Cadillac Plug-In Hybrid?

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Derm 81 sent us this report:

I took this shot from the GM Tech Center the other day. I couldn’t get more than one photo because the engineer got pissed that I was snapping pictures. It is a Cadillac with right hand steering. What was odd was that it had several “ports” which looked like extra gas tank openings, which were in the same location as the plug/outlet on the the Volt. You can see the reflection of my goofy-assed PT on the Caddy.You cant see it in the picture BUT there was this huge “unit” or black box on the back seat. Didn’t look as if there even was a rear seat bench. Battery pack? Standard testing device?

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • HEATHROI HEATHROI on Jul 02, 2009

    there was a plan to sell the CTS in Australia/New Zealand which I believe has been since cancelled (in NZ anyway) - GM is probably using a left over RHD car as mule.

  • Tced2 Tced2 on Jul 02, 2009

    @sutski I didn't forget Japan. I mentioned it in my comment. Cadillac has never been a big seller in Japan. Probably never will be. As far as I know, there hasn't been a right hand drive version of the CTS. I don't know much about Cadillac in India but I suspect the sales are non-existent. I've been to Japan. They drive on the left side of the road using vehicles with the steering wheel on the right. HEATHROI is probably right - a right hand drive mule never used for a production vehicle. But why fit experimental drive equipment into an oddball vehicle? When doing engineering and development, you choose a platform closest to what you are developing. Why not just take a standard production CTS off the lot?

  • Runfromcheney Runfromcheney on Jul 02, 2009

    I am skeptical of this. It just looks like a pic of a CTS at a gas station. I believe this is a fake.

  • Faygo Faygo on Jul 02, 2009

    it's very common to have test equipment in the back seat of a car for calibration or other testing. nothing surprising there. as others have noted, it's likely an old (or new if a RHD program is still active) test car which is being used for something. if the car is already paid for, why take a new car off the line ? the gas port/connections are likely to allow running different fuel directly into the car when testing on dyno or similar. easier than draining the tank & filling with something else. could indeed also be for urea filling, but if it wasn't at the diesel pumps, that's not part of the equation.

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