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Cadillac could 'flourish' in Australia, says marketing chief

Cadillac might have its best product mix in recent history, and GM's luxury brand is looking to expand. In fact, it might even be making a trip Down Under, at least according to the company's global marketing chief.
Uwe Ellinghaus spoke with Australian site Car Advice at the Geneva Motor Show and said the brand could be quite successful there. "[The] goodwill that the Cadillac brand has is such a good starting base that once we get proper volume commitment and a dealer network behind it we can easily flourish," he said, though he warned that the plans are still in their earliest stages and years away. First, Cadillac will expand in markets with the highest possible sales, like China and Russia.
Ellinghaus said that the most likely models for Oz would be the SRX, Escalade and CTS; the latter would probably act as a replacement for the Holden Commodore. GM's Australian arm is ending local production in 2017, and there have been many rumors about what is happening to the big sedan. However, Ellinghaus admits exporting cars from the US to Australia is going to mean higher prices. In addition to the expense, Cadillac doesn't currently build any right-hand-drive models. It would likely take until the end of the decade before the Aussie models could be ready.

Cadillac ELR update delayed over autonomous drive systems issues

Rumors had been circulating that the 2016 Cadillac ELR would bow in Los Angeles recently, featuring, in Cadillac's own words, "engineering enhancements." The rumors and that quote are as far as it got – the updated ELR pulled a no-show in LA, and no one outside of the brand appears to know when it will appear. GM Inside News says its sources at Cadillac pinned the ELR's absence on some autonomous driving features not being ready to reveal. According to GMI, Cadillac insiders say the upgraded ELR will be a "highly autonomous vehicle," and the company needs more time to gets its systems polished. The site says "it's not unreasonable to assume that ELR will be [the] vehicle" that gets Cadillac's Super Cruise technology, but that seems a lot more involved than "engineering enhancements," and in September Cadillac said we'd see it sometime in the next two years. It's possible the wait for the 2016 ELR and its secrets might only be a couple of months: the next-generation Chevrolet Volt, which shares a platform with the ELR and whose engineering updates we know quite a bit about, is scheduled to appear at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show in January.

Cadillac Escalade Diesel Road Test Review | Winning us over

"Nope, I don't like it," I declared to my large son sitting in the 2021 Cadillac Escalade 600D's second-row captain's chairs. “Why?” he asked, staring in awe at the opulence around him and with his very own touchscreen staring back. “ItÂ’s too big. This thingÂ’s gonna suck to park,” I replied. And it did. Even with multiple camera angles, including a 360-degree view, the big Cadillac was a pain to navigate in parking lots. But, slowly, the big lug — the car, not my son — began to grow on me. Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was the diesel Escalade. I couldnÂ’t really hear the clunking of the motor up front or the exhaust running out the rear. I double-checked the tach for the telltale lower redline, and was reassured that I was driving the vehicle I was told would be delivered. Under the hood is GMÂ’s Duramax 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder turbodiesel engine providing a somewhat meager 277 horsepower – considerably less than the standard 6.2-liter V8Â’s 420 hp. But the Duramax boasts a robust 460 pound-feet of torque, the same torque figure as the V8. The advantage here is that peak torque is accessible from a low 1,500 rpm, while the V8Â’s full twist doesnÂ’t arrive until much higher in the rev range, at 4,100 rpm. The result is an SUV that feels eager to jump off the line and scoot about the neighborhood (if “scoot” is a word that can be applied to such a behemoth). That initial torque hit is almost instantaneous, but the dieselÂ’s staying power does have its limits. ItÂ’s on expressway on-ramps that the Duramax finally seems to labor under this EscaladeÂ’s 6,015-pound curb weight. The numbers on the speedometer just donÂ’t tick away with urgency once you approach highway speeds. That tends to happen with only 277 horsepower. While the sound deadening does a fabulous job of hiding the motor's sound when inside the Escalade, standing outside with the Duramax running leaves no doubt about the diesel mill powering this dressy brute. ItÂ’s not particularly loud or harsh, but the clatter is distinctive when youÂ’d normally expect to hear the humming of a V8 at idle. The 10-speed automatic transmission feels like a good fit for this powertrain. With a redline just over 5,000 rpm, the extra gears minimize time spent at the top of the rev range — a good thing in a vehicle for which low-end torque is king.