MILAN, Michigan: One of the worst kept secrets in the auto industry was confirmed at a drag strip here recently, when General Motors announced that it was setting up the GM Performance Division.
Under the leadership of Mark Reuss, who is one of the key car guys in GM's new product development structure, this division will develop and build performance variants of cars and trucks for Cadillac, Chevrolet and Pontiac.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of GM's chief product czar, Bob Lutz, Pontiac will more than ever be GM's everyday performance division, so that's pretty straightforward.
The company is also determined to tap into Chevrloet's performance heritage with the resurrection of the SS designation on several cars.
Adding a performance logo to Cadillac is something of a departure, though GM has been considering it for many years now, originally with the Blackfin name. Some performance designation is critical to GM's plans for the brand, since the companies it plans to compete against -- Mercedes-Benz and BMW -- do quite a brisk business in vehicles wearing the AMG and M designations, respectively.
Since Reuss is also the only GM product executive who'll be with a product from inception to dealer showroom (he calls it "running the continuum") as the overseer of vehicle architecture engineering, he's ideally situated to seeing that performance becomes a key part of the model range.
About a quarter of the 1,000 engineers, designers and technicians who work directly for Reuss will be involved solely with the performance division, with the other three-quarters stepping up to give assistance as required.