Cadillac global vice president John Roth sat down for an interview with The Detroit News at Cadillac House in Warren, Michigan to talk about his optimistic expectations for GM’s luxury brand this year. Cadillac entered 2025 with impressive momentum. The 2024 calendar year saw the brand register a nine-percent sales increase for its best results since 2016 and boasted America’s best-selling electric luxury SUV with a strong year for the Lyriq.
John Roth
How will Cadillac continue that momentum? “It’s about being nimble and flexible and adapting to what’s in front of you now, but also plotting out how you expect to win in the future, and so it takes discipline and strategy and those kinds of things,” Roth said. “When you add up all the quarters in a row of the winning strategy that we’ve already put out from a sales growth standpoint, what Q1 of 2025 has already come together and looks like, we have no other expectation than to win the marketplace.”
He added: “We’re going to set some all-time records from a business strategy standpoint, which is really good as we go into the month-end close.”
Roth went on to boast the range capabilities of Caddy EVs and the fact that Super Cruise hands-free driving tech is starting to come standard on more models. He also spoke to the increasing variety in Cadillac’s EV lineup, now that the compact Optiq and full-size Escalade IQ are on the market and the midsize, three-row Vistiq has begun production.
“We are selling the best Cadillacs we ever have in our history as the brand,” he said. “Cadillac is one of the only luxury brands that really can speak to consumers in every single luxury SUV EV segment.”
Roth said that Cadillac aims for the right balance of three things when marketing an EV: good range, great styling, and the right price-to-value equation. With the exception of the low-volume Celestiq, which doesn’t have an official range rating, every EV in the brand’s portfolio has a max range of over 300 miles. As for styling, the brand has settled on a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing EV design language that seems to be resonating with buyers based on the success of the Lyriq. Finally, Cadillac has long offered a strong bang-for-the-buck factor in the luxury vehicle world compared to pricier European rivals, and that remains true as it shifts toward EVs.
“When you do those three things, well, it really becomes a lot less about selling an EV,” he said. “It becomes about selling a really good Cadillac, and that’s what we see in the data.”
Comments
If I remember in terms of overall annual Cadillac sales record (not just in the US but global sales combined) the record was 500,000 set back in the 1970s (?). When Roth is saying record-breaking does he mean on trajectory to sell half-a-million vehicles? Or some other metric?
I think he means worldwide. In 1978, Cadillac sold 349,684 units in the US. That was a high point for the brand and they’ve been in perpetual decline ever since selling only 160,204 vehicles in the US for the 2024 model year. In that 45 year period they’ve gone from the undisputed best-selling luxury car brand in America to not even making the top-five. Cadillac sales are down 54 percent while the US population has increased by about 54 percent.
Roth seems to like to crow about “best sales year ever” but it now takes the whole world, and the vast nation of China in particular, to move the volumes they once sold in their home market alone.
He says they are “selling the best Cadillacs we ever have in our history as the brand”. Perhaps he needs a trip to the GM Heritage Center because the current lineup of disposable electrically-powered boxes in small, medium, large, extra large, and XX large doesn’t seem to me to eclipse the magnificent cars they once built, so many of which are still loved today.
Amen! Well said!
Cadillac sales were up last year, not down. Cadillac is, as the article points out, is expecting all time records to fall in Q1. I have never before in my 55+ years heard a Cadillac executive say what Roth said here. “We are here to win the marketplace.” That’s a bold statement for Cadillac to put that out there. That makes Q1 results, which will be on upcoming Tuesday, very intriguing.
Yeah, Cadillac sales in the United Sates have been rising for the past four years and finally exceeded their pre-pandemic numbers. It seems likely that 2025 will likely be their best numbers in a decade:
2015 175,267
2016 170,006
2017 156,440
2018 154,702
2019 156,246
2020 129,495
2021 118,310
2022 134,726
2023 147,214
2024 160,204
An EV looks great at first glance. No oil or tranny oil changes, no blown head gasket over heating worries, check the coolant and so forth. No money going to big oil or to counties that hate us. BUT if you don’t have a garage or at least a carport and the ability to have a dedicated 40 amp electrical breaker and you’re not going to do a lot of highway driving, driving in cold weather or hauling or towing and can sit for 20 to 30 minutes to get a quick fix of juice on a road trip so you can travel another 100-150 miles, EV’s are nothing more than a novelty. I also think Cadillac’s best seller is a rebadged gas guzzling Suburban that keeps them afloat. Cadillac is one mixed up company.
