The Cadillac XT4 Will Die To Make Way for the Next Chevy Bolt
Despite a sales improvement last quarter, the Cadillac XT4 is a one-and-done model. General Motors announced that the compact crossover will be discontinued in January after a single generation of existence.
Built in Kansas City, Kansas, at the GM Fairfax Assembly plant, the XT4 shared the facility with the late Chevrolet Malibu. Initially, production of both were to be merely suspended as the plant is retooled for the redesigned Chevy Bolt EV. As recently as May, the XT4 was still on the order sheet.
“Fairfax will produce both the Bolt EV and XT4 on the same assembly line, which gives GM flexibility to respond to changes in customer demand,” corporate spokesman Kevin Kelly said at the time, reported GM Authority.
The shutdown will take up much of 2025, with production restarting toward the end of the year. Fast forward six months, and the XT4’s temporary pause has become permanent. Also sold in China, GM has no plans (right now) to cease XT4 production there.
“General Motors is confident in our strong ICE and EV portfolio and will lean into growth opportunities guided by customer demand,” a GM spokesperson said in a recent statement to Automotive News. “There is no change to our previously announced $391 million investment and staffing plans at Fairfax Assembly. This facility will continue to play a critical role in GM’s future with the new Chevrolet Bolt EV.”
The XT4 debuted in 2018 at the since-shuttered Cadillac House in New York and was refreshed for the 2024 model year. The compact crossover is the smallest and least expensive CUV in the Cadillac lineup. After an initial marketing push, which included a teaser shown during the 90th Academy Awards, promotions became few. The correlation between ad spend and sales can’t be a coincidence.
According to GM Authority, the XT4’s strongest sales year was 2019 with 31,987 units sold in the U.S. When removing peak COVID from the equation, the small CUV averaged about 22,000 units per year since.
This year, sales are down overall, which is a symptom of the XT lineup as a whole, but XT4 did experience a 6.7 percent bump in Q3 compared to last year. And in Canada, the XT4 remains the most popular of the Cadi crossovers, outselling both the XT5 and XT6.
However, as GM focuses on electrification, full ICE-equipped vehicles will continue to be dropped from the lineup. Farewell, XT4. We barely knew thee.
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