2015 Cadillac Escalade Luxury 4wd on 2040-cars

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Cadillac will build a Tesla fighter, sources say, as GM's leading EV brand

WASHINGTON — Cadillac is expected to become General Motors' lead electric vehicle brand as the largest U.S. automaker gears up to introduce a new model under that luxury marquee to challenge Tesla, two people briefed on the matter said Thursday. GM is set to announce Friday as part of an investor update that a Cadillac will be the first vehicle based on its forthcoming "BEV3" platform, the people said. The vehicle platform is the basis for vehicle underpinnings, including the battery system and other structural and mechanical parts. GM is not expected to disclose on Friday additional details, including precisely when the Cadillac EV will be built, whether it will be a crossover or sedan, or where it will be assembled, the sources said. A GM spokesman declined to comment. GM had previously focused on making electric vehicles under its mass market Chevrolet brand, including its plug-in Chevrolet Volt and battery electric Bolt. GM announced last year it was ending production of the plug-in Volt as well as a low-selling plug-in Cadillac CT6, even as it moved to boost EV spending. GM said in November as part of its restructuring efforts it was doubling resources for electric and autonomous vehicle programs over the next two years. Last month, two Ohio senators asked GM to commit to building all future electric vehicles for U.S. buyers within the country. GM said in 2017 it planned by 2021 to introduce a new dedicated flexible electric vehicle architecture and an advanced battery system to support the development of at least 20 new models in the United States and China. GM said in 2017 that a new electric vehicle platform in 2021 will serve as a base for at least nine derivatives, ranging from a compact crossover to a large seven-passenger luxury sports utility vehicle and a large commercial van. Johan de Nysschen, who was then Cadillac's president, told Reuters at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2018 the luxury brand will play a "central role" in GM's electrification strategy, including China. He added that Cadillac would be "at the forefront" of rolling out new electric vehicles in the United States and China. He left GM in April. This week, GM said Cadillac sales in China rose 17.2 percent in 2018, surpassing 200,000 units for the first time. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has said that GM aims to sell 1 million electric vehicles a year by 2026, many of them in China, which has set strict production quotas on such vehicles.

NHTSA investigating nearly 750,000 GM models over non-deploying airbags

Nearly 750,000 vehicles built by Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac are the subject of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation due to non-deploying driver-side airbags. While the investigation is ongoing, the agency believes the issue is likely due to rust particles that form on the inflator's connection terminal interface. The list of nameplates included in the investigation includes Chevrolet's Silverado, Tahoe, and Suburban, GMC's Sierra, Yukon, and Yukon XL, plus Cadillac's Escalade, Escalade ESV, CT4, CT5, and XT4. All of the potentially affected vehicles are 2020 or 2021 models, according to a bulletin published on the NHTSA's website. Investigators launched the probe in April 2021 after 15 consumers reported airbag-related issues, including nine who said an airbag malfunction light appeared in the instrument cluster. More alarmingly, the NHTSA is aware of six accidents that caused significant damage to the car's front end yet didn't trigger the driver's airbag. It adds that there are no fatalities linked to the issue, but there are six crashes and eight injuries reportedly blamed on it. No evidence suggests this problem is related to the millions of potentially deadly Takata inflators recalled over the past few years. General Motors is aware of the defect. It sent a technical service bulletin (TSB) to its dealers in March 2021 to address the aforementioned warning light. The note explains the issue is due to "rust particles in the connection terminal interface of the driver's airbag inflator." The company hasn't issued a safety recall yet, however. Whether it will partially depends on the NHTSA's findings. It's currently looking into the scope and the severity of the problem, and it wants to understand its implications on driver safety. Investigators will decide whether General Motors needs to recall the 749,312 cars that are part of the probe when they close their investigation. General Motors has already spent a significant amount of money replacing defective airbag-related parts in its cars. In November 2020, it was ordered by the American government to recall nearly 6 million pickup trucks and SUVs equipped with potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators. It repeatedly argued that testing proved the inflators were safe, and it petitioned the agency four times starting in 2016 to avoid a recall, which cost an estimated $1.2 billion (about a third of its net income in 2020).

Comparing Cadillac's crazy classy coupes

I just returned from the press launch of Cadillac's new ATS-V, a high-performance version of the US luxury marque's entry-level compact car. While ordinary ATVs offer a choice of a 202-horspower, 4-cylinder, a 272-hp turbocharged four or a 321-hp V-6, this one packs a twin-turbo V-6 that pumps out 464 thoroughbred horses and 445 pound-feet of hard-charging torque. Starting at $62,000 for the sedan and $64,000 for the sexy coupe, ATS-Vs are available with a 6-speed manual (with Active Rev Matching and no-lift shift capability) or an 8-speed automatic with steering-wheel shift paddles. They comes with GM's latest 4-mode Magnetic Ride Control, 5-mode Performance Traction Management (with launch control), competition-spec traction and stability controls, an electronic limited-slip differential, specially-tuned electric power steering, huge Brembo brakes, and added air cooling for their engine, transmission, and rear axle lubricants. They roll on 18-inch Michelin Pilot Super Sport tri-compound summer tires on 9-inch-wide front alloy wheels and 9.5-inch-wide rears. And they will rocket from rest to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds while delivering 16 city EPA miles per gallon and 24 highway with the automatic and 17/23 with the manual transmission. The obvious purpose of all this technology is to effectively endow Cadillac's latest V-Series models with a rarely achieved true dual personality: go, stop, and corner like race cars on a track, then sooth, coddle, and entertain like luxury cars on the way to and from the track, or work. We had ample opportunity to verify both personalities with multiple hot laps of the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) Grand Prix course, followed by a more leisurely drive on public roads near Austin, TX. Even lacking wheel-to-wheel comparisons, we believe these hot new ATS-Vs are fully competitive with their pricier German competitors, and probably superior in some ways. So now, Cadillac will offer not one but two very sharp-looking, upscale, small-volume, 2016 compact coupes, almost the same size and at similar prices, but with totally different missions: this new high-performance ATS-V and the soon-to-be-upgraded ELR extended-range EV. The key question: why? Aside from its cramped back seat and ridiculous $76,000 starting price, I loved the ELR when it was introduced for 2014.