Cadillac News
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The first examples of Cadillac's range-extended electric ELR have rolled down the assembly line at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck facility. That's where Chevrolet already assembles the Volt range-extended car, on which the more luxurious ELR coupe is based. Cadillac invited IndyCar driver Simona de Silvestro, driver of the #78 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet, to witness the first examples off the line--pre-production examples used to validate production and quality procedures before volume production begins. It isn't the first time GM has invited someone from the world of motorsport to experience its...
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2014 Cadillac ELR: Variable Electric Regen Via Paddle Shifters
Paddle shifters on an electric vehicle might seem like a bit of an engineering oversight. After all, what use is manual control over gears if there are no gears to control? Think laterally though, and the appearance of paddle shifters in the 2014 Cadillac ELR makes a lot of sense--variable...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Cadillac ELR: Volt-Based Luxury Coupe Winter Testing Video
Winter testing is a vital part of developing a new car. Just as cars are expected to perform in the hottest conditions and face testing in arid places like Death Valley, cold-weather capability means owners in colder climates won't face any shocks either. That's particularly relevant for...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Cadillac ELR Video Preview
Based on the Volt, but dressed in a very sharp new suit, the 2014 Cadillac ELR promises to bring the joys of greener driving to the executive sector. Not that the luxury segment hasn't already been a hotbed of hybrid development in recent years, though initially slow on the uptake. That makes...
Nelson Ireson -
Bob Lutz: Volt's Electric Tech Should've Gone Into Escalade First
Ex-GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz played an instrumental part in getting Chevrolet's range-extended electric car, the Volt, to market. So important was his role that he's often considered the "father of the Volt"--but at the Detroit Auto Show, Lutz has said that he'd not have launched the car's...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Cadillac ELR Live Images: 2013 Detroit Auto Show
Looking considerably more futuristic than the Chevrolet Volt on which its based, Cadillac unveiled its 2014 ELR plug-in hybrid at this week’s Detroit Auto Show. Borrowing heavily from Cadillac’s “French curve be damned” school of design. the ELR manages to progress angular...
Kurt Ernst -
Based on the Converj concept first shown in 2009, the Cadillac ELR is set to become the very first Extended Range Electric Vehicle launched by a full-line luxury automaker when it hits Cadillac dealers in early 2014. Like the Chevrolet Volt, the Cadillac ELR will be primarily powered by a 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack feeding an electric motor that generates 295 pound-feet of torque (22 pound-feet more than the Volt). When the batteries are depleted, after an estimated 35 miles of range, a gasoline-powered generator takes over to boost range to roughly 300 miles. That gives the ELR the...
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Camouflaged 2014 Cadillac ELR Teaser Photo Released By GM
For years, spy photographers made a living shooting camouflaged test cars for eager fans. Now the auto companies are doing it themselves. GM today released a photo of the 2014 Cadillac ELR on the road in Southern California, covered in camo, as its second teaser shot for the electric luxury coupe...
John Voelcker -
2014 Cadillac ELR Electric Car: Teaser Image Of Voltec Coupe Released
We know the official release of the 2014 Cadillac ELR electric car will be on Monday, January 15, at the Detroit Auto Show. Now Cadillac has released a teaser image of the range-extended electric coupe, which is based on a modified version of the Voltec powertrain used in the Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
2014 Cadillac ELR Electric Car Will Be Built Next To Volt, GM Confirms
Color us, oh, not very surprised at all. General Motors confirmed yesterday that it would build the 2014 Cadillac ELR range-extended electric luxury coupe at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, on the same line that builds the ELR's Chevrolet Volt sibling. While this had long been discussed in the...
John Voelcker -
2013 Cadillac ATS: Smallest Caddy V-6 Gas Mileage Rated At 28 MPG
Back in July, the EPA released fuel economy figures for the Cadillac ATS compact luxury sedan, showing it was capable of returning up to 33 mpg highway and 22 mpg city when equipped with the base 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. Now the EPA has released a new set of numbers on the Cadillac ATS, this...
Kurt Ernst -
2014 Cadillac ELR: Volt-Based Coupe To Get New Engine?
Over the past decade, Cadillac has been trying to build--or rebuild--its reputation as a world-class luxury brand. Style, luxury, and performance all play into the mix of its new products, but it may take another decade for the world to think of Cadillac in the same category as German luxury...
