Art and Science Dead? Cadillac Design Concept Will Debut Wearing Curves In Monterey

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Cadillac will introduce a new design concept this coming Thursday during California’s Monterey Car Week.

At 10:45 p.m. EST on Thursday, August 18, Cadillac will debut a car the company says, “will feature an array of curved OLED screens, co-developed with LG Electronics.”

Cadillac has stayed relatively true to the edgy themes of 1999’s Evoq Concept for nearly two decades. But that theme, Paul Snyder, chair of the Transportation Design Department at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies, told Automotive News last January, has softened. “It’s gotten more artistic and less scientific,” Snyder says.

Could the curved OLED screens Cadillac describes in the company’s 65-word press release portend a new design direction for Cadillac? There’s no time like the present.

Once the standard of the world, Cadillac is now suffering from declining sales in its home market. Globally, Cadillac sales declined 1.5 percent to fewer than 130,000 units through the first-half of 2016 as the company’s transition from its SRX best seller into the new XT5 impaired growth. (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus all sold more than 150,000 new vehicles during the same period in the United States alone.)

When asked for further detail on the Monterey concept’s design direction and stature, Cadillac responded with a no. “We’ll have full information following the reveal on Thursday,” Cadillac’s product and technology spokesperson, Donny Nordlicht, told TTAC.

Cadillac’s Nordlicht did confirm, however, that the automaker will introduce the Monterey design concept at a private event before it’s put on display all weekend long.

Cadillac has not introduced a concept since it revealed the Elmiraj three years ago.

This year’s Cadillac event can be streamed at Facebook.com/Cadillac on Thursday night. Cadillac’s video preview is viewable below.

Timothy Cain
Timothy Cain

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  • Speedlaw Speedlaw on Aug 17, 2016

    Today, on the Bear Mountain Parkway near Harriman State Park, NY I saw a small Caddy CUV go by. It was a quick view only and there is nowhere to turn around so I couldn't get the spyshot. It was NOT an SRX or XT5. It was definitely very new and I thought pretty in the six seconds I saw it.....

  • Sgeffe Sgeffe on Aug 20, 2016

    This dash is a bit much!

  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
  • Merc190 A CB7 Accord with the 5 cylinder
  • MRF 95 T-Bird Daihatsu Copen- A fun Kei sized roadster. Equipped with a 660cc three, a five speed manual and a retractable roof it’s all you need. Subaru Levorg wagon-because not everyone needs a lifted Outback.
  • Merc190 I test drive one of these back in the day with an automatic, just to drive an Alfa, with a Busso no less. Didn't care for the dash design, would be a fun adventure to find some scrapped Lancia Themas or Saab 900's and do some swapping to make car even sweeter. But definitely lose the ground effects.
  • MRF 95 T-Bird These 164s, as documented by its owner have to be constantly sorted, as they say. They are nice drivers. I’d rather find a, under the 25 year rule nice and easier to deal with Type 916 Alfa Romeo GTV/Spyder.
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