Do fleet sales have to be a negative? That is the question many are debating with the 2013 Cadillac XTS. “Rental car” originally became a negative term because of the cheap base models manufacturers pushed out en masse. Cadillac is betting the livery market is a different story.
For a long time, the livery industry’s indisputable champ has undoubtedly been Lincoln with the Town Car. While Cadillacs have often been used in the past, they have had a limited market share over the past decade.
For many, that indicates that Cadillac has been doing something right; you know, appealing to actual retail customers. With the Town Car being canceled, Cadillac is looking to get into the market with the XTS. It was introduced at the Los Angeles International Auto Show last year and is now on sale. There has been a debate about whether or not Cadillac should aggressively pursue it. Today the company has released three models of the XTS: a limousine, a hearse, and a black car/livery entrant.
The Livery Package will likely be the most popular, but Cadillac doesn’t intend to push it out in volume. Rather than offering it with a stripped feature set, the Livery Package adds including an air-leveling rear suspension, heated rear seats, and side and rear window shades. Cadillac will aim for sales to luxury hotels and other venues. It remains to be seen what these models will do for Caddy’s image – we haven’t seen any BMW or Mercedes hearses lately. One thing is for sure, though; the XTS is a more impressive large Caddy sedan than we’ve seen in years. It has a stunning interior that may surprise some of the business customers that travel back there. Cadillac is hoping that positive feedback from these riders will translate into sales for the XTS.
