Cadillac BLS Bags Winter Car 2007 Award

Recently at the 77th Salon International de l'Auto Geneve (77th annual Geneva International Motor Show), Tekniikan Maailma magazine, one of the leading automotive publications in Finland named the 2007 Cadillac BLS 4-door compact sedan as the recipient of their Winter Car 2007 Award. Martti Merilinna, Chief Editor of Tekniikan Maailma handed the award to Cadillac General Manager Jim Taylor.

In the past 12 months, the Tekniikan Maailma conducted a winter test drive for 20 European vehicle models, including the newest models from Volvo, Honda, Peugeot, Skoda, and other European brands. Tekniikan Maailma crew brought the vehicles in a winter test track located Ivalo, a village in Northern Finland. The Ivalo village is noted for hosting some of the largest winter sports events like down-hill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and slalom skiing. Moreover, the place is also one of the areas in Europe with the most harsh winter driving conditions.

The Winter Car 2007 Award aims to determine which of the 20 vehicles could: "… in this sparsely populated land of the cold and dark winter… take us to our destination in safety, comfort and warmth."

Among the 20 competitors, Tekniikan Maailma has chosen the Cadillac BLS sedan as the winner because of the vehicle's impressive performance in winter driving conditions. The Tekniikan Maailma winter test crew made their selection based on certain criteria including low-grip handling, braking stability, grip on uphill starts, headlamp performance, and the ability of the vehicle to "heat the interior to a comfortable 15 degrees in just 10 minutes from a sub-zero startup".

The Cadillac BLS scored high during the evaluation, bagged the Winter Car 2007 award, and most of all, achieved what the Cadillac BLS design and engineering team aims, which is to integrate with the "toughest European driving conditions." The Tekniikan Maailma winter test crew commented: "Here is the best ever Cadillac one could hope for in winter use."

The Europe-only Cadillac BLS compact sedan was released in 2006, based on GM's Epsilon vehicle platform and was built in Cadillac assembly plant located in Trollhättan, Sweden. The car features the very first turbo diesel engine from GM's luxury brand. It also comes with elegant exterior design and GM parts like GM mud flap, comfortable interior features, as well as impressive vehicle driving and handling performance. The Cadillac BLS sedan has a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of 19,000 Euros or about $25,000 USD.

By Noah Scott.

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Johnson To Go Aboard The Cadillac CTS-V In SPEED GT

What's new for General Motor's? Well aside from unveiling new vehicles in recent domestic and international auto shows and manufacturing quality GM parts like GM running board, GM's Cadillac NASCAR team also got something new for racing fans.

GM's Team Cadillac has recently signed Jimmie Johnson, the current NASCAR Nextel Cup series champion to drive the No. 16 Cadillac CTS-V in the forthcoming SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT that will take place at Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) later in May 2007.

Here is what Jimmie Johnson said in a GM official press release: "I've driven thousands of laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway and enjoyed success there, but it's going to be a new experience for me to turn right as well as left when I race in the SPEED GT event in Charlotte. I've always enjoyed driving different kinds of vehicles, so I'm looking forward to racing against sports cars with the Cadillac CTS-V sedan."

"When I tested with Team Cadillac on the Sebring road course in February, I discovered that the Cadillac CTS-V race car's handling and braking are similar to the setups we use in NASCAR Nextel Cup road races. I'm hoping that my experience at Lowe's Motor Speedway will benefit the team because we only have one day to practice, qualify and race," he continued. "I really enjoyed working with the Team Cadillac crew and my teammates Andy Pilgrim and Lawson Aschenbach during the test, and I think we'll be able to get our CTS-V race cars up to speed quickly on both the oval and the road course sections at Lowe's Motor Speedway."

Johnson began his career as a race driver in NEXTEL Cup series in 2002 when he entered the 2002 Daytona 500 and ended up in the 15th place. He was also the runner-up for the 2002 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. Johnson currently pilots the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS for Hendrick Motorsports.

"We're proud to have Jimmie as a member of the GM family, and we appreciate the cooperation between Chevrolet, Cadillac, GM Racing and Hendrick Motorsports that made this program possible." said Steve Wesoloski, Manager of GM Road Racing Group. "This is a great opportunity to have the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion compete in one of our GM road racing programs, and it will certainly put the SPEED World Challenge Series in the spotlight."

Moreover, Cadillac General Manager Jim Taylor commented: "As we've been reinventing and rebuilding the Cadillac brand over the past several years, we've made the conscious strategic decision to align Cadillac with the best of the best in everything we do. We'll have the past two SPEED GT champions, Andy and Lawson, for the full 2007 season, and we're absolutely thrilled to have 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson drive our third CTS-V in the upcoming Charlotte race."

Jimmie Johnson will go aboard the Cadillac CTS-V and experience the race car's high performance and dynamic handling coming from the monstrous 6.0-liter V8 engine pumping out 500 horses under its hood.

By Noah Scott.