Cadillac has yet to comment on the possibility of the third-generation Cadillac CTS getting a Sport Wagon, but that hasn’t stopped us from dreaming. If another iteration of the stylish wagon does come along, there’s a good chance of Cadillac adding it to the V-Series lineup. And if they do that, there’s a good chance it will look like what you see above.
French rendering artist Virtuel-Car is responsible for this transformation of the 640 horsepower 2016 Cadillac CTS-V sedan into a theoretical wagon/hatch variant. The rendering is fairly realistic, complete with a hatch-mounted spoiler and a downward sloping roofline as seen on the first CTS Sport Wagon… though the design is missing one pillar to make it a true “wagon”, so we’d call it a hatch instead.
The first-generation CTS-V Sport Wagon accounted for an extremely small percentage of total CTS sales, so chances of a second one coming along are slim, especially if the new CTS continue to sell at low volume, albeit with high transaction prices. That said, we’d love to see the new CTS in more body styles, and Cadillac should feel free to start things off with a convenient, contemporary wagon. But we’re not picky, as a new CTS coupe would also suffice.
Moving opposite to market trends.
With four model years recommended for purchase.
This example is a former NCRS award winner.
Many automakers oppose right-to-repair laws citing cybersecurity concerns.
Breaking out the spec sheets for a comparison.
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Can't happen. The Sigma II wagon happened because Sigma II was a jointly-engineered Holden Zeta. No more Holden manufacturing, no more Zeta, no more wagon frame.
Only way it can happen is if Holden is boycotted to the point that Opel/Holden has to engineer a true Commodore continuation off of a luxury-delete CTS.
And if you're going that far, hey, why not sell it here... as a Pontiac?
"Only way it can happen is if Holden is boycotted to the point that Opel/Holden has to engineer a true Commodore continuation off of a luxury-delete CTS.
And if you’re going that far, hey, why not sell it here… as a Pontiac?"
This reaks of the pangs of a tired and defeated Pontiac fan. You had your chance with the G8, and you wined that it wasn't good enough, even in GXP trim.
You have a second chance with the SS, and you're throwing it away because the badge isn't that of market-rejected, struggling, theme-oriented, value-priced, Chevrolet clone brand.
Now you expect a stripper model Alpha, a value-priced CTS, to wear the badge of a brand that never had anything remarkable since the Fiero. Even your "compounded nameplate" strategy is useless. Calling it "the Chevrolet Pontiac" won't boondoggle the public into thinking that Pontiac is back and better than ever anymore than "Imported for Plymouth" did to raise Plymouths public image and profile.
The Alpha platform is completely divorced from the old Sigma. Holden, as it becomes a brand and less of a division, is powerless to dictate what becomes of Alpha in whatever body styles GM chooses to offer. No amount of protesting by Holden or Opel will dictate what body styles the CTS can be offered with.
It's a poor attempt on your part trying to defer GM's intention to move Cadillac upmarket (where it belongs) by sliding a weak plea for GM to have a collective brain hemorrhage and allow and low-priced, non-threatening, Chevrolet clone to exist under a brand name that habitually produced garbage.
For the record, I don't respond to Grawdaddy as he has been on a campaign of insulting my postings in the past. But it is fun reading him write half-page rants each time I post.
Cheers.
Half page rants? That scarcely qualified as a quarter page.
If you make deliberate efforts to have poor public opinions about the state of Pontiac, then you are deserving of the ridicule that follows. It's that simple.
Nothing says you can't have an unpopular public opinion about something. BUT, there is nothing in ANY legal code that says your unpopular public opinions can't be openly mocked and are thus deserving of legal protection. Not even in Narnia.
But if you want brevity, next time I'll just whip out JJ. You'll get the same message without even having to type any pesky words.
http://youtu.be/ztVMib1T4T4
BTW, Sigma is dead and Alpha is in. That critical piece of information escaped you in your initial post.
Grawdaddy, he was clearly referring to that the second-gen CTS used Sigma II - which was shared dev with Zeta. That's why the sport wagon existed in second-gen but not first or third gen.
But keep ranting, we enjoy it. It just helps make the case for sanity and restoring the hierarchy, and go fast on the cheap.
I know he means the 2nd gen CTS and it's dated Mk2 Sigma. What I can't understand is why anyone would want a dated and under performing platform to underpin their cheap and poorly appointed car badged as Pontiac replacement. It's more irrational and foolhardy than the idiots who want the B and G bodies back.
I mean just because Chysler bought and reheated a woefully outdated Mercedes platform doesn't mean GM should follow suit. GM is intending to build and used Cadillac to do things that no Chrysler ever achieved, even in Chryslers's heyday. That means limited to no platform sharing, and most definitely NO regurgitating old platforms just to appease a slim few who think the name 'Pontiac' can resonate with more than the lower-middle classes of North America.
