There was a time not too long ago that Lincoln and Cadillac fought over the high-end auto market in the United States. These days, the field is pretty much wild open for Caddy, though Lincoln still sells some nice vehicles. A few years ago, Lincoln commissioned the boys from Orange County to build a chopper commemorating the beginning of production of the Mark LT pickup. Cadillac apparently had to keep up, so the company will be showing off a new chopper at the upcoming LA Auto Show. This will actually be Cadillac's second commissioned bike, but this one is a bit special, as it's been designed to run on ethanol and will supposedly represent GM's "strength in science and technology." With all due respect to the builders of the bike, there's not a whole lot that's technologically advanced in a chopper built with a big fat rear tire and an air-cooled V-Twin, even one that has been jetted properly for alcohol fuel. Still, the machine should make a wee bit more power running on ethanol, and we look forward to seeing the new Cadillac bike in LA.
Although the target launch date is still over two years away and there haven't been any major hitches, some consultants are expressing doubts that the GM Volt program will end in success. The "experts" to which I refer are members of the Gerson Lehrman Group Automotive Council who conducted an analysis of a Reuters story that appeared on the MSNBC website detailing the efforts and progress of the Volt program.
The most critical of the four assessments (two of which lie behind a subscription service and whose tone can only be estimated to be positive and mixed by their given report titles) was written by Mark Fendley who is the "Continuous Improvement Manager at BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg, South Carolina" and has been with that company since 1998 according to the GLG website. His report, titled, "The Volt - GM's Attempt at Green Marketing without the Green Product or the Green Return," contends that the battery technology behind the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) is too unproven, environmentally destructive, and expensive to "ensure a 2010 launch." No sources are given to bolster the environmental claims in the article. Also unmentioned, unfortunately, are any details of the battery tech an all-electric car his employer is rumored may produce.
The other viewable report, written by Michael Kowalski (described as a self-employed consultant who is an adjunct professor at Wayne State University and who worked for GM as a staff engineer from 1970 until 2002) is titled, "Can the General Motors Volt meet the expectations?" and is a little less hysterical in tone. He does make sobering mention of GM's diesel engine "experiment" in the '80s and outlines some of that company's other efforts to develop alternative drivetrains. Although we can't say we completely agree with his analysis, especially as it pertains to GM using nickel metal-hydride as a battery chemistry it could fall back on, it does make for an interesting read. We look forward to reading analysis from our own experts (i.e., our readers) in the comments section following this post.
In a further sign of weakening demand for large, gas-guzzling SUVs, GM has announced it is idling its 54-year-old Arlington, Texas plant for three weeks. This comes only two weeks after a GM spokeswoman said this about Arlington: "We are currently running at full production and foresee continuing to run at full production indefinitely..." Workers at the plant had been producing 900-1000 Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons, and Cadillac Escalades a day.
Ten months ago, Autoblog reported large SUVs were holding their own. Now, these models are seeing reduced sales compared with last year as consumers react to the worsening economy and increasing gasoline prices. "Sales of the Escalade fell 25.7 percent in March from year-ago levels, and the others fell more than 30 percent," the Associated Press reports. New orders from dealers have slowed as a result.
After recently compiling a dubious list of the most technologically advanced green cars, Forbes is at it again. They've produced a list purporting to be the least efficient luxury cars. This bottom ten list actually numbers twenty-one cars including most of the Audi S models, BMW's M-fleet and Mercedes AMG bombers. The only car on the list not originating from the land of the autobahn is the Cadillac STS-V. They came up with so many cars by including rides that were tied with the same mileage as one position on the list. While being on the list is undoubtedly somewhat embarassing for these three German brands, the list is unfortunately incomplete and fails to include some even bigger offenders. The editors failed to catch the entire lineups from both Maybach and Bentley. Then there are of course the exotics from the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini. Maybe next time.
General Motors announced this morning plans to invest $69 million in their Moraine Ohio joint venture diesel engine plant to produce an updated version of the Duramax 6.6L diesel V-8. The plant is a 60/40 joint venture with Isuzu Motors and began producing the popular diesel for GM trucks in 2001. The engine comes in variants ranging from a 300hp/520lb-ft to the top 365hp/660lb-ft unit used in the heavy duty versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. The 6.6L has 4 valves per cylinder and a common rail injection system. In 2007, GM added a diesel particulate filter to clean up the soot emissions. The 2010 update will add a selective catalyst reduction system that will allow it to meet Tier 2 Bin 5 NOx emissions standards for all fifty states.