The scenario you laid out basically proves that EVs are awesome for a large majority of US households. 65% of households in the US have carports or garages. You don’t have to have a dedicated 40 amp breaker. There are dryer plug splitters. And only 6% of drivers in the US tow more than once a year.
Why you two above both make good points, EV success will come down to convenience and practicality. Currently they are neither. Most households are two car families and even more. Most older homes have 100 AMP electrical services. Most new homes have 200 AMP electrical services. Deciding which car to charge at what time of the day, verses using your dryer, range, oven and or AC just isn’t practical. Most houses will need expensive upgrade to handle EV’s electrical consumption. Then, the power grid is the next issue. If states are asking people to turn off their AC’s during peak electric usage times, adding an equivalent AC in terms of electrical usage charging an EV isn’t going to work. Everything in the US can’t run off of electricity. As wonderful as cell phones are, we are constantly trying to charge them. I for one, don’t won’t a vehicle that I constantly have to be concerned about charging like my cell phone. Lastly, until EV’s pay road usage tax, can sell on their own merits without a government subsidy, and especially important is their availability to the non affluent among us, I’d have to agree that they are a “rich” man’s novelty.
I don’t think I can even sell you an EV at a big discount. I see how electricity is not your thing. Add 1 more device to the equation and you lose it.
People charge overnight, while they are sleeping. Your imaginary pearl clutching scenario just doesn’t happen.
If Cadillac continues upon its current course of all electric by 2030 I think they will see a tremendous drop in sales. I hope they realize before they go too far that the ICE is still the choice of the majority Americans. I think EV’s have a place, but they are not main stream transportation for the average American. I love my CT5 and was hoping to see it in the future, but BMW, Accura or Lexus is probably in my future.
Almost one in five Cadillac buyers picked an EV last year with only the Lyriq competing against six ICE models. This quarter they also have the Escalade and Lyriq. Next quarter they’ll have the Vistiq and Lyriq-V. Then the Escalade IQL. Then the Optiq-V.
While the projection right now is 30-35% electric for the year, my bet is that by the final quarter EVs will make up the majority of Cadillac sales.
A safe bet considering they will likely be out of xt4s and low on 5s and 6s by Q4
Not sure about future volume of EV’s. We turned in our Tesla as lease expired. We now have a beautiful Lexus TX Hybrid a 2025 Honda Pilot and a Ram 1500 for wife’s horse business.
Cadillac has done a good job in recent years with their ICE cars and their EV’s. For those pointing out the shortcomings of EV’s, most of those drawbacks are quickly eroding with the advancements in battery technology. I do wish that GM would offer more hybrids at this time, however.
I love my 2024 Lyriq. I’ll never have to go to a gas station again and stand in the heat or cold or snow or rain. One charge a week, in my garage. For longer drives i sometimes do, 30 minutes to charge. Not a big deal in exchange for no gas stations. And no oil changes or tune-ups. Quiet(!) and smooth. Great, responsive acceleration for passing. And Super Cruise for highways, and if there’s city traffic and Super Cruise is available, it’s relaxing and easy. EV’s are the future. When new/better batteries (faster charge, less cost, increase range – yes, they’re coming), then it’s game over for ICE. It’s like watching a game or movie on a wide-screen high-def color TV with stereo sound, verses an old black and white TV. No comparison.
How much did they pay you to say all that?
“Tune ups?”. Hmmm, haven’t done one of those since the days of points and carburators….
I’ve had my 2024 Lyriq Luxury 3 AWD for 14 months and 29,000 miles. I love it. It is outstanding in every respect. The Super Cruise functionality is awesome. I’m ready to replace my wife’s ICE with an EV. Driving an EV is fun, convenient, practical, economical .
This is a nice discussion about people with different opinions. Nice to read all the points people make. I don’t think there was any government finger pointing or name calling etc. Thank you all, I enjoyed these reads and appreciate the frankness of the posts.
If the profits aren’t pissed away on the furtherance of the Cadillac EV effort, they could make a tiny scratch in the cost of the upcoming F1 venture.