What were they thinking? This is what I’m left wondering after seeing the latest online media ads from Cadillac for their Lexus RX challenger -- the all-new redesigned 2010 Cadillac SRX.
The ads feature various middle-aged professionals yawning as they look to their right. What are they yawning at? Apparently anything on the web page I’m currently viewing, but what they are hypothetically yawning at are “boring luxury crossovers.” I wonder how many people really know which cars are luxury crossovers? Why not challenge the looks of the recently egg-ified styled Lexus RX head-on, since this is what Cadillac wants you to think of as boring.
The Lexus RX is boring; I know I drive one. But people don’t buy the Lexus because of its styling, they buy because of its dependability and, in my wife’s case, the great visibility when inside the car. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the new SRX that make it standout against the competition so the team went for the “Curb Appeal” message. I like the design of the new SRX, it is definitely better than the look of the Lexus. However, this segment just isn’t about exterior design. They buy their SUVs for practical lifestyle reasons and nothing stands out in the SRX product to appeal to this reason, nor is the Lexus an ugly car that is easy to ridicule for its looks. Sure it’s a bit bulbous in its new form, but it still is a good-looking crossover.
Cadillac is obviously hoping its chiseled design attracts the Lexus crowd, but that is the obsession of every luxury crossover vehicle as they try to knock Lexus off the top spot. Going after the standard criticism of Lexus cars being boring, Cadillac has taken to a kind of absurd level with this yawn campaign. Problem is the ads just come off juvenile and unenlightening.
