Against the backdrop of this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, Cadillac has pulled the wraps off two bold new models – its CTS Sport Wagon and the CRX crossover. The two cars mark a decade of Cadillac’s distinctive ‘Art and Science’ design theme – and they’re as edgy and creased as you’d expect.
Let’s talk about the Cadillac CTS estate first.
It’s the work of Cadillac’s global design director Clay Dean, and we reckon his team has done a pretty good job of incorporating the company’s distinctively edge look and feel with its neatly extended roofline and the way the V-shaped grille is reflected in the wedgy profile of the tailgate.
Although it’s fractionally shorter than the CTS saloon, it shares the saloon’s 2880mm wheelbase. The estate’s extended roofline and deep tailgate have created a generous 720-litres of luggage space. Those creases in the roof neatly hide a pair of roof rails, and the tailgate is powered and can be operated remotely from the keyfob.
Cadillac reckons the estate will appeal more here in Europe than the saloon, predicting a 60:40 sales split in favour of the load-lugger. It arrives early next year with the same drive and powertrain options – 211bhp 2.8-litre and 311 3.6-litre V6 engines – as the saloon. But with the 250bhp 2.9-litre V6 turbo diesel jointly developed with VM Motori still some way off, don’t expect the extended CTS family to bother the big German players.
Click ‘Next’ below to read about the Cadillac SRX crossover.
That SRX looks oddly familiar…
That’s because it’s a dead ringer for Cadillac’s Provoq fuel cell concept. And with that cliff-faced front end, stacked headlamps, generous helpings of chrome and heavily creased flanks, it’s unmistakably a Cadillac. It arrives next summer to replace the current SRX – and given the lacklustre appeal of that leviathan, it frankly couldn’t arrive sooner.
With seating for five, it certainly far more compact than the outgoing seven-seat SRX – good news with the current costs of fuel – and its thought to share the same chassis architecture as the Saab 9-4X, complete with full time four-wheel drive and a front strut and multi-link rear suspension heavily retuned for European tastes. It will share engines with the CTS family, which again means a long wait – and presumably minute sales in Europe – until decent diesel power arrives.
Excited by Cadillac’s latest cars? Click ‘Add your comment’ below and have your say.