The Cadillac Elmiraj concept “has been so well received wherever it has been shown,” according to General Motors’ vice president of global design, Ed Welburn. The car is currently on a global tour, which began at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California last summer and recently stopped off in the brand’s hometown of Detroit last Friday.
The sleek and stylish coupe, which was awarded with the North American Concept Car Of The Year award earlier this year, was at the Vinsetta Garage restaurant on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak, MI. Welburn wouldn’t say if GM plans on building a production version of the Elmiraj, although some of its design cues will most likely be implemented on Cadillac’s upcoming full-size, rear-wheel drive flagship sedan, which we expect to be called LTS.
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This is one cool and beautiful car. I wish they’d build it.
They are working on it but it is not as easy to just say build it.
There have been issues with the wheel base for the platform.
They will get it worked out but be prepared as it will look close but will have some slight changes into production based on what I last heard.
you heard this aforementioned information from whom?
Keep it sleek and smooth, that will be a keeper..
How old is this concept?!? Not that easy?!? What’s the problem?
Seriously, I thought this was the motivation for the ELR. Even at MSRP, I was totally thinking about leasing one. But — no ventilated seats? No heated steering wheel? C’mon Cadillac — get with the program!
The thought that this will likely never be built, or at least with all the coolness sucked out of it, still makes me want to cry. What a beautiful piece of rolling sculpture.
Really, I love the car but I’m sick of hearing about how everyone just LUVVVVVS it. Good lawd, put up or shut up already. This pulling people along with chains is getting old and disrespectful, particularly to the fans who rave about this brand day in and day out. Show some respect, GM. You’d think you’d learn about that by now, after all your recent customer problems… Cheers!
First of all, you should know that it takes time to develop a car, *any car*. Even if the above concept represented one of the final design studies, the production car wouldn’t be ready for a couple or a few years, particularly something as meticulous and world-class as this car would need to be. Second, the Elmiraj may not be a feasible product for GM right now. Cadillac doesn’t even have a large flagship sedan at the moment (although one is in the pipeline as we speak). So to jump from a brand’s first truly-competitive mid-sized sedan to a flagship coupe that could that do battle against the new S-Class coupe and Bentley Continental GT is a big thing to do. Cadillac probably needs a couple of additional successes before it can credibly build a car like the Elmiraj. And lastly, sometimes car designs just aren’t meant to be put into production. Sometimes they are exhibits for a brand’s next phase of design.
So I wouldn’t look at this as “teasing” fans of the Cadillac brand, if that’s what you’re getting at.
okay…. I hear you, but who’s bright idea was to build the no sell cts station wagon when the public was asking for another convertible
Just build the thing already. Build the V’s and coupes. Build them and we will come!!!
Much of what Kyree said is spot on.
The reality is this is a show car and the point is it can not be built as it was shown as it is not on a production platform and is not really made to be driven daily.
Now it can be made into a real car if people show love like they have but it takes time and in this case a lot of money to make a platform that will work for it and other models to share with it. We know the Omega is coming but it was intended to be a LWB car. This one needs to be shorter and if it was designed in they need to redo it and move the hard points to make it work.
Also you have to make sure the car will make money. Sure you can build it but if there is no money why bother.
Finally GM and others who have turned show cars like the Camaro, SSR and Prowler into street cars all learn they have issues and short coming. Poor sight lines. Seats you can not adjust without opening a door etc. These things can be an issue in a Cadillac do you have to get them right.
Even at full bore this car would take 5-6 years to build from the point it was shown. Just look at the 5th gen Camaro and how long that took as that is normal development time.
Now id you want GM to take short cuts and deliver an underdeveloped car to the market only to see if fail they could speed it up.
The reality is they are working on this car now and trying to keep to the original as much as they can. Sorry but the instantaneous society that we live in still does not apply to building great cars as like fine wine it takes time and something can not be rushed. Do you want another Allante or XLR?
I would say it’s highly unlikely that this car will ever make it to production. The market for big luxury coupes is very small and arguably getting smaller with 4 doors like the MB CLS and BMW 6 Gran Coupe offering coupe like styling with the extra doors. If (and a very big if for sure) Cadillac can incorporate the aggressive theme and vibe of this car into the LTS, then they might have something?
I understand your point, but I disagree. I don’t care if Caddy only sold 1,000 of these. When you look at it, the car practically screams Cadillac — big, audacious, powerful, luxurious. They need some of these running around in Grosse Pointe, Beverly Hills, Greenwich, Miami Beach, etc showing that Caddy is truly back and can build the best, competing with the best of Mercedes, Audi, Bentley, etc. Plus, the TV ads and having one of these in the center of a dealership will help with marketing (which is currently a mess for Cadillac). It would be a true “halo” car (as opposed to ELR, which should not have been a halo car; it should compete on a broader level, selling tens of thousands of units, a la Tesla, but that’s another story).
It doesn’t have to be this exact car, but it needs to be something like it. Just do it — it should be out within 2-3 years (or so). The competition isn’t waiting.
While you are correct you are also not 100% correct.
Coupe of all sizes are not big sellers anymore the Camaro and Mustang are two of the few that do well.
Now doing a car like a Monte Carlo or such at a lower price would be difficult to do a business case for as the number sold would be difficult to support. As prices go up it becomes easier to deal with lower volumes as a expensive car is not much more expensive to build but it is much more profitable. Same goes for Sports Cars as cheap ones are hard and expensive ones are easy in low volumes. It is simple economics.
The key to the Cadillac ATS coupe is It will share much with the sedan in many ways and was designed to do so to spread out cost. GM is now looking to do the same with the Elmirage on the Omega.
Like I said a GM rep stated that the wheel base was an issue which generally means they are looking to shorten it and still fit the dimensions of the Coupe shown here. He did not give details but it could be an issue with the hard points of the body etc.
The fact is GM is working to try to bring this car to market and try to keep it as close as they can with out compromising the drivability and quality along the way.
Lets put it this way if they had no real serious though of trying to do this car you would not be seeing it around as much as you have.
I am wagering you will see it at the Woodward Cruise this year.
Now if this car vanishes then all bets are off but GM would not be teasing with it if they were not serious about it.
Halo cars need to make money and if GM can make money we will get it. That is the puzzle for them right now.
To add to Rob Pollard’s comment is that Cadillac needs a real halo car. Anybody remember what the original Dodge Viper did for Dodge’s showrooms and Chrysler as a whole? Enough said. Caddy needs the El Miraj for the same effect.