Bob Lutz soon after arriving at GM said the days of long in tooth designs are over. Seems he's living up to his word.

Grand Prix will be completely restyled for 2008. Coincidently, the next GTO is slated for 2008 as well.

GM is keeping all volume cars FWD till 2009 or 2010, so although 1+1 may seem to equal 2 here, it's too early to say for sure that the next GP will be RWD, unless it's going to be replacing the Bonneville (possible, but I'm just speculating here).

The next Impala (2006) will be FWD, in case you haven't heard, as will the new Monte Carlo. These will be around for at least 3 model years, and possibly 4 or 5, depending on circumstances. It will have the 5.3 V8 as an option, and yes, it will have torque management as well.

The new Zeta cars will be exclusively large cars. The 1st up is Buick, followed by Pontiac and likely the new CTS (which will have a coupe & convertible version this time). Chevrolet may also have a Caprice in the works.

The performance chassis is Zeta "based", and is a shorter & somewhat modified version of the Full Sized car chassis. Don't automatically expect it to have IRS across the board.

BTW: in reference to another thread regarding the Buick LeSabre, the car wil be replaced next year (MY2006) and will likely have a name change in the process. The Buick Riviera (or Velite) convertible will be out prior to summer 2007.


Other items:
* One very very credible source says the Saturn coupe is much like the Vauxhall Lightning, NOT the Curve concept. The Lightning won't pass Europe's new pedestrian safety design requirements, so Saturn get's the car. It will be a 2007 car, hitting the showrooms around the 2006 Auto show season. Again, it isn't a copy, but it is the jump off point.

*One of the cars Bob Lutz previewed during his recent trip to Australia was Holden's proposal for the new Chevrolet El Camino. No word on if the goahead was given or not, but Holden DOES have a proposal for one.

*GM-Holden (not GM-North America) did the design work on the next Pontiac GTO.

 

Yeah I heard this a while back, and it is something I just don't understand. I have no problems with Holden doing the grunt work on the platforms but why can't we have an American-inspired GTO design? What is the reason for this, don't they trust Poncho designers anymore?

 

FWIW, I happen to think the Monaro, Commadore and Ute are way better looking than anything in their class designed by GM-NA in recent years.

But then has GM-NA even had any recent RWD vehicles to match that trio?

 

Three words.

Grand-Am Body Cladding.

Oh...One other word.

Aztek.

 

Yes I know I know but seriously, we wouldn't be very pleased if the Camaro was styled over there would we? I just don't think it's too much to ask that a legendary American muscle car at least have the influence of Americans.

 

Does this mean that the GTO will continue to come from Australia until then?

 

So whats going to happen to Sigma if the CTS goes to Zeta?
Sigma is brand new?

 

Yes, this struck me as odd as well...

SRX is SIgma, and so is the new STS.... but, still...

 

I really can't see Cadillac using the Zeta architecture. Remember, the whole point of the Sigma architecture is to provide a premium, RWD platform for luxury cars - something that GM did not have prior to Sigma. If Cadillac is to cultivate its luxury car image, then it will need to get special car platforms that are exlusive to the brand (no Chevys rebaged as Cimmarons). Also remember a little while back that GM even assigned some engineers to work exlusively on Cadillac products.

The use of Zeta on Cadillac products just does not strike me as being consistent with where this brand is supposed to be heading.

 

Rest assured that Cadillac will still use Sigma. With the STS about to go into production, the DTS coming soon, and the CTS & SRX, Cadillac will continue to be Sigma.

But....

Zeta is a evolution of Sigma & are very very similar if not nearly identical, and could also be built on the same line. Remember, the Zeta's nickname is "Sigma-mass" or "Sigma-lite". The Zeta is also a modular chassis, meaning there are going to be sections of the structure that is mix & match to create cars of different wheelbases, lengths, heights, widths, and drivetrain options.

Some of the upgrades or changes on Zeta is likely to spill over into the CTS. It arguebly has already happened. The 2004 Cadillac CTS has had it's front substructure re-engineered to accept the LS6, and the rear-end has also undergone some changes unique to that model.

 

Yea, but I think they did a good job a few years ago with the GTO concept they came up with.

 

guionM,

Will Cadillac use a pure Zeta chassis, or is GM planning on using the Zeta as a common base then modify it to justify its use on Cadillacs? Taking a good high-volume chassis and adding features to it for luxury cars would be a lot easier than developing a high-end platform and then try to take cost out of it for higher-volume, lower priced vehicles, right?

 

This is just a guess, but I imagine Cadillac would still use Sigma. It's already a high end platform, and GM is developing a high volume modular platform off of it.

Cadillac is going to continue it's move upscale, and isn't showing any signs that it's going to start pennypinching so I wouldn't expect Caddy to go on Zeta. CTS, possibly (some pieces), but the rest of the line, doubtful.

 

I'm not really a fan of that either.

 

Or is the GTO you are talking about the 3rd generation?