The Cadillac CT6 PHEV Is A “Volt On Steroids”

The first 100 Cadillac CT6 PHEV cars are in the country and are on their way to dealer showrooms. All hybrid versions of the CT6 are built in China and imported to the US. The car features an electric only range of more than 30 miles from its 18.4 kWh battery. Hmmm….isn’t that the same size battery GM uses in the Chevy Volt? Yes it is, but it is not the same battery. Instead of being T shaped like in the Volt, the battery for the CT6 is more rectangular and fits between the rear seat and the trunk.

The CT6 PHEV builds on the Voltec technology GM developed for the Chevy Volt but there are significant differences between the two powertrains. For starters, the CT6 PHEV has rear wheel drive; the Volt is front wheel drive. The Volt uses a 1.5 liter normally aspirated 4 cylinder gasoline engine. The Caddy has a 266 horsepower turbocharged 2.0 liter 4 cylinder under its hood.

The transmission for the CT6 is similar to the Volt transmission in that it uses two electric motors — one is an induction motor, which requires no rare earth materials to manufacture. The second is a permanent magnet motor. Combined they add 183 horsepower for a total of 449. The motors are enclosed in the transmission housing that sends power to the rear wheels.

Cadillac tried and failed to make an upmarket clone of the Volt called the ELR but it was a dismal failure. More than anything else, it was deemed too slow off the line to be a “true” Cadillac. For the CT6, the company has remedied that weakness by stuffing  3 planetary gears (two simple, one double-pinion) and 5 clutches into the transmission, which now has four continuously variable transmission modes with 3 fixed gears.

“Basically, that gives you a Volt on steroids. It gives you tremendous launch torque. It’s actually a 6.8 step down in the EVT low. You look at some of the EV effort we have here, you’re almost above 5,000 Newton/meters. You have that EV launch feel,” says Tim Grewe, GM’s general director of electrification. As a result, the 4,431 pound CT6 PHEV slingshots to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds. The 3,543 pound Volt takes 8.4 seconds to accomplish the same feat.

Starting price for the CT6 PHEV is $75,095 plus a $995 destination fee. That’s about $15,000 more than the base price of the conventional CT6, but it comes with more equipment standard and includes the cost of installing a 220 volt charger. The CT6 PHEV is rated 117.7 MPGe by the EPA.

Will buyers flock to Cadillac showrooms to buy the CT6 PHEV? There are other plug-in hybrid luxury cars on the market, including the Mercedes S Class 550e and the BMW 7 series iPerformance sedan. What none of those cars offers is an SUV body style, a glaring lack in a world where SUVs dominate the passenger car market. But Cadillac may have a plug-in hybrid crossover SUV with all wheel drive known as the XT4 in the works. It will likely be a twin to the FNR-X Chevrolet which will debut at the Shanghai auto show later this month. There is no word at this time about price or availability.

Source: Hybrid Cars  Technical details via Green Car Congress

2017 Cadillac CT6 Hybrid to be Made in China

China is a hugely important market for GM. As such, one might think it obvious that the company’s upcoming 2017 Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid model will be sold in China as well as in the US. With China continuing to put an emphasis on green vehicles, most analysts believe that Cadillac’s hybrid sales will be much higher there than in the US market. That desire to push the model overseas coupled with cheap Chinese labor and low gas prices in the US has led GM to make something of a historic decision: the Cadillac CT6 hybrid will be manufactured in China, and then shipped back into the US for sale.

2017 Cadillac CT6 Hybrid to be Made in China, Shipped to US

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Considering that many Americans prefer to buy American-made products when possible, it also seems likely that Cadillac CT6 PHEV sales in the US will be lowered somewhat by the decision to manufacture the model in China rather than in the US.

That said, I suppose that some would-be buyers will just end up purchasing the American-made conventional version of the car instead of the Chinese-made Cadillac CT6 hybrid version- assuming the “Buy American!” crowd bothers to shop for Cadillacs at all, knowing that some models are “Made in China”.

Asia One Transport provides more insight on GM’s latest move:

GM’s move to sell the two Chinese-made vehicles shows that the company is confident in the quality of the products that are produced on the mainland.
“Longer term, we should see more of this because GM’s Chinese operations have every capability required to provide cars for North America,” Eric Noble, president of CarLab, a consulting firm in Orange, California, told Bloomberg. “They would import here instead of from Europe because Chinese consumer tastes align more closely to American tastes than Europe’s ever did.”

Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid Good For 335 Horsepower, 37 Mile EV Range

As promised, the Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid has made its world debut at the Shanghai Auto Show. The Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid promises to double the fuel economy of the conventional version, 37 miles of electric driving range, and at least 335 horsepower from a 2.0 liter gas engine and a pair of electric motors at the rear-wheels, but don’t mistake this for the ELR 2.0. Instead, this is a new direction for Cadillac that finally takes plug-in cars seriously.

Despite using a similarly-sized 18.4 kWh battery pack using the same lithium-ion chemistry as the 2015 Chevy Volt, the battery was made specifically for the Cadillac CT6 PHEV, as was its drivetrain. A 2.0 liter gas engine sits under the hood, while two electric motors can drive the rear-wheels for up to 37 miles. In Sport Mode, the gas engine and electric motors can work together, and acceleration should come in under six seconds if GM executive Mark Reuss is to be believed.

But unlike the Chevy Volt and the Cadillac ELR (which GM calls extended-range electric vehicles), once the battery pack is drained, the gas engine takes over driving duties. In Hold mode, drivers can reserve the battery pack for when they need it, while Normal driving mode lets the CT6 prioritize the battery over the gas tank, maximizing MPGs. The CT6 will use the same Regen-on-Demand system as the ELR though, and the electric motors can handle speeds of up to 75 MPH, which should help it approach 70 MPGe. That will match competitors like the Mercedes S500 Plug-In Hybrid, though it should be substantially lighter than the German behemoth thanks to Cadillac’s new lightweight chassis architecture.

With the CT6 and much-improved (and more reasonably-priced) 2016 ELR, Cadillac is doubling the number of plug-in cars it offers, and under the reign of Johan de Nysschen, we will probably see many more. The Cadillac CT6 is the first car Johan can really put his name on, and including a plug-in version will prove an important turning point in Caddy’s fortunes, if you ask me.

Which you sorta are, because you’re still reading this right now, aren’t you?