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GM's Mark Reuss explains why a performance Cadillac ELR-V won't happen

Hey, I've got enough things to worry about. That's one interpretation of General Motors executive vice president Mark Reuss' response to a question posed by Driving the Nation about the recently-introduced Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid. Reuss said GM will "definitely expand the tuning envelope" for the ELR. The question was whether GM would consider adding magnetic ride control to the quite-powerful-for-a-plug-in Caddy, creating an "ELR-V" model in the process. Reuss' non-answer: "Good question, can't really answer that," but then elaborated that magnetic ride control uses up "a lot" of power otherwise spoken for in terms of providing the longest electric-only range possible. Interestingly, he did add that GM will "definitely expand the tuning envelope" for the ELR, as you can see in the video below. With the model retailing for north of $75,000, fewer than 60 percent of US Cadillac dealers were carrying the ELR as of last month and just 99 ELRs were sold during the first two months of the year. In an effort to sell more vehicles, GM said in January that it would offer the ELR for a 39-month lease for $699 a month for qualified lessees and with a $5,999 down-payment required. Autoblog's First Drive impressions of the ELR can be found here.

Cadillac's de Nysschen won't budge on raised pricing

According to new Cadillac boss Johan de Nysschen, it will take between 10 and 15 years to elevate GM's top brand, which was once hailed as "The Standard Of The World," back to prominence in the minds of American customers. And to hear the executive talk of it, the brand is going to have to be willing to see sales falter in the near-term before they recover:
"Either you have to bring your volume aspirations into alignment with reality and accept that you will sell fewer cars... Or you have to drop the price and continue to transact at the prices where you were historically... I think the logical conclusion is that it's better to build off a very solid base in terms of [product] credibility, charge a fair price for the car and realize you have to wait until the volume comes."
In other words, sales will fall before they rise, and the brand has to be okay with that. Notice, too, that de Nysschen speaks of "a fair price" for Cadillac cars and utility vehicles. In this case, "fair" means more than many of the brand's traditional buyers are accustomed to, and roughly in line with the brands and machines Cadillac believes it is competing against. For instance, the newly enlarged 2014 CTS carries a suggested retail price that is over $6,000 higher than it was in 2013, and some trim levels boast an even higher price premium over the models they replace.

Playboy reveals its 2013 Cars of the Year

Vaunted men's magazine Playboy knows that its readers are nearly as interested in cars as they are in the female anatomy... sorry, we thought we could write that with a straight face. Anyway, the buff-book does occasionally fill some of its spreads with sexy metal, to accent all the rest of the sexiness.
To wit, the magazine has unveiled its feature on the 2013 Cars of the Year. Without giving us much in the way of criteria for the awards, nor a clear framing of the categories ("Responsible Ride" is a particularly challenging concept, especially when you consider that the Mazdaspeed3 was the winner), Playboy has nevertheless highlighted what we assume to be it's favorite 12 or 13 (depending on how you count) cars from the 2013 model year.
Headlining the class is the Porsche 911, which Playboy writers single out for having "remarkable electronic voodoo." BMW M5 is named "Slickest Sports Sedan" though the Cadillac ATS then follows on because "we couldn't resist giving the new Caddy a shout-out." The rest of the picks are pretty conventional (save, perhaps, the Honda Fit EV as "Ace Electric"), even if the categories and methodology are fairly wonky. Cruise through or gallery for a taste or check out the full list, here. The site is safe for work, and you can legitimately (this time) say that you were reading it for the articles.