2006 Cadillac Dts Luxury Climate Seats Sunroof Nav 32k Texas Direct Auto on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM laying off 510 amidst slow Cadillac, small car sales

General Motors is laying off about 510 workers from two factories beginning in January, and it could be months before the automaker needs some of that latent capacity to come back on line. A combination of poor sales and high dealer inventories are prompting the cutbacks, according to Automotive News.
The largest changes come at GM's Lansing Grand River plant, where the Cadillac ATS and CTS are made. An entire shift of about 350 workers is being laid off, but the automaker hopes to find positions for some of them at other nearby factories. The decision leaves just a single shift building vehicles there. According to Automotive News, the move is partially spurred by Johan de Nysschen's plan to make Cadillac a more exclusive brand.
The lost shift will likely return for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro at the plant, according to the report, but GM isn't saying when that will be. A previous announcement from the Canadian Auto Workers union indicated that the Oshawa, Ontario, factory would lose the coupe in late 2015 or early 2016.

2020 Cadillac CT5-V, CT4-V to be revealed next week

Even though the ATS-V and CTS-V are on the way out, the future is looking bright for Cadillac's high-performance sub-brand. Why is that? Well we're going to see not one, but two all-new V models on May 30. The company revealed its plans to show the 2020 Cadillac CT5-V and the CT4-V in an announcement about 15 years of the V brand. Not much is known about either car, but both should be wickedly quick based on their predecessors. We're particularly curious as to what engines will be used. With the CT5-V, a return of a supercharged pushrod V8 seems possible considering the CT5 is based on the Alpha platform that also underpins the Camaro. But Cadillac may want to push its more unique powertrains such as the twin-turbo, double-overhead-cam 4.2-liter V8 in the CT6-V. In the CT6-V, it makes 550 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac's former CEO said that other cars getting the engine will have it 500 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. We think the company could get away with the full power in the CT5-V, though, since each car's mission and character is different. There's also a slim chance we could see a return of the manual transmission for the midsize sports sedan, based on what a Cadillac engineer said. As for the CT4-V, there are more questions, simply because we haven't even seen the regular version yet except in spy shots. Since the CT5 is built off the Alpha platform, it seems reasonable to think the CT4 will do the same, especially since the ATS also used the platform. And to leave space between the CT5-V and itself, using a hot version of the twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 seems like the most likely choice. The hot V6 in the ATS-V made 464 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque, so we would expect the same. Hopefully Cadillac will offer a manual with it again. One final note from the Cadillac V announcement also got our attention. It said that these two cars are "just the beginning." That seems a pretty obvious sign there are other V models in the works. Since the CT4 and CT5 will round out the company's car line, the logical next choice would probably be crossovers. It will be interesting to see what an XT4-V or XT5-V will be like, especially since they use front-drive platforms. But in the meantime, we'll look forward to Cadillac's hot sedans.

GM lays off 450 at Lansing Grand River Assembly

General Motors will lay off 450 employees at its Lansing Grand River factory, The Detroit News reports, which is 100 more than the company said it'd be letting go last month. Lansing Grand River Assembly currently builds the Cadillac ATS and CTS, both of which have suffered sluggish sales, with the smaller sedan down 20 percent through last month and the larger model down 2.3 percent, The Detroit News reports. "We are adjusting plant production capacity to better align with market demand. Beginning in January 2015, the plant will operate on a single shift," a GM statement read, before explaining that not all the laid off Grand River employees will be jobless. Of the employees that have been laid off to make room for the single work shift, around 200 will transfer to the Lansing Delta Township factory, home of the Lambda-platform crossovers, GM's statement confirmed. The News expects this one-shift arrangement to continue until at least late next year, when the Alpha-platform Chevy Camaro transitions from General Motors' Oshawa, Ontario factory to Lansing. Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said at last month's LA Auto Show, "It may not necessarily be permanent, a time may come when we've gained momentum and we can reinstate it. But for now, the adjustment to production capacity is in alignment with our plans for 2015."