A little more than a decade ago, General Motors began development of the Omega platform. As a proper RWD-based, mixed-material, and high-tech platform, this architecture would allow Cadillac to field a true rival in the coveted luxury sedan F-Segment. While the Cadillac CT6 eventually rode on this platform – and was the only GM vehicle to do so – did you know that Caddy’s former full-size luxury sedan was almost launched as the Cadillac LTS, a move that would have impacted not just one car, but also the entire composition of the present-day Cadillac’s sedan portfolio.
For background, Cadillac’s luxury sedan lineup at the time consisted of segment-direct offerings when the Omega platform was in its initial stages of development. More specifically, the Cadillac ATS was positioned squarely in the D-Segment, while the third-gen Cadillac CTS sat directly in the E-Segment. Interestingly, the Cadillac XTS blurred the line between the E- and F-Segments, a similar strategy seen from the luxury marque today, but was intended to serve as a stop-gap until the arrival of another luxury sedan – the LTS.
Cadillac CT6
The LTS was initially first planned as Cadillac’s full-size luxury sedan, where it would compete directly with segment stalwarts like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the F-Segment. However, shortly after planning of the vehicle program – assigned program code O1SL – began, General Motors elected to take a different direction with the project, instead creating the CT6 that we know today.
While the Cadillac CT6 ended up having the same exterior design and being the same size as the LTS was intended to be, it received lesser accoutrements than the LTS would have, such as lower-grade interior materials, less advanced door handles, a lack of soft-close doors, and a lack of other high-end features. Perhaps more importantly, not including these items in the CT6 enabled it to be less expensive than the LTS would have been. In other words, the CT6 boasted F-Segment size yet was offered with E-Segment materials and pricing, thus initiating the tweener (“segment betweener”) strategy Cadillac currently uses with its luxury sedans.
| Segment | C | D | E | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadillac direct segment product plan | - | 2014 ATS Sedan | 2015 CTS Sedan | 2016 LTS Sedan |
| Cadillac tweener product plan | CT4 Sedan (tweener) | |||
| CT5 Sedan (tweener) | ||||
| CT6 Sedan (tweener) | ||||
| BMW | 2 Series | 3 Series / 4 Series | 5 Series / 6 Series | 7 Series / 8 Series |
| Mercedes-Benz | CLA-Class / A-Class | C-Class | E-Class | S-Class |
This strategic pivot required other shifts throughout the Cadillac vehicle portfolio. For instance, GM initially intended for the Cadillac CT5 and Cadillac XT6 to ride on a variant of the Omega platform, but those plans were scrapped due to General Motors’ drive toward an all-electric future, which trimmed funding for some internal combustion vehicle programs.
The CT5 ended up being underpinned by an updated version of the GM Alpha platform known as the Alpha 2, the XT6 ended up riding on the plebeian C1 platform shared with not only the smaller XT5, but also with Chevy, Buick and GMC crossover SUVs. As for the CT6, it was eventually discontinued as the GM Detroit-Hamtramck plant was first earmarked for closure before being used by the automaker as a bargaining chip during UAW labor negotiations.
Cadillac CT6
If General Motors had continued on with the Cadillac LTS as it initially planned for the O1SL vehicle program, then the luxury marque’s segment-specific luxury sedan strategy would’ve persisted instead of the tweener approach we see today. In other words, the shift from the LTS to the CT6 changed not only that vehicle, but also the entire Cadillac sedan portfolio as it relates to segmentation.
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Comments
The EV only decision has definitely had a ton of bad side effects for Cadillac.
Well, I’ve owned a lot of vehicles including four V Cadillacs. I currently have a, CT6-V Black Wing (The True Black Wing) and in my humble opinion I think its’ the best full size Cadillac that GM has ever produced. With the extensive use of aluminum (including the exterior panels) AWD, AWS, Performance Mode, different suspension setting including track, and a 4.2 liter, DOHC, twin turbo V8. It’s a rocket. The 4.2 Black Wing engine was never shared in another Cadillac or GM product. The CT6 V is also the rarest of all the V cars. A total of 1019 CT6V’s were built between 2019 -2020. It’s an awesome car. Cheers!!!
I have a CT6-V also but I think the point here is that the CT6 as a whole could have been a lot more than it ended up being, particularly as it relates to the cabin and high end features. The CT6’s interior is ok but it still has more plastics than S Class or 7 series do. CT6 also has no soft close doors, no truly refined or smooth engines except for the Blackwing engine, and the list goes on.
Interesting that Cadillac was seemingly downgraded to pump up EV budgets? As Oldsmobile was stagnated so funding could happen for what became the Cadillac NorthStar System in the late 1980s. When the Olds Quad 8 engine was chopped as it was more powerful than anything Caddy had at the time OR any fwd driveaxle. So Olds was stagnated so Cadillac could be rebuilt. Now, Cadillac is the one that got short-changed.
Cadillac needs some really great road cars, rather than specifically “track monsters” that can be street cars. Not to forget Buick, either. An SUV might make more money/unit, but GM needs some great sedan road cars for the people who can afford them. Let Stellantis and Ford have the police car market, but let GM have the true comfortable road cars that really make sense for modern buyers. Including a great sport coupe, like the Buick Avista (which could have been a Camaro sibling!). Now, GM has given away more markets to others as they seem to ignore real people and their needs/desires!
