We can start this post with a plea to GM to make this car in righ-hand drive and bring it to Australia. We wouldn’t care if it was riding on 1960s suspension, with an interior better suited to an early model Hyundai Excel because from the outside, it hits all the right spots. This is a concept car from 2003, one which this new luxury Cadillac will be based on. Even better though, the engine.. is Australian!
Yes, the design is American, yes its a Cadillac and yes we like it. General Motors’ vice chairman Bob Lutz gave some indications that this car will be the basis for an all-new ultra-luxury vehicle for the Cadillac brand. Aimed to take on the Mercedes S class and BMW’s 7 series, Mr Lutz said that the car will be powered, and I quote, “with more than eight cylinders”.
Reports today suggest that, the “more than eight cylinder” engine is going to be a V12 flagship engine. The best thing about this whole car is GM’s trust in its Australian operations, ladies and gentlemen GM is building this V12, in Australia!
The idea is to join two Holden Commodore engines (3.6L, V6 engines) on a single crank to form a monster 7.2L V12 engine that will put out roughly 600hp with torque up around 540lb-ft.
A V12 engine being built by Holden? We’d like to see that! There are currently no other details from either GM America or GM Holden. I though wonder though if Holden will plan to use that V12 in a HSV Senator or something else? Can you imagine an Aussie built V12 super car?
If it was ever sold in Australia I suspect that many automotively vocal Australians wouldn’t be able to understand or feel safe about a car like this until it was reduced to a half of its size made FWD and fitted with an electric motor or two.
Their concerns about fossil fuels, global warming and their driving ability would reduce them to comments like “How ridiculous” “The world doesnt need a car like this” “My Camry has 143.2kw what would I want with a V12″, “what a waste of natural resources” or “what purpose does it serve” etc.
Thankfully most of these people couldn’t afford to buy one anyway… so bring it on I say!
Amen Steane,
This car isnt about saving the world, or creating a car to simply get from A -> B (e.g. Camry) this is a car about passion, if you have a look at the post I made about the top 10 best and worse green cars in the world, you will notice that the top 10 worse green cars, were all super cars, cars that are about sheer driving pleasure and nothing else.
Alborz, it is well summed up by Jeremy Clarkson in one of his recent articles. He was reminded by Honda that they had provided him with a car for a week to review but he forgot about it… He drove it all week but there was nothing memorable about it so he forgot to write the review. He ultimately described it as another form of Whitegood. Competent, quiet, well made, frugal and completely forgettable.
He now has a Lamborghini Gallardo on order.
Hmm yes he sold his Ford GT for that Gallardo..
I can’t imagine Clarkson with his lack of style or fashion sense in a car as sexy as the Gallardo
“you will notice that the top 10 worse green cars, were all super cars, cars that are about sheer driving pleasure and nothing else.”
Agreed that supercars don’t need to be green cars because their numbers are so small in comparison. The green car is and should be the domain of the mass seller. But also keep in mind, that a car doesn’t need a million KWs to be fun to drive or get the pulse pumping.
As for the Cadillac, it looks like something out of a cartoon rather that the category of supercar, sorry to me it looks seriously fugly!!
To keep my comment short and sharp. Aren’t these called W12′s not V12′s?
Damo, in this case they will be two six cylinders joined end to end (simplistic description but you get the idea). A W12 is a whole different ball game and would be an entirely new design that didn’t incorporate the basics of an already existing 6 cylinder.
The W12 is designed for compactness and is a shorter wider block with the cylinders arranged in something similar to a W as opposed to a V.
Check out a W12 block on the internet and you will see why this engine would never be a W12, they are quite unique.
GET YOUR HANDS OFF IT.
This POS is not a supercar guys, around 400kw and Im sure decent torque but its going to weigh friggin 3 tonnes (It is as the article puts it, ultra luxury). I have no respect for it, the handling would be woeful with that much weight at the front, its going to have like 22L per 100km combined fuel consumption (which IS an issue because as I said, it ISNT a supercar where power is everything), the engine is unsophisticated, it looks avg (better then most yank cars but still abit weird) and it will no doubt cost aa fortune.
Take your GM goggles off and see it for what it is, a poor attempt to compete with far more superior vehcicles… and in light of current climate changes, GM is about 5 years to late on making this move to compete.
Somehow I think Id stick to the Beemers and Mercs!
I stumbled over this old article/post and had to comment. I’ve seen this car before. It was on a special on the Discovery channel called “Million Dollar Motors” alongside McLaren F1, Ford GT, Mayback, Saleen S7, Enzo, etc.
It was a one off concept, with a V16 producing 1000hp (745kW), and incorporated variable displacement technology (it could run 4, 8, or 16 cylinders).
The guy presenting it said the paintjob alone was worth at least 60,000 $US, and the dash has a jewelled Bulgari clock, gauges/dials presented in leaded crystal.
I read that some rich arab offered GM $10 million for it, because it is a one of a kind. GM said no.
It’s body shape is actually retro, going back to the Cadillac16′s from the 30′s. The bonnet is split and hinged down the middle, long bonnet, low slung roof with no B-pillar, HUGE wheels, VERY long wheelbase.
I’ll have to dig up the old recording I made of that show, but I can’t see ANY difference between the car pictured and the Cadillac16 I described above.
the idea of joining 2 alloytech v6 cranks is absurd, that would be a disgusting motor, even the ecotec or a V12 version of the falcon 4.0 would be better, imagine an 8ltr quadcam v12 twin turboed!!! siiiiiiick