GM Shelves Plan for Large Cadillac CUV

General Motors has shelved plans for a Cadillac 3-row large CUV previously scheduled for production at the automaker’s Delta Twp., MI, assembly plant, likely signaling the more immediate plan for the luxury brand would be to go small in the segment.

WardsAuto sources say the large Cadillac CUV was slated to arrive in 2017 as an ’18 model. Persisting fears it might overlap with the popular Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia contributed to its cancellation.

The Enclave and its Chevrolet Traverse platform mate shift to a new Theta/Lambda platform from the current Lambda architecture in 2017 as ’18 models, while the Acadia makes the move in 2016 as a ’17 model.

A Cadillac CUV still will come on the Theta/Lambda architecture, but likely shouldered by a smaller version of it with two rows of seating similar to the current SRX. It could be joined by a like-sized product for GMC that the brand has wanted for a number of years.

Experts forecast the small, premium CUV segment to take off in the coming years. The BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA already occupy space there, and according to a WardsAuto forecast the Germans will be joined by entries from Infiniti, Lexus and Tesla in the next three years.

Bob Ferguson, vice president-Global Cadillac at GM, has said the automaker is eyeing an expansion of the Escalade nameplate beyond the big body-on-frame model that was redesigned for ’15 and is arriving at dealers.

“There is a lot of equity in Escalade, and I’d like to explore the notion of other vehicles carrying that name, but we’ve made no decisions,” he told WardsAuto in October.

The decision against a large unibody model carrying the Escalade name apparently was made over the winter months, as Cadillac Product Manager Dave Schiavone said in April the 7- and 8-passenger SUV was “unique, with its image and presence” and not a candidate for expansion.

Smaller CUVs appeal to consumers for their fuel efficiency and functionality, but the pint-sized vehicles also will help automakers meet tightening U.S. fuel-economy rules. Detroit Three OEMs will find it particularly difficult in the coming years, as fuel-efficiency rules governing their large SUVs and pickups grow more strict.

Advances in vehicle design and engineering will help make them more popular, too. Automakers quickly are discovering ways to make the footprint of a vehicle smaller without sacrificing roominess, oftentimes by using a modular approach to architecture development.

“Vehicles are going to be much lighter and a tad smaller on the outside, but we are working to make the interiors as big, if not bigger, than they are now,” John Calabrese, GM’s retiring top engineer, told WardsAuto recently. “Cabin space won’t be compromised.”

Cadillac likely would benefit most in the near-term from a smaller CUV anyway, given its expansion plans are global and big CUVs almost exclusively are a North American play.

“We will expand the portfolio,” Cadillac spokesman Dave Caldwell says. “But we can’t define any piece of that plan.”

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