Interesting CT6 Info, Including What Is Could Say About A Cadillac ME Sports Car

[John]

There is a lot of interesting information in this article, including that the replacement for the current CT6 sedan is currently scheduled to come on line for the 2022 model year — yes a replacement Cadillac sedan. However, this probably means that if there is a Cadillac electric mid engine sports car, it probably is not coming until, at the earliest, the 2023 model year. So FWIW, here is the latest info we have on the CT6 right now, on GM’s moving to just four platforms except for niche vehicles, and the CT6’s potential upcoming plans.

Please see the second post for losts more information on GM moving from 26 to just 4 platforms.

[Quote=gmauthority] GM Developing Next-Gen Cadillac CT6 On Future VSS-R Platform

• BY DEIVIS CENTENO
• — FEB 19, 2019

A few months ago, the future of the Cadillac CT6 looked bleak, as GM announced plans to idle the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where the model is built for North American markets. That news followed by a confirmation by Cadillac spokespeople that the CT6 will be discontinued in North America as a direct result of the plant’s closure. It was doom and gloom until about two months later, when newly-appointed GM president, Mark Reuss, and Cadillac president, Steve Carlisle, stated that the CT6 will actually live on, and that GM is actively working to move CT6 production to a different plant. Good news? Absolutely. But the goodness doesn’t end there – since we have new details on the next-generation Cadillac CT6, thanks to exclusive information obtained by GM Authority.


First-generation, 2019 Cadillac CT6 Platinum 3.0TT V6 Platform

According to our sources, the second-generation Cadillac CT6 is being developed on the VSS-R platform – GM’s future, highly-modular architecture for rear-drive-based vehicles. The new architecture will replace both the current Alpha and Omega platforms as part of GM’s Vehicle Set Strategy, which aims to boost efficiencies and increase scale economies by optimizing development costs and production resources.

The future Cadillac CT6 will be one of the first models to use the VSS-R platform, which will also be capable of utilizing alternative (new energy) drivetrains.

Internally within GM, the second-gen CT6 is assigned project code “7ESL”, which disambiguates into the following:

• 7: VSS-R platform code
• E: vehicle for the E segment
• S: Sedan body style
• L: Cadillac brand

First-generation, 2019 Cadillac CT6 Platinum 3.0TT V6 Body Style & Positioning


As inferred by the project code, the next-gen Cadillac CT6 will feature a traditional, “three-box” body style. Although this may run contrary to current market trends, which are exhibiting sustained increases in demand for crossover SUVs at the expense of traditional sedans in some regions of the world, sedans will continue to have a sizable presence – especially in the luxury space as well as in Asian and Eastern countries.

It’s also important to note that by the time the second-gen CT6 is launched, the Cadillac vehicle portfolio will have at least four utilities, while culling the excess of sedans seen in the lineup today to only the CT4 C-segment sedan, CT5 D-segment model, and CT6 E-segment entry.

A flagship passenger car above the CT6 is rumored to be part of the future Cadillac product plan, but it won’t have a traditional “sedan” body style. Instead, it will have a fastback-like profile similar to the design previewed by the Cadillac Escala concept.

Interior of the 2019 Cadillac CT6-V (initially announced as CT6 V-Sport) at the 2018 New York Auto Show Production


At of this writing, General Motors plans to produce the next-gen Cadillac CT6 in both North America and China, as is the case with the current model. While Chinese production of the model will continue at the Jinqiao Cadillac plant (also known as the Cadillac mega factory in China), it’s still unclear what plant will be tasked with building the model for North America as a result of GM’s restructuring announced late last year.

The automaker stated that starting in 2019, future products will be allocated to a smaller number of plants in order to increase the use of production capacity in the North American region. The plant where GM chooses to move production of the current model will serve as a very good indicator as to where production of the second-gen model will take place.

2016 Cadillac CT6 being produced at the Jinqiao-Shanghai factory in China

Rumors have indicated that the GM Lansing Grand River plant – home to the ATS, CTS, and Chevy Camaro – is the front-runner in absorbing CT6 production from Detroit-Hamtramck. The facility will also produce the upcoming CT4 and CT5 models. Launch Cadence


The next-gen Cadillac CT6 is currently scheduled to go on sale by the end of the 2022 calendar year. That would give the current, first-generation model six years on the market (2016 , 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021).

At this point, the future Cadillac CT6 is still in early stages of planning and development, and many details about the model are missing. Be sure to stay tuned and subscribe to GM Authority as we bring you the latest Cadillac news and CT6 news.[/Quoite]


Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/02/...#ixzz5gOqEqOAY

[John]

GM’s reduction to four platforms, except for “niche vehicles” by 2025.

GM Looks To Consolidate 26 Platforms Into Four Vehicle Sets By 2025

• BY ALEX LUFT
• — OCT 6, 2017

By the year 2025, General Motors is planning to streamline its vehicle platforms from nearly 30 to a grand total of four flexible vehicle sets. Internally called Vehicle Set Strategy, of VSS, the initiative has a completion date of 2025 – by which time all GM vehicles will use one of the four sets.


