Cadillac News: 2015 Cadillac CTS Getting Price Cuts Up To $3,000

[William Maley]

15 months ago, Cadillac announced that it would be raising the price of the new CTS. This move worried dealers as it would cause buyers to look away. It seems their fears were founded as sales of the CTS this past year dropped 3.8 percent when compared to last year. Cadillac is doing something about that.

Automotive News got their hands on a memo issued to Cadillac dealers yesterday which announced that it would reduce sticker prices on most 2015 CTS models by $1,000 to $3,000. It also plans on increasing the amount of standard features in the CTS.

"We're taking what we've seen are the more desirable optional features for customers and making them more readily available. Once a car has been on the market for a while, it's not unusual to look at the customer behavior and try to optimize for it," said Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell.

An example of a price cut in action is the CTS Premium Collection equipped with the 3.6L V6. Originally costing $65,765, the model will now have a new price of $62,765.

The price cuts are shift in strategy for Cadillac. Last September, Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said that price cuts were off the table. de Nysschen believes the brand needs to charge more to be more in line with the German competitors, along with increasing resale values and improve the brand's image.

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[G. David Felt]

This is good as it shows Cadillac is willing to adjust and change much faster than they did in the past or pre 2007.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think the price cuts are unnecessary.  A 3.8% drop in volume when prices increased about $10k and there is no coupe anymore which was 30% of sales of the old model..... that's a smashing success actually.

[balthazar]

The haters will trumpet this, yet ignore when mercedes cuts $13,000 off S-class stickers (MSRP vs. actual transaction price).

[William Maley]

It should be noted that the base CTS 2.0T and VSport models will not be affected by the price cuts.

[Drew Dowdell]

It should be noted that the base CTS 2.0T and VSport models will not be affected by the price cuts.

 

... so basically the V6... which is a bit of a tweener in terms of power.

[William Maley]

 

It should be noted that the base CTS 2.0T and VSport models will not be affected by the price cuts.

 

... so basically the V6... which is a bit of a tweener in terms of power.

 

 

and a number of 2.0T models above the base.

[Z-06]

3.6 really needs to be getting a single turbo to give the perception and grunt of the German and English competitors who have some forced induction for their tweener motors. GM has soldiered the 3.6 for almost 8 years, albeit with updates.

[Drew Dowdell]

3.6 really needs to be getting a single turbo to give the perception and grunt of the German and English competitors who have some forced induction for their tweener motors. GM has soldiered the 3.6 for almost 8 years, albeit with updates.

 

weeeelll... the LFX has only been around since 2012. It is so different from the prior LLT that it is basically all new. It just shares a displacement.

[G. David Felt]

Is the current 3.6 part of GM's new ecoboost engine line or a carry over? I will admit that I find it very hard to tell the new engineered engines from the old due to them having the same displacement size.

[Drew Dowdell]

Is the current 3.6 part of GM's new ecoboost engine line or a carry over? I will admit that I find it very hard to tell the new engineered engines from the old due to them having the same displacement size.

 

Ecotec?  No, it isn't part of that.

 

It's best if you think in engine codes

LY7 = original 3.6 

LLT = original 3.6 + direct injection

LFX = Mostly new 3.6 with direct injection

LF3 = LFX plus turbo-charging and other enhancements

LF4 = LF3 plus more boost and other enhancements

[Z-06]

 

3.6 really needs to be getting a single turbo to give the perception and grunt of the German and English competitors who have some forced induction for their tweener motors. GM has soldiered the 3.6 for almost 8 years, albeit with updates.

 

weeeelll... the LFX has only been around since 2012. It is so different from the prior LLT that it is basically all new. It just shares a displacement.

 

 

That is why I said with updates. The original 3.6DI (LLT) was introduced in 2007 and with redesigned cylinder head and integrated exhaust manifold, and composite intake manifold and other components updated became a LFX.

[smk4565]

 

3.6 really needs to be getting a single turbo to give the perception and grunt of the German and English competitors who have some forced induction for their tweener motors. GM has soldiered the 3.6 for almost 8 years, albeit with updates.

 

weeeelll... the LFX has only been around since 2012. It is so different from the prior LLT that it is basically all new. It just shares a displacement.

 

The Mercedes 3.5 liter V6 with direct injection came out in 2012, and they are phasing it out now for the 3.0 bi-turbo V6, which itself will be replaced in 2017 by the new inline engines.  So things can change fast.  The market has moved to boosted sixes, Cadillac needs a 350 hp/torque V6 with an 8 speed.

[Drew Dowdell]

 

 

3.6 really needs to be getting a single turbo to give the perception and grunt of the German and English competitors who have some forced induction for their tweener motors. GM has soldiered the 3.6 for almost 8 years, albeit with updates.

