Saks Joins Neiman-Marcus Selling Christmas Cars With A Special Edition Cadillac ELR

Ronnie Schreiber
by Ronnie Schreiber

When I see those December car commercials with big red ribbons tied onto cars’ roofs, I’m skeptical that anyone would spend that much money on a Christmas present. However, looking over just how quickly the special edition luxury cars that retailer Neiman-Marcus has put in their Christmas Book for the last 17 years have usually sold out, often in a matter of minutes, it’s clear that some well-heeled folks do indeed enjoy buying cars as gifts for others or for themselves. Last year’s Neiman Marcus Christmas car was the 2013 McLaren MP4-12C Spider and NM’s allotment of a dozen McLarens sold out in less than two hours. This year the Texas based retailer is selling 10 special edition 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volantes at $344,500 each. It appears that Saks Fifth Avenue has been looking over those same sales figures and has decided to get into the Christmas car market with a limited run of 100 2014 Cadillac ELR Saks Fifth Avenue Special Editions priced at $89,500. Available exclusively through the Saks Holiday Catalog, the Saks edition of Cadillac’s extended range EV based on the Chevy Volt costs about the MSRP of a new Mitsubishi Mirage more than a standard ’14 ELR, ~$13,500.

While many have questioned Cadillac’s strategy of pricing the regular ELR at more than double the price of the Chevy Volt, which uses a similar drivetrain and platform, offering an even higher priced special edition ELR in conjunction with a leading luxury retailer may be a good way of testing the waters and seeing how the ELR will be accepted by wealthy customers. Actually, it’s more about an association with Saks than with charging more money since the Saks edition comes loaded and after you figure in the optional equipment and the cost of a charger installation, there’s not much of a price premium over a similar ELR ordered at a Cadillac dealer. It probably can’t hurt the Cadillac brand that media reports like this one will likely also mention the Neiman Marcus program and the very high ticket cars it sells.

You can get the 2014 Saks Fifth Avenue Special Edition Cadillac ELR in any color that you want, as long as it’s GM’s tri-coat White Diamond on the outside. Inside, gift givers will have the option of Jet Black or Light Cashmere. Also included in the price of the Saks ELR is an upgraded 240-volt charging station with professional installation and all permits, which Cadillac values at up to $3,000 along with dedicated ELR Concierge service that will assist with a variety of customer service issues including charging advice, service appointments, and vehicle updates. Delivery of the Saks ELRs will take place in March, when regular retail deliveries begin.

“Our partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue embraces the brand’s sharp eyes for aesthetics, and puts the all-new 2014 ELR and the Cadillac brand front and center with buyers this holiday season,” said Melody Lee, Cadillac director of brand reputation strategy, in a statement. “We are excited to be part of the Saks Holiday Catalogue and offer the limited-edition ELR exclusively to Saks customers.”

It’s not clear if the idea originated at Saks or with Cadillac’s marketing team, but Saks is emphasizing the high-tech nature of the ELR, with the tagline, “Saks Fifth Avenue Now Has An Electronics Department”.

The regular edition 2014 ELR will go on sale at Cadillac dealers in January. It has a battery power range of 35 miles and a total range of 300 miles when using the gasoline powered generator to power the electric drive. The range in electric mode is slightly less than that of the Volt because the car has been calibrated to offer more power than Chevy’s EREV.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS

Ronnie Schreiber
Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.

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  • Sjalabais Sjalabais on Dec 08, 2013

    Do these special edition Christmas cars turn into collectibles?

    • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Dec 09, 2013

      They do. I've seen a N-M Christmas special BMW from one year or another, way way up there versus similar used models. They get a "Neiman-Marcus Limited 4 of 50" plaque inside. That makes all the difference.

  • LeMansteve LeMansteve on Dec 08, 2013

    Think about the priority structure and disposable income of someone who can afford to spend $90k on a car from Saks. I imagine the decision is similar to us regular people walking into some fusion American joint and deciding which cheeseburger to get. I imagine there is some TTACB blog in a 3rd-world country where they are amazed at Americans' cheeseburger buying preferences. "omg who would spend $8 on a cheeseburger from a restaurant that doesn't even specialize in cheeseburgers! $0.30 for cheese, that is a complete ripoff! I can cook my own burger for $1 and make the cheese myself"

    • See 1 previous
    • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Dec 09, 2013

      @mnm4ever "Does my Hermes bag fit in the passenger seat?" "Yes, madam." "Okay, sign me up."

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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