GM confirms delays for Cruze, CTS Coupe and Saab models

Rising development costs are creating serious liquidity problems at General Motors, forcing the Detroit manufacturer to delay a number of its upcoming models. Last month we reported on GM being forced to postpone the Cadillac CTS Coupe and the Buick LaCrosse due to the high costs that the company is currently incurring in developing new models while sales continue to plummet.

Now, General Motors has confirmed that a number of its cars will be delayed, including the CTS Coupe and Chevrolet Cruze, which are being put on the backburner for around a year. The CTS Coupe wasn't expected to be a large-volume car anyway, so overall figures won't likely be hurt significantly by its delay. The Cruze, however, is much more central to the GM lineup.

While the Cruze was set to be released in 2009, it is expected that it will now come into replace the aging Chevy Cobalt in 2010. The Chevrolet Cruze, along with the Chevrolet Volt, is an immensely important car for GM and has thus been given a "protected" status, according to CNNMoney. This means that no matter what may come up, GM is determined to release the Cruze in the U.S. by 2010.

Meanwhile, the Saab 9-5 wagon and sedan variants are also delayed, as is the Saab 9-4x. Saab's aging model lineup makes a delay even more of a blow to the Swedish brand, which has suffered falling sales for several months now in the U.S. The Saab 9-5 is almost 10 years old, and despite being given a makeover a couple of years ago, the age in its platform itself is beginning to show.

Despite all the delays for certain GM products, the company is keen to expand development in growing areas, such as plug-in hybrids. Currently GM is in development of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, but have hinted that other plug-in cars will be arriving within four or five years.