Cadillac Converj

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Recently, the Green Car Reports published the news that GM was making their Cadillac Converj idea come true.

Even though there had been no official confirmation that GM was going to produce the vehicle, just as the story of it was being reported, GM announced a new contract with the battery company, A123 Systems. This company is a battery maker that supplies Daimler, Fisker, BMW, and many other manufacturers as well. It also will supply an undefined amount of packs for GM in the future.

A123 then became a part of the Converj discussion. The word spread around that an A123 pack could energize the apparently green-lighted Cadillac. The new Converj was called “the extended range electric vehicle”, at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, where the introduction of the electric car was held. This description was the same description as they gave to another one of GM’s models of the electric car- The Chevy Volt.

Rob Peterson, a spokesman for GM, exclusively to Wheels, a tire company, stated that even though the Cadillac Converj was still under consideration, the company’s new battery supplier, A123,  was predestined  for other projects.

When Jason Forcier, an A123 executive, was asked, during a telephone interview, his opinion on whether the Cadillac Converj would be the first General Motors vehicle to hold one of his company’s battery packs, he replied, “It would be a surprise to me if it was the launch vehicle.” Jason described the new pack as “a large energy pack, bigger than the 16-kilowatt-hour battery in the Volt.”

If the Chevrolet Volt was to be used by a Cadillac product it would become a higher-end market, and would become part of an expanding group of cars. Other leading car brands such as Toyota and Ford- are basing whole car families on the new one platform strategies. By showing the Volt-based crossover idea at the 2010 Beijing auto show, General Motors helped increase speculation by stating that the Volt would indeed produce siblings. That would align perfectly into the tactic, GM’s chairman and chief, Daniel F. Akerson publicized to take away the some of the number of vehicle platforms as a way to decrease cost.