smk4565

A lot of good points here. First problem is Cadillac has no image and is thought of as a joke in most of Europe. Whether it be Europeans think Cadillacs are for old people, that they are big, thirsty, poorly made, slow, bad handling, poor resale, etc, it doesn't really matter the reason, the image Cadillac has is terrible. Luxury cars need image to sell, so overcoming image is the first massive hurdle. Secondly is the lineup. The XTS will fail over there, so no point in even selling it. So they have the ATS and CTS (maybe SRX), the CTS already failed over there in current form. 2-3 models don't make a brand. Cadillacs are designed for North America, Mercedes and BMW design global cars. Big difference, and Europeans are loyal to their own cars, Lexus has struggled to break into Europe and their lineup is better suited to European tastes and the Lexus image has less baggage than Cadillac's. Cadillac isn't ready for Europe, they need to get the ATS right, improve the CTS, get DIESEL engines, and build some sort of halo car. If they go in with 4 near perfect models at the same time, they have a chance. But remember, Cadillac is up against the 3-series, the best small car in the world, the 5-series and E-class which are arguably the best midsize luxury cars in the world, the S-class, the best big luxo-sedan of all time on their home turf. Then, you have Porsche, Merc SL, Jag XK, Maserati, Aston Martin, who make the best sports/luxury and GT cars in the world, again on their home field. And the Range Rover, the most iconic 4x4 of all time, on it's home turf. This is before we get to Audi, or the quirky people buying Saabs, Volvos and Alfa Romeos.

Catera was never competitive. Another rebadge to take the easy way out and try to make a quick buck. The Allante was front drive and priced against rear drive Jag XJS, Mercedes SL, BMW 8-series, Porsche 911. The Allante never made much impact, the Pininfarina body looked good, but there were quality issues and a lot of people probably forgot that car even existed. Cimmarron, Allante and Catera were all one and done cars. Much like the XLR, Sigma STS, and I think the XTS will be the same. It is poor product planning and brand management. If they got it right to begin with, they could make the car for 40 years, like the 5-series or E-class.

I would agree. In the 1980s the threat of the Germans was there, then with Lexus in 1990. Cadillac did the Cimmaron and Allante which were jokes. Then fumbled about for 10 years with big front drivers, before 2003 finally doing a rear drive CTS. They started to get serious about competing with the imports in 2003-2005, but they never committed enough to it, and then they just sort of let things stay stagnant, while the rest of the market improved. For 25 years Cadillac has lacked the guts to pull the trigger and really go for it, and they always resort back to trying to build a import clone of a Chevy or Buick platform and it fails. And I agree, GM had plenty of money in the 1980s and management only cared about short term profit, and didn't care if they made crap and had no long term thinking. And then the 20 years of bad decisions that we all know about that led to bankruptcy. The XTS reminds me of "old GM" thinking and product planning. It's like the late 80s when the Deville and Fleetwood, Buick Electra/Park Ave and Olds 98 were on the same platform, but at least then the Cadillac had a V8 to make it a little different.

This is true. I recall reading very favorable reviews about the handling/powertrain of the STS, but it just kept coming down to the interior that made people turn positives into negatives. I drove an STS V8, it was rather floaty and rolled about too much. The CTS or anything from the German trio handles better. The STS doesn't feel athletic when you drive it, there isn't a lot of fun factor to it. Plus the powertrain in it now lags what others have. The STS had potential, they just never put enough effort into the car, it was always an afterthought.

It's a good idea, with the amount some fleets drive these cars they'll save a lot of gas. Interesting fact about the Town Car is it can do 63 mph in reverse. The Town Car is a legend, but it's time has come.

