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Cadillac abandons plans for six-digit flagship sedan

So much for that party. Cadillac has announced that it is walking away from plans to build a high-dollar, rear-wheel-drive ultraluxury sedan. The low-volume model would have been based on the lusty Ciel Concept, and the production iteration would have carried a price tag well over $100,000. Executives with the automaker reportedly claim the model wouldn't have bolstered the brand enough to be worth the investment.
Even so, Automotive News reports Cadillac is still on track to build a range-topping four-door to go head-to-head with the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. That model will likely be constructed on the company's upcoming Omega rear-wheel-drive platform, but we won't see it bow until at least 2016. Right now, the front-wheel-drive XTS sits at the top of the Cadillac lineup, and while that machine and it's twin-turbocharged V6 variant makes a compelling argument against certain luxury entries, it falls short serving as a legitimate competitor for the likes of the 7 Series and S-Class for enthusiast drivers.

Why Cadillac thinks it needs to succeed in Europe to sell cars elsewhere

Ward's Auto has taken an interesting look at the renewed focus General Motors is showing towards Cadillac in Europe. Susan Docherty, president and managing director of Chevrolet and Cadillac in Europe (pictured), says in order for the luxury brand to thrive in China, it first needs to succeed in the old country. The reason? Chinese buyers look to Europe for cues as to what's deemed worthy of the term "luxury." There are hurdles to the plan, however. In addition to the fact that the EU is flooded with high-end nameplates, GM doesn't necessarily have the distribution network in place to put buyers behind the wheel.
Combine that with persistent economic woes and Cadillac's checkered past marred by a lack of diesel engine options and a bankrupt distributor, and the road ahead for the brand looks like less of an uphill climb and more like a straight-up cliff face. But Docherty is optimistic and says she has a plan for the brand. We recommend heading over to Ward's for a closer look at the full read.

Cadillac ATS was almost front-wheel drive

"We were going to do a front-wheel drive Cadillac compact off of Delta because it was going to be less expensive," Doug Parks, General Motors' vice president of global product programs, told the Automotive News during the Detroit Auto Show in January of this year. That sentence, referring to early ATS discussions more than five years ago - a period when the automaker, and the industry, was struggling - reveals that Cadillac's highly acclaimed rear-wheel drive compact sedan almost never happened.
Parks revealed that that automaker actually built a 2.0-liter test mule, on GM's Delta platform (shared with the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Verano) and tested it in Europe. While the prototype was "pretty darn good," according to Parks, the team realized that in order to compete against Mercedes-Benz and BMW it would have to invest in a new rear-wheel drive platform.
The resulting all-new Alpha platform would eventually underpin the Cadillac ATS, and many would argue that its balanced rear-wheel drive chassis is its single most important attribute. Thankfully, the Alpha's goodness won't stop with the ATS. The upcoming 2014 Cadillac CTS and the future Camaro will also share its architecture, meaning the Cimarron will remain a distant memory.