2014 Cadillac Ats 2.5 Luxury on 2040-cars

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Luxury car brands scrambling to avoid a blue Christmas

DETROIT — When financial markets surge to new records, sales of luxury cars usually rise, too. Instead, October U.S. auto sales reports on Wednesday showed that a collapse in sales of luxury sedans is accelerating. Consumers have gradually shifted over to luxury sport utility vehicles from sedans in the past decade, but the trend — which has occurred in both the non-luxury and luxury sedan segments of the auto market — was particularly pronounced in October. Sales of Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz S-Class, long a global benchmark for large, premium sedans, plunged 49 percent in October, and are down 24.8 percent for the year to date. General Motors' Cadillac brand said it sold just 779 of its CTS sedans in October. Demand for that car, designed to compete with German luxury sedans, is down nearly 33 percent for the year. "There's still a significant portion of the market that wants a car, but I'm sure there were people who preferred a horse to a car at one point." Cadillac's best-selling model this year is the XT5 compact SUV, which has more than doubled sales from a year ago. The shift within the luxury vehicle market away from sedans toward SUVs of all sizes is forcing some of the most prestigious brands to scramble to add SUV models to their lineups or boost SUV production to meet demand. "In the short term, there will be pressure to add (consumer) incentives, cut production or both," said Cox Automotive analyst Michelle Krebs. "And we just don't see an end in sight to this trend." The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been trading at all-time highs, usually a good sign for luxury sedans, but as major automakers reported new U.S. vehicle sales for October on Wednesday, sales for passenger cars continued their slide while luxury SUV and crossover sales rose again. According to Kelley Blue Book data, in 2007 luxury sedans made up 7.6 percent of U.S. new vehicle sales, while luxury SUVs made up 4.2 percent. Through September this year, luxury SUVs made up just over 7 percent of the market, compared with 4.9 percent for luxury sedans. In the short term, luxury brands could use holiday season sales promotions to clear slow-selling sedans off dealer lots, analysts said. Toyota's Lexus brand said on Wednesday it will launch its "December to Remember" year-end sales promotion for the 18th straight year.

Cadillac files to trademark Vistiq, Lumistiq, and Escalade IQL

Cadillac's been tapping various European patent offices to reserve names for its coming battery-electric model lineup. Remember, Cadillac plans to be an EV-only brand by 2030, it's trimmed-down dealer network expected to sell a range wherein all or most models end with "iq," as in Lyriq and Celestiq, that pronunciation being "ik," not "eek." In July of last year, brand attorney's filed to reserve the names "Cadillac Symboliq" and "Symboliq" in Switzerland. CarBuzz found three more applications in the category of "Motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles," one in the UK for the name Vistiq, another in Austria for the name Lumistiq, the last in an unknown country for the name Escalade IQL.   Yes, those first two names make us think of X-Men before they make us think of cars. But assuming the names ever get applied to product, we expect those products will be cars, and we also expect those cars will be of the crossover variety since safe money says CUVs will still be more popular than sedans and wagons in 2030.  Since the Escalade name effectively acts as its own brand, it appears the moniker will be grandfathered into the EV naming structure by turning "IQ" into a kind of trim. Our money is on the IQL version being a long-wheelbase variant of a battery-electric Escalade. The Ultium-powered version of the big-boy SUV is due here by 2025 at the latest and will be sold alongside the traditional, ICE-powered Escalade until the V8 Escalade goes away.    The switch to electric is Cadillac's moon shot; there isn't much else for the brand to try for winning back its bygone glory and acclaim. By the time Vistiq and Symboliq get here, though, we could all be drinking the IQ Kool-Aid and climbing on board if the Lyriq (pictured) and Celestiq, both expected around 2023, prove impossible to resist.  Related Video:

Cadillac Elmiraj sedan RWD flagship finally caught testing

While we still have no insight as to it being named Elmiraj, STS or some other permutation of the -TS nomenclature ("LTS" has apparently been registered by GM, as well), new spy shots give us proof positive that Cadillac is indeed hard at work on a rear-wheel-drive flagship model. Spied for the very first time in some north country testing, these shots provide a first look at the upcoming range-topper from Cadillac.
Impressively long and large bodywork ride atop new General Motors' corporate Omega rear-drive architecture here. Heavy cladding over camouflage may discourage finding any details, but the overall, sharp-edged and blocky design is clearly reminiscent of what we've seen on the new CTS and the recently debuted ATS coupe. A strong, wheels-at-each-corner stance helps emphasize the length of this stretched Caddy, and everything about the proportions seem spot-on for a new fullsize flagship for the brand.
It's quite possible that Cadillac will ultimately festoon this large sedan with detailing reminiscent of the original Elmiraj coupe, though thus far we've only seen prototypes wearing four-doors.