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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.

de Nysschen pushes to separate Cadillac, GM

Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen continues his push to separate his brand from General Motors. After controversially picking up shop and moving to New York's trendy SoHo neighborhood, de Nysschen has now gone on record as saying that within two years, the brand will enjoy "a far higher degree of autonomy and self sufficiency." That autonomy will include the brand reporting its own financial results, independent of GM. But what would such a move do for Cadillac? Well, as de Nysschen explained it to Automotive News, "Cadillac at this state makes a very sizeable contribution to the overall profit at General Motors." If that's truly the case, separating financial announcements serves to emphasize the prosperous character de Nysschen seems so keen on attaching to his brand. But that's only one phase of Cadillac's push to distance itself from GM. De Nysschen is eager to revamp the company's dealership model so that it stands out from other GM brands, calling it a "very profound focus." Those moves, according to AN, including a change to the current dealer incentive model with a particular emphasis on building the brand rather than nailing sales figures. "If you aren't strengthening the brand perception, you should have less reward," de Nysschen told AN. While his goals seem clear, de Nysschen's statements have left us wondering whether they're also somewhat counterintuitive. Emphasizing Caddy's prosperity to potential consumers while incentivizing dealers to move less metal seems more like a tactical move rather than a strategic one. And there's no telling how the new dealership model will impact de Nysschen's goal to hit 500,000 global sales by 2020. Related Video:

Cadillac exec realizes ELR pricing was stupid high

At least one Cadillac exec has finally started to come to terms with something we knew all along: the initial $75,000 price for the ELR plug-in hybrid was way too high. The bad decision in part led to the model selling just over 1,000 units last year. Company marketing boss Uwe Ellinghaus recently gave an interview to Bloomberg where he discussed what went wrong. "The MSRP was, indeed, a mouthful," Ellinghaus said to Bloomberg. "We overestimated that customers would realize our competitors were naked at that price." People balked at the ELR's price from the very start, and dealers were receiving $5,000 at one point just for getting customers to test drive the PHEV. Later, some incentives for buyers were as high as $14,000. Cadillac planners saw a conundrum when it came to the ELR's price. Too low of a figure was thought to bring the model close to the Chevrolet Volt, and $75,000 was also believed to signal Caddy's PHEV as something special. "We just wanted to make this a statement for the brand of how progressive we are," Ellinghaus said to Bloomberg. Cadillac is now working to rehabilitate the ELR's reputation with a host of updates for 2016. Buyers get a 25-percent boost in powertrain output, additional standard features, and the whole package comes with a $9,000 drop in price. The tweaks should help the luxurious PHEV make a better second impression. Related Video: