« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »

April 19, 2006

Our New Blog

Hey, all you FastLane participants, we just wanted to give you a head's up that we've launched a new blog over at FYI.gmblogs.com. Check it out!

Posted by Editor at 11:54 AM
Comments (17) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 14, 2006

Travelogue April 3-8, 2006

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

Many of you have wondered why I have been posting so infrequently lately. Well, I have to tell you, we are moving full speed ahead with our global product plans and it has been keeping me pretty busy. I spent last week in Europe visiting with dealers, opening plants and conducting some other business. While I was on the plane back, I wrote the following trip recap on my trusted Blackberry. It’s a little less polished (and longer) than my usual blog material, but I thought you might find it informative nonetheless. I think it highlights, once again, that we have good things happening all over the world.

-- Bob

April 4 - First brief stop was in Munich to preside over the opening of a new, large Cadillac-Hummer facility. It coincided with the German press launch of BLS. Well attended, car well received. Spoke with sales people: they are very optimistic, but need more Corvettes, Z06s. Had a chance to "de-bunk the imminent collapse of GM" myth, believe it was well received. On to Vienna, for another opening. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the principal and his lovely wife, who runs the whole operation. It was a fabulous evening, with everybody who is anybody in Viennese show-business attending. "De-bunked the myth" again. This dealership, its owners and sales staff, radiated energy and optimism. These people will sell vehicles!

April 5 - Next morning, early, to Kaliningrad. This place hasn't changed much since the Soviet days, except to suffer a bit more economically with the departure of the military. We were hosted by Avtotor and its principal, Vladimir Sherbakov, a fascinating former close ally of Gorbachev, a federal minister of the USSR, and actually Prime Minister for three days during the putsch. He is a brilliant entrepreneur who assembles H2s, Tahoes, and Escalades and has just opened a new plant for H3, which I was asked to inaugurate. Gave the "don't believe the reports of our imminent death" speech again. The H3 was well-received by the media, and all felt our "official" volume of 300 H3s a year was too low by an order of magnitude. Then, a long dinner with Sherbakov and the two teams, many toasts involving drained vodka glasses. To bed at 1:30 AM.

April 6 – Up at 5:45 AM, surprise, surprise, wasn’t feeling all that well. We slept more on the plane. St. Petersburg was next, where we met with powerful and highly influential Gov. Valentina Matvienko. Later, we had a long dinner with Mikhail Oseevsky, Vice Governor of St. Petersburg, 6'5", well-tailored, looks like our Chairman’s younger brother. Fine dinner, many toasts, in bed at 2 AM.

April 7 – Up at 5:45 AM again, feeling remarkably similar to yesterday. We conducted some business and were off to Moscow where we met with our team and a group of dealers. The mood is generally upbeat, but competition is fierce. Gave the "Don't believe our obituary" speech to the GM Russia employees, outlined our strategy, told them the best was yet to come. They are a motivated, excellent group that is experiencing such fast growth, especially in the hinterlands, that they could probably use some relief.

Then, a long dinner with the senior GM team and Andy Somers, who heads the AmCham and who had invited some CEOs of U.S. and other western companies (Wrigley, John Deere, BP, Boeing) to answer questions and generally brief me. This was followed by a long dinner with many toasts and several cigars. To bed at 2:30.

April 8 - Up at 6AM for the airport. Lack of energy was manifest among our group. Somewhat unsurprisingly, we slept a lot in the airplane. All in all, a fascinating, highly educational and productive trip for me.

Posted by Editor at 4:33 PM
Comments (95) | TrackBack | Permalink

Video Podcast: Lutz on the Saturn Sky Red Line

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz discusses the design of the 2007 Saturn Sky Red Line in a walk-around at the New York International Auto Show.

Podcast feed
View the video (56 MB)

Posted by Editor at 11:33 AM
Comments (31) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 13, 2006

That Saturn Concept

On Tuesday, Tom Wilkinson told you a little bit about the Saturn concept vehicle and promised more details after its reveal. So check out the Saturn PreVue concept on gm.com.

Posted by Editor at 5:12 PM
Comments (28) | TrackBack | Permalink

Re-Igniting the Passion

The following is a speech Bob Lutz gave yesterday to the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce in New York. It's caused quite a stir, and we thought you'd be interested in it.

