In December, TorqueNews brought you the news that General Motors was reportedly working on a plug-in hybrid luxury SUV based on the Cadillac SRX but according to a variety of sources – that program has reportedly been canceled.
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General Motors has been looking for a way to reach a state of profitability with the technology in the Chevrolet Volt, as Chevy is reportedly losing money on every new high-tech Volt sold. The top-selling Cadillac SRX has been one of the luxury automakers’ most popular models since receiving the redesign for 2010 and utilizing Voltec technology in the pricier Caddy SUV would allow GM to charge more than the $41,000 price on the Volt – thus giving them a better shot at making money on the technology.
Click here for the original TorqueNews piece on the Cadillac SRX PHEV.
However, according to several inside sources who spoke with Reuters, the plug-in hybrid Cadillac SRX program has been cancelled and while there may be a continuation of the program in the future; it won’t be the neat future as the folks working on the Cadillac SRX hybrid have been reassigned to other projects. The main reason for the cancellation of the Cadillac SRX PHEV program is due to the company’s belief that the project is not financially viable. This likely means that they think that the production costs would be so high for the SRX hybrid that the consumer price would be beyond what the average Cadillac buyer would pay. This is surprising, considering how well the SRX is performing and how much the vehicle is currently selling for but GM knows best; the SRX Hybrid appears to be dead for now.
General Motors is rumored to be planning a variety of higher priced Volt-based vehicles in the European and Chinese market, including selling Chevrolet Volts, Opel Amperas and a possible Buick based on the Volt. The price of the Voltec-powered vehicles overseas should demand a high enough price to help The General near profitability of their high tech “green” drivetrains and using that technology across other, more expensive models should also help but it seems that in the short term that usage of the Volt technology will not come in the form of a hybrid Cadillac crossover.
Other Cadillac News:
GM working on plug-in hybrid Cadillac SRX
General Motors announced official information on the 2012 Cadillac SRX
The 2012 Cadillac CTS 3.6L V6 gets more power, loses the manual trans
TorqueNews review of the 2011 Cadillac SRX Turbo AWD Premium - part 1
GM to invest $331 million in Arlington plant, add 110 jobs
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It's hardly fair to ask for a
It's hardly fair to ask for a just-introduced car of any kind to display profitability before it's national launch has even taken place!
The Volt has been sold in limited quantities to just a few test markets so far.
In fact, profitability for any new car model is going to be years away - development costs always take a long, long time to earn back. Neither the Volt, or any other EV would hold the record in this department by a long shot - that honor would probably go to the very conventional Ford Mondeo, which had a $6 billion development cost.