What We Make of the Next CTS Coupe Rumors

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. The first thing that we need to realize is that the new CTS and the ATS are both built on versions of the new Alpha rear-drive platform. Then, let's consider the, likely correct, assertions that the CTS-coupe's show-car style couldn't be executed on the ATS without having a completely unusable rear seat. This has lead to a lot of guesses that the ATS coupe will be more sedan-like. However, a radical coupe body-style on the new, larger CTS, would both run the risk of looking somewhat cartoonish and being at odds with its more grown-up market position. So, what do we imagine that Cadillac will do? There is no reason that Cadillac couldn't offer a new coupe that is based on the Alpha chassis and slots between the ATS and CTS in size, sharing their platform and power trains but also allowing Cadillac to maintain the CTS Coupe's traffic stopping looks (a larger car than the ATS would allow a new coupe that is similar in size to the current CTS). A larger than ATS couple allows Cadillac to charge a premium over the ATS, as well as only design a single coupe (a segment renowned for its fickle customers and relatively low sales) rather than offer a less than optimal design on both the ATS and CTS. Doing so allows a way to capture the momentum of the current CTS coupe as well. Later, Cadillac could choose to build a 4-door coupe off of the CTS that would slot above it and fill the gap between it and the new Omega-chassis flagship. If this model sounds somewhat familiar, it should. It is essentially what Audi has done with their A4 sedan, A5 coupe, A6 sedan, and A7 4-door coupe. The place where Cadillac could shine is by offering a more stylish competitor to the A5 (which, in our eyes, has a too-formal look that we fear a mere ATS coupe would be forced to offer).