Thank you, Ambassador Loretan, and good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for that introduction, and I’d also like to thank Mr. Dinerstein for your fine welcome, and all your hard work for the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce.

It’s a pleasure to be with you today.

It’s also a pleasure for me to be a part of Swiss Roots— it’s a wonderful project with admirable goals, and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the people here who are doing the real work!

The Swiss Roots web site is up and running, and it’s going to facilitate closer ties between our two nations — my two nations — and among the 1 million Americans of Swiss descent, and their countrymen in Switzerland.

Switzerland and the U.S. have a long tradition of friendship and cooperation, and they have much in common, not the least of which is multiculturalism. Both countries have a very rich and diverse cultural composition, although the Swiss have embraced it more perhaps, at least from a language standpoint.

Despite the penchant on the part of Americans to get the rest of the world to speak English, we really do have a lot in common, especially the values we espouse, like individual freedoms.

That’s why I felt no conflict of loyalties by serving in the U.S. military, because the two countries, so vastly different in size, were so similar in values, especially during the Cold War.

I thought I would become a military lifer, but to become a senior officer, I needed to get a college degree. So I enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, and before I left there, I’d decided to pursue a career in business, in particular, the automotive business, starting with General Motors. And now, after more than 40 years and many stops along the way, I find myself back at GM.

Which seems fitting to me. Because not only is there a long, friendly history between Switzerland and the United States, there is a similar one between Switzerland and General Motors. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that Louis Chevrolet was Swiss, and the Chevy Bow Tie logo isn’t a bow tie at all but a derivation of the cross on the Swiss flag.

When I was growing up in Switzerland, GM had an assembly plant that produced beautiful vehicles every day. Back in those days, this business was such that you could have a local assembly plant in nearly every country. Eventually, the auto industry transitioned to regional assembly, and regional optimization.

Now, the industry is rapidly entering a new chapter marked by global competition.

At GM, we’re positioning ourselves to compete in this global industry by leveraging our vast global resources.

We have streamlined our product development process, and aligned our planning, design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities under global auspices. It’s not possible any longer to operate as GM once did, as four regional and semi-autonomous auto companies.

Now all of our regions will be operating as one company going forward. And that will show in our improved product lineup. In fact, the process has already begun… the products we’ve recently introduced, and the ones to come in the short-term, are the best we’ve ever introduced. But it’s hard to get people to realize that.

Why? Let me give you a few examples of what some people are saying about us. You may have heard of this first guy:

President George W. Bush: “[The U.S. auto industry] needs to develop a product that’s relevant… GM is going to have to learn to compete.”

Another senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal: “The American auto industry needs to focus on producing cars that Americans want to buy.”

Automotive analyst Maryann Keller: “GM has forgotten how to make cars that people want to buy.”

Business Week’s David Kiley: “[GM] is not making very many cars that people want to buy.”

Are you starting to see why sometimes we think there’s a herd mentality out there? Here are some more…

The Wall Street Journal’s Lee Hawkins: “GM is having a hard time persuading Americans to buy its cars.”

Automotive analyst David Healy: "GM's problem is that … its products are boring."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial: "Its real problem is that people aren't buying GM cars... To be blunt, GM cars are boring."

Fortune reporter Carol Loomis: “In product design, [GM] lost the magic long ago.”

Forbes Magazine senior editor Neil Weinberg: "[GM’s] biggest problem is product.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Ingrassia: “Robert Lutz has been surprisingly ineffective at GM, as if mired down like a raisin stuck in oatmeal.”

I’m especially fond of that last metaphor — that was a new one for me. I didn’t even know raisins got stuck in oatmeal; I always thought they sort of floated there proudly, going about their business.

Anyway, well, now let’s look at some of our awful, boring products and see just how unpopular they are:

Chevrolet HHR

• We’ve raised our forecasts twice for this model, from about 60,000 initially to now about 132,000 annually.
• March was its best retail month since launch, with very little spent on customer incentives.
• California, Texas and Florida are the top three retail states since launch. Those are not traditionally strong markets for GM cars.
• So far in 2006, HHR has outsold the Chrysler Pacifica, Nissan Murano, Dodge Durango, and Honda Element.
• Our dealers are requesting 200% of our ability to supply…

Chevrolet Impala

• We are building 250,000 of these a year, and demand is running about 300,000.
  
