It was a crisp fall day when Cadillac Canada hosted ‘Charged, Connected, & Confident’: an exclusive opportunity for guests to discover the automaker’s extensive all-electric portfolio.
To kick off the trip, invitees were treated to a welcome breakfast at Cadillac House, where we met Adam Kostanowicz, Managing Director of Cadillac Canada. We checked out several EVs before leaving for the Dolby Atmos Studio Experience, a listening party at Universal Music Studios. Then, it was time to hop in the car and head north to Simcoe County for a beautifully curated lunch at GoodHawk. After that, SHARP sat down with Adam to discuss the automaker’s electric ambitions. Read our conversation below.
“It is undeniably a Cadillac: quality, craftsmanship, design. It just happens to be an EV.”Adam Kostanowicz
CELESTIQ set a pretty audacious bar for what a Cadillac flagship could be. Where does the rest of the EV lineup go from here and how does it build on that?
Yeah, CELESTIQ is one special car. I would consider it our North Star, our halo vehicle. We’re putting features, technology, and a level of sophistication in there that shows what we’re capable of. “Audacious” — I like that word.
But what you’re going to see is similar to the way we’ve operated in the past: that car will set the standard for what flows through the rest of the portfolio, and you’ll start to see similarities. I mean, it already looks like a Cadillac. There’s no mistaking it’s a Cadillac. That’s really sending a signal to the market of what we’re capable of doing and what you can expect to see through the products from there.
This morning you shared some pretty impressive results for the Cadillac EV lineup in Canada—
I think we said we were number one once or twice.
You might have said that!
[Laughs] Yeah.
What do you think makes this the moment for Cadillac’s EV push in Canada specifically, versus following a US rollout or other markets?
One thing I can tell you: we’re in complete lockstep with the US. We operate as a North America region, so our products are their products, their products are ours. When they launch, we launch. Everything we represent as a brand is replicated on both sides.
What’s most unique about the way we’re functioning here is our EV demand. We have such a demand for EVs in Canada, specifically in BC and Quebec. But the way we’ve come to market since 2022 with the LYRIQ has communicated, in a very strong way, that this is unmistakably a Cadillac. It just happens to be an EV.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed; some of the other makes, you can spot an EV from a mile away, because they look different. They’re purposely making them look different so they can say they’ve got these EVs. Our designs are purposeful in intent, making sure it is undeniably a Cadillac: quality, craftsmanship, design. It just happens to be an EV.
I think there’s something to be said for brand loyalty and familiarity with brands you’ve known for decades.
Yeah. I don’t know the exact number — I should, forgive me. We’re about 127 years old as a brand.
You’re not going to find too many other brands out there older than us, with that kind of legacy, history and reputation. You have to live up to those standards. We’d be letting ourselves and our customers down if we didn’t deliver on that promise.
“We need to be unmistakably Cadillac in everything we do.”Adam Kostanowicz
You’re bringing outside luxury and auto experience into the role. What’s one thing from your previous experience that you think you can actively apply to how Cadillac Canada operates?
I always focus on the customer. I always have, I always will. They make the brand possible.
Second to that, I take great pride in building very strong relationships with our dealer network, so they can deliver the brand promise for us — because we don’t sell cars direct to customers. As long as we can set the standards with our dealers to deliver that brand promise, and the customer experience is the one the luxury customer deserves, we’re going to have a winning recipe.
But it’s not just the way you purchase the car. Where I think a lot of other brands don’t live up to that promise is [during] the after-sales customer experience. After they’ve taken delivery, they don’t know how to charge, they don’t know what the maintenance intervals are, they don’t know who to call if there’s an issue. We need to make sure that customer is confidently cared for every step of the way, so they know they did not make a mistake by choosing a Cadillac.
We talked a little bit about some controlled rollouts and some different features and benefits that will come to some of the vehicles. What do you see as Cadillac’s differentiator compared to other luxury EV players in the next couple of years?
We need to be unmistakably Cadillac in everything we do. I’ll lean on our success in Canada for a minute, because we’ve proven that — in an industry where EV represents only fifteen percent of the total market — we’re in at over fifty [percent].
We have the portfolio, from beginning to end, that’s showing the market [that] this isn’t just us dipping our toes in the water, trying to get an EV on the market. We have such a broad offering, with unmistakable design traits and quality and an experience that a customer will be quite impressed with — when they actually give Cadillac that opportunity.
This transcript has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
