Cadillac dealers say customers’ reactions to the redesigned 2015 Escalade are very positive, with many immediately dropping down deposits on the new full-size SUV, but delays at General Motors’ plant in Arlington, Texas are forcing some customers to walk away from the sale, Automotive News reports.
Prolonged quality inspections and other procedural delays at the Arlington plant have led to Escalade delivery delays of up to a month or more from when the vehicle left the assembly line to when it arrives at the dealer, which AN says is triple the usual wait time. Cadillac dealer Bill Wallace said he has lost sales due to the delays.
“We can’t get firm delivery dates,” said Wallace, owner of Wallace Cadillac in Florida. “It’s hard to tell a guy who is waiting for a $75,000 car that I have no idea when he’ll get it.”
Cadillac dealers are missing out on important sales and possibly ruining their image with some of their most wealthy and influential clientele due to the prolonged deliveries. The customers who have so far walked into the Cadillac dealer and dropped a deposit on the new Escalade aren’t worrying about the $72,690 price tag, which is an $8,000 jump from the starting price of the outgoing model.
“These are some of my most loyal customers,” Todd Snell, owner of a Buick-GMC-Cadillac dealer in Minnesota, told AN.
Acting Cadillac sales chief and GM Vice President of U.S. Sales Operations Kurt McNeil said a lengthier quality assurance process on some of the new, more upscale interior parts have contributed to delays.
“We deployed more people to Arlington to speed up the analysis process,” McNeil said in a statement. GM has also “added many more trucks to the distribution system to increase shipping capacity,” he noted.
McNeil said the time between when Escalades leave the assembly line to when they arrive at dealers should shrink to 1 week by September 1.
The issue with the Escalade isn’t one of allocation, like what happened when the 2014 Corvette Stingray launched. Only dealers that sold a certain number of Corvettes the year prior were eligible to receive the new Stingray during its initial launch, but the issue with Escalades is the vehicles have already been sold, they just are taking too long to show up.
One Cadillac dealer said they have orders customers placed in February and March that still haven’t been filed and that if they had 20 Escalades show up at their store, they’d all be gone by the end of the day.
Wallace said GM “has taken care of the hard part,” in building a new Escalade which customers want and will like, they just need to sort their quality inspection and delivery processes out.
“The ball is at the goal line. They just need to get me the car,” he said.
Comments
Our dealership sells at least 10 Escalades per year and since February we have only been allocated one. We have 6 orders waiting for people who can produce $100k in cash but still can’t get what they want. The reps from GM tell me they hear about the problem at every dealership but there is nothing they can do. With the limited production of Escalades and Yukon (and XL) Denali’s we have over $1,000,000 in order outs waiting for production.
Worst of all they won’t accept sold orders unless the dealership gets allocation. Weekly I have at least one of these purchasers come into the dealership in yell at me complaining about how there are similar vehicles sitting on the lots in Florida why can’t they get theirs.
This is by far the biggest problem I have working in a dealership as a sales manager. The recalls have brought people in and our sales have been the highest in our history all but one month this year.
I would rather them recall all of the vehicles GM has ever produced than go another six months with production delays.
Does anyone know on here if the Escalade is sold out for ’15 & ‘15.5 model year? I am hearing mix stories yet one dealership near me has a ’15 Escalade ESV standard model sitting on dealership lots for close to 2 months now.
I ordered my 2015 in February. Of 2014 still don’t know when or if I will get it and now it seems you can order a platinum one with a 8 speed trans and diesel. I am looking at a Lexus after owning 16 new cadillacs
I placed a deposit on an Escalade that had been previous ordered in Feb by another customer, after waiting for so long, so declined to wait any longer and wanted her deposit back. My husband happened to be in the showroom to purchase one for me and took over the order. Great Luck! The SUV was set to be delivered in three weeks. Sigh, that was two months ago… I still don’t have a new car. And what’s worse, They’ve changed the body style a bit. So now while I still haven’t been able to receive my new SUV, when it does come, it will already be the old style. Thanks Caddy. It’s be nightmare doing business with you!
I placed a deposit on an Escalade that had been previously ordered in Feb by another customer, after waiting for so long, she declined to wait any longer and wanted her deposit back. My husband happened to be in the showroom to purchase one for me and took over the order. Great Luck! The SUV was set to be delivered in three weeks, July 15. He flew back from our family vacation just to pick up the car. Sigh, that was two months ago… I still don’t have a new car. And what’s worse, They’ve changed the body style a bit. So now while I still haven’t been able to receive my new SUV, when it does come, it will already be the old style. Thanks Caddy. It’s been a nightmare doing business with you!
Have bought ’72, ’73, ’75, ’77, ’81, ’88, ’96, ’99, ’99, ’02, ’07, ’09, ’10 and ’15 cadillacs with the last 8 from same dealer. All have been cash on delivery and no leases.
Have had ’15 Escalade on order since mid October. Was told it would be here before Christmas. I don’t have car or build date, or ship date or anything else and dealer hasn’t called in several weeks.
It may not be my dealer’s fault but advertising campaign I’m planning will definitely be local and if he looks up “vindictive” in his Websters dictionary, it will have my picture. This is ridiculous.
What’s the solution to the problem? I’ve had a platinum on order since December. They had to know that sales were going to spike as they hadn’t changed the body style in over 8 years? I see this article came out in August of last year, could they still be having the same problems? I know of another person here in town who waited on an order for several months and finally gave up. It’s sad to see.