New GM team looking for funding to put Cadillac Converj into production
At the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, General Motors surprised the world by unveiling a plug-in hybrid Cadillac known as the Converj. At that time General Motors made it clear that it had no plans to put the Converj into production. However, since Maximum Bob Lutz made his return to General Motors after taking a short retirement, talk of the Converj finding its way back into GM’s product line has been gaining some flame.
Just last month Bob Lutz admitted that the Converj is one possible application of the Voltec system found in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric-vehicle. According to a new report by BusinesWeek, with most of the Converj’s opponents pushed out in the wake of GM’s bankruptcy reorganization, a new team of executives are trying to find a way to get the car engineered and funded.
The idea of putting the Converj into production died last spring, right before former GM North America President Troy Clarke and Mark McNabb, who ran Cadillac, left the company in May. Apparently, both opposed the idea of a production Converj.
BusinessWeek made it clear that the Converj has not been approved for funding yet, but Lutz and other executives think the Converj, which could get a different name for the production model, would do wonders to Cadillac’s image as a technology leader in the luxury market
The Converj Concept is powered by GM”s next-generation Voltec system made up of 16kWh, a T-shaped lithium-ion battery, an electric-drive unit and a flex-fuel 4-cylinder engine. That helps produce a total of 161-hp with a maximum torque of 273 lb-ft.
How many miles per gallon will it get? Something close to the Volt’s outstanding 230 mpgs.
2009 Cadillac Converj Concept:
