Book by Cadillac's reboot will be a little different than before
The subscription service should be back up and running in a few months' time.
Book by Cadillac gave customers access to the automaker's full range of vehicles.
Book by Cadillac , the automaker's key party of a subscription program, lasted about a year before it closed shop at the end of 2018. But Cadillac's determined to reboot the program and make it more appealing.
Book by Cadillac will come back in 2019, Automotive News reports, citing an interview with Deborah Wahl, the automaker's marketing chief. When it comes back, it will take a new form that will hopefully give it the energy it didn't have in its first iteration.
How does it plan to do that? According to AN's interview with Wahl, the answer is (at least in part) dealers. Wahl told AN that Cadillac will make better use of its 900-some-odd dealers for a variety of purposes, including service, maintenance and business operations. Retailers were, according to the report, a little miffed when the first iteration of Book didn't really take advantage of their network, instead relying on a fleet company to handle deliveries and swaps. It's unclear if that means dealers will own the vehicles in the program -- previously, Cadillac itself owned everything in the Book fleet.
There will likely be some changes to how the program operates its swaps, too. Book 1.0 cost $1,800 per month, and it allowed users 18 annual swaps to vehicles of varying shapes and sizes, from midsize sedans to full-size SUVs . However, in an interview with GM Authority, Cadillac president Steve Carlisle said that a number of users weren't swapping cars, instead sticking with something practical like the XT5 SUV.
According to the AN interview, Book by Cadillac will launch again in either the first or second quarter of 2019. While that might be later than the company had hoped, getting it right the second time is paramount, as it can either prove or disprove the notion that there's profit to be had in this growing segment.
If you're interested in learning more about these programs, check out our handy car subscription guide.
