Cadillac Duramax Diesel CTS?

Motor Trend (MT) has it on the downlow that Cadillac is considering a Duramax diesel-powered version of the CTS. The 4.5-liter, 520 lb-ft turbodiesel fits just fine in the CTS engine bay, say GM sources, as long as the design-ruining raised CTS-V hood is used. The idea behind the oil-burning option: bridge the considerable performance gap between the 3.6-liter V6 base model and the bat-shit insane supercharged CTS-V. Oh yeah, and Cadillac’s Northstar replacement project has been canned, meaning the Duramax is all they have for the job. MT aknowledges that “a diesel CTS for the U.S. would be a risk,” but goes on to argue that there’s little downside to the project since the engine and transmission have already been developed. But as numerous half-baked GM products prove, just because you’re leveraging existing components doesn’t mean anyone will buy them. Especially if they require expensive fuel. In fact…

John McElroy over at WardsAuto makes a compelling case against mass-market diesels, claiming that high diesel prices, engine premiums and emissions regulation ramp-ups render American oil-burners DOA. Of course, a diesel CTS would likely be a pretty niche product. And the biodiesel-brewing types will probably go crazy at the idea of running a CTS on runoff from Chinese leftovers. Still, why the hell isn’t GM considering putting their two-mode hybrid V8 in the CTS if they need another engine so badly? Sure the price premium would make the Duramax look like an Ecotec. But after spending a third of a billion dollars (or thereabouts) developing the thing, they should use it, right? Oh, and diesel Eldorado. There, saved you the trouble.