Pricing for the Cadillac ELR has been announced, and the swoopy Caddy coupe with the Voltec powertrain has been stickered at an astonishing $75,995, not including the $7,500 federal tax credit as well as other incentives.
One can make the argument that there will be a market for a premium plug-in that wealthy buyers can write off as an expense in one form another, personally, I think GM is out of their mind.
While the ELR gets a more powerful powertrain, Cadillac’s CUE system, improved regen braking capabilities and Batmobile-esque looks, the nearly $76k sticker price puts it within a few thousand dollars of the Tesla Model S 85 kWh Performance model. Fans of the Voltec powertrain can argue that the plug-in system is superior with respect to range and not being stranded on the side of the road, but I’d argue that in the green car space, nothing can touch a Tesla as far as image, cachet and status are concerned. And many people shopping for such a car are cognizant of that. I’m not sure that the ELR, positioned as a “green flagship” for Cadillac can command that kind of money.
A $76,000 federal tax credit for a $76,000 car? Plus other incentives? So we would actually be paid to take this car–outta the way, folks! I’m first in line!
This must be the welfare Cadillac I’ve heard so much about
Dang, let me do the math, I can afford that! Sw33t!
“There is no such thing as a fool-proof system. Someone will make a better fool, tomorrow.”
@Sprocketboy: The tax credit only depends on the car’s calculated environmental benefit, not its price.
The sad part is that while your number is a humorous anecdote about a typo, this car will likely often leave the lot with 20-30k of incentives/cash/discount/credit after the first 6 mos.
Of course, I live in a State that was paying for half of peoples’ Teslas until recently. YMMV…
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Over-Priced, Over-Engineered JUNK.
BTW, Federal Tax Credit figure is probably a mis-type.
you take the fun out of everything :P
I disagree with the “over engineered” part. Its engineering doesn’t stand out at all.
Oh? Do tell.
You can get a Volt for $76,000, with $36,000 cash back!
They’ll even throw two extra doors in for free!
Er, to actually answer your question, GM has said that the ELR is based on the same Voltec platform as the Volt, which is good — butt they haven’t even tried to make a detailes claim that the CLR is twice as good as the Volt.
The Cadillac logo and the edgier styling just aren’t enough to justify the price-premium. What did they do under the hood? I’m in the target demographic for this car in a lot of ways, but I just don’t see a compelling value proposition compared to the Volt or the Model S.
And, of course, if theTesla Model E is ever built, the ELR, the Volt, and the Model S will all be obsolete for my purposes.
It’s so over-engineered they forgot to align the door trim!
This is deeply disappointing. I could see $50K or possibly even $55K. But this is just out in la-la land.
By way of curious coincidence, the XLR stickered at about this same price.
Agreed. Tesla Model S > this crap.
Actually, I really like the car. But at this price point, I seriously doubt that they will sell very many. I suspect that we’ll see a lease deal, but I’m not holding my breath.
Unfortunately the Tesla can’t be driven 150 mile from home without needing a tow truck back. If I had one here in Atlanta, it would not make it to the beach, or to the mountains and back. The Tesla is not a real usable car at this point.
Reg; “can’t be driven 150 mile from home without needing a tow”… Really!?
I can testify that, that, is an uninformed statement, as several weeks ago I drove one from Portland, Oregon, to Grants Pass, Or., 246 miles without a recharge. From Grants Pass the owner drove it to Medford and then home to Gold Hill, all total, some 294 miles, all on the same charge, exceeding its 275mph range. More on that later.
I bet you were sweating bullets the last 50 miles or was a just-in-case friend following you?
@ Lie2me “I bet you were sweating bullets the last 50 miles or was a just-in-case friend following you?”
Not at all. We know what the Tesla ‘S’_85kw is capable of doing in real world trips, by the postings in blogs and forums. Plus, Oregon has many charging stations along I-5.
When you pull off at exit ’57’ at Grants Pass, at the end of the exit, is a charging station that is quite popular with Tesla’s and other EV’s.
So there were plenty of options if the kilowatts dropped to a seriously low point.
At the end of the trip in Gold Hill, the Tesla still had 8kw left. No chase vehicle was needed.
The whole round trip had an energy cost of about $18.00, for over 700 miles and 5 laps at PIR. That same trip in my 1.6 Miata that gets 37-40MPG, costs around $60.00.