• March was its best sales month yet. It overtook the Nissan Altima as the third-best selling car in America, behind Camry and Accord.

Buick Lucerne

• March was its best sales month since its launch last year, and 91% of sales were retail, meaning non-fleet, non-rental companies.
  
• Lucerne has the second-lowest turn rate in the segment, 25 days, trailing the Toyota Avalon by just one day.

Chevrolet Corvette

• The world’s great affordable sports car, Corvette is sold out.

Pontiac Solstice

• Solstice? Sold out. Best turn rate of any vehicle in its segment.

Saturn Sky

• “All available production for 2006 is accounted for.” In other words, sold out.

Before I go on, I’d like to show you the Sky we introduced at the New York auto show just this morning, and the other Saturns we showed:

• Saturn Sky Red Line
  
• Saturn Aura
  
• Saturn Outlook
  
• Saturn PreVue

So we have big plans for Saturn, as we do for all of our brands. But at the moment, perhaps what we’re most proud of is our new fullsize sport utilities. Let’s look at what the “experts” had to say before they came out earlier this year:

University of Maryland business professor Peter Morici: "They're married to large vehicles and big engines, and consumers just aren't buying them right now… SUV sales are going to continue to lag and GM is almost in denial on that issue."

Analyst David Healy: "GM is … betting the ranch that they can sell SUVs in an environment of $2.50-a-gallon gasoline, but the big SUV segment will continue to shrink, and GM is going to have its work cut out for it."

Autobytel analyst Brian Chee: “Everybody else is coming out with subcompacts, crossovers and smaller cars while GM is alone in the woods when it comes to these big SUVs.”

By the way, it’s worth pointing out that we are most certainly not alone in the woods; Chrysler and Ford are coming out with new fullsize SUVs, and, would you believe it, Toyota is readying a new line of fullsize trucks, too. So, apparently, not everyone thinks this segment is dying out.

It makes you wonder just how these experts get to be experts!

Well, we went ahead and launched our new SUVs anyway. Let’s see how they’re doing:

• Year-to-date GM share of the large utility segment is 67.5%, up 8.6 pts from year ago
• Non-GM Source of Sales of ’07 models: Tahoe (29.8%), Yukon (27.8%), and Escalade (26.4%)
• Average transaction price increase versus last year’s models: Tahoe (+$6.5k), Yukon (+$6.7k), and Escalade (+$10k)

So, we’re selling more of them, for more money. The pundits will say that’s just because they’re brand new, but we’ll see, because we think these are the best SUVs that have ever lived. Take a look at them:

Chevrolet Tahoe

• March retail sales were up 35% from February, and it’s doing great on the West Coast.
• Total ’07 model year sales are the highest in the segment
• In March, it had a turn rate of just 19 days, compared to 80 days for the Ford Expedition and 41 for the Toyota Sequoia

GMC Yukon

• March Yukon sales were up 109% from February, and it had a turn rate of just 16 days, on average.

Cadillac Escalade

• March sales were up 73% from February. Its total sales lead the Lincoln Navigator by 300 units, and it has outsold the Infiniti QX56, Range Rover and Lexus LX 470 combined.
• Vehicles turned in an average of 7 days in March. That means the inventory is turning four times a month.

Now, all of this is amazing to me. We don’t make any cars or trucks that anybody wants to buy… but we sure do sell a lot of them. Either we are holding a lot of customers at gunpoint in our dealerships and forcing them into our vehicles, or the so-called experts are absolutely blind to what is happening in the marketplace.

It’s as if the folks working the op/ed and business pages don’t even read the product reviews anymore. Because if they did, they’d see that our cars and trucks are getting largely rave reviews.

Anita Lienert in The Detroit News: “The redesigned Escalade stands out as the sexiest full-size SUV on the market, an awesome Detroit offering that hits a bull's-eye in such important areas as horsepower and cabin design.”

Paul Eisenstein, The Car Connection.com: “The Escalade is about as good as a full-size SUV gets.”

And how bout this one?

Joe Langley, CSM Automotive analyst: “GM’s redesigned full-size SUVs will prove the segment is alive and well despite unexpected events that try to wreck their place in the market. The segment is far from dead. I recommend taking any of them for a drive, and you’ll be as surprised as I was.”

