Cadillac Prepping XT4 Production on the Sly at Kansas City's Malibu Plant

by Matt Posky

Published: January 9th, 2018

cadillac prepping xt4 production on the sly at kansas city s malibu plant

General Motors is tooling one of its car plants to build the svelte new Cadillac crossover that’s aimed at fixing the luxury brand’s sales slump in the United States. However, GM is keeping quiet on the move as the XT4’s future hasn’t been officially announced. However, insiders have claimed the automaker has already begun production on test versions of the Cadillac XT4 at its assembly plant in Kansas City.

Cadillac deliveries fell 8 percent last year in the United States and, as crossovers seem to be the sure-fire remedy for every automaker seeking sales, the XT4 could be a godsend. That blessing isn’t isolated to North America either. Adding the more-affordable crossover to the company’s Chinese lineup is equally important.

Chinese shoppers, who seem to really dig luxury nameplates like Cadillac and Buick, likely won’t mind seeing another model added to the mix. However, in the domestic market, Cadillac genuinely needs to bolster is non-sedan offerings. Presently, the only utilities available stateside are the XT5 and Escalade.

The production location, while technically still a secret, is not a surprise. The XT4 uses similar underpinnings as the Chevrolet Malibu, which is also built at GM’s Fairfax Assembly in Kansas. With the automaker slowing down sedan production last year, it makes good sense to assign the luxury crossover to that location. Through the first five months of 2017, Malibu sales were down 30 percent, falling nearly three times faster than the segment as a whole.

However, there were still 185,857 Malibus sold in the United States last year. At that volume, General Motors knows it can’t outright replace the sedan. But it can offset costs by sharing factory space with the XT4.

[Source: Bloomberg] [Image: General Motors]

#2019CadillacXT4 #Cadillac #CadillacXT4 #Crossovers #FairfaxAssembly #FutureVehicles #KansasCity #ProductPlanning #Production

Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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El scotto on Jan 09, 2018

The big DeVilles and Town Cars are dead as dodos.Blame CAFE,EPA, leases on European cars, and ungodly luxurious trucks and Lexus. People with money who want to humble brag buy a nicely loaded truck; Town Car = King Ranch crew cab, Caddy = Silverado Denali. Then some folks just get an LS and drive it for 10-15 years; its not like they change THAT much. Until GM can build the equivalent to Lexus LS, people with money aren't interested. Lincoln? Being the American Acura/Volvo should work just fine.

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- Vulpine on Jan 09, 2018
  
  They can be resurrected, el scotto, unlike people. I don't have to blame CAFE, EPA or leases on Euro cars, I can only blame the company that chose to cheap out and dodge the fines I'm quite sure the original Caddy owners would have gladly paid to keep their big cars coming. Pickup trucks with luxury doodads are nothing but the "poor man's Cadillac"; they're pretending to be what the Caddys were: pure luxury vehicles. I would rather go Type S than any existing Caddy and I would rather go Rolls or Bentley than any faux-lux pickup truck. I would rather drive my mother's old Sedan de Ville than drive ANY full sized pickup for its supposed luxury. Odds are I will be inheriting that car within the next few years. But I will NOT, ever, buy a modern, full sized pickup just to put on airs. The pickup truck I buy will be a working and sporting truck that makes no pretense towards luxury.
  
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- Highdesertcat on Jan 09, 2018
  
  A long time friend recently retired his Towncar and bought an F150 Platinum 4dr 4x4. First time he took me for a ride in it, the electric running board extended automatically when I opened the passenger door and connected with my shin bone. That hurt! We owned a 1992 Towncar Executive from 1992 until July 2008, but don't want to go back to them these days because cars and trucks today are just so much nicer and better. My wife's 2016 Sequoia is just nicer and roomier than any Towncar ever could be.
  
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- FreedMike on Jan 09, 2018
  
  @highdesertcat Town Cars are NOT all that...I had one as a rental in the late aughts and it was evident why the car died a few years later.
  
