Well, that didn’t take that long.

We have been speculating lately about the nature of a coupe offering from Cadillac on the Alpha chassis and how they might choose to follow the Audi model of building a model sized between Alpha (ATS) and Alpha+ (CTS) to allow the styling of the current CTS coupe to continue. The assumption we were going on was that ATS was too small to support the rakish lines of the CTS coupe and the new CTS is too large to carry a coupe offering without looking somewhat cartoonish.

Now we have this spy shot of what seems to be an ATS coupe in the flavor of a BMW 3-Series coupe with a unique roofline, but maintaining the headroom of the sedan. In other words, trade the show-car good looks and roofline of the CTS coupe for the practicality needed in an ATS-sized model.

Of course, we will need to see further spy shots in the future to help dial in if this is merely a coupe-ified ATS or a more unique model. Given the level of finish on this car, we’d expect a coupe to hit next year, possibly as a 2014.

Source: Autoweek

Categories: ATS, CTS, News, Rumored Models, Spy photos
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Cadillac’s Bob Ferguson has confirmed that Cadillac is well on its way to building a sub-SRX sized crossover to compete with the likes of the BMW X3, Mercedes GLK, and Audi Q5. The vehicle, hinted at before in other interviews from other Cadillac execs, would live on the Alpha platform developed for the ATS, expanded to underpin the 2014 CTS, and expected to underpin a coupe that would be sized between the ATS and CTS.

The new crossover would likely possess interior room not much smaller than the SRX – allowing the next SRX to grow in size (much like BMW grew their X3 to close to X5 size right before they released a larger X5).

However, based on the light-weight Alpha chassis would allow Cadillac to undercut the SRX’s 4000+ lbs by hundreds of pounds. We’d expect something in the 3600lb range when it debuts.

Expect the new crossover in 2-3 years as a 2016-2017 model.

Source: Automotive News

Categories: Rumored Models, SRX
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The folks at C&D have spotted the ATS-V undergoing testing.

Peering through the heavy camo, you can make out the more aggressive grill and bumper treatments (likely mesh-filled as is the V-Series trademark). Out back are wider wheels and tires as well as quad exhausts.

We fully expect the ATS-V to carry a version of Cadillac’s new 3.6 DI twin-turbo engine. Given the ATS-V’s M3-beating mission, we’d expect the car to have this engine putting out north of the CTS VSport 420hp. 450 certainly sounds like a nice round number, doesn’t it?

We’d also expect both manual and automatic transmission options for what might be our new favorite Cadilac.

Source: Car and Driver

Categories: ATS, Rumored Models, Spy photos
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Over the past few days, we have seen many articles about how Cadillac is ‘pondering a new CTS Coupe’ given comments at the New York Auto Show by GM brass that the CTS Coupe is the best selling luxury coupe on the market.

This has lead to feverish conjecture about Cadillac building a 2-door off of the new CTS within a year or two of the sedan’s introduction to keep things going.

However, here at the Caddy Edge, we will take a somewhat contrarian view that we believe fits a bit better with what Cadillac might do with their latest platforms.

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Categories: ATS, CTS, Rumored Models
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GM has announced that they will be debuting 5 new models at this year’s NY auto show.

One of them is said to be a Cadillac.

Given what we know of both the plans Cadillac has for new models as well as the available auto shows they can use to debut things…it is safe to say that the 2014 Cadillac CTS will be the model shown on March 27 or 28th during the press days.

Based on an expanded version of Cadillac’s Alpha platform that underpins the new ATS, the CTS is expected to finally take on the BMW 5 and Mercedes E head-to-head.

Expect a base turbo 2.0 4-cylinder, Cadillac’s 3.6, and a new twin-turbo V-6. The V-Series, likely powered by a forced-induction version of GM’s Gen5 small-block, will need to wait until next year.

Styling if the new CTS will bring cues from the recent Ciel concept, including a more pronounced grille treatment that has been spotted in recent spy shots from Jalopnik.

Given the importance if the CTS to Cadillac, they have a lot riding on this debut. We will all get to see how they have done in a few weeks.

Fingers are crossed at GM, we can be sure.

Categories: CTS, News, Rumored Models
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Part of what has helped re-position Cadillac in the US market has been its edgy Art & Science styling.

However, that same styling punch that has garnered attention in some markets is now being seen as a liability in one market that Cadillac sees as key to its future success – China.

The Chinese consumer is much more conservative with regards to styling – something that has helped sales of such soft-styled products as Audi and GM’s own Buick brand. The desire for smooth and sophisticated style leads the Chinese to avoid the sharply creased lines of the modern Cadillacs.

Combined with GM leadership’s desire to boost worldwide sales of Cadillac – Cadillac may abandon some part of their current styling theme to avoid alienating these potential Chinese buyers.

What changes might we expect? A continuation of the vertical lighting theme is practically certain, but a continual softening of some lines should be expected. We may see a preview of this softer Cadillac style with the flagship concept that Cadillac is expected to show in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

Personally, this feels like a massive mistake as any brand worth success first starts by knowing what its core values are and sticking to them. Consumers must know what a brand stands for in order to know that they are interested in associating themselves with its products. Time will tell if Cadillac can pull off a change of styling without losing what has given them the success they’ve seen in the last decade.

Source: Automotive News

Categories: News, Rumored Models
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Cadillac has mentioned, through their North American head of Marketing, Don Butler, that they plan to continue to offer coupes and wagons (sticking with some of the expansion they started with versions of the CTS in the past few years). What isn’t completely clear is if coupes and wagons will be versions of the CTS going forward.

Since this opens the floor for us to play what-if, let’s look at what Cadillac has said and what they may be doing to meet the competition head-on in these and other segments.

First of all, we have a Cadillac that is moving to a brand new rear-drive architecture for most of their mainstream cars. Alpha is the new chassis that underpins the ATS as well as (in stretched Alpha+ form) the CTS. So, no matter what Cadillac decides to do, these will all live on the same basic architecture (a boon for volume/cost). This also marks the end of Sigma, the platform developed in the late 90′s and early 2000′s as part of Cadillac’s first re-birth.

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Categories: ATS, Commentary, CTS, Escalade, News, Rumored Models, SRX, V-Series, XLR
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