Cadillac sales achieved a new record in China during the 2021 calendar year. The positive news comes as most automobile brands industry-wide suffered serious declines during the year.
In fact, Cadillac and its parent company, General Motors, were no strangers to a challenging operating environment in 2021, navigating the global semiconductor shortage and other supply chain issues that resulted in lower production and ensuing vehicle inventory shortages.
SAIC-GM, the primary GM joint venture in China responsible for the production, sale and aftersales of Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac, reported 233,117 Cadillac vehicle deliveries in the country during 2021. That figure represents an increase of 1.4 percent year-over-year from the 230,527 deliveries in 2020, the previous record. In this way, Cadillac once again successfully overcame a highly-challenging year while continuing its business expansion in its biggest market by sales volume.
Notably, this is the sixth year in a row that Cadillac has set a new annual sales record in China. Sustained growth for the luxury marque in the world’s biggest auto market began in 2016 with the inauguration of the Cadillac Jinqiao plant, Cadillac’s first dedicated factory outside of North America. The facility made it possible to produce all Cadillac models for the Chinese market locally in China, instead of importing them from North America. Building vehicles locally in China for China made Cadillac competitive for the first time ever in the market, since local production eliminated hefty import tariffs that price the vehicle out of reach of most potential buyers.
The new Cadillac sales record in China was made possible by healthy acceptance of the marque’s latest portfolio of vehicles, which SAIC-GM calls “3+3” – since it is comprised of three crossovers and three sedans that cover the most important segments in the luxury market. In fact, 2021 was the first full year that Cadillac offered the CT4/XT4, CT5/XT5 and CT6/XT6 ranges.
In particular, Cadillac’s positive result in China in 2021 was fueled by healthy growth in sedan sales, which achieved cumulative annual sales volume of 94,620 units, up 13.6 percent year-over-year. The protagonist of the sales story was the Cadillac CT5, which achieved a notable increase in sales to 62,098 units, making it Cadillac’s best-selling model in the country for the first time.
The compact sedan (considered midsize in China) overtook the Cadillac XT5 and XT4, which traditionally led the marque’s sales in China, as both crossovers were more significantly impacted by local component shortages. The only Cadillac utility vehicle that managed to see an increase in sales volume in 2021 was the XT6, posting a notable increase of 43.1 percent to 37,998 units.
In 2022, Cadillac will accelerate its transformation as a top-tier luxury automobile brand in China with the introduction of the all-new Lyriq – the marque’s first-ever electric vehicle – plus a new brand image.
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Comments
Funny how China has CT6 but we don’t here in US. Cadillac is known for large luxury sedans but has chosen to chase short term gain and cut their best car they have ever produced. Sad
Sam:
The sad thing is that the Chinese like Cadillac sedans more than Americans do. MUCH more.
So few bought the CT6 in the US it made no sense to continue building them. Sales started low and sank from there. Sales in China in the last 2 years are more than total US sales for its entire 5 years on the market here.
The only way Cadillac cost effectively offer it here again is to import them from China. And that’s not gonna happen.
You hit the nail on the head. gm is not a charity. They are a for profit company and if there is no profit on a model, they drop it. And this is in no small part why gm/F have both all but dropped sedans in the US.
Chinese LOVE Cadillac and Buick sedans while Americans basically ignore then. CT6 had great potential, architecture should have also served CT5 & a Buick model due to its amazing handling but US buyers wouldn’t have cared.
I do like the CT/XT nomenclature & wish Cadillac would keep it instead of dumb Enough IQ naming scheme.
There’s no reason why they couldn’t have injected some life into Buick from defunct Cadillac platforms… I’m looking at ATS because it would put volume onto the Camaro and the CT6 would’ve stood alone in the market of big cars and could have made Buick seem full line again… Especially with Cadillac going full electric, these ICE platforms that were in infancy could’ve injected life into a bare bones Buick showroom…
Looks like GM is going where the sales is at.
GM would looooove to make all vehicles there and ship them back here to increase profits. Like that mini Buick SUV.
The problem is it’s suicide, Chinese won’t buy Buick if it’s exclusively Chinese only. It’s a reason why Enclave is still built here…
They had production capacity in Australia and and Taiwan, Korea, but part of the deal to make money and sell in China is joint ventures so here we are.
I always have the impression that SUVs are not wanted simply because of their size. I often hear that if the roads weren’t so bad with all the potholes around the world, sedans and wagons would be bought too. You want long suspension travel and big wheels so you can go anywhere. This also applies to those humps on the streets. These water tubs in the streets where you can’t get through with a CAR are also bad.
In China the roads are probably better and newer and with that you can protect the CARS.
So build new roads and people want CARS again.
Herman:
I read some silly comments here but yours wins the prize this month.
You want to raise everyones taxes and fee to pave more roads to increase sales of sedans.
Right.
ive been looking for a blackwing for months why are they not being built here with such a high demand for this vehicle ? all the dealers here are selling over msrp it seems like since they are made in china they could sell them to the middle east,and not ship them there,correct me if im wrong,dealers should be ashamed for selling over msrp,its our own fault ! wake up consumers!!
Dale:
It’s called “Supply and Demand”. Capitalism 101. More buyers than product.
Go to Cadillac.com and search inventory.
It’s plenty of CT4/5 BW online granted you have to travel far to these dealers and they actually sell them for sticker.
Curious to know what the sales volume is for the CT6 in China, and would sales for that model be enough to warrant a replacement there when the current version runs its course.
Ted P:
Google it. Or go to Wikipedia and search “Cadillac CT6”. Sales for NA and China are listed separately.
!
Thank you, Megeebee.
CT6 should have never been killed in the US, the XT6 should be on Omega and the XT4 and XT5 should be on Alpha.
The XT6 would had been killed alongside the CT6 if given the Omega platform which is gone for good by being replaced with BEV3.
China gets our Cadillacs and we get the “the China virus”… the gift that keeps on giving!
Dougyfd:
They “get” our Cadillacs because they BUY our Cadillacs. More than Americans do.
Yes, the CT6 is still built and sold there because it sells so well (in 2019: 22K in China. Less than 8K here).
But they do not have the Escalade or the Blackwing sedans.