GM is reverting to its old ways again. However, instead of being large and mediocre they are now smaller but still mediocre.

Putting unrefined Chevrolet engines in a Cadillac is a recipe for disaster. Heck, the aging Northstar is a better alternative than this.
If Hyundai can design a brand new world-class V8 why can’t Cadillac. Are they now even behind Hyundai!!!!

Cadillac buyers don’t want a $40/50/60k economy car that requires two fuels and has mediocre performance. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.

BMW has stopped using V12 engines, the best engine available in the new 7-series is a turbo V8.

Actually the SLS isn’t best compared to the A8/7-Series/S-Class crowd.

It’s actually a response to a trait peculiar to the Chinese market. In China, the BMW 5-Series and Audi A6 are both sold in long-wheelbase versions (the former as the 530Li, the latter as the Audi A6L). A stretched M-B E-Class is expected this year.

This is a similar phenomenon to stretched taxi and chauffeur-driven models in the USA (Like the Crown Vic taxi and the Lincoln Town Car L). The point is to offer the rear-set legroom of a full-size executive car without packing on all the massive engines and fancy electronics of a flagship sedan.

So far, none of the Germans seem inclined to offer their stretched executive saloons anywhere other than the Land of the Dragon, but who knows, maybe Cadillac’s SLS will be the first stretched-midsize to make the leap.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — any future Cadillac flagship sedan needs a V-12. It won’t sell in volume, so the CAFE implications are limited. A luxury flagship almost always needs a flagship engine to match. The Germans all use V-12s, and Lexus has their high-powered hybrid LS 600hL, and Jaguar has a supercharged V-8. If Cadillac wants to be a credible global player, it needs that top-flight sedan, and the engine to match.

A fully-loaded, extended wheelbase Walter P. Chrysler 300 starts at around $50k, the 300C SRT-8 is mid $40k’s.

Now why anybody would spend that much money on a 300 is beyond me, but there you have it.

For being driven about in the back seat, the Town Car does just as well as the S class, 7 series, or A8 for less than half the money in real world prices. For driving ones self a 5 series, E class, or Bentley Continental GT are better propositions in the roomy luxury department.

While the SLS interior looks nice in pictures, I’d like to see one in person. Also, I find that the current Cadillac ‘Art and Science’ design language doesn’t translate very well to large cars. The CTS looks far better than the STS or DTS, whose drooping noses make them look as if they are mentally deficient. I will give credit to getting rid of the Northstar in favor of the LS series of engines however. The LS V8s are perhaps the finest example of the price/performance/reliability/versatility sweet spot of any V8s currently being made, by any automaker.

While I believe DOHC combined with DI and forced induction is surely the wave of the future, GM has invested so much more time and money into the ancient pushrod tech of the LS engines, and in return developed powerplants that surpass even their own line of ‘high tech’ V8s, that it seems silly not to take advantage of that.

The LS460 and Tundra have the same basic engine, but with different displacement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_UR_engine

The 4.6 liter and 5.7 liter versions are probably much closer than the LS_X engine that would be used in a US market SLS and the small blocks in GM trucks:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gm_ls_engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Vortec_engine

The plastic and leather in the SLS might not be on the same level (I haven’t been to China), but the SLS has things like a fixed rear center console, wood tray tables, a full leather dash, and an absolute ton of real wood – things that are either options or not available in the competition. Although if the car does make it here (highly speculative) it is even more speculative that the interior would remain on the same level.

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/11/more-on-chinas-cadillac-sls/

There is no denying that a US market SLS would have to have to be a significant value proposition compared to the top tier German sedans to succeed in the US market. And this is a niche where leasing difficulty could be very bad for sales.

Lambaste their past and current products? Sure, but don’t start spouting off about speculated upcoming vehicles which they may not even produce until you can actually review them and judge for yourself.

If we’re getting picky, the Tundra’s top engine is a 5.7 liter only shared with other Toyota trucks on the same platform (Lexus LX570).

Your point is still well taken though.

Also, pictures may suggest the SLS interior is as good as an S-Class or 7-Series. In real life, it’s a very good interior, but nowhere close to those cars.

