Gone are the days when a luxury manufacturer could get by with just a handful of different product lines. These days, high-line makers are racing to fill in all the white spaces they can think of. Just think BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
And while Cadillac officials say they won’t try to match their German competitors model for model, General Motors’ flagship brand is well aware that it, too, needs to expand what has been, in recent years, a fairly narrow line-up.
A number of new products have been launched of late, the new Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid and CTS sedan just the latest. But you can bet there are more on the horizon – including an all-new coupe version of the compact Caddy ATS that, we’re hearing, should make its debut at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show less than two months from now.
Cadillac has traditionally had some strong coupes in its line-up, like the legendary Eldorado models of old. In recent years, it’s been a more mixed bag, however. The 2-door XLR roadster was a flop and though the CTS Coupe received strong praise for its cutting-edge design it never translated into big sales.
(Cadillac ready to launch new ELR; other battery models under study. Click Here for the full story.)
Whether we’ll see another coupe sharing the all-new 2014 CTS platform remains to be seen but, according to Edmunds, development of an ATS-based coupe is in its final stages. That suggests the 2-door will be ready to join the line-up in 2015.
The data-tracking service reports that the ATS Coupe will share the same basic driveline options as the compact sedan, meaning a choice of either a 2.5-liter inline-four, a 2.0-liter turbo or a 3.6-liter V-6. TheDetroitBureau.com’s own sources suggest that the coupe would also be ripe to receive both the V-Sport package and, when available, the planned ATS V-Series driveline, most likely based on the same V-6 Twin Turbo powertrain that drives the 2014 Cadillac CTS V-Sport.
(2014 Cadillac CTS named Motor Trend Car of the Year. Click Here for details.)
Caddy seems determined to add more emotion to its line-up even as it somewhat softens the sharp edges and folds of its Art & Science design language – as we’ve seen with the latest iteration of the CTS. Perhaps the boldest new model in the line-up, in fact, is the ELR, a 2-door extended-range electric vehicle sharing the same basic drivetrain as the Chevrolet Volt – but not much else.
Then there’s the Elmiraj, the wildly popular concept coupe that made its debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance last August – and which Cadillac is seriously considering as a new flagship rather than going the traditional route of opting for a top-of-the-line sedan, ala the BMW 7-Series or Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
“I’d like to see it in showrooms as soon as possible,” Cadillac’s global marketing chief Bob Ferguson told TheDetroitBureau.com during a recent interview. While the exec wouldn’t offer specific details or timing, he broadly hinted that Elmiraj “wasn’t made just to be a concept car,” adding that, “It was made to be operationalized.”
Could it be possible that Cadillac might soon offer as many coupes as sedans? It’s beginning to look that way – though the maker also has plans in the works to expand its SUV and CUV line-up, as well.
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I myself prefer hand-stitching when I need to be operationalized.