Cadillac Continues to Struggle with ELR Sales

2014 Cadillac ELR (Credit: © Cadillac)

Everyone is just horribly shocked that Cadillac is struggling to move the ELR. And by “everyone” I mean virtually nobody, because there is a person or two who still thinks Cadillac makes the Eldorado. Somehow the arrogant commercial Cadillac released for the ELR, called Poolside, didn’t jump start sales like the luxury brand had hoped. The divisive commercial got people talking, but those conversations likely did not revolve around the electrified luxury coupe.

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At this moment, Cadillac dealers have a 725-day stock of the ELR. That’s bad, unless you are one of the few individuals who want to buy the car. In that case, you have incredible leverage, perhaps on the scale of a person who purchased a Pontiac Aztek new.

Many people questioned the wisdom of GM taking the platform for the Chevrolet Spark, a car that has not exactly been a stellar performer when it comes to sales, and applying it to a luxury coupe model for the Cadillac brand. Even more people were troubled when Cadillac announced that the ELR would have a starting price of $76,000. A simple Internet search will pull up what a consumer can buy for $76,000, which includes many compelling luxury vehicles that are either sexier or more practical than the ELR.

To further illustrate how abysmal ELR sales have been, on 241 have been sold through the end of April. Cadillac Escalade sales have reached almost 5,000. Even the Viper, a car that is currently in a production pause, has outsold the Cadillac ELR.

It seems that everyone but GM saw the writing on the wall with the ELR. Over half of all Cadillac dealers optioned to not carry the ELR, which is looking like a rather wise business decision. Even an offer of a free home charging station for the first 1,000 ELR owners has done little to spur sales, so if you want the deal there’s really no hurry.