I close this comment with a general comment about views/opinions expressed here and there on EV’s/Hybrid’s… There are a lot of uninformed comments about EV’s/Hybrids on auto blogs, by people who embrace their prejudices, but fail to inform their comments.
I drove the Chevrolet Volt to get a chance to drive the new Corvette. I could see a Cadillac version for about $10k more. The Volt is very quiet and the combination of mass and electric motor torque fit well with a luxury car. It doesn’t feel like a penalty box. The new Corvette shows that the General is capable of making a very impressive car at a reasonable price point. However, Tesla is up there in exotic car territory in terms of 1st impressions while the Cadillacs I’ve seen don’t even play in the same league as BMW and Mercedes.
While I’m not likely to buy an XLR, I’d gladly buy a used ATS after depreciation. Fun car that’s probably fairly inexpensive to own.
If you ask most Chevrolet Dealers in the SF Bay area of CA, the VOLT customers they are seeing are WAY above the demo that usually comes in, even for expensive loaded Tahoes. They have the money, they want an Electric and the VOLT fits. The Volt is made in a Cadillac plant in Hamtranck but will the Cad-E be too blingy for a techie, while the Tesla fits their psychographic? Will Volt lose some customers to this Cad-E.?This decision doesn’t have a lot of logic in it, except that the Volt purchaser may revert to some “logical” explanation to justify the purchase. Will that logic also fit a Cad-E purchase/lease? The market will have the final answer.
I also like the money outlay argument for a combo Spark/Vette purchase vs the Cad-E. But that is logical.
It may well be that Cadillac is aiming the ELR to attract that demographic and has priced it accordingly.
Ive seen perceived value games work with purchase that people don’t research…
But betting a product’s survival precieved value games on a $40k+ purchases that people love to research seems like a recipe for disaster.
In terms of practical value, a Volt with two doors, nicer leather, and a little bling on the outside cannot possibly be twice as good as the Volt.
You could get a Spark EV and a C7 for about the same money. The Spark EV for around town and the C7 for longer distances and fun-time.
Right now, at least around here, C7s are going for 5 to 8K over list….
My condo has only one off-street parking space per unit, and virtually no street parking nearby. [sob]
Makes the Model S all the more appealing.
Except the Tesla is not a car in the traditional sense. You can’t drive 150 miles from home and make it back. What good is that? Don’t you ever want to take a short weekend trip to the beach or go visit someone in a nearby state? With a Tesla you still need a real car.
I can fit 5-7 human beings plus stuff in the Tesla, this can barely fit two.
We Americans always seem to base our purchasing decisions on things and features we’ll need for minuscule percentages on the whole, like upgrading from a Civic to an AWD CR-V just because it *might* snow badly once a year, or buying a large pickup truck because you’re going to do home renovations sometime in the next five years. I’d rather have a car that is optimized for my daily commute and rent when I need to than to pass up a car like the Model S just because I might have to go further than the maximum range once in a blue moon. The particular clientele that buy these Teslas don’t do a whole lot of driving anyway, and it’s hardly unusable for the majority of people. If a car is priced fairly and can go a guaranteed ninety miles or more, I’ll happily let go of the petrol engine.
The problem with that argument is that I can buy a Mazda 3 loaded with bells and whistles that I can drive as far as I want to for cheaper than the cheapest penalty box Nissan Leaf that could barely make my daily commute and would leave me with almost no range to run an extra errand. And as far as needs go, you can get to work on a 150cc scooter. Yeah, you’ll have to deal with the weather and the danger, but hey, we’re talking “needs” not “wants”, right? There is always someone that gets by with less, that doesn’t mean that we should be confined to the minimum that we can get by with.
Fair enough. It’s harder to compare a smaller EV to a smaller petrol-powered car (like the Mazda3), but if I had the choice between a Model S and a 7-Series—or even a 5-Series—I’d take the Tesla and pay Hertz their extortionate rental fees on the rare occasion that it became necessary to rent. The average commute is well below the range of even the cheapest Model-S.
No need to rent that car for a trip, Kyree.
See my experience with the Tesla, above.
And see this…> http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/trip-seattle-scottsdale-october-611-2013
I can always count on you to have grounded, thoughtful considered, well informed comments. Appreciated.
