Cadillac to Introduce New Small and Large Cars in 2012

“We have extensively and exhaustively studied the competitive segment, and we have benchmarked the best. And when this car comes out, that will be readily apparent.”

Cadillac will expand its model lineup in 2012 with a new entry in the compact luxury segment codenamed ATS. The first sketch was released today. GM’s luxury division will also introduce a new large XTS sedan. Both cars are derived from current GM large and small car architectures.

The announcement comes as Cadillac sales declined sharply in the U.S. during July, with disappointing total sales of 11,119, a 26% decrease compared to last July as its aging vehicle line was affected by increased incentives from German brands. Both of the new Cadillac models are aimed squarely at German luxury offerings. 

The smaller compact ATS, as previously announced, will begin production next summer at Lansing Grand River, the same Michigan assembly plant that builds the mid-size Cadillac CTS sedan, coupe and wagon. The plant received a $190 million investment and 600 jobs for the new model.

“The car we codenamed ATS is being developed to be a driver’s car on an all-new Cadillac-specific RWD-AWD architecture,” said General Motors North America President Mark Reuss, who was speaking at the Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars. “We have extensively and exhaustively studied the competitive segment, and we have benchmarked the best. And when this car comes out, that will be readily apparent.”

The Cadillac XTS concept was a V6 powered, all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid design.

GM also said in a separate news release that it will invest $117 million to prepare the Oshawa Assembly Plant in Canada to build the all-new,  full-size Cadillac XTS next year, creating, or as is the current lamentable employment trend “retaining” 400 jobs on the Flex Line.

First shown as the Cadillac XTS Platinum concept car last year at the NAIAS in Detroit, the final production model Cadillac XTS will be revealed in the coming months. Production is planned to start in the first half of 2012, which means as a 2013 model. The concept was a V6 powered, all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid design.

XTS is  a so-called “five meter” car, as was the Catera, about the size of current STS or just over 200 inches in overall length, once considered the optimum size for a European luxury car before BMW and Mercedes upped the ante with super-sides S-class and 7-series behemoths.

Cadillac has apparently abandoned plans for a new generation of rear-wheel-drive cars, and the XTS is derived from GM Epsilon front-drive platform. It’s a cautious design that is derived from the Cadillac 16 with its styling forms adapted to the different proportions.

The big sedan will be without a V8 engine, using instead a smallish V6, a nod to the inevitable demise of the V8 engine, which for six decades defined American automotive excellence, but now in a world of encroaching CO2 limits looks more like decadence.