Forget going to Disneyworld. Last night's Super Bowl MVP selected a Cadillac Escalade hybrid as his award. Eli Manning was given his choice of Caddys, and he chose the upcoming huge SUV with Two-Mode powertrain. The SUV will be available later this year. Manning told Cadillac's CEO that, "I know it comes out in the summer. I want the first one."
Guess we really shouldn't be too surprised. Football players in SUVs are a pretty common sight. At least one person says hybridizing the large rides is a step in the right direction. Given your choice of Caddy's, what would you have selected?
Since its launch a couple of years ago, sales of the Cadillac BLS have been less than stellar, to say the least. The BLS is a Europe-only model based on the Saab 9-3 and built at Saab's factory in Sweden. At its launch it was only available in four-door sedan form with gasoline engines. Aside from the fact GM that did a less-than-optimal translation of the Cadillac design language, the absence of a diesel or Estate (European for station wagon) helped to doom the BLS. Cadillac has now remedied at least some of the flaws with a new wagon model and some new engines. The BLS is now available with GM's 180hp 1.9L turbodiesel as well as Saab's 200hp flex-fuel turbocharged four cylinder. GM expects the wagon to account for up to half of BLS sales in the UK.
You'd think a car like the Cadillac Provoq would debut at the Detroit Auto Show. Instead, it came out at CES. Still, NAIAS attendees got a chance to see the hydrogen plug-in car roll onto the stage here in Cobo Hall, and now you can, too, in the video above. There wasn't anything new announced RE this vehicle in Detroit, but Bob Lutz did admit that the Easter Bunny won't be bringing drivable Chevy Volts (see here for context).
Cadillac has just unveiled the CTS Coupe Concept and there was a line in Caddy design head's short presentation of this amazing-looking two-door (which I wasn't recording, because who expected something greenish from Cadillac after they already introduced the Provoq on the stand?) about the CTS Coupe being perfect for a diesel engine. I'll have a video of GM's Bob Lutz introducing the Provoq on the dias later, but for now thought some of our readers just might enjoy being able to wish for a clean diesel Caddy coupe in the garage.
GM launched their GMnext web site last week where, among other things, company leaders will be holding on-line Q&A sessions from time to time. People (that means you) can log on to the web-site at the appointed times and fire off your queries to a variety of GM officials. Readers of ABG might be interested in chatting with the designer of the HUMMER HX and a Cadillac Project Manager.
Sunday, January 13, 4:00 – 5:00 PM EST, HUMMER Designer Robert Jablonski discusses the latest HUMMER Concept.
Monday, January 14, 1:00 – 2:00 PM EST, Cadillac Product Manager David Spitzer takes your questions about the brand's vision for a petroleum-free future of luxury transportation, the Provoq Concept.
Monday, January 14, 4:00 – 5:00 PM EST, GM High Performance Vehicle Operations' John Heinricy discusses the latest itineration of the Cadillac CTS.
To join the chat, just register on GMnext.com by clicking the "sign in" button in the top right corner and visit the live chat section the day of the event. GM says that space is limited and pre-registration is encouraged.
The video above is an exclusive look at the Cadillac Provoq concept. It was taken just before Rick Wagoner showed off the concept in his keynote at CES yesterday. As you probably know by now, the Provoq is based on GM'e E-Flex platform and has a 300-mile range, in wheel electric "hub" motors, hydrogen fuel cells and a top speed of over 100 MPH. At the end, some questions about sources of hydrogen and regulation were sneaked in but they were skillfully dodged. Apparently, "production of hydrogen" is not a problem and "sooner the better" for more regulations so GM "can do the right thing." Where's Bob Lutz when you need him?
Click on the Provoq concept for a high-res gallery from the reveal
On Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner became the first auto executive to deliver a keynote address in the 41-year history of the show. After coming onto the stage in last year's Volt concept he began by running down some of the many innovations the auto industry has produced over the last century from the electric self-starter to the catalytic converter to electronic stability control. With all the electronic wizardry in modern cars, the automobile has essentially become the largest consumer electronics device in history. As such, Wagoner used this forum to publicly debut the Cadillac Provoq concept. We live-blogged the speech over on Autoblog and we got a chance to shoot a few pics of the vehicle although the CES security guards wouldn't let us on stage for our usual barrage. You can also read the full text of the speech here.
