Cadillac Crossover Could Get Volt Series Hybrid Drivetrain for Detroit Debut

While a boon for consumers and most industries, today’s lower gas prices are killing the alternative fuels and hybrid business. Prius sales are down 48.3-percent to 8,660 units in November, compared with the same month in 2007, worse than the 36.7-percent decline in overall U.S. light vehicle sales, and the Prius makes up for 75-percent of hybrid sales.

Nevertheless, automakers are feeling forced to bolster their environmentally sustainable images while betting big dollars on a market willing to spend more for clean air than any real fuel savings.

GM is betting big on the Volt, a plug-in series hybrid that will offer a more usable electric solution than its EV1 pure-electric car due to extended range, while presenting the possibility for zero emissions driving if employed for relatively short commutes back and forth to work.

But why let Chevy have all the fun, and future sales. GM is expected to offer a Volt-like series hybrid setup in a future Cadillac, and the donor car will more than likely be the next-generation SRX crossover, says Autoweek magazine.

Cadillac already makes an Escalade Hybrid, and while extremely efficient for an Escalade, it can’t be considered a fuel economy leader overall. A series hybrid drive system integrated into the next SRX would have a better chance of winning any fuel efficiency awards, and a greater chance for the higher volume sales GM needs in order to make money – that is and should remain the main objective, after all.

According to the report, both Germany’s Opel and Britain’s Vauxhall are getting versions of the Volt, and while this would normally make us look to Saturn for a US version, GM has shared that the future of its import fighting brand is in question and therefore we can surmise, not where it will be spending any big money until resolved.

We’ll know for sure mid-January, when media days for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit get underway, or before if the General throws a bone our way and reveals the news sooner.