NAME and SHAME! WHICH Brand Has Lost The MOST Buzz And Love In 2019?

Infiniti

Yeah, the Nissan/Mitsubishi alliance have no pulse, Renault is perhaps slightly better.

In general every brand is playing conservatively, wait and see, so few are taking risks, making bold moves, that Ford announcing the Mach-E appeared earth-shattering, when it really isn't.

An extension of this question is which Makers/brands will remain a year from now, globalization and consolidation will be ruthless.

I agree with Nissan/Infiniti- just throw it away and start over

BMW/MINI- BMW’s fumble with charging for Apple Car Play, the controversial Grills, and new investigation into inflated sales, not to mention failing to see the swing towards crossovers with Mini and adjusting leaving the mini brand to become even more mini in a jumbo SUV world

Toyota/Lexus- taking a half ass approach to one of their most iconic vehicles, the Supra, playing it too safe with their lineup losing market share to Honda as well as the Koreans in key markets, and Lexus your days or numbered if you continue to rely on the RX and NX for life support which are losing ground in the most fiercely competitive market

Audi has fallen off a cliff in terms of buzz.

BMW is about to drive off the same cliff.

Porsche - they continue to “BE” Porsche even as their products evolve.

Sorry I thought it was who remains relevant. Cadillac is slipping into the abyss... GM as a whole...

The shift to names will bolster Cadillac.

The shift to names will do nothing. They are only relevant to boomers who are starting to die off. Cadillac has a bigger brand perception issue with 40 somethings and below who won’t even consider them (exception for the Escalade, which will also find itself in trouble as younger generations move to EVs)

If GM wants to survive in the luxury segment, they need to invest highly now in building a completely new brand focused on tech and performance.

@jeff As usual you're ridiculously wrong. The Lincoln precedent refutes you.

Lincoln's return to names conincides with its improved product offerings. It's the product that sells, not the name. The Germans do fine with alphanumerics. It's personal preference, and it's mystifying to me why people are so hung up on that, rather than the quality of the product.

It's also true that most Cadillac names are either sullied by their years of being slapped on mediocre products for decades, or are only remembered by people on life support. I'm not opposed to names, but "Coupe D'Ville" only conjures images of rusting FWD shitboxes, or an early bird special clientele.

Cadillac has been lurching from one desperate attempt to another for years now. The XT6 is such a non-starter snoozefest, and it would be still be so even if it were called the "Seville Brougham D'Elegance" or whatever.

I thought Johann was on the right track for a while, but GM's bean counters won the day (as usual), and started compromising, cost cutting, and rushing his product plan in to the ground right away. As a result, we get the phoned-in XT6, and the maybe-passable-at-best CT4/5. Rumor is, the new Escalade is the only vehicle where Johann got his way and is coming to market roughly as he envisioned. That will be the truest test we may ever get of what Cadillac under his long-term stewardship would have been like. I can't say I have much faith in GM yes-man Steve Carlisle to lead Cadillac in to a new era of glory.

Oh yeah, I remember MD going on about how well the Continental is doing with Millennials. Lol

Not entirely correct. The Continental is a hastily thrown together SuperFusion with more than a few Fusion bits in the interior if you know where to look.

The Continental was a spiritual shift. The Nautilus is a rebadge more or less. But the same "every Ford has a Lincoln counterpart" mentality is alive and well.

As for the Continental and millennials, there was an initial rush of sales to that demographic. Continentals are being switched out with Aviators. The Continental was a success. It reshaped the direction of Lincoln and upped the expectations. It was a great, short-term product, but that was its role all along: a short-term strategy.

Agree Matt on names, except they need to ensure the product goes with the names. I can see them putting something like the CT4 but calling it Cadillac LeMans after the 50's show car... is the CT4 a car the LeMans name would reflect? Perhaps Seville as you and I have pressed for years.... does the CT5 reflect Seville... ? Not sure but don't think so. So even as they return to names they need to return to gorgeous, segment leading style or better yet, style that sets its own benchmark. As you've said most cars look the same now like crappy jelly beans... both the CT4/CT5 refresh need the names added and next gen need fresh styling...

Calling the CT4 the Seville would be a good move. The CT5 should have been the Escala. CT6 Elmiraj

They have some great show car names Imaj, Cien, Ciel, Provoq, and so on. "El" name would be a cinch: Elmirado, Elencanto, etc.

Yes, Lincoln was smart not to spend a lot of resources to create the Continental to elbow its was into a well established, but shrinking segment. It still got attention and signaled a change.
Meanwhile, Cadillac developed a new platform, engine etc and muffed the launch. The resources were not used to develop top notch SUVs like Lincoln. So, late to the party they rebadged a couple of Chevys.

The genius move with the Continental was to axe the new Taurus and let the old one soldier on. By axing the new Taurus, it gave the impression that the CD5 Continental was bespoke when all it was was an LWB CD4.

Cadillac. We keep waiting for Cadillac to make the jump to top tier as they promised. The XT6 killed that idea. There is absolutely nothing here that says "luxury." The XT4 was average and the two new sedans are, meh.
Audi has lost it too.
Infiniti is all but dead. Gee, de nyshhen ran all three.

Agree and am sad to agree.... Cadillac, for what has been spent, deserves much better and much better leadership... its positively rudderless. They're holding their breath the Escalade is going to hit it out of the park but I think its exterior is too much like the other 2 and IMO it’s not going to hit the marks GM has for it... especially when the price it out of the stratosphere.

Right, the company that gained the most stock value, has the highest customer satisfaction, and is the majority of 2019 automotive news. Think about it.

Definitely Infiniti, but they've been on the downward trend for a while.

They've released one new interesting car in the past six years. Some entire lineups at other manufacturers have been refreshed in that time.

Cadillac, Infiniti and Audi. Sadly so in all cases. Also dangerously sleeping on their laurels Lexus and BMW.

Genesis