- General Motors confirmed on Friday that the 2013 Cadillac ATS will make its world premiere in January at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.
- It said the debut of the ATS will be one of four GM concept or production vehicles making world premieres at the show.
- The ATS is a compact rear-drive sedan due out in the summer.
DETROIT — General Motors confirmed on Friday that the 2013 Cadillac ATS will make its world premiere in January at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.
The Detroit automaker said it is targeting the BMW 3 Series, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4 with the ATS.
"ATS is a crucial part of Cadillac's expansion," said Mary Barra, GM senior vice president of global product development, in a speech to the Automotive Press Association. "ATS enters the biggest market segment in the global luxury car industry, both in terms of volume and importance."
It said the debut of the ATS will be one of four GM concept or production vehicles making world premieres at the show. The other three vehicles have not been identified.
The ATS goes into production next summer at the Lansing, Michigan Grand River Assembly plant.
The new entry will be the smallest Cadillac since the Cimmaron, a knockoff of the Chevrolet Cavalier subcompact that was sold by GM from 1982-'88.
Eventually, the ATS range is expected to include a coupe and a convertible, possibly a small wagon and at least one V-Series performance variant by 2015.
The ATS is intended to woo younger import owners.
Inside Line says: The ATS will make a run at some serious German competition. Does it have a prayer?
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lions208487 says:
10:29 AM, 01/03/2012
To add one other comment....The CTS is growing in size to compete directly with the 5 series, and will incorporate a 330 HP V6 and perhaps a twin turbo 6 for higher end CTS models. The Buick and Caddie lineups are currently doing well and are obviuosly improving.
lions208487 says:
10:26 AM, 01/03/2012
BMW and MB do share powertrains, just not in a lower end name plate. C class and E class share same engines, and the 3 series and 5 series also share the same powertrains. Mercedes 3.5 liter is in both the C and E class, and we all know what BMW has done with their 3.0 inline six and new turbo 4. Nothing wrong with GM sharing engines as long as they are tuned toward their respective classes.
The base ATS will only compete against the TSX and IS 250's of the world and the 270 HP turbo and V6 producing at least 318 HP will be up to fight against the 328i and 335i. Infiniti is scheduled to release an all new G sedan and Coupe shortly, and that may well be the real 3 series comp.
I still think the ATS will be a very good enthusiasts car, and I can't wait to test drive one. The Regal GS with the Turbo 2.0 is a fantastic car to drive, so this should even be better than that.
pure_hp says:
09:55 AM, 12/08/2011
+1 tbone - If the power is competitive, it should be a fun car to drive. GM's biggest problem has been how to keep the weight down. If they can manage that and not go into the "cheap" side of the parts bin, this car as a strong chance!
@carguy - I don't see a huge problem in sharing powertrains, obviously it's cost effective. What they'll need to do to help differentiate their products is to tweak them and have it "tailor made" if you will, to which ever brand it goes to, albeit Chevy or Cadillac. Ford's been doing it with their EcoBoost engines, you see them in Fords and Lincolns. BMW and Mercedes do not have a lower nameplate, thus, no reason for powertrain sharing.
zoolander1 says:
07:33 AM, 12/07/2011
MAZDA609
I thought the same thing when I saw this pic.
I like the approach of making a smaller, lighter Cadillac. My only concern will be the following:
If this car is a hit, GM needs to reboost the CTS so that it makes a natural aspirational progression in the eye of the customer. Personally, the ATS is a smaller CTS, and a smaller CTS is a good thing so they are going to have to justify the CTS by making it a better car.
I hope I made sense.
tbone85 says:
01:01 PM, 12/06/2011
Wouldn't those figures for the ATS effectively split the A4 and 335i output? I think that the absolute horsepower will be less of a challange than weight management for GM. If they have a very good handling car, they will compete strongly--from a product standpoint. Sales momentum may be another issue altogether.
jadis says:
06:42 AM, 12/06/2011
Here we go, I am very excited about the ATS. Since GM cut the balls off of the REgal GS, will they do the same here? Would love to see an AWD Manual Tranny version with a great engine. From the specs I read it looks like 330hp and 280 lb ft. Really? 280 lb ft? Hopefully that wont be an issue as the competition is well over 300 lb ft, and it is usually the torque that gives great accelration and power. With that, I would agree with the poster that said this will not be a leader by any streatch, but more coming into line with the competition. The Ford 355hp V6 is a leader in my book, GM needed something like that in this car. Let's wait and see what the test results show. I am holding out for this one to be the car I can consider instead of another 3 series or A4.
carguy444 says:
07:56 PM, 12/05/2011
What I hope is that GM stops sharing powertrains so much. I mean honestly the cadillac lineup is almost 100 the 3.6 liter v6 which is the same powertrain with about the same power as the '12 impala. If you want luxury and sport car enthusiasts to buy your luxury/sport cars trying not sharing the powertrain with chevy's. The reason why bmw and mercedes are so successful is because they aren't associated with cars like chevy like cadillac is which drags the brand image. People think mercedes is more of the wow car than cadillac when back in the day cadillac was king. GM needs to branch off more with its brands, being competitive price wise (don't need to crush competition in price range) they need to use the money to cost the same as competition while beating them in every category. Rant over.
smallfield says:
07:37 PM, 12/05/2011
I like the idea of this. Hopefully with all their work they've gotten a solid chassis.
I think I still want a CTS-V wagon with a 6MT though. I'll wait to see if I need to move out of the SE where RWD is OK first.
tbone85 says:
04:17 PM, 12/05/2011
Sniper, the CTS was originally designed to be a 'tweener for the 3 and 5 series. The ATS will likely push the CTS slightly up toward a head to head with the 5 and E series and the A6.
I would be shocked if the ATS starts much below $32k. The competition starts at $33.3k (A4). It's more important that the ATS be a strong entrant (including weight management) in the class than that it be several thousand less expensive.
mazda609 says:
02:56 PM, 12/05/2011
The top half of the car screams MB E-Class, but I guess thats a good thing.