Cadillac on Pace to Set Global Sales Record in 2021

Cadillac is headed for its best year ever despite the shortage of semiconductors and despite lower U.S. sales, according to Rory Harvey, the General Motors vice president in charge of the brand around the world.

During a virtual briefing with reporters, Harvey declines to say how many reservations or firm orders it has for the initial batch of Cadillac’s first battery-electric vehicle, the Lyriq, but he says they sold out in 10 minutes. Production will be limited because Cadillac wants to make sure it can deliver the vehicles. 

Harvey says GM will start building the Lyriq at the Spring Hill, TN, assembly plant during the first week of March. Besides customers who have already placed reservations or orders, the company has collected information from 216,000 “hand raisers” who have expressed an interest in Lyriq, which is the first CUV built on the Ultium platform for BEVs. Cadillac hopes to convert nearly 20% of hand raisers to buyers. 

Cadillac also plans to reveal more details about the new Ultra Cruise hands-free driving system in January at CES in Las Vegas, says Harvey (pictured below, left).

RoryHarvey GM Cadillac

But there’s an asterisk with Cadillac’s claim. For decades, GM’s luxury brand relied heavily on U.S. sales, and its best year was 1984, with 320,017 U.S. deliveries, alone, according to Wards Intelligence data.

Since then, Cadillac’s U.S. sales have tumbled dramatically – to 109,092 units in 2009 – and have been creeping upward since. Through September, Cadillac sales in the U.S. reached 95,925 units. But it’s brisk sales in China – with nearly 181,000 deliveries through September – that have made the difference globally. 

Cadillac says it will set the record despite the parts shortages that cut production of various models starting in February, Harvey says. The popular Escalade fullsize SUV remained in production, but Cadillac did wind up asking customers to forego some options in order to deliver finished vehicles, he says. 

Nonetheless, Cadillac has momentum now even with the production constraints, Harvey says. Other speed bumps in recent years have included the 40-day UAW strike against GM in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered dealerships in 2020.

Meanwhile, Cadillac has been preparing for its all-electric future. Dealers have been asked to ensure they have the infrastructure in place to service and recharge EVs. Cadillac showrooms are also getting a new look as part of the program, Harvey says. 

More than 100 Cadillac dealers – mostly smaller ones – have elected to drop the Cadillac franchise rather than invest in new EV infrastructure. But he notes the dealers that remain account for roughly 90% of Cadillac’s sales volume, and surveys show the morale of the brand’s dealers is on the upswing.

Cadillac has opened four new dealerships in affluent areas, including Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Atlanta and Manhattan, where the brand now has a dealership for the first time in several years. 

Cadillac plans to sell only electric vehicles by 2030 or earlier if possible. The Cadillac Celestiq, which Harvey describes as an ultra-luxury vehicle, will follow the Lyriq into showrooms. He doesn’t say when the Celestiq will be available, but speculation has it appearing in late 2023 or early 2024.

As part of the BEV push, GM is expanding access to charging. Cadillac customers across the U.S. already have access to 70,000 charging stations across the U.S. thanks to GM’s new agreements with seven different charging providers. “We will continue to expand charging,” Harvey says. “We know it is a barrier to adoption.” 

While Cadillac prepares a full portfolio of BEVs, it will maintain its line of cars and utility vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines, Harvey says. The ICE vehicles will continue to get midcycle updates, he says.

– with Tom Murphy