Cadillac’s all-new, full-size sedan will bow at the 2015 New York auto show, but its name remains a mystery. Although we previously reported that the rear-wheel-drive four-door will go by the name LTS, a spokesman told Car and Driver this week, “that may not be what it’s called.”
GM trademarked LTS back in 2012, and we took that as a sign that the moniker was earmarked for Cadillac’s next car, as the company rarely reserves names without using them. Yet the spokesman indicated that executives are currently involved in some corporate soul-searching regarding the brand’s naming strategy as they add new models to compete with the expansive lineups of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Johan de Nysschen, the man who renamed the entire Infiniti lineup for 2014, started his job as Cadillac president on August 18. Don’t expect this new car to be named Fleetwood or de Ville, though. And let’s hope it doesn’t get the QTS moniker. Whatever the outcome, it’s likely that Cadillac will continue to contribute its share to the alphabet soup that has garbled the entire luxury auto industry.
Spy shots of the large Caddy (shown above) reveal that it won’t be as dramatic or as striking as the 2013 Cadillac Elmiraj concept (shown at the top). Instead, expect a traditional large sedan similar in style to the CTS. The full-size Cadillac will be the first car built on GM’s new Omega architecture and will offer the option of either rear- or all-wheel drive. We expect an eight-speed automatic will swap gears for a twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V-6, which makes 420 horsepower in the CTS Vsport. A small-block V-8 and a less powerful six-cylinder variant are also possibilities.
- Instrumented Test: 2014 Cadillac XTS Vsport Twin-Turbo V-6
- Long-Term Test Intro: 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport
- Cadillac ATS Research: Prices, Photos, Specs, Reviews, and More
Although sales volumes of cars this large are typically inconsequential (outside of China and the Middle East), Cadillac execs hope that building a competitor to the BMW 7-series, the Mercedes-Benz S-class, and the Audi A8 will elevate the brand’s image in the eyes of luxury-car buyers.
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