Everything But The Car: Here's The New Cadillac XT5
If you looked into the Manhattan skyline last night, you may have caught a glimpse of Cadillac’s newest crossover flying through the air like a Swiss cow airlifted out of the Alps.
That was for fashion writers to see the car’s style (and aerodynamic properties?) and to announce Cadillac’s new partnership with design firm Public School, an Austin, Texas-based studio that’s probably hopelessly cool.
The car didn’t touch the ground, no one drove it, its powertrain is still somewhat of a mystery, and here’s why (via AdAge):
Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus said the goal is to gain the attention of fashionistas, rather than cater to car buffs, auto journalists and other petrolheads. Because in his view, younger customers are less interested in the technical details of cars, and don’t read car magazines as often as they used to. But “they are very interested in fashion. They are very interested in design,” he said.
As we know already, the XT5 will make its first world appearance in Dubai at Public School’s fashion event, before the car makes its way to Los Angeles for the auto show reveal.
That’s where we’ll learn if the car, built on the new Chi platform, has four or six cylinders, turbos or not, front- or all-wheel drive, Super Cruise or telekinesis. Basically, what we’re saying is, there’s not a lot we know about this car other than it has some quotient of “style” and can be airlifted.
Only a few months into Cadillac’s residency in New York City, and it seems like the brand is running as far away from Detroit as it can.
More by Aaron Cole
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OK I'm going to be politically incorrect here. Fashionista = chick car. Which makes sense to me, because I'm guessing most SUV/CUVs are bought primarily for and by women.
Selling upmarket cars to people who don't care about cars is the END GAME of an established luxury mark. Cadillac has not come to terms with its current reality and continues to stumble blindly around the ring. The financial, automotive, and style worlds will step in and deliver a coup de gras soon; its going to leave the most cynical of us a little sickened, the rest of us wishing we hadn't seen it.