US: General Motors cancels development programme for new gasoline V8

[Rob]

US: General Motors cancels development programme for new gasoline V8

By Glenn Brooks
4 January, 2008
Source: Automotive World

According to Automotive News, General Motors has stopped a development programme that would have given Cadillac division a new 32v gasoline V8. The magazine claims this now leaves the fate of the OEM's stated plans for a US$300m investment in its Tonawanda plant in New York state up in the air. GM announced the programme in January 2007, with the new engine due to appear in Cadillac models from 2009.

GM Powertrain spokesman Tom Read is reported to have told Automotive News that the programme to replace the firm's Northstar V8 series has been cancelled. The magazine speculates that Cadillac may now move towards high-output V6 engines for its future models, although GM has recently announced new variants of its Small Block V8 family which could also be used.

US president George Bush recently signed a bill mandating new fuel economy standards which will mean a 40% improvement for OEMs' fleets' averages by 2020, with the phasing-in process due to start in 2011.

The investment programme at the Tonawanda powertrain facility will not be completely scrapped, with a new 4.5-litre V8 turbodiesel still on schedule to start production in 2010. This unit is expected to be fitted to GM's North American market SUVs and pick-ups from the 2011 model year.

[Tuna]

Just the first 'public' effect of the new CAFE standards Bush signed into law.
There will be lots more.

Large SUV and sedan production is going to be reduced and small car/SUV production will have to be increased to meet the corporate average gas mileage. Plants manning will be effected, the UAW is not going to like the results and neither will a lot of people.

By 2020, it you really need a large SUV to haul your family and business stuff around, you're going to be a waiting list that may be years long.

[Rob]

Is the Mighty American V8 Dead?

By Marty Jerome, Wired News
January 04, 2008 | 1:04:11 PM

Only a year ago, General Motors pledged to invest $300 million in its Tonawanda, N.Y., engine plant for the new double overhead cam V8 engines that would be used in its luxury brands. Yesterday, it canceled those plans. This raises the question, what's going to replace the splendid but aging Northstar V8s currently used in Cadillacs?

Answer: perhaps nothing.

With the new CAFE standard hovering over it, the General is now looking for more efficient ways to get power from its drivetrains. The company's new direct-injected V-6 used in the 2008 Cadillac CTS develops 304 hp, while the current Northstar V-8 only makes 275 hp. What's more, the V6 weighs 150 to 200 pounds less than the Northstar powerplant.

Company officials told me that there are no current plans to switch Corvette to a six-pot mill. And certainly V8s will have extended shelf life in trucks and SUVs--at least for a while. As today's "New York Times" points out, truck sales hit the wall this year, especially those with big engines. It's notable that Bob Lutz told me at the Los Angeles Auto Show that within two years Chevrolet could deliver a Pontiac Solstice that produces the same performance as a Corvette C6 today using a modified version of the current six-cylinder engine.

[fvette05]

US president George Bush recently signed a bill mandating new fuel economy standards which will mean a 40% improvement for OEMs' fleets' averages by 2020, with the phasing-in process due to start in 2011.

The writer is throwing this statement in as a way to make us think that GM is cancelling the program based on this bill. I see no other info that would point to this as the reason.

You can bet that money was the greatest driver. If anything, development of new V8 engine technology would do a lot more to help solve GM's fleet average than keeping the existing Northstar technology. It may also be more the fact that, as Lutz stated, a 6 cyl. or small-block V8 (can you say supercharger?) may be all they need to achieve whatever performance goals they were after. Heck, maybe they are going to outsource a v10 or v12!