General Motors is investing in a new Cadillac with a gasoline engine, signaling continued confidence in internal combustion vehicles.
General Motors has confirmed that it has no plans to abandon internal combustion vehicles entirely. The automaker will invest $150 million to prepare its Spring Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant for production of a new gasoline-powered Cadillac model.
In total, GM plans to invest $275 million in the Spring Hill manufacturing complex. Alongside the new Cadillac, another $125 million will be used to upgrade production of the company's 2.7-liter turbocharged engine, which powers several Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks.
GM has not revealed which Cadillac model will be built at the Tennessee facility. The plant currently produces the Chevrolet Blazer, Cadillac Lyriq, Vistiq, and the next-generation XT5. Once the new model enters production, Spring Hill will assemble five vehicles.
A new crossover appears to be the most likely candidate. That would make sense given that the Escalade and XT5 are currently Cadillac's only gasoline-powered SUVs, while demand for traditional SUVs remains strong in the U.S. Meanwhile, early reports indicate that the next-generation CT5 sedan will continue to be built at GM's Lansing, Michigan, facility.
The investment highlights GM's increasingly flexible product strategy. While the company continues expanding its portfolio of electric vehicles, including Cadillac's growing IQ lineup, it is also committing significant resources to new models powered by traditional internal combustion engines in response to continued consumer demand for gasoline-powered vehicles.