NEW YORK: General Motors’ luxury nameplate confirmed Friday that it will debut an all-new, full-size luxury car at the New York Auto Show on March 31.
The new vehicle, to be called the CT6, goes into production at the end of this year as a 2016 model. When it does, it will be the first proper rear-wheel-drive flagship sedan Cadillac has offered in years, and one the automaker hopes will challenge the BMW 7 Series and Audi A8 models for full-size supremacy.
“We’ve been looking for Cadillac to step up its game again, and back up the claim that it’s the standard of the world,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, an automotive research and consulting group. “With the CT6, maybe they’ll get a little closer to that.”
Details on what will power the CT6 will be announced at the New York debut. The car is expected to use the twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V-6 engine currently in the compact ATS-V performance sedan and the midsize CTS Vsport.
That engine is capable of producing at least 455 horsepower, and probably will be paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Cadillac, eager to keep the CT6 light and boost both fuel efficiency and handling, will build the car using aluminum and high-strength steel. The CT6 will also come standard with a rear-view screen that uses streaming video to give the driver roughly four times the field of vision of a normal rear-view mirror.
While the CT6 will be positioned as a rival to long-wheelbase sedans from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the size and price of the Cadillac will bridge the gap between German brands’ midsize and fullsize cars. A larger Cadillac — likely dubbed the CT8 or CT9 — is expected at the end of the decade, Peterson said.
The CT6 also ushers in a new era of names for Cadillac, which will forsake the ATS and CTS labels. All new sedans will start with CT and then a number denoting their position in the lineup. The higher the number, the higher the price.
SUVs will start with XT, though Cadillac is expected to keep the Escalade name given the cache it has with buyers.
