[Pegasus]

Since the interior color is the only option available on the XLR, and since there are only two colors to pick from, I thought I'd inquire with my source at BG as to the breakdown of exterior/interior color combinations that were produced in the 2006 V's (total of 1,147). I'm thinking about trading up to one and I was curious as to the population of the various combinations. Once again there are some surprises in the numbers.

Black w/Ebony

399 units​

35% of the total​

Black w/Shale & Black

163​

14%​

Platinum w/Ebony

193​

17%​

Platinum w/Shale & Black

106​

9%​

Red w/Ebony

58​

5%​

Red w/Shale & Black

228​

20%​

I'm surprised about the extemely low number of red/ebony V's (only 58, 5% of the total). This is one of the combinations that I've seen and am considering purchasing and it is sharp. Other than black/ebony it is the most masculine, sporty combination offered, in my opinion. If you have one of these it is a rare item indeed!

It also surprised me that as many black/shale (14%) and, particularly platinum/shale (9%) vehicles were produced. I haven't seen either one of these combinations. Black and shale could be OK, but platinum/shale doesn't sound all that appealing. But then to each his own.

Not surprisingly, black/ebony and red/shale were the two most popular combinations, together accounting for 55% of the total vehicles produced.

Hopefully you find this information as fascinating as I do.

Chuck

 

[caddiedrummer]

Interesting stuff---my V is black/shale. My dealer had black/ebony and red/shale but I went with black/shale due to contrast. The red/shale looked good. I just decided that for once I was going to bite the bullet and have a black sports car.

They made a lot of them (relatively speaking) but black REALLY looks elegant on the V. But you must have a passion for washing it!

 

[xlr]

Now the real question is how many were actually sold?

 

[XLR-V]

I believe these numbers to be inaccurate. Your total number of 4,136 XLR/XLR-V’s sounds right but XLR-V production did not start until after serial number 2,000. I doubt every second car produced, from that point, was a XLR-V.

You may be right but I need to see more evidence, since GM has been quoted numerous times about the XLR-V being every fifth car produced.

 

[Pegasus]

Here Are Some Facts For You

Believe what you want. All I know is that V's that once sold for $100K are now selling for $75K. That's a fact! I just bought one of them and I'm extremely happy about it. I suspect your questioning of these data, which as I indicated were obtained directly from the analyst in Bpwling Green that tracks these types of things for the Corvette as well as the XLR, is probably more linked to you being one of the people that paid 100 grand.

In other postings I've pointed out the mistakes made by GM in such key areas as pricing, production and dealer training in bringing this vehicle to market. If you talk to Mr. XLR, as I have, you will find out that he too recognizes the mistakes made by GM - - as well as the fact that the independent Cadillac dealers kept demanding that more and more V's be produced and made available to them because they thought they were going to make a "killing" selling them.

Here's another fact for you, GM is currently offering over $10,000 in rebates and other incentives to help the dealers moving the remaining '06 V's off their lots. That's why they can be purchased at retail for well below "dealer cost". Even with all of this, there are still plenty of them out there.

The base XLR and XLR-V are great automobiles. In making my decision I considered the SL55 and the new XKR, both of which are also fantastic cars. But I decided on a V because I loved my '05 and, for the difference in price, I thought it was an unbelievable deal.

Whether you believe the number of V's produced is 800 or 1,100, the fact of the matter is they are readily available and at lower and lower prices. It's simply a function of supply and demand. And that's a fact.

 

[Guest]

Chuck,
I didn't find the shale/platinum appealing either, but since I didn't have to many choices and had and o4 ebony interior on my platinum, I chose to do shale/platinum. My question would be why don't we have more choices like two tone seating combinations, which would really set the cabin off

 

[harrysxlr]

Chuck,
I didn't find the shale/platinum appealing either, but since I didn't have to many choices and had and o4 ebony interior on my platinum, I chose to do shale/platinum. My question would be why don't we have more choices like two tone seating combinations, which would really set the cabin off

Bob, yes, a two tone seating would look great. Like for your platinum V a red/ebony interior would look cool.

Hans

 

[Guest]

Hans,
That's what I had in mind after seeing the GTO with the two tone interior

 

[1_XLR]

I believe these numbers to be inaccurate. Your total number of 4,136 XLR/XLR-V’s sounds right but XLR-V production did not start until after serial number 2,000. I doubt every second car produced, from that point, was a XLR-V.

You may be right but I need to see more evidence, since GM has been quoted numerous times about the XLR-V being every fifth car produced.

Interesting observation XLR-V.

Does anyone know the actuall serial number of the first RETAIL XLR-V?
Mine is 211* and I haven't heard of one lower....including MJs "first"
Also, what was the last serial number produced in 06?

 

[caddiedrummer]

Pegasus' numbers seem too detailed to be wrong.

I had 1 of the very first C5 Vettes and thought it would be a low prod car by Vette standards and they made almost 38,000! There are a lot of folks in the know who think there were 700 Vs tops for 06. But, even 1200 makes it pretty exclusive--about in traditional Viper ranges. The actual numbers must come out sometime. We usually have them for the Vipers pretty quickly.

 

[427]

2006 XLR VIN Spreadsheet

Back in November, I downloaded the 2006 XLR VIN info that was posted on the Bowling Green Assembly Plant website ... The 1.5MB file has since been removed. I've converted the HTML file to an Excel spreadsheet: CLICK HERE (650K)

BTW- When doing a FIND ALL for XLR-V serial numbers, it shows 1147 were built ... But there are a few pre-production vehicles in that total.

Hope this helps,
427

 

[Pegasus]

Wow 427, where the heck did you come up with these data? Very neat.

