Photo: Cadillac
This just came in from Johan de Nysschen, the president of Cadillac - the ELR extended-range plug-in hybrid won’t live beyond the first generation. Due to its exorbitant retail price and sluggish sales, it’s not surprising that the ELR won’t live to see a second generation.
Speaking to Automotive News, de Nysschen has declared that he sees the ELR as “one of the most beautiful cars on four wheels,” but the head honcho of Cadillac doesn’t plan to pour more money into a bottomless pit. As such, the ELR won’t live past calendar year 2018.
Introduced as a 2014 model year vehicle in late 2013, the ELR is, in fact, the luxurious stepbrother of the first-generation Chevrolet Volt. There’s nothing wrong with the humble underpinnings. It’s the $75,995 sticker price that spelled doom for the plug-in hybrid coupe.
Slashing the price tag by $10,000 for the 2016 model year didn’t boost sales of the Cadillac ELR either. After all, those in the market for a vehicle with eco-friendly credentials preferred to spend half that on the Chevrolet Volt. Cadillac ELR sales accounted for a meager 1,024 cars in 2015. That’s peanuts compared to Chevrolet Volt sales.
When all is said and done, the final nail in the ELR’s coffin is the second-generation Volt. Case in point: the second-generation Volt accounted for 1,324 sales out of 2,035 deliveries in October 2015.
Another aspect that gives superiority to the Volt is the EPA-rated electric range. Whereas the ELR makes do with 40 miles, the Volt prides itself on reaching 53 electric miles. In realistic driving conditions, the peeps from Consumer Report found out that the 2016 Chevrolet Volt easily gets 48 electric miles.
Any way you look at it, the truth of the matter is that the Cadillac ELR doesn’t hold a candle to the cheaper, more practical, and more capable Chevrolet Volt. No one will miss this thing once production stops, except for de Nysschen.
Introduced as a 2014 model year vehicle in late 2013, the ELR is, in fact, the luxurious stepbrother of the first-generation Chevrolet Volt. There’s nothing wrong with the humble underpinnings. It’s the $75,995 sticker price that spelled doom for the plug-in hybrid coupe.
Slashing the price tag by $10,000 for the 2016 model year didn’t boost sales of the Cadillac ELR either. After all, those in the market for a vehicle with eco-friendly credentials preferred to spend half that on the Chevrolet Volt. Cadillac ELR sales accounted for a meager 1,024 cars in 2015. That’s peanuts compared to Chevrolet Volt sales.
When all is said and done, the final nail in the ELR’s coffin is the second-generation Volt. Case in point: the second-generation Volt accounted for 1,324 sales out of 2,035 deliveries in October 2015.
Another aspect that gives superiority to the Volt is the EPA-rated electric range. Whereas the ELR makes do with 40 miles, the Volt prides itself on reaching 53 electric miles. In realistic driving conditions, the peeps from Consumer Report found out that the 2016 Chevrolet Volt easily gets 48 electric miles.
Any way you look at it, the truth of the matter is that the Cadillac ELR doesn’t hold a candle to the cheaper, more practical, and more capable Chevrolet Volt. No one will miss this thing once production stops, except for de Nysschen.
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