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Mark Reuss: GM can't afford product 'misses,' has 'thought about' CT6 V-Series

Mark Reuss is a busy man. He oversees General Motors' global product portfolio, an all-encompassing task for a company that sold more than 9.9 million cars and trucks last year. When GM launches a well-received product, like the road-going rocket ship that is the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 – he gets credit. When the company stumbles with the slow-selling Chevy Malibu or grapples with fallout from the decade-old Saturn Ion and its flawed ignition switch, he gets blamed. GM owners, the press and sometimes the federal government, demand answers. Bob Lutz famously held the job before Reuss. So did Mary Barra, who's now GM's chief executive. There's a New GM, but the lineage is connected to a long history. When he's not thinking product, Reuss, an executive vice president, also runs the purchasing and supply chain for the company, which is still one of the largest industrial empires in the world. We caught up with Reuss on the floor of the New York Auto Show, where GM had just rolled out two crucial new products: the 2016 Cadillac CT6 and the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. Speaking with a small group of reporters, Reuss delved into a variety of subjects, including the new Malibu, Cadillac's future (he thinks the ATS-V is going to "flame the M3 and M4"), and other topics. On fixing the Malibu: "We can't miss. We can't have those kinds of misses [like the previous generation] on our cars and crossovers and trucks. We can't do that. If we do that, we give a reason for someone to go buy something else. It's that simple. "On a car like the Malibu we have a chance to really fix all of that, which we have, and then lead. Then you've got a real opportunity there. So that's what we've really been focused on here – to fix those things." He later added: "We need that car here to transform Chevrolet desperately because it's the heart of the market. And when you think of Chevrolet, people will come back and think about what we did with the [new] Malibu and the Cruze... It's hugely important to us." On Cadillac: "If we go out and try and out-German the Germans, it's probably not going to work. We've got an opportunity here generationally where there's a lot of people younger than me that have parents that drove BMWs and Mercedes, and I think there's an opportunity there for those people to drive something different than what their parents did, and I think that's always been an opportunity in the auto industry if you look at the history of it.

Is that a Cascada on Buick's Detroit show stand?

The above image is a close-up of one particular car spotted in a rendering that Buick provided of its stand at next week's Detroit Auto Show. Two doors, four seats, no top, deep and arcing shoulder line - any idea what that might be? We're going to guess it's the coming Buick Cascada, only we're stretching the definition of the word "guess" since the car is a dead ringer for the Americanized Opel droptop, which we drove more than a year ago. Looks like it's finally going to get the 'Official' treatment as a 2016 model, after it was shown to dealers last August. There have also been rumors that the car will be called Velite, but newer rumblings out of the Renaissance Center suggest that such gossip is a dead-end. The Cascada will enter a segment with no real competitors, since the Chrysler 200 ragtop is gone and a Buick convertible vs. Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro convertibles isn't really a thing, and we think will make a nice expansion of the brand's model-range footprint. The big bit of news we're waiting for is what's going to power it, a Euro-sourced four-cylinder with 168 or 197 horsepower? We don't have long to wait to find out. Related Gallery 2013 Opel Cascada: Quick Spin View 50 Photos News Source: GM AuthorityImage Credit: Copyright 2014 AOL Detroit Auto Show Buick Opel Convertible Luxury Detroit buick cascada opel cascada

Opel readying Adam model with SUV cues

The Opel Adam, the microcar of General Motors' European subsidiary, has seen its sales cool significantly since it first hit the market in the United Kingdom and Europe, but a push is reportedly under way that just might be enough to get the stylish, little car moving again.
Using the Opel Adam Rocks Concept as a template, Opel will ruggedize the Adam, so that it might compete with the growing herd of city cars that sport SUV styling, like the Volkswagen Cross Up and Fiat Panda 4x4, according to a report from Automotive News Europe. Sporting a bumped-up ride height and tougher body work, it's a dedicated soft-roader, but will freshen the Adam's lineup and, hopefully, broaden its customer appeal.
The Adam Rocks, according to IHS Automotive analyst Ian Fletcher, should also make some more coin for GM's struggling European arm. "Automakers are happy to meet demand for SUV and crossovers as the customer pays a premium," Fletcher told ANE. And although the Rocks might have been planned from the start as a production vehicle, the timing, with the Adam's sales slowdown, doesn't seem like a coincidence.