At an event taking place just before the start of this weekend’s 2013 Belle Isle Grand Prix in Detroit, several Chevrolet and Cadillac race car drivers had the opportunity to witness the first Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid coupe roll off the assembly line at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. This particular example of the vehicle isn’t going to be sold. Instead, it’s an early model that engineers will be driving for the sake of testing purposes.
A notable member of the audience was IndyCar Driver Simona De Silvestro. The 24-year-old Swiss driver currently races a Chevrolet-powered car for KV Racing Technology. She’s also a Chevrolet Volt owner.
What separates the Cadillac ELR from the Volt, aside from the looks and more luxurious cabin, is that the ELR is more powerful, features a sportier suspension, and debuts an intuitive “Regen on Demand” function. Altogether, these elements should mean that the plug-in Caddy will behave differently from its Chevy sibling.
[nggallery id=505]
Comments
I never realized how much this looks like the Volt
Saw a blue Volt driving through Central Park yesterday – it really is a beautiful car in person
Can’t wait to see this in real life
If Cadillac needs a test driver for the ELR, I volunteer!
Ampera coupe?
Typical GM approach, thinly disguise a lesser brand car by slapping a few body pieces on it and plenty of Cadillac badges on it and charge an arm and leg for it. Gotta give GM credit here though, this car managed to look even worse than the Volt and this is pretty hard to accomplish. The grille makes this Volt in disguise outright ghastly.
Is it any different than any of the following examples of platform sharing?
VW Jetta/Golf and Audi A3
VW Beetle and Audi TT
VW Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne
VW Phaeton and Audi A/S8
Audi R8 and Lamborghini Gallardo
Toyota Prius and Lexus CT200h/HS200h
Toyota Camry and Lexus ES
Toyota Highlander/Venza and Lexus RX
Toyota 4Runner and Lexus GS
Toyota Land Cruiser and Lexus LX
Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ
Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKZ
Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX
Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator
Nissan 370Z and Infiniti G/M/EX/FX
Nissan Pathfinder/Armada and Infiniti QX
Euro-market Honda Accord and Acura TSX
Honda Civic and Acura ILX
Honda Accord and Acura TL
Are we there yet?
Point is, there is a right way to do platform sharing… and a wrong way. Suffice to say that in the case of the ELR and Volt, both of which are niche-volume vehicles that are either inventing or building a segment, platform sharing is necessary.
And this…
“Typical GM approach, thinly disguise a lesser brand car by slapping a few body pieces on it and plenty of Cadillac badges on it and charge an arm and leg for it”
… doesn’t apply to Cadillac’s newest bread-and-butter vehicles such as the ATS and CTS… and it won’t apply to the next-gen SRX, either.
Alex I copied your list for every time I hear someone say this about Cadillac again
Glad I could help 🙂