And now we have the "evidence" that some doubting Thomases were seeking!!

If you look at the data you'll see that the first V produced was #2038 and the last one produced was #4105.

Secondly, you can do a sort by model and see, in fact, that the total number of V's produced was right in line with the number I reported earlier.

Finally, if you look at the trend of V's produced versus the base model, you'll see that initially it was in a ratio of about 1 to 4 or 5. Near the end of the production cycle they were producing almost 2 V's for every 1 base model. This reflects what I said earlier about dealers demanding more and more V's so they could make the "big killing". Unfortunately, many dealers ended up choaking on their inventory and now Big Daddy GM has had to come to the rescue with big time rebates.

Hopefully this VIN by VIN breakdown will put to rest the issue as to production data for the 2006 model year XLR and XLR-V. I knew all along that my $50,000 a year analyst contact wouldn't purposely lie to me or make up data just for the heck of it.

The interesting question now is how many V's will the boys at GM produce for 2007? Given their experience in over producing the 2006, maybe they'll under produce the '07's and we'll all be able to re-sell our V's for more than we paid for them.

 

[427]

If you look at the data you'll see that the first V produced was #2038 and the last one produced was #4105.

Please don't take offense ... Perhapz I'm reading the chart incorrectly. Why does it appear that there were lotz of V's (60+) produced below the 2000 VIN number? Is the first one really starting at #507 ?!?! :confused

 

[Pegasus]

427, no offense taken. You are correct in noting that the first 2006 V produced acutally occured much earlier in the production cycle than I had originally indicated.

I've sorted and analyzed the entire VIN database you provided and here's what it shows:

1. The first regular production V had a VIN number ending in 507.
2. Prior to that, there were actually 20 V's produced that were prototypes as evidenced by the fact that they had VIN's ending in EX.
3. The total number of regular production V's made was 1,124 plus the 20 prototypes equals the total of 1,144 previously reported.
4. The VIN number on the last '06 V produced ended with 4105.

You can sort the data to learn more about a particular dealer and the number of V's they ordered. This is a good way to determine whether or not you might be dealing with a dealer that has experience in selling and servicing V's.

To do so you have to know the dealer's number which can be gained from various sources, including backing into it from a particular vehicle's VIN. For example, you can search a dealer's inventory on the web which will show you VIN's. Using a VIN you can search for the dealer number in the database. Once you have the dealer number you can sort the entire database to learn the total number of V's that were shipped to them. The total number shipped less the number currently in inventory will give you a good idea how many they've sold (some may have been traded to other dealers). The same approach can be taken to base XLR's.

In the process of working with this database I've also learned a lot about VIN's in general and the meaning of each of the 17 characters. I'll report on this in a separate posting. In the meantime if anyone has any questions about the production data or VIN's let me know.

Again 427, thanks for coming up with such a great database.

 

[427]

Pegasus- Thanx for taking the time to analyze the data ...
I look forward to your report.

Seemz a couple people thought the V production started after serial #2000. I believe they truly thought their info was legit ... Itz all too confusing.

 

[Guest]

Hold on now. I've been watching these numbers in the wings and just wondering, "what's the big deal as far as who has what number."
Also, you just said here that the first V was produced at #2038 and the last was #4105. Even I can subtract this and come up with 2067 V's where made. So what about the #1144. Is it real or not?
Now I'm all excited to see what number is in my wheel well and on my door...............and for the life of me I can't figure out why.

Wow 427, where the heck did you come up with these data? Very neat.

And now we have the "evidence" that some doubting Thomases were seeking!!

If you look at the data you'll see that the first V produced was #2038 and the last one produced was #4105.

Secondly, you can do a sort by model and see, in fact, that the total number of V's produced was right in line with the number I reported earlier.

Finally, if you look at the trend of V's produced versus the base model, you'll see that initially it was in a ratio of about 1 to 4 or 5. Near the end of the production cycle they were producing almost 2 V's for every 1 base model. This reflects what I said earlier about dealers demanding more and more V's so they could make the "big killing". Unfortunately, many dealers ended up choaking on their inventory and now Big Daddy GM has had to come to the rescue with big time rebates.

Hopefully this VIN by VIN breakdown will put to rest the issue as to production data for the 2006 model year XLR and XLR-V. I knew all along that my $50,000 a year analyst contact wouldn't purposely lie to me or make up data just for the heck of it.

The interesting question now is how many V's will the boys at GM produce for 2007? Given their experience in over producing the 2006, maybe they'll under produce the '07's and we'll all be able to re-sell our V's for more than we paid for them.

 

[Pegasus]

You need to work on your math. V's and base XLR's are all in the same numbering sequence so you can't just subtract the first V VIN from the last.

As far as being excited about your build date, I'm not sure what to tell you.

 

[Guest]

Pardon me

OK, you have been very blunt about my math, so I guess I can be blunt as well, about your presentation in your post. The following is what you wrote.
"If you look at the data you'll see that the first V produced was #2038 and the last one produced was #4105."
Now if you meant to include XLR's you should have said so.
Have a nice holiday
Bob

You need to work on your math. V's and base XLR's are all in the same numbering sequence so you can't just subtract the first V VIN from the last.

As far as being excited about your build date, I'm not sure what to tell you.

 

[427]

Now kidz ... Letz behave back there. :boxing If you don't stop the arguing, I'll turn this car right around and go straight home ... And we won't stop for ice-cream! :nono

 

[Guest]

Daddy?.................Are we there yet?...................I have to go pee!

Now kidz ... Letz behave back there. :boxing If you don't stop the arguing, I'll turn this car right around and go straight home ... And we won't stop for ice-cream! :nono