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Cadillac's de Nysschen takes aim at Porsche 911, Cayenne

Johan de Nysschen has big plans for Cadillac. He's moved the brand from Detroit to New York, revamped its model nomenclature, and planning a raft of new models for the near future – including a $250,000 luxury sedan to take on the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. But the veteran executive of luxury automakers has some more performance-oriented machinery in mind, too. Speaking with Car and Driver at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week, de Nysschen suggested Cadillac could be ready to launch a flagship sports car sometime in the next decade. The halo model would take aim at the Porsche 911 and do for Cadillac what Audi did with the R8, Mercedes is doing with the AMG GT and Acura once did (and is aiming to do again) with the NSX. Just what form it would take remains a big unknown, but de Nysschen indicated that the brand would need to be built up further before the sports car would be launched, lest it emerge too detached from Cadillac's image. The last time Cadillac delved into that territory was with the Corvette-based XLR, of which it sold only 15,000 or so examples – far below initial targets. The 911 rival isn't the only performance model de Nysschen has in mind, however. He plans to further expand the V series into a more substantial sub-brand to include a crossover to take on the likes of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, BMW X5 M and all those many AMG-tuned Mercedes utilities. The idea of an entry-level model to slot in below the ATS was mooted as well. A range of diesel engines are slated to help Cadillac break into overseas markets in similar fashion to how Maserati has expanded its market reach with oil-burning versions of the Ghibli and Quattroporte. And we wouldn't be surprised to see Cadillac get in on a new flagship SUV being launched by Opel in Europe, either.

GM lays off 450 at Lansing Grand River Assembly

General Motors will lay off 450 employees at its Lansing Grand River factory, The Detroit News reports, which is 100 more than the company said it'd be letting go last month. Lansing Grand River Assembly currently builds the Cadillac ATS and CTS, both of which have suffered sluggish sales, with the smaller sedan down 20 percent through last month and the larger model down 2.3 percent, The Detroit News reports. "We are adjusting plant production capacity to better align with market demand. Beginning in January 2015, the plant will operate on a single shift," a GM statement read, before explaining that not all the laid off Grand River employees will be jobless. Of the employees that have been laid off to make room for the single work shift, around 200 will transfer to the Lansing Delta Township factory, home of the Lambda-platform crossovers, GM's statement confirmed. The News expects this one-shift arrangement to continue until at least late next year, when the Alpha-platform Chevy Camaro transitions from General Motors' Oshawa, Ontario factory to Lansing. Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said at last month's LA Auto Show, "It may not necessarily be permanent, a time may come when we've gained momentum and we can reinstate it. But for now, the adjustment to production capacity is in alignment with our plans for 2015."

GM to build $1.3 billion Cadillac plant in China

General Motors has gotten approval to build a $1.3 billion manufacturing facility for its Cadillac brand in China. China's National Development and Reform Commission signed off on plans for GM to build the plant in the country's Shanghai's Jinqiao zone; construction is expected to begin in June of this year. According to a Bloomberg report, the plant will have an annual production capacity of 150,000 units.
No surprise here, but Cadillac would like to sell a lot more cars in the plush Chinese luxury market. The brand moved only 30,010 cars in China last year, compared with 400k for Audi, and about 330k for BMW. With Cadillac already telling us that it would be moving production of its XTS sedan to China - a production decision that saves having to pay 25-percent import tariffs - approval of the factory is a critical win for the company.
In fact, according to earlier comments by GM China president Bob Socia, it's at least conceivable that Chinese-built Cadillacs could be shipped back to the US for sale. The brave new world of globalization, getting stranger by the minute.