2009 Cadillac Cts Base Sedan 4-door 3.6l Direct Injection on 2040-cars

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Cadillac's Johan de Nysschen clarifies a few points on the brand's future

Last week, Motor Trend ran coverage on a journo roundtable with Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen. During the roundtable, de Nysschen cited a few reasons for the decline in sedan sales, including gas prices, "young consumers" — read, millennials — less interested in driving dynamics than lifestyle accessories, and the state of U.S. infrastructure. Jalopnik homed in on the last two reasons, and those became the story, including here in our post on the roundtable. So de Nysschen called Jalopnik to add more context. The original reaction pieces painted de Nysschen's rationales as an excuse for sporty sedans not selling well, when the issue is Cadillac's sporty sedans not selling well. His main clarification: "I wasn't advocating the idea that the world is black and white, that if you're a young buyer a millennial or a teenager that you don't enjoy driving." On that note, it would be ridiculous to deny millennial and sedan-segment bugbears; de Nysschen has market research and the industry-wide, rabbit-like crossover breeding program to back him up. Yet even as he touted the success of the XT5, noting that it's "the third-best-selling luxury nameplate in the U.S. after the Lexus RX, and the Mercedes C-Class," he could add, "But the irony is not lost on me that the C-Class is a sedan." The circumstances laid out in the follow-up piece inject more likely color into the situation: the brand's onetime, singleminded focus on the U.S., followed by a singleminded focus on China that left the U.S. market wanting for attention. We could add to that: years of lackluster products and awful attempts at volume and brand engineering under the old GM at the same time that downsized premium luxury products, crossovers, and SUVs began their rocketship trajectories; trying to live off the Escalade success; and the carmaker's desire not to offend its older, traditional buyers while concurrently wooing "coastal influencers." De Nysschen also acknowledged that Cadillac interiors aren't where they need to be, saying, "We recognize that's where we want to improve." The result, as de Nysschen put it, "We're playing with the hand that we've been dealt.

Cadillac clears camo off the XT3 revealing grille, lighting details

Up until now, every Cadillac XT3 we've seen has been buried under covers and vinyl wraps, but one of our spy photographers recently captured a group of them with significantly less camouflage. As a result, we finally get a relatively clear picture of what the car will look like. The nose blends the look of current Cadillacs with cues from last year's Escala concept. The headlights still appear to stretch up into the top of the fenders like its production brethren, but they don't descend as far down the front fascia, a hint of Escala influence. The grille also features more of egg-crate mesh like that Cadillac concept. In profile, we can see evidence of the XT3's smaller size compared with the XT5, mainly in the lack of any glass area behind the rear door. Other evidence of the smaller size is that our spy photographer reports the cars were being tested alongside the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class. The profile also shows that the XT3 will have a hard-edged rear end with a rakish hatch. At the back, there isn't a whole lot to report, but the taillights look like they'll be interesting. There appears to be a horizontal element in the middle of the hatch similar to what we've seen on the Escala and the refreshed XTS. We can also see some lights up on the C-pillar, which indicates that the XT3 will also have tall vertical elements up those pillars like on the Escalade. We expect the XT3 to show up late in 2018. It will likely be powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder of some sort, and because it will probably be based on an existing GM crossover or sedan platform, it will probably have front-wheel drive and/or a front-drive based all-wheel-drive system. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac XT4 Spy Shots View 13 Photos Image Credit: Brian Williams Spy Photos Cadillac Crossover SUV Luxury cadillac xt3

Weekly Recap: Car-pedestrian crashes remained elevated in 2014

The death of American Horror Story: Freak Show star Ben Woolf served as a reminder this week that car crashes involving pedestrians remain a problem, and a new study issued on Thursday reinforced that the situation isn't really getting better. The Governors Highway Safety Association found a slight decline, 2.8 percent, in the number of pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2014. Fatalities dropped from 2,141 to 2,125 compared with the same period in 2013, though the association says it's a statistical wash when factoring in undercounting. Deaths are still 15-percent higher than in 2009. "The number of deaths remains relatively high and is cause for concern," wrote Allan Williams, who compiled the report and is the former chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This is the first look at data from last year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will issue its full-year results later. The GHSA found some progress on the roadways, as 24 states and the District of Columbia reported drops in pedestrian deaths. In some states, the problem isn't even a problem at all: Nebraska and Wyoming reported one fatality apiece, though large population centers in urban areas are where most accidents occur. "This is a clearly a good news, bad news scenario," Jonathan Adkins, GHSA executive director, said in a statement. "While we're encouraged that pedestrian fatalities haven't increased over the past two years, progress has been slow." Other News & Notes Cadillac previews CT6 during Oscars Cadillac previewed its upcoming flagship sedan, the CT6, in commercials that aired Sunday during the Oscars. As expected, the creased sedan carries on Cadillac's recent design language, and the car in the commercial looks like a larger version of the CTS and ATS sedans. The CT6 will be revealed this spring at the New York Auto Show and launch late this year. It will be assembled at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck factory on a rear-wheel-drive chassis, and the CT6 is the first car to use Cadillac's revised alpha-numeric naming scheme. The commercials also kicked off Cadillac's "Dare Greatly" campaign, which is the first with its new advertising agency, Publicis Worldwide. Honda unexpectedly changes CEOs Honda unexpectedly announced this week that it will change CEOs. Current chief Takanobu Ito will step down in June and be replaced by company veteran Takahiro Hachigo.