Even with deep cuts to its price tag, the low volume (read: scarcely-available) coupe has been lambasted by multiple outlets, recalled, and deemed “an overpriced Volt” by a large swath of the automotive press. Even we at GM Authority thought it was a bit too little, too late. We’ll spare you the rest of the gory details.
However, Cadillac is determined to make the vehicle a success and has announced plans to reveal a 2016 ELR Electric Premium Coupe at the 85th Geneva International Motor Show on March 3rd.
Even with the show less than four weeks away Cadillac has remained mum about the new features we can expect on the 2016 ELR. In fact, beyond keeping ELR at its current price, “enhanced performance” is about the only rock-solid detail we know so far. A few unconfirmed reports claim the new ELR might feature a semi-autonomous-drive function but at this point those reports remain just that, unconfirmed. Another rumor is that GM will fit the ELR with next-generation hardware displayed by the 2016 Chevrolet Volt.
It seems we’ll just have to sit tight until Johan De Nysschen addresses the masses at the Cadillac press conference on March 3rd, at 8:15am in Hall 2 of the Palexpo convention center in order to see exactly what Cadillac has in store for its largely-unloved coupe.
Comments
If they could rework the front end to eliminate some of the “big nose” look, keep a similar level of refinement, include the 2016 Voltec system, add a heads-up display, and make it more performance oriented while cutting the price to start around $50K and topping out at around $60K, I’d seriously consider buying one instead of a second-gen Volt. At the current price, though, it’s just not that much better than a Volt.
I am a little disappointed with you folks——Yes the price is high but so are luxury watches. I thought you would give the Cadillac ELR team a little more hopeful encouragement in what they hope to announce finally in Geneva. My blame on the much less than expected sales was (1) the advertising or lack thereof in contacting the individuals to whom $75K is not that important (have you looked at prices at rare wine auctions?) and (2) having the ELR reviewed by auto critics to whom $75K is probably an annual salary. The 1300 or so sales to date is still more that Porsche plug-in sales. No one seemed to complain when the 1959-1960 Cadillac Eldorado Broughams only sold a total of 200. The ELR is the only Cadillac we have today to fight the equally priced European electric automobiles. I think we all should be doing everything to support the ELR.
They should kill the ELR. It is a waste of money and does nothing for the cadillac brand, other than yet another failure on the list.
It is outclassed by Tesla and BMW, and why would anyone pay so much money for a rebadged volt with leather and lots of cheap plastic on the dash.
Add the hopelessly dated cue, and we have a loser.
Take the ELR behind the barn, and shoot it!
“….a rebadged volt with leather and lots of cheap plastic on the dash.”
The entire dash is covered in leather, followed by suede, real wood and real carbon fiber basically everywhere else. Unlike some 6-figure Audi models with carbon fiber “pattern” on the trim. What ELR have you seen that has “lots of cheap plastic on the dash? One of those 1:43 scale models? The only people that spout off that its just a “rebadged Volt” are people that don’t know about this car very well, and simply read an article written by someone who had a turn-in deadline and simply gave their opinion after reading specs on paper. Should be described more as a “Premium Cadillac that happens to use the Voltec hardware to move around”.
If you’ve ever driven an ELR, let alone seen one in person, you would know that a Tesla has none of these until you option it for over $90k. Make a phone call to a Cadillac salesperson and you’ll know that you can get into a brand new ELR for $20k off of sticker right now.
For daily driving, the ELR is just as “EV” as a Model S, and essentially has a “SuperCharger” built in for road trips.
The largest problem for the ELR is that Tesla Model S starts at $70k ($61k after incentives) with an electric range of 200 to 265 mile range. GM can’t play the “buy American” card against that one either.
What they need is for this to run with the P85D at a $70k price. It needs to do more than the competition at a lower price to get people to consider a GM vehicle over competition with a near sterling reputation like Tesla’s.
Oops. Once again a GM press release announcing that the 2016 ELR will appear at a show is now replaced by one that no longer mentions the ELR. Somebody keeps trying to resurrect the ELR and having to eat their words.