1964 Cadillac Series 60 Fleetwood 4door Hardtop on 2040-cars

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Here's how Cadillac made its Magnetic Ride Control suspension quicker and smarter

Bugatti makes the world's fastest car, but Cadillac claims it has developed the world's fastest suspension. Its fourth-generation Magnetic Ride Control technology receives hardware and software tweaks to deliver a more comfortable ride and sharper handling. It's offered on some variants of the CT4, CT5 and the Escalade. Introduced in 2002 on the Seville STS, this self-adjusting suspension is not as complicated as it might sound. It relies primarily on electromagnets that emit a magnetic field, and a magnetorheological fluid whose viscosity changes depending on the strength of the magnetic force. Sensors scan the road up to 1,000 times per second and send the information they gather to the electromagnets, which then alter their magnetic field as needed to modify the fluid's viscosity. The fluid is in the shocks, so making it thicker returns a firmer ride, and vice versa. In simpler terms, Magnetic Ride Control leverages chemistry and physics to make the ride sporty, comfortable, or somewhere in between -- all in the blink of an eye. By reacting to the changing magnetic field, the fluid-filled shocks filter out road imperfections and maximize tire contact with the road to deliver more precise handling. Cadillac began developing the fourth-generation system by improving the hardware. The in-wheel accelerometers are more accurate than before, the inertial measurement unit is more precise, and the damper fluid formula was changed for quicker response times and a smoother ride. Engineers then turned their attention to the system's software. They notably gave the sensors the ability to process a wider selection of input and output signals, which translates to a wider spread between comfort and sport. And, they made the response time up to 45-percent quicker. All told, the fourth-generation Magnetic Ride Control technology performs better under heavy braking and hard cornering, it delivers more consistent performance, and it reads the road more accurately. Cadillac proudly notes these are the most comprehensive updates it has made to the system in nearly two decades. Magnetic Ride Control comes standard on the 2021 CT4-V and the 2021 CT5-V, and it's bundled into the CT5's V Performance package, which also includes a mechanical limited-slip differential. It's also standard on the Sport and Platinum variants of the 2021 Escalade, and it's part of the Premium Luxury trim's Performance package.

Cadillac scraps three-row CUV plans

Crossovers are one of the hottest automotive segments on the planet. Apparently, the idea of mixing the practicality of a station wagon with the looks of an SUV appeals to people whether they are in Cleveland or Shanghai because nearly every automaker is jumping into the market. So it was no surprise when early rumors suggested Cadillac was planning two, new CUVs to fit above and below the SRX. But things might have changed since then.
New rumblings indicate Caddy is taking a different route. Instead of two crossovers, only the compact is on the way, and the larger, three-row CUV on the Lambda platform to sit between the SRX and Escalade may be a goner. According to Ward's Auto, General Motors thinks that the other three-row, Lambda vehicles like the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia compete too closely with the proposed Cadillac. The decision comes fairly close to the 2017 intended production date.
As far back as 2010, this Lambda-platform based CUV was considered highly likely for production. However, Cadillac Senior Vice President Bob Ferguson was somewhat cooler about it when he discussed the new crossover briefly last year. He said the model could use the Escalade name, despite its unibody chassis, but no decision had been made yet to actually produce it.

Trucks and tidbits from GM's earnings report

General Motors announced this morning that 2018 was a good year for it financially, thanks in large part to the company's performance in North America, which was predicated, according to the company, on "strong pricing, surging crossover sales, successful execution of the company's full-size truck launch, growth of GM Financial earnings, and disciplined cost control." GM reported full-year income of $8.1 billion and EBIT-adjusted income of $11.8 billion. Crossover sales in 2018 were 1,034,808, an increase of 7 percent compared to 2017 deliveries. Throw in the body-on-frame SUVs and the ute number is a total 1,295,700. But let's face it: It is the trucks that really matter. The Chevy Silverado and Colorado, the GMC Sierra and Canyon. Altogether, GM sold 973,463 pickups in the U.S. in 2018. Although Ford gets bragging rights for F-Series sales, GM gets to point out that it has a greater aggregate number. An important factor regarding the trucks and the reported income is that during the last quarter, more than 90 percent of the new 2019 trucks were crew cabs (which have a higher sticker), and at GMC more than 70 percent were Denali and AT4 models (which have even higher stickers). According to reporting by Bloomberg, GM's pickup trucks combine for $65 billion in annual revenue. Clearly when the 2018 sales of the Silverado — 585,581— dwarf the combined sales of both Buick (206,863) and Cadillac combined (154,702), pickups are what matter to the overall health of the company in a way that it is difficult to otherwise achieve. The "disciplined cost control" is something that is very much in the public eye right now, as the company is taking out thousands of its workers, and there is still the "unallocated" plant situation and other plants that will remain under capacity. The numbers in GM's earnings report probably made Unifor members' heads explode in consternation, coming fresh off their Super Bowl ad: " GM, you may have forgotten our generosity, but we'll never forget your greed." But there are a couple of curiosities in the full GM earnings release. One is that so far as its autonomous efforts go, it mentions only that (1) in the first quarter of 2018 Cruise introduced a production-ready autonomous vehicle, and (2) Cruise attracted $5 billion in external capital from SoftBank and Honda. Not a whole lot of love for autonomy. Good thing they have the trucks to fund the program, to say nothing of the external capital.