Platform ALPHA: futuri modelli Cadillac

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Perfetta per l' erede di 159 ....

[simonepietro]

da motorauthority

Cadillac will bow to public pressure for smaller and more fuel-efficient models by offering a four-cylinder compact sedan in the U.S., a prospect almost unthinkable just 12 months ago. The small RWD sedan will likely come towards the end of 2010 for the 2011 model year and will be positioned below the current CTS.

Cadillac already sells a small BLS sedan (pictured) in Europe but so far the car has suffered from dismal sales due to Cadillac’s poor brand image and lack of competitiveness with luxury powerhouses such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. While the current BLS is built on the Saab 9-3 platform, the next-generation Cadillac small car will be built on General Motors’ upcoming Alpha architecture and may not even be called a BLS.

The name of the new small sedan is not the only issue in contention, with managers still debating on whether or not to offer a six-cylinder engine as an option or not. Cadillac general manager Jim Taylor explained to Automotive News that a portion of the Cadillac team was thinking that they “ought to go all the way, say, to fours.”

[simonepietro]

ancora da motortrend

The BMW 3 Series-size Alpha RWD Cadillacs are scheduled for the 2011 model year to replace the failed Epsilon front-drive Cadillac BLS in Europe while expanding the division's car lineup in North America. The Cadillac Alphas will include a sedan and either a folding hardtop coupe, or a conventional coupe and convertible.

Meanwhile, the program to combine the STS and DTS models into one, rear-wheel-drive flagship sedan, codenamed DT7, is on hold. Cadillac has recently locked in the DT7's design, but is waiting as GM now considers the proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations and capital conservation implications of building the car.

That means without further delays or cancellation, the DT7 will launch for the 2012 model year, instead of '11. That also separates its timeline from the more eco-friendly Chevy Volt and Cruze launches, due in 2010 as '11 models.

[simonepietro]

oggi da motorauthority.

Just this week the $25 billion federal loan package was approved for the car industry, and already insiders are hinting that the extra cash could revive plans for GM's rear-wheel drive Alpha platform. Movement toward more RWD models had been shelved on concerns over spending and efficiency regulations earlier this year, despite the large investments that had been made in that direction.

Bringing the Alpha platform back might help recuperate some of the R&D money that would otherwise have been lost on the project. If the reports prove true, GM won't just be barging forward with an outdated model of RWD excess, according to GM Inside News. Instead, they would be working to make the Alpha platform more flexible, so that it can accommodate a whole range of vehicles from compact coupe to full-size sedan. That's a smart business move in terms of maximizing the investment they've already made, despite the minor efficiency and cost issues of RWD designs when compared to easier-to-package FWD cars.

Last year, speculation about a possible RWD Pontiac G6 began to build, but the plan was later dashed on the grounds of cost and economy issues. A flexible Alpha platform vehicle may yet revive those hopes as well, however, since the G6 would be within the scope of vehicle sizes that are reportedly being considered. Similarly, the recently speculated end of the Kappa platform may see a migration to Alpha as well, meaning the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky/Opel GT line of cars may yet live on as well.

The broadened Alpha platform would then replace the Zeta (Pontiac G8/Camaro/Holden Commodore) and Sigma (CTS) platforms with a single architecture. The economy of scale benefits to such a move are obvious, though nothing along those lines would happen until at least 2012 as GM completes its already planned production on those platforms. Already Cadillac has confirmed it is working on a smaller RWD four-cylinder car, which is expected to be based on the Alpha platform, though that does not necessarily mean anything for a wider RWD renaissance.

One factor that may work against the shift to Alpha is the Camaro. Just launched this year as a 2009 model, a complete platform shift by 2012 would be a very short product cycle, and short cycles generally mean greater expense - the opposite of the intended goal. But sacrificing one model's profit profile for the greater good of the company may make sense in terms of the broader bottom line. At any rate, such considerations underscore how speculative any such move away from the Zeta and Sigma platforms may be, and what is at stake.

[simonepietro]

ancora da motor trend via automotive.com

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2011 ALPHA FAMILY

Even Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus envy what BMW has done with the 3 Series: Making it an "affordable," iconic sport-luxury model that brings in bags-full of euros in profit. Alpha is GM's small rear-drive vehicle architecture and launches in late 2010 as a smaller-than-CTS Cadillac sedan aimed straight at the 3 Series.

This is where the volume is in the premium segment, both here in the U.S. and in Europe and Asia. This is where the money is made. Cadillac simply cannot afford not to do this car. And it cannot afford not to do coupe, convertible, and wagon variants of the car, just like Benz and BMW.

A 2012 Alpha convertible is likely to follow within a year. An Alpha coupe is a logical addition, although here's where the picture gets fuzzy. One of our spy photos shows a radical two-door hatchback-style car (similar in concept to the Z3-based BMW M Coupe that bowed in 1998 ). Cadillac may be anticipating an emerging trend toward luxury C-segment hatchbacks, which seems a gamble, even for the European market, although Mercedes is a player in the segment with the C-Class-based CLC.

We hear Bob Lutz is pushing hard for an Alpha coupe that's more or less a scaled-down version of the CTS. But the CTS Coupe's extreme rake makes it difficult to do a convertible at low cost compared with a more conventional three-box design-and a convertible to rival BMW's 3 Series and Benz's CLK is essential if Alpha is to be a truly global, high-margin vehicle.

Besides, it's clear GM design chief Ed Wellburn doesn't want Alpha to be a CTS mini-me: "You know, if you're doing a smaller-type Cadillac, you'd have to tighten up the forms more," he says, without actually confirming the car's existence. "Because if you're doing a smaller one, you'd want it to be an agile, nimble car, and you certainly wouldn't want to do what some other brands have done, brands that are known for doing handling well and having a heavy body shape. That relationship of the body shape to the wheels is important, and you'd want to keep it lean."