 

weeeelll... the LFX has only been around since 2012. It is so different from the prior LLT that it is basically all new. It just shares a displacement.

 

The Mercedes 3.5 liter V6 with direct injection came out in 2012, and they are phasing it out now for the 3.0 bi-turbo V6, which itself will be replaced in 2017 by the new inline engines.  So things can change fast.  The market has moved to boosted sixes, Cadillac needs a 350 hp/torque V6 with an 8 speed.

 

 

Cadillac has two boosted 6es..

[Cory Wolfe]

I think the price cuts are unnecessary.  A 3.8% drop in volume when prices increased about $10k and there is no coupe anymore which was 30% of sales of the old model..... that's a smashing success actually.

 

I would just like to point out that the CTS coupe was, in fact, sold for the 2014 model year. I'm sure it was a negligible percent of the pie, but still... 

[Drew Dowdell]

 

I think the price cuts are unnecessary.  A 3.8% drop in volume when prices increased about $10k and there is no coupe anymore which was 30% of sales of the old model..... that's a smashing success actually.

 

I would just like to point out that the CTS coupe was, in fact, sold for the 2014 model year. I'm sure it was a negligible percent of the pie, but still... 

 

Limited production year and mostly special edition V-series. 

[smk4565]

I think they should have added more content rather than cut prices.  And simplify the option packages, there are so many levels of standard, luxury, performance and premium, plus individual options on top of that.   Maybe they should just dump the standard car, and start with luxury, then they wouldn't have to drop the price.

 

Although the price drop is somewhat irrelevant, dealers are probably discounting anyway, and if you go on Cadillac's website it says you can get $6,000 off a 2014 CTS, they don't list a 2015 yet.

[smk4565]

Johan changed his mind awfully fast too, what happened to German level pricing?  A C-class is $40k now, the E-class is $52k.  I will list a complaint on Mercedes pricing though, the E400 is $62,350 (granted the premium and sport packages are included) but the E550 used to be about that price and you got Airmatic, now the E550 is gone.

[Cory Wolfe]

 

 

I think the price cuts are unnecessary.  A 3.8% drop in volume when prices increased about $10k and there is no coupe anymore which was 30% of sales of the old model..... that's a smashing success actually.

 

I would just like to point out that the CTS coupe was, in fact, sold for the 2014 model year. I'm sure it was a negligible percent of the pie, but still... 

 

Limited production year and mostly special edition V-series. 

 

 

No doubt it was probably limited, though, I would like to see the official production numbers. I see far more regular coupes than V's listed online.

[Drew Dowdell]

 

 

 

I think the price cuts are unnecessary.  A 3.8% drop in volume when prices increased about $10k and there is no coupe anymore which was 30% of sales of the old model..... that's a smashing success actually.

 

I would just like to point out that the CTS coupe was, in fact, sold for the 2014 model year. I'm sure it was a negligible percent of the pie, but still... 

 

Limited production year and mostly special edition V-series. 

 

 

No doubt it was probably limited, though, I would like to see the official production numbers. I see far more regular coupes than V's listed online.

 

 

From what I gather, they did a short run of 2015s and that was it. Production wrapped up in the summer. 

[hyperv6]

The coupes were limited period as there were not all that many made V or otherwise compared to the sedan.

 

Coupes are a hard sell and add to it the fact the model is being discontinued that even more slows sales. Who wants an old new car?

 

I loved the coupes but they really were a small slice of the pie as stated.

[balthazar]

I'm sure a new CTS coupe would again garner around a 30% portion of total production; the same basic shell with the new front clip would be fantastic.
That car is a modern design milestone in a lot of people's book.

[vegito12]

The company is making a good choice in reducing the cost as, putting a high price on the car will make customers look away and the cars may not sell and would sit there and dealers would have to sell at lower price than they got and not profit as much. The cars would have to have real good features like maybe dvd player in there, using your thumb to open car or start it would be real good and maybe let the car do the driving when you are tired from a hard days work. I think the lower cost is a good way, to start off the year and may get some good sales and more customers wuld come and purchase the cars if discounts given.

[Cmicasa the Great]

I think the price cuts are unnecessary.  A 3.8% drop in volume when prices increased about $10k and there is no coupe anymore which was 30% of sales of the old model..... that's a smashing success actually.

 

 

The CTS is selling at almost 95% of its cheaper GEN2 self, while having only 33.3% of its former Gen2 variants.