It pretty much comes down to ATP, sadly. Don't yell at me for the state of affairs, but Cadillac's ATP was always higher than Pontiac's. Because of that, there simply wasn't any business case to reuse old platforms because the ATP is weaker than that of Alpha.
Furthermore, bringing back Sigma would cause an overlap with the Zeta products on offer. That, and GM would have to spend many millions more to reengineer the platform to conform to CAFE and crash standards...and then you want GM to make it affordable and wear an Arrowhead.
Nevermind GM's ROI and resources wasted trying to appease those who think they are entitled to a Pontiac rebirth at Cadillac's expense. The people who would buy such a car wouldn't have the money GM would need to pay for such a waste of time.
Finally, going fast on the cheap isn't going to be the defacto for much longer, at least without any sensible measure of quality. Cadillac was NEVER a substitute for Pontiac, especially it's V cars.
"But keep ranting, we enjoy it. It just helps make the case for sanity and restoring the hierarchy,"
The hierarchy? Do like the Brits and 'know your place'.
Where did anyone say Zeta should come back? This is a strawman - shouting that Zeta/Sigma has to be used to bring back the wagon. The reason the wagon died is that there's no Commodore Sportwagon anymore to carry the chassis design cost for Cadillac. You're arguing with nobody, and it's painful to read half your post spatter on about it.
CTS Wagon was an easy, cheap play by using what Holden had done. CAFE has nothing to do with it.
Have you even read you own posts? Nobody said anything about Zeta coming back; it hasn't even left! This whole thing is hinging on Chris confusing Sigma with Alpha.
Sigma is dead. Period. No more dowdy old 2nd gen CTS's in any body style. Bringing Sigma back just to underpin an reheated Pontiac would cause GM undue engineering and labour costs needed to meet CAFE and crash test ratings.
Zeta exists (as of this post) as the Commodore and it's variants. For North American audiences, this is the SS and Camaro; the ONLY Zeta products currently for sale here. There was a Zeta Pontiac (the G8), but that's ancient history.
Alpha is a clean sheet platform and is wholly unrelated to Zeta and Sigma. Whatever imagined costs you think are absorbed by an Alpha wagon at the hands of a (Zeta) Commodore Sportwagon are meaningless because there simply is NO Alpha Commodore and won't ever be one.
As of this post, there are only 2 Alpha products offered globally (the CTS and ATS) with more variants slated in the future. In fact, the flexibility of Alpha was intended to kill the redundancy of having both Sigma and Zeta.
So with you deliberate misreading of my post out of the way, the one question remains. Why would Holden and their work with a wagon Zeta, be needed to make a wagon Alpha?
The Sigma platform is gone and reengineering it strictly for a low cost Pontiac is too costly for GM.
Zeta is nearing the end of its lifespan and wagon variants engineered by Holden are now unprofitable. Holden is also being reorganized to work as a brand and less as an autonomous division.
Alpha still has yet to exercise all of the variants it can have. LWB and SWB sedans and a SWB coupe are what we have now of it.
So how, exactly, does Holden impact upon Alpha? This is Chris' original quote and where you have gone so wrong:
"Only way it can happen is if Holden is boycotted to the point that Opel/Holden has to engineer a true Commodore continuation off of a luxury-delete CTS."
When Chris says 'boycott' he's really trying to say 'complain'. He's still labouring under the impression that Holden has autonomy when they don't anymore; it's not 2010. Having Holden complain to those who dictate their product portfolio won't do anything to promote and/or derive a low-cost wagon variant from Zeta or the defunct Sigma.
A "luxury-delete CTS" would undo all of GM's efforts with Alpha and destroy Cadillac's already fragile image; it won't ever happen and certainly not at the hands of an imagined bunch of whinny Holden engineers.
Well a wagon can happen again but not till GM is ready to move back to Europe if even then,.
Best to leave this one go till GM really has plans for one. With out Euro sales it will be a money loser in the states. Sad but true. Need proof just look at the past sales.
I think they can build a CTS grancoupe if they want to go all niche
Still Very Beautiful and I can Dream Can't I!!! ;)
I like the idea of the sport wagon but I think resources need to be put on future products and better quality and efficient engines as well reorganizing Cadillac before the wagon can be thought of again.
The previous CTS wagon was the most beautiful wagon that had charisma and style. It was just too bad hardly anyone bought it. If the States are wagon crazy, we would not be having a discussion right now.
It would be nice but sales wouldn't make it a viable experiment .
