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Cadillac still planning for big things in China

Despite some hiccups, China remains the auto industry's great hope for new vehicle sales, with significant sales gains and a huge upside. Nowhere is that hope more fervent than at General Motors, which offers eight different marques in the Asian nation. China has been GM's single biggest market the last three years running, and is unlikely to give up that title anytime soon. Yet its premiere brand, Cadillac, has remained essentially stagnant, selling just 30,000 units in China last year. That's in a segment where sales of luxury vehicles has outpaced that of the larger Chinese market. So what gives?
According to Cadillac officials Autoblog spoke with in China this week at the Shanghai Motor Show, it's been a problem of product - they haven't had the right ones. Displacement taxation issues, import tariffs and currency fluctuations have all conspired to make the brand's products less appealing than they might otherwise have been. But GM is stepping on the gas with Cadillac, and executives are eyeballing 100,000 sales by 2016 - more than triple the Wreath and Crest's current volume. And the expectations for the brand only get more ambitious from there - they're shooting for 10 percent of the luxury market by 2020. Bob Socia, President of GM China, promises that there will be a new Caddy launched in the market each year from now through 2016 and most will be built in China. Characterizing the company's efforts to revive the brand's fortunes as a "relaunch" of sorts, Cadillac also figures to gain dealers as GM expands its sales outlet footprint westward.
New products like a made-in-China XTS sedan (with a market-specific 2.0-liter four-cylinder to avoid heavy displacement taxes) will help, and Socia hinted that the ATS sport sedan could be next in line for in-country production. The SRX crossover - currently the brand's best-selling model in China - will also likely get a long look for future local production when the next-generation model is introduced. In the meantime, Cadillac unveiled the Escalade ESV Hybrid (shown above) as its latest model addition to capitalize on the market's white-hot luxury SUV segment.

New Cadillac ELR ad more educational, less controversial than 'Poolside'

Cadillac's first TV commercial for its ELR plug-in hybrid, Poolside, was a smash hit, in that a lot of people saw and talked about it. The 60-second spot didn't say the car was a plug-in, took potshots at the work ethic of all non-Americans and has raked in over a million views on YouTube (you can add one more here). Caddy's new ELR video will get a lot less media attention, but that's exactly the point. Cadillac claims it was happy with the way actor Neil McDonough strutted his way into the controversial ELR discussion. This time around, though, the coupe gets promoted in a more traditional way: with information about the car and what it can do - you know, drive on electricity, capture braking energy into the battery, go further on gas power when needed, those kinds of things – courtesy of GM's executive chief engineer for electrified vehicles, Pam Fletcher. The tone of the video has not been changed because of the Poolside controversy. David Caldwell, manager of Cadillac communications, tells AutoblogGreen that the new video is not destined for TV and is completely different because it's meant for a different audience. "It doesn't have any direct relation to Poolside," he says. "TV advertising is not necessarily the heart of marketing something like the ELR. Notwithstanding the fact that we had a very thought-provoking ad [laughs]." "We definitely have a need to communicate what the ELR is" - Cadillac's David Caldwell The way you reach out to people via the web is different than the mass-media techniques used in spots like Poolside during big TV events (it aired during the Winter Olympics). The two video spots are different because you need to offer different information in different ways, for example having an ELR website as well as an iPad filled with ELR information at the dealership. For Cadillac, TV is "not going to be the predominant methodology," used to sell the ELR, Caldwell said, "the web is closer to what you need to do to reach people. We definitely have a need to communicate what the ELR is. It's not television advertising at all." Caldwell said a handful of other short videos similar to the new one will go live in the near future, showcasing design and powertrain aspects of the car. Keep an eye out for them – just don't look for them on TV. You can watch the new video below.

2020 Cadillac CT5 finally appears, hopes you think it's a Charger

This is our first look at what we expect to be the 2 020 Cadillac CT5 sport sedan, a one-to-rule-them-all replacement for the ATS, CTS and XTS. The name follows the scheme set by the CT6 and XT5. The first thing that jumps out about the CT5 is the big hood scoop. We sincerely doubt that scoop will make it to production, and when combined with the scalloped shapes on the car's flanks, we and the spy photographer feel they're probably there to dupe people into thinking it's a weird Dodge Charger. The disguise isn't working, but the scoop surprisingly looks pretty good. Maybe Cadillac should consider putting one on an inevitable V model. Moving past the fake bodywork, we can see that this CT5 takes inspiration from the Cadillac Escala concept. It has the long, almost fastback cabin and extra rear quarter window of that concept. The headlights are slim horizontal units, too, though they still sweep back a bit to bridge the gap between current models and the Escala. We also see that there's a decent amount of distance between the front axle and the base of the A-pillar, so we suspect that the sedan will retain rear-drive and optional all-wheel-drive drivetrains. We don't have any other cars in the image to compare it to, but considering the cars the Cadillac CT5 will replace, we expect it's roughly the size of a CTS, maybe even a touch smaller to satisfy those who want a 3 Series/A4/C-Class size luxury sedan. It will also probably use one or more of the existing powertrains in the Cadillac sedan fleet, which include a turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder, naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V6, and a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. We'll also probably see the production model sometime in 2019 since that's when the CTS and ATS will go to the big garage in the sky. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac CT5 spy shots Image Credit: Chris Doane Automotive Spy Photos Cadillac GM Luxury Sedan cadillac ct5