DETROIT – General Motors plans to debut its 2013-MY Cadillac ATS, along with three other production and concept vehicles, at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in January. The ATS will go into production next summer at the Lansing, Mich., Grand River Assembly plant. Regarding the ATS, the automaker sees the new model as a competitor to similar luxury models produced by European brands.

“ATS is a crucial part of Cadillac's expansion,” GM Senior Vice President of Global Product Development Mary Barra told the Automotive Press Association on Friday. “ATS enters the biggest market segment in the global luxury car industry, both in terms of volume and importance. It’s a segment dominated by German cars, including the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4, so we’ve developed a compelling and convincing new challenger.”

Beyond the launch of upcoming vehicles, Barra told reporters that the automaker plans to improve the percentage of vehicles used by common architectures. When Barra started, core architectures accounted for 30 percent of the vehicle volume produced. Today, the same architectures cover 48 percent of volume.

“We’re targeting 60 percent by 2014… and 90-plus percent by 2018,” she said. “It’s a similar story with our engine platforms. As recently as 2009, we built 20 different engine platforms around the world. Over the next several years, our goal is to reduce that to 10.”