Rear-Wheel Drive Cadillac Flagship Sedan Approved

      With the Cadillac STS and DTS no longer in production, there has been a lot of speculation on what the automaker would bring in as its next flagship. Well today, GM Inside News received information from sources close to product planners at General Motors that Cadillac has given the green light for a flagship sedan based on a new, rear-wheel drive platform.

The report states that the platform is referred to internally as Omega and will likely be a larger offshoot of the Zeta architecture that currently underpins the Chevy Camaro and a number of vehicles in Holden’s lineup. The new Cadillac has a target launch date of anywhere from 2015 to 2017.

The news is in line with statements made by Cadillac’s Global Marketing Director James R. Vurpillat who spoke with Ward’s a few months ago about the upcoming XTS sedan. The XTS, expected to launch shortly as a replacement for the STS and the DTS, will likely receive all-wheel drive with a choice of a V6 and V8 engine. But Vurpillat stated that the XTS would likely be a temporary replacement until Cadillac produces a more proper and larger flagship sedan. “Our priority is to get the main segments covered,” Vurpillat said, “Then we can start thinking of cars in the S-Class and 7 Series range. I’d like to have a car like the concept Cadillac Sixteen.”

The CTS, SRX and Escalade have proven to be legitimate competitors in their respective segments, but Cadillac hasn’t had a true player when it comes to large luxury sedans. A proper rear-wheel drive flagship sedan seems like a no-brainer and it couldn’t come soon enough.

Source: GM Inside News

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Cadillac Station Wagon Out-Muscles Your Car.

Each one of Cadillac’s lineup of CTS-V flagships are the automotive equivalent of a 9-pound hammer, vehicles of such brutal power and felonious fuel economy they make gearheads cheer, environmentalists scream and small children cry.

Every one of them is big and mean, with an engine two sizes too large and a blatant disregard for fuel efficiency. They are exactly the kind of cars self-righteous idiots point to while denouncing Detroit and General Motors as being hopelessly out of touch.

They can all get stuffed. The weapons-grade version of the CTS wagon is an insanely fun, absurdly fast and remarkably refined vehicle, quite capable of running with the best European cars.

We’ve known Cadillac could dish out some serious hurt since 2009, when the CTS-V sedan elbowed its way through the crowd like a belligerent drunk and delivered a beating to almost anything that crossed its path. The sedan begat a coupe so potent it prompted Cadillac’s return to racing. But General Motors didn’t stop there.

Someone at GM decided that what the world really needs is a CTS-V Wagon because, you know, a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 good for 556 horsepower is just what you need for running to Costco.

Which, by the way, is exactly what I did with it the first day I had it.

The car GM sent me was as red as the devil with a face just as mean. The V is all creases and angles, with a leering grille and a linebacker’s stance. It’s so masculine it all but drips testosterone. I got in to find a proper manual transmission, with six speeds and three pedals. I could swear I heard a trumpet fanfare.

Six gears are superfluous when you’ve got enough torque for your car and the two behind you. It simply doesn’t matter what gear you’re in when you’ve got 550 foot-pounds of the stuff, which is more than a Lamborghini Aventador, by the way.

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