GM’s Cadillac division was struggling in the early 1990s, with Lexus’s attack And Infinity inflammation swept across the Pacific to steal young customers while high-end German manufacturers snatched away their older customers. Flying a car model priced at S-Class between the assembly lines in Turin and Hamtramck didn’t work out, so why not look to the European outposts of the far-flung GM Empire for the next Cadillac? That is How Catera was bornand I found a rare first-year example at a car graveyard in North Carolina.
Across the Atlantic, GM’s Opel and Vauxhall are doing good business with wealthy European car buyers by selling them sleek rear-wheel-drive cars. Omega B (Their platform also exists below Holden VT Merchandise in Australia). This is a genuine German design that successfully competes with BMW and Audi on their home turf!
Therefore, Omega B was Americanized and renamed Catera. At that time, Opel was not a completely foreign brand to Americans because its cars were sold here with their own badges through Buick dealers from mid-1950s because late 1970s (for a much shorter period of time, US Pontiac dealers tried to sell Vauxhalls). Even then, a lot of Opel’s DNA appeared in products of GM divisions in the US market.
The Catera is by far the most affordable Cadillac of 1997, with a starting MSRP of $29,995 (about $59,113 in 2024 dollars). As a genuine German car, it looks much more convincingly European in comparison DeVille ($36,995), Eldorado ($37,995) and Seville ($39,995).
Have inspiration from the ducks on the Cadillac logo (they are actually supposed to little child, a mythical bird with no legs and sometimes no beak), Cadillac marketers pursued young car buyers with a bizarre cartoon duck named Ziggy. In the 21st century, the birds were removed from the Cadillac emblem to attract California buyers under 45 years of age.
As we all know, Catera failed miserably in the market. What sells well in Europe turns out not to translate well in North America, especially when wearing the badge of such a company. Brand with historical reputation.
The Catera’s engine is a 54-degree 3.0-liter V6, rated at 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque.
Just as was the case with its predecessor, AllantéNo manual transmission.
Americans tend not to maintain their cars as meticulously as their European counterparts, and they drive much longer distances in harsher weather conditions on worse roads, so Catera proved much less reliable than its Omega counterparts across the pond.
A Holden-ized chassis version of the Catera returned to our shores in 2004, underpinning the Pontiac GTO. This means that LS swapped to Cateras Shouldn’t be too difficult…
Afterward 2001, Catera has disappeared. However, the Cadillac lawsuits learned that put their badge on the GMC Yukon Denali It’s like having a license to print money. Rappers had rhymes About New Cadillac truck, and the under-80 crowd flocked to Cadillac showrooms. During the 2000s, New Cadillac model (some using members of the Catera’s 54° V6 engine family) continued Cadillac’s resurgence, and embarrassing memories of the Ziggy faded.
But The landfill never forgetsSo let’s see some more Catera ads.
Greet, Cindy Crawford heard Ziggy the Duck!
Ziggy also worked as a personal trainer.
Isn’t it time you took it for a test drive?
Wait, Opel says it will survive 10,000 miles of abuse in Arizona.
Those Omega owners will certainly be very happy.
The Vauxhall version has 69 billion possibilities in the security code and it is pronounced “OH-muh-guh.”
Just the thing for driving around a surreal desert.
