Alpha: Field of broken dreams?

[Z284ever]

Alpha: Field Of Broken Dreams?
Can Alpha deliver on the promise?
www.GMInsideNews.com
May 17, 2011
By: Charlie Philippou, Nick Saporito

It seems no rear-wheel drive program at General Motors goes without a soap opera's fill of drama. The Zeta program has been the source of constant back-and-forth, both publicly and privately. Hopes have been set high that the upcoming Alpha program would be a breath of drama-free air for GM rear-wheel drive, but GMI is hearing that drama and problem-free is furthest from the truth with regards to the coveted Alpha program.

Alpha's roots go back all the way to late 2004. It was generally inspired by the Torana concept car. At the time, the theoretical platform was loosely coined Kappa II, Kappa being the platform that underpinned the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters. The original plan was to make Alpha a true enthusiast's platform with perfect weight distribution, devoid of an excess of weight to distribute. Holden was all for developing such an architecture for a modern day Torana. At GM North America some saw this as a natural architecture for a reborn Camaro. Bob Lutz dreamed of creating a whole family of sporty, great handling, small-RWD cars for Pontiac.

And then came the first problem for the soon-to-be Alpha program. Not enough executives at GM were signing up with the program to make it's near $1 Billion price tag justifiable. Several vehicle line executives at GM North America wanted no part of the new platform, including Cadillac and executives' overall sentiment against 'premium small cars.' So internal politics, lack of interest and scarce funding put "Kappa 2" to sleep for a while.

A couple of years later Cadillac became interested in the program and signed on. It was at that point in 2007 that the platform was beginning to be referred to internally as Alpha and real development began.

However as Cadillac became involved with the Alpha program, a sense of deja vu came with it. Much like Cadillac's initial involvement with the Sigma platform, Cadillac had a long wish-list for the new Alpha platform. This long list quickly turned a light, sporty platform on it's head, including stops on development several times over the last few years.

Initially Alpha was going to be a four-cylinder only chassis for small premium cars, so naturally development focused on optimizing the Alpha platform for four-cylinder mills in a very light package. Well, Cadillac's first condition was that Alpha be re-engineered to package a naturally aspirated V-6 engine - and that was non-negotiable. This about-face on engine selection would become the first of at least two engine requests that led to a re-engineering of the Alpha chassis to accommodate the new requirements. More changes (read: more mass and cost) were required for the addition of all-wheel drive.

What started out as a great handling, small RWD program, began it's mission creep from being very focused to being all things to all people. And as it evolved, certain "hard-points" from previous development were locked in, even though the base program had transformed itself. For example, Alpha was designed with a very sophisticated multi-link front suspension with near perfect geometry for the car as it was developed at that point. That geometry was "locked in". As the car grew and became heavier with more features and content, that original geometry was no longer optimal. Our sources tell us that GM is now attempting to mask this sub-optimal geometry with chassis tuning rather than doing the right thing and actually fix it.

According to sources familiar with the Alpha program both internally at GM and the supplier level, GM has made several other additions to the requirement list of Alpha beyond engines. Among the additions were: a new electronics system and aerodynamic shutters (similar to the Volt).

Each addition has caused another issue to engineer around, thus causing the Alpha program to exceed GM's mass requirements for the car by nearly 500-pounds. It is unclear how heavy Alpha products will be, but every independent Alpha source GMI has communicated with has indicated that the final curb weight could push 4,000-pounds unless GM puts the program on a mass reduction plan before launch.

Another issue the Alpha program has been strapped with is the addition of Alpha+ about halfway through development. The Alpha+ chassis is a larger variant of Alpha, intended for use with the next-generation Cadillac CTS. Naturally, Cadillac has another list of requirements for Alpha+, including the need to accommodate twin-turbo V-6 engines. This has added another layer of complexity to the Alpha program, driving up both costs and mass.

Recently GMI has spoken with sources--both internal and supplier--that are working on the Alpha program. According to those sources the Alpha program has been a near constant stream of drama and problems for GM, all of which were compounded by the company's June 2009 bankruptcy. Even today, as the program nears its final stages of development, problems are still being worked out of the Alpha cars.

GM is now struggling to reduce Alpha's mass by a quarter-ton. One source indicated that GM is willing to throw all sorts of new composite technologies at the body, structure and powertrain to achieve that goal. Those materials are being thrown at both the Cadillac Alpha cars and the sixth-generation Camaro.

At last report the Cadillac ATS is still slated to launch in mid to late 2012 as a 2013 model-year vehicle.

[DarkKnight67]

I am hopeful that this platform will demonstrate that new GM can build a car (or series of cars) which appeal to today's drivers. However, this article is a little troublesome with all of the changes and requirements being heaped upon little Alpha.

Please, GM, fix it and make it a world beater not an also ran.

[Darc Requiem]

Okay, now I'm worried about weight again. Seriously 4000lbs. I hope they are successful with the 500lb weight reduction or they could have just kept Zeta.