3Deuce27,
Did you have a sufficient helping of granola this morning ? And don’t change your underwear too frequently; you’ll waste lots of water. Better still, head down to the nearest river and beat your Jockey shorts clean with a stone—just make certain you didn’t find that stone in a pre-Columbian burial ground.
Have fun with your electric toys !
@oldfatandrich: Put words in other people’s mouths much?
That is an issue. Even if 95% of you time you don’t need to exceed the range of your vehicle in a single day, that’s not good enough. Especially since the alternative, auxiliary power is so straightforward. It’s absurd that an expensive vehicle should lack such a simple functionality.
It’s not good enough for you. Obviously, it’s good enough for other people.
[email protected] ‘oldfatandrich’
Had French Toast, Sausage, Fried Potatoes, and Eggs for Breakfast.
Don’t wear shorts, and anybody who has spent time in a jungle combat zone, doesn’t wear shorts… still.
My electric toys are welders, plasma cutters, grinders, lathes, Bridgeports, polishers, saws, etc., though, we do have and electric golf cart for a shop rig.
Now if you have anything positive to add to the discussion, added it, or are personal attacks, the only thing your capable of? Seems like self -esteem issues could be the source for your nasty demeanor.
GM…seriously? Whoa,dudes. That’s a serious stack or cheddar for a vehicle. Bet they’ll be crowded none-deep at your local Caddie dealer….
Given that my local Cadillac dealer sells more GMC trucks and Buicks than Cadillacs, I expect to never see an ELR outside of a car show.
Is it even RWD???
No. It uses the Delta II platform, which is FWD-based, and probably doesn’t even support AWD.
I’m quite confident that the potential market for this car doesn’t care about RWD.
Buyers will come in, look at it, and then buy the AT.
Did that one already get rolled?
Sure buffed-out nice. Too bad they couldn’t pry the roof back up.
I am their target market: Well off, long commute (80 mile round trip), computer geek with no kids. And the next vehicle I get WILL (almost certainly) have a plug [1]
If the ELR started at $45K before tax credits (basically, $10K over a loaded Volt), it would be on the list. I would like a bigger electric range, but the Volt drivetrain is pretty darn nice, but the Volt itself is hideous. I’m vain ENOUGH that $10K to look so much better would be well spent.
But at full-Tesla price? NO WAY IN HELL. The Caddi-Volt is so off the list its not even funny: A 65 kWH Model S is $75K, 80 kWH is $81K, and the Panamera Turbo-competing performance is $90K. Even the 65 kWH model will kick around the CaddyVolt like nobody’s business (Sub 6s 0-60 time).
[1] OK, at the same time, I’d like a non-commuter toy of a Ram 1500 Tradesman, 4×4, bluetooth, limited slip differential and just keep putting the 80 miles a day on the S2000 for another 5 years. But I probably won’t go that route.
No, you are not.
1) Plug-in are intended for mid-short commutes.
2) The asking price is 67% higher than what you would pay. No way you are in their target market.
Is *anyone* in the target market that wouldn’t just buy a Tesla S?
He’s not saying he wouldn’t pay asking price – he’s saying he wouldn’t pay asking price for something that wasn’t competitive with the other entry there, the Tesla S.
At $45k it beats a Volt. At $76k it has to compete with a Tesla, and he’s saying it doesn’t.
If you have a Tesla, you still need a real car to go over 160 miles from home….
If you have a Tesla, you can afford to pay $100 for a rental the few times you go over 160 miles from home.
Thinking about it… I’ve taken two trips of that distance by car in the last two years.
>> If you have a Tesla, you still need a real car to go over 160 miles from home….
Or a real airplane.
Actually, you can get a lot further – at least in my case. To go south, I’m within the range of the Supercharger Network. If I want to go to Woodstock Vt – about 130 miles. It’s within round trip range, but, I’d just install another charger at the VT house. The only place I think I’d have trouble with is Bar Harbor, ME at 265 miles. Then again, it looks like White River Junction Vt and Portland ME are due to get superchargers, so I might be able to get anywhere I’d be willing to drive in a Tesla once those installations are done.
Or a real argument.
Repeating yourself only convinces yourself, not others.
“In their target market” means able to afford the cost and willing to spend the money. It doesn’t mean he’s willing to spend the asking price on that particular vehicle. He’s got the money and is willing to spend it, but the product isn’t worth it. It’s an important distinction.
What you described is called “price range”, which is quite different from “target market”.
