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marcn3 says:
10:54 PM, 05/23/2011
Cadillac's new XTS model is supposed to come out next year. The XTS will replace both the STS and DTS models. No date has yet been declared for production to begin. However, GM first plans to sell off the remaining DTD and STS models on their dealer's lots.I read this here: Cadillac has plans to replace two car models with new XTS, cardealexpert.com/news-information
ne1butu2 says:
06:15 AM, 01/13/2010
I really like this a lot. The interior alone puts it into a class that the old DTS could never play. I don't see this as a 7-Series or S-class competitor. Perhaps a LS competitor. It will all depend on how it handles. If it floats, it will retain it's geriatric and livery audience. If it has balls, it'll skew much younger. One thing I know for sure, it'll take more than a 300hp hybrid engine to be taken seriously. Regardless, it is incredibly distinctive and I have to assume the road presence will be impressive. It will be interesting to see how people take to it.
deadviper says:
06:48 PM, 01/12/2010
The XTS Platinum looks to be a perfectly fine near-luxury sedan.
The problem with that? We already HAVE several near luxury brands on the market (including buick!) that offer plenty of near-luxury full size sedan competition (including the LaCrosse!) From the moment the CTS-v was concieved and the 'Art and Science" campaign was launched, GM made it clear that they were going to wield cadillac like a sword and it's edge from now on would be at germany's throat. The not-produced Cein and Sixteen reaffirmed that. The XTS...doesn't. Obviously.
The platform this car is riding on was concieved as an effort to target Lexus' badge-engineered camry otherwise known as the ES. A completely appropriate near-luxury target for a near-luxury brand like Buick. So now the problem with taking a near-luxury platform designed for a near luxury car and promoting it to full time duty as the luxury brand flagship becomes obvious to everyone but the penny pinchers. Its like VW group announcing that the sirocco platform will underpin Murcielago's successor car, or chevy announcing that the next camaro will be based on the cruze. It doesn't work and no matter how much power we add, no matter how fat we make the tires, no matter what gee-whiz electronic gizmo's we strap to the dashboard or stuff under the bonnet, it can't ever work, just like the XTS doesn't work.
Even though it's gone through the 'Art n' Science' edge carving machine at cadillac, it still smacks of it's platfom's origin and purpose. Like the ES, the styling is completely clean. Compleatly inoffensive. Compleatly dull. Completely forgettable. It's as if the company that wanted to get us the Cein and the Sixteen and eventually got us the CTS-V and the company that produced this are in different alternate dimensions. I've been told that those who saw it first said it reflected the sixteen and now that I see it, I wonder if those people got to see a different car and this one is part of some elaborate practical joke from GM before they revealed to us the real cadillac flagship. The sixteen was a passionate, reserved, elegant creature that had it's home in this era and kept summer cottages in era's both bygone and soon to come. It told us that Cadillac DID have what it took to stand with and upto the best in the world, and that we could believe such things without smirking or shaking our heads in disbelief.
The XTS taks the place of the Sixteen to tell us that a box of computer chips and lithium ions are more important than passion and elegance. That now and only now is the time that matters. That germany has absolutely nothing to worry about in the cadillac of today. Saying that you can win the luxury car race without beating germany is like saying you can win an olympic swimming competition without beating michael phelps. It's the product of delusional thinking, and it isn't going to happen. What the XTS says most clearly to me is that cadillac dosen't need the XTS.
We don't need to make another faux wheel drive technocrat flagship sedan. Acura's already doing that with the TL and it doesn't work. We don't need another badge engineered pretender flagship sedan. Lincoln's already trying that with the MKS and it doesn't work. We don't need another eat-your-greens hybrid luxury flagship sedan. Lexus is desperatly trying that with the LS and it doesn't work. We certainly don't need someone to distill all of these non-working things into one car and expect it to work, because it won't work. What caillac needs now is to rediscover that lost era of passion, elegance, luxury and timeless performance that tried to give us the Cein and the Sixteen and got us the current generation CTS-V. They need to eliminate whoever is in the process of nuetering the brand over there and get the people who brought us those products back to work making Cadillac the Tier one brand GM needs it to become.
inspirion7 says:
08:02 AM, 01/12/2010
Looking back a few years, the landscape was vastly different in the auto industry. The definite game players were on point, unstoppable and pragmatic in their hold on the luxury car market. Things began to change, and new players have slowly emerged like Hyundai's flagship Genesis line, Infiniti, once an average player, has began it's successful rise in the medium luxury stakes. Across town, Lincoln had began to refocus on what "A luxury car should be," and Cadillac, yes Cadillac released it's second generation CTS sedan with muted critical acclaim. At the time, the weight of GM's multiple issues made it very difficult to take the new model, or Cadillac even, seriously. After all, GM was on the precipice of bankruptcy and no one wanted to align themselves with a loosing company.
GM's plan was to re-invent the top tier company, but not at the expense of certain core values than made the brand the "Standard of the World". Cadillac had to bring back luxury, performance and style, something lost in transition over the years. How do you regain preeminence when in the eyes of a cynical public and a new generation of buyers believe your days are numbered? You change the game and force them to come to you. Cadillac decided to go with what works. Today, the release so far of the CTS, CTS Coupe and both performance variants CTS-V models with a wagon version on its way, a new luxury flagship, the XTS concept shows the future and the Converj, Cadillac's first ever car based hybrid is bound to have a few takers.
In the wings is the new 3 series fighter; the ATS line that will be the bread and butter of the brand. In the automotive industry, a second chance doesn't come around often. With a renewed focus and direction, Cadillac isn't taking this opportunity lightly.
The XTS is significant in that it goes its own way and not follow a luxury standard set by others. A lot of thought and consideration has gone into the design and functionality of this vehicle and finally, GM has the hardware and ability to make it work. The XTS can thrive with AWD and hybrid tech. This is a new era of tech and power and for this moment in time, the XTS works out fine. The days when we would see a concept slip away are gone. Cadillac is focused on re-making the brand the "Standard of the World" again, and maybe at this time, the standard for it's own market won't be so bad.
zfishman says:
10:53 PM, 01/11/2010
The Cadillac XTS Platinum Concept, and the subsequent production model in 2012 have a tough job ahead them. With the XLR discontinued, the XTS will gain the mantle of flagship for GM's premier luxury division. The XTS must walk a fine line between the "old" Cadillac (STS/DTS) and the "new" Cadillac (SRX, CTS, Escalade, etc.), meaning it must be able to appeal to both the blue hair crowd yet still be able to hold it's own against other luxury marques and gain new customers.
I have faith in the GM of late. All of their new releases over the last few years have generally lived up to their promise; a trend that has only gotten more consistent as the vehicles designed during the SUV dominated dark ages of Roger Smith have cycled out of production and been replaced by their Lutzian successors.
That being said, GM must get the XTS exactly right. It's essentially compromised from the get-go by having to serve two completely divergent roles.
However, if GM brings the XTS to market, from the start, with 99% of the content of the concept, they will do just fine. It may not be a true S-Class/7 Series competitor, but it doesn't have to be. As long as GM doesn't screw it up and it can appeal to both old and new Caddy customers, the XTS will go a long way towards re-establishing Cadillac's preeminence once again as the "Standard of the World", or at least a legitimate competitor to it's Tier 1 German and Japanese competitors.