The Cadillac Catera: Was it a step in the right direction, or one more step in the old GM’s relentless march toward bankruptcy? Let’s see.
The Cadillac Catera saga actually begins here, with the 1994-99 Omega (above) produced by the Opel division of General Motors in Germany on the corporation’s V platform. Desperate for a smallish, Euro-flavored sedan to compete against the best from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes, GM’s Cadillac division rebadged the Omega as the Cadillac LSE concept and sent it out to tour the 1994 American auto show circuit. (LSE stood for “luxury sedan for Europe,” reportedly.)
And it was pretty much this package, with relatively few changes to speak of, that appeared in the Cadillac production lineup for 1997 with a new nameplate: Catera. North American versions of the Omega/Catera were offered with the corporate L81 3.0-liter V6 (distinguished by its unusual 54-degree bank angle) with 200 hp and a GML30 automatic transmission from GM France. There was nothing terribly exciting about the hardware, true, but the front engine/rear-drive layout did provide American enthusiasts with room for hope.
To pitch the new small Cadillac to America, GM enlisted supermodel Cindy Crawford as spokesperson and created a zany bird companion named Ziggy, an animated cartoon version of the merlettes, the heraldic duck-like creatures found on the classic Cadillac crest. The Catera, Cindy and Ziggy informed the audience, was “the Caddy that zigs.” While the campaign was attractive and attention-grabbing, it didn’t do much to tell buyers what this new Cadillac was all about.
In a word, American car buyers were underwhelmed. While the Catera’s cabin (above) was well-appointed and comfortable enough, it lacked the traditional Cadillac flash, and the exterior sheet metal was an exercise in GM corporate blandness. Cadillac was revisiting past mistakes: The 1982-88 Cimarron, the critics said, too much resembled the Chevrolet Cavalier. (See our feature on the Cimarron here.) And now the Catera had arrived on the scene, looking for all the world like a Chevy Lumina.
In bringing a smaller, truly European product to the U.S market, GM and the Cadillac brand were on the right course, one could argue, but it’s equally fair to say that the execution was uninspired. Product planners had projected sales of 20,000 to 40,000 vehicles per year. But volume barely met the low end of the forecast with fewer than 100,000 cars delivered over the five-year product cycle. When the Catera was finally discontinued in 2001 with fewer than 10,000 units sold that year, hardly anyone noticed.
Funny, I remember the slogan, “The Caddy that zigs”, but barely remember the car. Sounds like it wasn’t much to remember.
i bought a black 97 catera, with all the options. was a fun car to drive. wife liked it too. handled great. wish it had a v8 instead of v6. the radio was an issue right off. antenna in the back window glass. next was a coil pack. then the tranny went into limp mode, all the time. had to buy a scanner to clear the code to make it work again, and again, etc. tranny people said i needed a new tranny. facebook site said neutral safety switch. hate computerized cars. tried to trade while the tranny was working, but the salesman test drove it and it went to limp mode so wouldnt take it. sold it for dirt and saw it arround town for a while, then gone. later bought an almost new, 09 g8 gt. thats what the catera could have been if it had a v8. i still have an 02 lincoln ls with v8, 5 speed, rwd. there is a catera in the junk yard, i thought would be a good place for an LS motor, and would be a real sleeper..
Would it surprise you to know that the G8 pretty much is a Catera under the skin? The Holden Commodore that the G8 is a re-badged version of is built on a modified version of the same platform as the Catera. So the G8 IS what the Catera became 😛
At the end of the radio and tv ads they would mention the offer, “Lease a Catera for xxx/month, etc…”
At the very end the announcer would come back on and ask “Who’s Lisa Catera?”
I make and voice car spots and that made me laugh every time!
Owned one of these until the warranty was close to expiring. By then I realized the only place it zigged was to the nearest Cadillac dealer for the latest in a seemingly never-ending series of mechanical ills.