GM's Northstar V8 Going Out of Production in July
It used to be the brightest point in General Motors Co.'s powertrain firmament, but now the company's once-famous Northstar V8 is ending production after a 17-year run, a GM spokesman confirmed to Inside Line. The last Northstar will be made sometime near the end of July.
Quote from the article:
Source: GM's Northstar V8 Going Out of Production in July
Quote from the article:
What's important now is the hole in GM's powertrain lineup the loss of the Northstar leaves. The company, including Cadillac, will have no overhead-cam V8 architecture, leaving it up to the legendary overhead-valve "small-block" V8 - whose basic design dates back to 1955 - to serve wherever a V8 is needed. It remains to be seen whether the small-block V8 will be perceived as technically advanced enough to allow GM, and particularly Cadillac, to compete against increasingly sophisticated V8s from Europe and Japan. GM had almost finished engineering a Northstar successor, dubbed the "Ultra V8," or UV8, but shut announced it was shutting down the UV8 program in late 2007 when the company began hemorrhaging money prior to its 2009 bankruptcy. GM's then vice-president of global powertrain engineering Tom Stephens, told us at the time the UV8 was "as refined as anything in the history of internal-combustion engines. It was the quietest engine we've ever tested." He also said development of the engine was complete and could be pulled off the shelf anytime GM wishes. Stephens and Cadillac have said new fuel-economy standards, as well as changing consumer preferences, point to power-dense V6s as the new-age alternative to V8s. We'll see. In the meantime, the Northstar engine represents yet another noble portion of the "old" GM soon relegated to history. -- Bill Visnic, senior editor, Edmunds AutoObserver.com |
Source: GM's Northstar V8 Going Out of Production in July