John Voelcker -
You may remember that last August, we broke the story that what is now called the 2014 Cadillac ELR electric coupe got the green light for production by GM's overlords. An abashed GM confirmed the story a few days later and released the name of the new model, known until then as the Converj concept car. Now, we learn via GMInsideNews that another anonymous source says the ELR will enter production roughly 18 months from now at the same Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant where the Chevrolet Volt is built. Production will begin, GMI's source says, late in the 2013 calendar year--compared to some...
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2013 Cadillac XTS First To Use Greener R-1234yf Refrigerant
In addition to tailpipe emissions and greenhouse gases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also regulates other materials in cars that may emit substances harmful to humans. And so it is that the 2013 Cadillac XTS large luxury sedan will become the first U.S. vehicle to use a new refrigerant...
John Voelcker -
What Killed Electric Cars? The Electric Motor, 100 Years Ago
Ever felt a bit cranky in the morning? Chances are, it's not for quite the same reason as it would have been for your great grandfather. Because originally, "cranky" was what people called you if you'd become flustered from trying to hand crank your recalcitrant automobile. But in 1912, that all...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Cadillac ATS: Clean Diesel Sedan Confirmed By GM
Cadillac's ATS could prove to be one of 2012's most important cars, particularly for General Motors. Going head-to-head with the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the ATS will need to perform at stratospheric levels in all disciplines to match the talents of the German duo. It will also need...
Antony Ingram -
No, The Electric Cadillac ELR Will NOT Have Rear-Wheel Drive
We follow plug-in cars pretty closely here, and occasionally we manage to break stories. One was the production green light for the Cadillac Converj electric car concept, confirmed by GM as the Cadillac ELR coupe just six days later. So when we see an article that's ... let's say implausible ...
John Voelcker -
Cadillac Seriously Considers Producing Clean Diesel Engines, Possibly For U.S.
When it comes to large luxury sedans and SUVs, many car buyers are now choosing to swap high-capacity gasoline engines for the latest generation of high-mileage, clean-diesel engines from German automakers like BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Now Cadillac, General Motor’s luxury brand, has...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Some proposed technological innovations seem so far out that they are easy to reject out of hand. But sometimes, a new idea has a kernel of plausibility. Such is the case with a new project to develop a thorium laser power generation system that its creator says could provide electricity for the grid, stand-alone power applications and even cars. Charles Stevens, an inventor and entrepreneur, recently revealed that his Massachusetts-based R&D firm, Laser Power Systems (LPS), is working on a turbine/electric generator system that is powered by “an accelerator-driven thorium-based...
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Cadillac Ciel Concept: GM's Next Hybrid, Maybe, Or Not? (Updated)
Last night at an event before the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Carmel, Cailfornia, Cadillac unveiled its Ciel concept car, which it calls "an open-air grand touring car." Under the sleek, imposing lines, the all-wheel-drive Ciel four-seat convertible is powered by a 425-horsepower, 3.6-liter...
John Voelcker -
Cadillac ELR Plug-In Cost: Less Than Tesla Model S, More Than Volt
When the Cadillac ELR extended-range plug-in car goes on sale, probably in 2013 as a 2014 model, it's a given that it will cost more than the 2012 Chevy Volt. But how much more? In the spate of reports late yesterday covering GM's announcement yesterday that its 2009 Cadillac Converj concept would...
John Voelcker -
Cadillac's Volt-Based Converj Electric Car Gets Green Light: Exclusive
Sometimes, like Lazarus, dead cars rise again. We've learned from an inside source at General Motors, a person close to the project, that the electric Cadillac Converj luxury coupe is now back in the GM product plan. The Converj was recently approved for production by GM product executives. It will...
John Voelcker -
A123 Gets Lithium-Cell Deal For Unspecified GM Electric Car
Another shoe dropped today, revealing one more little piece of General Motors' electric-car strategy. GM said this morning it had awarded a production contract for nanophosphate lithium-ion cells to A123 Systems, to be used in "future GM electric vehicles" that will be "announced at a later date"...
John Voelcker -
What Really Killed The Cadillac SRX Plug-In? It's Complicated
When a major automaker cancels an innovative plug-in hybrid vehicle program, that's big news. If it's General Motors, that goes double, given the politics that continue to swirl around GM's bankruptcy and the U.S. government's ongoing ownership of part of the company. So it was news when...
John Voelcker