Excellent, Balanced article. Chevy Bolt EV compared to others.

Bacardi said:

On the surface, yes, yet if we dive deeper...Let's say you keep the Bolt EV vehicle the same (looks/range/specs/price), only difference, you replace all Chevy badges with Ferrari badges...Ferrari is certainly more exclusive than Buick or Caddy but a Bolt EV made by Ferrari would probably have 500K orders instantly...

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The only way it would get 500K orders is if it could somehow be actually made by Ferrari and not cost any more. Just slapping a badge on it wouldn't change anything. Car buyers aren't that stupid.

And the same goes for slapping a Cadillac badge on it. The only way that would work is if they actually built it with Cadillac amenities. That would cost more, and appeal to fewer people because of the increased price. You just have to look at the Volt to see how that turned out.

Bacardi said:

Now Caddy's can be loaded up with more options which could all be more areas of contention...So I'm not sure what specific amenities you're looking for...

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Decent seats with power memory and a less plastic-y interior are what immediately spring to mind, but I'm sure there are others. I'm not a Caddy person (hell, I'm not even a North American Manufacturer person) so it's not my area of expertise. I just observe that the Caddy version of the Volt was more expensive and sold in miniscule numbers.

Here's the thing: what you perceive as "added value" in an upscale marque other people perceive as "expensive". GM is targeting the broadest market they can, and that market is more likely to be composed of Chevy buyers, I strongly suspect.

phil0909 said:

I think it's a confused marketing message - fancy drivetrain, but cheap materials, tiny cargo space, and lack of features such as ACC, power hatch, whatever that would be considered standard in a Cadillac.

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But that is just the reality of electric cars today, especially ones with long range. Slapping a Cadillac nameplate on the car without spending more money to add Cadillac features isn't going to fool anyone into believing it's a Cadillac. And adding those features is going to make it even more expensive and narrow the potential market.

phil0909 said:

Adding cost/features would narrow the market on the low end, but expand it on the high end.

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I'm having a pretty hard time envisioning an automobile market that has more buyers at higher price levels. Just look at Tesla - you sure don't see 400,000 reservations for the Model S. Why would the Bolt be different? Why wasn't the Volt vs. Cadillac ELR different?