Cadillac ELR to be built at Detroit-Hamtramck

GM North America President Mark Reuss announced today during his keynote address at the SAE Convergence Conference in Detroit that the ELR will be built at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant. Production is scheduled to begin in late 2013. The ELR is the production version of Cadillac’s Converj concept and will feature an electric propulsion system made up of a T-shaped lithium-ion battery, an electric drive unit, and a four-cylinder engine-generator. It will use electricity as its primary source to drive the car without using gasoline or producing tailpipe emissions. When the battery’s energy is low, the ELR seamlessly switches to extended-range mode for hundreds of additional driving miles. The addition of the ELR to DHAM represents a $35 million plant investment, and increases Detroit’s only automotive manufacturing facility total product investment to $561 million since Dec. 2009. It also marks the return of a two-door car built at the plant after a 13-year hiatus. The last two-door built at DHAM was the 1999 Cadillac Eldorado.