Cadillac tipped to call flagship something other than LTS

Sun, 21 Sep 2014

Cadillac wouldn't be Cadillac without large sedans in its lineup, and while the XTS has had to hold down that end of the fort all on its own, it won't have to for too long. That's because the luxury brand in the General Motors portfolio is preparing to roll out its new LTS, stylistically previewed by the Elmiraj concept pictured above. Only now, the latest thinking is that the upcoming flagship model may not be called LTS at all.

As Automotive News points out, Cadillac's naming scheme is all over the place at the moment. The ATS slotting below the CTS makes sense (alphabetically), but where do the ELR, SRX and especially the Escalade fit into that naming hierarchy? And how would LTS – as the project has been known until now – sit above the XTS?

Fortunately, Cadillac may be on the case, as two of the division's most recent senior appointments seem keen to rationalize the naming scheme. One is Uwe Ellinghaus, who joined Cadillac as chief marketing officer late last year. Speaking of the brand's nomenclature last spring, Ellinghaus was quoted as saying, "We are aware that this is currently a weakness of the Cadillac brand." And his new boss is bound to agree.

Before recently joining Cadillac, incoming president Johan de Nysschen completely overhauled – or at least approved the complete overhaul of– Infiniti's naming scheme. That reorganization may have left us scratching our heads for the short term, but as time goes by, it's likely to make more sense. Before Cadillac and Infiniti, de Nysschen was at Audi, which ruffled a few feathers of its own when it applied a new naming scheme to follow the A8. But if Ingolstadt's example can teach us anything, it's that a more logical nomenclature, if carried out properly, works out for the best in the long term.

By Noah Joseph