So for Cadillac to improve it's image, the plan is to get people that were 68 when they bought a DTS that are now 72 to trade in on an XTS. Nice. The Lexus GS is bland and dated, and Lexus also suffers from having a lot of old buyers and mostly being a $33-43k price, FWD luxury brand. When you do that, you don't have the performance credibility to go against a 5-series. The rear drive Lincolns sold alright in the early 2000s until they got dated and ignored, and Lincoln has seen a steady sales decline in the past couple years with the FWD MKS and MKZ. And no front driver over $40k is lighting up the sales chart, yet the 5-series and E-class still are.

Than what is? XTS is the largest and most expensive Cadillac sedan. Cadillac also has no sports car or convertible. Cadillac is just like Lincoln and Acura, stuck trying to build vehicles off the mainstream platforms with a whole lot of the corporate V6.

Have you ever been in an S-class cab? No, but better to be in that than a Cadillac or Lincoln hearse.

Actually this is the top Mercedes: Factory built, about $1.4 million, can withstand 5 grenade blasts at once, exterior fire extinguisher, interior air supply, all the amenities.

The only position of leadership I care about is sales. Who cares who has the most HP and the most of anything if the car doesn't sell. But look at how the MKS, DTS, S80, Acura RL sell. Those are the $40k + front drive sedans, all sales dogs. Lucerne near dead, Park Ave, Aurora, and Bonneville are dead, front drive Chrysler LH platform is dead. Big front drivers, especially luxury ones are fading. There are too many good rear drivers that can mop the floor with FWD cars in handling and ride at the XTS's price point.

The front looks a bit like the Accord, which probably isn't a bad thing for this segment. I like the possible of Camaro-like tail lights, that would be unique and stylish. Not a fan of the Bangle-butt trunk, hopefully that part looks alright on the final version. 4-cylinder and turbo 4 are adequate, there has to be a diesel or hybrid also.

A Chevy truck with extra bling and chrome isn't a good flagship either. You don't want to be known for making a big gas guzzler, that is what did Hummer in. Better to have a dopey hybrid as your icon like Toyota because then everything is all sunshine and bubbles. At least in the eyes of the sheeple.

More hilarious than your crusade to convince the world BMW uses metal grilles. I still remember being behind an early '60s SL roadster on the street. Had a steel gas filler pipe that stuck 6" out the back of the rear fascia, with a 4" rubber boot around it. Built like a kit car, no attention to detail, no luxury amenities, no power. Where was the luxury in the '50s & '60s again ?? 'Tin-standard' is more like it, if even that. There was the Jag E-type which has become pretty legendary, but no one else has mounted a serious threat to the SL over it's history. The Allante and XLR came and went, and the SL is the standard of the class that others try to copy. Just like the S-class is what ever other big sedan tries to be like. No one is chasing Cadillac, that is why I don't like the XTS, it is just a modern DTS, not a car that gives Cadillac any position of leadership.

Either the best or worst pickup of all time.

I would agree with Croc here, the XTS does not fit the image or the overall lineup Cadillac is going for. Except the XTS won't be priced in the middle, this is going to be the most expensive car Cadillac offers. The current DTS has a base price $11,000 over the CTS. XTS is going to take over for that. So either the CTS and XTS have the same price, like the STS and DTS now (which didn't work) or CTS stays at the current price, and ATS gets to be priced like that horrible Lexus CT Hatchback thing. And the Mercedes lineup has some anomalies in there. The S-class still tops out over $200,000. The CL is just a 2-door S-class, and SLS AMG and G550 SUV are low volume niche products with big price premiums. The SL is the gold standard of luxury roadster/convertibles and has been since the 1950s. Mercedes really has 2 flagship cars and a halo exotic, not a bad place to be.

Yet not as powerful as the 429 hp V8 Hyundai will be selling this summer. Or as powerful as the 400+ hp V8s Infiniti, BMW and Benz have. Different niche..those are serious RWD models, the XTS will compete w/ the ES and MKS. But a Lexus ES350 is the size and price of a CTS, the XTS is likely 12-14 inches longer, and at least 500 lbs heavier. This car will be squarely lined up against the MKS but at perhaps $10,000 more. And why isn't the big Cadillac a serious RWD model? Cadillac is supposed to compete against the world's best, yet they choose to go after the base model Lexus, and a Lincoln Taurus. This is why the brand has no clear identity. And wasn't the LaCrosse supposed to compete with the ES350? Brand overlap all over again.

