Automotive News
April 4, 2005


By Rick Kranz



General Motors may derive rear-drive Buicks and Pontiacs from an exclusive
Cadillac vehicle architecture. But don't expect any Chevrolets based on
Cadillac underpinnings.

A less costly version of Cadillac's Sigma vehicle architecture is a
candidate for several rwd cars now that GM has killed plans for its rwd
Zeta architecture in North America.

"A natural place to land would be Sigma," Jim Taylor, Cadillac general
marketing manager, said last month at the New York auto show.

Taylor said another option is re-engineering Holden's VT architecture,
which is the basis for the Holden Monaro and Commodore and Pontiac GTO.

GM's financial difficulties were blamed for the Zeta decision announced
last month. The architecture was being developed for a variety of rwd
Buick, Pontiac and Chevrolet cars that would begin to debut in 2007.
All-wheel-drive versions also were planned.

The GM product plan would have emulated the Chrysler group's strategy by
replacing its front-drive, mid-sized high-volume car lineup of rwd models.

"I don't think I would conclude that plans for rear-wheel vehicles at GM
are cancelled forever," GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz said last month at the
New York auto show. "I see it more as a delay. We will study other ways to
get at rear-wheel-drive passenger cars."

Taylor said some rwd cars originally based on the Zeta architecture remain
in the product plan.

He said a possible architecture for some of these models is a less costly
version of the Sigma vehicle architecture, referred to internally as
"Sigma-lite."

The Sigma architecture is used exclusively for the rwd Cadillac CTS, STS
and SRX.

Before taking his current position at Cadillac in August 2004, Taylor was
vehicle line executive for Sigma. The first Cadillac to use the
architecture was the 2003 CTS.

When the Sigma architecture was being developed, Taylor said his team
investigated whether it was possible to use cheaper components to create
vehicles for brands below Cadillac.

"It was a quick study on the component side to see whether we could create
Sigma-lite, and it was feasible to do," he said.

GM later decided to do a range of rwd cars for Chevrolet, Buick and
Pontiac. But the Sigma-lite architecture proved too expensive for models
that might be priced below $25,000.

The automaker decided to develop the less costly Zeta architecture, which
could be used on a global basis and applied everywhere from Chevrolet to
Cadillac. But on March 21, Lutz announced that GM had canceled plans for
using Zeta in North America.

According to supplier sources, Zeta was going to be used for the
next-generation Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo; Pontiac Grand Prix and
GTO; and two Buick models - a coupe or convertible based on the Velite
concept and a sedan. The Chevrolet Camaro name also was going to be
resurrected for a four-passenger coupe.

Zeta was one of two vehicle architectures under consideration for an
ultraluxury sedan planned by Cadillac that is expected to debut at the end
of the decade.

 

Tell me you're surprized.

 

Two things....

4 dr Camaro coupe?

and

I'm sure a mountain of money was spent on Zeta, if they would have used that money originally to create Sigma Lite most of the cars we are wanting would be out right about now. Between it and the Fiat fiasco we could have some prety nice radio ***** on our cars for the money they've squandered.

 

"The Chevrolet Camaro name also was going to be resurrected for a four-passenger coupe."

That would have been extraordinarily disappointing. Perhaps something good will come out of Zeta getting axed.

 

Read again. It says 4-passanger, not 4-door.

Camaros have always been 4-passanger vehicles.

 

no

4- passenger coupe

 

4 passenger Camaro coupe. 2+2 configuration.

the thing that im wondering about was what made them all of a sudden decide they couldnt do zeta profitably? like what changed overnight for them to say, "Hey, this is gonna cost too much money."

 

Wasn't Sigma-lite also known as VE-lite which turned out to be Zeta?

 

Not really.

Zeta was essentially a computer "math" car for NA.

Holden might have taken a slight financial hit on Zeta, but they were working on the VE (Zeta) for their home market anyway.

 

I don’t think it was so much zeta couldn’t be done profitably but more that Gm need to reallocate many of their engineers off of Zeta and on to the new SUV and trucks coming out in ’06. The Zeta design has not been trash just put on pause. I willing to bet a lot of design from zeta works its way into Sigma-lite or what ever rwd car Chevy ends up getting.

 

Reading skills > me...lol

Sorry, I misread it.

 

Here's to hoping they don't take forever to decide upon this option. Many of the designs appear to be finished from what I've read, and are simply waiting for elegible platforms. MT said that the GTO could be at next years NAIAS. That was before zeta was canceled of course, but I don't see why they couldn't plop that body down of a sigma and put it out there. It doesn't need to be production ready - just showing everyone this possibilty would help rwd GM cars gain momentum.

 

Eeerr....I misread too. Oops.

/me goes and sits back down in the dunce corner.

 

quite funny reading you guys "what!? a 4 passenger coupe "
someone beat me to the punch though

kind of makes you wonder though, what price would the camaro come in at?
sigma-lite was already deemed "to pricy for 25k cars", so what happened between now and then? besides zeta dying in na
seems like it should still be too expensive, unless they plan on jacking these msrps through the roof on these cars

 

that's my understanding too. oh, well, I guess it's been like this here in this forum lately. you think you have a handle on something and it gets thrown out the window real quick.