Cadillac Is Selling Its Tesla-Like Car at a Huge Discount - Bloomberg
The ELR’s main problem is that the Cadillac’s green technology—the battery and powertrain—can also be found in the Chevrolet Volt, a corporate cousin that has a sticker price of just $35,170. It takes quite a lot of lush cockpit leather, LED... Cadillac set the initial price so high, in part, to reflect the opulent appointments offered standard, rather than as extra options. The electric Cadillac is also somewhat unconventional, even among green machines. While most hybrids burn gas to propel the wheels, the ELR fires a conventional engine, primarily to recharge the vehicle’s batteries on the fly. Cadillac says the car gets somewhere around 82 miles per gallon. But on long trips in which gas kicks in to recharge the battery, a gallon in the ELR stretches for as little as 33 miles —a decidedly faint shade of green in today’s car market. Cadillac had its reasons for the lofty price on the window sticker. If Cadillac priced the car too close to the Volt, environmentally minded drivers willing to spend close to six figures for a vehicle might have simply chosen the cheaper offering. A price nearing $80,000 seemed a good way to signal all that valuable Cadillacness to customers—everything from the badge on the grill to the heated steering wheel and 10-speaker Bose stereo. Source: www.bloomberg.com
