Photo: Cadillac
All petrolheads have the idea that rear-wheel drive is just better than front wheel drive, especially in a sporty car. However, with cars like the Renault Megane RS, Ford Focus ST an RS, as well as a few other competent hot hatches from Europe drive so well that they render the argument redundant instantly.
It should come as no shock, then, that GM has confirmed that the upcoming ELR range-extended sporty offering by the American giant will, in fact, be front-wheel driven. An issue of cost was the primary concern here, as it would have probably cost them way too much to reengineer the Chevy Volt’s hybrid system to power the ELR’s rear wheels.
David Cadwell, a Cadillac spokesman, told carscoop.blogspot.com: "That's a better solution (generally) for the efficiency that an electric propulsion is obviously aiming for [. . .] We of course have RWD layouts for our CTS and ATS product lines, cars in which performance is the overriding objective."
The shape and position of the battery was another reason why the car could not have been made into a rear-wheel driven one, as the pack itself is T-shaped, and it would have obstructed the drive shaft leading to the rear, and it would have eaten up the predictably small passenger space in the rear.
In the end, the ELR will be just another pretty (and angular) body, placed on a common and mediocre GM platform, with a few sporty touches here and there, yet it will never probably fully shed its Volt origins, and while it may not be a bad thing to acknowledge its kinship with the Volt, the ELR, as an idea, promised much more, and thus is not reaching its full potential, in our eyes.
David Cadwell, a Cadillac spokesman, told carscoop.blogspot.com: "That's a better solution (generally) for the efficiency that an electric propulsion is obviously aiming for [. . .] We of course have RWD layouts for our CTS and ATS product lines, cars in which performance is the overriding objective."
The shape and position of the battery was another reason why the car could not have been made into a rear-wheel driven one, as the pack itself is T-shaped, and it would have obstructed the drive shaft leading to the rear, and it would have eaten up the predictably small passenger space in the rear.
In the end, the ELR will be just another pretty (and angular) body, placed on a common and mediocre GM platform, with a few sporty touches here and there, yet it will never probably fully shed its Volt origins, and while it may not be a bad thing to acknowledge its kinship with the Volt, the ELR, as an idea, promised much more, and thus is not reaching its full potential, in our eyes.
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