While Cadillac takes a moment to pause its new product, Road & Track was able to muster out a sign of life from the brand despite its quiet presence at the show.
According to Cadillac executive chief engineer, Dave Leone, the brand is definitely working on a sedan to slot below the ATS. And it will be rear-wheel drive.
“We are working on something below ATS. One of our strengths in sedans is that we are known for being rear-wheel drive,” Leone said.
A compact, rear-wheel drive sedan would have merely one competitor in the marketplace: the BMW 2-Series. Other than that one car, every other luxury brand has opted to bring forth a front-wheel drive sedan for around $30,000.
Engineering around the Alpha platform could prove to be difficult, though. The platform was engineered to support much larger cars, but we have a feeling if there’s truly a will, there is certainly a way.
Don’t expect to see a compact Cadillac sedan until at least 2018 after Cadillac’s hiatus lifts.
Comments
Good news to hear confirmed but somewhat expected.
The sub-compact luxury segment is quite new. Moving forward it and the luxury CUV segment will be the areas for the biggest growth in most regions of the world.
Also allow new (read younger) clients to get a taste of the brand and hopefully move them up the model ladder as those clients age.
The fact that Cadillac is chosing to use a rear wheel drive platform when other manufacturers are not is testament to their commitment to building a well balanced and handling sedan.
Cadillac go in the good way.
New gold american cars era are nearly………….
This will make three models below the CT6, which leaves me even more puzzled as to how the models will be named.
The model line up should look something like this;
CT2 (sub ATS), CT3/CT4 (ATS), CT5 (CTS), CT6, CT7/CT8 (LWB S-Class competitor)
Man, Cadillac’s line up is gonna be slick!
Having a sub compact is a great move.
Perhaps the platform that it will be built on will also mean an additional car for Buick or CHevy.
perhaps a little RWD roadster. Or something small for chevy that can be sporty.
A sub ATS car is a no brainer, and can’t come soon enough. I think it’s fair to expect the ATS to grow in size, to address the legroom complaints, and to align more with the 3 series, C class etc. That would mean the CTS would also need to grow, to distance itself from the now larger ATS, and compete properly with E class, 5 series, Audi A6 etc. So where does that leave the new CT6? Am I to understand that the CT6 is competing with the 7 series and S class? It seems smaller than them, and does not seems to be in S class space, in terms of price, size and content. What am I missing?
Think of the CT6 as a standard wheelbase of the elite sedans like the XJ, Equiss/G90, LS 460, K900 and Lincoln Continental.
The S Class, 7 Series and A8 now have long wheelbase by default that no longer offer short wheelbase in the US.
CT6 is substantially larger than the CTS so even when the CTS grows up there will still be enough to differentiate them. Also the CTS can focus on the performance driving/handling client while the CT6 focusses on the business class/chauffeur driven set.
I think this is a smart move. Also having the entry-level car keep a RWD architecture would definitely be a plus as the Audi A3, Mercedes CLA & (from what I heard) the BMW 1 & 2 series moving to a FWD-biased platform, Cadillac can have something to really boast about if they can nail the handling part over the Germans. IMO the Germans have gotten greedy in profit margins by moving their lower-end lineup to economy-car based FWD platforms as of late.
As of now the Germans (e.g. the trend setters) have elevated the A4, C-class & 3 series to quite large vehicles vs. their predecessors. However because they are what the market effectively landmarks all other cars with, everything from the Lexus IS, Cadillac ATS & the all-new Jaguar XE have been criticized as small. Due to this reason the ATS right now straddles a oddball spot between the A4 and A3 sedan (similar to the prior mk2 CTS).
Cadillac needs a small CUV more than a car smaller than the ATS given flat car sales.
there should be bigger gaps in sizes….other than the sub- compact sedan….the Cadillac ATS and CTS needs to grow in size and the CT8 to be Roll Royce Ghost size…..currently Cadillacs are too small…..Cadillacs needs to be Cadillacs again.
Exactly. There’s no reason why Cadillac can’t offer best-in-class interior room. It’s an important part of their heritage they need to recapture that will distinguish them from being BMW knock-offs. BMW-beating performance + Benz-beating luxury + class-leading roominess and comfort = Standard of the World.
Sorry, but front wheel drive makes more sense in a car this size. I have driven and ridden as a front seat passenger in a CTS of the previous body style, and I NEED more leg and foot room. At the entry level, people are buying for the badge and perceived status first and foremost. Besides the reduced interior space of the drivetrain hump, all it does is force someone like me to pay extra for an all wheel drive setup so that I can get around in the snow belt.
there is no need for a FWD Cadillac…..FWD is a thing of the past. for Cadillac ….that’s why the XTS is going away.
If you look at Buick and Cadillac as GM Luxury, this old news spells a competitive advantage:
Cadillac doesn’t need to build a couple FWD entry-level luxury cars, Buick has an entire product portfolio. GM Luxury beat the Teutonic Big Three to the punch by DECADES.
This also means Cadillac has the wiggle room to go all-out, as we are seeing.
You are right that Cadillac does not have to troll in the shallow end of the pool.
Single brand luxury manufacturers like BMW and MB have to look at the near or below $30K starting price point to drive volume.