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2015 Cadillac ATS Revealed Early
by
Derek Kreindler
(IC: employee)
Published: June 26th, 2014
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A behind the scenes video posted by a production company shows some minor tweaks to the Cadillac ATS. The biggest one being the new front grille/badge, shared with the ATS Coupe.
Although no mechanical changes are expected, someone at the production house is going to be changing jobs very soon, thanks to this slip-up.
Derek Kreindler
More by Derek Kreindler
Published June 26th, 2014 2:01 PM
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I'll say one thing, you guys have this tag team act cold. I guess one man's glory-days/ain't-what-they-used-to-be is another man's stuck-in-the-past. The funny thing is, I always thought of Cadillac as like a stodgy (if not affluent) old persons' car. Now that they're innovating and trying to change with the times evidently they suck for doing it. So they need to go back to building overweight aircraft carriers with handling to match, that needed big V8s just to get out of their own way. Ok, I got it now, thanks to all for enlightening me.
Kenmore, I think you're retrospective analysis is bang on, and I never for a second disputed that Cadillac/GM has legacy issues to overcome. I just don't think that whatever approach they take to try and dig out of that hole is ever going to be good enough for the haters. The ATS is a well engineered driving maching but it's too small and not powerful enough - The CTS is bigger and plenty powerful but it's not a "real" Cadillac (whatever THAT is) - and on it goes... I have a theory too - that Cadillac can't go back to what it once was, and can't (in the current market anyway) compete as a "me too" luxury brand. Maybe they need to forge an entirely new identity to be successful once again, and maybe they actually know that- but continuing to judge their efforts based on past culture and expectations seems to me an exercise in futility. But like they say, haters gonna hate.
I agree with: 'The effort to transform Cadillac into a credible competitor against the likes of Audi and BMW is commendable, but misguided. Cadillac always has – and always will be – a purely American commodity. The only reason Europeans were drawn to Cadillacs in the first place was that they were once an unabashed and completely unapologetic representation of American luxury motoring.' .. but there's no chance that Caddy could chase RR .. !?! Previous CTS is the best they did in the last decade(attractive oryginal A&S design: sedan and coupe .. no cabrio, though + good engines) .. and they should fallow this path.. Escalade is a nice 'one of a kind'(full-size) 'hash-mobile' .. and XLR was quite brave design.. Unfortunatelly new CTS looks gaudy and messy , the same with 'blunt-looking' ATS .. They should go global(not 'global product'!) with niche 'american' Cadillac .. (it would be also nice, if Ford would put some money into Lincoln and bring it back to life ..)
Look, this is a largely subjective argument and as such the side with more matching opinions wins - so you guys win. I've already acknowledged that the sales numbers are bad, but apart from that the argument I'm hearing is nebulous and unfocused - You keep moving the goalpost around, all the while pining for the good old days and making meaningless statements like "that's not a Cadillac". Here's a news flash - nobody's buying the kind of cars Cadillac used to make - and no one wants them anymore (well, except for a dozen or so people on this website) So the question then becomes, where does Cadillac go from here? Perhaps a little effort towards understanding their target audience. The ultra-wealthy, the "1%", don't buy Cadillacs - never did, never will, so we can focus on the single-digit millionaires (7 figure net worth) and the upper middle class in general. These people are not old money, they mostly built their financial portfolio the old fashioned way - they pursued a lucrative career, started a successful business, maybe climbed the corporate ladder, etc. You don't build a really good financial situation for yourself without being (somewhat) disciplined and pragmatic. If you think most of these people don't care about boring things like fuel economy and (for some) having a car that's easy(er) to park and maneuver on urban streets, you'd be wrong. Most moderately successful people - the kind who can comfortably afford to drop 70K on a car - don't want the biggest, most ostentatious thing they can find. And yes there is research and data to support this, I can dig it up if you want, but I'll simply point you to a book titled "The Millionaire Next Door" (it's research-based, not just an opinion piece). My point is, people who care about "image" and "prestige" are going to buy a Merc, BMW, or Audi. Period. It's the way the world is right now. They're not going to buy a Cadillac, even if it's an ATS with a wet bar and sofa in the back and an LT4 shoehorned into it. Add to that the fact that the brand is trying to climb out of a hole that took GM multiple decades to dig. One more time: I'm NOT saying they're doing everything right by any means, but Cadillac is facing headwinds that have absolutely nothing to do with the calibre of their current offerings - if you can't see that then you're missing the big picture. Peace to all.