GM To Build New Cadillac At Detroit Plant
General Motors will invest $35 million at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant to build the Cadillac ELR, a luxury coupe featuring extended-range electric technology.
The car is the production version of Cadillac's Converj which was first shown as a concept vehicle in 2009.
"The ELR will be in a class by itself, further proof of our commitment to electric vehicles and advanced technology," General Motors North America President Mark Reuss said in a keynote address at the SAE Convergence Conference in Detroit. "People will instantly recognize it as a Cadillac by its distinctive, signature look and true-to-concept exterior design."
GM says the ELR "will advance the design theme of the Converj while featuring an electric propulsion system made up of a T-shaped lithium-ion battery, an electric drive unit, and a four-cylinder engine-generator. It will use electricity as its primary power source to drive the car without using gasoline or producing tailpipe emissions. When the battery's energy is low, the ELR seamlessly switches to a gasoline-powered electric generator to allow hundreds of additional driving miles."
The lithium-ion battery will be built at GM's Brownstown Battery Assembly plant in Brownstown Township.
Production is scheduled to begin in late 2013.
