Are you ready for smaller engine? GM is!

MORE POWER has been Detroit’s maxim ever since it had to battle its cross-town rivals for the American dollar. Now that automotive competition is global, General Motors is getting ready to do what the imports have done for years, smaller engines. Well at least as soon as customers ask for it. Thomas G. Stephens, General Motors Corp.’s executive vice president in charge of powertrains said U.S. customers will have to signal their readiness to accept smaller engines.

For example the Cadillac CTS could get a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, and it can be done today, as Stephens says, "from a technical point of view". Other examples he gave included the turbocharged 4-cylinder Ecotec replacing a larger-displacement V6, or a direct-injected V6 standing in for the classic V8. "We’re ready. When (customers) want it (the option of smaller engines) - we’ll do it."