Cadillac eyeing a BMW 1-Series competitor

Jalopnik is running a story today about a possible new product move for Cadillac. Rumor has it they plan to chase the European competition downmarket below the existing BLS with an even smaller, rear-drive car. Expect this model to be designed in the same vein as the Euro-only, hatchback-esque models like the BMW 1-series, Audi A2, and the Mercedes A and B class cars. They conjecture that this car would be built on a cut-down version of the new Zeta rear-drive chassis, but given the size of that platform, we think the following is more likely - base it on the new, flexible Kappa chassis that is currently used on the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and Opel GT. GM has already shown coupe and wagon variants based on this platform, so a 1-series competitor would be a natural. Oddly, this would leave the BLS as the only non-reardrive model in Europe. Perhaps, instead of an Epsilon 2 based, all-wheel drive variant we've been expecting, they could move to Zeta for its second act. This would play into our latest hunch that Cadillac will move the STS up into 7-series/S-Class/A8 territory (and the current front-drive DTS to go away altogether), making room for the CTS to move into 5-series/E-class/A6 land, with the 2nd generation BLS becoming a true 3-series competitor and coming to the US market. We don't expect the sub-BLS Cadillac to make its way here unless the BMW model comes here first and meets wild success. Now, if they'd just build an entry-level (30-40k USD) range roadster on Kappa, bring the rumored BRX to market - to compete against the BMW X3 and upcoming small utes from Audi (Q5) and Mercedes (GLX) then they'd really be hitting the competition hard. Read the story over at: Jalopnik.com: Mini DeVille: Cadillac Eyeing a Run at the BMW 1-Series?