Cadillac Cimarron

The Cadillac Cimarron is an entry-level luxury car manufactured and marketed by the Cadillac division of General Motors for model years 1982–1988 over a single generation, with a mild facelift in 1985. The first post-war compact car offered by the brand, the four-door was developed to compete with similarly-sized premium sedans marketed by European automakers in North America. The flagship offering of the GM J platform, the Cimarron had joined the project just eleven months prior to the J-Cars' arrival in showrooms, and Cadillac had very little involvement in the program. Marketed with counterparts from Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick, the Cimarron was to become one of the most controversial examples of badge engineering in the American automotive industry, sharing much of its entire design, including its exterior, with the Chevrolet Cavalier and GM's other brand variants. Through its entire production, the Cimarron was manufactured at South Gate Assembly (1981–1982) and Janesville Assembly (1982–1988); both facilities produced the model alongside the Chevrolet Cavalier and its J-platform badge-engineered variants. In North America, the Cimarron was not replaced directly. The Cimarron is noted as a nadir of GM's product planning – for its low sales, poor performance, and ill-conceived badge engineering.