General Motors’ increasingly empty coffers could entrust the Cadillac Converj show car to ‘concept only’ status. The Detroit Auto Show coupe has been the subject of production rumors since the Automotive News is reporting that GM may not have enough money to make Converj a reality.
“Ready to go? Well,it’s a high enough priority to displace something else, and that we can actually make money on the vehicle, and that there is potential customer interest and so forth.
The angularly gorgeous Cadillac was designed around the same extended-range Voltec architecture as Chevrolet’s forthcoming Volt, itself a spectacularly expensive research and development effort. GM is clearly committed to making the Volt a production reality, and if it ever has hopes of making money on its plug-in hybrid technology, a higher-priced, higher-margin product like from an upper-crust brand like Cadillac would seem like one of the best ways to defray R&D costs. In short, GM may still have to accompany due diligence on the Converj’s business case, but if there’s any money at all left in the company’s bank accounts, we still think the future for the showstopper is a bright one. Given the 2011 date attached to the Volt, we would expect the Caddy to roll into showrooms for 2012.