I make that same recommendation to all of you, on the SUVs or any of our new vehicles. They’re really a big step forward for GM.

All we have to do now is make people aware of it. We have to get word out that we’ve improved, and the marketplace bears us out.

For the first quarter of this year, our launch vehicles — that is, our newest cars and trucks —accounted for 30 percent of our sales. That’s more than double where we were a couple of years ago.

We expect that recently launched vehicles will account for 29 percent of our U.S. sales volume this year, and as much as 33 percent next year. That’s up from 22 percent in 2005.

And I should point out that despite our financial difficulties, we backed up our commitment to great products by raising our capital spending in 2005, and we’ll increase it again in 2006 to $8.7 billion, the bulk of it on developing new cars and trucks.

It’s full speed ahead for us.

Perhaps you have heard the economic parable about the old man who sold hot dogs on the street corner. He was hard of hearing so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs.

He sold so many that he increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his booming business. Business was so good he brought his son home from college early to help him out. And his son said:

"Father, haven't you been listening to the radios or reading the newspapers? The economic situation is terrible. All of our jobs are going away — we’re headed for depression. This is no time to be spending like this."

The father thought to himself, "Well, my son's been to college, he reads the papers and he listens to the radio, so he ought to know."

So the father cut down his meat and bun orders, took down his signs, and his hot dog sales plummeted almost overnight.

The father said to the boy, "You're right, son, we certainly are in the middle of a great depression."

Well, we don’t care what the newspapers, or the radio, or our kids tell us. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; we’re not going to listen to the naysayers — we’re going to listen to our customers.

Finally, let me just say that perhaps the title of my remarks today was misleading…. We said “Americans and Automobiles: Re-igniting the Passion.”

But what we really mean is… Americans and American automobiles… and particularly, General Motors automobiles.

People who think it doesn’t matter who owns our auto industry are flat wrong. They think it doesn’t matter because the Japanese and Germans and Koreans are “producing” in the states now. But they’re not “producing”— they’re “assembling.” The parts are mostly brought from overseas, and the profits for reinvestment don’t stay in the U.S.

These are facts about our domestic auto industry:

• GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler account for 4% of the U.S. GDP, and 11% of all manufacturing shipments.
  
• We collectively employ 400,000 people — that’s nine out of 10 American autoworkers — and affect 7 million jobs in auto and related industries.
  
• We provide healthcare for 2 million Americans, and pension benefits for 800,000 retirees.
  
• We buy 80% of the auto parts sold in the United States.
  
• And we’ve made 85% of the total investment in the U.S. auto industry since 1980.

So remember those facts the next time somebody says it doesn’t matter what country’s supplies the cars and trucks we buy.

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to read you a letter from someone who understands this. It was written by Congressman John Dingell of Michigan, to the president, in response to his comments on the U.S. auto industry. Congressman Dingell writes:

“The American auto industry is not being hurt, as the Administration suggests, because of the vehicles it is producing. Contrary to the statements of your chief economic adviser, American manufacturers lead the industry in fuel economy in nearly every segment. Our automakers face healthcare and pension costs which foreign automakers do not.

“These problems are only compounded by the Administration’s failure to prosecute unfair trade practices by our competitors, counteract currency manipulation by Japan and China, and relieve the crushing burden of healthcare costs.

“Mr. President, we owe the auto industry a debt of gratitude for its contributions to this country and I am troubled by… the Administration’s complete disregard for this escalating crisis. The industry is anxious to restore its competitive edge, but they cannot do it alone.”

He’s right. We are not looking for any handouts. We just want a level playing field, and a chance to compete. We want people to consider our products again, because they deserve consideration.

Our quality numbers are way up from where they were in the past. Our designs are more compelling, more dynamic.

I am intensely and unapologetically proud of what we’re doing at GM, and also of what all of the so-called Big Three are doing these days. And I’m allowed to be: I’ve worked for all of ‘em.

GM has the broadest product lineup of any manufacturer … we have more models that get 30 miles per gallon or better on the highway than anyone else … we have OnStar, the industry’s leading safety and security service … we have the best large SUVs on the planet … and we have a host of great new cars and trucks worthy of your consideration.

