The first production examples of the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe are hitting dealer showrooms as you read this, and whether you're seriously considering buying your own 556-horsepower coupe or just feel like killing a little time dreaming, Cadillac now has a fully-functional configurator online.
It takes at least $63,465 (plus another $825 for destination) to get your own super-Caddy, which comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, navigation and premium sound system. Another $3,400 nets you a set of race-ready Recaro performance seats, and if you opt for the up-level thrones, a suede-rimmed steering wheel and shift knob combo is available for another $300. If rowing your own gear isn't appealing, you ought to be ashamed of yourself the six-speed automatic is a $1,300 option. Check every conceivable box, including an up-level paint job and you're looking at a $72,560 sticker. That's a lot of cheddar no matter how you slice it, but a quick comparison against the other mega-performance coupes on the market shows that this Caddy is a relative bargain. Have fun configuring your own blown two-door Caddy. Thanks for the tip, Khalid!
Autoblog livery for Forza Motorsport 3 - Click above for high-res image gallery
This. Is. Awesome. Autoblog reader Jason L. over at Second Method Graphic Design has been so kind as to share a couple of skins he's devised for both the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and the McLaren MP4-12C in Forza Motorsports 3. Why do we care? Because these particular wraps are a tribute to a certain blog that obsessively covers the auto industry. Call us vain, but there's something cool about seeing our logo slathered all down the sides of two very lust worthy pieces of metal, even if they only live in the virtual realm.
Maybe we should talk to Cadillac about getting into a long-term tester with a similar theme. Something tells us that McLaren would be somewhat less receptive. Leder says that you can purchase either of the two designs through his Forza storefront for a nominal fee. The guy also has a slew of other very attractive liveries in case you don't feel like sporting your AB pride on your fenders. It's fine, we won't be offended. In fact, might we suggest The Simpsons-inspired Datsun 510 in Mr. Sparkle livery or the Ikea Saab 9-3?
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe - Click above for high-res image gallery
We've already discussed the complete, audacious beauty that is the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe. Not only is it one of the most attractive designs to come out of General Motors in decades, but it's arguably one of the best-looking vehicles on the road today, proving that Cadillac (and GM, for that matter) is once again capable of delivering world-class designs.
Sexy? Yes. But can she cook?
We don't have many complaints about the 304-horsepower, direct-injection 3.6-liter V6 found under the hood of the standard Coupe. It certainly means well and does a good enough job of keeping the CTS experience entertaining, but we'd be liars if we didn't say we'd rather have a powerplant with a few more stones - 252 more, to be exact.
Enter the 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. It has a supercharged V8 that makes 556 horsepower. It comes with a six-speed manual transmission as standard equipment. It's under $65,000. Not only that, but the larger cojones found on the V sedan are translated into the coupe's styling, making for a car that's at once audacious and vicious, with a beating heart of total lunacy.
In the late 1990s, General Motors gave us the Opel-derived bar of soap known as the Cadillac Catera, telling us that it was "The Caddy That Zigs." But the Catera is long gone (good riddance) and we've found a candidate that's more worthy of carrying on that short-lived tagline. Take your blood pressure medicine, folks - the CTS-V Coupe is here. And it does a lot more than simply zig or zag - it utterly dominates the high-powered sports coupe segment.
2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe - Click above for high-res image gallery
When we had our first shot at the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe, we described it as "audacity in motion." After all, the new Caddy coupe is indeed one of the most attractive designs to come out of General Motors in quite some time.
In an effort to get these hot new two-plus-twos out on the road as soon as possible, Cadillac is ramping up production of the CTS Coupe a bit early, and the first few models are starting to roll off of assembly lines at GM's Lansing Grand River assembly plant. Pricing starts at $38,990 for the base, rear-wheel-drive model, which will be joined by the pavement-bending CTS-V Coupe later this year.
Check out the sexy new CTS Coupe for yourself in the gallery below, and hit the jump to read Cadillac's press release.
According to a report out of China, Cadillac is planning to add the 2.0-liter turbocharged, direct-injected Ecotec in-line four-cylinder as an option in the SLS sedan. The SLS, you'll recall, is an extended-wheelbase version of the STS built only for the Chinese market. The SLS will likely use the same 220 horsepower, 258 pound-foot version of the 2.0 turbo being installed in the Buick Regal/Opel Insignia.
The 2.0-liter actually offers more torque than the 3.0-liter direct-injected V6 already offered in the SLS and nearly as much horsepower as the 3.6-liter, so it should be a viable option for the big sedan. Considering that most of these cars are purchased for executives to be driven around in, absolute performance and driving pleasure might as well take a back seat to running costs anyway, right?
