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2020 Cadillac CT5 in New York: 7 questions with the chief engineer

Cadillac revealed the 2020 CT5 at the New York Auto Show, and we decided to sit down and have a chat with chief engineer Mike Bride to learn more about the car. You can read our reveal post here to get the full download, and then read on below to learn a bit more. Cadillac is still rather coy about any performance model to spawn from the CT5, but things appear to be looking up after our conversation that you can read below. Q: What's the driving nature of this car? Should we expect something similar to the CTS and ATS? A: Yes, you can see it's built off the rear-wheel-drive architecture. Our goal was to retain all of that fun-to-drive nature. Direct steering feel, responsive handling. Going forward, we ask how we can continuously improve, and that was really about driving more sophistication in the ride, a much more mannered car that's better for impact harshness and rolling isolation, really provides comfort when you want comfort over tire strips and heaves in the road. Really getting that level of isolation, but not compromising that handling and direct steering feel of the Cadillac sedans we've grown accustomed to. Q: How is this car different from the CTS underneath, and other Alpha platform cars? A: I would say this is a major revision. A lot of new parts, a lot of new part numbers, a significant evolution. In the suspension space, the links are all new, and there's been a lot of work done in isolation, so the bushings and strut mounts are all new. We've evolved the Alpha platform to now get the ride control and road isolation, the comfort aspects of it all. There are a lot of structural improvements like a changed wheelbase, an evolution in rear foot-swing and foot space from the fuel tank area to get in and out of the car better. As we developed this structure, it was about overall structural body stiffness, and impedance at the chassis attachments to really get that level of isolation from road inputs. We try to have a calm floor, a steering wheel that doesn't vibrate, and quiet to the driver's ear. Those were the paths we went after to really drive the structure to the right stiffness requirements, structural integrity, a lot of development into suspension bushings, tuning elements, strut mounts. We have a new damper technology, a ZF damper. It has MVS damper technology. It's a multi-valve system that provides less harshness from an NVH standpoint and a great optimization balance of motion control with ride inputs.

GM's Ultium EV platform finally shows up in Q3 sales numbers

General Motors has heralded its Ultium battery-electric platform as the future of its passenger car and truck lineup, but for the first two years of its existence, its impact on the marketplace has been virtually nonexistent. Well, that finally changed in the third quarter of 2023, and while the cars based on this architecture don't represent anywhere near the volume of GM's broader combustion portfolio, we're reaching a point where Ultium products are finally in view (and in the hands) of real-world shoppers. At this point, five U.S.-market Ultium models are in production: the GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, Chevrolet Blazer & Silverado EV, and BrightDrop Zevo 600. If you're not familiar with that last one, that's OK; it's a commercial product that you likely won't see on the road for some time. Together, these four combined for 4,257 sales in the third quarter alone — up from 2,663 for the entire first half of the year. While that may not seem like a significant uptick when viewed from altitude, the quarter-to-quarter numbers paint a clearer picture.  Let's toss out the stragglers first. The Chevy Blazer EV, and Silverado EV for example, are barely in production. GM delivered 19 Blazers and 18 Silverados in the third quarter and that's the entirety of their production runs so far. Likewise, GM's BrightDrop Zevo 600 delivery van effectively exists apart from the consumer marketplace, so its contribution of just 35 units can be set aside too. That leaves us the two you've heard of: the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq — models with high sticker prices and long reservation queues.  Through the second quarter (remember, we're talking six months here), GMC sold 49 Hummer EVs. No typo. In the three months that made up the third quarter, GM moved 1,167 of them. Not only is that a dramatic improvement over the first half, but it's more Hummers than GMC sold in the entirety of 2022 (854). Lyriq's improvement was less eye-popping on paper, but after moving just 122 total units in 2022 and 2,013 of them in the first half of 2023, Cadillac managed to up that figure to 3,018 units in the third quarter alone.  GM is betting its short-term EV future on the Ultium platform, so these trends need to continue if that's going to be a profitable wager.

Cars with the worst resale value after 5 years

While the old saying that cars lose a massive chunk of their value as soon as they’re driven off the dealerÂ’s lot might not be entirely true these days, most new vehicles steadily lose value as they age and are used. iSeeCars recently released its latest study on depreciation, finding the models that lose value the fastest, and the list is packed with high-end nameplates. The vehicles that lost value the fastest over five years include: Maserati Quattroporte: 64.5% depreciation BMW 7 Series: 61.8% Maserati Ghibli: 61.3% BMW 5 Series Hybrid: 58.8% Cadillac Escalade ESV: 58.5% BMW X5: 58.2% Infiniti QX80: 58.1% Maserati Levante: 57.8% Jaguar XF: 57.6% Audi A7: 57.2% While sports cars, hybrids, and trucks dominated the list of slowest-depreciating vehicles, luxury brands accounted for all of the top ten fastest-depreciating models. iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer also pointed out EVsÂ’ lack of representation on the slow-depreciating vehicles list, saying that thereÂ’s a disconnect between what automakers are building and what people actually want. The average five-year depreciation for all vehicles in the iSeeCars study was 38.8 percent. ThatÂ’s an almost 11% improvement over 2019Â’s figures, but some vehicle types perform worse than others. EVs depreciated 49.1 percent over five years, while SUVs dropped 41.2%. Trucks only fell 34.8% and hybrids 37.4%. Brauer noted that all vehicles depreciate slower than they did five years ago. Even so, EVs are not the best choice if youÂ’re looking for a vehicle that wonÂ’t feel like a ripoff when itÂ’s time to trade in. On the flip side, used EVs can present a stellar value, saving thousands over their new counterparts. Charging times and availability remain concerns for buyers in large parts of the country, but a heavily depreciated EV could be the used car value youÂ’ve been looking for. The same wisdom applies to used luxury vehicles, as the list above indicates. While new-car buyers shopping for luxury cars are set to see big depreciation during their ownership, that means the used car market is flooded with inexpensive used luxury cars. High repair costs and costly maintenance schedules are real issues that used luxury models face, however. Green Audi BMW Cadillac Infiniti Jaguar Maserati Car Buying Used Car Buying