Future Watch: Big Plans for GM's Big RWD Platform

jetsetter

jetsetter

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DETROIT ? Despite earlier reports that it might have scrapped plans for a new family of rear-wheel-drive vehicles in North America, General Motors to the contrary has now expanded its Zeta architecture to include a variety of new products for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Pontiac, Inside Line has learned.

The first of the new Zeta models is the Pontiac G8 sedan, based on the Australian Holden Commodore SS-V and due in Pontiac showrooms in early 2008. It could be joined next spring by a new Buick Park Avenue sedan, based on the Holden Statesman and just introduced in China.

While those two rear-drive four-doors are only mildly revised versions of Australian products, the next wave of Zeta models for the States will boast unique sheet metal. They include the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro, which goes into production in late 2008 and should begin arriving at U.S. dealers in early '09. It will be followed in short order by the replacement for the Pontiac GTO, which is due in fall 2009 as a 2010 model and will continue to be built in Australia.

In mid-2010, Chevy will unveil its new rear-wheel-drive Impala, based on the Zeta platform and built in North America. (The older front-drive sedan may be carried over for a year, aimed primarily at fleet customers and rebadged as the Impala Classic.)

About the same time, the 2011 Impala will be joined by redesigned editions of the G8 and Park Avenue, which will join their Chevy counterpart on the same assembly (probably at GM's Oshawa plant in Ontario). The '11 Park Avenue may nudge the older Lucerne from Buick's lineup as the brand's flagship sedan.

Cadillac had planned to shift the front-drive DTS sedan to the Zeta platform for model year 2011, but instead may drop the car. Now comes word from suppliers that a future CTS will switch to Zeta, in 2013, as Cadillac phases out its current Sigma rear-drive vehicles.

What this means to you: GM's vision for rear-wheel drive appears to be wide-ranging in the post-2010 era.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=120968
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:D
 
Perhaps this could be merged with the other thread, everytime someone at GM sneezes I don't think we need a new thread.

And I repeat what I said before, I think the RWD thing is starting to just be a distraction for quality issues they can't be bothered to fix. But at least they may drive better to make up for the horrible place the driver will have to sit.
 
Again, why must they have 3-4 of the same cars with different badges. It will be interesting to see how they sell in the market.
 
Nice, you are getting the Statesman/Park Avenue! I think it's great that GM is finally coming around to the fact that if they want powerful cars with big V8's and V6's, they need RWD. And also, I just don't see how a luxury car can be FWD, it just doesn't seem right when you look at BMW/Merc/etc.

And I had no idea that Holden was doing a new Monaro... Unless of course the bastards are just making the GTO for the Yanks and nothing for us but that wouldn't make sense at all.
 
I'm so happy a new Pontiac is comin' out.

I've wanted a new Trans Am / Firebird / GTO to stare at for so long now.
 
Wizegui said:
Again, why must they have 3-4 of the same cars with different badges. It will be interesting to see how they sell in the market.
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it's worked here for years, basically you don't get an options sheet you just buy the one with the stuff you want
 
Wizegui said:
Again, why must they have 3-4 of the same cars with different badges. It will be interesting to see how they sell in the market.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind, the several divisions of GM were in different price ranges, and were basically completely different car companies. Each had different engines, transmissions, chassis etc...

Now-a-days that system doesn't work, and GM knows it (they killed off olds after all), the problem is US dealership franchise laws make it extremely expensive to do this too many times. So the next solution is to spread the cost out and cut down on the engineering teams.

This is the reason why I think if Toyota continues to expand brands (see my post in the Prius thread) they will only be hurting themselves.
 
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