William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 24, 2012

Cadillac has big ambitions for the European market, readying the ATS, CTS, and SRX to do battle. One car that was planning to stay was the XTS. Now, a new report from German auto news site, Auto-News.de, says the XTS could be the basis for a new Opel flagship.

An odd pairing at first, bankruptcy documents from Saab reveal GM was hard at work on a new on a new flagship for Swedish brand named the 9-8, which was expected to use bits of the Cadillac XTS. However, when GM sold Saab and the events following thereafter left the 9-8's design hanging in the balance.

Opel has apparently said that's ours with the 9-8 and is now reworking it into an Opel. The report says the vehicle will likely wear the Omega nameplate, a name that has adorned Opel's flagships from 1986-2003. Drivetrain will be FWD with the option of AWD. Power will either come from a 3.6L V6 or the 2.8L turbocharged V6 used in the Opel Insignia. A range of diesels are also expected.

Source: Auto-News.de

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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Rather ironic considering the last Omega was the basis for the Catera...

Even further erosion of the Cadillac brand. What shameful stewardship.

Even further erosion of the Cadillac brand. What shameful stewardship.

Not necessarily..the article says 'basis', not badge engineered. It will share the same Epsy Dos platform and wheelbase as the DTS does w/ the '13 Impala and LaCrosse but likely have it's own body, interior, etc?

Edited July 25, 201213 yr by Cubical-aka-Moltar

Agreed, I highly doubt there will be an Opel-badged car wearing Cadillac sheetmetal anyime soon, not when actual Cadillacs with the same design language will be availalble in Europe.

Of course, every time news of a new Opel breaks cover, the burning question for us ends up becoming "Will it be sold here as a Buick?"

Since the Cadillac XTS and Buick LaCrosse are very closely related, perhaps we should start viewing the upcoming Opel Omega as LaCrosse-based and not necessarily XTS-based.

Also, when you look at it that way this news isn't really that shocking. It's been rumored for sometime now that Opel would do something with the LaCrosse.

I have a feeling that the Opel version will be a warmed over LaCrosse/Saab 9-5 instead of the XTS. They do share the same architecture don't they?

If they take the XTS and rebody it as a wagon/CUV cued thing, it could be interesting... Opel's take on the Citroen C5 idea, maybe? Just a tought...

Interesting idea!---To do the enlarged Opel platform that was going to be a Saab and should have been a Buick but will become a Opel???---Interesting indeed!!!

Why not just re-nose the 9-5 with an Opel fascia? 98% of the work and tooling is done at that point. Slap an Omega badge on it and off ya go.

Why not just re-nose the 9-5 with an Opel fascia? 98% of the work and tooling is done at that point. Slap an Omega badge on it and off ya go.

I wonder what became of the 9-5 tooling and who owns it?

Not buying this one.

I would say there is a better chance Opel may have a version of the Cadillac Omega platform if anything and I don't even expect that.

I could see them re-using the 9-5 somehow. They still owned the IP to that car and that is investment being left to rot. I think the signals being crossed are what is being used as the "base"

I think a re-nosed 9-5 would be seen as an imposter, as the Cadillac BLS was.

An imposter Opel?

Could be the Catera in reverse. They could tweak the front and rear fascias and call it a day, wouldn't surprise me if they did. I doubt many people in Europe want one regardless of what they do with it.

Interesting to read the XTS reviews that seem to be contradictory of the Journalist.

http://cars.about.com/od/cadillac/fr/2013-Cadillac-Xts-Review.htm

He likes it but wants it replaced asap. Yet he loves to drive the XTS fast as it is fun.

Go figure.