Photo: Cadillac
Cadillac ended the year with a welcome burst of sales momentum, reporting a strong 5.8 percent increase for the fourth quarter.
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Over the final three months of 2020, Cadillac achieved 42,909 sales. In comparison, the luxury brand sold 40,551 units over the same period of time in 2019. Results were even better on the retail side. Those sales were up 16 percent — the best showing for Cadillac since 2016.
Cadillac reported its yearly sales along with quarterly numbers. Totaling 129,495, those were down 17.1 percent compared to 2019. That’s no surprise considering the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that hit sales and production hard over the spring and summer and continues to hamper the economy.
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Cadillac fourth quarter sales leaders
The bulk of Cadillac’s sales in the fourth quarter — more than 80 percent — came from its luxury SUV lineup. The biggest gain came from the redesigned full-size Escalade, which sold 9,454 units for a 6.4 percent increase.
Photo: Cadillac
The overall leader for Cadillac was the XT5 with 10,950 sales, although this model was down about 2 percent for the quarter. The XT6 was down just 0.2 percent with 7,155 sales. The compact XT4 posted 6,988 sales, a 21.4 percent loss.
After a series of model discontinuations led to negligible sedan sales throughout 2019, a pair of two newer models gave Cadillac a welcome boost in the final quarter of 2020. The smaller CT4 achieved 2,721 sales, while the larger CT5 did even better with 5,135 sales. Both of these models were in their first full year on the market, so their sales numbers can’t be compared to 2019.
As Cadillac enters 2021, brand leaders are hoping for continued strong sales as the economy rebounds. A pair of new models — the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing high-performance sedans — should also help drive interest in the brand when they’re released later this year.
A longtime editor/writer and recently transplanted Hoosier, Caleb Cook lives in Xenia, Ohio. His favorite activities are reading and listening to music, although he occasionally emerges from the heap of books and vinyl records in his basement to stand blinking in the sunlight. Once fully acclimated to the outside world again, he can be observed hanging out with his wife, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, attending movies, walking the dog, or wandering into a local brewery to inquire about what’s on tap. See more articles by Caleb.