A 2018 Cadillac ATS-V Sedan once leased by President Joe Biden has gone up for auction.
The car was built as a “one-of-one specification” for Biden while he was out of office after serving as vice president under President Barack Obama. Namely, the car features tinted windows and a Kona Brown interior that is not known to exist for any other factory-built ATS-V model.
In a statement, a Cadillac spokesperson confirmed Biden’s connection to the car, noting the original wheels had also been replaced. The car’s documentation shows they are 18-inch CT4-V Blackwing wheels finished in Tech Bronze.
“He clearly has great taste in cars,” the spokesperson said.
Biden has long played up his love of automobiles. He is perhaps most associated with a Goodwood Green 1967 Corvette Stingray that he received in his mid-20s as a wedding gift from his father, a longtime Chevy dealer. The four-speed, manual-transmission ‘Vette features a 327-cubic-inch L79 V8 engine rated at 350 horsepower.
Biden showed off the vehicle in an episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” on CNBC.
Emails supporting the 2018 ATS-V’s documentation show Biden’s Secret Service detail requested that the car’s exterior come in black. Biden insisted on nothing else “extraordinary” about the car besides the Kona Brown leather interior. It’s not clear when the custom wheels were added.
The emails from 2017 also show Biden was considering reaching out directly to GM CEO Mary Barra or Johan de Nysschen, a onetime Cadillac executive, about the car.
Biden test-drove a CTS — a larger but more fuel-efficient version of the car — “for a few hours” before deciding on the ATS-V due to its smaller size, the emails from 2017 show.
The ATS-V up for auction has about 16,000 miles and had a high bid of nearly $30,000 among 13 bids as of Thursday afternoon, with six days of bidding remaining. Kelley Blue Book estimates an average 2018 ATS-V could fetch as much as $53,000 on the resale market.
The auction, though unrelated to Biden in the present day, is happening as the White House pushes for new standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The new rules also call on manufacturers to build and sell more electric vehicles, with the goal of having at least 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
