Last month in America, Mercedes-Benz sold 5,119 copies of their E-Class sedan, according to GoodCarBadCar. BMW moved 5,517 5-Series sedans. How did Cadillac do? They only sold 2,652 CTS-es. This happens every month, and now Cadillac is taking steps to try and fix it.
Depending on how you spec it, the Cadillac CTS is about to get between $1,000 and $3,000 cheaper, reports Automotive News. They'll also be adding more options and features to some trim levels.
Here's how that breaks down:
The new prices knock $3,000 off of trim levels near the top of the CTS range. For example, the sticker on a Premium Collection 3.6-liter V-6 is now $62,765, down from $65,767, including the shipping. The price on the trim level below it, the Performance Collection, also goes down $3,000, to $58,365.
Prices on models with the 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged engine have been reduced by $2,000. The Performance Collection trim package is now $56,665.
The car's base price of $46,340 will not change. It's an interesting outcome, not even four months after Cadillac CEO Johan De Nysschen swore up and down that the cars wouldn't get cheaper.
Maybe Cadillac finally faced the realities of the market. Despite record U.S. car sales last year and growth for nearly every brand, Cadillac sales fell 7 percent last year compared with a 6 percent increase for the luxury market, Autonews reports.
Despite the fact that the CTS is one of the best luxury sedans on the market, and the best sedan General Motors has ever built, it consistently lags hard behind its German rivals. Many blame the fact that it's priced similarly to those Germans while lacking their modern brand cachet, since Cadillac spent decades throwing their prestige away with garbage cars until about the mid-2000s or so.
It's kind of a shame, really. The new CTS happens to be excellent, and the upcoming 640 horsepower CTS-V could be the best car in that segment. When prospective buyers ask me what luxury cars they should consider, I mention the new Cadillacs are really good, and then they look at me like I'm insane, perhaps still haunted by memories of their grandpa's DeVille or crap like the Catera.
Convincing buyers to break away from their German luxury brands has been a struggle, and likely will continue to be that way. Will this will be a boost for CTS sales?