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Cadillac planning its own engines, halo cars

Cadillac is in the midst of some big changes. It's got a new chief executive. It's taking some distance from parent company General Motors and moving to a new headquarters in New York. And it's instituting a new naming scheme that will allow not only for a more clear progression in its lineup, but also for more models. But that's not the end of the story. Not by a long shot.
Speaking with Automobile magazine, Cadillac's new president Johan de Nysschen revealed his intention to develop several new models and powertrains. For starters, he does not want Cadillac to continue borrowing engines from the GM parts bin, but intends to develop a new range of engines specifically for the luxury automaker. The program will likely start with smaller-capacity engines but eventually lead to new V8s as well, taking the place of the long-serving Northstar engine that finally ended its lifespan a few years ago after some two decades of production. Along with other technologies, de Nysschen envisions possibly sharing these powertrains with other GM divisions, but developing them first and foremost for Cadillac.
The bigger question, however, is where those engines would go, and de Nysschen had some thoughts to share on that front as well. For starters, the former Infiniti and Audi exec sees room for an even bigger sedan above the upcoming new CT6 that will cap the current range. Maybe even two of them. But that's not all. Johan wants to see Cadillac get (back) into the sports car game with a new halo model or two - something it hasn't really done since the Corvette-based XLR roadster. A pair of new crossovers are also said to be in the works, flanking the SRX on both sides with smaller and larger models.

Cadillac dealers frustrated over Escalade production snarls

Lincoln went through it during the launch of the MKZ last year, Jeep went through something similar with its Cherokee launch, and now the 2015 Cadillac Escalade has apparently caught the bug: dealer delivery delays because of quality control checks. Automotive News reports that Cadillac dealers have been waiting three times longer than usual - a month or more - from the time an Escalade leaves the assembly line to when it gets delivered. Worse, dealers are saying they don't always know where their vehicles are in transit, or when they are set to arrive. The situation has upset customers who have put down deposits and things have gotten so bad that some dealers have reportedly stopped taking pre-orders.
Cadillac says it has the delay, called "dwell time," down to two weeks, and it expects to cut that to a week by the beginning of September. The company said "a lengthy quality-assurance process on some interior parts" has caused the lag, the report citing additional issues with figuring out which vehicles should be delivered first. A spokesman said that more trucks have been put in the distribution system to work through the backlog, but it's clear it's still going to take some time to set things right, with one dealer telling AN that cars ordered in February and March still haven't arrived.
Brand chief Kurt McNeil said additional personnel are at the Escalade's Arlington, Texas factory to speed up the checks, and spreadsheets tracking every order have been distributed to field staff. Even with the snafu, though, the Escalade is Cadillac's best seller through July.

GM recalling 117,000 sedans, crossovers, SUVs, pickups and vans

General Motors has issued a stop-sale to dealers and has notified the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration of its intention to recall 117,000 vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Of those vehicles, only 4,500 are at dealerships.
The affected vehicles include the Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Impala sedans, fullsize SUVs (Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL), Lambda-platform crossovers (Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia), heavy-duty pickups (Chevy Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD) and fullsize vans (Chevy Express and GMC Savana). The sedans and body-on-frame SUVs include model years 2013 and 2014, while the CUVs, heavy-duty pickups and vans are limited to MY2014.
GM confirmed the recall to Autoblog via an emailed statement (which we've included below). According to the statement, the issue at hand in what is the company's 69th recall of 2014 covers the chassis-control module. Automotive News is reporting that a problem in the chassis-control system could cause a short in the module, which could cause the engine to stall or fail to start. The fault could also affect the trailer-brake control, provided it's equipped.