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Almost half of US Cadillac dealers say no to ELR plug-in hybrid

If you've got $75,995 (or so) burning a hole in your pocket and a hankering for the new Cadillac ELR, you'd better call your local dealer before you burn up shoe leather and gasoline to head down there. According to a report on Edmunds, only about 56 percent of the brand's 940 dealers have signed up to carry the premium plug-in hybrid. As much as we'd like to see the more affluent among us driving on electricity, we can certainly understand the dealers' apparent lack of enthusiasm. The article cites costs of up to $15,000 for tools and training to sell the ELR. Show floor real estate is another consideration for dealers who aren't enthusiastic about sacrificing space for a for a vehicle with initial sales – just 46 units nationwide in the first two months, but that volume is expected to increase – that are as mediocre as our first drive impressions. Still, for those locations that co-habitate with Chevrolet dealers who already participate in the Volt program, the extra expenditure shouldn't be too onerous. The two vehicles share the same basic electro-mechanical drivetrain, so those dealerships should have most of the needed infrastructure already in place. The bulk of ELR sales, according to Cadillac's global marketing director Jim Vurpillat, are expected to be in along the coasts, in places like California, Miami and New York. Featured Gallery 2015 Cadillac ELR: First Drive View 25 Photos News Source: Edmunds Green Cadillac Electric cadillac elr

Cadillac XT4 crossover reveals its lighting

The upcoming Cadillac XT4 compact crossover has once again been spotted, this time with less camouflage and an update to its lighting. Specifically, the little crossover is sporting production lighting front and rear, and it's sure to make the luxury SUV one of the boldest-looking Cadillacs. Part of the reason for this comes from the taillights. As we suspected from the last set of spy shots, the XT4 will have highly distinctive lights that run the full height of the C-pillar. Though it's a similar design to that of the Escalade, it's made more interesting by the significant forward rake of the rear pillar. Not only that, but that pillar is quite thick, too. The look is actually reminiscent of the old CTS wagon. Moving around the side, the reduced camouflage reveals that the doors and quarter panels are fairly conservative and lacking in many creases or bulges. We can make out the edges of what will likely be black plastic fender flares and rocker panel cladding. Finally reaching the front, we see that the headlights are similar to those of many current Cadillacs, including the recently refreshed XTS sedan. The main part of the lamp starts high up and is slightly horizontal like the Escala concept, but they extend over the fenders and a strip of LEDs descends down the front. A previous report noted the XT4 will be built in Kansas on the Chevy Malibu platform. That means it will be a front-drive-based vehicle likely offering both front- and all-wheel-drive. Under the hood will probably be at least one turbocharged four-cylinder engine, with a second, more powerful upgrade option a possibility. We expect to see the fully revealed model to show up by the end of 2018. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac XT4 spy shots View 15 Photos Image Credit: Brian Williams Spy Photos Cadillac Crossover SUV Luxury cadillac xt4 cadillac xt3

Cadillac says it made CUE infotainment a lot better

We've never been huge fans of CUE, the Cadillac User Experience infotainment interface. It's been around a few years now, and the best thing we can say for it is that it now supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, making it easy enough to replace most of the interface with a familiar smartphone-based system. Now Cadillac has made some big upgrades to the system that should address at least some of our concerns. First and foremost, the system is claimed to be more intuitive, with a more logical interface design. Cadillac has added a Summary View that gives an overview of the climate, media, navigation, and phone all at the same time. The system will also be able to receive over-the-air updates, allowing Cadillac to make improvements more often and push them out to owners' cars, mush like Tesla and other automakers already do. The 4G LTE connection will also be used to connect the car with the cloud, where drivers can store and modify their own personalized set of settings. This My Driver Preferences profile will include things like contacts, navigation preferences, and recent destinations, and will also follow them from one car equipped with the system to another. That should come in handy for anyone subscribing to the $1,500-a-month Book by Cadillac vehicle subscription service, which allows participants to swap between cars when they choose. The cloud connection will also carry over to a new available navigation function, which Cadillac claims has a more intuitive, smartphone-like interface. It uses its data connection to provide current destination info and is supposed to learn a driver's habits, such as their preferred routes and frequent destinations, which the system will then attempt to offer up predictively – so the car should be able to know that you're heading home at 5:00. Additional apps for the system will be available through Cadillac's new Collection app store. And it's still compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. One sore spot that appears to have been improved is the digital gauge package, although Cadillac hasn't offered details on that extension of the system. The current iteration's ability to over-customize the interface (our personal favorite is the option to display a total of four speedometers between the head-up display and the gauge screen; see video below) and unintuitive controls make it difficult to use and learn, while the simulated gauges don't look particularly realistic.