Sport-Utility Car May Join Cadillac Line

Jealous of all the people lining up to pay as much as $46,000 for a Lincoln Navigator, General Motors Corp. is reconsidering adding a full-size sport-utility to its Cadillac lineup.

GM had earlier decided against allocating a truck-based product to its premium luxury brand. Instead, it opted to have the GMC division serve the upscale truck market with vehicles like the Denali, a plush sport-utility based on the Yukon due out next year.

Cadillac, meantime, has been concentrating on a more refined sport-utility hybrid that integrates car attributes. Analysts have said the vehicle could show up in the 2003 model year.

But now that demand is soaring for Ford Motor Co.’s Navigator, a 5,100-pound behemoth bristling with chrome and leather, GM officials are rethinking that strategy. Industry sources said the auto maker is considering rushing a Navigator-fighter into development.

“The success of the Lincoln Navigator has caused Cadillac to revisit a full-size sport-utility for the lineup to arrive as quickly as the 2001 or the 2000-and-a-half model year,” said Wesley Brown, an analyst at Nextrend, an automotive consulting firm in Thousand Oaks.

A Cadillac spokeswoman said there are no plans to add to the lineup, but she noted, “Like any company, we’re always looking for new opportunities all the time.”

Sources said GM is exploring using a shortened version of the next-generation Suburban, the auto maker’s largest sport-utility. The vehicle would get unique body panels, but it is unclear if it would be equipped with the technically advanced Northstar engine that comes in other Cadillacs, since it would require more power.

GM is no doubt eyeing the meaty profits that full-size sport-utilties ring up. Demand for all sport-utilities now account for 60% of industry profits--and just 15% of sales, estimates J.D. Power & Associates, an auto consulting firm.

Analysts have said Ford’s gross margins from the Navigator are at least $12,000 a vehicle.