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Cadillac XT4 crossover to be built in Kansas City

Cadillac's upcoming XT4, a crossover we've previously known as the XT3 in a long series of spy shots of heavily camouflaged mules, will be built at General Motors' assembly plant in Kansas City on the same platform as the Chevrolet Malibu, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the plan. That will give Cadillac another entry in the red-hot luxury crossover segment and, GM hopes, help to reverse a sales slump in the U.S. It'll also breath life into the Kansas City plant that makes the slow-selling Malibu, where GM cut a third shift last year, by sharing the assembly line between the crossover and sedan and defraying costs for each vehicle. The XT4 was known most recently as the XT3, with styling cues based on the Escala concept sedan from 2016. It's slightly smaller than the XT5, Cadillac's top-selling vehicle, and will also augment the full-size Escalade in Cadillac's stable of SUVs when it makes its expected debut later this year. Cadillac last week reported its second-highest-ever sales mark with 356,467 vehicles, an increase of 15.5 percent over 2016. But that mark papers over an 8 percent sales decline in the U.S. to 156,440 vehicles. The luxury brand is on a hot streak in China, where sales jumped 50.8 percent last year to 175,489 units.Related Video: Image Credit: Brian Williams Plants/Manufacturing Cadillac Chevrolet GM Crossover sales cadillac xt5 cadillac xt4 cadillac xt3

Ghostbusters' Ecto-1 detailed in behind-the-scenes video

The Ghostbusters reboot is coming, ready or not. And along with a gender swap between the 'busters and their secretary, the team's trusty chariot, Ecto-1, is getting a refresh. It's still a specialized Cadillac, but that's where the similarities end, judging by the new featurette you see above. Instead of a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance, 2016's Ecto-1 is a 1982 Cadillac Deville. And instead of being built to keep people from dying, the new car is meant to transport the dead. Yep, it's a hearse. It's hard not to find some kind of hidden meaning there, but this video doesn't mention it. What we have learned here is that the way the new Ghostbusters acquire their vehicle is a little bit different than it was in the original film. In the 1984 version, Dr. Ray Stantz, played by Dan Aykroyd, bought the 1959 ambulance for $4,800 – the equivalent of $11,000 today – despite a litany of problems. It was clear in the film that Ecto-1 was dilapidated long before the Ghostbusters breathed life back into it. But in the new film, the team acquires Ecto-1 from the uncle of Patty Tolan – Leslie Jones' character. And based on the film featurette, it looks like it's in solid shape before the team adds its distinctive livery and logo. You can learn more about the car, see parts of the build process, and hear the cast and crew talk about it in this two-minute featurette. Ghostbusters hits theaters on July 15. Related Video:

Hottest Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V rumored to offer manual transmissions

We recently received one large detail to fill in the picture of the hottest versions of the Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V, the sedans maybe or maybe not called Blackwing. As you know, due to a platform switch caused by cost cutting at parent GM, the 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 won't figure in the equation because it won't fit in the engine bay of either sedan. The new, gone-too-soon engine is too wide and too tall. The hottest V models will turn to stalwarts in the range, the CT4-V appearing to get the 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 used in the departed ATS-V, the CT5-V working with the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 also put to use in the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and C7 Corvette Z06. But all of this could mean good news for three-pedal enthusiasts; both engines have been paired with manual transmissions previously, and Muscle Cars & Trucks says both of the coming flagship V models will get manual transmissions. We've expected a manual in the CT4-V. Not only did GM President Mark Reuss say, "Cadillac will make manuals in V-Series" during the launch of the milder V variants, but spy video of the CT4-V from last summer captured a camouflaged CT4-V looking and acting like a car with a manual gearbox. However, no one surmised that the CT5-V would get a manual, too. None of the bigger sedan's competition is sold with a stick shift, and the retired CTS-V with the same 6.2-liter supercharged V8 was only sold with an eight-speed automatic, while just one aisle over the Camaro ZL1 offered a six-speed manual and the Corvette Z06 a seven-speed manual. The last time Cadillac put a row-your-own in the midsize luxury scorcher was the second-gen CTS-V — the one that came in a wagon bodystyle, too — which paired a supercharged LS9 V8 derived from the C6 Corvette ZR1 and a six-speed Tremec manual. MCT doesn't cite any sources, so take this as rumor for now. It's possible to read Reuss' statement in line with this rumor, though. The assumption has been that the plural "manuals" referred to multiple stick shifts going into multiple CT4-V sedans, whereas he could have meant there will be two manual-equipped sedans in the V-Series range. We'll hope for the best and see what pops out of the transmission tunnels on both sedans when they debut later this year. Related Video: