Sleuth

Two-door CTS appears to be a done deal: You might have seen it at the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Mich. auto show. Well, the Sleuth is here to tell you it’s going to happen sometime next year. General Motors will produce a version of its Cadillac CTS coupe concept beginning in the summer of 2009. GM is Cadillac’s parent. The CTS coupe program began back in 2006 under the codename GMX226. The CTS coupe will roll off GM’s Lansing (Mich.) Grand River plant. Production is slated to total 15,000-20,000 units a year. The car might be called CTC, but recent trademark filings by GM indicate it might be called CT6 instead. The production version will look similar to the concept with only a few changes expected. Look for the road version to add a decklid spoiler and forgo the show car’s center exhaust setup for a more conventional one. It looks hot. It will be hot.

New BMW will be half 3-series car, half X3 sport ute: As the Sleuth uncovered a few months ago, BMW is working on a new vehicle that’s directly based on the 3-Series car. The Sleuth’s insiders report that BMW engineers are using the body of a 3-Series wagon on top of a sport ute chassis. Company insiders say the new model — codenamed F3 — will probably arrive as a 2010 model. The ride will provide the high seating position of a sport ute with the layout of a traditional station wagon.

Maybe we should just stop talking about the NSX until we actually see it?: The Sleuth has told you about the on-again, off-again story of the NSX supercar from Acura. It was on again and, well, consider delayed again. This time it’s for styling reasons. Honda showed its Advanced Sports Car Concept at last year’s North American International Auto show in Detroit, Mich., supposedly a preview of the next-generation NSX, but failed to deliver a production prototype — despite promises to the contrary — at the 2007 Tokyo auto show in October. According to Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., the delay is internal. “All of the designers are working together on the NSX, but they can’t agree on the styling,” he told trade publication Automotive News. Acura is Honda’s upscale division. Collier also said that Acura left the last-generation NSX on the market for too long without any significant upgrades. He said that would not be the case with the next iteration of the car. “We must get it right. We must have the right image. A lot of it is perception with the customer,” Collier said, although the Sleuth thinks the ongoing indecision can’t be doing much for that public perception. Honda says the next-generation NSX will hit the market before the redesigned Acura RL, which will bow in 2010.

BMW considers entirely new brand for its “green” cars: The word out of Bavaria, Germany, is that BMW is now considering developing a whole new brand to market fuel-efficient vehicles without interfering with the image of its current brands and models. Sources said BMW has decided against transforming its Mini line into that role, buying another automaker, or reviving the Riley or Triumph brands. Creating a new brand might be the most viable option since smaller cars with low-displacement engines or gas/electric hybrid drivetrains might not fit with the BMW or Mini program. While BMW has developed a hybrid drivetrain for its X6 tall wagon and next 7-Series sedan, the “green” brand would go far beyond this in terms of efficiency, sacrificing performance and luxury.

Volvo has big plans for new tall wagon: This Swedish brand didn’t show much new stuff at the recent North American International Auto show in Detroit, Mich., other than its new R-design trim level. However, Volvo has bigger plans for the Geneva, Switzerland, show in March. There, the company will officially unveil its XC60 tall wagon, a direct answer to Acura’s RDX, BMW’s X3 and Infiniti’s new EX 35. The new XC60 will be smaller than the XC90. Powertrains are unknown at this point, but sources indicate that the 3.2-liter inline-six cylinder from the S80 sedan is a likely candidate. Volvo’s inline-five-cylinder also remains a possibility, but whatever the case, the vehicle will be available in front- or all-wheel drive. The XC60 is expected to hit European showrooms in late 2008, with North American sales beginning in early 2009.

Market indicators

Chances of getting a 2008 Challenger: Dodge obviously knows it has a hot car on its hands when the new Challenger rolls off the assembly line this year. But it appears that only those who ordered early will be able to get their hands on a first-year 2008 model. Dodge has officially announced that the initial production run of the 2008 Challenger SRT8 will be limited to 6,400 units. Dodge took 4,300 Challenger pre-orders on the first day they were available. Dodge officials indicated that the initial production run of the Challenger could be as high as 10,000 units. The lower volume means that if you want a first-year 2008 Challenger, you’ll likely be buying it from someone else ahead of you in line and not a dealer, a couple of which are already unabashedly asking for more than list price on the online auction site Ebay. Challenger production will increase to about 30,000 units a year for the 2009 model year.

Not just meeting the regs, but beating them: Toyota Chief Executive Officer Katsuaki Watanabe has announced that the Japanese automaker will comply with the new U.S. 35 mpg fleet-average fuel-economy regulations “well in advance” of its 2020 deadline. To meet the new standard, Toyota is planning several new initiatives such as plug-into-the-wall-to-charge-the-batteries overnight hybrid cars that use new lithium-ion battery technology that will find its way into test fleets no later than 2010. “I have asked my engineers to come up with a plug-in hybrid not at the end of 2010 but earlier than that,” Watanabe told trade paper Automotive News. Toyota joins General Motors, Ford and Chrysler in the race to become the next big “green” brand. Unlike GM, which outsourced its lithium-ion battery development to a separate company, Toyota is developing its technology in-house in a joint venture with consumer-electronics giant Panasonic.