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Meet the other Cadillac wagon. It's as American as ABBA

The Cadillac CTS Wagon became a cult classic the second it went on sale. We all knew that it was never going to sell in anything approaching significant numbers, and if that "we" didn't include those actually working at GM, one would have to wonder what they were smoking. Cadillac was still having a hard enough time trying to convince people that it was now a BMW-fighting sport luxury brand rather than the purveyor of Grandpa-piloted land yachts. To many, a sport sedan like the CTS seemed like a stretch. But a CTS sport wagon? It sure seemed like GM was just doing things for funzies, an impression only enhanced by the CTS-V Wagon. Forget cult classic. That thing was an instant legend.  And yet, the CTS wasn't the only Cadillac of that era offered as a wagon. It wasn't even the first. Before GM said "to hell with it, let's have some fun" on this side of the pond, over in Europe, it had already taken a page from its old badge-engineering playbook to create the 2006 Cadillac BLS Wagon. It was available as a sedan, too, but its awkward majesty is best enjoyed as the long-roof model.  There's just something off about the whole thing, right? That's probably because it also looks vaguely familiar, as if you've seen it before. So where the hell does this thing come from? Sweden! Behind that Cadillac Art and Science face is a Saab 9-3, and in the case of the BLS Wagon, the Saab 9-3 Sport Combi wagon. The roofline is the dead giveaway, as no other wagon has ever looked like that. In fact, the roof and windows were the only exterior elements to copy directly over from 9-3 to BLS. No kidding. With the Cadillac front end, doesn't the Saab-funky-boxiness make it look like a miniature hearse? The answer is yes. GM's design team, led by Ed Welburn, was quite pleased with his work. Perhaps it even egged him on to create a real Cadillac sport wagon? "The whole team was very excited to apply Cadillac's design language to a wagon for the first time," said Welburn in a press release from the time. "The V-shaped chrome-plated grille, a Cadillac hallmark, is picked up again by the shape of the rear window, and the body side character lines make it unmistakably a Cadillac." The interior is surprisingly different from the 9-3, including the ignition switch migrating from the center console up to the steering column. It also wasn't exactly in keeping with the Cadillac norm of the time.

Cadillac ParkWhiz app helps avoid endless circling to find parking

General Motors recently launched an app for its vehicles called Marketplace that includes various apps that let you order and pay for things from your car. The company is continuing to add apps to Marketplace, and the latest sounds quite useful. It's called ParkWhiz, and it will be available on Cadillacs. Basically, it lets you find and pay for parking from your car. In more detail, ParkWhiz will let you find parking in 250 cities. The app shows locations that have spaces available and which are full, along with prices for all of them. You can then select one and pay for it for however long you'll use it. You can even reserve parking in advance in case you're going to a busy event. The big benefit here is that you should be able to eliminate a lot of cruising around looking for spaces. That will save you time and money. Additionally, this could save you from having to go really early to an event to find decent parking. It's a handy sounding app, and fortunately, if you don't have a Cadillac, you can get the app on your phone. The only downside to the phone app is that it's not built into the car's infotainment system.

Cadillac plans upgrades to its Super Cruise hands-free system

Not content to let Tesla hog the spotlight with lofty claims about its autonomous driving capabilities, Cadillac plans major upgrades to its Super Cruise automated driving system starting next year, when the technology starts rolling out in more models. "The system that we have today, we continue to upgrade," Brandon Vivian, Cadillac's executive chief engineer, told The Verge. 'We have over-the-air re-flash capability, and you'll continue to see us add features and capabilities to Super Cruise going forward." A fellow top Cadillac engineer told the outlet they would not share specifics but said "We want to innovate" as competitors also make advances in self-driving technology. The news comes as Elon Musk says Tesla will launch a driverless robotaxi service in some U.S. cities next year, with "over a million cars with full self-driving, software, everything." The audacious claim hinges on a new Samsung microchip for self-driving vehicles. Last year, Tesla rolled out Navigate on Autopilot, which allows vehicles to change lanes, take exit ramps and choose the correct highway interchange and exit. At the New York International Auto Show, Cadillac announced that it will equip the forthcoming 2020 CT5 sedan with Super Cruise, though not initially. The brand plans to roll out a new model equipped with Super Cruise every six months starting in 2020 and going through the end of 2021, meaning four new models with the technology in two years. Super Cruise previously has been offered only on the CT6 Platinum, and as an option on other CT6 trim levels, along with a three-year OnStar package. It uses cameras, lidar mapping and radar, plus an infrared camera mounted atop the steering column to make sure the driver isn't nodding off, looking away for too long or climbing into the back seat. There's also an LED light bar on the steering wheel and Super Cruise icon on the instrument panel to let drivers know when the system is ready, not ready and ready to deactivate. But the system can't switch lanes and only works on around 130,000 miles of divided highways that GM has mapped with lidar-equipped vehicles. Vivian said the Super Cruise setup in the CT5 will be largely the same as in the CT6 and likened it to "a half step in between" a full next generation of the technology. GM also plans to eventually roll out Super Cruise to its entire U.S. lineup following its introduction in all Cadillac models. Autoblog named Super Cruise the 2019 Technology of the Year winner.