GM cancels luxury V8 program

General Motors is looking to dump V8 engines on its luxury cars altogether and replacing them with high power direct injection V6 engines in the near future. Cadillac was expected to be the main recipient of GM’s new V8 engines, to be built in its Tonawanda, N.Y. plant with an investment of $300m.

The current Northstar V8 engines found in Cadillac vehicles were due for replacement in 2010, however brisk sales of the new V6 model STS caused the company to reconsider building a V8, according to Automotive News. The 3.6L V6 in the STS produces 302hp compared to the 4.6L V8 churning out 320hp. In addition, the V8 engines weigh around 150-200 pounds more than the V6. It’s now likely Cadillac will switch to V6 engines in all models except the high performance V-variants, which could use Corvette V8s.

There’s no doubt Cadillac has been reborn as a serious luxury marque over the last few years, however this decision strikes us as being premature. One thing luxury buyers look for is a high performance engine with lots of torque for easy driving. It can be argued that the reason buyers chose the V6 over the V8 model in the STS was because the V8 offered very little in the way of extra power and refinement.