Cadillac is ready to carry on without EVs without tax credits as it conquers new territory in the luxury segment with a rebuilt and re-tooled line-up. It’s expanding line-up of EVs is proving particularly appealing to younger buyers, says its brand boss. Headlight.News has more.
Cadillac began delivering the 2025 Optiq earlier this year.
As Tesla falters, Cadillac’s double-barreled drive into the EV market is picking up velocity.
“We’ve got great momentum with the brand,” Cadillac Global vice president John Roth said Thursday during a briefing for reporters on Cadillac business through the first half of 2025. Sales increased by 9% during the first six months of 2025 as Cadillac posted its best sales since the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Roth noted Cadillac is the luxury EV market share leader, posting record EV sales in the first half of 2025 to go along with record sales of its gas-powered crossovers.
New products spur sales
The Cadillac Celestiq shown at its debut.
Cadillac has introduced ten new or refreshed products in the past year, and the refurbished product line has helped Cadillac’s drive to regain its once-lofty position in the luxury market.
“Every vehicle is built from the ground up to be a Cadillac whether it’s ICE or EV. It is one of the best product lines I have ever seen in my thirty plus years at General Motors,” said Roth.
EVs accounted for nearly one-fourth of Cadillac’s retail sales so far this year, and in June made up 31% of its total volume. But Cadillac is continuing to “heavily invest” in its ICE products, such as the refurbished Escalade, said Roth.
Going to extremes
The Cadillac Celestiq shown at its debut.
A milestone was set this year when Cadillac delivered its most expensive product ever, the $340,000, hand-built Celestiq, to a customer in California.
“Celestiq is not about sales targets,” Roth said, answering a question about how many have been sold so far. “This is all about delivering a bespoke, one-of-one vehicle. It allows us to elevate what Cadillac stands for in the marketplace.
“We haven’t hand-built vehicles in over 50 years; this is an opportunity for us to get back to our roots,” he added, “but, at the same time, deliver a modern ultra-luxury vehicle that can compete with any ultra-luxury vehicle.”
More Cadillac News
- Cadillac Delivers its First Hand-Built Celestiq
- With Lyriq-V, Cadillac Pushes EV Performance to Extremes
- First Drive: Cadillac Optiq
Younger customers respond
The new Escalade IQ is offered in both standard and extended wheelbase packages.
The new products are capturing the attention of a new generation of buyers.
The average age of today’s Cadillac customer, according to Roth, has dropped to under fifty, and is now below that of German luxury brands. More than half of Cadillac’s sales come from rival brands such as Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, Roth added.
At the same, Cadillac entry into racing, particularly Formula One where the brand is building a new team, also has captured the interest of some 450,000 followers on social media to go along with a new, and more aggressive marketing campaign.
The entry into racing also piqued the interest in the brand in France where the Lyriq is the top selling EV in its class. Cadillac sales also increased by 9% in China in the first half of 2025.
Dealers get a boost
Charging up the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ.
Cadillac dealers and sales personnel have been furnished with new tools to help get them more comfortable with moving the brand’s shifting product line-up. The initiatives include new training for sales personnel, which incorporate AI. The goal is to deliver a customer experience that is second to none at the more than five hundred Cadillac dealerships across the U.S. – over 200 of them stand-alone stores.
Roth also said Cadillac is in a strong position to continue to prosper even after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit disappears on September 30. In reality, many current Caddy buyers didn’t qualify for those incentives, anyway, as they were subject to limits on both the price of a vehicle and on a customer’s income.
Cadillac does not disclose its average transaction price. But while the general market for EVs could suffer when the credits disappear, Roth observed the market for luxury EVs remains stable.
Cadillac isn’t ready to abandon gas models, Roth said. The Cadillac XT4 is shown here.
Never a straight line
Roth declined to say whether Cadillac would offer any incentives when the tax credits — which were eliminated when the new budget bill narrowly cleared Congress — finally expire. Roth also declined to discuss the potential impact of tariffs on Cadillac’s future pricing but noted that most Cadillacs are built in the United States.
Roth previously indicated that Cadillac has stepped back from its goal of becoming an all-electric brand by the end of the decade. Pressed on that subject during Thursday’s news conference he said, “The auto industry is never a straight line. You have to remain flexible. But there is a lot going in our favor. We continue to see our investment paying dividends,” said Roth.
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