The Volt is the only Voltec, says GM

Will the Chevy Volt be the only Voltec vehicle ever produced? While some of you have mentioned the “CrossVolt,” GM is not talking about that, and as for the Cadillac ELR, GM says it will not classify it as Voltec.

 

“The propulsion system is shared with Volt. We are building on that proven technology, with 200 million miles (so far) of real-world driving,” said Don Butler, Cadillac’s marketing Vice President to Autoblog Green at the Detroit Auto Show. “But we will not call it ‘Voltec,’ and there are differences in calibration and tuning. It will have a bit more performance, we’ll go a little deeper into the battery’s capacity, and a feature we call “Regen on Demand” will let you control regenerative braking with steering-wheel paddles

Butler did not say what GM is calling the Cadillac E-REV that others have identified as nearly a re-skinned Volt with some tweaks, but there you have it. It is not a Voltec variant.

Nor is GM expecting to sell these in bunches like bananas.

“It will probably not be anyone’s primary vehicle. It will be a second, third, maybe even fourth vehicle in the household. We are not after volume with this car, not looking for hundreds of thousands of sales,” said Butler. “That’s not what this car is about. but it will definitely appeal to design enthusiasts and people who tend to be trendsetters within their spheres of influence and circles of friends. We’re looking for those few discerning individuals because they are very important to Cadillac as a brand. Some of our best marketing and advertising will show this car driving down the street, creating a bold presence for Cadillac.”

That said, unlike Gen-1 Volt, GM says the ELR will make money for the company.

“From a financial standpoint, I would say we are very happy about how we have planned this out,” said Butler. “The more we sell, the more we’ll make, and those issues of battery cost and capacity will change as time goes on. We’ll have the choice of either taking cost out to get the same capability from a less expensive system, or taking mass out to lower its weight.”

 

The ELR will have 35 miles AER, it’s down a notch on the Volt’s aerodynamic profile, may sell in the $60,000 range but that has yet to be announced.

Also waiting to be seen is whether Cadillac will build any more E-REVs or whether it will build EVs. Butler was asked this, and replied as follows:

“Nothing that I can talk about now, but I can tell you that this will not be our only alternative propulsion system,” he said nebulously of powertrains that could include eAssist, or some other hybrid form. “In terms of electric-supplemented drive, there is more coming. We are looking at this as a long-term journey, so alternative propulsion will continue to be important to GM and to the Cadillac brand. Another full EREV? I can’t say. But I don’t see a pure EV on the near-term horizon for Cadillac.”

Autoblog Green