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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.

GM laying off 510 amidst slow Cadillac, small car sales

General Motors is laying off about 510 workers from two factories beginning in January, and it could be months before the automaker needs some of that latent capacity to come back on line. A combination of poor sales and high dealer inventories are prompting the cutbacks, according to Automotive News.
The largest changes come at GM's Lansing Grand River plant, where the Cadillac ATS and CTS are made. An entire shift of about 350 workers is being laid off, but the automaker hopes to find positions for some of them at other nearby factories. The decision leaves just a single shift building vehicles there. According to Automotive News, the move is partially spurred by Johan de Nysschen's plan to make Cadillac a more exclusive brand.
The lost shift will likely return for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro at the plant, according to the report, but GM isn't saying when that will be. A previous announcement from the Canadian Auto Workers union indicated that the Oshawa, Ontario, factory would lose the coupe in late 2015 or early 2016.

Cadillac bids farewell to CTS-V Coupe with special edition

With the introduction of the latest Cadillac CTS, we knew it would only be a matter of time before a new CTS-V would come along. Now General Motors has revealed that the next CTS-V will arrive sometime next year, but before it does, the company is sending off the outgoing coupe with a special edition.
For 2015, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe will come in a limited edition of 500 units decked out with a dark grille treatment, satin-finish wheels, red brake calipers and an upgraded cabin. The interior is decked out Recaro seats trimmed in black with red stitching, Midnight Sapele wood trim, metal pedals and a microsuede-trimmed steering wheel and shifter.
Buyers will be able to opt for white, gray or optional black exterior paint, an available sunroof and a six-speed transmission in either manual or automatic configuration. Of course, the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 comes standard with 556 horsepower, as does Magnetic Ride Control and brakes by Brembo. Pricing will be announced closer to launch, but in the mean time, you can read all there is to know by checking out the official release below.