General Motors Co. is moving its Cadillac headquarters back to Detroit, nearly four years after relocating the luxury brand’s home base to New York City’s trendy SoHo neighborhood.

Steve Carlisle, a longtime GM executive who took over Cadillac in April, confirmed the move, saying in an interview that he wants the brand’s leaders to be closer to GM’s vehicle design and engineering hub in suburban Detroit, especially as GM prepares to roll out several new Cadillac models in coming years.

“We have a huge number of launches ahead of us,” Mr. Carlisle said. “We’ve got to think about how we take inefficiencies out of the communication process between the Cadillac team and the GM partners.”

The return to Detroit walks back a move put in place under former Cadillac head Johan de Nysschen to give the 116-year-old premium brand more autonomy from GM’s Detroit headquarters and to help Cadillac’s employees better understand what makes luxury buyers tick. About 110 people work at Cadillac’s Manhattan headquarters, mostly executives and marketing personnel.

Mr. de Nysschen was pushed out in April after nearly four years leading Cadillac. The former head of Volkswagen AG’s Audi of America at times clashed with GM executives in Detroit over strategy and control, people familiar with the matter said. Cadillac’s U.S. sales also slumped under Mr. de Nysschen despite big gains in China.