Cadillac BLS


The Cadillac BLS is a compact executive car marketed in Europe by Cadillac, sharing General Motors' Epsilon architecture, as a restyled variant of the Saab 9-3. Development was carried out by Saab and the car was manufactured in Trollhättan, Sweden, alongside the Saab 9-3 and the Saab 9-5. Sales of the sedan began in March 2006, with a station wagon joining the line for 2007. Starting in 2007, the BLS was sold in the Middle East, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. It was never sold in the United States nor Canada.
BLS production reached 3,257 in 2006 and 2,772 in 2007. Production ended in 2009.

Features

The BLS was available with a diesel engine and two petrol engines.
At in overall length, the BLS was almost six inches shorter than the CTS, the smallest Cadillac available in North America.
Engines:
'The BLS is OK, but offers nothing new in a market overflowing with talent.'
Stylish and quiet
Pushes no boundaries.
Positives: Based on the Saab 9-3 so decent handling. Well proven mechanicals. Saab-grade safety.
Negatives: The ride is far from forgiving. Automatic doesn't work well with the V6 turbo, which also has overly light steering.
'Average. It's built in Europe, shares most of its underpinnings with a Saab and will never see America - meet the strangest Cadillac ever.'

Name

The BLS is known by many as the "Bob Lutz Special" - a reference to Vice Chairman Bob Lutz who oversaw all GM product development at the time. Lutz, a supporter of badge engineering, wanted to leverage the SAAB 9-3 to fill holes in Cadillac's product range.
The reference to Bob Lutz can be viewed both as support and as criticism of his strategy. While the BLS was a market failure, many of the techniques of badge engineering employed in the BLS resulted in other GM product successes, most notably a significant improvement in overall passenger car product quality and performance output.
Under Lutz's revamped strategy, most Cadillac model names had no meaning. Hence, the BLS has no official name for its abbreviation - fueling the community namesake.
While GM has never formally said why the BLS bore its name, it is likely the B was chosen for being smaller than the CTS mid-size sedan, L for Luxury, and S for Sedan. This is consistent with the Seville Luxury Sedan, or later the Cadillac SLS.