Following is a detailed account of what we know about GM’s VSS undertaking, as available via GM’s own presentation available here (PDF format). Overview




VSS has been in play in one form or another since the 2013-2014 timeframe and carries several major benefits, including:

• Decreasing development time/time to market
• Improving efficiency in engineering, manufacturing and purchasing
• Increasing margins
• Unlocking greater pricing power
• Improving relationships with key suppliers

During a 2014 presentation to analysts, GM product development chief, Mark Reuss, described the move as an “evolution of architectures” that is driven by customer demands. The Four Sets




The four GM vehicle sets include a set for front-drive cars, rear-drive cars, crossovers and trucks/ladder-frame-style SUVs, as follows:

• VSS-F for front-wheel-drive cars
• VSS-R for rear-wheel-drive cars
• VSS-S for crossovers (high-roof, high-clearance cars)
• VSS-T for trucks and (body-on-frame) SUVs

The four sets, in turn, are believed to have subsets for differently-sized models. For instance, we have it on good accord that VSS-F was to have the following three sub-sets at some point during development:

• VSS-F A for A segment cars (city cars like the Spark)
• VSS-F B/C for B segment cars (like the Chevrolet Sonic) and C segment cars (like the Chevrolet Cruze)
• VSS-F D/E for D segment cars (like the Chevrolet Malibu) and E segment cars (like the Chevrolet Impala)

The four sets cover every product in GM’s current vehicle portfolio. The only models that the sets might not cover are specialized sports cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette, which might remain on a “dedicated” platform in the traditional sense of the word.

“We’re designing across segments to get scale we never (had) before,” said GM product chief Mark Reuss (via WardsAuto), citing B- and C-segment vehicles that will share common suspension components, for example, but feature different tuning depending on ride and cost targets. “This is the key to unlocking scale and specific customer requirements around the world.” Benefits




The transition from global and regional vehicle platforms/architectures to vehicle sets is a significant undertaking that is expected to carry equally major benefits.

For starters, it is intended to simplify and shorten the time needed to engineer and manufacture future GM vehicles while enabling the automaker to better tailor individual models to regional markets and specific segments and sectors around the world.

If it succeeds, VSS could eventually save GM billions of dollars in engineering, production costs including tooling, purchasing/components, and other manufacturing-related expenses. That is despite initial expenses and investments involved in tearing up and retooling assembly plants, which will likely cost in the billions. But once that’s done, “the economies of scale will be massive – if everything works properly”, according to senior manager of forecasting at research firm LMC Automotive, Bill Rinna.

The reduction to four core vehicle sets will also give GM enormous pricing power while creating volumes for vehicle programs that will allow it to develop better relationships with key suppliers.

Perhaps most importantly for customers, GM will no longer have engineering teams dedicated to wringing costs out of existing models, squeezing margins for suppliers, which puts them and the automaker at risk.

“We had people working on things going out of production,” said Reuss, referring to the misallocation of resources that VSS will redirect toward developing all-new models. “We want to (get pricing right) the first time. That’s what we have to do.”

GM CFO Chuck Stevens states that the automaker has developed better cost modeling to pursue “opportunities on a win-win basis with suppliers.” He told analysts that the automaker expects a material cost savings of $900 million per year. Technically Speaking




Despite sounding relatively simple, GM’s Vehicle Set Strategy is actually quite complex.

At its core, the strategy involves modifying three primary vehicle modules – the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the cargo compartment. GM is engineering the four sets with provisions to change specific hardware such as engines and suspensions to match vehicle size and type, as well as market segment and geographic region.

Reuss describes the undertaking as “a pretty amazing transformation” of GM’s processes. “This is the key to unlocking scale and (meeting) specific customer requirements around the world.”

In that regard, even the vocabulary associated with the technical side of the automotive sphere is changing. Joe Langley, principal analyst at research and consulting firm IHS Automotive, refers to the concept of “Lego-like component sets (that) redefine what the industry traditionally referred to as platforms.” Development

VSS development commenced in the 2013-2014 timeframe under Mary Barra when she headed GM’s global product development department before she succeeded Dan Akerson as CEO in January 2014, and as Chairman of the board in 2016.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for more than a couple years,” she told reporters (via Reuters). “We’ve done extensive benchmarking (and) there’s been tremendous progress made already.” Timeframe

In 2015 and 2016, GM had 14 core platforms and 12 regional architectures (for a total of 26) in play. The automaker is targeting calendar year 2025 as having its entire vehicle lineup utilizing the four aforementioned Vehicle Sets.

The first two Vehicle Sets – VSS-F and VSS-T – will roll out in 2020. At that time, GM will be using the two sets along with 11 core platforms and two regional ones. GM Vehicle Set News

• GM VSS news
• GM VSS-F news
• GM VSS-S news
• GM VSS-R news
• GM VSS-T news

Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2017/10/...#ixzz5gOrkZyDN

[Boomer]

Thanks John. This is my go-to place to keep up with CT6 "disambiguations".