Cadillac News: Cadillac's Book Returns from the Dead

[William Maley]

Only a few months after closing it down, Cadillac is bringing back their Book subscription program. Expected to launch in the second quarter, the revised program will be bringing in their dealers to play a key role.

"Book 2.0 really works even more closely with our dealer network because we think there's a lot of opportunity as you go forward. We're going to base it off the dealer network," said Cadillac marketing chief Deborah Wahl.

"We have to recognize that all of us — from the manufacturers to the dealer networks — we have to evolve our models to keep up with where consumers are."

The first phase of the program launch will see a small number of pilot programs launch in select cities. Interestingly, New York which was one of the first markets for the original Book will not be involved for the time being according to Wahl.

Cadillac was one the first automakers to launch a subscription program back in March 2017. For $1,800 per month, a subscriber could pick from a number of Cadillac vehicles and swap in/out with no long-term commitment. The fee also covered various items such as maintenance and insurance. But Cadillac surprised everyone when it announced they would be shuttering Book back in November.

“We are hitting the pause button for a brief time to make some tweaks to Book [by Cadillac] based on our learnings,” a spokesman for GM said at the time.

It was unclear why Book closed down. Cadillac said there was a small group of customers that took advantage of swapping vehicles. There was also talk that certain aspects of the system, such as the back-end became a bit too costly. Dealers were not too happy about not being involved in this program. Cadillac handled many of the details such as delivery and service.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[Drew Dowdell]

I still question the viability of these services in all but the most expensive of options.

$1800 a month better be getting me a top end CT6 or an Escalade.  I can't see paying that and getting an XT4.

[G. David Felt]

I see only the rich really benefiting by this and then eventually those that want to buy CPO auto's. I really do not see the bulk of people using this type of service.

[smk4565]

The subscription service only works with autonomous cars that can drive themselves to another subscriber when you aren’t using it.  Then you split the cost of that car up among 4 or 5 subscribers and it becomes much cheaper to do that than own a car.

[regfootball]

they probably recreated it so it was easier to give cars to the dealer owners' wives and kids than demoing out a bunch of inventory on a regular basis.

 

Side note, that is a very flattering XT4 picture.  Good angle, good color, looks more sexy than it really is.

Edited January 29, 2019 by regfootball

[Suaviloquent]

And if what @smk4565 becomes real so too will be the death of road trips, drive/thru diners and the whole of middle America. Hmmmm just like middle Earth.

Was Tolkien perversly talking about real life? ????

[Drew Dowdell]

10 minutes ago, Suaviloquent said:

And if what @smk4565 becomes real so too will be the death of road trips, drive/thru diners and the whole of middle America. Hmmmm just like middle Earth.

Was Tolkien perversly talking about real life? ????

I think cars as a subscription will be further off than EVs or Autonomous driving are. There will be a need to own a car for a long while still. Our lack of spending on infrastructure demands it. 

[surreal1272]

Umm, in a word...no.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Umm, in a word...no.

Who? What?

[riviera74]

Mobility as a service is what Uber and Lyft are selling.  Automakers will NOT have a selling point that is better than those apps.

[Drew Dowdell]

13 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Mobility as a service is what Uber and Lyft are selling.  Automakers will NOT have a selling point that is better than those apps.

I really wonder how close to peak Uber we're getting.  I do use Uber, but I'm not ready to give up my car(s) in favor of Uber. 

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, riviera74 said:

Mobility as a service is what Uber and Lyft are selling.  Automakers will NOT have a selling point that is better than those apps.

I never use either, have no need and will either take community transit bus or I drive myself.

To me Uber and Lyft is just a nicer version of taxis with more flexibility. I see this as more of a modern replacement for the nasty taxis.

I do not see in my life time people giving up auto's for a Uber / Lyft service world. That is at least another 50 years.