Not Even Incentives Can Save The Cadillac ELR – Sales Down, Inventories Up
Published: June 3rd, 2014
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Even as GM rolled out incentives to help move the Cadillac ELR, sales were down this past month, while supplies of the car continued to expand.
In May, Cadillac moved just 52 of their hybrids, down from 61 in April. Inventories are up from 1,077 as of April 3, to 1,515 as of this writing. Not even GM’s generous incentives can help this thing.
More by Derek Kreindler
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So we have the Chevy SS, very expensive because its coming from Australia. It gets ZERO advertising and is selling above expectations Then we have the ELR that is very expensive because ???, and it gets prime time advertising, and, well has it sold 3 digits yet? GM if this isn't your clue of what the market wants... Well your already screwed up, so I can't even begin here.
Dealership by me has had one sitting there for well over a month, CTS-V coupe too which I thought would have moved, but has not also. The ELR has a huge, very classy, "$8,000 off sticker" written on the window with colored chalk, like you would see done to a 1985 Chevy sitting in Big Al's Used Car Emporium. GM/Cadillac really has to stop doing that if they want the perception of them to change.
Remember that Cadillac spent prime $$ to run a Super Bowl ad for this dud. The apologists who say GM didn't have high expectations for this car should explain that move.
Redav, You are asking the right questions. My take is that a halo works by not just being expensive, but by being both desirable, and also showing the brand's direction. By that criteria, the Lexus LF-C works as a halo - it's a kicka$$ sports car, as well as making Lexus credible in the performance space, which BMW has traditionally owned. For Cadillac, the ELR would only be a successful halo if their intent was to establish Cadillac as the best driving, environmentally friendly luxury brand. If the next gen XTS, ATS, Escallade and SRX were moving to advanced hybrids, then the ELR makes sense. While Cadillac's brand remains muddled, I believe the intent is to move towards a modern blend of traditional standard of the world traits: long hood, RWD, luxurious cabins with more modern swag: impressive performance and desirability. In which case the ELR fails. My take is that GM continues to look at its portfolio of cars globally in a very tactical way. Hey, we have a great performance sedan in Australia, maybe that would work as a Pontiac. No? Try again as a Chevy. What about that little Korean/German SUV, could we sell it as a Buick? The Encore is a hit, let's try it again as a Chevy. If I were king of Cadillac product planning for a day, I would focus on a large SUV that would be the standard of the world. Take the next gen of the Enclave/Traverse, add in a turbo 3.6 and advanced AWD (like SH-AWD); make it truly luxurious in even base trim, and crush the X5 and GL.