GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Cadillac confirms next SUV

Cadillac has used the Geneva motor show to confirm it will grow its SUV line-up by three more models before the end of the decade. And the first arrives in 2018 in the shape of the Audi Q3-rivalling XT4.

The global boss of General Motors’ luxury brand, Johan de Nysschen, also revealed a total of five new models would be revealed over the next two years as it ramps up its plan to take on the German heavyweights Audi, Benz and BMW.

But while de Nysschen had a strong new product story to tell, the timing for the commitment to right-hand drive (RHD) and an Australian launch remains in the early 2020s.

“We will have about a two-year window early in the next decade where we will be able to synchronise the expansion of our portfolio in a relatively short space of time and embrace more right-hand drive,” de Nysschen said.

“So [launch in Australia] is not on the immediate time horizon, but very much part of the future gameplan.”

De Nysschen continued: “We have no particular year in mind [for launch in Australia]. We must always bear in mind the cost of entry into new markets and, really, our near-term focus is on the investment into the new products, technologies and developing our major volume markets.”

De Nysschen made it clear that the roll-out of new and overhauled models over the next few years had to be completed before the brand took on right-hand drive markets. And the first RHD destination would be the UK.

He explained that the rush of upcoming new models were designed to be manufactured in right as well as left-hand drive.

“What we are doing with our new products is developing them so they are right-hand drive enabled, so the idea if we… do decide to enter a market such as Australia we would be able to give a dealer network a full showroom rather than one model at a time, because that is not feasible,” de Nysschen said.

“Right-hand drive is a key is a key requirement to be a high-profile brand in Europe and you simply cannot do that if you don’t enter the UK market.

“Once you entered the UK market, obviously you have unlocked the first big hurdle for entry into some of the right-hand drive markets; Japan, Australia, South Arica are just a few that spring to mind.”

De Nysschen gave some broad information about the XT4, which is the little brother to the Audi Q5-rivalling XT5 (pictured). He also explained why Cadillac had confirmed the car more than a year ahead of sale.

“To be candid, we started seeing online reports of the prototypes undergoing testing and being mis-named,” de Nysschen explained.

“So before that went too far we thought we’d better fix it because we have no other model in that space. We’d rather have people understanding the correct positioning for that car from the get-go.

“It [XT4] does fall into that [Q3] segment, but Cadillac has a positioning strategy generally that our cars… [They] tend to be a little bit larger than the average set of the competition in terms of physical dimensions.

“So just as XT5 is a little bigger than Q5, so we can expect XT4 will follow a similar line with a really excellent interior. For many people it will be a very feasible alternative even from a segment up,” he stated.