Bo Zolland's Cadillac-powered 33-34 hot rod - Click above for high-res image gallery
The last time we checked in with Bo Zolland he was rendering a Camaro to do Le Mans duty. Half a year later, he's stayed in the house of General Motors but gone back in time - on the outside, at least. His 33-34 hot rod is beautifully traditional from the windshield back, but mixes it up in front with that cowcatcher grille flanked by integrated headlights and the six hood-bursting pipes.
We wouldn't mind seeing where the other two pipes emerge, because under that hood is meant to be the 556-horsepower V8 from the Cadillac CTS-V. The sound of that lump through massively shortened pipes would be prodigious, and keeping all that power on the road while moving forward might take all of your attention with those narrow wheels. Give us a set of rims from the Cadillac-powered VRS, on the other hand, and we'd be all about it. You can check out Zolland's latest in the gallery of photos below.
General Motor's VP of Marketing Joel Ewanick has found a home for the wandering Cadillac account: Fallon. That home, however, wasn't empty: last December Fallon won the Chrysler account and created the Pentastar's "Coming Home" ad campaign that aired during the Super Bowl earlier this year. It's unlikely that Chrysler will want to share a bed with Cadillac, so the seven-month-old account will most likely be the next one to move on.
Fallon held the BMW account until 2005 and oversaw the BMW Films that continue to rule the landscape of extra curricular automotive video marketing. We're not saying that we want them to do the same thing with Cadillac, but if Fallon can conjure something even half as cool it would be an awesome start for everyone. As for Chrysler, perhaps it could step over to Wieden+Kennedy, who did the new and critically approved 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee ad. Just stay away from the high concept stuff for a little while longer...
1962 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible - Click above for high-res image gallery
Check eBay Motors or Craigslist for a '62 Cadillac convertible and you're likely to find a slew of them for less than ten grand. A particularly nice example might fetch twice that. So why did this particular Series 62 convertible bring in $40,000 at the first Barrett-Jackson auction in Orange County, California? Probably because OC-dwellers loves them some Louis V.
While this Series 62 Custom Convertible was pretty stock underhood, the car featured a tangerine metal-flake paint job courtesy of House of Kolors, a custom touchscreen sound system with over 1000 watts of power, and ginormous 22-inch wheels. All that aside, it was the monogrammed top and interior that really put this special caddy into the 40K range. What seemed like a square mile of genuine Louis Vuitton leather and "vinylized Egyptian cotton" - just like the handbags! - was used to fabricate the custom top and to cover almost every interior surface save for the gauges. Whether this car will be driven or used as a tear-down for its handbag raw materials is a question only the new owner can answer. Check out the gallery below.
Cadillac CTS-V commercial - Click above to watch video after the jump
Remember those Cadillac commercials from a couple months back? Well, General Motors' marketing VP Joel Ewanick, who took the job just 30 days ago, apparently didn't think too much of them. That's why Ad Age is reporting the Cadillac ad account will be taken away from Bartle Bogle Hegarty, who won the account in January and created those recently aired commercials. The move follows the transfer of Chevrolet's ad account from Publicis to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners last month.
Ewanick is said to be unhappy with the tag line "Mark of Leadership." Perhaps he can use our own Jonny Lieberman's line, created with the help of the wreath-and-crest itself: "Audacity in Motion." Regardless, with all this sound and fury, whatever they eventually come up with better be good. Have a look at the commercial after the jump for one of those deemed not good enough.
Cadillac ATS mule - click above for high-res image gallery
Look what the spies have caught. Fresh from our time in the nothing-else-looks-like-it Cadillac CTS Coupe, comes these furtive shots of what we think is the upcoming Cadillac ATS. We've heard different rumors, but the dedicated BMW 3 Series fighter will either show up in 2013 as a 2014 model, or 2014 for the 2015 model year. Whenever it shows up, the ATS will be riding on a smaller version of GM's new/upcoming Alpha platform, the same basic RWD chassis that will also underpin the third generation CTS as well as the next Chevy Camaro.
We've taken a long, hard look at these spy shots, and have concluded that whatever sits under the CTS shell has had its wheelbase shrunk, leading us to believe this is in fact an ATS mule. The wheels are far too close to the passenger compartment. The other giveaway are the two places to insert fuel. At first we thought perhaps this is an XTS prototype and that the second orifice was (maybe) because of the new big Caddy's plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain. However, we think the vestigial door in the photographs is actually there because of the shortened chassis of the ATS. Also, GM will be placing PHEV plugs on the driver's side for convenience. We've also heard nothing about an ATS PHEV, though an ATS Hybrid has been rumored.
