(Watch For It)

Owing a Cadillac was the life goal of many people and the brand was no stranger to luxury sports cars.  There was the 1937 Cadillac 16 custom phaeton, the deville the coupe deville, the list goes on and on.  Being the Cadillac of cars, meant only those with the deep pockets could afford your product.  This meant older more established buyers who over time were aging out.  Cadillac wanted to attract younger buyers, and they felt that younger buyers wanted something sporty, something like a corvette, but with a more refined owner experience.  And so the Cadillac XLR was born and brought to the upscale market in 2003.  To push the luxury mindset they had Bulgari, an Italian luxury brand known for jewelery, watches and other accessories, design the gauges and they key fob.  Neuman Marcus offered a special edition XLR for its 2003 Christmas catalog.  Anyone who purchased the $85,000, limited editions XLR from their catalogue also got a limited edition, $3000 Bulgari wrist watch that matched the car’s design.

(A List of Firsts)

Cadillac insisted on pushing the luxury aspect of the XLR with many technologies that were coming to market with competitors from Europe.   Choosing the right model meant having a heated steering wheel, wood and aluminum trim, power trunk, magnetic ride control, heated and cooled seats, radar based adaptive cruise control and retractable hardtop. The retractable hard top, heated and cooled seats and ACC (adaptive cruise control) were a first for Cadillac.

(Something Special)

The XLR shared The same architecture with the C6 corvette, but it didn’t share GM’s 6.2 L V8.  Instead the XLR came with the Northstar 4.6L V8 rated at 320 horse power and 310 pound feet of torque. In 2006 something special came knocking with the XLR V.  The V series is Cadillacs line of high performance models. The XLR V got the 4.4 L supercharged V8 that produced 443 HP and 413 pound feet of torque.  This gave it a 0 to 60 time of 4.6 seconds.  It’s top speed was electricity limited to 155 miles per hour. The XLR had a starting price of $97,485 when it debuted and finished its run with a starting price of $104,215.

(Home On The Lot)

Cadillac had projected moving 5000 to 7000 XLR’s a year. Sadly their best year only saw 3730 units sold.  2009 was the final year of production and only 787 cars were sold, bringing the total number of XLR’s sold to 15,460. Sadly it took two full years to move the remaining units, with 188 units selling in 2010 and the final 12 units finally moving off the lot in 2011, two full years after production ended.