Cadillac Blog

Cadillac is aiming to improve the popularity of their CTS-V range in Europe, particularly In the UK, by offering the models in a right hand drive setup.

The move to offer RHD units forms part and parcel of the overall goal of the luxury brand to make it good in Europe and taking their consumer bases outside the United States more seriously.

The move was recently shared by the marketing chief of General Motors during a recent press interview. Cadillac and most of the brands of GM will be following design concepts that will fit the demand and satisfy the taste of a wider array of markets.

It might take a few years though before the UK sees the right hand drive Cadillacs on their roads as the car manufacturer will be offering them thru the normal life cycle of their car models.

It is not confirmed yet but the 2013 ATS of Cadillac which is a competitor of the 3 Series of BMW and of the C Class of Mercedes-Benz might be offered with a RHD configuration. GM is hoping for the success of this vehicle in Europe.

The Cadillac ATS was recently unveiled at the auto show in Detroit. The sport sedan is said to be the possible basis when the carmaker builds the next Cadillac CTS and the Camaro.

General Motors is set to unveil the new Cadillac XTS next month during the auto show in Los Angeles. The new XTS will be taking the place of the Cadillac DS and STS.

The 2013 Cadillac XTS production version will be unwrapped and also highlight the CUE entertainment setup. The CUE setup is actually an infotainment suite which includes tools for communication, navigation, and other interface for the user. This CUE will be rolled out to be in the new XTS and ATS sedan, as well as in the crossover SRX.

The new Cadillac XTS was first previewed as the Platinum Concept during last year’s Detroit motor show. The XTS Platinum is powered by a V6 3.6: with direct injection gas engine working with a plug-in hybrid setup. The powerplant can output of around 350 horsepower with a torque of at least 295 pound feet.

General Motors confirmed back in August that the XTS sedan will go in production by Spring next year at their Oshawa factory in Ontario.

It is not certain what engine will be put into the heart of the new Cadillac XTS but it will most likely not include the plug-hybrid setup of the concept vehicle.

American car manufacturer General Motors Inc. released its announcement about the $117 million investment in Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant in preparation for the production of the brand new Cadillac XTS luxury model. The $117 million investment will safeguard around 400 employees at the assembly plant which had been greatly affected by layoffs in the past years, particularly in the years 2008 and 2009 where almost 1,000 workers had been laid off due to the big loss of the North American car market during which General Motors filed for protection from bankruptcy.

According to GM Canada’s President and Managing Director, Kevin Williams, the production of the Cadillac XTS luxury sedan will strengthen the brand’s commitment to a strong production base in Canada. This gives the Ontario plant a strong influence in the production of the Cadillac.
Old Cadillac models, the STS and the DTS sedans have been discounted. The new Cadillac XTS luxury sedan has been regarded with more stylish features. This new luxury model is intended for the European market and is expected to lure patrons of other Europeans competitors.

The Cadillac XTS sedan will be based on the Epsilon’s front-wheel-drive design platform and will get the same powerful 3.6-liter V6 engine that also carries at plug-in hybrid feature. This engine design has been seen first at the 2010 Detroit Auto show. Now, there’s also an optional turbocharged V-6 variant.

The production for the new Cadillac XTS sedan has been scheduled to kick by the middle of 2012 according to official word from the car company.

Early this year, media reports about the production of brand new, rear-wheel drive, brand Cadillac have the automobile industry buzzing. While the reports revealed nothing specific, General Motors Inc. did confirm that such program is in the works. However, the car giant did not reveal anything new either.

Today, sources confirmed that General Motors Inc. gave the go signal for the development of the said brand new Cadillac which is set to be the flagship of a new GMI platform. It has been rumored that the plan had been placed in motion out of the board of director’s good will commitment and had just recently received its final approval.

The flagship Cadillac’s rear-wheel drive has been confirmed, with its platform as the GMI’s new program. Internally, this new program is being referred to as “Omega.” Sources said that the flagship Cadillac will feature aluminum and other lightweight materials. The new design is said to be inspired by the so-called Zeta architecture.

To further confirm speculations, GM North America is the head of the development for the flagship Cadillac, which is expected to roll out into showrooms as early as 2015 and 2017. This means that the new rear wheel-drive Cadillac might replace the Cadillac XTS, a model that the new GMI management is not really fond of.

While it’s too early for specifics, speculations about the car’s engine favor the use of the brand’s new Generation V Small Block V-8 engine along with a full hybrid model as another tasty option.

Cadillac has started testing the race car CTS-V Coupe on the track fresh from the spotlights of the North American International Auto Show. The CTS-V Coupe zoomed around the Sebring International Raceway in the state of Florida.

The test car was manned by Andy Pilgrim with Johnny O’Connell. The performance of the CTS-V Coupe is being evaluated prior to its debut at the SCCA World Challenge GT that will kick off this March. The race car was developed in coordination with Pratt and Miller.

