Automotive News recently ran a feature on the worst industry blunders of 2014, and put Cadillac’s $75,995 pricetag for the plug-in ELR at the top of their list. The luxury automaker revealed the MSRP of the ELR in October of last year, raising questions about General Motors’ pricing strategy for the car.
As AN points out, the high sticker price of the ELR was meant to convey exclusivity and excellence to consumers, but it ended up being out of most customer’s range. Cadillac has managed to sell 1,192 examples of the car through to November (some at steep discounts), well below analysts’ projections.
We here at GM Authority think the ELR program would have been more successful if it launched before the Volt, that way GM would have avoided the “overpriced, rebadged Volt” comments while simultaneously making the Volt look like a bargain in comparison.
Maybe Cadillac will get its pricing strategy right with the successor to the ELR. Or, better yet, maybe it can find some customers with enough cash in their wallet to pay their asking price.
Comments
People wouldn’t be calling it an overpriced, rebadged Volt, if it wasn’t an overpriced rebadged Volt.
Verano’s resemblance to the Cruze is coincidental, and the Sierra is so much better than the Silverado.
Badge engineering is done everywhere, but nowhere else are the differences limited solely to stickers.
The biggest insult of today’s bottle bed GM is pricing. Nobody would complain about the shoddy quality if you could still get one for less.
Recently gave advice to a relative who had $30k to drop on a new car. Seeing my driveway he expected I recommend a GM. He wanted value, reliability, MPG, and crash worthiness. Why, of course I recommended a 2015 Outback. So he bought one. For those $26k that bought an AWD over engineered Japanese car, he could not have bought a cheap, cheesy Equinox that would’ve been in the shop more than on the road. Oh, and that Subaru is built in a place called Indiana. Where is your Equinox made? Canada? Canada, as you might recall, did not pour billions into failing GM. Taxpayers in Indiana DID.
Ehh? Canada gave $10.8 Billion dollars in the bailout.
Your folks in Indiana came in much less than that total. Now they did give some mighty big tax breaks to Subaru to build the plant there.
If you are going to troll you still have to get your facts right. There is no excuse for being a sloppy troll. Shame on you! LOL!
As Scott mentioned canada did indeed help out a bit, we gave 10.8 B in return for 11.67% of GM, we even named a DAHM hockey team after GM lol, the Oshawa Generals where GM canada is headquartered. And some equinox’s are built in Tennessee as the overflow plant when sales exceed plant capacity
Cadillac Big Wigs – you are NOT smarter than your potential customers.
So how exactly is the 2015 Equinox “cheesy”?
Please check the sales stats. GM has sold more Equinox every year America wide since the redesign in 2010. On trade to beat last years numbers once December numbers are released in Jan.
The Subaru Outlander might be a decent SUV but id pick an Equinox or a Terrain anytime any day! warranty and 2 yr free maintenance, OnStar MobileHotspot, Intellilink, safety and just drive handling are unbeatable in my opinion…. and I take get it serviced across North America because of their extensive dealer network!
Once the Equinox gets redesigned in 2016 or 2017 the sales volumes would just increase. How many more name plates out there continue to show growth in the 5th year of the same generation. clearly consumers voted with their dollar and saw way more value in a Chevy Equinox!
…and yes I am Canadian!
source: http://www.goodcarbadcar.net
Excellent article. This is a perfect example of not knowing your target customer well – It is crucially important that you attach numbers to your buyer personas to avoid this type of thing from happening.
http://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/194501/The-Crucial-Steps-to-Actually-Quantifying-Your-Customer-Personas
The issue with this car is much deeper than what we all here know.
This car came about in a time where there was a lot of infighting inside GM for control post Chapter 11. As you have heard of the damaged culture that lead to the ignition issue they also lead to other issues such as this car.
The problem is we do not know the whole story and neither does the media who likes to think they have it all figured out.
I think right now with the people who are now in charge at Cadillac they really have no use for this car at this time. In time I expect we will see a larger sedan the may be all EV or hybrid that will challenge the Tesla head to head.
The ELR was just this. It was a awesome looking show car but not a real good real world coupe if you have legs and have to sit in the back. There was little time or effort put into making it more advanced than the Volt to give it any technology advantage. Price well they just could not sell it much cheaper as I expect they are not making money with it where it is even at now.
There is a lot unknown here and this car was just a poor decision made by someone no longer calling the shots.
What we do know is GM is trying to find a graceful way out but there are few options here. You just try to make a quiet exit and keep it out of the media by doing greater things with the new product they are working on.
