The good folks over at GMI are reporting that a proper Cadillac flagship, high tech and rear drive like God intended a Cadillac to be, will hit production in 3-5 years.

Built on a new, heavily revised and aluminum intensive variant of the Zeta chassis internally known as Omega…the new car will displace the XTS which has apparently not exactly impressed GM management with it’s flagship cred.

This might mean Cadillac will position the XTS as more of a STS replacement rather than a flagship product, leaving room for the new car when it arrives a couple years later. If this is the case, we’ll go out on a limb and predict the XTS name might be supplanted by a return to the STS moniker to cement it’s lower than top dog position.

Depending on the front-driver’s ability to draw buyers, it likely will enjoy a short run before disappearing a year or so after the new Omega-based car bows.

Now, Cadillac, about that coupe version to hunt CL’s…

Source: GM Inside News

Categories: News, STS / SLS, Rumored Models, XTS
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Autoblog has managed to score more photos of the upcoming XTS sedan.

Of note is a picture through the side glass that shows that the interior is heavily similar to the interior Cadillac showed in their XTS Platinum show car.

Differences appear to be mainly in material selection (note the lack of the tortoise shell accents on the steering wheel, for example).

This appears to be in keeping with Cadillac’s interior design theme that started back with the CTS and has continued through the SRX – but also evolves the design language into a larger, more luxurious car.

This should be the first Cadillac to also dispense with the lacking electronics package that the current slate of Cadillacs is carrying – expect this to be a Cadillac flavor of the MyLink system that will debut in the 2012 Chevy Volt and bring similar features and media device/smartphone integration to those Ford has with their MyFord Touch.

Source: Autoblog

Categories: News, XTS
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KBB has spied the upcoming DTS/STS replacement undergoing testing.

As you can see, the overall theme is sticking pretty close to the XTS Platinum concept, but the camo is doing its job of hiding details of body character lines as well as exact shapes of the hood and trunk that would let us see exactly how many changes are really in store between the concept and reality.

The article points out that the brakes on this test car appear to be Brembo sourced, suggesting a sporty model if not a full-on V-Series variant – the wheels also suggest this is a sportier flavor of the XTS than the Platinum concept as well.

Expect the XTS to debut within the next two years with 3.6 DI base power (this is the 330-ish hp next generation 3.6 that we have not yet seen in production). A sportier model could pack either a forced induction 3.6 or possibly a front-drive version of GM’s small-block V-8. It is likely that many, if not all trims of the XTS will come with all-wheel drive to help cover for the fact that the Epsilon II chassis is front-drive based while Cadillac is a rear-drive focused brand – or at least wants to compete with primarily rear-drive competition.

Source: KBB

Categories: News, Spy photos, XTS
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Not that long ago, Cadillac’s efforts to be a player in Europe collapsed with the loss of the Kroymans Group – which marketed the brand on the continent.

Now, GM has decided to, rather than go truely head-to-head with BMW/Mercedes/Audi in their home turf, they will market the CTS line and the new SRX and attempt to make a push as a ‘niche’ brand.

A sign of this is the drop of the planned diesel engine (typically a kiss of death to sales in a market where most cars are diesel powered) – so we have them supplying a wagon body style that Europeans are expected to respond favorably to, but not the powertrains those same buyers want.

It will be interesting to see if this strategy will do any more for the brand.

It certainly feels like this is a re-focusing on getting the product mix right in the home market (i.e. get the ATS line in place and work on a true flagship above the XTS) while trying to not abandon the Euro market during the transition.

Categories: News, CTS, SRX, XTS
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Car and Driver is reporting that Cadillac has been given the go-ahead to work on a new, rear-drive, flagship sedan to slot above the new XTS and officially go hunting the upper rung of luxury models we have expected them to for years now.

It appears that the approval came from the very top (Ed Whitacre himself) and would basically leave the Epsilon II-based XTS as a pseudo-flagship for a relatively, and mercifully, short time (replacing the current DTS and STS for a few years). This will likely leave it as much more a neo-DTS once the 3rd-gen CTS hits in a couple years based on a stretched Alpha platform and is positioned directly in the mid-range luxury segment (5-series and E-class). This also gives the ATS the space it will need to go hunting 3’s and C’s.

Expect this rumored rear-drive flagship to go into production no earlier than the 2015 model year and the XTS to fade out at the end of its single-generation production run.

Now, that’s the Cadillac we’ve been hoping to see signs of again.

Source: Car and Driver

Categories: News, Rumored Models, XTS
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