I'd say dropping the price on a car by $3,000 after raising the price $10,000 isn't exactly a real retreat. It also now will alleviate the additional discounting that Cadillac was doing to compete with that of the E-Class and 5Series. The average incentive on the CTS last year was $9,000, but this does include incentives from trying to move Gen2 models. The 5-series average incentive was $7000; the E class was $7,000.

Quick points of FACT, which most will ignore despite it being the meat and potatoes of the announcement:

The car's base price of $46,340 WON'T change. 

The price of the VSport remains $71,880.

The $3,000 comes off of top level trims of the CTS range. For example, a Premium Collection 3.6L is now $62,765, down from $65,767. A Performance Collection goes down $3,000, to $58,365.   

 

[Cmicasa the Great]

I am offering logical reason why sales could be down a massive 3.8% (sarcasm) after raising the price more than 30%. If raising the price by 30% only yielded a blow back of 3.8% I am not seeing a real issue per se. 

I will also reiterate in saying that the sales could be down simply because of the FACT that they are only selling 1/3 of the variations of the Gen2.

 

Again if I, a lover of the CTS, wanted a coupe mid-size luxo car.. no dice.. need to go buy an M6, or EClass coupe.

 

If I wanted a Super-Hi-Po, no dice.. I'd have to go get an M5 or E63AMG.. maybe even a XF-SuperC.

 

If I wanted a wagon.. no dice..
 

[balthazar]

I am offering logical reason why sales could be down a massive 3.8% (sarcasm) after raising the price more than 30%. If raising the price by 30% only yielded a blow back of 3.8% I am not seeing a real issue per se.

 

There is prolly, somewhere, a 'price adjusted' metric that would show sales are UP xx%.

 

- - - - -

People need to get it thru their heads that this is not GM of 1979 and Cadillac is not looking to build 300,000+ units/year anymore.

In the old days, that was the driving factor with all the factories and dealers GM had, and the uncompetitive product the Germans were fielding. 

This is a different era with different goals.

Edited February 2, 2015 by balthazar

[mikka254]

On a business stand point, this makes a lot of sense and predicting that people might start looking away because of those extra few thousand dollars was a smart move. More cars are being developed each year and the Japan market is also slowly taking over the US and parts of africa and Europe. Now it's a matter of pricing because the make and models are almost similar on the more everyday driver market.

[Cmicasa the Great]

I think that the Cadillac pricing strategy is fine actually. I think it has more to do with the product. The ATS and CTS, as great as they are, they are simply not offering the variants that the 3series/C-Class or 5-6Series/EClass are. It simple is ludicrous for GM to expect that they would sell in the same numbers with one variant of the CTS, and up until October '14, one variant of the ATS. A&S is a hit. BOth vehicles are genuine lookers. That is not objective.. its a fact.

 

Here is the real problem, and again, UNBELIEVABLE that  GM would manufacturer as many ATS in sedan only form and expect people to simply buy. I can't buy an ATSV or CTS-V yet. I can't buy an ATS wagon.. I can't buy a CTS Wagon.. I can't buy an ATS Convertible.. I can't buy a ATS or CTS diesel.. I can't even if I wanted to.. so instead of building those models for consumption.. GM builds too many Sedans of each with no variants. That doesn't even include the fact that U cannot buy an AWD model across the board. No AWD in VSport or upcoming VSeries. Not a huge thing for me, but U would sell more vehicles in Snowbelt if they had it.

Anyone not believing me.. or who can't see what I'm saying.. just LOOK:   

328diesel Sedan
328diesel xDrive Sedan
3series Sedan
3series xDrive Sedan
ActiveHybrid 3
3series xDrive Sports Wagon
3series xDrive Sports Wagon
3series diesel xDrive Gran Turismo
3series xDrive Gran Turismo
M3

vs 
ATS Sedan
ATS-V (Not even here yet)


4Series Coupe
4Series xDrive Coupe
4Series Gran Coupe
4Series xDrive Gran Coupe
4Series Convertible
4Series xDrive Convertible
M4

vs 

ATS Coupe
ATS-V Coupe (Not even here yet)


******************************

5Series Sedan
5Series xDrive Sedan
535diesel Sedan
535diesel xDrive Sedan
ActiveHybrid 5
5Series Gran Turismo
5Series xDrive Gran Turismo
M5

vs 

CTS Sedan
CTS-V (not even here yet)   
 

Edited February 12, 2015 by Cmicasa the Great

[smk4565]

That has always been a weak spot for Cadillac, not enough body styles, and not enough engine choices.  Not like it is hard to add a diesel or hybrid to an existing model.   Lexus launches most models with a hybrid right away.  Cadillac needs to learn how to move faster, especially if they are going to add more products, because then you need to mid-cylce refresh 8 or 9 vehicles, not just the 5 they have now.