As for Alpha's powertrains, Cadillac is experimenting with a direct-injection turbocharged 2.0-liter engine using the same fuel-sipping power-enhancing technology as the upcoming Cruze's 1.4-liter turbo four to produce about 220 horsepower. An optional 2.8-liter direct-injection V-6 from the "high-feature" (3.6) family could make upward of 270 horsepower. Europeans will be offered the exceptional 1.9-liter turbodiesel four..

Da vedere cosa lascerà in piedi l'attuale tempesta.

Modificato 16 Dicembre 2008 da simonepietro

[simonepietro]

nuovi problemi per la piattaforma ALPHA ?

indiscrezioni di Lutz rilasciate a giornalisti australiani , molto intressati visto che la parte del leone nella progettazione dell'ALPHA spettava di nuovo all'Holden,durante il NAIAS

Da GOauto.com.au via motor authority

have been all manner of reports about General Motors’ future RWD plans over the past 12 months, with everything from the carmaker merging its Zeta and Sigma architectures for a new super platform to the introduction of a new compact RWD design to be called Alpha. According to latest reports, GM has halted its future development of its Zeta platform and any new vehicles that would have been spawned from it.

The information came directly from vice-chairman Bob Lutz, who revealed to Australian media at this week’s Detroit Auto Show that tougher fuel-economy standards and GM’s current financial crisis were the reasons behind the move.

“The strategy we had a few years ago of basically deriving a whole sweeping global portfolio off the Australian Zeta architecture ... frankly, we have had to abandon that dream,” Lutz said.

This means that GM will likely continuing using its ageing Sigma platform, which debuted back in 2002 in the first-generation CTS, for any future RWD large cars, reports GoAuto. However, there is also chance that GM will start to adopt more FWD designs. This is a strategy that Ford will also follow, revealing that it too has killed its future RWD ambitions.

Other vehicles affected by GM’s financial problems include a right-drive version of the Camaro as well as the Camaro convertible, which Lutz said will now arrive sometime in 2011 – two years after the launch of the coupe. As for the future of the current Zeta-based Pontiac G8, Lutz said that “it all depends on what we are going to do with the Pontiac brand,” explaining that it was one of the brands currently under review. The others being Saturn, Hummer and Saab.

Finally, Lutz hinted that he would like GM to work with its Holden subsidiary on a new compact RWD platform – Alpha – but admitted that it was “not even in the plan at this point.”

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Modificato 16 Gennaio 2009 da simonepietro

[simonepietro]

Dovremmo sapere qualcosa l'11 agosto alle ore 8 A.M della costa est. Sembra che il sig Fritz Henderson abbia programmato una conferenza stampa avente come soggetto i futuri prodotti GM.Questa è la parte certa, ora le indiscrezioni sulle notizie che fornirà e che stanno circolando in USA. La prima riguarda la discussione :

-GM unveiled a new Cadillac concept dubbed the ATS, a compact BMW 3 Series fighter that will be available in both coupe and sedan forms.

Le altre ,le riporto solo per curiosità:

-The Cadillac DTS' replacement – currently named the XTS – will be built atop the Buick LaCrosse's underpinnings and will be available with all-wheel drive.

-The CTS Coupe is due to arrive this May, and there's still talk of a V version (duh). Apparently GM has a working CTS-V SportWagon on premises and it could arrive as early as next year.

-New Chevrolet Malibu unveiled, but it supposedly won't reach production until 2012.

-All-new midsize Buick model coming within the next 24 months.

(autoblog)

Modificato 10 Agosto 2009 da simonepietro

[simonepietro]

sorpresa ,ha iniziato con la Volt. Ormai definita in tutti i particolari .

[simonepietro]

il modello, ATS , che verrà PROBABILMENTE realizzato sull'ALPHA e dovrà porsi sotto la CTS ,avrà trazione posteriore e 4 ruote motrici, coupè ma anche 4 porte , motori a 4 cilindri ecotec II e 6 cilindri H.F .

Modificato 11 Agosto 2009 da simonepietro

[simonepietro]

Car connection afferma di aver ricevuto conferma dalla GM che l'ATS ,da porsi sotto la futura CTS ,sarà a trazione posteriore - integrale con motore longitudinale

it's too early to tell much about the Cadillac ATS, since GM gave few details. In concept form, the two-door ATS seemed the size of a Honda Accord coupe, wearing lines clearly derived from the upcoming 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe and the 2009 Cadillac Converj concept. Deeply straked headlamps trail down the front fenders, and the body wears lots of subtle surfacing--a further development away from the sharp-edged "Art & Science" theme that helped relaunch Cadillac in the early part of the decade.

GM says the new ATS model range will be based on a longitudinal engine placement and a rear-drive design; all-wheel drive will be available on various versions of the new small-car architecture, dubbed "Alpha" within GM. The ATS will be a family of new vehicles, Cadillac confirms, which likely means coupe, sedan and wagon versions.

The ATS range will be joined by a large 2013 Cadillac XTS sedan, and the next generation of Cadillac CTS vehicles, which likely won't emerge until 2014 or later. Cadillac chief designed Clay Dean confirms that the next CTS, in fact, is a clean-sheet design, "all-new from the ground up.".

Per le linee del futuro modello afferma aver visto il prototipo di una nuova concept da cui l'ATS dovrebbe riprendere a piene mani il design.Questa concept è chiaramente la futura coupè CTS di cui sono state mostrate le foto ieri,ieri 'altro