[Ming]

Cadillac considers building new car at Saab plant
By James Mackintosh in London and Nicholas George in Stockholm
March 11 2004 22:01

General Motors is considering building a small Cadillac car at its persistently loss-making Saab factory in Sweden in an attempt by the world's biggest vehicle manufacturer to fill the plant.

The company has developed a design concept for a small Cadillac, which would share underlying technology with the Saab 9-3 saloon. It is now examining the business case, with a decision expected in the next few months, according to insiders.

If the project gets the go-ahead it would be the first time Cadillac, the US luxury brand, has built a vehicle in Europe. It would also be the first Cadillac to be sold only in Europe, and would help the brand with its relaunch in the continent, begun last year.

Full story here

 

[usa1]

GM is thinking about making Cadillacs in China and now in Sweden. Wouldn't it be nice if they made them in the USA and exported them to other places?

If the plant were chronically underutilized in the US, they'd close it. There's probably some weird law in Sweden making it illegal to close factories. Hard to imagine that it could be cost competitive.

Mark

 

[Mikkoo]

A Cadillac specifically designed for Europe might not be such
a bad idea. Here in Finland, the largest car magazine in the
country gave the CTS just a lukewarm review. There are
many differences in taste, and features that a European
buyer prefers. Gas economy, pratical size of the vehicle, and safety are important.

 

[mgescuro]

Originally posted by usa1@Mar 12 2004, 12:23 AM
GM is thinking about making Cadillacs in China and now in Sweden. Wouldn't it be nice if they made them in the USA and exported them to other places?

If the plant were chronically underutilized in the US, they'd close it. There's probably some weird law in Sweden making it illegal to close factories. Hard to imagine that it could be cost competitive.

Mark

The answer to that is a bit more complicated than that.
APparently, for the past year or so, GM has been undergoing a total revamp of its factories in North America, using TOC (THeory of Constraints) in its operations. To keep it simple, essentially, this means that each and every factory can run at optimal levels and never a 100% capacity, which would potentially be detrimental to GM. ALso, it allows GM to coordinate all its factories with suppliers into existing JIT systems and everything else in the production chain. (Essentially what Toyota has now.) Only difference is, Toyotas got about 3-4 year head start. GM is just starting to roll out TOC worldwide.
There is limited information on this right now, as GM is keeping it hush hush. But the articles are out there... if you know where to look.

So as for "underutilization," that's what GM wants. No question that GM is streamlining operations, but once GM gets to where they need to be... GM will be good to go. Absorbing the Trollhattan plant into this system will be a good thing.

I think what this potentially will lead to is GM importing their own cars into the US. UAW is not making GM cost competitive, and with this system in place... GM's got leverage.

 

[LGRpup]

I think a smaller more Euro Cadillac will be ok, like the earlier statement they have different tastes and like different size vehicals over there, so anything to get the Europeans excited about Cadillac and GM is good. Dont know why they need a Caddy plant in China, we already have a China export CTS, even though I have some reservations on the things that happen during the Exporting process, which I 'll explain when I find out if its a big deal to talk about.

 

[Smilingoat]

hey this will be epsilon then right? then this actually makes a lot of sense about this picture i found about a month ago, but didnt know what to make of it. i think a smaller caddy is a good idea, just dont make it cheap, make it high class, but smaller, otherwise it will hurt the name of caddy in europe.

 

[Butta]

If the project gets the go-ahead it would be the first time Cadillac, the US luxury brand, has built a vehicle in Europe.

I thought the Catera was built in Germany, no?

 

[Smilingoat]

but the catera was a opel, not a caddy

 

[AMcA]

Originally posted by Smilingoat@Mar 12 2004, 09:35 PM
but the catera was a opel, not a caddy

If only we could rationalize away the Catera so easily . . . .

Alas, we cannot deny that it did carry a Cadillac badge.