Cadillac Considering Four-Door Converj

If the Volt costs $40,000, it will not sell to well.

Agreed. Sell the Volt at $25k for abase line version, i'll consider it. Sell it for $40k and you have completely passed over the market.

Cadillac is making some great looking vehicles, but the quality and the price are still issues. How many cars do you think they'll sell a more than $50K a pop?! I suspect it won't be too many. The Chevy Volt is also a nice looking vehicle, but the price is way too high.

You guys are forgetting the supposed $7,500+ tax credit GM is trying to get for the Volt.

Remember that 1000hp V16 concept? Why does Caddy always have the coolest concept cars, but that never translates into any production models worth owning? I would totally buy this Converj Coupe concept car right now, even in this crappy economy and GM on the brink of oblivion.

The recent Cadillac models have performed very well, what is the issue is the consumer's caution about trusting the model. The price is high, but so are all the other luxury cars.

With the current financial market environment (thanks to bush), GM would be wise to focus on a price point more reasonable to the 90% of us that own 10% of the wealth. The filthy rich will not buy any Cadillac anyway. Maybe our overseas oil friends may trash a few in the desert thou.

Umm, Cadillac is in direct competition with Mercedes and BMW so think on average they undercut them in cost. Mechanically their at least as reliable as anything out of Europe. Built quality and styling are not there in my opinion, but two out of three isn’t bad. Can’t count styling because it is too subjective.

A tax credit for buying electric cars is dumb. First they’re selling just fine. Two why would subsidize a car with greater overall environmental impact? That’s like giving the guy that just pissed in your hot tub another beer. The current generation of electric cars are greener only if you exclude the manufacturing process.

At 40 grand GM won't even be making money on these things. A Cadillac version makes sense because they might be able to make a profit on it. Why would it take 3 more years to come out with a Cadillac version? Maybe GM managment still haven't grasped the gravity of the situation.

Thank you Billo for pointing out what I stated in another thread. They should have made the Converj first and then the Volt later once the tech was cheaper so they could at least try and break even on the thing instead of losing money. Said it before, say it again, Volt is a PR stunt.

@ sparky

Any idea what the #1 selling SUV to the rich and famous is?

@Sparky

"With the current financial market environment (thanks to bush)"

Despite the many dumb things Bush did, the financial meltdown was a result of Clinton's administration pressuring banks to give mortgages to people the banks normally would refuse (because the banks knew they wouldn't be able to pay it). A decade later when the economy dips (which does happen every several years), all the sudden those people can't pay their mortgages (which is why the banks turned them down before the government got involved). Who could've predicted that? (Answer: anyone with half a brain)

Really Totenglocke? It was Clinton?

In 2001 Greenspan under President Bush cut the interest rate to 1%. That in turn made it possible to pass out all the sub prime loans. Then Bush started a war that took Clinton's surplus budget to the deepest debt the country has ever seen. All those sub prime loans then went bust when no one could get refinanced like the mortgage companies promised. Credit then froze, so no one could buy anything. So the government then turns around and hands out 700 billion, driving the country even farther into debt so credit companies can buy jets and hand out million dollar bonuses. It was Bush and his Administration that caused this mess, not Clinton.

@ Avatar

Bush & Co may have made things even worse, but they weren't where it originated. But of course, everything is Bush's fault. Just like it was his fault for not passing a law requiring hurricane Katrina to stop before hitting the US.

I'm anything but a Bush fan, but the "everything is Bush's fault" crap is really starting to get old.

I don't blame acts of nature on Bush, I just blame acts of stupidity.

@ Avatar and Totenglocke

Why is it always the government's fault? Did either of them, or their employees, put a gun to someone's head and force them to make a bad decision. I love low mortgage rates, I didn't buy into inflated home prices, I made sure I wasn't overleveraged, I have zero problems with today's economy....I'm actually doing rather well. Many many american's were stupid and they did most of this to themselves, just blaming others isn't going to change things and it certainly isn't going to prevent similar problems in the future.

@TheTruth

When the government passes laws putting excessive pressure on banks to give loans to people the banks would normally turn away (because the banks knew they couldn't pay their mortgage), then it is pretty much the government forcing them. NOT letting the government do something that stupid and actually letting banks turn away people who are too much of a risk WILL help prevent this from happening again.

@Totenglocke

You are correct, I forgot that banks could give me mortgages without my approval. I'm a afraid to open the mail now considering a new mortgage could just show and then I'd have to pay for it.

There is a lot of truth in what you guys are saying about the economy, but the volt being a PR stunt, come on Avatar. The Tesla is a PR stunt; the Smart is a PR stunt the Volt is an honest attempt to make a better electric car.

The idea of bringing the Caddy out first would have been a better approach in hindsight. A year ago we all would have said that would be pretty stupid. We wanted a cheap electric car back then and they thought they could produce the Volt for $30k. Unlike oil, supply and demand was at work for real in the commodities needed to build batteries. The lack of foresight was that they let the competition secure long-term contracts with the best suppliers.

They will lose money on it and it isn't cheap. They need to be making money, not burning money. I agree that they should bring out an electric car with the goal of making it affordable, but this is not the case. This is them burning money they could otherwise have used to maybe try and make the tech cheaper as oppose to wasting it on making a car cheaper. Even if they were to break even with a more expensive version, aka Converj, it is still better then losing money on everyone they sell. They are selling them to simply sell them and wasting money in the process. Maybe if they broke even now, all the money not wasted could have been used to make the tech cheap enough by 2013 so they could break even on the Volt then. So, PR stunt.