Surprised no one caught this:
http://www.auto.com/industry/gm19_20021119.htm

"General Motors Corp. will invest $80 million in its Saginaw Metal Casting plant to produce a new all-aluminum V8 engine block beginning in the second half of 2006.

The investment will protect 191 of the 2,400 jobs at the facility, said Mike Williams, manufacturing manager for GM Power Train Components and Casting.

The plant will produce 1,500 to 2,000 of the aluminum engine blocks daily, or 360,000 to 480,000 annually, said plant manager Rick Sutton.

The engine is more powerful and fuel-efficient than the iron-block Generation III V8 it will eventually replace. GM says the engine will produce more than 450 horsepower . Displacement will probably range from 5.3 liters to over 6.0 liters.

The Saginaw plant bested competition from low-wage countries including Mexico and Brazil to win the program, Sutton said. "That's an enormous accomplishment," he said, citing the plant's higher wage structure.

"These are the kinds of jobs we want to keep in Saginaw," he said. The new engine block should create some nearby jobs for suppliers who will get the finished blocks ready for assembly at GM's Romulus engine plant. The engines are used in pickups and SUVs. A slightly different version of the aluminum V8 will go into production for GM passenger cars for the 2005 model year. That engine will power the Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac XLR Roadster and other high-performance and full-size rear-drive cars .

Saginaw will not supply the cylinder blocks for passenger-car versions of the new V8.

The Saginaw plant will use a new process called precision sand casting to produce the blocks. The process allows the block to be lighter and built to more exacting specifications, Sutton said.

GM plans to eventually convert the Saginaw plant entirely to the production of aluminum components. GM will receive tax abatements from state and local government to offset the $80-million investment."

According to this article:
1. C6 will have 450hp out of possibly a 6.0 liter engine
2. This engine will replace the LS1/Vortec engines in 2005
3. Corvette & XLR will not be the only high performance cars to have a V8 (GTO won't be the only one).
4. Although XLR is mentioned, this plant will only make components of it's engine, not the engine which means it'll likely still be Cadillac's Northstar (wanted to point that out before someone came up with something crazy.

I've always said, you can find out more about what's going on behind the scenes following the plants than you can knowing the big guys.

 

wicked.your the best at finding this stuff.

 

Heres more from a different area:
http://www.auto.com/industry/iwira21_20021121.htm

"General Motors Corp. may spend as much as $300 million on an expansion at a Michigan factory to build new six-speed, rear-wheel-drive transmissions.

The world's largest automaker will decide in the next few months whether to make the investment at the Willow Run transmission plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, spokeswoman Darla Park said. The transmissions probably would be used starting in 2005, she said.

The state of Michigan yesterday granted General Motors a $17.1 million tax credit covering a 20-year period for the proposed expansion. The company also has received a tax credit from the local government in Ypsilanti, Park said.

The new transmissions probably would be for "performance vehicles" starting with the 2006 model year and large sport-utilities beginning with 2007 models, she said. The Detroit-based automaker wants to expand its lineup and win back U.S. market share. General Motors had a 28.1 percent of the market last year, maintaining its share for only the second time since 1990."

 

Makes you think doesn't it?! I wonder what they really have planned??

 

so are those auto or stick.my guess would be auto.

 

Finally some news of interest.

 

and i thought i was the only one who looked at this section of the board at least 3 times a day

 

nope i check it all the time,more on the weekends.

 

This line makes me take the rest of the predictions in this story with a grain of salt.

There is no way that Caddy would ever let it's XLR be powered by a smallblock Chevy.

 

why not the CTSv is getting it and the XLR is built on the same platform as the vette so in a few years they update it and to save cost they put the same motor as the vette.

 

Sorry I agree with Z284Ever. The XLR is different because it will be Cadillac's flagship, and as such they will want a high performance Northstar. It's just one of the justifications of charging $70k as opposed to $45k for the Corvette.

 

Does anyone think this is the twin cam in block engine?

I think it's odd that GM would show it off and brag about its wonderful specs and then not produce it. It seemed pretty well developed.

 

i see GM downsizing to one style of v8s with several variations.

 

Finally the first real concrete info on the C6! 450hp and a small weight reduction should make it a Viper killer. Lets hope the Vette continues to stay in the 40k-50k dollar range. Interesting stuff indeed.

 

The CTSv getting the the LS6 is purely a marriage of convenience.

Caddy was afraid that the original powerplant for the high perf CTS..the upcoming high feature V6 3.2l turbo with about 320 hp...might not have the oats to give the CTS world class performance....and the Northstar wouldn't fit the CTS's engine bay.

Believe me...every version of the Northstar will fit in the XLR.