Screen shot via Cadillac/YouTubeThat famous Cadillac ELR commercial.
Cadillac is ditching its premium luxury hybrid — the ELR coupe.The $58,000 car has had an unceremonious run as Cadillac’s feisty plug-in. It pulled onto dealer lots in 2013 with a much higher price tag — close to $76,000 back then — but it never caught on with buyers.
Cadillac’s president, Johan de Nysschen, was cited in Automotive News, saying “we don’t plan further investment” in the ELR. That means the car likely won’t be back for a second generation after the current one ends in the next couple years.
The coupe runs on architecture sourced from the Chevy Volt. And even though the Volt has been redesigned for 2016, few changes were made to the ELR — except that Cadillac lopped off a significant chunk of the original $76k sticker price.
Still, sales of the ELR barely crested 1,000 units in 2015 — down more than 20 percent from 2014.
Cadillac clearly had high hopes for the car, if this famous 2014 ad was any indication: