Cadillac gets glamorous

Cadillac has revealed two teaser images of a heavily chiseled concept car that is expected to preview a new design direction for both the GM premium brand and its all-new brand flagship at the Detroit Motor Show in January.

These two heavily stylised design sketches were shown during a media event on the eve of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California over the weekend – the same event Cadillac chose to debut its wild four-door Ciel convertible concept last year.

No information was provided with the renderings, but Cadillac’s Director of Advanced Design, Clay Dean, told Automotive News the concept will see the brand: “reflect back not for nostalgia, but what made us great at the time”, and indicated it could point to a new design direction he described as: “American glamour meets American technology”.

Mr Dean also said Cadillac is developing 10 new or upgraded models to be released over the next three years, with seven of GM’s 16 North American design studios currently working on Cadillac products.

It’s believed three new Cadillac models will be launched next year, including the redesigned 2014 CTS large sedan, a production version of the ELR Coupe plug-in hybrid concept and the next-generation Escalade SUV, following this year’s launch of the all-new BMW 3 Series-sized ATS sports sedan.

These renderings appear to show a large luxury sedan rather than any of these vehicles, given it bears no resemblance to the concept version of the ELR seen previously or the new CTS that has been spied in the US in recent months, and the fact it most certainly is not an SUV.

Cadillac revealed in May that a new flagship model will be part of its global expansion plans, making it likely to be an all-new model positioned above the new XTS large luxury sedan to rival the likes of BMW’s 7 Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which will itself be renewed next year.

When Cadillac showed the 5174mm-long Ciel, which rides on a lengthy 3175mm wheelbase and was developed at GM’s North Hollywood Design Center, at Pebble Beach last year, Mr Dean said the car’s all-new chassis architecture will be used for other Cadillac models.

“We wouldn’t be showing it if we didn’t have any intentions of doing anything with it,” he said at the time when asked about a production version of the top-shelf convertible.

For what it’s worth, the all-wheel drive four-seat Ciel, which means ‘sky’ in French, featured suicide rear doors and was powered by a twin-turbocharged version of Holden’s direct-injection 3.6-litre Global V6, aided by an electric motor using a lithium-ion battery pack to deliver total outputs of 317kW and 583Nm.

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