As for the mule in these pictures, here's hoping whatever's under there is worthy of all six ducks.
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This week's podcast team is Sam Abuelsamid, Alex Nunez and Dan Roth. We dive right in after a quick garage overview and take on the 2011 Honda Odyssey, JD Power's Initial Quality Study results, action suggested by the new United Auto Workers president, and a whole bunch of first drives. The 2011 Grand Cherokee, Honda CR-Z and Cadillac CTS Coupe were all sampled by our wheelmen, and we discuss. We work in your feedback and wrap up with a question at the 80-minute mark. See you next week!
Autoblog Podcast #183 - Odyssey, IQS, UAW, CR-Z, CTS Coupe and Grand Cherokee
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2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe - Click above for high-res image gallery
As far as we know, General Motors has no plans to build a convertible version of the CTS Coupe. But where automakers fear to tread, the aftermarket is usually happy jump in. High Springs, Florida-based Drop Top Customs is reportedly hard at work on a rag-top conversion for Cadillac's new coupe, adding yet another model to its range of custom convertibles.
Over the past few years, the company has mainly focused on Dodge Challengers and Chevrolet Camaros, but with a factory Camaro convertible about nine months away, the CTS has the potential to fill the gap. DTC produces all of the parts for its conversions in-house and most jobs cost less than $20,000. Considering the fastback styling of the CTS Coupe, we're not sure how well it will translate to a soft-top - or how it's going to affect structural rigidity - but we're looking forward to how it turns out.
2011 Cadillac CTS coupe - Click above for high-res image gallery
Cadillac has decided to jump into the free scheduled maintenance game with a four-year/50,000-mile deal for all buyers of 2011 models. Cadillac's announcement comes just days after Lincoln decided to provide free service to anyone that buys or leases one of its vehicles between now and Labor Day.
The Premium Care Maintenance program is part of Cadillac's revamped customer service program that includes advanced dealer training in conjunction with the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. Premium Care goes beyond Lincoln's offer with a longer term that will run for the full model year, but doesn't cover wear items like brake pads and wiper blades, as the Lincoln program does. Like similar programs from BMW, Volkswagen and Lincoln, Premium Care Maintenance covers oil changes, tire rotations, filters and inspections. Cadillac undoubtedly hopes to bolster sales of its previous volume leader, the CTS, with this new program. While sales of the SRX have been soaring recently, the CTS is down more than 14 percent so far this year.
2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe - Click above for high-res image gallery
There was a time when General Motors was a design leader. Before the Aztek, before the Catera, before the Sunfire and before the Citation, GM was synonymous with bold, strong, emotional automotive design. The General was so good at it that in the 1950s it was able to flood dealerships and stress factories just by tweaking a given model's sheetmetal a few shades. Imagine anyone caring about a new rear end on a 2011 Chevy Malibu. Yet the revised bodywork of the 1956 Bel Air was a major cultural phenomenon.
The name Harley Earl - the legendary head of GM design from 1927 until 1958 - still strikes reverence into the hearts of many. One glance at his famed Buick Y-Job, a 1949 Cadillac or the original Corvette is enough to see why. Earl's parting shot was the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado - the one with the tail fins that could nearly touch the moon. Then you have Earl's successor, Bill Mitchell, the man responsible for the third generation Corvette, the 1966 Toronado and the magnificent boattail Buick Riviera.
For a variety of reasons, in the 1970s General Motors and striking design parted ways. GM's styling wandered through the desert, swapping glitz, purpose and chrome for tighter profit margins, increased badge engineering and a large patina of plain ol' dull. All you need to do is take a gander at the third-generation B-bodies to see how far GM went in the wrong direction. Let's not even mention cladding.
For the last decade or so there have been signs of hope. Vehicles like the ChevroletSSR, Pontiac Solstice, C6 Corvette and the new Camaro were proof that GM and great design are on the road to reconciliation. As a division, Cadillac has made the biggest strides with their Art and Science design motif, showing great signs of life. The front end of the second generation CTS is fantastic. From a pure design point of view, and with the possible exception of the now dead Pontiac Solstice, no General Motors design has been world class since Mitchell retired in 1977.
General Motors has taken its Cadillac dealer network in for service in a big way, and the company is hoping that consumers will be able to tell the difference soon. While the products in GM's luxury portfolio have come a long way in just a few short years, customers lured in by slick ads and slicker sheetmetal have been turned off by a dealer experience that has remained largely unchanged over the decades. To fix that problem, The General recently brought together 300 salespeople for a training seminar in Chicago.
