General Motors Co has been working to develop a plug-in hybrid vehicle based on its Cadillac SRX crossover, two people with direct knowledge of the work said.
The Cadillac plug-in would share some of the technology that GM has developed for its Chevrolet Volt over the past four years, allowing the automaker to bring down the cost of its emerging electric car offerings, one of the sources said.
The new Cadillac would also draw from an abandoned project to launch a rechargeable crossover vehicle that GM had considered in 2008 and 2009 under the Buick and since-scrapped Saturn brands, according to one of the sources, who could not be named because the project has not been made public.
The project would mark the first luxury electric car from the top U.S. automaker after it dropped a plan to build the Converj concept car, a Cadillac variant of the Volt.
Cadillac spokesman Nick Twork declined to comment, citing the automaker’s policy of not discussing vehicle development projects for competitive reasons.