Cadillac isn’t the same brand it was 20 years ago. Its post-recession revival focused on ensuring its models were truly distinct from the other products within General Motors’ portfolio. That wasn’t the exact mentality at the company in the early 2000s when it developed the XLR as a secondary vehicle to the C6 Corvette. GM President Mark Reuss revealed the company wouldn’t do the same thing today.
Reuss told CNBC that such a car would not fit into the brand’s current strategy. He said it would likely share too many components with the Chevy, failing to stand out as a unique performance product. Honestly, that makes sense.
Photo by: Chevrolet
The C8 Corvette provides several powertrain choices across a range of price points. The entry-level Stingray makes 490 horsepower and costs $70,195 (all prices include the $1,895 destination charge), while the Corvette ZR1 produces 1,064 horsepower with a $178,195 starting price. Then there’s the Corvette E-Ray hybrid with all-wheel drive and 655 hp for $108,795.
That doesn’t leave Cadillac a ton of room for a similar product. Instead, Reuss told the publication that Cadillac sees growth opportunities in specialty vehicles. The $340,000 Celestiq previews that future, which the company says will be as rare as a Bugatti.
We’ll have to see if that works out for the brand. The XLR certainly didn’t.
