Cadillac

General Motors announced Tuesday that it is moving the global headquarters of its Cadillac luxury brand to New York City in 2015.

(Courtesy image)

DETROIT, MI - General Motors announced Tuesday that it is moving the global headquarters of its Cadillac luxury brand to the Soho section of New York City in 2015.

GM said in a release that the move establishes Cadillac as a separate business unit. Calling the move an expansion to New York, GM said creating the new business unit will help it pursue new growth opportunities in the luxury automotive segment.

"With the relentless upward repositioning of successive new-generation Cadillac products, the next logical step is to provide Cadillac more freedom to cultivate the brand in pursuit of further global growth," GM President Dan Ammann said in a statement.

Cadillac was launched in 1902, and named after Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit. GM bought the brand in 1909.

On the move to New York, the company said its headquarters there will have "modern loft offices located in the heart of a city renowned for establishing trends and setting standards for the global luxury market."

A majority of Cadillac's oversight and responsibility for global and domestic brand activities will be based out of New York, but the company said there will be no change to technical product development teams in Michigan. Manufacturing and assembly operations are also unaffected by the move.

Only about 50 employees are making the move to New York, GM executive vice president of product development Mark Reuss said Tuesday at the MICHauto summit in Detroit. Cadillac has a presence in more than 40 countries.

"We are very proud of our Detroit roots and heritage, and the majority of the Cadillac workforce will remain in Michigan," Johan de Nysschen, who was named president of Cadillac in August, said in a release. "But there is no city in the world where the inhabitants are more immersed in a premium lifestyle than in New York. Establishing our new global headquarters in Soho places Cadillac at the epicenter of sophisticated living. It allows our team to share experiences with premium-brand consumers and develop attitudes in common with our audience."

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter