Cadillac's CT6 Isn't As Dead As You Thought
General Motors’ future passenger car lineup might not be as threadbare as initially thought. After sparking continent-wide hair pulling with its decision to shutter three assembly plants and cull six car models in the process, it seems the most prestigious vehicle of the bunch might live on after its plant goes dark.
The Cadillac CT6, which first hit U.S. sales charts in March of 2016, isn’t officially dead. It seems GM didn’t get its story straight back in late November, as Caddy’s flagship sedan might live on with another home base.
The news comes by way of Automotive News, which cornered GM President Mark Reuss and Cadillac President Steve Carlisle to get the straight dope on the big Caddy’s fate. GM builds the CT6 alongside the Chevrolet Impala, Volt, and Buick LaCrosse at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, which has less than five months left before workers vacate the building, perhaps for good.
Reuss and Carlisle said both GM and Cadillac are working on keeping the CT6 alive after Detroit-Hamtramck dries up on June 1st, even if it means sourcing the sedan from China, where GM (through a joint venture) builds them for Chinese customers. For obvious reasons, Carlisle said he’d rather not bring the sedan over from the Orient.
Where CT6 production might move in the U.S. remains to be seen, but that’s the top-ranked plan for now. Michigan’s Orion Assembly, which may lose the Chevrolet Sonic this year, exists as a possibility, though one gets the feeling GM has loftier, non-ICE plans for that space, which is also home to the Chevrolet Bolt. There’s also the more promising Lansing Grand River plant, which loses the Cadillac ATS and CTS this year.
Scrapping the CT6 seemed like a rash decision, given its newness and the emergence of a new 4.2-liter twin-turbo V8 for use in the 2019 CT6-V, but Carlisle claims the company never actually admitted to the model’s discontinuation. It didn’t communicate things in a great manner, either.
While CT6 customers won’t want for product for the remainder of the year (GM said previously that inventory should last through 2019), they’ll definitely have a hard time finding a CT6-V. According to Motor Authority, GM confirmed that its 2019 production run of 275 units was sold out minutes after pre-orders opened on Monday. The super-sedan, which boasts 550 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque, stickers for $88,790.
Customers can still order a CT6 with a detuned version of the Blackwing V8, this one offering 500 horses, but it won’t come with the same external trappings as its V-badged sibling. As for the nameplate itself, the CT6’s fate should become clear by the time contract negotiations between GM and the UAW wrap up in September.
Sales of the Cadillac CT6 fell 8.3 percent in 2018.
[Images: General Motors, © 2018 Chris Tonn/TTAC]
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This isn't new. My 2010 CTS had "Made in China" all over the wiring harness, the aluminum wheels, and a lot of other places. The number of CT6 I see in the "right Towns" is miniscule. I mean literally less than the number of McLaren I see in the wild. When Ferrari is more common than CT6, the end result is that it just doesn't sell. Period. No one will care where it is made. A Cadillac assembled in China ? It isn't sudden change as much as creep. Cadillac is the very last of the three year rinse and repeat car makers. They have a cohort who can afford it, and wants the new ones...so they make them survive the first owner-once the new wears off, the target gets a new lease. Cadillac does not care or countenance the second owner, unlike say the Germans who rely on new and CPO sales, and have to rate well in the TUV "pass rate" stats. (stringent inspections). This lets Cadillac build cheap and warranty the first owner. I repeat. Not a single buyer will care where the car is made. When I replaced the front end links, they were OE GM and Made in Korea. The good oil filters were made in Poland (and sold under three different aftermarket brands, no less). The coils, etc were from Asia. The spark plugs were my favorite...big Red White and Blue AC Delco. On the back, in small black block letters, "Made in Germany". The days the bearings were from Dayton, the seats from Missouri, the electrics from PA, and the glass from NY, are long, long gone.
Well, looks like the CT6 is officially DEAD: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/25/cadillac-expects-record-global-sales-in-2020-flagship-ct6-sedan-dead.html I will say the SuperCruise in the car is awesome- not to mention that I only paid $55K for a Platinum model (2018) with only 7K miles was a winner!