Rumor: Caddy Volt??

[Andonis]

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/26/r...-its-own-volt/

[CJ Thunder]

Their simple chops looks better with the Caddilac logo than with the bowtie. The Volt CONCPET was very Science and Art.

[johnstarnes]

I REALLY hope that this comes to pass.....E-Flex could let GM surpass the competition AND the new CAFE regs in one leap.

[GMusa]

It would be a good idea.. a luxury extended range electric vehicle! This would be somthing Hollywood would get into... like the Escalade and Prius!

[wescoent]

No.

Delta.

Cadillacs.

Period.

I have no problem with GM wanting to sell a premium Volt... just don't make it a Cadillac.

Easy solution here, which I've mentioned before. Take the Delta II architecture that the Volt is on, and sculpt a slippery curvy body for it, and call it the Buick Electra. Slather the interior with wood, aluminum, and leather, and get it to BPG showroom ASAP.

[fp115]

Who said it would be a car? It will simply be running on E-Flex.

[Ambalanche]

Originally Posted by fp115

Who said it would be a car? It will simply be running on E-Flex.

Who are you? You seem to always have inside info. I don't think having a Cadillac version is bad as long as it's not a simple rebadge. Remember, Lexus is planning a version of the next Prius.

[AMcA]

I've been thinking this is EXACTLY what GM needs to do. Be the first one in the high-efficiency luxury car business. There's a huge advantage to being the first mover - think about the Mustang. Forever in the lead in the ponycar biz, no matter how bad Ford tried to kill it.

An electric Caddy. It seems perfect - absolute silence, massive torque. And the Volt's already got a wide stance, which will provide tons of Cadillac grade elbow room. And it has a long wheelbase for its length, which should make for a nice ride. All of these ingredients should make for a great Caddy.

And I bet you could charge a cover-the-cost price for it as a Caddy. And the poster above has an (almost) great idea: name it the Ampere. Sounds elegant, means electric. Perfect.

The extra cost of a Cadillac variant would be minimal within the context of the Volt program. Just differentiate it adequately.


A further thought: the Volt's a halo. If you can spread the light from the halo wider, so much the better.

[63GrandSport001]

The problem with GM is that they seem to think that building the Volt will all of a suddenly make people start buying trucks and SUVs once more. This seems to be the extent of their plans............

[2002 Caddy]

Wow!



Just keep Lutz away from the design team this time

[chevydlrmn]

"The NEW Allante"


Like Kelly Bundy said.

No really though, GM will likely move E-Flex across the entire board. It will pay for the R&D costs, pass Cafe and lead in technology. Leases have been cut, because the lenders don't want the cars back, since gas only autos will be low volume.

[Butz]

A higher end Volt for those who don't want a Chevy? Why not?

[PAULSTS1]

WILL GM EVER LEARN? RE-BADGING THE VOLT TO ALL DIVISIONS!

This is exactly what GM doesn't need to do. When they had Oldsmobile, it was the testing ground for Cadillac technology. After the technology was proven it was later introduced into a premium car (Toronado, then Eldorado). The Volt or whatever name GM decides on should be introduced as a Buick (as earlier stated by wescoent) then as popularity increases and market conditions allow, a more full featured Hybrid can be released to Cadillac as a premium Alpha. This car would be smaller than a CTS, but would sell for around the same dollar amount, with Hybrid technology and state of the art, light body construction, i.e. a new kind of Cadillac, not just a small car!

The thought about a small Cadillac just for being small, makes me cringe, I don't see it as a good marketing choice. Read articles: Cadillac is thought of World Wide as a large, grand car, build something else, you have a "White Elephant." Something that must be given away, and will not sell. Don't fool yourselves, many people in this forum are for it, but these same people have said time and time again, "they won't buy Cadillac." They hate the dealerships, the service records, and the offerings. These are the types that expect "perfection" in an imperfect world, and just have a lot of time on their hands to talk about things, there will be no pay days with them, only banter!

In closing, I don't think the Volt should be sold by Chevrolet, or Cadillac now. It's would be better offered through Buick, and after refinement, maybe after greater exposure, a more advanced offering someday can be offered by Cadillac.

