Cadillac News: Cadillac's Global Chief Says More ATS Variants Are On The Table

[William Maley]

Cadillac's Senior Vice President, Bob Ferguson said in a interview with Automotive News last week that the company is considering expanding the ATS lineup.

"You've made the investment. You've built a brand within a brand. If you have a winner, you should exploit that and offer variations," said Ferguson.

Models under the spotlight include a convertible and wagon. This would give the brand a better chance of competing with the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The mention of a wagon and convertible signals a change of product plans at Cadillac. Previous reports had the ATS Convertible on hold and that the brand would likely not do a wagon due to the poor sales of the CTS SportsWagon.

We'll be watching this closely.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[Robert Hall]

Those definitely seem reasonable...got to have a convertible in this segment, and Europe likes wagons. See A4/A5, 3/4 series, C class...all have at least 4 bodystyles.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Carguy]

I think they should rethink the FWD based SRX and do taller bodied and lifted versions of Alpha! That way they could do a compact ATX and a mid-sized CTX! Along with that I would like to see them do a slight name change of the Coupe versions ending the three letters with C for Coupe instead of S! And if they do a wagon version of the ATS or CTS they should use ATW and CTW for those models! And with this naming perfecting they could rename the XTS eather DTS or bring bach the traditional real names for Larger Cadillac models!

ATC,ATS,ATX and ATW

CTS,CTX

DTS or DLS or De Ville

LTS or STS or Fleetwood

[G. David Felt]

The sports wagon or CTS V wagon had limited appeal. Yet if they do a roomy wagon right it will sell to lots of people who do not like the CUV craze. I can also see the convertible being a needed option also.

[Robert Hall]

One problem w/ the naming is by having the C-segment car named 'ATS' where do they go with names if they decide to do a B-segment entry eventually to compete w/ the BMW 1/2 series, Audi A3, M-B A/CLA ?

Edited January 22, 2014 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

Back to real names maybe?

More body styles is an absolute requirement in this class. 3-series has it, Volvo has it, Audi and Benz have it.

[G. David Felt]

So based on Cubical's comment, Cadillac should have called the ATS, the BTS. So a class 1 segment car if Cadillac builds one has the current lineup as such

BTS formerly ATS

DTS formerly CTS

FTS formerly XTS

This would then have allowed for a full family of new auto's to be added to the mix.

I personally would have loved to see names back.

ATS - Calais

CTS - DeVille

XTS - Fleetwood

ATS Coupe/Convertible - Allante`

CTS Coupe/Convertible - Evoq

XTS Coupe/Convertible - Eldorado

SRX - Provoq

Escalade - Escalade

New Models

Compact Luxury CUV (ULC concept) below the SRX - Urvoq

[balthazar]

Anything that gets us away from nursery school naming conventions, AKA: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

Cadillac does not need a sub-ATS. They're in the same price segment as the CLA but they're ABOVE it in price & product. Great bottom line, now move upward while MB is busy moving DOWN.

Cadillac also does not need to ape every move MB/BMW make.

[Drew Dowdell]

Buick can take the sub-ATS market... in fact, I'd argue that they already have.

[G. David Felt]

Buick can take the sub-ATS market... in fact, I'd argue that they already have.

ENCORE I would totally agree with this statement. I also in thinking about it agree with Balthazar that Cadillac does not need to go below the ATS segment. Leave it for Buick.

[Drew Dowdell]

and Verano too. In terms of capability and materials, the only thing Cadillac could offer at that price point would be... Verano.

[Z-06]

Verano is already better than the CLA; Chevroletdes Benz fans here will disagree.

The quality of materials, fit and finish and interior of the tri-shield give a more upscale look than the Gorilla glued i-pad screen interior of the Benz.

Buick honestly jumped this segment where TSX and S40 left it. Encore and Verano sized vechiles are next battlegrounds and GM should fight tooth and nail to prevent the Germans from gaining. Cadillac should not be here. With that strategy GM can attack the Germans by advertising them as Buick competitors and in sense one step lower than Cadillac.

[Robert Hall]

As far as ATS variants go, there is also the long wheelbase version, presumably for China where BMW has a 3-series LWB, M-B a C-class LWB, etc..

[picture removed]

Edited January 23, 2014 by Drew Dowdell
Sorry Moltie, we don't have the rights to that photo here.

[Carguy]

So based on Cubical's comment, Cadillac should have called the ATS, the BTS. So a class 1 segment car if Cadillac builds one has the current lineup as such

BTS formerly ATS

DTS formerly CTS

FTS formerly XTS

This would then have allowed for a full family of new auto's to be added to the mix.

I personally would have loved to see names back.

ATS - Calais

CTS - DeVille

XTS - Fleetwood

ATS Coupe/Convertible - Allante`

CTS Coupe/Convertible - Evoq

XTS Coupe/Convertible - Eldorado

SRX - Provoq

Escalade - Escalade

New Models

Compact Luxury CUV (ULC concept) below the SRX - Urvoq

I dont think the CTS should be called DeVille! That name better fits the XTS with the new and larger CTS better fitting the Seville name! Then a more premium packaged and longer CTS coupe could be called Eldorado positioned between the CTS-to-Seville and the XTS-to-DeVille models! Calais for the ATS is interesting as well!