This is all part of the transition of Cadillac leaving the past and moving to the future. The XTC and ELR will be the last of the old Cadillac and the present line up is the transition. The new Cadillac products have just started this summer so we will see them in the next 5 years along with some left over or adapted products.
The lesson here is #1 stop trying to make show car production. The SSR, Camaro and ELR all paid some kind of price for that. The Camaro less but as you will see with the next Camaro those issues will be gone like the interior and the poor sight lines. The #2 lesson is there are no short cuts to the Cadillac class. If you are going to do it you have to do it right. I think we are now seeing with Cadillac committed to doing its own engines and the like GM has learned their lesson here.
Finally GM needs to stop over thinking the issues and stop thinking about what the public is thinking so much. Too often they know the right thing to do and they second guess because some group is brought in that has no idea and does not react as they thought. Lutz was a big do the right thing and stop looking to clinics for the answers. GM has enough smart people in side to make the right calls If they would let them. Too often they are left out and pushed aside.
The bottom line is the ELR will fade away as it can not be fixed. The car will be replaced with what they should have done in the first place and it will become a footnote in history.
All companies have a car like this. Anyone remember the Lincoln Blackwood?
Very well put, and I have to agree with you.
Cadillac execs still think their nameplate is a big selling point. It is not. They are putting out some good products these days (and still some mediocre ones), but no one is paying extra to say they drive a Cadillac like they do BMW, MB, Audi and Lexus.
On the contrary.
GM executives used to think the name was enough but todays Cadillac leadership knows that even the CTS and ATS as they are will not be enough.
The attitude was we can make something about as good is no longer in play and now they want to be better than the others. I really don’t think many realize after all the false starts that this time the make over is a fully funded and committed deal unlike the lets just use a Chevy engine and a regular GM platform to make a really good car. What they are committed to now is to take a Cadillac only engine with some major changes to a GM platform and some Cadillac only platforms and make a world class car.
I know that many will not accept that this is what is in play until they see it in the show rooms but that is where the game is at today. My only hope is GM will see it through now that they have made the right decision.
The only way to beat the others is to be better and not as good or a little better. Cadillac needs to make a statement with product.
The old stuff does not work anymore.
To GM’s advantage the future of this segment is in for a lot of changes and it will take a top notch engineering and technology based company to lead and GM has the tools. For once now in many years they have taken the restraints of permission and funding off.
The new Cadillac’s will not be cheap. But with that said they no longer will be built on a skimpy budget the leaves them short in the end on the details that will make them great.
We have seen this in play on the C7 were it was fully funded to the point where it got all the bits that it needed to make it a great car. They did not stop short of the interior and materials for once. Cadillac will take this to the next level as they advance in class.
I think it will be interesting in the next 10 years as we will see things we never expected from GM since the 30’s.
“They are putting out some good products these days (and still some mediocre ones), but no one is paying extra to say they drive a Cadillac like they do BMW, MB, Audi and Lexus.”
Well, the consumer is going to have to get used to Cadillac charging more. For first time in over 60 years, Cadillac is making cars worth of the name ‘Cadillac’. The old ‘value pricing’ model can’t work if Cadillac wants to be taken seriously, especially if Cadillacs strongest card it could play was that it was ‘value priced’ instead of its content.
For Cadillac’s sake (and GM’s), they must, MUST make cars that are not just above par, but the best.
I thought of this while wrenching out in the garage today.
Cadillac used to be the standard that others were judged by. Today they are building cars to be judge against the Germans.
The way I see it with their change in commitment they are now targeting to build the best cars and set the standard now vs. just letting the present cars be gauged by other makes.
If you want to set the standard you must first be the standard.
Sure, the rebadged Volt thing is a problem. But there are two worse problems. One is the obvious problem that it is grossly overpriced. A huge number of us knew that immediately, so i have no idea why GM did not. The other problem is that they chose to have an entry in a dying market, the luxury coupe. Sales are struggling globally for those. Then shrink the market again for those who want a Voltec-type powertrain. Add all the above together and it is no wonder that this car is a massive failure.
GM, next time put this powertrain in a CUV.
It just goes to show that you can build a high quality vehicle but if you don’t know who the target buyers will be you won’t sell it . Cadillac has over priced the CTS , ATS and ELR . Sales confirm it . The Grand River plant has layed off the night shift and slowed the line speed on first shift . And now here comes the ” V ” series . These vehicles are awesome for sure but sales of these are for a niche part of the market . Cadillac will never sell the same as it did in the past here in the US . PRICE DOES MATTER !
I’m a 1/2% guy income wise, who flits among Caddy, BMW, Benz, and Lexus. I love the idea of the ELR. But, for what I would get, yes, this is way too much.