So how do you go about training workers to give customers a more gratifying sales experience? GM decided to turn to a group that knows a thing or two about hospitality - Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. - for some help. The hotel gurus suggested that dealership owners free up some cash to help rectify bad service issues. Some dealers have given sales people up to $500 in cash to help wow customers. The money can be used to provide free maintenance or extend subscriptions to OnStar or satellite radio in the event that a customer has a problem at the dealership.
The Chicago seminar is part of a nationwide training tour that GM hopes will stamp out the brand's reputation for hit-or-miss service.
[Source: Automotive News] Photo copyright (C)2009 Chris Shunk / Weblogs, Inc.
According to Car and Driver's Jens Meiners, Cadillac is poised to get a new full-size, rear-wheel drive sedan to slot in above the forthcoming XTS - a model that itself will sit above the CTS when it bows to serve as a combined replacement for the STS and DTS.
To hear C/D's moles tell it, the flagship sedan is still in the early planning stages, but the model is being built at the directive of none other than GM CEO Ed Whitacre. If the rumor is accurate, the forthcoming model is apparently likely to be derived from a stretched Sigma platform, the same architecture that underpins the CTS family. Meiners dismisses thoughts that the car could be built on the much-used Zeta platform that underpins the Chevrolet Camaro, suggesting that it's too heavy and old to support such a vehicle.
With word that a Lambda-based three-row crossover and the BMW 3-Series fighting ATS are on the way for General Motors' Wreath and Crest division, it's becoming increasingly clear that the boys down at The Tubes have hit the product accelerator pedal for their luxury brand. We just hope that this mystery offering means that Cadillac is finally going to cook up something that looks like 2003's showstopping Sixteen concept (above), albeit likely in a scaled-down format.
It's been a good run, Northstar, but every good thing must come to an end. Yours lasted for an impressive 17 straight years, and these days, that's something to be proud of. Rest in peace.
According to Inside Line, a spokesperson from General Motors has confirmed that it will halt production of the Northstar engine, which first appeared in the 1993 Cadillac Allante, sometime near the end of July. According to GM, there will be enough engines available for a complete 2011 model year.
Of course, that would leave the longstanding DTS without its only available powerplant and the STS without its optional V8 starting in 2012. We contacted GM to see what might be in store for these models moving past the 2011 model year, but pretty much got a predictable "No comment." We were assured, though, that the DTS would be around for 2011 in its current form. After that is anybody's guess.
As General Motors' first V8 engine with overhead camshafts, the Northstar was something of a revelation when it first hit the marketplace. But times change, and GM has a bevy of excellent cam-in-block V8s as well as direct injected V6 engines that ought to be able to fill the large hole left by the Northstar's demise. Stay tuned for more as we hear it.
Google, a company so large that it's become both a noun and a verb, is spreading the goodness of its Google Maps programming even further into the automotive realm with the announcement that it's now being incorporated into General Motors' OnStar eNav technology.
Perhaps you'll recall that Ford made a remarkably similar move this morning, adding the ability to sync Google Maps to its well regarded Sync system. The major difference between Ford's Sync and GM's OnStar integration of Google Maps is that the Blue Oval's implementation relies on the connectivity of your cellular phone while The General's technology includes its own communications equipment.
Both Ford's and GM's Google Maps integration will go into full effect later this month. All GM vehicles from the 2006 model year forward that are equipped with Turn-by-Turn Navigation capability will gain the newfound capabilities. Get all the details in the press release after the break.
Heated windshield washer system: Good. Heated windshield washer system that gets so hot it could potentially cause a fire: Recall. General Motors has announced that it is recalling some 1.5 million vehicles built between 2006 and 2009 for just such a problem. A similar measure was taken in 2008, but apparently the fix performed for that recall hasn't eradicated the issue entirely.
Brace yourself, Cadillac fans. Word has just come down the pike that The Crest will "absolutely" be getting a new model based on none other than the Lambda architecture. That means that a variant of the Chevrolet Traverse will be sold under all four of The General's brands. So far, drivetrain options are still up in the air and vague at best, but we'd be willing to bet our lucky penny that both front- and all-wheel drive models will be available. Chances are that power will come from the same 3.6-liter V6 found under the hood of every other Lambda out there, too.
It's hard not to approach this with a cynical eye. Right after the company's 2009 bankruptcy blitzkrieg, GM promised the world that it was through with badge engineering for good. Swapping nameplates and fenders had done much to lead the company to the brink of collapse, and the waves of fresh new models hitting our shores had us thinking that maybe the company had turned over a new leaf.
By all accounts, the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave are selling well, so is this a case of Detroit getting greedy or is the company simply trying to spread development costs as thin as possible? Either way, it will take something really special to convince us that this is a smart move.
