Press Releases
28 August 2008
Cadillac Busts A Fuel-Saving Move, Will Go Four-Cylinder
Signaling fuel-economy concerns are making an impact in the luxury market, General Motors Cadillac BLS.jpgCorp.'s Cadillac division let it be known last week — in the midst of the snobby Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance, no less — that Cadillac will be using four-cylinder power for its upcoming new entry-level model.
The use of four-cylinder engines is something of a line in the sand in the luxury market, an option consumers in the past have embraced with mixed results. And believing four-cylinder engines imply a frugality and dearth of "power" inconsistent with the nature of the beast, many luxury marques — in recent years of low U.S. fuel prices, at least — have steadfastly refused to cross the line into small-engine territory.
Excluding its very early days, Cadillac dabbled with 1.8- and 2-liter four-cylinder power with the famously awful Cimarron (1982-88), but today's four-cylinders are vastly more powerful and refined than anything available during the Cimarron vintage. So in light of nasty-high fuel prices and evolving buyer sentiment about the environmental correctness of small engines, Cadillac must feel more confidant about the climate for revisiting four-cylinder power with its planned 2010 rear-drive sedan.
The new model will sit below the division's current entry point, the CTS, and roll on GM's coming new global rear-drive architecture - a detail that also may aid credibility, as Cadillac's current European entry car, the BLS, employs front-wheel-drive (not to mention four-cylinder engines exclusively) and has flopped in the showroom.
If U.S. customers display willingness — or at least acceptance — of four-cylinder power, European luxury brands might have a leg up, however.
For every Europe-based luxury marque, small engines are the mainstay of home-market sales, with four-cylinder engines — particularly diesels — common even in midsize cars and SUVs. If these players decide to shift their U.S. engine mix toward four-cylinder engines, gasoline or diesel, it presumably will be much easier to quickly make that adjustment.
Audi of America Inc., which long has offered four-cylinder gasoline engines with the high power densities that can satisfy American customers, seems to be one automaker well-placed to address U.S. engine-downsizing trends. Audi product and technology spokesman Christian Bokich tells AutoObserver the four-cylinder sales mix for the three model lines (A3, A4, TT) in which Audi's 2-liter engine is available is running at a robust 80 percent.
Although Cadillac sees the wisdom of having a four-cylinder model, Audi's German competition will have to re-examine its priorities. BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz — both burned in the past by ridiculed four-cylinder U.S. models — currently offer no four-cylinder engines for any U.S. model.
Even for its C-Class, which in the previous generation offered four-cylinder power, Mercedes has gone to V6s across the board. And after the bad experience of the 318 sedan and hatchback, BMW vowed to banish four-cylinders from its U.S. lineup — an edict the company has yet to reverse despite the $4-per-gallon premium unleaded its magnificent inline six-cylinder engines demand. BMW's loophole has been to offer exclusive four-cylinder power for its successful Mini brand.
Europe's Saab Cars and Volvo Cars, owned by GM and Ford, respectively, have stayed close to their utilitarian roots and offer severafour-cylinder models. As with most luxury brands expecting to make four-cylinder powerplants a viable play, turbochargers inject most Volvo and Saab four-cylinder powerplants with both the added power and technical chops the segment demands.
The Japanese automakers with luxury divisions effectively mirror Europe: Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s Infiniti provide no four-cylinder models for the U.S. Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s Acura unit, to now the slow-selling contrarian of the trio, offers a 2.4-liter four-cylinder for its TSX entry-level sedan and a turbocharged variant for the RDX crossover. Like Audi, Acura's insistence on maintaining ties to the small-engine market may now pay dividends if luxury-car consumer preference markedly slants towards efficiency concerns. Acura also has said it will introduce a four-cylinder diesel for its lineup next year.
A rundown of who does and doesn't have a four-cylinder play in the U.S. luxury market:
Japan
Acura: TSX, RDX
Infiniti: none
Lexus: none
Europe
Audi: A3, A4, TT
BMW: none (except Mini)
Jaguar: none
Mercedes none
Porsche: none
Saab: 9-3, 9-5
Volvo S40, V50, C30
U.S.
GM-Cadillac: none
GM-Buick: none
Ford-Lincoln: none
Ford-Mercury: Milan, Mariner
Cadillac BLS in Europe uses four-cylinder power exclusively, but also is front-wheel-drive.