The specs of the Cadilla CTS-V coupe has not been announced yet but its body is primarily made from carbon fiber and features a big rear wing, ventilated hood, and a really aggressive diffuser. When you look at the stock CTS-V coupe, the car already boasts of 556 horsepower and a torque of 551 lb-ft from its V8 6.2L powerplant. This cadillac can blast from 0 to 100 kilometers per hours in a blink of 3.9 seconds. It has a sticker price of $67,000.

Now imagine what the specially tuned CTS-V coupe can do with all the tweaks and modification done by the engineers and designers of Cadillac and Peter & Miller.

The car manufacturer competed in the World Challenge back in 2004 through 2007 and have grabbed the manufacturer’s championship recognition for 2005 and 2007.

According to Cadillac, their return to the circuit is one way to demonstrate the power and capabilities of the CTS-V Coupe against the other production-based racecars.

General Motors is working on the next generation of Cadillac Escalade which has been the bread and butter of the company in recent years. According to GM executives, the carmaker does not have any plan to kill the model any time in the near future despite earlier speculations that the big Cadillac and other full-size sports utility vehicles will be axed.

The new Escalade together with the various full size SUVs was originally planned to roll out by 2011 but the strategy of the brand was reviewed in 2009 due to the sky rocketing fuel prices. As a result of the study, the production of the Escalade and the Suburban under the Chevrolet brand was frozen.

The designers and automotive engineers are back again on the drawing board and is said to develop the Escalade and the rest of the gang in a matter of three years.

Rick Spina, global line exec from General Motors, disclosed the information recently. He also said that their full size trucks will still RWD truck platform and will not move to the Lambda platform used for large crossover vehicles.

The current version of the Cadillac Escalade is utilizing the GMT800 platform of GM which is also shared by other vehicles like the Yukon from GMC and the Tahoe from Chevrolet. The new generation of the Escalade will also have an EXT variant.

Espina also said that a new gen of full size SUVs are expected as well for other GM brands.

Cadillac recently showcased two vehicles, a production and a concept car, at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show which featured the Platinum and V-Series trims for their whole range. Cadillac executives explained that these two levels will be offered for all of Cadillac vehicles including the 2012 XTS.

First on spotlight is the Platinum XTS concept vehicle which is basically the Platinum edition of the flagship sedan expected to roll out by 2012. The CTS-V Coupe was also in display and is the high performance variant of the next generation CTS Coupe.

The V-Series labeling of Cadillac is similar to the tagging of the high performance units like the M for BMWs and the AMG for Mercedes Benz.

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The red and green lights on the production of the Cadillac Converj created some doubts that it will really be rolling of the factories. A recent confirmation came out from Detroit affirming that the Cadillac hybrid is set for production.

The Converj Concept was unveiled during the 2009 Detroit Auto Show and wowed the crowd for its design lines and a promise of extended range capabilities to downplay other electric vehicles in the market. The powertrain of the Converj is similar to the Chevrolet Volt and it might take a same guise when it goes to the assembly line.

The company has not confirmed any production date yet but the Converj, according to an insider, was one of the vehicles presented to the GM board last November 2 as a vehicle that should soon go on production.

After its debut back in January, the financial capabilities of GM to come up with the production version of Converj were in question. After coming out of bankruptcy though, supporters of the idea pushed for the construction of the Caddy hybrid.

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Despite the surges in gas prices, the segment of luxury SUV is still performing well when you look at the sales figures. The 2010 Escalade from Cadillac continues to be among the pack leaders in a market where clamor for smaller and more efficient cars gets stronger.

The Cadillac Escalade for 2010 is a carryover of the 2009 release with very little changes. Consumers can purchase a standard or an extended version of the SUV. The longer version gives 21 inches more which gives the vehicle enough space to seat about 8 adults.

Some small changes to the vehicle were made. These include its body color of Silver Lining, adding of USB access at the center console, more airbags for safety, park brake system improvement, and redesigned inner door which also enhances its safety.

The power plant of the vehicle is still a V8 with a 6.2L displacement capable of using E85 Ethanol fuel. The car also uses magnetic suspension with big 22-inch rim and rubber combos. The engine is coupled with an automatic six-speed transmission equipped with better fuel management system to up the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. The mileage is still not impressive though at 12 mpg when driving in the city while it jumps to at least 18mpg when in the highway.

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Henessey Performance Engineering, a tuning company headquartered in Texas, is planning to release upgraded CTS-V sedans from Cadillac in the latter part of 2009. The line of cars will be called the V-series and is expected to have an engine output ranging from 610 hp to 800 hp.

Upon the released of the modified Cadillacs, they will join the ranks of super power cars like the Nissan GT-R Godzilla 700 and the Dodge Venom Vipers.

The cars will be boosted by putting under its hood a supercharged V8 LSA 6.2L engine which is the new baby of General Motors. The output of the untweaked engine is 556 hp but the rev can be up by adding a supercharger kit, sports filter from K&N, and a modified ECU.

The new engine can bring the Cadillac CTS-V from 0 to 60 in just a blink of 3.7 seconds. A quarter mile can be covered in 11.8 seconds with top speed reaching around 195 mph.

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