Cadillac News

The bold, burly American brand that brought us convertible subculture, the shark fin taillight, and inspired many a song is back in Australia after a three decade sojourn with its stonking CTS sedan range and a possible coupe to follow. The CTS is introduced here with a 3.6-litre VVT V6 developing 227 kW and 370Nm of torque through the rear wheels via an electronic Hydra-Matic 6L50 (think Grease) six-speed auto, which allows quick clutchless gear changes through the shifter. It prefers beer to champagne too, running on standard 91RON, but fuel figures are not yet available. Suspension is an independent front/multilink rear, and a sportier suspension setting is an option, though both sit on huge nine-spoke, 19-inch rims and performance stoppers. Inside, hand-made trims are bathed in a soft lighting scheme that contrasts the butch exterior. A Bose stereo linked to an in-dash retractable screen with 40gig hard drive storage and MP3/iPod compatibility is standard. Standard safety is also high, with six airbags, reverse parking sensors, tyre pressure monitors, a pedestrian pop-up bonnet, and Caddy’s ‘Stabilitrak’ stability control. Options include a full moon roof, choice of a real wood finish over the standard metal, and heated/vented seats. The CTS will join the GM Premium Brands of Saab and Hummer in early 2009, with pricing revealed closer to its release, though bets are currently hedged at around $60,000 - $70,000. Cadillac is using the Sydney show to gauge consumer interest and garner feedback on the CTS, and evaluating further powerplants for import into Australia. This means we might see the forceful CTS-V performance version in the future. However, given the Aussies’ love of powerful rear-drive V8s, we would say their minds are already made up.

After a three decade sojourn with its stonking CTS sedan range and a possible coupe to follow.

The big Caddy is due for release in Australia within months and now there's the possibility of a two-door Coupe stablemate to join it on the showroom floor. Right-hand-drive production of the CTS saloon has started. It is making its world debut at the British Motor Show next week and will go on sale in Britain in September. The big American should be in Australian showrooms in October. But Cadillac also has unveiled a Coupe version, below, of that car, officially listed as a concept at this stage, but one that management of the U. S. iconic car brand says “is a strong indication of Cadillac's future design language”. Given that the Coupe is based on the production sedan, sharing its wheelbase, underpinnings and components such as engines and dashboard, it would help contain the cost of tooling and production for such a car and so make it more feasible. “The dramatic design of the saloon begged the question of what it would look like in the unbridled form of a Coupe,” says Cadillac boss Jim Taylor. The Coupe is 50mm lower and 50mm shorter than the CTS saloon. It even shares the same windscreen, but it is laid at a steeper angle. It's a classic hard-top style with no B-pillar, has slim-profile exterior mirror and roof-mounted antenna for radio and navigation signals. The concept car has 20in front wheels and 21in rear wheels behind which are massive brakes with six-piston front calipers and four-piston rear units. The Coupe is a 2+2, with special Recaro seats. It has a premium Bose sound system with a 40GB hard drive. The navigation system, like that on the CTS saloon, has a screen that rises from the centre of the hand-finished instrument panel. It has been designed to accept the range of Cadillac CTS engines, including the 3.6-litre V6 that will power the CTS saloon in Australia through a six-speed automatic transmission and rear-wheel drive. That engine is essentially the same unit as the power plant used by GM Holden in its range of VE Commodores. But the Cadillac version runs high-pressure fuel injection to lift power output to 227kW and torque to 370Nm. GM expects the Cadillac CTS saloon will carry a $75,000 price tag when it hits Australian showroom floors.  

The super-hot CTS-V is the king of the Cadillac hill — and claimed to be the world's fastest four-door sedan. Still, the key is the engine: a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic directing power to the rear wheels. The bottom line is 410kW and 745Nm. Unfortunately, all that engineering has left little room for a right-hand drive conversion that would bring it to Australia.  “When we put the 6.2-litre V8 engine in and the supercharger plumbing on it, we ran out of real estate,” General Motors product boss Bob Lutz says. Its mechanical package includes magnetic ride control for the suspension, Brembo six-piston disc brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tyres. But Lutz, always the optimist, believes there is potential for Holden Special Vehicles to tweak a go-faster CTS for Australia. “Talk to HSV. I'm sure they will whomp up something,” he says. Pick up the phone, HSV.

