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 The CT6, to be unveiled ahead of the April 3-12 New York auto show,
is an expensive car aimed more at boosting Cadillac’s brand image
than sales volume. Among the promised features is a system that will
enable partly autonomous highway cruising.
But the CT6 could have a broader impact on GM’s future products
because of the way it is built. The car is the largest scale
application of the company’s new approach to using a mix of steel,
aluminum and other materials to build vehicles light enough to meet
tougher fuel efficiency standards, but big enough for customers who
want spacious cars.
GM engineers are studying variations on the CT6’s multi-material
construction for at least four other future vehicle architectures
and other models could be derived from the CT6's “Omega”
architecture, Travis Hester, CT6’s chief engineer, said in an
interview.
Automakers are under pressure in the United States and China to
dramatically increase fuel efficiency over the next decade to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. But as oil prices tumble, consumers in the
world’s two richest auto markets are paying premiums for luxury
sedans and sport utility vehicles, not small cars.
That means automakers are racing to build vehicles that are large,
but light.
“They need to get the weight out,” says Jeff Schuster, senior vice
president for forecasting at LMC Automotive. Some of GM’s big
rivals, including Ford Motor Co <F.N> are moving toward largely
aluminum bodies to shed pounds.
The CT6’s engineers were headed in the same direction, but then they
fed data on the properties of different materials into a computer
model designed to show where in the car’s body each would perform
best.
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“What came out was a whole different set of combinations,” said
Hester, the engineer.
CT6 engineers decided to use high strength steel around the
passenger compartment. Aluminum would have been lighter, but steel
makes a better sound shield, so the car needs less noise absorbing
padding, Hester said.
GM saved money by eliminating costly metal-forming dies, in one case
replacing 35 parts with one casting.
“If done right, mixed materials takes costs out,” said Mark Reuss,
GM’s head of global product development.
Overall, the CT6 body is about 198 pounds lighter than a comparable
body made of steel. Some of the weight savings will be offset by
features with more visible showroom appeal, including wheels up to
20 inches in diameter.
(Editing by Grant McCool)
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