But it was the 19921992 model year model year that saw Cadillac introduce the European-inspired Seville STS sports sedan and Eldorado Touring Coupe. The brand began getting real traction in the market with cars that appealed to younger buyers. The following year, Cadillac introduced the Northstar V-8, the company’s four-cam, 32-valve aluminum V-8 engine.
But a small sport sedan Cadillac introduced in the mid-1990s, the Catera, a rebadged Opel Omega MV6 and targeted at younger buyers, fell short of expectations.
Still, Grettenberger noticed consumers were spending more and more on trucks and SUVs, and he wanted Cadillac to lead the way for American manufacturers.
In 1987, several years after Grettenberger arrived at Cadillac from a European tour of duty, British Leyland’s Range Rover was finally introduced in North America. The vehicle, lauded as the first true luxury SUV, was introduced in 1970 and was a massive success in Europe. But it was never offered in North America because British Leyland did not have the production capacity to meet expected demand.
Muniga recalls Grettenberger’s product planners fighting for a Cadillac SUV years before Ford beat GM to the market with the 1998 Lincoln Navigator.
“In 1992 or 1993, I was asked to go in to a staff meeting. They had proposed a truck [SUV] for Cadillac. There was a lot of conversation about it. We saw where the market was headed, but you still had the traditional Cadillac buyer,” Muniga said. “There was a lot of discussion about whether the traditional Cadillac buyer would accept this. On the other side of the fence, we had to get younger people in our vehicles.”
GM, beset with a host of financial, quality, manufacturing and other problems, did not approve Cadillac’s request for an SUV.
In 1997, as Grettenberger was retiring, Lincoln introduced the Navigator and it became a big hit for Cadillac’s biggest rival. That’s when GM’s board finally approved a Cadillac-badged SUV. In just seven months, the Escalade, a barely disguised GMC Denali, appeared in Cadillac showrooms.
After Grettenberger’s retirement, he returned to Lansing and worked in his family’s oil business and, in later years, served on the boards of directors for several companies.
Services for Grettenberger, who died of cancer, are not going to be held because of the coronavirus pandemic, his family said. A celebration of life will be scheduled at a later date.
Editor’s note: In an earlier version of this story, the caption in the top photo misidentified the vehicle with John Grettenberger. It is the Seville, not the DeVille.