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- Highdesertcat on Jan 09, 2018
  
  @FreedMike We had pretty good service from my wife's Towncar for the years she used it to show real estate properties. It had mechanical problems, but back then I was able to do most of the work myself with the exception of AC. I ended up selling that Towncar to a young Airman who left the Air Force and used it to move back to South Carolina, where he still uses the car as a daily driver after all these years. After he bought the Towncar from us he told us that his dad owns two, his brother owns two and that his family is always looking to buy another Towncar. So there still are people who prefer them, if the price is right -- or until parts can no longer be found.
  
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- FreedMike on Jan 09, 2018
  
  @highdesertcat I can see the appeal for someone who wants to drive some big road boat into 500,000-mile decrepitude. Panthers are good for that mission. Problem is, the Town Car was a $50,000 luxury car, and people who buy $50,000 luxury cars could care less about that kind of thing. They generally don't want to keep a car more than a couple of years.
  
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FreedMike on Jan 09, 2018

I recently tried out an ATS just to see what the hate was all about, and you know what? As a driver's car, it's superb. Where it fails is in the details, particularly underneath the hood. The 2.0T is great on paper, and has plenty of power, but it sounds and feels unrefined. The instrument panel, which took a lot of heat four years ago for being cheap, is still cheap. The interior has lots of discordant styling touches. None of this is awful, but when you look at a C-class Benz right afterwards, you know why this car isn't selling. A Cadillac needs to feel like money, and contemporary ones don't, no matter how well they perform.

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- DeadWeight on Jan 09, 2018
  
  The Cadillac ATS is a massive POS and pile of unrefined garbage in the context of a 40k to 50k (even 32k) premium vehicle, and has typical General/Guangzhou Motors awful build quality, NVH traits, epicly bad interior material and gauges and switchgear... ...but it could have been acceptable, given its good chassis - lending itself to good handling characteristics - and good steering feel (it's two, sole, virtuous qualities) - as a next gen $22,999 base price Pontiac Grand Am (there are credible rumors that it was thus destined to be such prior to Pontiac's murder, in the midst of General/Guangzhou Motors bankruptcy).
  
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- FreedMike on Jan 09, 2018
  
  @DeadWeight No, it's not a massive POS. The one I drove was actually used, with almost 40,000 miles, and in many ways, it looked and felt almost new to me. This is NOT a poorly built car. Far from it. What it (and what every Cadillac aside from the Escalade) needs is a ton more polish in areas like the engine, and the interior. Like I said...they don't feel like money.
  
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- Sportyaccordy on Jan 10, 2018
  
  @FreedMike DW is nothing without froth mouthed hyperbole. GM spent money on all the wrong things. This is why Lincoln's quasi rebadges are outselling the whole Caddy Alpha lineup. A $50K Malibu based PHEV with swoopy styling and a high quality interior would have turned Caddy's fortunes around for a lot less money and would have been an offering much more relevant to the times.
  
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- NormSV650 on Jan 10, 2018
  
  @DeadWeight My 2013 ATS4 2.0T had over 87,000 miles and not even a stone chip on thr hood to be found. I thought it was repainted when I bought but it was just the best quality paint this side of Lexus. The ATS is quiet, solid like it was chisel from ingot and I really loved feeling the felt lined map holders in the door. Difficult to find any hard plastics as everything was padded. But it was a stiff ride with really high spring rates that would bounce your head to the roof. I loved tuning the stock, little turbo to 400 lb-ft of torque and with AWD it really would scoot from a stop.
  
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- DeadWeight on Jan 10, 2018
  
  @NormSV650 You should start a new auto tuner company called abNormal Trifecta Tuner Motors, using General/Guangzhou Motors' vehicles, particularly Buick clown car Encores, and made in China Envisions, and chip them to 480-horsepower/510 lbs feet of torque, while enabling them to achieve 78 mpg city/109 mpg highway, and give customers a completely free, bumper to bumper, completely comprehensive (every single part covered, from motor to the exterior to the tiniest screw or gasket) 500,000 mile/20 Year, $0 deductible warranty.
  
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