General Motors is having a press conference tomorrow hosted by CEO Fritz Henderson. According to the release, Henderson will make some official announcements about a couple upcoming models in addition to various updates on the progress of the "new GM."
Turns out the company is giving an early preview of the future products today, but instead of inviting journalists, GM invited a bunch of social media outlets. And what do you know, they are just loving all the great new product they are being shown, and of course they are tweeting away about the experience.
So far, GM has shown a Cadillac ATS small sedan, 2012 Chevrolet Malibu sedan and a midsize Buick that won't be out for another couple of years.
1487 says:
12:17 PM, 08/10/09
The midsize Buick is the Regal sold in China aka Insignia. It should be on sale next year.
albook says:
01:32 PM, 08/10/09
The ATS is gonna be FWD. And why would GM show the future Malibu?! The midsize segment is huge for them, and If they have some special designs or technology, other brands have time to catch up.
albook says:
01:55 PM, 08/10/09
Maybe the ATS will be rwd. To be honest, this makes more sense than what was previously under consideration (RWD large Caddy and FWD small Caddy). With GM's limited resources, they seemingly had to choose which product needed RWD the most, the ATS or XTS. The ATS, as a 3-series fighter, will sell in much higher quantities and thus, will be a lot more crucial to Cadillac's overall success than the XTS. So it's in their best interest to allocate more resources to the ATS than the XTS.
In addition, Epsilon II is a heavy platform, so it is more appropriate to a large car than a small car. Imagine a Cobalt-sized car (the approximate size of a 3-Series) weighing in at ~3600 lbs with FWD...not a pretty thought is it?
With the XTS, RWD, while preferred, is less important since it is unlikely to often be hustled through corners; keep in mind that the A8 isn't RWD, but it does just fine. Epsilon II has proven to be an excellent midsized platform, and can be stretched to accommodate a large car; if need be, they can add AWD to improve handling, and with a large car they have room to stuff a big-ass engine under the hood to make up for the weight. The added cost of AWD can be more easily absorbed here, since the larger car will cost more.
Let's put it this way; if Cadillac puts the bulk of their resources into the ATS and it turns out to be a hit, it'll easily pay for the XTS to go RWD during the next product cycle.
hondacura4 says:
02:04 PM, 08/10/09
"With the XTS, RWD, while preferred, is less important since it is unlikely to often be hustled through corners; keep in mind that the A8 isn't RWD, but it does just fine."
Albook, although the A8 is FWD based, you have to consider that Audi uses the longitudinal engine layout vs the traditional transverse layout (like the Caddy flagship and most FWD applications) which helps weight distribution. The next Audi A8 should use a similar setup as the improved A4/A5. Also the A8 (to my knowledge) has its own dedicated platform that isn't shared with a "lesser" car.
stovt001 says:
04:59 PM, 08/10/09
"Also the A8 (to my knowledge) has its own dedicated platform that isn't shared with a "lesser" car."
I thought it was on the same platform as the Phaeton. I may be mistaken though, as I claim ignorance to most things VW/Audi. Can anyone confirm/deny?
albook says:
08:37 PM, 08/10/09
"I thought it was on the same platform as the Phaeton. I may be mistaken though, as I claim ignorance to most things VW/Audi. Can anyone confirm/deny?"
A:WAS shared with the Phaeton, and B: really I think the Phaeton was introduced later, so the VW was using the Audi's platform, not vice versa.
stovt001 says:
10:23 PM, 08/10/09
Are you saying the two cars diverged onto different platforms?
And I do know the A8 was first, and that's the proper way to do things. The luxury brand should get the good stuff first, and it should trickle down to the luxury brands. GM is doing it the opposite way, giving Cadillac a Chevrolet hand-me-down.
firelicked says:
08:40 PM, 08/11/09
I'm sure this is a photo shop pic, but at least they combined the camaro look. Not bad if it's close.
http://autoblog.royfoss.com/index.php/archives/2011-malibu-dream-chevrolet-lineup
maddogg1 says:
09:55 AM, 11/27/09
You know GM,,, I am from a family that has always owened GM cars. And we have always loved the Buick Riviera. Now you have been sitting on your hands for the last two years making a promise to bring it back. I have seen the one that you say your going to make. Now there are two to five sold in my family alone. So my comment to you is this,,,, in few of the fact that in my personel pole that I have taken,, if I cannot find one person that I have ask that says that they don't really love the new concept of the car,,, unless you have found lots of people that don't like it or its just a pile of junk and or lies,,,, WHY IN THE HELL DON'T YOU GET ON WITH BUILDING THE DAMM THING so we can have the first ones on the street in Los Angeles?? Sincerely,,, Maddogg1