For instance, many many people are in the “price range” of $25k. But the “target market” of a $25k Prius is a very small fraction of that “price range”.
I can plug in at work, which means with a Volt/ELR would be in the “gas up once or twice a month” camp. So the range is right. The techno-geek factor is high. I can afford a fancy car. I don’t have kids so a cramped, hard to access coupe back-seat is fine. The household also has a Subaru XV so the dinky trunk is fine. I am 100% the target market…
And at $45K, it would be on the list, and I’d have my number at the local Caddy dealer saying “call me when I can testdrive it”.
But at that price, which is $30K more than a range-extended i3, and the same price as a Model S, is so out of line with what you get. You could buy a range extended i3 AND a decent 4×4 pickup for what GM wants for the ELR!
Look at the competition to the ELR:
a) Model S: 260 mile electric range, big hatchback, even higher techno-toy factor, seats more, more comfortably, accelerates vastly faster, right wheel drive, same price
b) Range extended i3: 100 mile electric range + 80 mile gas. Roomier inside in the rear, more/easier cargo room, same/slightly better acceleration, right wheel drive, carbon fiber! $30K! cheaper, AND with a BMW badge on the front!
A bet (Beer? Bragging rights?): Over the next 2 years, the ELR sells at, at most, 20% of the annual sales of the Tesla Model S + BMW i3. Any takers?
Nicholas,
You gotta lose that headshot. It’s frightful mix of sincere, constipated and bored. Drive an S Class diesel and you’ll be more photogenic—maybe even happier !
Until the bills start coming in, then he won’t look so photogenic!
I’d buy a Genesis V8 and $30k worth of fuel.
Much more fun.
I just drove the XTS-V sport and the 2014 CTS. (Posting videos now)
They want more for a CTS with the 3.6-L than an SRT8 or an MKS ECOBOOST. They want more for the CTS 3.6 than they do for an XTS V6.
$71,000 for an XTS-V sport which is no faster than the MKS Ecoboost.
Not surprised.
EV ain’t gonna be cheap.
Post the link to the videos when they are up. You are a pretty big guy, I would love to see you getting into the new CTS. I went and test drove it yesterday and I am 5’8″ and it was miserable for me, especially the backseat, can’t even get your feet under the front seat. If you were able to actually get into the backseat, then you should join Cirque du Soleil. The pricing was what really got me, almost $60K for a 2.0T. I did not find the interior materials to be that great, definitely not on par with Mercedes, BMW, Audi or Lexus. I would never ever pick this over a 5 series or Lexus GS. To be honest, I think the interior of the 300 is better than the CTS. That motorized cupholder is just gimmicky garbage. Can’t wait till those thinks start breaking. I do like that you are able to write with CUE now, like Audi and BMW.
Dealer can’t even sell the ones he has on the lot, but has already pre-sold multiple new Escalades.
I hate to say this, but it needs to be said. You have to be on drugs to say that the Chrysler 300 interior is better than the new CTS. Even the Lexus/Audi/Benz argument is…arguable.
The 300 is full of plastic. Definitely nothing to write home about. It has a few nice bits in the higher trims, that’s all.
I love how you discounted my statement Spartan. Question, have you actually sat in or driven the new CTS? I have. The Cadillac interior is cheap, it is dressed up cheap, but it is still cheap. I have owned enough high end luxury cars that I know what will age well and what will not. Even if it was on par with the others, the extremely small dimensions for everything in that car make it unacceptable. Like I said, I really did not find the backseat of the new CTS to be measurably bigger than that of the ATS. The 5 series outclasses this car in every single way and so does the GS.
The local salesman at the Cadillac dealership in my town hates the ATS and CTS, thinks they are overpriced crap and is not afraid to tell me, but also loves the XTS and I agree, the XTS is a decent car with nice stuff at a good price. I see tons of XTSs on the road and virtually no ATSs and when the new Escalade is here, there will be tons of them too and there is a good chance I will be one of the owners.
Like I told the salesman, for what the top CTSs are spec’d out for, you may as well spend a little more cash and get an Escalade.
Just look at the newest videos on my youtube name.
Cadillac’s interiors are the best on the American market. My 300SRT and JeepSRT have all the technology, but the interior isn’t as top notch as the Caddy.
Cadillacs new interiors are better than entry BMW4-5/BenzE350.
