18 Months And Only 1835 Units Later Would You Say The Cadillac ELR Has Replaced The Edsel As the Worst Car Of All Time?

Far from it, its a terrific car its just not been priced or marketed properly. Its tragic what GM has not done for this car and what it has done has been a pathetic exercise. I've had dealers tell me its not over priced, then ticked off the Govt incentives, etc...attached to it as if that made it a bargain. They spent more money on training the sales people to tell customers they're misinformed, than on marketing why its a good car, and again, the price. If this car had been priced properly and some decent marketing it should have done better. In fact I saw a red one the other day and thought that is a really great looking neat car. For the 2016 model they've lowered the price to what $65K? There are still a lot of cars out there for $65K and that's the problem. This 2 seater, hybrid (specialty vehicle) or another for the money? For GM yet another expensive lesson learned...

Bulls Eye!

Uuuhhhhmmm, no! It wasn't a bad car. It just didn't resonate with consumers based on price. Personally, I thought it was priced well. High price or low sales numbers absolutely do not constitute a 'bad car.' Perfect examples would be the ATS and CTS...amazing cars, but just need a sales kick. It will happen.

For the Cadillac marketing chief to say "we've had a great learning exercise with this car" shows just how dimwitted the execs at Cadillac are. What exactly was there to learn? They should already know that you can't take a glacially slow-selling failure like the Volt, rewrap it, double the price, and then expect it to fly off the showroom floor. This is not rocket science, folks. It simply involves having a little common sense. The ELR is a really nice looking car. But I keep asking myself: Why do those who are leading Cadillac product development still have jobs? And de Nysschen for that matter?

@Dexter1> If it were only that simple. People speak of the Volt like it's a lowly, underserving vehicle. It's anything but. Because it's a Chevy could be why people were so up in arms over it and the ELR sharing technology. The real story here is just how cool the Voltech technology really is. The mistake for Cadillac was not using the Volt tech, but it was buyer's perception that the ELR was a dressed up Volt. Those who think like you. I challenge you to do your research and just see how many 'luxury' cars share corporate platforms...you may be surprised. In a nutshell, the ELR is a gorgeous, technologically advanced coupe that suffered from market perception. Cadillac could have nailed the marketing piece for that car, but it's perception as a Volt in a tux would have still rendered the same verdict...low sales. Had it not been on the Volt platform, it would have been a totally different outcome.

1: Neither the Edsel Nor the ELR were/are bad cars.
2: Having said that - the EDSEL and the ELR were two completely different and not comparable scenarios. With the Edsel - Ford almost bet the company for it to be a BIG hit - and expected it to outsell Buick, Oldsmobile, and Chrysler. GM never expected to sell the ELR in great numbers - they already knew that from the sales of the Volt. In fact - it might be better to compare the sales of the VOLT to the Edsel - since GM did expect to sell at least Prius type numbers with the Volt and did not. But at Prius levels - we were not talking about huge numbers compared to non-hybrid cars. THe Volt and the ELR will however go down in history as inventing a class of Hybrid Vehicle - and proving it could work in real life - there was NO such advancement from the Edsel.

GM = GREAT MISTAKE

the ELR should have been a Buick Electra sedan for volt prices

GM Execs:

'We overestimated our customers would be smart enough to realize this was a good deal'.

These idiots! GM execs are so out of touch they make my head spin.

You design a fugly hatchback that looks reminiscent of your models from 10 years ago, slap some leather seats in it, and just because you glued a "Cadillac" logo onto its bulging rear end it's somehow worth EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?

What freaking morons. The other commenter is correct, GM should fire everybody at Cadillac in charge of this program and start over.

The only people likely dumb enough to overpay for this debacle, yet somehow managing to earn the requisite income to afford it, are GM's own OVERPAID, idiotic execs. I don't think that is an "overestimation", Uwe.