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General Motors Corp. will finalize plans by mid 2003 to ship its Cadillac CTS to Europe and Japan, officials say.

“It won't be a big, full-scale assault. We'll kind of ease them in,” says Cadillac Marketing General Manager Mark LaNeve.

There also is serious interest in the CTS from the Middle East, China, Taiwan and South Korea, LaNeve tells Ward's.

Before CTS went on sale in '01, Cadillac planned to simultaneously ship the entry-level luxury sedan to overseas markets and North American destinations.

But that strategy was delayed due to higher-than-anticipated demand for the CTS in North America, LaNeve says. The exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and many foreign currencies at the time also contributed to GM's decision to delay exporting CTS, Cadillac officials say.

But with the U.S. dollar weakening and more capacity available at GM's Lansing (MI) Grand River plant, where the CTS is made, LaNeve says export planning has resumed.