Cadillac’s new interiors are better than Tesla’s.
Most luxury interiors are. Interior design is certainly something of a Tesla weak point, but for the techie target market, the 17″ LCD goes a long way towards making up for it.
Doesn’t seem to have helped Tesla much.
Do you still have Tesla stock?
D
I will hold my TESLA stock until well past the Model X introduction. Buying into Ford during the Bailout times and Tesla early-on were some of my best moves ever.
The biggest problem I see with EV is that you would think being able to plug the vehicle in would save you money on fuel and even eliminate most types of maintenance. Problem is, you’re financing between 30% and 70% more than you would if you simply bought a regular I.C.E the same size with similar options.
The real problem is that the non-luxury manufacturers aren’t pushing EV.
Where’s the ELECTRIC Dodge Charger?
Where’s the Impala EV or the Malibu EV?
Where’s the Sonata, Accent or Elantra EV.
“The real problem is that the non-luxury manufacturers aren’t pushing EV.”
Well, there’s Nissan, pushing the world’s best-selling EV, the Leaf.
Ford has the Focus EV.
Chevy has the Spark EV.
Fiat has the 500 EV.
But only Tesla and the Leaf have any hope of turning the corner someday in terms of profits. Sergio’s disdain for the 500 EV is manifest, which is too bad because it’s the best of the 500 line.
The E in ELR had better stand for Eldorado.
It’s Eldorado – doado
To quote Kevin O’Leary: They’re going to make hundreds of dollars off of this idea!
76k does seem to be a bit high for this car. I remember when they were unveiling it at the car shows and estimating price would be between 50 & 60k. Which seemed a lot more reasonable.
With the price reductions put in place for the current Volt, I hope GM isn’t hoping they can recoup any of those lost dollars by upping the price on the ELR. Because @ 75k the ELR will be a very niche-y car indeed.
I think that’s exactly what they were planning. And the only people that will likely buy this car are those who specifically wanted an electric Cadillac.
Was marijuana recently legalized in Michigan?
No, but apparently crack is cheap and plentiful.
I was planning on buying this car. Not anymore. It’s a fancy Volt. I assumed the swoopy body and leather would push up the Cadi-Volt into the $55-$65k range. I never thought they’d crack $70k. That’s nuts. I live in California, there are charging stations everywhere, and if I wanted to spend >$70k on an electric car, I’d buy a Tesla. Who wouldn’t? I really don’t understand what their thinking is. Perhaps they know that no matter what they price this at, they’re only going to sell a thousand a year and they want to keep the price high so when they eventually sell an electric car that justifies a $75k price, it’s not a shock. Maybe I’ll just buy a Spark EV and a C7 instead. Yea, that sounds like a much better idea than a $75k Volt.
Maybe Aston Martin will rebadge them as the next Cygnet.
Dead on.
Not worth the extra money with styling akin to the dated Eclipse and Mercury Cougar, just give me the Cruze and the extra cash.
At this rate with the badge work Caddilacs becoming like Audi
I had expected $60k in all my previous rants against this car; I underestimated GM’s foolishness.
This car will fail in the same fashion as the Fisker Karma.
It’s impressive that the Model S is the benchmark today, when the Tesla doubters were legion only 2 years ago.
By Grabthar’s Hammer, What A Ripoff.
GM’s sales expectations for this car are low, probably somewhere in the range of 1,000-2,000 units per year.
Perhaps they can sell that low number of cars at that price. Obviously, there isn’t a large market for this, but even GM has figured that out. Presumably, the development costs were fairly low, so it may prove to be a so-so halo car with only modest losses.
“…so it may prove to be a so-so halo car with only modest losses.”
Don’t lead the PowerPoint with that line though.
So they’ll lose money on every one but make it up in low volume?
If they sold more of them at a lower price, then that would produce higher losses or lower profits. So yes, selling it for a high price and selling fewer of them could reduce the losses.
By golly, GM has really turned it around since the bankruptcy!
This is so typical, instead of just pulling the plug (intentional) on a loser, Cadillac would rather insult their customer by putting a stupid price on this Chevy (Gee, when have they done *that* before?). I swear Cadillac is purposely self-destructive
Then if they never sell even one just think of all the money they won’t lose! Why that’s almost the same as making money.
