Cadillac ELR to be Revealed Next Month

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Cadillac releases teaser ahead of electric coupe's reveal.
www.GMInsideNews.com
December 18, 2012
By: Nick Saporito

Cadillac has formally announced plans to introduce the brand's ELR extended range electric coupe next month at the 2013 North American International Auto Show. Along with the announcement Cadillac released a small teaser of the ELR, confirming that it looks like, well, what we already knew it would look like.

The ELR is based off of a similar architecture to the Chevrolet Volt and is allegedly going to use the same 1.4-liter generator and electric motor that the Volt currently encompasses. It is unclear at this time if the ELR will see some "Cadillac only" specifications such as a longer range or more power.

At last report the ELR was slated to enter production in late 2013 as a 2014 model. The design of both the exterior and interior are expected to follow the Converj concept vehicle that was shown a couple years ago.

GMI will be in attendance at NAIAS the week of January 14th for the ELR reveal.


Thanks CrunkedRL and dslay04 for first posting!

[MBKEMP]

One beautiful ride

[Car253]

This will help spread out the fixed costs of the two cars.

[rsbaker]

Just a few weeks left to go! I can't wait! I have been thinking lately that with the appearently successful design and production of the Tesla S electric car, GM would seem to, at a minimum, have to give ELR a fairly significant bump up in Electric-only Range. An optimal ELR would have greater range and more sporting performance. There is after all, a lot more competition now than when we first saw the Converj Concept. There will almost certainly be a 3-way camparison issues of most major auto magazines about a year from now of the Cadillac ELR, Tesla S, and Fisker Karma.

[jzchev28]

I can't wait to see it in person at the show!

[AMcA]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the ELR should have been the first plug-in. A plug-in electric is a fashion statement, and a luxury. A Chevrolet is not. ELR should have preceded Volt.

[DirtyMoney]

Is that the silhouette of the 140S concept?

[camaro_freak]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the ELR should have been the first plug-in. A plug-in electric is a fashion statement, and a luxury. A Chevrolet is not. ELR should have preceded Volt.

well said! This vehicle would have easily justified the high price, would not have needed such high "gubment" rebates either

[dankumm]

The design of both the exterior and interior are expected to follow the Converj concept vehicle that was shown a couple years ago.

Man I wish you were right about the interior as the concept car interior is my favorite interior on any car. You know something we don't because there were spy shots of the supposed interior a few months back on all the big car sites revealing a change towards the CTS and ATS interior styling instead.

[johnstarnes]

I sure hope it is meaningfully different from the Volt vs. a re-skin.

[Dovetonsils]

Can't wait to see this one.

I thought it was going to use a 1.6L generator, though. We'll see!

[MechEng]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the ELR should have been the first plug-in. A plug-in electric is a fashion statement, and a luxury. A Chevrolet is not. ELR should have preceded Volt.

I'm not sure I agree. If the ELR would launch first I would not have bought it. It would be outside my budget and the two door coupe would make it too impractical for me. I believe that I fall into the majority demographic for the Volt. Certainly there were a number of potential ELR buyers that bought the Volt. Many of the Volt sales have been leases. The ELR will be out in time for those who are looking to trade up. So I think this was a smart approach by GM. If GM would have launched the ELR first the volume would be low and they would have been attacked in the press even more than with the Volt. I'm guessing ELR production will be in the 500 to 750 units a month range.

Step one: Get the technology out there and prove it works (now done), Step two: Recoup costs (ELR + Volt), Step three: Proliferate the technology to other models (Buick MPV?), Step four: Bring it mainstream

Were I would like to see it go:
GM launches in CY 2015 a MY 2016 Buick MPV based on the D2XX platform similar to the Opel Zafira with a Voltec 2.0 powertrain. GM follows within a year to update Volt and ELR to D2XX platform with application tailored Voltec 2.0 powertrains.

I wouldn't call the Volt a fashion statement. But it certainly is a luxury. A luxury I can afford because of the powertrain. There is not another single vehicle I can think of that is as nice as a Volt that has a lower total cost of ownership.

[prowlerjc]

I sure hope it is meaningfully different from the Volt vs. a re-skin.

I'm going to go ahead and tell you to prepare yourself for disappointment.

[Quixote88]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the ELR should have been the first plug-in. A plug-in electric is a fashion statement, and a luxury. A Chevrolet is not. ELR should have preceded Volt.

You were wrong before and now you're wrong again...

The first car had to be a Chevrolet. GM, coming out of bankruptcy, had to make the Voltec technology as mainstream as possible, as quickly as possible. A two door, $60,000 +/- luxury coupe isn't now and wasn't then the way to move the metal.

We all know that GM has been hammered by certain media types who have openly called the Volt a failure, despite the fact that it works exactly as advertised, its many awards, and its ever growing number of highly satisfied customers. Much of the failure talk stems from the Volt's rather slow sales pace during its first year on the market. How bad do you think things would've been had the car been priced $20,000 higher?

And what if the Voltec technology didn't work as well as planned? Chevrolet could survive the hit. Could Cadillac? Cadillac was already an "iffy" brand for luxury buyers. They would've taken a major hit with their future product had the ELR failed to work as designed. A "fool me once" situation, so to speak...

Most of those who were buying a plug-in vehicle as a fashion statement would've purchased the Volt or ELR, so that doesn't matter. The "Hollywood" types lined up to buy their Volts(just as they had previously lined up to buy their Prii(?)): Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc.... So, even there I don't see how launching the ELR first would've helped.

But the biggest reason the Volt had to come first is a reason that is too often overlooked: They could market the vehicle in other parts of the world under different brands: Opel, Holden and Chevrolet, and sell those cars to the masses, thus generating revenue for the company and lowering costs in a shorter term. This is something that simply wasn't possible had the ELR come first. There are small differences, but the Holden and Opel are basically Chevrolet Volts with a new emblem.

[vcs2600]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the ELR should have been the first plug-in. A plug-in electric is a fashion statement, and a luxury. A Chevrolet is not. ELR should have preceded Volt.

An expensive 2-door luxury coupe is great for image purposes, but will sell in very low numbers.

Meanwhile, there's tons of Volts on the road in my area. I think it's good that GM got the practical & affordable model out, because it appeals to the type of customer who isn't reading Motor Trend or auto websites.