Not an auspicious start for the Tesla competitor.
Cadillac said today that it is now offering a free 240-volt home charging station and installation to early buyers of the all-new 2014 ELR hybrid coupe. The incentive could be worth several thousand dollars.
The ELR on an ultra-low-mileage, 39-month lease for qualified lessees starts at $699 per month with $5,999 due. Cadillac delivered six, yes 6, ELR hybrids in December, but since the Volt-based coupe just went on sale, January and Q1 2014 sales will be a better indicator of actual demand.
“The ELR’s blend of leading technology with provocative design and fun-to-drive performance is set to bring new buyers to Cadillac and to electrification itself,” says Uwe Ellinghaus, chief marketing officer, Global Cadillac. “Professional installation of the fastest home-charging unit is a natural way to mark the introduction of ELR to the luxury market.”
As with all Cadillac models, the ELR comes standard with Remote Vehicle Diagnostics, a Premium Care Maintenance program and 24/7 roadside assistance. ELR also comes with an extended battery and propulsion warranty of eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first, and a four-year or 50,000-mile, whichever comes first, bumper-to-bumper limited warranty.
Specially trained and certified dealers nationwide sell and service the 2014 ELR. Backing up the dealership experience, prospective customers and buyers of the ELR can take advantage of their own ELR Concierge Representative by calling 1-855-INFO-ELR (1-855-463-6357).
All analysis and number crunches and grains of salt aside, my Spidey sense screams to me in all caps that this is a complete and unmitigated flop from birth. But I hope that I am wrong. I was hoping so that GM divisions’ days of shooting self in feet were over. But I severely doubt it here. $75,000 for a Volt………..it just don’t work for me.
MOST of the premium hybrids could objectively be considered a ‘flop’, from the ridiculous lexus V8 LS to BMW and others. Accord and Camry hybrids aren’t ‘special’ enough to drive demand because people don’t REALLY care about the environment. But these are halo cars. Tesla is ok for the moment, but a few more fires and they will ummm, fizzle, as it were. Time will tell if GM didn’t do enough to engineer or market it, or it was an overreaching goal…
Ken, all. Toyota Motor Corporation gave/shared all their advance engine technology with GM as you will recall. It was just when Prius had gotten started. It was a 5 year deal, then extended for another 5 years. If I recall, Tetherow and I did the press conference in the atrium of the Rattlesnake Club building. I also recall, after a year or so into the project that Bob Lutz said publicly many times, “hybrids make no economic sense” …. hmmm, Toyota is long past the break even stage with hybrids. GM never took advantage of our advanced engine sharing agreement. Too bad!
Robert,
I had that very conversation when I (along with five other journalists) had dinner in Seattle with Bob Lutz, Dee Allen (then the PR chief for GM) and a couple company engineering heads back in June of 2008. This was after the Volt concept was announced, but before the concept was shown. The GM guys were trying to get journalists to speak nicely of the Volt plan.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I specifically asked about a Caddy version in response to the “top-down” approach taken by luxury automakers in the past, as well as the “bottom-up” approach taken by Toyota with the Prius and then recently released Lexus LS hybrid. In response to mentioning the Lexus LS, Lutz said “that’s a total flop”.
I was a loud supporter of the Volt in concept. I called it “a game changer”. Unfortunately, the company did EVERYTHING in its power to screw it up. The Volt came out too late, too expensive, in too few markets, with too small interior space, and too cheap materials. I know people who own them and love them, but the vehicle is a product marketing failure grasped out of the clutches of success.
What really saddens me is that the Volt itself was only seen as “technology”, with the system destined for every front-wheel-drive car in the GM lineup…but with the botched marketing of it and the company being dead-set on making the Caddy just a Chevy Volt with leather interior and less plastic on the exterior, it makes it less likely that customers will associate the Volt technology with something they’d want in any body style.
By the way, if anyone is interested in reading one of my original articles about that June 2008 dinner with Lutz, I think it’s still online…(yup, found it: http://fourwheeldrift.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/ )
I’ll probably date myself by suggesting this…..but wouldn’t it have made sense to introduce the Caddy ELR before the Volt? In the “Old” days, significant new features were introduced into production and to the public on top of the line models of the most prestigious brands. This helped to establish a premium value of the new feature, and because of the lower volume typical of more expensive cars, any teething problems could be handled more easily.
By launching the Volt first, you have already established the in the minds of the public the value of this technological platform. The fact that the new one carries a Caddy grill and has two less doors does not increase its value by $30,000.
I think the problem goes back to the launch of the Volt. The ELR was doomed before it was ever produced. To be perfectly honest, this makes me very sad. But, no one seems to learn anything from automotive history…..for better or worse.
By Robert Austin
Bob: What an intelligent comment on the ELR. I asked Bob Lutz your Cadillac question at the Volt concept debut years ago. I didn’t get a good answer just the usual Lutz prevaricating bluster delivered with infallibility, at least in his view. GM was chasing Toyota’s hybrid success at the time after the EV1 disaster, not thinking strategically in my opinion. Tesla managed to pull it off by going upscale, at least thus far…
Too early to say if it is a flop or a good move. Let’s see end of March, once a few months of sale has been registered and the dealer network has proper inventory. The recent move to include at no charge the home charging station indicates GM is trying to boost the reaction, but we have to keep in mind this is a very niche vehicle: extended-range tech + coupe body style + luxury vehicle.
I remember asking Bob Lutz back when the Volt was in development if GM was planning to bring out a Cadillac with the Volt technology to compete in the high end with the (then newly released) Lexus hybrid and BMW 7-series hydrogen. He replied “do you think we should?” I responded “well, as a former marketing and product guy, I’d want to see some data about the size, demographics and psychographics of the segment.”
Lutz responded “well, as a former marketing guy, you should know numbers are worthless. What do you think? Should we do a Cadillac?”
I said “Shooting from the hip, I’d say that if you do it correctly, it’s a no brainer.”
Of course, I followed up with an comment regarding that it couldn’t be another Cimarron/Cavalier.
Turns out, the ELR is just another Volt.
First-month deliveries are often a poor indicator of a vehicle’s potential. Late-month deliveries to dealers, supply constraints and a host of other factors can (and do) have a huge impact on initial volumes. The better measure is the first full-month of sales and even then many factors can keep the figures low.
December was also a slow month for GM plug-ins. Chevrolet Volt sales were down 9.2% to 2,392. In fact, Volt sales were down 1.2% on the year.
The trick is, that with the Cadillac, GM is appealing to a market segment that is somewhat less price-sensitive and also more willing to add a specialty car like the ELR.