In a bit of disappointing news, the March 14, 2016 edition of Automotive News quotes Cadillac chieftain Johan de Nysschen as saying that the larger than XT5 model will be based on the same platform.
It would seem that Cadillac is going to take the easy way. Of course putting together a larger XT5 is a quick way to score a new model, but is it the right way? Buick and Chevrolet will have their own seven seat, extended length models based on this same platform. Yes, it's true that the new GMC Acadia and XT5 look pretty dissimilar, but underneath at all you are still talking about a FWD platform.
The big question, at least to me, is why Cadillac wouldn't produce a RWD, Omega-based crossover. No one expects the first Omega vehicle, the CT6, to be a huge seller. Even when a larger sedan is added, it's still small potatoes. There has to be a volume seller in the Omega mix somewhere and that product would have to be a crossover.
Some have said that GM is using Omega as a dry run for its next generation pickups, testing the various ways to assemble a vehicle that using a mix of different materials to save weight. This might be true, but that isn't enough to float the cost of developing the platform.
Cadillac execs have stated that the brand's future is RWD. They simply cannot mean sedans, coupes and the Escalade. I get that the SRX is the main course when it comes to sales and Cadillac dares not mess with its golden goose. But Cadillac needs to have a differentiator and that product should be a RWD-based crossover.
No comments:
Post a Comment