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About 150 Cadillac dealers would rather leave the brand than sell EVs

Dealerships might hamper GM’s plans to electrify its cars. Wall Street Journal tipsters claim that roughly 150 GM dealerships in the United States have decided to drop the Cadillac brand and accept a buyout (ranging from $300,000 to over $1 million) rather than spend about $200,000 to upgrade the dealerships with charging stations, repair hardware and other equipment needed to sell EVs. Many of these dealerships only sell a few Cadillacs per month versus more for Buick, Chevrolet and GMC, but itÂ’s still a significant blow when GM has 880 Cadillac dealers in the country. Cadillac brand leader Rory Harvey confirmed to the WSJ that GM was offering buyouts, but didnÂ’t say how many dealers took them or how much they were worth. The exodus underscores the challenges for conventional car brands as well as the potential advantages for alternatives like Tesla. As brands like GM are heavily dependent on dealerships, they have to please owners to have a chance of strong sales — and thatÂ’s difficult when theyÂ’re not certain about demand, even without the pandemic. Tesla and other direct-to-customer EV makers arenÂ’t bound by physical stores and already have the infrastructure in place for service centers. Dealers might not have much choice in the future. California is banning sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035, and that will likely force automakers to electrify no matter how dealership owners feel. The buyouts now arenÂ’t necessarily temporary, but we wouldnÂ’t rule out some shops having a change of heart as the effective EV deadline approaches. Related video:

2013 Cadillac XTS [w/video]

The Cadillac Of Stopgaps
As confusing as most alphanumeric car names have gotten in recent years, at least one constant has been that the letter "X" is generally indicative of a crossover. Then why did General Motors use this letter on its new 2013 Cadillac XTS luxury sedan? Well, for that, we'll have to look to the world of mathematics where "X" stands for an unknown variable or a placeholder. Now we're talking. The XTS is just an interim product sitting at the top of Cadillac's four-door food chain until the brand gets a true flagship in place. That sounds like a lot of resources to spend on what will likely be a one-and-done model, but the automaker needed to get something - anything - to replace the DTS.
So here you have the 2013 XTS. A big luxury sedan that was created to bridge the gap between Cadillac's recent past and its pending future. Going into our week with this XTS knowing that it was a stopgap measure proved to be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, we know (or hope) that this car will act as a baseline for future high-end Cadillac models, but at the same time, we couldn't help but be mindful of past stopgap models, albeit in more entry-level segments, like the Cimarron and Catera.

Cadillac's semi-autonomous Super Cruise pushed back to 2017

It looks like General Motors is discovering just how difficult it is to bring autonomous vehicle technology fit for public consumption to market. The company has pushed back the launch of its semi-autonomous Super Cruise technology by several months. Originally promised by CEO Mary Barra for a fall 2016 debut, Super Cruise was supposed to be offered first on the new CT6 sedan. Automotive News is reporting that won't be the case, following a statement from GM confirming that the new system would be pushed to sometime in 2017. At the very least, that's a several month delay. GM cited the need to get the system right and keep owners safe, which prevented a firm date for Super Cruise's debut. Product boss Mark Reuss was more blunt, though, telling AN, "It will come out when it is ready." Super Cruise would be one of the earliest examples of driverless tech to be put into public hands, following the introduction of Tesla's semi-autonomous AutoPilot system in 2015. Most other automakers experimenting with the autonomous vehicles don't foresee public sales until early in the next decade, including Toyota, Renault-Nissan, and Volvo. Before Barra suggested a 2016 debut, GM originally aimed to introduce its semi-autonomous system in 2020. Related Video: