Cadillac Killing XLR - Edmunds.com/Inside Line
DETROIT — The Cadillac XLR , the most expensive vehicle in the luxury brand's lineup, has been killed, Inside Line has confirmed with the automaker. The final XLR, Cadillac's retractable hardtop roadster, will roll off the line in Bowling Green, Kentucky sometime this spring, making 2009 its final model year.
"A specialty sports car like this has a limited life cycle," Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell told Inside Line on Monday. "It is not unusual for them to have a less permanent life cycle. This will be the final year (for XLR). XLR served a very useful purpose for Cadillac and its brand renaissance. "
He added: "There are a lot of brands and manufacturers curtailing plans due to low industry volume."
Caldwell said he did not know the month when XLR production will stop. He said a few dozen jobs are likely to be lost at the Bowling Green plant because of the XLR's demise. The XLR is built in the same plant as the Chevrolet Corvette , but in "its own little shop within the plant," Caldwell said. "The body is assembled apart from the Corvette and done in a non-assembly-line process."