The Bowling Green Daily News reported that the Cadillac XLR has ceased production forever this past spring. Spawned from the eye-popping Evoq concept, the Corvette-derived (but Northstar-powered) hardtop convertible finds itself as General Motors' latest cost-cutting casualty. Its high price, low volume and decreasing sales do not make for a strong business case anymore, especially in an economic environment that is not conducive to new car sales in general. We've driven the XLR – the supercharged V-Series – and we like it a lot. Rare and stylish enough to still turn heads, fast enough to paste a wide, goofy grin on your face, and comfortable enough to let you cruise for hours on end – as good as it was, the XLR (and its V-Series counterpart) never quite got the formula perfected. It was doomed to perpetual also-ran status in its category compared to the benchmark set by the Mercedes-Benz SL. The Corvettes also had better engines, manual gearboxes and cost a lot less. The current CTS-V boasts a substantially better interior, is faster and costs less still. And so the XLR drives into the sunset this spring. Frankly, it's a pretty good ride to be making that drive in.
