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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

Best and Worst GM Cars

Oh yes, because we just love receiving angry letters from devoted Pontiac Grand Am enthusiasts, we have decided to go there. Based on a heated group Slack conversation, the topic came up about the best and worst GM cars. First of all time, and then those currently on sale, and then just mostly a rambling discussion of Oldsmobiles our parents and grandparents owned (or engineered). Eventually, three of us made the video above. Like it? Maybe we can make more. Many awesome GM cars are definitely going unmentioned here, so please let us know your bests and worsts in the comments below. Mostly, it's important to note that this post largely exists as a vehicle for delivering the above video that dives far deeper into GM's greatest hits and biggest flops, specifically those from the 1980s and 1990s. What you'll find below is a collection of our editors identifying a best current and best-of-all-time choice, plus a worst current and worst-of-all-time choice. Comprehensive it is not, but again, comments. -Senior Editor James Riswick Best Current GM Vehicle Chevrolet Corvette We were flying by the seats of our pants a bit in this first outing and my notes were similarly extemporaneous. When it came time to tie it all together on camera, I failed spectacularly. Thank the maker for text, because this gives me the opportunity to perhaps slightly better explain my convoluted reasoning. I chose the C8 Corvette because it's simply overwhelmingly good, and it's merely the baseline from which this generation of Corvette will be expanded.  While the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing (more on that in a minute) is an amazing snapshot of GM's current performance standing and its little sibling so enraptured me that I went out and bought one, their existence is fleeting. Corvette will live on; forced-induction Cadillac sport sedans, not so much. So while all three are amazing machines when viewed in a vacuum, the Corvette stands above them as both a reflection of GM's current performance credentials and a signpost of what is to come. So, given the choice between the C8 and the 5V-Blackwing right now, I'd choose the C8. In 10 years, when the Blackwing is no longer in production and Corvette is in its 9th generation? Well, that might be a different story. Now, just pretend I said something even remotely that coherent when we get to the part of the video where I try to make an argument for the 5-V Blackwing as best GM car I've ever driven. Or just laugh at me while I ramble incoherently.

2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid Drivers' Notes Review | Seamlessly green

In many ways, the Cadillac CT6 Plug-in Hybrid is the most interesting car the brand sells. Despite having a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain, it makes the most torque of any CT6, even the twin-turbocharged V6 model. It also has a claimed electric range of 31 miles and can still manage a combined fuel economy of 26 mpg with just the gas engine. Even its origin is interesting, since its final assembly point is China. To cap things off, it's also the second most expensive CT6 in the range. To find out if the CT6 is worth that money, and has more to offer than fun facts, we spent some time behind the wheel. Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore: I achieved 34.1 miles per gallon for my roughly 14-mile roundtrip in the CT6 hybrid. This sedan is a rolling example of where luxury is heading in the near term: Existing models souped up with hybrid tech, and the green features will go along way toward keeping big sedans like this relevant. It's a smart play for Cadillac to add a product like this. Otherwise, it's a fairly standard-issue CT6, which is a solid car. The flashy head- and taillights look great. The design is angled, creased and nicely proportioned. The interior is comfortable and roomy. It's a nice car. Cadillac invested a lot in the CT6, and it shows. Rumors have long swirled that the brand will add a larger flagship, though in this climate, that's hard to envision. For now, the CT6 does the job as Cadillac's standard bearer. Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale: Of all the different CT6 variants available, the CT6 PHEV is the one I would pick for myself. Why? Because the hybrid powertrain finally delivers on the quiet, refined driving experience I want from a flagship luxury sedan. I was a bit surprised by this, too, since the gas engine under the hood is the 2.0-liter four-cylinder used elsewhere, which isn't the smoothest thing in the world. But assist from the electric motor helps keep the four-cylinder from having to wind up too much to move the big Caddy, and when the gas engine does rev hard, it's well muffled by whatever insulation is in the car. Besides aural refinement, the power delivery is oil-on-ice slick. The blending of electric and gas power is seamless. There's no waiting on the turbo to spool up, and there's no loss of power at higher rpms with the electric motor. They work in perfect harmony providing excellent low-down grunt and solid upper-end power. The transmission is super smooth, too allowing for happy wafting wherever you go.