Did the Cadillac ELR’s official price tag of $76,000 sound a bit high to you? Well, if so, it looks like you’re not the only one that thought so — car dealers around the country, reportedly, are heavily discounting the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in order to move them faster.
GM is itself offering up to $8,000 dollars worth of dealer and customer incentives, and some dealers — in states like Florida, Texas, and Maryland — are even offering discounts as high as $12,000–14,000.
Not such a surprising turn of events really, when you consider that there are other, arguably higher-quality EVs — such as the Tesla Model S — out there that are priced cheaper. Hard to tell what GM was expecting to happen.
Autoblog Green provides more:
Shoppers in a number of states are reporting that GM and its dealers are discounting the ELR in order to move more off dealer lots. The issue is that few people are biting at the official price tag of about $76,000, so GM has started offering as much as $8,000 worth of dealer and customer incentives, Transport Evolved reports. More recently, dealers in states such as Florida, Texas and Maryland are offering discounts in the $12,000-to-$14,000 range, and that’s before any federal and state plug-in incentives kick in.
It’s not difficult to guess why. Through the first half of the year, GM sold fewer than 400 ELRs. Last month, Caddy moved just 97 units, or about as many as Tesla sells of its Model S in a day. Perpahs recent spy shots that reveal a test ELR that appears to up the sportiness quotient, with touches such as larger wheels and brakes, will also help sales.
Hmm. Even with the reduced price it’s hard to see how the ELR can compete with the Model S….
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
