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America’s biggest and smallest car companies have squared off in the luxury electric vehicle market. GM vs. Tesla. The Cadillac ELR vs. Model S. Old Money Detroit vs. New Money Silicon Valley. (Photo illustration by The Detroit News, Tesla and GM)<\/p>\n
America\u2019s biggest and smallest car companies have squared off in the luxury electric vehicle market. GM vs. Tesla. The Cadillac ELR vs. Model S. Old Money Detroit vs. New Money Silicon Valley. These chiseled competitors caused a sore neck epidemic at this year\u2019s Detroit auto show. Displayed in neighboring stands, they turned heads left and right, faster than a Federer vs. Nadal Wimbledon final.<\/p>\n
I ached to get them outside to strut their stuff. But it\u2019s the dead of winter, you say. It\u2019s too cold for batteries, you say. Shouldn\u2019t we wait until springtime? Nawww. Not even the Polar Vortex can chill our lust for these hotties.<\/p>\n
So bundle up, turn on the heated seats, and unleash the electrons.<\/p>\n
The similarities between the companies and their cars are remarkably few. Both GM and Tesla took taxpayer\u00a0loans The silver four-seat Cadillac ELR \u2014 with an $82,135 price tag \u2014 is a slick vehicle, but the seven-seat (yes, seven) Model S ( $75,520) is jaw-dropping. Game-changing. Stone-cold awesome.<\/p>\n In the Establishment vs. Startup showdown, score one for American entrepreneurial ingenuity as Elon Musk\u2019s first sedan is not just the best electric vehicle ever made but gives the elites of the luxury sport world \u2014 Porsche Panamera, Audi A7, Jaguar XF \u2014 serious competition for best in class. Subsidies aside (Elon, you had to raid the taxpayer cookie jar to\u00a0finance The ELR and Model S are accessible only to platinum club members. But they are serious machines \u2014 not just show horses to gain federal fuel economy credits. But Musk\u2019s second act, a 200-mile range Model E that will go head-to-head with the Volt, Nissan Leaf and Prius plug-in, will be more accessible to the masses with a price tag of about $40K and hitting the market in 2016.<\/p>\n EVs to date have worn their green status on their sleeves to attract the crunchy granola crowd. Not the ELR and Model S. No leafy badges. No green-tinted instrument panels. They sell themselves on passion, inside and out.<\/p>\n \u201cCoolest car ever!\u201d squealed the 20-something at Tesla\u2019s Detroit display. \u201cI\u2019ve gotta have one,\u201d said the 70-something father of my college roommate at Christmas dinner in California.<\/p>\n When a car attracts a demographic that broad, you know something\u2019s different.<\/p>\n Begin with the Model S\u2019s signature 17-inch touchscreen, which works like an iPad maxi. The navigation app is made by Google, the menu icons look like a Mac.<\/p>\n Finally, a car screen that is as intuitive as your smartphone. Better yet, the screen centralizes all controls. No more split-level consoles of competing analog and digital tools that require a tutorial to understand.<\/p>\n Get it? Like the breakthrough Macintosh computer of a generation ago, Tesla brings electronic style to the automobile. With its massive batteries buried in the floor and its one-speed gear-shift on the steering column, the front cabin is uncluttered. The sculpted dash arcs to meet curved, aluminum-trimmed door handles.<\/p>\n While the Model S establishes a unique interior experience, the ELR is determined to make you feel like you are in a Cadillac. Gone are the green-preaching instrument panels of the Volt. In their place are Caddy\u2019s familiar, cool CUE system.<\/p>\n But by building on a midsize platform, the Model S takes EV luxury to another level. Wedged into a compact chassis, the T-shaped ELR battery pack intrudes on the cabin, limiting seating to four adults. The Tesla cabin comfortably seats five adults \u2014 and two more in rear-facing child seats just like the flexible cargo bay of my old 1992 Taurus station wagon.<\/p>\n The five-door, 196-inch long Tesla is easily mistaken for a Jaguar XF from behind. Yet with no engine to conceal, the low aerodynamic hood \u2014 creating a slippery .24 drag coefficient \u2014 makes the Tesla even more beautiful overall.This S looks like Kate Upton wrapped in a satin dress.<\/p>\n The ELR, on the other hand, is Caddy\u2019s angular \u201cArt & Design\u201d language perfected. The design is virtually identical to the show-stopping Converj concept unveiled in 2009 with raked windshield and knife-like lines. Think Stealth fighter meets\u00a0Honda Civic Caddy\u2019s stylish nose could teach the Model S a thing or two about EV grilles, which are decorative since there is no large radiator to cool. The one flaw in Tesla\u2019s otherwise gorgeous bod is its blunt plastic honker. Chief designer Franz von Holzhausen says the design was deliberately conservative for fear that an unconventional face would scare off buyers \u2014 but he plans to broaden his palette with future designs.<\/p>\n With all that battery weight in the belly, surely these EVs suffer in handling? On the contrary. The lower center of gravity (at 17.5 inches, the 4,650-pound Tesla\u2019s CG is on par with super-sports cars) lends these cars noticeably better cornering stability over their gas-powered cousins.<\/p>\n But for an $80K car, you want grunt. That\u2019s where the Tesla really shines.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/images.intellitxt.com\/ast\/adTypes\/icon1.png\")
<\/a>\u00a0and are branded with that Government Motors stigma. Both use lithium ion batteries. But the Caddy shares a compact platform and plug-in-electric powertrain with the Chevy Volt, while the Model S boasts an all-new midsize chassis running on batteries alone.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0this gem?), Musk deserves a place in the Auto Hall of Fame next to irascible pioneers like Henry Ford and Carroll Shelby.<\/p>\nInterior<\/h3>\n
Exterior<\/h3>\n
<\/a>\u00a0Coupe.<\/p>\nPerformance<\/h3>\n