Once we get that consideration… once we raise people’s awareness… once we get back on their radar screens, we will put them in the kind of cars and trucks that inspire passion.

Don’t take my word for it. Go drive one of our vehicles — I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what we have out there now, and what we bring out in the very near future. And I think you’ll be as proud of our products as I am, just like we’re all proud of our Swiss Roots.

But before you head out to our dealerships, I’d be glad to take some of your questions.

Posted by Editor at 3:02 PM
Comments (56) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 12, 2006

Meet the Saturn Family

2007 Saturn Outlook, Aura, Vue Green Line and Sky Red Line

By Jill Lajdziak
General Manager, Saturn

This is a much anticipated day for Saturn as we launch our revitalization with the debut of three new products – Sky Red Line, Aura and Outlook. The promise of the Saturn brand – kept alive by an exceptional customer experience – is now validated with these dynamic and inviting new products.

As always, our retail experience is the envy of the industry. But now we have a portfolio of exciting new products like never before.

We’re still Saturn. But we’re about to become better than ever. We’ll have more and better product to satisfy our customers and deliver on the promise of the Saturn experience.

The Saturn Aura – which remains true to the critically acclaimed concept version – blends performance with Saturn’s bold new design. While the standard 3.5 L V6 is a great engine, I’m particularly excited about the optional 3.6 V6 (252 HP) that comes with GM’s first application of a six-speed automatic transmission. Later this year we’ll add a hybrid powertrain. And on the interior, the Aura delivers a level of refinement that sets a new standard for our brand.

The Saturn Outlook crossover offers versatility and room for the Saturn customer who needs to haul more people and stuff. It comfortably seats eight real, adult people and still has room for luggage, golf clubs, groceries, etc. All that room, yet its optimal proportions still provide for nimble and agile handling.

Finally, there is the Sky Red Line -- our stunning roadster, with a turbo-boosted 260 horsepower 2.0L engine.

We’re thrilled about these cars and can’t wait to bring them to market. We’re also eager to hear what you think about the products that will revitalize the Saturn brand.

Posted by Editor at 11:37 AM
Comments (86) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 11, 2006

Global Concept Cars Now Appearing in New York

By Tom Wilkinson
GM Design Center

On 60 Minutes last week, Bob Lutz showed reporter Steve Kroft a tiny glimpse of the latest Cadillac grille – and the internet buzz began (Autoblog, Auto Insider, Straightline, All Cars, All the Time, Wheeltalk video). This week, we hope to build on that excitement for GM Design when four of our incredible Concept cars appear together for the first time at the New York Auto Show.

First up is the new Saturn concept car – extremely cool. I can’t say any more until we unveil it tomorrow, Wednesday, April 12th.

Coming to the United States for the first time is the Saab Aero-X Concept car – inspired by Saab’s aircraft roots. This car is mean and green. It’s got a swing-open canopy and twin-turbo bio-ethanol powered engine. The Saab Aero-X was named Best of Show for the Geneva Auto Show by AutoWeek magazine.

Another AutoWeek Best of Show winner (by unanimous vote) was the Chevy Camaro Concept car – which took that honor in Detroit earlier this year. The Camaro Concept has drawn massive crowds in Detroit, Chicago and other major shows. This Concept car brings a fresh new edge to a sports car classic.

The Buick Enclave Concept car was also a big hit at the Detroit Auto Show. This luxury SUV has romantic lines, athletic proportions and an interior more posh than a lot of East Side apartments in Manhattan.

Hollywood producer David O. Selznick once said “There are only two classes – first class and no class.” Well, the GM design team is first class all the way. See for yourself - the Aero-X, Camaro, Enclave and a sweet new Saturn – together for the first time this week at the New York International Automobile Show.

Posted by Editor at 10:08 AM
Comments (27) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 7, 2006

Rick Wagoner on 'Face on the Nation'

This Sunday, April 9, at 10:30 a.m. EDT (check local listings), CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer will interview GM CEO Rick Wagoner on "Face The Nation." We thought many of you participants in the FastLane might be interested in watching the segment, which will likely focus on GM's turnaround efforts.