The cancellation last week of General Motors new high-feature V-8 that was due for 2010 was indeed prompted in part by the passage of new fuel economy regulations in mid-December but CAFE was not the only reason. In a conversation with AutoblogGreen, Cadillac General Manager Jim Taylor revealed that the company had been going back and forth for some time on whether to proceed with the program. It seems that buyers have gradually moving away from the current Northstar V-8 toward the 3.6L V-6 for some time now and 2008 model sales combined with the new CAFE standards have finally put the nail in the V-8 coffin.
Currently only fifteen percent of all Cadillac sales are V-8s and that includes the Escalade and XLR. With the introduction of the direct-injected version of the V-6 this year, the engine's output is rated at 304hp compared to 320 for the 4.6L V-8 and the V-6 is more efficient and lighter. Going forward Cadillac will instead focus on the DI V-6 possibly added turbocharging at some point. For the applications where a V-8 is deemed necessary - like the Escalade or the XLR - they will use variants of the small-block V-8 instead. Even this engine may well get direct injection at some point and it's being tested now.
Almost a year to the day after we first showed you the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors is unveiling the third body style (the second was the Opel Flextreme) based on the E-Flex platform that forms the basis of the Volt. This time around they are moving the architecture to a more up-market vehicle. The Cadillac Provoq concept is a luxury mid-size crossover built on a variant of the fuel cell drive-train that GM first showed in the Volt at the 2007 Shanghai Motor Show.
A few months ago some stories started circulating that Volt would get badged as a Cadillac instead of a Chevrolet so that they could justify a higher price to cover the high cost of the battery pack. Subsequently, the story evolved so that the fuel cell powered E-Flex variant would be the vehicle with a Caddie badge. Based on what we saw at the E-Flex design studio a couple of weeks ago and this new concept, it now appears that this latter story may turn out to be reality. Read on after the jump to find out all about the Cadillac Provoq advanced technology concept.
Gallery: Detroit 2008: Cadillac Provoq Fuel Cell Concept
What does it mean to Provoq if you're Caddilac? We'll find out the details sometime in the next 24 hours, but GM released a statement today (available after the jump) saying that the Provoq concept will be "a vision for a petroleum-free future of luxury transportation." I guess that leaves us with two options: battery-only or hydrogen fuel cell. My money's on fuel cell, and we can guess that this is some Caddy evolution of the E-Flex platform (there have been rumors of this, even though they were strongly denied by GM). GM CEO Rick Wagoner will unveil the Provoq at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas tomorrow before the Provoq comes to Detroit next week.
There was a time not too long ago that Lincoln and Cadillac fought over the high-end auto market in the United States. These days, the field is pretty much wild open for Caddy, though Lincoln still sells some nice vehicles. A few years ago, Lincoln commissioned the boys from Orange County to build a chopper commemorating the beginning of production of the Mark LT pickup. Cadillac apparently had to keep up, so the company will be showing off a new chopper at the upcoming LA Auto Show. This will actually be Cadillac's second commissioned bike, but this one is a bit special, as it's been designed to run on ethanol and will supposedly represent GM's "strength in science and technology." With all due respect to the builders of the bike, there's not a whole lot that's technologically advanced in a chopper built with a big fat rear tire and an air-cooled V-Twin, even one that has been jetted properly for alcohol fuel. Still, the machine should make a wee bit more power running on ethanol, and we look forward to seeing the new Cadillac bike in LA.
In a further sign of weakening demand for large, gas-guzzling SUVs, GM has announced it is idling its 54-year-old Arlington, Texas plant for three weeks. This comes only two weeks after a 
What does it mean to Provoq if you're Caddilac? We'll find out the details sometime in the next 24 hours, but GM released a statement today (available after the jump) saying that the Provoq concept will be "a vision for a petroleum-free future of luxury transportation." I guess that leaves us with two options: battery-only or hydrogen fuel cell. My money's on fuel cell, and we can guess that this is some Caddy evolution of the E-Flex platform (there have been 