The Genesis sedan is a great car, but its 115 inch wheelbase puts it with the middle sized cars like the BMW 5, Mercedes E, Infiniti M, Cadillac SWB STS and Lexus GS.

I’m talking 120 inch+ wheelbase cars, like the 300C, LWB German top tier sedans, LWB Lexus LS, and Cadillac SLS.

The Hyundai Genesis feels left out.

GM is the only company in the US market that makes a V8 pickup and a V8 large luxury sedan but does not use the same V8 in both. The Northstar sucks, there are amazing versions of the LS-X, and developing a new DOHC V8 would be idiotic.

The Toyota Tundra and Lexus LS460 share a V8

The Nissan Titan and Infiniti M45 share a V8

The Ford F-series and Lincoln Towncar share a V8

The Dodge Ram and Chrysler 300C share a V8

I tend to agree with Justin Berkowitz that this is just unreliable hype to move news stand magazines, but this would be a huge improvement over the ancient, brand confusing DTS. The interior in the Chinese SLS is nicer than anything in an anywhere near base 7-series or S-class.

There is also the issue of price. Right now there is no large RWD sedan between the $30K 300C and the $70K+ German top teir sedans and Lexus LS, except for the Town Car, which is really a professional car that has no place with end consumers. This could fill in the gap with a $50-$60K car.

Take a model, the STS, that has been in production since 2005, and that has been handily outsold every year it’s been in production by the DTS, a car in production since 2000 which is based on the same platform as the previous STS.

Then remove the V-8 engine distinctive to the Cadillac line, the Northstar, and substitute a Chevy engine basically the same as that used in pick-up trucks.

Revise the body, which currently looks like a cross between the two generations of CTS. In so doing, however, you’re still stuck with the same basic body shell, which will continue the same bottom-heavy proportions of the current STS,

And call this the new Cadillac.

Who wouldn’t prefer that to an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?

Certainly GM can defend this on the grounds that it didn’t have the money during the past several years to develop a proper replacement, and that it got caught by the CAFE standards being more strict than expected. That would all probably be true enough.

But, the new GM won’t gain any credibility, much less market, by producing cars that are intentionally inadequate. If they can’t replace the deVille/DTS with a car that’s competitive with the competition, then they should wait until they can.

This is an old rumor. It was wrong then and I think it’s wrong now.

Cadillac already considered bringing the long-wheelbase STS to the US, back when the SLS was being developed for China. They quickly killed the idea.

The SLS in China was not engineered with US side-impact crash standards in mind. In stretching the wheelbase, it significantly altered the vehicle and would not have met our standards.

Apparently it was either too expensive or impossible to make US compliant, and GM ended the consideration.

I’m tired of these news outlets running “Chinese GMs in America” stories. We’ve gotten the rumors about the Buick Excelle, the Chinese Buick Lacrosse, the on again/off again Chevy Spark concept, and so on.

Of course we also heard that we were getting the Pontiac G8 with a stick shift, or as a pickup truck, or as a wagon like in Australia. Or that they were going to build the G8 in America after importing the first few from Australia just to get things moving.

Or there was the time that GM was going to build a smaller RWD platform called “Alpha” and use it to make a new small Cadillac and potentially a compact Holden Torana, too. That was “canceled” within the confines of someone’s imagination, too.

GM’s not selling anything in America until it’s on dealers’ lots in America.

Ditch the Northstar. It is expensive to build and expensive to maintain as it ages. The LS V8 engine family offers everything Cadillac customers want and need for a flagship sedan.

http://www.cadillac.com.cn/vehicle/sls/overview.html

They were developing a new DOHC-32V engine, which they killed last year.

Another Lexus ES competitor? Is a Camry on steroids THAT good? Again, they were going the right route with RWD, now they will switch again to WWD?

These people is trully insane…

Actually it is. The STS is a very good platform. It’s main issues are that it isn’t differentiated enough from the CTS in size and looks, and the Northstar is at best mediocre. Putting the long wheel base version on the market with a reskin and GM’s good V8 solves those problems and strenghthens Caddilac’s (attempt at a) premium RWD brand image. There’s no point in GM developing a redundant platform for the US market.

If Cadillac is going to sell Epsilon and Delta based cars, on the other hand, they might as well shut the brand down.