GM doesn’t see it as a loser, but as a halo car. The intent is to send a signal to the consumer that Cadillac has moved on from its land yacht days, and is now a technology leader. Halo cars don’t necessarily have to make money, just so long as they help the brand.
It’s also an experiment of sorts, one which is necessary because others are doing the same. Take a look at the BMW i3 and i8, and you’ll see that the Bavarians are doing similar things. At least in GM’s case, they have a higher volume car across which the drivetrain costs can be amortized.
If GM (Cadillac) sees this re-badged Chevy Volt as a “Halo” car then nothing has changed there since the ’70s. If anything it’s gotten worse, at least no one then thought the Cimarron was a “Halo” car
For that much money you can buy a Chevy Volt and a loaded Cadillac ATS or a base 2014 CTS, once you figure in the tax rebate.
I suspect there are some production constraints involved in this pricing decision.
Yeah, methinks it’d be a much better buy with $20k on the hood as new old stock in 2014-2015..
I suppose GM figures that if people are willing to pay such a high price for a Tesla with all its range anxiety issues, they will pay as much for another luxury EV with no range anxiety problems.
If you live in Central TX, there are no range anxiety issues with a Model S, though you would have to take the long way round to go from DFW to Houstone.
Oh good Lord, first the insane overpricing on the sub-par new CTS, but this, this is insane. They can’t be serious? Wouldn’t it be faster to fill barrels with millions of dollars and just burn them? Hmm, cool, good looking, practical Tesla with lots of room and a growing infrastructure of supercharging stations or this? Decisions decisions. GM must have gotten into Walter White’s stash.
I love GM, but come on…that’s a lot of cheddar for a car that basically has its “Delta-II” roots in a $17K Cruze LS. If they wanted to subsidize money spent on the Voltec powertrain’s development and production-costs, this was not the way…
Electric Cimmaron?
Electric Cimarron Acid Test
I just built a 2014 Volt. Premium paint, polished wheels, leather, bose sound system, top level safety gear, navigation and it came out to a little over 40K. How does GM figure the ELR is worth another 35K?
I guess they never fired the guy that got them into bk the first time? I think his name was Milton and he had a red stapler.
no his name was Rick and he had a pen with Red Ink. his partner in crime/adviser/sidekick Gerksky remains.
The people who buy this will do so because of the price, not in spite of the price. They will be the kind of buyers who like to tell everyone how much they just spent.
Or more likely they will be GM execs and retirees who are getting comped or paying quarters on the dollar.
I don’t think that the $75k is an issue. I side with PCH’s theory that it’s better to lose a lot on a few cars than a lot on more than that.
Perhaps there’s a quantum leap in Voltec 2.0. Probably not, but subvented leasing and demos should cover the few thousand produced.
Almost all these cars will be leased.
Seems I’ve seen this movie before.
Cimarron was to Cavalier
as
ELR is to Volt.
I think we all know how this ends.
It’s even uglier than that since, as pointed out above, the volt is just a series hybrid Cruze. $76K for a Chevy Cruze coupe.
I think GM has just shown its hand on how much it has to charge per-unit for Voltec to be profitable. Now it just has to sell around 100,000 of ’em.
That said, and as a holder of perennial contempt for all-things GM… this makes sense to me. Seriously. It’s a bold move for Cadillac, to be sure, but this kind of car SHOULD be a rarity. Exclusivity is a selling point for precisely the kind of buyer GM wants to attract.
Hell, I’ll even go this far: regardless of the similarity in pricing to a base 60 kWh Tesla, $76K for an ELR makes more sense to me than spending close to $100K for the top-line, 85kWh Performance Tesla. I happen to like the Tesla better, both in design and execution, but the range limitation remains a significant perception issue, even at 250 miles per charge. Even though it’s only a two-seater, the ELR is closer to a “real” car.
I also find a $76K ELR less insulting in principle than GM’s insistence on charging Bimmer money for an ATS.
This could be a perceptive observation on why the price of the ELR is so ‘outrageous’. Perhaps if the Volt was priced much closer to what it actually cost and how much GM needed to make a profit, it would be considerably more expensive. As it is, even at what may be artificially low pricing, Volts aren’t exactly flying off the lots.