The Australian new-car market will soon see the Cadillac badge return to showrooms, but an event in Adelaide next week will refresh our Cadillac memories. While the reintroduction of Cadillac - it was last sold here between 1960 and 1973 - will begin with the CTS sedan in the last quarter of this year, more than 100 older Cadillacs will arrive here tomorrow for the Cadillac and LaSalle Nationals. More than two dozen pre-1930 and at least 40 Cadillacs with some of the biggest fins yet seen on a car will be here until Tuesday. The biennial event will be based in the Barossa Valley. National Cadillac Club of Australia SA branch president Ian Robertson says; it is the first time in the club's 31-year history to have entries from every Australian state and territory for the Cadillac Escape. “The event promises to be one of the largest gatherings of Cadillacs ever seen in Australia,” he says. The event also has confirmed entrants from the U.S., Canada, Britain and New Zealand. Activities include a car show at the Australian National Motor Museum, Birdwood, and a drive to the top of the Barossa Valley's highest point for panoramic photos. Mr Robertson says a wide variety of Cadillacs will be at the event. “The cars range from the 1905 Model F Tourer, through to a 1994 Eldorado Touring Coupe,” he says. “In between, there will be the elegant 1920s models, the Art Deco models of the '30s and '40s, the giant fins of the '50s and '60s and to the utter opulence of the Fleetwood d'Elegance models of the '80s.”  

DETROIT: While they may or may not end up in driveways, there were plenty of vehicles turning heads at this week's North American International Auto Show, including Hyundai's new luxury sedan, a Cadillac coupe, Chrysler's green concept cars and a hybrid Toyota pickup.Slumping US car sales did not slow down the action at the grandaddy of the car show circuit, where car makers introduced more than 50 production and concept models in three media preview days. High fuel prices did not play much of a role, either. For every plug-in hybrid or fuel-cell concept, there was a 620 horsepower Chevrolet Corvette or a brand new full-sized sport utility vehicle from Kia. Chrysler promoted a tiny electric concept car as well as the full-sized Dodge Ram, which made a grand entrance alongside 120 longhorn cattle.“The overriding theme was that there was no theme,” says Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, the car buyers' guide.Car makers put a head-spinning variety of fuel-efficient technologies in cars at every price range. There was the $US80,000 ($91,000) Fisker Karma, a plug-in electric hybrid sports car with Maserati good looks that can travel 80km on a single charge. BYD, one of four Chinese car makers at the show, unveiled a plug-in hybrid sedan that will go on sale in China for under $US30,000 this year. Ford introduced EcoBoost, a direct injection, turbocharged engine which it says will improve fuel economy by 20 per cent. Even Ferrari unveiled an ethanol-capable F430 Spider.Diesel engines, which are about 30 per cent more efficient than their petrol counterparts, made a big comeback now that cleaner diesel fuel allows them to meet emissions standards in all 50 US states. BMW unveiled its first diesel-powered vehicles for the US market, the 335d coupe and X5 xDrive35d sport utility vehicle. Audi showed a 500 horsepower diesel super car concept, the Audi R8 V12 TDI, which can go from zero to 90km/h in 4.2 seconds. Daimler offered a diesel option on its GLK compact sport utility vehicle, among others.But diesels were not limited to German car makers. Toyota announced it would soon offer a diesel V-8 in the Tundra pickup and the Sequoia SUV, while Honda said it would put a diesel engine in its Acura sedan in 2010. Chrysler put a diesel hybrid in its Jeep Renegade concept vehicle, while General Motors has a diesel engine in its Saturn Flextreme plug-in concept car.David Champion, the senior director of Consumer Reports' Auto Test Centre, says diesel used to connote pollution and big trucks. He is eager to see if clean diesel has changed that perception, and if US consumers will choose diesel even though it is no cheaper than petrol.“Whether the marketplace is going to endorse diesels remains to be seen,” he says.Other car makers met demands for more fuel-efficient vehicles by downsizing. The Hummer HX concept, a Jeep-like offroad vehicle with a removable roof, would be the smallest Hummer ever if it is made. Toyota's A-BAT concept is the Prius version of a pickup, with a hybrid powertrain and a 1.3m bed. Land Rover unveiled the compact three-door LRX concept, while parent Ford showed the Ford Explorer America concept, a reworking of its phenomenally popular SUV that uses a unibody frame — rather than the traditional truck frame — to save fuel and give the vehicle a more car-like ride.“Explorer has been such an important model for them over the years. Taking that in an inventive direction that's still true to the Explorer name could be a big success for them,” Nerad says.Ford also got kudos for the eye-popping design of its Verve concept, which showed what Ford's subcompact may look like when it hits the US market in 2010.“Here's your proof that good design doesn't cost any more than bad design, but it makes all the difference in the world in terms of buzz,” Global Insight car analyst Aaron Bragman says of the Verve.Other cars generating serious buzz were the Cadillac CTS coupe, a sharp-looking, two-door concept that many analysts agreed was a highlight of the show, and the posh Hyundai Genesis sedan.Hyundai hopes Genesis will help it compete with other luxury makers when it goes on sale this year for just under $US40,000, but analysts aren't sure the bet will pay off, saying the Hyundai name means great value but not luxury. “You don't sell Mercedes-Benz and BMW because they're great value. You sell them because of the cachet and the image,” Bragman says. 

