LexFather

General Motors Corp. will build a new luxury stretch sedan called the Cadillac XTS at its assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont., according to suppliers briefed on the automaker's latest product plans.

The new car, together with the upcoming Buick Regal, a redesigned Chevrolet Impala and current Chevrolet Camaro, will form the backbone of the company's manufacturing footprint in Canada well into the next decade, industry sources indicated. GM will also build a hybrid version of one of those four models at the Oshawa site, its main Canadian assembly facility.

While automakers have always trumpeted the new vehicles they build in Canada with splashy launch ceremonies attended by political leaders, the new GM cars have added significance because Canadians would be owners in the company under a reorganization plan for GM being weighed in U.S. bankruptcy court.

The federal and Ontario governments last month pledged US$9.5-billion to help the bankrupt carmaker reinvent itself and protect thousands of jobs. It is the largest-ever public intervention in the industrial sector. Under the plan, Ottawa and Queen's Park would receive 12% of the common shares of a new GM that will exit bankruptcy protection as well as about US$1.7-billion in debt and preferred stock.

"To the extent that both the feds and Ontario have skin in the game, I think they need to be satisfied that they made the right decision," said Bill Pochiluk, president of consultancy AutomotiveCompass LLC in West Chester, Pa. "We think the lineup for Oshawa is very strong."

In exchange for public aid, GM has made several commitments including maintaining in Canada 16% of its North American production capacity. On June 1, the company said it would launch five new vehicles including the hybrid at its two Ontario assembly plants in Oshawa and Ingersoll.

It gave no further details on the vehicles.

The new Cadillac XTS will be the largest four-door sedan in the luxury brand's lineup, replacing the slow-selling DTS, one industry source said. It will compete with other high-end cars from BMW, Audi and Lexus. Production is slated to start in December 2011.

The Buick Regal, to start in Oshawa in August 2011, is a mid-sized family car essentially identical to GM's Opel Insignia model. The Chevrolet Camaro, which Oshawa factory workers began building in March, is an updated take on the classic 1960s muscle car. GM said last week it has filled about half the 25,000 orders taken for the vehicle and can't keep up with demand.

The Chevrolet Impala has for years been one of GM's high-volume, bread-and-butter cars, a model it can throw up against Toyota Motor Corp.'s Camry or Honda Motor's Accord. The next-generation Impala will start production in February 2013, according to the latest timetable communicated by the company to suppliers. The current model, in production since 2005, will be more than seven years old by then. That is an unusually long stretch for a vehicle without a revamp, but GM lacked the money to redo it.

The new Impala, Regal and XTS will all be built on GM's global Epsilon platform, sources indicated. That is significant because it will allow the company to produce three different models for three different brands - Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac - based on the same basic vehicle underpinnings, and adjust how much of each it builds based on demand.

"It gives GM the flexibility to juggle the production mix to meet the market," said one source familiar with the company's plans. "That is something that GM has not had the full-scale opportunity to do. In the past, they've built assembly lines dedicated to one vehicle, they run the **** out of it, and they throw money at to make the public buy it whether you want to or not. That's passé. That's the bad old days we hope will never come agai

whoster

does anyone know what this will perhaps maybe look like?

I'm liking Cadillac's current lineup.

encore888

Very interesting, it will be nice to see if they can produce a nice RWD luxury flagship.

Although the name sounds interesting, it just came to me that...

XTS kinda sounds like XTC. Ecstasy

But then again Cadillac has already got the ghetto gangsta' cred already...

Tee

Well here is a pic of the XTS concept, i'm sure it will look very different from the concept .

Threxx

That concept looks terrible to me. I have confidence whatever the XTS ends up looking like in production will look much better than that. The CTS and SRX are both great looking vehicles inside and out... I would be surprised if Caddy doesn't keep that going with the XTS.

TripleL

+1

A super sized CTS would do the trick for sure.

LexFather

Thats the old Caddy 16 concept as in 16 valves for years ago.

Caddy already was the GM brand that had the most focus. With less brands and more money going into Caddy, they might be able to truly finally elevate into "the standard of the world".

I applaud it and its about time an AMERICAN car company is among the best.

Do I like Government motors? No. Do I like Caddy's image? Hell no. Do I want they to succeed? Hell yes.

This would also help elevate Caddy into possible Tier I status and not with the also rans like Infiniti, Lincoln, Audi etc in America. I think America would truly welcome this. China would as well. Europe? We know how that is.

SLegacy99

XTS to replace the DTS, which was supposed to be cancelled due to overlap of the STS.

.....Dear Cadillac,

I know you are used to making big cars and that your attempts at smaller ones have sucked, but you need a C, 3 series, A4, IS, etc. competitor.

That is all,

Ben

biggie27

i think the cts was meant to be the 3 series competitor but in the size of the 5 series, thats why price wise its the same as a 3 series..... the STS is the 5 series competitor and the new XTS will take on the 7 series

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

The TL and the CTS are in the same boat. They're technically in the same class as the E/5/GS, but due to pricing they're compared to the C/3/IS

IS-SV

"The new Cadillac XTS will be the largest four-door sedan in the luxury brand's lineup, replacing the slow-selling DTS, one industry source said. It will compete with other high-end cars from BMW, Audi and Lexus. Production is slated to start in December 2011."

I'm not seeing this as generating much revenue or profit. Flagship of some sort, yes. Don't think MB, BMW, Audi, Lexus have a lot to fear with this news, IMHO.

Faymester

mmm Caddy 16 ... I loved that one.

Diemellz

the DTS is gone...

what about STS?

which 1 of these cars wll have the G8 engine

LexFather

Gonna have to disagree with my Goat friend here. They are in the right class, just bigger than than everyone else in that class. They are entry level.

mmarshall

If this car doesn't have a lot of the same characteristics and appeal that the DTS did, Caddy will be in trouble for a second time. The DTS had huge appeal with the over-60 age group.....as much as Buick. To drop the DTS is bad enough, but if they are going to do so, they at least will need to replace it with a similiar car that will have the same appeal to Cadillac's traditional customers. To ignore them will be to possibly bring on another set of financial problems.....they should have learned from what has happened from the recent bankrupcy. The often-used argument that many of Caddy's core customers are aging, irrelevant, and won't be around much longer doesn't hold much water either, because they will soon be replaced by a lot MORE over-60 customers as the huge Baby Boom generation retires.....and wants big cars with cushy rides. So, let's hope the XTS will appeal to them as the DTS did.