1990 Cadillac Deville Base Sedan 4-door 4.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2014 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year finalists announced [w/poll]

The 2014 North American International Auto Show is right around the corner, which means it's high time we found out which cars and trucks would be finalists for the prestigious North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year awards.
The finalists - three in cars and three in three trucks/utilities - are dominated by American brands, with two-thirds of the finalists hailing from either General Motors or Chrysler (don't worry Ford, there's always next year), while outliers from Mazda and Acura can be found in each contest. Here now is the list of finalists for the big prizes:
2014 North American Car of the Year:

Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas [w/video]

General Motors has added another high-speed education course to the curriculum at the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The desert track already hosts the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School with Chevrolet Corvettes, including the ZR1, and they've just added the Cadillac V-Series Academy.
Open now, the one- and two-day performance driving school teaches "the finer points of high performance driving" using the 556-horspower instructional aids known as the CTS-V sedan, coupe and wagon. This is different than than using the CTS-V at the Monticello Motor Club on the east coast - that's part of a sponsorship deal that Cadillac has with the track. The driving course at the Motorsports Ranch is its own program that was developed by Fellows, and we have no reason to think the Cadillac edition won't be just as thorough and enjoyable as the one with Corvettes.
Unlike the 'Vette edition, however, it doesn't appear that you get an invitation to the program if you buy a CTS-V model. Classes are capped at 12 participants and run $1,295 for a single day, $2,295 for two days. There are a video and a press release below with more info.

Cadillac's de Nysschen won't budge on raised pricing

According to new Cadillac boss Johan de Nysschen, it will take between 10 and 15 years to elevate GM's top brand, which was once hailed as "The Standard Of The World," back to prominence in the minds of American customers. And to hear the executive talk of it, the brand is going to have to be willing to see sales falter in the near-term before they recover:
"Either you have to bring your volume aspirations into alignment with reality and accept that you will sell fewer cars... Or you have to drop the price and continue to transact at the prices where you were historically... I think the logical conclusion is that it's better to build off a very solid base in terms of [product] credibility, charge a fair price for the car and realize you have to wait until the volume comes."
In other words, sales will fall before they rise, and the brand has to be okay with that. Notice, too, that de Nysschen speaks of "a fair price" for Cadillac cars and utility vehicles. In this case, "fair" means more than many of the brand's traditional buyers are accustomed to, and roughly in line with the brands and machines Cadillac believes it is competing against. For instance, the newly enlarged 2014 CTS carries a suggested retail price that is over $6,000 higher than it was in 2013, and some trim levels boast an even higher price premium over the models they replace.