[antiRepublicrat]

That’s a Cimarron, right? I remember those, a Chevy Cavalier with a Cadillac badge. Total freakin’ disaster to the Cadillac brand. I hear they have a picture of one of these at Cadillac with “Lest we forget” or something like that written on it.

Cadillac tried again with the Catera, a re-badged Opel Omega. But at least the Omega was a mid-range sedan in Germany, you could spec one out to compete with the price, features and performance of a lower-range Mercedes. It didn’t sell too well either, but still a lot better than the Cadvalier.

[Spktyr]

Exactly. 20 years later, and people *still* remember that thing - and avoid Cadillac because of it.

Let's look at some other jumps downmarket in dennisw's vein... none of which have ever worked out well.

Colt Double Eagle Pistol

1975 Indian ME100 Motorcycle

The Admiral electronics brand - Zenith used it to sell downmarket TVs. Seen a Zenith set lately?

Post-1963 Winchester Model 70s - when they decided to go downmarket and cheap. The Winchester plant in New Haven CT is closed now.