GM’s Cadillac Unit Moving Back to Detroit

General Motors Co. is returning the headquarters of its Cadillac luxury brand to metropolitan Detroit, three years after the office relocated to New York City.

Caddy says it will continue to use its Cadillac House location in the city’s SoHo district as a showroom. It isn’t clear how many of the 110-member New York staff will relocate to Michigan.

The move unwinds the philosophy of former Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen, who insisted the brand needed to physically move away from GM in order to create a group mindset as a serious competitor to the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

De Nysschen headed Audi of America and Nissan’s Infiniti brand before taking control of Cadillac in 2014. He imperiously warned critics “don’t mess with me” and cautioned dealers that they could expect several years of hard times as he worked to shed the brand’s discount image and upgrade its retail network.

GM replaced de Nysschen last April with Steve Carlisle, who had been running GM Canada.

Cadillac says that moving its headquarters back to Michigan will bring the brand’s leadership closer to those at GM who are developing and building its new models. The brand expects to debut a new or redesigned model every six months through the end of 2020.