How low will Cadillac ELR prices go?

2016 model will start at $65,995, but there bigger savings to be had

It's difficult to say whether now is the absolute best time to buy a 2015 Cadillac ELR. At some dealerships pricing, is starting resemble a Dutch auction, with some dealers reportedly offering the ELR for just under $50,000, Bloomberg reports.

That's a serious discount off the official $75,995 MSRP for the 2015 model year, and in that regard holding out a little bit longer if you have your heart set on one and don't want to pay that much more than for a Chevrolet Volt may make sense. Cadillac has managed to sell just 1,835 examples of the Chevrolet Volt-based luxury coupe since it went on sale some 18 months ago. Our leading mathematicians tell us that that works out to just a little over a hundred cars per month, on average. As of May 2014, dealers had a two-year supply of the ELR on their lots, and the cars have only been piling up since.

Cadillac has been mum on the issue of sales, or lack thereof, until relatively recently, though it hasn't been lost on many buyers that the Volt offered an extra two doors and much of the same technology as the ELR for approximately half the price. So what went wrong?

Car News Cadillac knocks $10,000 off 2016 ELR

The slow-selling but good-looking Cadillac ELR is back for the 2016 model year with a bunch of upgrades and a lower price. Sales in 2014 totaled just 1,310 cars; we’d guess the company is trying ...

"The MSRP was, indeed, a mouthful," Cadillac marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus told Bloomberg. "We overestimated that customers would realize our competitors were naked at that price."

Cadillac pricing strategy with the ELR had been to feature as many luxury items as standard, an approach that inevitable led to an out-the-door price in the low $80,000 range before the application of state and federal tax credits, with the latter topping out at $7,500.  While Tesla Model S buyers have been readily able to absorb the high price that comes with a luxury electric or PHEV vehicle, it appears that Cadillac buyers did not feel like they were getting the Cadillac performance along with Cadillac luxury. As a result, the "base" ELR was already fully loaded, with a starting price to match.

For the 2016 model year, Cadillac will slash $10,000 off the starting price, with the 2016 ELR starting at $65,995 before the application of state and federal tax rebates, though better deals may still be able to be found for leftover 2015 model year cars.

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GM slashes prices in China as sales falter

GM slashes prices in China as sales falterChris Bruce

Buying a vehicle from General Motors' stable of brands might be a lot cheaper in the near future – at least for customers in China. The effort comes as GM hopes to keep sales there growing, and the decision alludes to yet another sign that the Asian country no longer has the booming auto market of past years.

GM and its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC are slashing prices by as much as the equivalent to $8,700 on 40 models from Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac, according to The Detroit News. Across all of automaker's nameplates, the overall sales dipped in China in April by 0.4 percent to 258,484 vehicles. Among the drops, Buick was down 8.5 percent, and Chevy shrunk 5.6 percent. Caddy's numbers increased 4.6 percent for the month, though.

Buick remains a popular brand in the minds of Chinese consumers, but according to The Detroit News domestic automakers there are starting to eat into the dominance of foreign companies in the market. The country remains important for GM, though. Late last year, it outlined a future strategy that included China as a major pillar, including a $14 billion investment to build five new factories and boost sales.

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Oil prices headed up or down? Experts divided

Oil prices headed up or down? Experts dividedChris Bruce

The reason fuel prices fluctuate wildly is not easy to understand, sometimes even by experts. You might expect analysts to look at the same data and come up with at least similar forecasts going forward. Well, two authorities weighing in with The Wall Street Journal have vastly different expectations.

The oil market largely focuses on two types of crude: West Texas Intermediate and Brent. According to Bloomberg, the prices as of this writing were $60.90 and $67.97 a barrel, respectively. However, one of the WSJ's experts predicts prices to fall to the $45-$50 range by the end of the year, and the other forecasts $72-$80.

So how can two people arrive at such vastly different ideas of forthcoming values? That future turns on how the world reacts to the currently high stockpile of crude. Assuming the inventory stays steady or grows, prices are expected to fall. Conversely, a low cost per-barrel creates less demand to drill new wells, and this comes as the summer drives up desire for fuel, which might force prices to increase.

In the nearer term, price jumps at the gas pump during this summer are reportedly unlikely. The current national average from the US Energy Information Administration is $2.66. However, the agency expects things to settle around $2.45 a gallon from April through September. That works out to be about a dollar less than last year and the cheapest warm-weather prices in the US since 2009.

Things don't look quite so rosy five or 10 years from now, though. Both experts think crude prices might grow in that time, possibly with spikes up to around $100 a barrel.

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