[Dr. Show-Me]

Thanks for posting this information.
Wow, another fine mess GM's gotten itself into. At the heaviest approaching 4,000 pounds, it would be heavier than the Camaro and CTS! You got to be kidding me!
Trying to lose 500 pounds makes the Alpha GM's "Biggest Loser" from a mass reduction standpoint.
If GM is that poorly focused, bk or not, how does it expect to compete and lead an industry?
Do you know if they are solving the problems? Dropping the avoirdupois? Is this even going to end up a car that an enthusiast would want?

[rand49er]

Okay, now I'm worried about weight again. Seriously 4000lbs. I hope they are successful with the 500lb weight reduction or they could have just kept Zeta.

^^^ Yeah that.

This sounds like a too-many-cooks type thing. Anything over 3,800 lbs would seriously quench my interest.

[MikesZ]

Please GM, not another 3800 pound Camaro. Noooooooo.

[GMNumberOne]

Could we possibly wait until the vehicles off Alpha debut before we begin to rip them apart? Some of you are as bad as the press - how many rumors have we seen that have never panned out? Instead of being typical Americans, why don't we be INFORMED and see the actual vehicle first.

[MCGARRETT]

Wow, were so awesome here, we cant hate the current GM cars enough, we need to start sh**ing all over cars that have not even come out yet!

You know the 2014 Corvette is going to be crap too.....

[nsap]

Could we possibly wait until the vehicles off Alpha debut before we begin to rip them apart? Some of you are as bad as the press - how many rumors have we seen that have never panned out? Instead of being typical Americans, why don't we be INFORMED and see the actual vehicle first.

It isn't like this is something we reported because it was hearsay. When you have 5-6 INDEPENDENT sources coming to you with the same concerns and information about a program, you know there is something up.

I have never had so many sources confirm the same information to us.

[Lowboy]

Sounded like a good plan, until Cadillac got involved.

[jckjds]

I hate to be overly critical, but I just cannot imagine that GM has allowed this car to reach 4000 pounds. Indeed, the commentary states that ALPHA, not ALPHA +, has reached 4000 pounds. So, one would expect Alpha + (CTS) to ring in at 4500 pounds +/-.

I'm just not buying it.

That being said, if the commentary is accurate, this is a sad, sad state of affairs. One would hope that the biggest part of this mess was caused pre-bankruptcy and that new GM was saddled with the aftermath. At least one could hope that new GM still has some competency under that scenario.

Doom and gloom aside, that Torana STILL looks good today. GM really F'd up by not just building that car at the time. That car was a smash hit, and would have been a perfect enthusiast offering when gas prices spiked several times between 2004 and today. Even though the Kappas' fuel economy was less-than-stellar, given that the weight of the platform was relatively low, one would expect that some minor tweaks could have made the torana a 33-35 mpg highway car.

Ah, wasted opportunities.

[Z284ever]

Could we possibly wait until the vehicles off Alpha debut before we begin to rip them apart? Some of you are as bad as the press - how many rumors have we seen that have never panned out? Instead of being typical Americans, why don't we be INFORMED and see the actual vehicle first.

To me that's kind of like saying: Can we we wait until my house burns down before I decide if I want a fire department?

[Z284ever]

Wow, were so awesome here, we cant hate the current GM cars enough, we need to start sh**ing all over cars that have not even come out yet!

You know the 2014 Corvette is going to be crap too.....

Actually, the Corvette will be pretty good. Far fewer cooks in that very focused kitchen.

[nsap]

I hate to be overly critical, but I just cannot imagine that GM has allowed this car to reach 4000 pounds. Indeed, the commentary states that ALPHA, not ALPHA +, has reached 4000 pounds. So, one would expect Alpha + (CTS) to ring in at 4500 pounds +/-.

I'm just not buying it.

That being said, if the commentary is accurate, this is a sad, sad state of affairs. One would hope that the biggest part of this mess was caused pre-bankruptcy and that new GM was saddled with the aftermath. At least one could hope that new GM still has some competency under that scenario.

Doom and gloom aside, that Torana STILL looks good today. GM really F'd up by not just building that car at the time. That car was a smash hit, and would have been a perfect enthusiast offering when gas prices spiked several times between 2004 and today. Even though the Kappas' fuel economy was less-than-stellar, given that the weight of the platform was relatively low, one would expect that some minor tweaks could have made the torana a 33-35 mpg highway car.

Ah, wasted opportunities.

The SAME stuff happened with Sigma back in the day. As soon as Cadillac got their hands on Sigma it became a mess. This doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

[zl-1]

It isn't like this is something we reported because it was hearsay. When you have 5-6 INDEPENDENT sources coming to you with the same concerns and information about a program, you know there is something up.

I have never had so many sources confirm the same information to us.

Agreed.
And if the story is factually correct as having 5 or 6 independent external confirmations would suggest, then I really don't know what to expect of the Alpha cars... There's a big chance they'll turn up to be "great, but adequate" instead of "great, the new class standard".