RIP Cadillac XLR.

[F Body]

The Bowling Green Daily News reports that the Cadillac XLR will cease production forever this spring. Spawned from the eye-popping Evoq concept, the Corvette-derived (but Northstar-powered) hardtop convertible finds itself as General Motors' latest cost-cutting casualty. Its high price, low volume and decreasing sales do not make for a strong business case anymore



Can't say I've seen one on the road

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Saturns will remain in production until 2012 or 2013... at least. The bad news: the Saturns currently being produced might not get any new updates or engineering before then. Another dead brand.

AM General, the builder of the Hummer H2 for GM, announces it's temporarily laying off 200 workers and halting production of the H2 until at least March. Note the words "at least."

Currently we are not even sure if Pontiac will survive

[Roadkill]

Quoting: F Body

Can't say I've seen one on the road

Nor me.  Pretty cool, though.

[FUBAR]

Quoting: F Body

Can't say I've seen one

Or Heard of one, i like it tho

[FUBAR]

Quoting: F Body

Further grim News from the General :

After Obama hammered home another significant nail into the V8 Coffin the other day i can't say i'm suprised.

[HardRockCamaro]

They're lovely (not too keen on the dash though).

I saw one at Stratstones in Reading, the bonnet line is amazingly low...

New in the UK they were about 50k iirc.

They're powered by the Northstar and there is a V version with a supercharged Northstar producing about 430BHP but that's big bucks.

The roof mechanism is sweet...

[EDGE]

i do love those

[F Body]

Gotta say that it does look sharp

[philoldsmobile]

looks excellent, but yet another GM product never marketed and never sold..

will anyone even notice if GM disappeared?

[EDGE]

all the people that work there perhaps ???

[F Body]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

will anyone even notice if GM disappeared?

Well the drivers of the best selling commercial vehicle in Europe might

i.e Vivaro

Mind you we haven't sold any for a while

[philoldsmobile]

Quoting: FUBAR

After Obama hammered home another significant nail into the V8 Coffin the other day i can't say i'm suprised.

i slightly disagree... the V8 as propulsion for the masses will disappear, as eventually will the V6, but V6 V8 and V12 engines will be in high end cars for a long time yet, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls Royce etc customers simply wont settle for anything less..

TBH, even engines like the LS1 are starting to look like dinosaurs - its not a powerful unit at all by modern standards, 300 bhp and 300lb ft is not far off the sort of power modern 3 liter diesels are putting out, from a 5.7 V8 petrol, its weak

apples and oranges to an extent, but as a measure of how inefficient the LS1 is, the Ferrari F430 V8 puts out 350lb ft and 483bhp from 4.3 liters the scuderia version os over 500bhp

[F Body]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

The roof mechanism is sweet...

Watched it three times, the hinges look flimsy, but I still marvel at how the side rear windows fold out

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

TBH, even engines like the LS1 are starting to look like dinosaurs - its not a powerful unit at all by modern standards, 300 bhp and 300lb ft is not far off the sort of power modern 3 liter diesels are putting out, from a 5.7 V8 petrol, its weak

Agreed, although the LS1 is over 10 years old and the current base version is putting out well over 400BHP.
And the 3L diesels are turbo charged so it's not quite Apples and Oranges as the turbo makes up for displacement (I think read somewhere that 14psi is the same as an doubling the engine capacity?).  Compare a boosted LS engine, eg the specials like in the Vettes or the CTS-V and you're talking 560 - 640BHP.

But yes, European engines have almost always produced more BHP per Litre than US engines, but European V8 engines are ferociously expensive to buy whereas Yank V8 engines are not.  And I say "almost always" as when the Northstar debuted in 1993 it was the most powerful V8 engine per Litre anywhere in the world producing 65BHP/Litre from 4.6L V8 compared to the 64BHP/Litre in the 4.4L BMW V8 in the 740i.

So the yanks can do it but they do have a bad habit of sitting on their laurels instead of omproving every couple of years like ze Germans...

[Motorama]

Quoting: F Body

Well the drivers of the best selling commercial vehicle in Europe might

I thought that was the VW Transporter

[FUBAR]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

i slightly disagree... the V8 as propulsion for the masses will disappear, as eventually will the V6, but V6 V8 and V12 engines will be in high end cars for a long time yet, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls Royce etc customers simply wont settle for anything less..

TBH, thats the gist of what i was getting at, obviously the luxury / high end of the car market will still make them viable / needed. but for the mainstream... 4-Bangers for all

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: Motorama

Quoting: F Body
Well the drivers of the best selling commercial vehicle in Europe might


I thought that was the VW Transporter

Well I thought it was the Transit but maybe that's just the UK?


I mean, seriously, you don't buy "a van", you buy "a Transit".  It's just the way it is...

[F Body]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

I mean, seriously, you don't buy "a van", you buy "a Transit".

and

Ford gambled that "most" customers wanted a bigger van.............


and lost