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Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen expands on brand's future

Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen chatted with journalists at a recent roundtable, expounding on everything from domestic racing to Chinese manufacturing. The brand's been doing a slow burn on rolling out new products and increasing sales, but admittedly, there was a lot of work to do. After closing out last year 0.8 percent down in the U.S., the domestic luxury brand is more than 5 percent up so far this year, thanks to healthy double-digit bumps for the ATS and Escalade, and increased fleet sales. Globally, the brand's doing 21 percent better. The XT5 still outsells everything, though. Asked about slow sedan sales, de Nysschen cited a few reasons, one of them "energy prices," which are low enough to fuel the crossover craze. You can also read that as another admission that Cadillac doesn't have enough crossovers to please the crowds, a fact the XT4 will soon address. Yet de Nysschen also pegged the sedan malaise on "younger consumers who really are less tuned into dynamics and handling and all of those things that used to excite enthusiasts. It's more about the way cars complement and enable their lifestyle now." He topped that with a take on U.S. roads, saying, "I also have to say it may also be influenced a little bit by the decay of America's infrastructure. When roads no longer support high-performance sport sedans and ultra-low-profile rubber, people are going to respond to it." Those latter takes seem wide of the mark. Yes, BMW is the established leader, but the Munich carmaker sold 8,806 3 Series' so far this year in all variants, compared to 2,543 ATS coupes and sedans. Mercedes-Benz has sold 8,366 C-Class models so far in all variants. As for infrastructure, yes, it's a mess, but AMG sales rocketed up nearly 50 percent in the U.S. last year, nearly 10 percent of overall Mercedes sales, and the Three-Pointed Star expects that to rise again this year. People are buying sedans and performance models. They simply aren't buying enough of them with Cadillac badges. Cadillac has no plans to go racing in Europe since the brand doesn't have the kind of presence there to justify the investment. De Nysschen said they'll stick with the Daytona Prototype International formula in the U.S. domestic scene, and continue with the tech transfer from race to road.

Cadillac CT4 and CT5 high-performance V cars spied

This summer, Cadillac teased much more impressive V-series models than the lukewarm CT4-V and CT5-V. Now we get a better look at both super sedans, each one boasting more aggressive, but subtle visual upgrades. Normally we would talk about the visual changes to each car individually, but the changes are nearly identical between the cars. They both get deeper chin spoilers and lower side skirts. The lower grille opening now features slatted sections on either end. The headlights, main grille and hood all look unchanged from the regular V models. The same goes for the rear bumpers and tailpipes. The rear spoilers on both are much taller, though. The wheels on the CT4 look about the same as the CT4-V, but the CT5 wheels look a bit different with more detail. We also get a good look at the wheel-filling brakes. Cadillac hasn't said anything concrete about the specifications of the hotter CT4 and CT5 models, except that they'll definitely be faster than the revealed V models. One thing we do know, thanks to our spy photographer's video from earlier this year (shown above), the CT5 will get a V8. Our bet is on it being the Blackwing twin-turbo V8 that's available in the CT6-V and CT6 Platinum. It would probably have at least the same output at the CT6-V at 550 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque. Expect the 10-speed automatic transmission to carry over with it. This drivetrain would also open up the possibility of all-wheel drive. As for the fast CT4, it could potentially revive the ATS-V's twin-turbo V6 with 464 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque. It would probably also get a 10-speed automatic and maybe all-wheel drive as an option.

Fast sedans and loose Tweets | Autoblog Podcast #555

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Reese Counts. Reese has been traveling a lot, and the two discuss his recent first drives of the 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT four-door and the 2019 Audi Q3. The pair also talk about the 2018 BMW X2 that's been in the office this week. Also on the agenda is the SEC's lawsuit against Elon Musk, Ola Kaellenius replacing Dieter Zetsche at Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac's move back to Detroit and the upcoming reveal of the 2019 BMW 3 Series at the Paris Motor Show.Autoblog Podcast #555 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT four-door 2019 Audi Q3 2018 BMW X2 Elon Musk lawsuit New Mercedes-Benz CEO Cadillac is heading back to Detroit The new 3 Series debuts next week Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes