General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac luxury-vehicle division is considering hybrid versions of all its models as U.S. gasoline prices stay near $3 a gallon and the brand's sales decline.
“Pretty much every program I am looking at going forward has got a hybrid as part of it,” John Howell, Cadillac's product chief, said today in an interview in New York. He didn't give a time frame for adding the gasoline-electric versions.
Cadillac is looking for ways to revive demand after its U.S. sales fell 3.4 percent last year, the first annual decline since 2001. Sales this year dropped 7.2 percent through May. Cadillac, known for larger cars and sport-utility vehicles, hasn't fared well as gasoline prices surged this year and in 2006.
The division's first hybrid will be the 2009 Escalade SUV, Howell said. It will have the so-called two-mode system that increases hybrid fuel savings by more efficient adjustments to different engine speeds. GM plans two-mode hybrid versions later this year of its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon large SUVs and has said fuel economy will rise 25 percent from gasoline-only models.
U.S. hybrid sales last year increased 23 percent to 253,652, led by Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius car. Hybrids reduce fuel use and emissions by combining a gasoline engine, an electric motor, a battery pack and brakes that capture energy from stopping.