I too liked pontiac . The Trans Am and Grand Prix . I owned 2 Grand Prix's .
I think GM dumping the division during bankruptcy was a huge mistake . Sure some of its products weren't that good ( Sunfire ) for one but it was GM's perfomance division and that sould make sense now in the current enviroment . Then GM wouldnt have to have Cadillac try and compete with all the German nameplates , Pontiac could .
So Grawdaddy chill out , last I heard this is still America and every one is entitled to express their own opinions , whether they agree with you or not . You don't know anymore about GM than any of the rest of us that express our opinions . See you can get your point across without ranting for several paragraphs . JMO =) .
Pontiac was never a division. It was brand and had no autonomy.
"Then GM wouldnt have to have Cadillac try and compete with all the German nameplates , Pontiac could"
You think Pontiac would have the same clout as the German brands? Pontiac certainly wouldn't be able to command the same prices as they can; only Cadillac can do that.
"So Grawdaddy chill out , last I heard this is still America and every one is entitled to express their own opinions"
That's the funny part. Everyone IS allowed to express their public opinions in a PUBLIC fourm, even if they are unpopular. The same true in your United States and most nations.
On the internet, however, there is NOTHING you can do legally to stop Mr. Luft and Manoili from being as despotic and as ruthlessly on GMA as they see fit. GMA is a PRIVATE website held and operated by a PRIVATE party of individuals. Without justification or warning, the owners of GMA can censor or promote content on their website on a whim. The same applies to virtually every privately owned website in existence. For the most part, GMA does seem to have adopted a policy censorship, and that's one of the reasons we can post freely here.
So while, yes, Chris can have as wildly an unpopular opinion about Pontiac as he likes, he's NOT protected from the vicious barbs of my puncture-wound criticism. Criticism alone don't grant you special protection. In fact, I think you'll find my criticism falls under the same categorization as Chris' unpopular views of Pontiac. You Americans already know what it is; it's called 'free speech'.
Well here is the deal. I bleed Pontiac engine blue and still have one in the garage. I came home from the hospital in a 1960 Ventura, My son came home in a SSEI. I have owned many and driven or ridden in all years GTO, TA and most SD models. Needless to day I love Pontiac.
Now to the reality of it. Pontiac was making the move to challenge the Euro cars in the 60's under Delorean. They had a chance as he was using things like DOHC, SOHC and fuel injection, He also worked to try to bring Radial tires to the GTO in the mid 60's and even 4 wheel disc brakes. All of this was tested and stopped by GM. John was very forward thinking and while the SOHC 6 made it GM stopped him at all turns where he was working to the future. John was about 20 years ahead of GM.
So there was a time Pontiac could have been targeted for Europe but that was years ago long before a lot of image damage happened over the years.
Pontiac for years internally tried to break away from the set GM code of conduct as their engineers were very forward thinking and many were left over from Delorean right up to the Fiero project. But GM had no idea what they had in Pontiac nor did they know what to do with them. Sure we had some cool cars when the good guys won but the damaged culture inside GM made sure there successes did not last. A lot of internal GM infighting did more damage than Toyota and Honda combined.
Now to bring back Pontiac would be a nearly impossible task. The damage there is even worse than Cadillac. Also it would take a lot of man power and money to do it right. GM is not going to put this kind of effort into a name like Pontiac while they have Cadillac already here and well on the way.
I would have loved to see what they could do with Pontiac but the realties will prevent that from happen anytime soon if at all. Maybe someday if GM can get Chevy, Buick and Cadillac to where they need to be they may revisit this but not till then.
As for Pontiac not being its own division. We the truth is it once was. The sad truth is they lost that and did become a brand as did every other division in GM. This is what they are tiring to undo at Cadillac now. Cadillac for too long were just division using way to many shared cooperate parts for a Luxury Division to be taken totally serious. Granted GM did a hell of a job with their cars but when you get the same engine in a $90K car as you can get in a $25K pickup truck it sends a poor signal to those people not already GM fans. We may know that engine is not an issue but the folks not GM fans will still see it as a shared truck engine.
GM letting Cadillac being more autonomous will be the key to what sets them free and with their own engines and designs they will prosper. Pontiac's last gasps were when they lost their own V8 and the Fiero that was their baby the whole way only to be underfunded by GM because of the complaints from Chevy. After that Pontiac really did become nothing but a brand.
I know people like to twist things and imagine things but this is what happened and what they were and they became a brand trying to sell a Torrent and G3? They had two cars worth a Damn one was a Holden and the other was a Shared car with Saturn but even it was at the end of the road with falling sales.
It is what it is and they are not coming back anytime soon. We at the large Pontiac meets knew Pontiac died long before they name was taken off the dealers.