Compromise is for Chevy, this is a Cadillac, there should be no compromise (and FWD is a compromise). I am in favor of balance though, such as Mercedes offering a 30 mpg S350 Bluetec and a 610 hp S65 AMG off the same line.

Yet not as powerful as the 429 hp V8 Hyundai will be selling this summer. Or as powerful as the 400+ hp V8s Infiniti, BMW and Benz have.

Right, so make an ATS model that gets 40 mpg, you can get 36 mpg form the 3-series, 42 mpg from an Audi A3, 41 mpg from a Lincoln MKZ. The people willing to pay for a green are are also the type that would buy small or perhaps midsize, rather than full size. The XTS is basically a V6 DTS on a newer platform, not exactly answer to high gas prices. But in 10 years probably most V6s will have some sort light hybrid system, so they might as well offer it. But I don't expect being a hybrid is what will draw people to the XTS, most prospective buyers probably won't even care. I mean these are the same people that were buying the 17 mpg Town Car built on an 80s platform up til last year.

Mercedes makes hybrids and diesels partly because Europe is full of environmentalists and gas is $6-8 a gallon. Plus governments, which are also full of greenies (especially European ones) buy the S-class. And it is a way to test hybrid technology on the high priced car before price comes down to fit it to a C-class. I would also imagine the S400 hybrid is a small percentage of American S-class sales, and the LS600h and Escalade hybrid are probably even a lower percentage than that. Because people that are worried about saving the planet and being economical and efficient aren't buying a 5,000 lb full size car or SUV. For that reason I think an XTS hybrid would be a slow seller. A person willing to spend an extra $5,000 to "save the planet" isn't looking to buy a 17 foot long Cadillac.

I agree with oncblu's last 2 posts. I think hyper is right also that hybrids have been used as a bit of a sales ploy. But luxury buyers for the most part aren't as concerned with fuel economy. Plus look at the demographic that Cadillac and Lexus go for, the baby boomers and older living in big houses with big electric and gas bills. This isn't a generation particularly concerned with environmental impact. Gen X and Gen Y on the other hand for the most part don't car about the McMansions and are more into living "green" and urban lifestyle and less is more and all that. I think hybrid, diesel, electric would play better with 20 and 30 somethings rather than 60+ years old, and the XTS is a 60+ year old kind of car. Cadillac is better off putting their hybrid, diesel, electric technology into an ATS rather than an XTS.

Hybrid on the base model would drive the price up too much. And there may be some in the older demographic that get confused by the "electronic mumbo jumbo." And they've probably looked at hybrid vs regular sales of the Escalade, MKZ, Lexus GS, RX, etc and found that most buyers still opt for the gas only version. Problem with hybrids on luxury cars is hybrids often take 5-7 years to pay back, and many people lease luxury cars for 3 years.

I also think the 3.6 V6 out of the Lacrosse and eAssist or hybrid option. I could see them in the second model year offering a turbo V6 on the AWD version to compete with the MKS ecoboost. Although I think the demographic buying this car doesn't care that much about speed, unless they are looking to get people trading in 300C's.

The same could be said about the Escalade and Tahoe. The content and price point is different, but underneath it is the same. LaCrosse/XTS is just like a modernized version of Lucerne/DTS. Improved version of an old formula, but not the path to save Cadillac.

Looks like a big, sensory deprivation tank with sizable overhangs. The interior shape is a bit similar to the DTS, but with the A/C vents on top of the center stack. The wheels are probably just for the test car, unlikely that wheels like that with low profile tires would be fitted on a car like this. This car looks DTS size, with a more upright front end and the grille looks STS-like. So far I see a car for 70 year olds. IF.