Cadillac Provoq Concept

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What is it?
Cadillac Provoq Concept

What's special about it?
Is the Cadillac Provoq concept a hint at the styling of an SRX replacement? Is it a preview of a future compact car-based SUV to compete with the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and the recently unveiled Mercedes-Benz GLK? And why can't Cadillac spell?

Cadillac's cutely spelled fuel-cell/electric people-hauler concept raises these and a few more questions. By way of explanation, Cadillac says the Provoq (read: provoke) is an exploration of the Cadillac design themes as they've been refined since the introduction of the sharp-edged SRX, or some such thing.

The five-seat crossover concept is also intended to convince the public of Cadillac's renewed interest in being a technology leader — a trait that is legitimately part of Cadillac's history. This is why Cadillac chose to unveil the Provoq not at the Detroit show but at the nerd-tastic Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Underneath the crossover bodywork — which may or may not hint at anything, but probably does — is a version of the E-Flex system that General Motors has been plugging into concept cars since its first appearance in the Chevrolet Volt a year ago. In place of the Volt's dirty petroleum-fueled internal combustion lump is a fifth-generation fuel cell stack that GM says is half the size of its predecessor. It's fed hydrogen from two 10,000-psi composite fuel tanks mounted under the cargo floor. A lithium-ion battery pack is mounted under the rear seat. It moves thanks to a 70-kW motor up front and two 40-kW motors tucked in the rear wheel hubs.

This plug-in hybrid can be recharged through the fender-mounted ports that look like the now-ubiquitous fender vents. The Provoq will theoretically go 300 miles on a single fill of hydrogen (13.2 pounds). That would be 280 miles courtesy of the hydrogen and 20 from electricity stored in the battery. These are, of course, concept-car miles, which often have little real bearing to the miles you might know in the real world.

But that's not the point, is it? The point, for Cadillac at least, is to show that high technology is part of what the company is about and that said technology needn't be used only in the automotive equivalent of a hair shirt. And it doesn't have to look like a blob of protoplasm, either. OK then, point taken. The company claims that the theoretical customer of such a vehicle would have to make absolutely no compromises on the inside of the vehicle due to its fuel-cell/hybrid powertrain.

Three things about the Provoq that will wow the masses on the show floor at Detroit:

1. Front grille louvers that open and close. In theory, these would close at highway speeds to improve aerodynamic efficiency and open at low speeds to cool the fuel stack. On the concept, they move because moving parts are fascinating to people in the same way that shiny things are irresistible to bass.
2. The sloping, quasi-coupelike roof line and the subtle little tail fins that we hope will be on the rumored CTS station wagon.
3. Clear, plastic-covered wheels that have the look of regular seven-spoke alloys while maintaining clear airflow across the wheel surface.

What's Edmunds' take?
We like the tail fins. As for the rest of it? We'll see what Cadillac can actually get into production before patting it on the back. — Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit