Is Cadillac slipping?

You may have heard mention of this already... CNW Research has recently put out a report that Cadillac's appeal to 18-35 year olds is slipping. The score of the brand in the 'Aspirational Index' has slipped to its lowest value since 2003. The brand's score started to climb in 1999 and flattened out in 2005-06 with it dropping below 8 (on a 10 point scale). They note that the 'aspiration age' of buyers...I suppose this means the average age of people who would own a Cadillac, rather than those who could afford to buy one...has gone from 30.3 to 35.9 in the last 3 years. Of course, this looks less like a problem if you figure that the same theoretical 30.3-year old would be 33.3 at the end of the same period. Not a terribly odd thing given that the youngest buyers tend to be drifting toward boxy cars when they care about cars at all. I expect the age of the current Cadillac product also has a bit to do with it given that most of the cars in the stable were close to brand new 3 years ago. Expect the numbers to reverse with the debuts of the new CTS, CTS coupe, CTS-V, BRX, etc. Winding Road: Study Suggests Cadillac’s Appeal Is Slipping