Although Volt sales haven’t been all they should be lately, GM is not discouraged – it is planning a range of new plug-in models, and some enticing details are beginning to trickle out.
Cadillac’s new CEO, Johan de Nysschen, speaking with Reuters last week, confirmed that there will be a plug-in hybrid version of the new CT6 sedan that’s scheduled to arrive in late 2015. He also said that an updated 2016 Cadillac ELR will be launched at November’s Los Angeles Auto Show, and that a “successor” to the ELR is being developed, although it may not be a two-door coupe like the present model.
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Most intriguing of all, Nysschen said that a pure electric sedan is “part of the plan to expand Cadillac’s model range.” Will this be the 200-mile EV that GM has been promising?
Probably not the first. According to Green Car Reports, it’s “becoming clear” that the breakthrough model will be a 2017 Chevrolet Sonic EV. What is still not clear is whether this will be a serious offering, like the Volt, or merely a replacement for the Spark EV compliance car.
2014 Chevrolet Sonic sedan and hatchback
Citing two anonymous sources in the auto industry, Green Car Reports says the new EV will be adapted from the next-generation Sonic, not the current model, and will be built on GM’s new Gamma platform. It will use lithium-ion battery cells from longtime GM supplier LG Chem.
GCR’s sources also say that there’ll be a European version of the electric Sonic called the Opel Corsa EV. That fits with GM’s recent announcement that the Opel Ampera will be discontinued when the first-generation Volt goes out of production, but that Opel will “introduce a successor product in the electric vehicle segment.”
Source: Reuters, Green Car Reports