Design of the 1992 Cadillac Seville and Eldorado, Part 1

Design of the 1992 Cadillac Seville and Eldorado

by Dick Ruzzin and Dennis Little

Edited by Gary Smith

Part One

Dick Ruzzin:

My father had long promised to give a new Cadillac to my mother, and in 1986 he bought her one of the new downsized Sevilles. They lived in a country town outside of Detroit where Cadillac was a highly respected brand. One day while waiting in her bank, she saw that people were looking at her new Cadillac through the windows. They were laughing and making fun of it, not knowing that the person who owned it was right there in the bank with them. She was crushed. Like many Americans, to own a Cadillac was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and a much-anticipated purchase.

The much smaller 1986 Cadillac Seville and Eldorado, in spite of their clear Cadillac design character, were a disaster in the car business and the dealers were losing money. By loyally staying with Cadillac, many had lost their personal life savings. Sales tanked and Cadillac was in trouble. Something had to be done, and quickly.

In a short three years between 1986 and 1989, Cadillac Studio would completely redesign the Cadillac product line at a cost of over a billion dollars for General Motors. Success or failure of the new cars we had designed would determine the future of the hallowed Cadillac Division and General Motors. The new designs also had to conform to stricter government fuel requirements. Weight and aerodynamics would be more important now than ever.

Furthermore, the design of the 1992 Cadillac Eldorado (but not the four-door Seville) initiated a contest between two design staff studios and two Italian designers.

Pininfarina, creator of the Cadillac Allante, would develop his design in Italy. Cadillac Studio would also create proposals at the GM Tech Center in America. I would lead Cadillac Studio’s effort, an Italian-American from immigrant parents who had never before designed a Cadillac. It was a complex international journey that took many twists and turns, but resulted in a beautiful car that still turns heads today over thirty years later.

This is the story of that design adventure. When you read this, please understand that this was emphatically not a normal design effort. In my forty year career working in the USA and in many other parts of the world, no other design experience was even close to this one.

Dennis Little:

It was mid-1985, and I was a Senior Creative Designer in Pontiac 1 Studio. I wondered if I would ever become an assistant studio head, the next level of promotion. One day Pontiac Studio Chief Designer Terry Henline unexpectedly told me to report to Chuck Jordan’s office (V.P. of Design). That caught me off guard.

As I walked up to Chuck’s office, I wondered what the meeting could pertain to. I was thinking that I was probably being transferred to another studio. As I entered his secretary Lucy smiled and said, “Go right in. Chuck is waiting for you.”

I pushed open the glass doors. Chuck was seated at his desk and motioned for me to have a seat. “I have some good news and some bad news,” Chuck said. “Which do you want to hear first?”

“The good news, of course,” I responded.

“You are being promoted to assistant chief designer,” Chuck said.

Wow! I couldn’t believe that I had finally made it to the next level. Chuck followed up the good news with the bad news which was I would be the assistant chief designer in Cadillac Studio. At that moment where I was being transferred to didn’t matter. The promotion was more important.

I returned to Pontiac Studio and started ordering boxes to pack up all my supplies and gather my sketches that would be sent to Cadillac Studio. As I walked into Cadillac Studio, Wayne Kady, who was the chief designer, welcomed me and introduced me to the studio’s staff. It wasn’t till a few days later that it started to sink in that I really was not excited about designing cars that were for customers that I couldn’t relate to at my age.

The current studio assignment was to design the next Eldorado for Cadillac.

Dennis Little:

Dealer Meeting

I learned there was a meeting taking place in the Styling Dome (auditorium) with all the major Cadillac dealers from across the country, and I thought that it might be worthwhile going over to the Dome to hear what was being discussed.

I stood off to the side looking at a sea of seated Cadillac dealers, and on stage were Bob Stemple, the CEO of GM, and Lloyd Reuss, the president of GM. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. The Cadillac dealers were on their feet screaming and pointing at the two executives, saying, “If you don’t fix Cadillac we are going to leave and look for other companies to serve our needs!”

As I walked back to Cadillac Studio it started to sink in that I was in for a bumpy ride going forward. Or would this be the end of Cadillac?

Dick Ruzzin:

Downsized Disasters

Cadillac Engineering was also on the line as Cadillac had to move strongly toward a more efficient and performance-oriented driving experience. Cadillac had to meet the new government safety and fuel economy regulations, which meant more fuel efficient and safer cars for the American consumer. However, the need to create smaller, more efficient cars denied Cadillac their traditional technology and size advantage over the other five GM divisions. Size, that had historically been so important for Cadillac, was the last thing that they finally lost due to downsizing.

The Cadillac designers for the upcoming 1986 Cadillac Eldorado and Seville programs were horrified when the new downsized platforms were rolled out. Overall length was to be reduced by over 18 inches, wheelbase by 10 inches, and width by over 4 inches. In other words, shorter, taller and narrower, the opposite of the success formula that Cadillac had enjoyed for years.

The previous Cadillac studio designers had tried very hard but the size and proportions were wrong and they had no support for changing them. Those small Cadillacs, produced from 1986 through 1991, were designed by talented, dedicated professional car designers who had great love for Cadillac, but the cars were a huge market disappointment and the Corporation was keeping Cadillac monetarily afloat until the new cars came out, designed by our team.