If they can bring the same kind of skill to the models they plan to develop from other global vehicle architectures, it should be an exciting time for people looking for certain high-concept, low-volume models.
Jim Queen, GM's vice-president of engineering of North America, said the firm's engineers and marketing people have spent almost two years studying the limits of the various architectures available at GM, Suzuki, Subaru, Fiat, Isuzu, Alfa, Holden, Opel, and Vauxhall.
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| GM is ready to "pummel the marketplace with derivatives of current vehicles in almost rapid-fire fashion." (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
With all of this research done, Queen says, GM is now ready to "pummel the marketplace with derivatives of current vehicles in almost rapid-fire fashion."
Queen said three architectures are already "in play very aggressively."
One of them is the Epsilon mid-sized architecture already used by the Chevrolet Malibu, the Saab 9-3, and the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra in Europe, with other models coming from Pontiac (the G6 replacement for the Grand Am). The niche models on this architecture would be on top of the ones originally planned, Queen said.
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| GM is considering "a lot more rear-wheel-drive activity" likely from the architecture that supported the Insignia concept at the Frankfurt auto show. (Photo: General Motors) |
The same thing applies to the Theta architecture that already underpins the Saturn Vue, the Chevrolet Equinox coming soon from Ingersoll's CAMI plant, and an unnamed SUV for Daewoo in Korea, among others. This architecture will also now be the basis for other niche units, some of which we may get in Canada.
Queen declined to name the third architecture, but he did say that GM is considering "a lot more rear-wheel-drive activity." That would of course include the Holden-produced models, which currently come off an old version of the Opel Omega but which is likely to be replaced by the architecture that supported the Insignia concept car that GM unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show in September.