For the past several years the Bose name has been part of the GM lineup of vehicles as the two brands have partnered to bring us exceptional sound within the vehicles we drive. The team at Bose has been able to offer us a variety of mainstream sound devices along with those that are able to make it to the higher levels of the market in Cadillac and Buick brands. Because the Cadillac brand is trying to compete at the highest level of the luxury market, there needs to be some separation between this brand and the Chevrolet name.
A Unique Dilemma
The GM family of brands isn’t the only place we see trouble with separation between models. The Volkswagen Group faces it as does Honda, Nissan, and Toyota with their mainstream and luxury brands. It makes sense from a financial standpoint to attempt to use similar components across different brands wherever possible, but when the sound system carries a name that’s recognizable, you need to be able to compete. This has brought the Cadillac brand to the conclusion they might be better off with one of the Harman family of sound systems that are offered and currently in use by direct competitors.
Currently, Audi and BMW use Bang & Olufsen audio system, Lexus uses a Mark Levinson product and Lincoln models are equipped with Revel audio systems. All of these names are highly regarded and part of the Harman family of audio systems that can be right for Cadillac. The fact that Chevrolet also uses Bose sound systems is a turn off for those that want to drive something special and have the superior sound quality out of a luxury name, even in the sound system. This means we might hear that Harman quality sound in the Cadillac models of the future.
The Hint
Sometimes we have to look deeper to find the hints that are out there for us to understand what will be brought to the market. One of the Senior Project Managers at Harman International lists the work they are doing for the GM E2UL, A2SL and A2LL amplifier programs as part of their current work duties. When we pull these lettering nomenclatures out to what they mean from GM the A2SL would be the next generation of the Cadillac ATS, the A2LL is the next version of the Cadillac CTS and the E2UL describes the expected new Cadillac XT4 that’s in the works.
Whether or not the Harman line of sound systems will make their way into the Cadillac models of the future is yet to be determined by both companies. There are rumors that Cadillac may do away with all but one of their sedans in the future once we reach the 2020 model year and beyond, but that would be a serious surprise as well. While the SUV market is strong for this luxury brand, the sedans, such as the Cadillac XTS, haven’t been selling as well for the past couple of years.
What will we hear out of the speakers in the Cadillac models of the future? That’s as much in the air as the finality of whether or not the brand will continue to create new and better sedans to compete at the highest level of luxury but we’ll certainly keep a close eye to see where this conversation leads us in the future.
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