After our May 2008 story on the Cadillac CTS coupe, $4.50/gallon gas brought down sales of big, powerful cars and trucks. Then the most dismal financial crisis since the Great Depression brought down sales of virtually everything else, from pickups to Priuses to iPods.

Amid the mayhem, General Motors delayed the production CTS coupe to at least summer 2010, three years into the life cycle of the sedan on which it is based. Meanwhile, President Obama says he's willing to grant California a waiver on Assembly Bill 1493, proposing stricter-than-federal fuel economy and CO2 standards. GM has procured $13.4 billion in federal loan guarantees. And it must present to Capitol Hill a financial turnaround plan by March 31.

Enter the Cadillac Converj concept, undisputed star of the 2009 North American International Auto Show. Designers already are at work on a production clay, and GM is planning consumer clinics. If approved by the end of this year, the Converj would get into the pipeline behind several other, more practical products, for production no earlier than late 2013 as a 2014 model.

"It came from a tough brief from Bob Lutz, who basically wanted a very relevant concept for this show," Simon Cox, director of GM's U.K. Advanced Design Studio explains, "one that you'll actually want to buy."

A few years ago, before GM green-lighted the Volt, brass debated whether to give the extended-range electric to Chevrolet or Cadillac. A Cadillac could be priced much higher and absorb more of the cost. Choosing Everydriver's brand is better for GM's image, though, and higher global sales spreads development cost, so Chevy got the nod. Now, if clinics predict volume of 25,000 to 30,000 per year for the Converj, Cadillac has a business case. Three thousand per year is not enough. Lutz, vice chairman for product development, figures the actual number would be about halfway in between.

"With the scarcity of money and dependence on government funds and so forth," Lutz says, "we have to be sure that for the next few years we only select those projects that not only meet federal requirements for CO2 and fuel consumption, but also aide our financial viability. So anything that's a pure image car and is incapable of making money for us is going to have to be on the back burner."

The Converj is a rakish coupe powered by the Chevy Volt's extended-range electric motor system, now called Voltec. And "rakish coupe" is the automotive understatement of the year. The Converj stuns with sex appeal. It's designed to make you want one even if you won't consider anything without a V-8 and rear drive. It shares the 2011 Volt's 108-inch wheelbase and has a 16-kilowatt lithium-ion battery system in the car's tunnel, running to a naturally aspirated version of the 2011 Chevy Cruze's 1.4-liter four. As in the Volt, the gas-powered four would extend its range past the batteries' 40-mile mark. Lutz says the Cadillac's powertrain can be tuned differently from the Chevy's though, for more power at the cost of some battery range.

Article key :  Cadillac Converj Concept, Cadillac, Converj Concept, Concept Car, New Car, 2009, 2010