Cadillac is a luxury EV giant. Can it keep it up under Trump?

To people who remember petrol-guzzling land yachts with tail fins, Cadillac isn’t the brand that springs to mind when they think of electric cars.

- LAWRENCE ULRICH

Yet, thanks to a wave of new models, Cadillac has passed BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche in US sales of electric luxury vehicles. Nearly one in four new Cadillacs sold in the country is now electric, leading the brand to its strongest first half of the year since 2008.

“Cadillac has done an amazing job converting its traditional customers to EVs,’ said Sam Fiorani, the vice president of AutoForecast Solutions.

Along with Chevrolet, Cadillac has helped its parent company, General Motors, rise to the No. 2 spot in EV sales behind Tesla. In the first seven months of the year, GM more than doubled its EV sales compared with a year earlier, to 78,000, while Tesla’s sales fell 11% to 272,000, according to Kelley Blue Book.

A once-stodgy brand that struggled to lure younger, tech-savvy car buyers, Cadillac is increasingly drawing customers from Tesla and other brands. About 70% of electric Cadillac Optiq and Lyriq buyers are switching from other luxury brands, according to GM, and 10% of them previously owned aTesla.

“We're in a position of great momentum,” said Jon Roth, the global vice president of Cadillac. “We offer more electric SUVs than any luxury manufacturer, all with more than 300 miles of driving range.”

But that momentum will soon be tested. Sales of electric vehicles, which were already slowing before President Donald Trump took office, could now tumble as the federal government dismantles Biden-era climate policies designed to get more people to buy such cars in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.