GM has been trying to become a “tech leader” for many years now. Voice controls are neat and luxurious, BUT are they really needed? Or a car wifi that can control 12 items? For a vehicle which would struggle to hold 5 people including the driver??? Might look good on paper, but probably seldom used in reality. Like 15 cupholders in a 12 passenger Minivan. Then GM sees the EV more as a way to demonstrate their “Tech Competence”? Guess we’ll get heated and cooled cupholders?
Sending the CT6 to China and losing long time Cadillac owners like me was right up there with senior management’s obsession with EVs. Bad decisions like these will cost GM.
I couldn’t agree more!!!
We had 5 CTSs and loved every one of them, but then switched to the CT6 and loved it even more. When it was discontinued, we were forced to move to the CT5, which is probably a better size car for my wife, but is not a great car…it’s OK. I also have a 2024 XT6 Platinum which replaced my 2021 XT5 and I love it. I had 2 CT5s and loved them both, but the CT6 is better in every way.
In all fairness, the CT6 didn’t get “sent” to China. The plant that made it was part of a tug of war between gm and the UAW and the UAW won.
In China, the CT6 sells in higher quantities and with only one engine, the 2 liter turbo.
Correct, sales in the US were bad, sales in China were good. Biz 101 says drop US keep China. No one here seems to get that. I was interested in the CT6, but the interior did not excite me, I passed. I still like my V-wagon, and still think interior is very well done. I think the other issue with the Omega (man an Omega CTS would have been nice I think, wider than the CT5 alpha) was it was expensive to build with the mixed materials. Pity it did not sell better in the US. But if you want a product like a full size sedan, people have to buy it to keep it around.
Vee8/ mkAtx:
You’re both correct. The CT6 was a flop in the US. Too little, too late. Even without EVs it would have been killed for low sales anyway.
Thank god this article is honest about the CT6 and its shortcomings as a competitor in this segment. Lots of people for years have been trying to defend this car as a legitimate contender against the S and 7 and others. It’s not, and never was. A real let down from Cadillac and a total give-up on “the standard of the world”.
To the Author, Mr. Hawkins;
Where did you get this story? Not much of what you state about the LTS is correct. Tne CT6 and LTS were almost a decade apart and had almost nothing in common.
The LTS was designed back in 2005-2006 and on the old Sigma platform, thus the “”S” in the product code.
It never made production not because of any change-of-mind in product planning, but due to GMs financial predicament at the time, just before bankruptcy. The XTS was not a “stop gap”, but a replacement for both the STS and DTS. Cadillac stated this at the XTSs unveiling. It required no new plant or extensive production investment since it could be built on the same line as other Epsilon platform cars. In fact, tbere was a “Super Epsilon” platform variant planned for the XTS to allow it to be larger with a longer wheelbase. Finances being what they were, even these plans were scrapped. The Omega platform wasn’t started until after GM emerged from bankruptcy, aroind 2010. The CT6 was not the same design and the LTS either. Even in GMs stupidest moments they wouldn’t have used a nearly 10 year old design.
S had nothing to do with the sigma platform. It stood for Luxury Touring Sedan, at least in theory. The ATS was on the Alpha platform.
New Q:
I wasn’t referring to the Model nameplate (LTS) . I was referring to the product code 01SL.
Megeebee As luck would have it, I had a conversation with (GMA editor) Alex Luft about this topic a few months ago before this article was published and I’m guessing that Mr. Hawkins wrote about this at Mr. Luft’s direction. All I can say is that you need to be in the know to fully understand these things, and given GMA’s deep sources within GM and the need for secrecy, I doubt you’re ever going to get to the bottom of who the source is.
Anyway… O1SL (not zero, but an O) means…
O1: Omega generation 1
S: Sedan
L: Cadillac (C is used for Chevy)
The go to market name GM originally planned to use for O1SL was LTS. The directional change in the project that repositioned it from an F-segment model to E-segment resulted in LTS being changed to CT6.
Now, I believe the vehicle you’re referring to is the SLS, a long wheelbase STS for the Chinese market. That was on Sigma and has no relationship to Omega, LTS, CT6 or O1SL. The SLS also predated O1SL by about a decade, so the timeline fits what you’re describing.
As for the XTS not being a stop gap – it absolutely was exactly that. It was on Super Epsilon (but Epsilon no less) and was essentially a a quick and easy way to give Cadillac a large sedan before the fully fledged Omega platform was planned, green lit and then developed. GM’s goal for Cadillac was to have a rear drive based sedan portfolio. GM’s plan was definitely NOT to use a warmed over Chevy platform for this segment.
“It required no new plant or extensive production investment since it could be built on the same line as other Epsilon platform cars. ”
Nothing says Standard of the World like cheerleading that you can make your luxury sedan on the same line as a G6 and Malibu…..
I don’t hate the XTS though, its a pretty nice car.
Amazing car!!
Would love to buy.
Yeah the CT6 felt more like an E Class / 5 series competitor but just a bit longer. But I do like the looks of the CT6 (prefacelift) more than the 7 series.
Watching Cadillac is like watching a lightning storm, brief moments of brilliance followed by darkness and stupidity.
I think the 2010s lineup was great, it reflected the Lexus sedan lineup well with the with the ATS/IS, CTS/GS, XTS/ES, CT6/LS, but definitely more exciting. The CT6 was a fantastic vehicle, I wish they kept building it for a few more years. Now, the Escalade seems to be the only desirable Cadillac, though the CT4/5 do have good style IMO.
And how did that work out for Cadillac?
Another huge gm bowl of Not Good.