Cadillac works to improve the customer experience in EV era

Improving customer and dealer experience is at the top of Cadillac's to-do list as the brand readies for an all-electric lineup.

Cadillac has launched a subcommittee of its dealer council to focus on customer experience, said David Butler, Cadillac National Dealer Council chairman.

The goal of the subcommittee is to streamline customers' transactions and improve communication between dealers and Cadillac as the retail model evolves with electric vehicles, said Butler, executive manager of Suburban Collection, a Michigan-based dealership group with 33 automobile brands in 54 locations in Michigan and California.

General Motors has named Cadillac its lead EV brand. Cadillac's first EV, the Lyriq midsize crossover, is due in 2022.

"Cadillac understands that for us to make it easier for the customer, they have to make it easier for us," said Butler. "This ties into setting up the future EV world that's going to be coming upon us."

One component is digital retail, using a third-party product or GM's Shop-Click-Drive tool, which was enhanced last year.

Cadillac also launched Cadillac Live — a digital showroom with live agents — just before the pandemic hit last year.

"It just came out timing-wise perfectly," Butler said. "It's really easy for a salesman on the phone with a customer to say, 'Go into Cadillac Live to see a whole presentation of the product that we're talking about.' "

Cadillac offered all of its dealers buyout packages last year to opt out of selling EVs, and at least a fifth of the dealer network accepted.

But even with a thinner network awaiting EVs, gasoline-powered vehicles such as the Escalade SUV will be part of Cadillac's sales for the foreseeable future, Butler said. Sales of the redesigned 2021 Escalade rose 6.4 percent to 9,454 in the fourth quarter.

"The adoption rate of EVs is a moving target. We don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket," he said.