GM RWD platforms on hold and a 300 HP Sky!?

[Robotech]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...i-business-hed

There's the article. Basically except for the new Camaro and a RWD replacement for the Impalla all new GM RWD vehicle plans are on hold (such as the G8 replacement for the Pontiac Grand Prix and the RWD replacement for the Buick Lacern).

But the real thing that got me was the mention of putting a 300+ hp Solstice/Sky project on hold...Has anyone else heard of this!?!?!?!?!? I know there were rumors of them doing a Super Charged version of the Kappa but what's this!?

[akinmb]

I'm not under the delusion that my daily driven Redline will be worth a whole lot in the distant future, but I'm sure that a 300+ horsepower version available in the future wouldn't help any either.... I'm glad to hear it...I like having the one with better horsepower stock.

[SunneySky]

Aww gee, with global warming my house may be under water and I won't be able to buy a 300 hp Sky I guess I will just have to keep putting little upgrades into my Redline until I hit the 300 hp point. I ought to be at least at the 275 mark now???

[cerberus]

Yeah, there was a thread on the solforum about that rumour just this past weekend. Speculation about the 09 build year. Ah well, was hoping with a higher output turbo-kappa version we might have a shot at a GMPP 2.4 offering, but this could change the calculus. Sigh, back to watching the CARB site.

[Talz]

"Small-car mileage only counts toward CAFE if you build them here, and you can't build small cars here at a profit," Lutz said, explaining that foreign-made cars would count toward the automaker's import fleet, and its domestic fleet is where GM needs help.

Seems silly to seperate a companies import and domestic CAFE numbers to me. Given our Domestic manufacturers strengths are in performance and full size vehicles it's just dumb to setup laws that put them at a disadvantage. Things like this irk me, there's no good reason an Aveo made in Korea shouldn't count towards GM/Chevrolet CAFE numbers IMO.

And while there are some very good reasons to work to increase our national energy efficiency the rate needs to be more controlled and gradual. A 20% increase in 10 years is just to much. A 7-10% increase is much more reasonable, though they hidden taxes like this are really annoying.

[marlboromike]

the real question is whether it would have been a supercharged 4 cylinder...6 cylinder or 8 cylinder...or even a turbocharged 2.0 with larger valves...maybe 2.4 turbo charged...or speculative at this point. So this thread is useless in the end.

[vstar]

could it be the 3.9


More Muscle
Cadillac's direct-injection allows V6 to pump out 300-hp

By RICHARD TRUETT | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

AutoWeek | Updated: 03/26/07, 12:30 pm et
General Motors' use of the latest engine technology to help rebuild its image continues this fall with a powerful new engine for a pair of Cadillacs.

The 300-hp, 3.6-liter V6 slated to debut in the revamped Cadillac CTS and the bigger STS sedan is the most powerful V6 GM has ever built -- and that includes the turbocharged 3.8-liter used in the 1987 Buick GNX coupe.

The trick? Direct fuel injection, or DI.

DI moves the fuel injectors off the intake manifold and places them between the valves on the cylinder head. That enables a high compression ratio, which increases power. GM engineers designed special pistons for the engine to ensure smooth starts in cold weather.

They also devised a way to reduce noise from the fuel injectors, which operate under about 1,700 pounds of pressure. A collar between the injectors and the cylinder head absorbs shocks and reduces clicking noise as the injectors shoot fuel into the cylinders.

Only a handful of North American vehicles use DI. But the number is expected to grow in the coming years as automakers look to squeeze more power and fuel economy out of engines while lowering emissions and reducing displacement.

The new 3.6-liter may be Cadillac's most important engine since the 1993 introduction of the Northstar V8. That engine, a 4.6-liter, saw Cadillac introduce overhead cams and 32 valves. The original Northstar produced 290 hp -- 10 less than the new V6.

Cadillac's new engine outmuscles most six-cylinder powerplants from Acura, Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Lexus, Lincoln and others and is expected to help the restyled CTS get off to a fast start.

The increased power doesn't come at the expense of fuel economy, says Ameer Haider, assistant chief engineer for GM's HF-V6. The 2007 CTS with its 255-hp, 3.6-liter V6 is rated at 18 mpg city and 27 mpg highway.

The 2008 engine's EPA ratings won't be final until summer. Haider says the engine is expected to deliver a 3 percent fuel economy gain and produce lower emissions, especially when first started in the morning.

Last year, Pontiac was GM's first domestic brand to use a direct-injection engine. The 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder in the Solstice GXP roadster cranks out 260 hp and gets slightly better fuel economy than the Solstice's standard 2.4-liter, 177-hp engine.

GM plans to offer direct injection on more models and to produce as many as 200,000 direct-injected engines by 2010.

[rs0987654]

I have been watching GM's product plans for about a year and I always thought that GM was not taking into account the variability of gasoline prices adequately. I thought that the emphasis on more RWD cars was the result of Holden in Australia having something ready in the pipeline that could readily give GM in North America some product punch. Sort of taking advantage of low hanging fruit while GM prepares to tackle the hard problem of $3 gasoline. But these observations on the CAFE standards have significant impact. I haven't digested all of this, but my first question for Lutz would be why haven't you seen this coming? Going back to the drawing board when GM has some momentum is not the move that will make stockholders happy.

[DTB]

I had just read that the Pontiac G8 (Grand Prix replacement) is pretty much done and ready for import, based on the Australian Holden. I'd be surprised if they put it on hold this late it the game. Especially because I don't think MPG will be any worse than their current FWD cars.

[brentil]

If there was going to be a 300HP kappa car it wouldn't be hard to do. We've seen at the SolForum that an ecu tuned GXP can hit 300HP. However to reliably do it you would really just need to increase the size of the turbo on the current engine. You would end up loosing some low end torque and it would take longer to spool but it would be pretty easy to do.

Moving to a v6 or a supercharged engine just really makes no sense at all of you think about it. The current platform does NOT support v6/v8 engines (OEM support and after market addins are not the same thing) and ditching the work they've done to make a Supercharged version is counter productive. If they wanted a Supercharged engine they would have used the LSJ instead of creating the LNF.

Using the same 2.0L engine but just adding a larger turbo would also not effect fuel economy either since it would still behave the same when not in boost.

[Rick Tinley Park]

With the intro of the 2.4l Turbo from GMPP -- how far off 300HP would that be?
A question I will put forth to GM as soon as I can..

[Ag94Whoop]

Rick,
I would tend to think that depends upon boost.
If you give it 10-12 PSI of boost, then 300HP seems very feasible

if they need to stick to 5 PSI to stay CARB and legal, then the best the aftermarket will do is about 225-235 WHP I would guess...