Cadillac now has a competitive product line, but branding and image issues haunt it.
General Motors will export the compact Cadillac ATS compact luxury sports sedan to China during the fourth quarter of 2013 from a plant in Lansing Michigan. The ATS will be imported by Shanghai GM and sold at Cadillac dealers nationwide in what is now GM’s largest market by far.
In a statement issued in China, GM said that rear-wheel-drive sedan aimed at the BMW 3-Series is targeted at young Chinese car buyers. BMW of course offers both long wheelbase 3-Series and 5-Series models in china because affluent Chinese like to be chauffered. Import taxes and the lack of a long-wheelbase version will limit Cadillac ATS sales until GM put it into production in China with a model that goes head to head with the Bimmer.
Cadillac unveiled the 2013 Cadillac ATS at the 2012 North American International Auto Show with a new 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. As the lead application of a substantially revised global four-cylinder engine line, General Motors is putting its best output forward. The engine produces 270 horsepower (201 kW) or an excellent 135 horsepower per liter.
This means the Cadillac version of GM’s new powerplant will be one of highest specific output automotive engines, bar none, and more than 20% higher than the next closest competitor, the Mercedes-Benz C250 1.8-liter turbo at 111.6 hp/L. The turbo four is joined in the U.S. ATS with a normally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and a 3.6-Liter V6 engine. Frankly, the contemporary powertrains are the price of entry in a segment where Cadillac has failed several times with inferior offerings.
GM did not release the specs of the Chinese ATS, nor the pricing in its latest move to make Cadillac more than a U.S. brand with decidedly limited awareness and credentials in the global luxury car market. This problem will take years, if not decades, to fix.
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