A new luxury sedan called the Cadillac XTS is apparently being planned for production by the new General Motors. The car is said to be going after the best from Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, which means the A8, 7 Series, LS and S-Class respectively. Suppliers were told about this high-class stretch sedan at a briefing where it was also revealed that manufacturing will happen at the company's plant in Oshawa, Ontario. Cadillac will be replacing the slow-selling DTS with the XTS.
More GM news is that the upcoming Buick Regal, the next Chevrolet Impala and the new Camaro will form the mainstay of the company's Canadian manufacturing footprint. Canadians are set to own 12% of the new GM through the federal and Ontario governments' US$9.5 billion rescue injection.
In exchange for this help Canada is to keep 16% of GM's North American manufacturing capacity.
"To the extent that both the feds and Ontario have skin in the game," said Bill Pochiluk, president of consultancy AutomotiveCompass LLC in West Chester, Pa. "I think they need to be satisfied that they made the right decision. We think the lineup for Oshawa is very strong."
Production of the XTS will commence in December of 2011 while the Camaro's 25,000 orders are only halfway through being fulfilled, thanks to high demand. The next-generation Impala is due in 2013 while the Regal will be based on the Opel/ Vauxhall Insignia. One of these cars will also get a hybrid powertrain.
