa!
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Willie 5:15PM (10/11/2006)
Let change the subject back to the fact caddys are coming to south africa. I dont feel like everyone arguing about race, I'm African American and I am not offended by the title. So to this guy:
4. "Why is 'African-American' in the title of this post?"
Why not? Are you racist? Or are you an overly sensitive unreasonable member of a minority group who screams racism every chance he gets?
Posted at 4:08PM on Oct 11th 2006 by Finished Law School
Nobody is screaming racism idiot. Sooooooooo back to caddy, I say go for it.
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JON 5:53PM (10/11/2006)
I have a friend who's a white guy from S.Africa (He was a minority over there).And he just got his U.S. citizenship papers...I guess that makes him a minority African American.
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Corey W. 6:06PM (10/11/2006)
Ok, lets be clear, this has nothing to do with pulling a race card. I would also like to know what the title of this post means? When Toyota launches a car in India (or wherever), you don't get no such titles or references.... what was the point??
"Why not? Are you racist? Or are you an overly sensitive unreasonable member of a minority group who screams racism every chance he gets?"
- Prime example of someone with underlying mental problems, that insists on using AutoBlog as an outlet for their issues.
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D 7:35PM (10/11/2006)
Ok, South Africa's getting Cadillac, that means Australia should be next... hopefully.
Last I heard, GM was considering bringing Cadillac down, but some people were whining about it stepping on Holden's toes. How? Holden goes up against Ford, Toyota. Cadillac would go against BMW, Mercedes & Lexus.
I _really_ want to see Cadillacs down here, preferably by the end of the decade.
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Joe 11:52PM (10/11/2006)
I think the point of the title is to be a clever pun. "African-American," as in an American car company selling in an African nation. Whether it's backwards or not is irrelevant; "African-American" is the term that people are familiar with.
As for the calls of racism, all I have to say is this: What the hell is wrong with you? Are you high? Where is the racism in asking a question about the meaning of a title? Racism would be saying something like "Why is Cadillac selling their cars in that crappy nation?" not "why is African-American in the title of this post?" So chill out. We're all reading this because we love cars. I don't think anybody is here to step on anybody else's toes.
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Noah Joseph 5:30AM (10/12/2006)
I'd like to personally thank all of you who stood up against PC hypersensitivity and got the pun in the post title. Joe in #12 hit it right on the nose: "African-American" was not a racial slur, can hardly imagine how it could be in this context; it refers to an American car being built in Africa. No more, no less. But to be fair and keep things in perspective, nobody, it seems, actually alledged racism, only one commenter ("Agent" in #2) asked why the term was used.
Now to get back on topic, a little update. A lot of my dearest friends are South African, and over dinner last night I was informed that this is not the first time Cadillacs will be sold in South Africa. Aparently they were years ago, but GM stopped selling them when the boycott pressure was brought to bear on the apartheid government.
So if we want to argue over symantics, we'll keep the "African-American" but change the rest to say "Cadillac returns to South Africa".
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