Cadillac's revived subscription program to rely on dealers

DETROIT — When Cadillac reintroduces its vehicle subscription service in the coming months, dealers will be much more involved.

Cadillac marketing chief Deborah Wahl, who oversees the program, said the sequel to Book by Cadillac, "Book 2.0," plans to take advantage of the brand's network of 900-plus dealers for several facets, from business operations to service and maintenance of vehicles.

"Book 2.0 really works even more closely with our dealer network because we think there's a lot of opportunity as you go forward," she told Automotive News last week at the Detroit auto show. "We're going to base it off the dealer network."

It's unclear whether dealers would own the vehicles in the subscription program. Under the initial pilot program, which launched in March 2017 and was suspended late last year, Cadillac owned the vehicles and essentially handled all day-to-day aspects of the service.

Cadillac President Steve Carlisle said the program is expected to launch around the end of the first quarter, or possibly the second — months later than the company initially said last year.

"We have some things to work out, but we think will be better all around — from a consumer point of view, from our point of view, from a dealer point of view," Carlisle said.

The lack of dealer involvement in the first program, which was started under a different leadership team, was a sore point for many Cadillac retailers.

Melody Lee, who headed Book by Cadillac before leaving the company in August, said Cadillac had a long-term plan to more integrally involve retailers, but first wanted to better establish the service and make it profitable.

The new program, Wahl said, seeks to better position dealers for upcoming changes in vehicle ownership patterns.

"We have to recognize that all of us — from the manufacturers to the dealer networks — we have to evolve our models to keep up with where consumers are," she said.

The first phase of the revamped program will include pilot programs in select cities; New York, where the program launched and Cadillac was formerly based, will not be involved, she said.

When it was launched, Book by Cadillac was called a potentially revolutionary way to access a vehicle. Automakers such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have followed Cadillac with subscription programs.

The program's $1,800 monthly fee covered insurance and other costs, such as maintenance. Subscribers could swap in and out of Cadillac vehicles with no long-term commitment. It was launched in New York, followed by Los Angeles and Dallas.

Wahl said the new program will include different messaging and technology, with less focus on customers being able to switch in and out of vehicles. Cadillac has said fewer customers than expected were making such switches.