[blkwrxsti]

Originally Posted by Butz

A higher end Volt for those who don't want a Chevy? Why not?

A "higher-end" volt? In my opinion, GM sent the wrong message by making the volt a Chevy in the first place. That message was - "everyman's car". While the Volt may someday get there, volumes for the first 5 years seem better suited to Cadillac. Paying $40K for a delta-sized vehicle, quiet cruising without ICE, the luxury of never having to go to a gas station, the leading edge technology - these all seem more consistent with Cadillac's image. I don't think it cheapens Cadillac's image, but reinforces it.

The way GM went about this, it's clear that the car was meant to burnish GM's image at the expense of Chevy's brand identity. Basically to sell people on the idea that GM was single handedly taking the automobile out of the environmental discussion. If it were my company, I'd have started the car at Cadillac, and then moved it to Chevy when the volumes made sense. The advantages are plenty -

Caddy has a smaller dealer body to train, and are more likely to already have mailing lists of high-income customers who are more likely to buy the first few years anyway. In my mind, the Volt should offer -
Special attention to customers - buying a car so different, they should be treated as special
Training/ Familiarization - more than the 15 minute deal you get with a normal car
Closer customer relationship to get early warnings back to HQ

Cadillac is more likely to get a "high tech" image boost from the Volt than Chevy is. What with all the Korean made pushrods that make up the rest of Chevy's fleet (sarcasm).

[blkwrxsti]

Originally Posted by PAULSTS1

WILL GM EVER LEARN? RE-BADGING THE VOLT TO ALL DIVISIONS!

This is exactly what GM doesn't need to do. When they had Oldsmobile, it was the testing ground for Cadillac technology. After the technology was proven it was later introduced into a premium car (Toronado, then Eldorado). The Volt or whatever name GM decides on should be introduced as a Buick (as earlier stated by wescoent) then as popularity increases and market conditions allow, a more full featured Hybrid can be released to Cadillac as a premium Alpha. This car would be smaller than a CTS, but would sell for around the same dollar amount, with Hybrid technology and state of the art, light body construction, i.e. a new kind of Cadillac, not just a small car!

The thought about a small Cadillac just for being small, makes me cringe, I don't see it as a good marketing choice. Read articles: Cadillac is thought of World Wide as a large, grand car, build something else, you have a "White Elephant." Something that must be given away, and will not sell. Don't fool yourselves, many people in this forum are for it, but these same people have said time and time again, "they won't buy Cadillac." They hate the dealerships, the service records, and the offerings. These are the types that expect "perfection" in an imperfect world, and just have a lot of time on their hands to talk about things, there will be no pay days with them, only banter!

In closing, I don't think the Volt should be sold by Chevrolet, or Cadillac now. It's would be better offered through Buick, and after refinement, maybe after greater exposure, a more advanced offering someday can be offered by Cadillac.

I agree with you that badge engineering is a dead end, but three things in your post bothered me:

The assumption that Cadillacs should always be BIG. That's what got Cadillac to where it is, change or die - as they say. This thing will be exclusive, very quiet, and the owner will never have to touch a gas pump. That's the sweetspot of Luxury now, not having 2.5 tons of steel around you. Your reference to the Alpha is already a good example of this trend, as is the Audi line, the expected Lexus Prius, etc.

The implication that GM should seek to hide the Volt from perfectionists, because then the initial car would be more of a success (maybe, but it would be at the expense of improving the car and potentially increasing their first-mover advantage). I also don't buy the idea that people buying the first electric vehicle will not be demanding, just because they're buying it from Chevy - and Chevy is not as well equipped to deal with them.

Giving a tech laden car to Buick? Once volumes get up there and the Chinese demand Volts, then give it to Buick, otherwise this is a recipe for failure. The simple act of calling this car a Buick will take it off most people's shopping lists. The tech-savvy bleeding-edge crowd won't be caught dead driving a Buick, while the typical Buick owner would worry that the high voltage electronics could short out his pacemaker, or try to put gas in the battery port...