Posted by Editor at 3:11 PM
Comments (43) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 6, 2006

Now that we've got your attention

By Ed Peper
Chevrolet General Manager

By now, many of you have heard about the Chevy Tahoe's appearance on a recent episode of the Apprentice. As a tie-in to the TV show, we thought it would be cool to give a wider community of folks an opportunity to compete
against one another on the web in a similar format. We proceeded to launch www.chevyapprentice.com.

Contestants are given a variety of images to work with and are given the ability to splice together the visual elements over which they can display their own advertising copy. A contest of this sort doesn't come without risks. As we expected, people who are opposed to SUVs for a variety of reasons quickly discovered that they were also welcome to participate.

Early on we made the decision that if we were to hold this contest, in which we invite anyone to create an ad, in an open forum, that we would be summarily destroyed in the blogosphere if we censored the ads based on
their viewpoint. So, we adopted a position of openness and transparency, and decided that we would welcome the debate. (As an aside, we have been truly disappointed by the number of submissions we had to filter out
because of their vulgar content.) I won't bore you with the details, but the overwhelming majority of the 22,000 submissions thus far have been earnest attempts at creating positive advertisements.

Now that the debate has begun, I'd like to remind everyone of some indisputable facts:

The 2007 Tahoe is capable, refined and responsible. In fact, in the area of responsibility Tahoe outperforms all of the competition (Toyota, Ford, etc.) in fuel economy with 22 mpg on the highway thanks to Active Fuel Management
technology that turns off 4 of 8 cylinders when you don't need them. The Tahoe is also E85 compatible, which means that it can run on ethanol, a renewable fuel source. Which reduces greenhouse gases and our dependency
on foreign oil. The Tahoe has achieved the segment's highest safety ratings and is an excellent vehicle for those with large families.

We at GM are not culturally unaware; we realize that there are people who would never purchase an SUV. That's why we make more vehicles that get over 30 miles-per-gallon than any other manufacturer. That is why Chevy offers vehicles ranging from the Aveo (starting under $10,000, 34mpg) to the Tahoe ($34,000, 22mpg). In short, we make vehicles that serve the needs for customers of all walks of life and we're proud of that.

So, a few media pundits seem to think this social media program was a failure and others seem to revel in the apparent anarchy. We, on the other hand, welcome the opportunity to clarify the facts regarding fuel economy,
vehicles equipped with E85 capability, and consumer choice. In our opinion, this has been one of the most creative and successful promotions we have done. And we invite you back to see the final “Board Room” as we select the winning entry at www.chevyapprentice.com on April 27.

Anyway, it sure got people talking about the Tahoe. Which was the whole idea, after all.

Thanks for listening.

Posted by Editor at 9:41 AM
Comments (73) | TrackBack | Permalink

April 4, 2006

Cadillac BLS Hits European Dealerships

By Jim Taylor
General Manager, Cadillac

First, let me say, that I am very excited about the pending launch of the Cadillac BLS in the European market on April 8, 2006. It will be distributed via a network of 164 dealerships and 17 experience centers in Europe. The Cadillac BLS is an appealing and dynamic addition to Cadillac's global portfolio intended for Europeans who prefer luxury vehicles with stand-out design and precise handling and we're confident that it will be well received by the public abroad. So, much to my dismay on April 1st, The Detroit News published a story by Neil Winton titled "Cadillac slashes European sales targets as little BLS goes on sale." Funny thing is, they never said it was an April Fool's Day joke.

There must have been some confusion in the numbers presented so I'd like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

The European Cadillac sales target for the full portfolio of Cadillacs is 20,000 units per year by 2010. This is Cadillac's target for full portfolio sales in all European markets and it remains unchanged since we first communicated it in 2004.

With regard to the BLS specifically, Cadillac plans annual sales of 10,000 units globally once production is fully ramped up.

The story also stated that the Cadillac BLS is the first Cadillac available with a diesel engine. Actually, Cadillac has offered diesel engines before, but the BLS is the first Cadillac available with a direct-injected turbo diesel engine. Aside from the stand-out styling of the BLS and its precise handling dynamics, the availability of a diesel engine in the BLS for European and other global markets makes it a great addition to our portfolio.

Finally, I look forward to hearing from those of you who test-drive and/or purchase the Cadillac BLS in the coming weeks and months!

Posted by Editor at 12:08 PM
Comments (47) | TrackBack | Permalink