Still, it’s annoying that GM chose to build the ELR instead of the more SUV-like, bigger, CrossVolt concept. Supposedly, they only had enough R&D money to do one or the other. I hope that the reason they went with the ELR was simply that they wouldn’t be able to continue losing big money on a Volt platform CUV (which couldn’t be priced anywhere near what it cost to build), as opposed to a Cadillac, which would stand a better chance of actually being sold at über-premium prices.
nah, they’re just dumb.
needs electronic 4×4
Why would anybody pay $75k for this instead of a Tesla?
Because the ELR is there, and the Tesla is not. Where do you buy a Tesla? Probably the internet, or I guess one of the very few stores scattered about; I don’t know, but I could probably answer my own question in under 10mins with the help of google…….but a wealthy retiree doesn’t do that kind of stuff. They walk into the dealership, look around, and buy a car.
Seriously, you underestimate the lack of common-sense old rich people posses.
Me personally? That’s way out of my price range. And if I did have $75k to spend on a luxury car, I’m buying a mint 64′ Imperial for $20k and going to find 2-5 other cars to spend the remaining $55k on.
A wealthy retiree doesn’t buy a hybrid.
You’d be surprised. My Mom has a Prius, as do a number of the “Ladies of a certain age who lunch” crowd that she runs with. Some of whom could probably buy GM if they wanted to, never mind a GM car.
GM is not looking to sell 100K of these. They are going to sell a couple thousand a year. And 90% of them will be leased, because that is how most $75K cars are sold. Some will get sold because someone thought it looked cool. Some will get sold because someone wanted a Volt but the Chevy brand is too plebian for them. Some will get sold because the old duffer comes in every year and buys the most expensive Caddy on the floor. Some will get sold because someone doesn’t want to have the 15th Tesla in the company car park.
They will sell every one they make. Will they subvent the leases to move them? Probably. But so what?
I don’t really get the comparisons with the Tesla – very different target market. I see this car going to the sort of wealthy older likely retired folks who don’t commute, but do drive back and forth to their weekend/winter homes. Teslas are ultimately commuter cars for wealthy working folk. All the snowbirds here in Maine who waft back and forth to Florida every year are NOT going to do it in Teslas.
“All the snowbirds here in Maine who waft back and forth to Florida every year are NOT going to do it in Teslas.”
Too right. They’ll do it in Buicks, with a turn signal flashing the entire trip.
I’ve been enjoying my Hybrid Chrysler 300C AWD with the 5.7L V8 Hemi since new in’08. It burns gas AND rubber. http://instantrimshot.com/classic/?sound=rimshot
Make this sheet metal for an ATS Coupe, and I can care less about how much Cadillac want to overcharge the enviroweenies
Hehe, Musk will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Speaking of which, I saw my first tesla last week, pretty sweet.
Just when you though GM was finally rectifying 50 years of BS, they come out with a 75k compact rebadge, and a 60k 4 cyclinder.
The range on a Model S isn’t much less than the ELR. And the S is more fun.
The ELR apologists need to consider why it’s OK for GM – still fresh from bankruptcy – to be building a loss leader at 1-2k/year volume, when a startup like Tesla is selling its only product at 10x that volume.
+1 SCE. GM emerges from a taxpayer bailout and deliberately builds a money losing car?
Given the MSRP they should have called this the “Allante II”.
Spend some time over at the Tesla owners forum and it becomes clear that while the Model S is a fantastic car, it does have flaws.
People complain about the paint quality and the interior quality. The ELR won’t have either of those issues. People complain about a small phantom battery drain – the Model S is definitely NOT an occasional use car, unless you are comfortable with a very large electric bill.
The ELR has a market. It’s small, but it’s there.
I’ve not heard anyone here suggest the Tesla is perfect, but a lot of people laugh at the price of this Cadillac.
That is something GM doesn’t seem to understand.
Beautiful car… awful price. I could see this 15k over a Volt, but that’s it.
Cadillac: Don’t get cocky!
So, it’s a Chevrolet car with Cadillac badging and a hefty price-bump.
Anyone made comparisons to the Cimarron yet?
You can buy a 2011 Chevy Volt for about $25,000 now and you can hack it to have the hold mode that the 2013 model has, and possibly the lower temperature threshold before the engine turns on (35 versus 15 degrees Fahrenheit for 2011/2012 models versus 2013+ models) and hack it to have a 0-60 time of 6 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA4fLSuvkk8
I think the Volt is a very cool car and looks particularly good in red.
The ELR is a disappointment.