An interesting event was captured at a Tesla Supercharger in Jinqiao, Shanghai. A sales team from Cadillac China parked a LYRIQ electric SUV at the Supercharger to lure Tesla owners who were there to charge their vehicles.
And not just that, the Cadillac team also offered free test drives to Tesla EV owners — a perfect time slot when a Tesla owner is looking to utilize his/her spare time.
Our friend, Tesla owner, and enthusiast Jay caught this activity on camera when he was at the Jinqiao Supercharger to pack a burst of electrons in his Tesla Model S battery.
While some might think that there is nothing wrong in this marketing tactic but for some it is not an ethical move by Cadillac. It’s kind of real life spam or even a fishing attempt at stealing Tesla customers.
According to Jay, this move by Cadillac is wrong for one more reason, their vehicle is not parked in a public parking spot. This test drive Cadillac LYRIQ is occupying a space not designated for parking.
However, this move by Cadillac can even backfire if those Tesla owners don’t feel the vibe while testing the LYRIQ. A bad review in a closely-knit Tesla Community can quickly go viral and leave a bad scar on the reputation of a tested vehicle.
A Tesla owner from Austria also reported that Audi used a similar strategy of engaging Tesla owners at Supercharger locations. But this does not seem to have worked for Audi as Model Y has been making quite a handful of headlines in Europe lately.
Tong, who owns multiple Tesla cars and EVs from other manufacturers in China, said that he has test-driven the LYRIQ SUV and wasn’t much impressed with it overall. He actually ordered a Tesla Model X Plaid after test driving the LYRIQ.
Cadillac LYRIQ has 3 variants priced between ¥439,700 – ¥479,700 RMB which equals to around $63K to $70K USD. This price range sits between Model Y and Model X in China which is between ¥261,900 and ¥1,039,900 ($38,100 and $151,285) respectively.
A well-known carmaker parking their EVs outside Tesla charging stations and offering free test drives to Tesla owners also shows desperation by the automaker. Let us know what you think on this in the comments section below.
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Actually allowing someone to test drive a car – how dare they do that! As one who has tested a Lyriq, I can tell you it’s much better than even the Model X which costs so much more it’s not even funny.
lololololololololol
Tesla just doesn’t look good.
It is a marketing move, but hardly a ‘desperate’ one. Going to where Tesla owners hang out seems pretty daring. It would be easy to look bad if your car was 2nd rate.
Having watched the video, I dp not see any sign that could be a ‘No Parking” one.
And I have NEVER seen any ethics in car selling.