Dealers Already Charging Markups For The 2023 Cadillac Lyriq

Pricing for the Cadillac Lyriq 2023 Debut Edition starts at $59,900, very reasonable considering the premium features and technology of this luxury electric crossover. However, the current market conditions have introduced a large amount of instability to the automotive market thanks to the low demand and high demand scenario caused by various supplier issues. This, in turn, prompted some dealers to take advantage of the situation and charge more than the MSRP for new vehicles, and the Cadillac Lyriq – which has not yet officially launched in America – was already incurring such a markup.

For example, a Cadillac dealer in Thousand Oaks, California is trying to squeeze an extra $5,000 from buyers of a pre-ordered Lyriq, which may be a Debut Edition model. Buyer writes to Cadillac Society about the surprise charge, stating that they were not notified of the surcharge until the dealership received their vehicle allocation. Dealers justified the upcharge as a “market adjustment,” and stated that it was necessary “due to high demand and limited supply” of the Cadillac Lyriq. Buyers, understandably frustrated by rising prices, indicated that they were abandoning the sale.

This is certainly not the first time dealers have charged well above the MSRP in recent memory. Perhaps the most extreme case of markup on Cadillac products is the Escalade. Dealers have asked for as much as $25,000 to $40,000 above the MSRP for a full-size luxury SUV. And earlier this year, Cadillac Society found several Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing super sedans with markups as high as $35,000 above MSRP to reflect “fair market value.”

Prices of “fair market adjustments” are so extreme in some cases that Cadillac’s parent company, General Motors, issues warnings to offending dealers to prevent the practice. The timing of the warning suggests that Cadillac and its parent company, GM, are concerned about dealers taking advantage of customers attracted by the highly sought-after Cadillac Lyriq. So far, these warnings don’t seem to have had much effect, so it’s interesting to see how dealers handle sales of the new electric crossover.

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