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In China, Cadillac is not your grandma’s luxury car

While it’s been on a decades-long slide in the U.S., Cadillac sales are booming in China.

A luxury Cadillac XLR on display at a ceremony in Beijing, China in 2004.
A luxury Cadillac XLR on display at a ceremony in Beijing, China in 2004.
STR/AFP/Getty Images

There was a time when Cadillac was the top luxury car in the U.S., a symbol of status and subject of rock songs. That time was long ago — Cadillac’s U.S. market share has eroded since the late 1970s. In China, however, the brand’s popularity is soaring.

While other U.S. car sales slipped this quarter due to a slowing Chinese economy and complications of a trade war, Cadillac’s sales grew by more than 36%. Cadillac’s success is part of a broader luxury car boom in China, now the world’s largest luxury auto market, but also demonstrates how General Motors would like to revive the brand in the U.S.

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