[PaulHoule]

I mentioned Cadillac because it's a textbook case of a brand that has gone through a long life cycle.

My grandfather, a retired bricklayer who immigrated from Poland, would drive nothing but a Cadillac in the 1980s and he was by no means rich. Many people his age drove them, particularly if they were from populations attacked by Germans in WWII such as Italian, Jewish, etc. A similar prejudice existed towards Japanese cars in the U.S. and in parts of Asia violated by Japan.

That was good for Cadillac for a while, but it became associated with old people and objectionable people (like my uncouth neighbors or my relatives who get the beat down from time to time in bars or parking garages)

GM has busted their ass and has had some success at keeping Cadillac successful despite that.

Thus Cadillac is a good base for a "theory of luxury car marketing," and calling a "BMW" a "Cadillac" is a bit like calling a "Pepsi" a "Coke".