Caddy’s back, and with any luck, its full-on flagship CTS-V will follow the standard sedan to our shores this year. Think of this CTS-V as a Holden Commodore V-Series, with a few bits of HSV thrown in for good measure. But the CTS-V makes 101kW more than anything from our HSV… It features a 410kW 6.2L supercharged LSA V8, which pounds out 745Nm of torque. This is kept in check by a new stability control system which regulates torque at individual driven wheels – though if you want to rip rubber from your rears, it can be switched off. It also features the HSV GTS’s Magnetic Ride suspension (MRC). But in contrast to our manually-laboured Holdens, the Caddy features a light and efficient paddle-shift six-speed automatic, which hints at a new automatic option on the next HSV and Holden Commodore… The V-Series Caddy has been confirmed for launch in the fourth quarter of America, and will be exported to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We’re next in line… either for the CTS-V, or the LSA engine for our own Commodores.

General Motors Holden will launch the Cadillac CTS sedan next year. GM Holden boss Chris Gubbey made the announcement in Melbourne yesterday, adding a third top-end marque to GMH's growing imported portfolio, alongside Hummer and Saab. GMH hope the CTS will lure buyers away from the more expensive version of the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 when it arrives here towards the end of 2008. The Cadillac is expected to cost more than $90,000. The CTS will be powered by a version of the 3.6-litre V6 used in Holden's VE Commodore. One of the world's great names in luxury motoring, Cadillac was first imported to Australia in 1909. The first local models were built by GM at the Woodville plant in South Australia in 1930. Official production stopped after World War II but a small number of models were imported by independent retailers into the late 1980s. Cadillac will be sold under the GM Premium Brand with Saab and Hummer through yet-to-be determined outlets. “Cadillac is luxury performance,” GM Premium director Parveen Batish said yesterday. “The brand is undergoing a renaissance, driven by a new generation of vehicles, dramatic design and technical innovation. “While it has an undeniable heritage, Cadillac has entered a new phase with a very clearly defined global strategy.” The CTS was named the 2008 car of the year by US magazine Motor Trend two weeks ago.  

Millions of dollars worth of history's finest cars of all shapes and sizes will go for auction this weekend at the close of the Australian International Motor Show.All eyes will be on the 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III, which is expected to sell between $600,000 and $800,000 with the value of Aussie muscle cars going through the roof.This could set a record price paid at auction for a Phase III, the previous sitting at $683,650.“It's one of the nicest Phase IIIs we've ever had on offer,” Shannons national auctions manager Christophe Boribon says. It features racing legend Allan Moffat's signature on the glove box.While seems like a lot of money for a car, it's an old number plate that is expected to be the biggest seller of the event. Organisers believe the No.6 plate will attract $1 million-$1.5 million.A 1929 Hudson Super 6 'Model L' Dual-Cowl Phaeton has a range of $100,000 to $140,000.A classic 1972 LJ Torana XU-1 Sedan is expected to be sold for $85,000 to $100,000.For '50s style, try a pink 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Seville “Cool 57” Custom (LHD). Restored in 87 days, it's priced at $70,000 to $100,000.But it's not just the big cars going under the hammer. A 1929 Austin Seven Wasp Sports is up for grabs, expecting to attract $10,000 to $15,000.The auction starts at 2pm on Sunday at the Australian International Motor Show; dont miss out.How much do you think the Falcon GTHO Pase III will go for?  

They are some of the questions, among others, many Australians who still buy the “local hero” tag Holden promotes, would like to be answered.