Cadillac discontinues XT4 crossover SUV

• The XT4 compact crossover ends production in January after one generation
• The Cadillac Optiq electric crossover will take the place as the entry point into the Cadillac brand
• Production of the XT4 ends not longer after it ended on the Chevy Malibu as GM retools its Fairfax Assembly for the next Bolt EV

A year after an interior glow-up, Cadillac decided to stop investing in the XT4 small crossover. GM’s luxury brand will stop making the XT4 in January as it retools its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas to make the resurrected Chevy Bolt EV, according to an Automotive News report. 

The news is somewhat of a surprise after the refreshed 2024 Cadillac XT4 model went on sale last year with new ends and a curved 33-inch LED screen that integrated a touchscreen and digital instrument cluster. That same digital display graces the forthcoming 2025 Cadillac Optiq, an electric small crossover that Cadillac had said would be sold alongside the XT4 on showroom floors. 

Plans change, as they do. The 2025 Cadillac XT4 will be produced through January and remain on sale until they’re sold out. There will be no 2026 model year of Cadillac’s most inexpensive model, starting at less than $40,000.

Introduced in 2018 for the 2019 model year, the XT4 only survived one generation, in spite of the recent updates. Sales of the XT4 were down nearly 12% year-over-year, based on GM’s Q3 investor call. It didn’t sell as well as the XT5 midsize crossover, but outsold the XT6 three-row SUV. It amounted to a fraction of sales of the similarly sized Buick Encore GX and Chevy Equinox. 

The gas-powered Chevy Equinox lives on for another generation, while the 2025 Equinox EV rolls out in greater numbers as GM’s most affordable electric car, with a forthcoming base model expected in the next few months starting at about $35,000. The Cadillac Optiq will be built alongside the Equinox EV in GM’s plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. 

The Fairfax Assembly had begun a reduction in workers this month when the Chevy Malibu sedan went out of production. GM expressed confidence in its gas and EV portfolio, telling Automotive News that it “will lean into growth opportunities guided by customer demand.”

A GM spokesperson added that the $391 million investment in staffing and retooling Fairfax for the second-generation Bolt EV remains on track.

With exception to the Nissan Leaf, the Bolt EV and related Bolt EUV had been the least expensive EVs on the market until its discontinuation last year. Plagued by a widespread battery fire recall, it was an ignominious end to a great EV that delivered on what other automakers could only talk about: an affordable EV.  

The list of discontinued cars for 2025 is filled with coupes and sedans, though the XT4 now adds another entry on the crossover SUV side.