China’s Cadillac XTS might be an Aussie at heart

THE imminent production start-up of the Cadillac XTS in China could spell good news for GM Holden’s engine plant in Port Melbourne – an export base for V6 engines made by General Motors for the world’s biggest car market.

The Chinese-spec large luxury sedan will be powered by a choice of four-cylinder and V6 engines, providing Holden with an export opportunity for the bigger unit produced in the Australian factory.

An export order would be a welcome boost for Holden’s manufacturing operations, which is cutting production days over the next few weeks at its Elizabeth car manufacturing plant in South Australia due to a drop in demand for Commodore and Cruze.

Holden Engine Manufacturing Operations already exports engines to China for vehicles such as the Buick Park Avenue – based on the Holden Caprice – and Buick GL8 people-mover.

The front-drive XTS is made on the stretched version of GM’s Epsilon II platform that underpins cars such as the Opel Insignia, Chevrolet/Holden Malibu and Chevrolet Impala, and went into production in Canada in June.

Left: Cadillac's 3.6-litre VVT DI V6 engine.

The move to produce the car in China is the biggest development yet in GM’s plans to expand the reach of its luxury brand in that country, where Cadillac trails the well-established European marques such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

GM chairman and CEO Dan Ackerson promised at this year’s Beijing motor show in April to add one Cadillac model a year to the Chinese market – Cadillac’s biggest outside its home base – until 2016.

GM and its joint-venture Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), previously locally assembled the Cadillac SLS large car – a stretched version of the Cadillac STS sold in the United States – but that was discontinued last year, contributing to a hiccup in sales growth.

All other Cadillac models on sale in China are imported from North America, with the Mexican-sourced SRX SUV topping the Cadillac sales charts.

GM is preparing to change all that, with XTS kicking off a rapid expansion of Chinese-made Cadillacs to build on the 30,000 vehicles it sold there in 2011.

In North America, the XTS – about the same size externally as the Holden Caprice – is powered exclusively by GM’s 3.6-litre LFX V6, producing 227kW at 6800rpm and 358Nm at 5200rpm.

Holden already makes the same engine for its Chevrolet PPV police patrol car export program to North America, although it is rated at 224kW and 359Nm.

One Chinese report suggests a 3.0-litre V6 will be employed in the Chinese Cadillac, but either way, Holden can make both 3.0-litre and 3.6-litre direct-injected V6s.

A turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine – dubbed LTG and drawn from GM’s new third-generation Ecotech engine family – will also be offered in the Chinese XTS, where the local market requires smaller engines than the US.

This engine made its debut in the Cadillac ATS and reportedly produces 198kW and 352Nm in its Chinese XTS guise.