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Cadillac puts on a big performance for the Oscars with 'Rise' campaign

Cadillac skipped the Super Bowl, saving its big play for the 91st Oscars telecast tonight. America's luxury brand has a presence planned for nearly every medium, from television to Twitter to stairstep stories tied into the new commercial campaign. Speaking of which, that campaign is called "Rise," and lauds the "now-complete SUV portfolio" as well as Cadillac's determination to get back to the top. Four new spots will debut: "Rise Above," celebrating the XT6 and the rest of the new range, "Take the Stage," focused on the Escalade, "Make Your Escape," all about the XT4, "Take Flight," for the XT5. The first commercial will be 60 seconds, while the other three are 30-second spots. Cadillac chose Childish Gambino's song "Me and Your Mama" for the campaign soundtrack — it works a lot better than you might guess based on the track name. Beyond that, the Cadillac logo will grace the red carpet, the first time any commercial logo has made a home on the walk of honor. The stairs will be decorated with blue horizontals, inspired by the stair-like pattern of blue in the Cadillac crest. The blue in the carmaker's logo is said to represent "knightly valor" — which, yes, is totally made up, but Cadillac made it up a long time ago, not for this campaign. The real point is that two celebrities in attendance will stand on the steps and present their own stories of rising up. You can check out all the commercials here, watch them unveiled in real time during the Oscars telecast, keep up with what your eleventy hundred Twitter friends think by checking out the hashtag #KeepRising, and finish it off with some time on the Keep Rising microsite.

Cadillac's striking Escala concept is reportedly headed for production

Cadillac is reportedly planning a new flagship four-door, and it won't be based on its alphanumeric naming system a la the CT6. It'll be the Escala, the stunning concept fastback it revealed in 2016 in Pebble Beach. The news comes via Autoline, which cites AutoForecast Solutions. The Escala is said to be planned for production starting in December 2021 at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which currently builds the CT6, Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Volt and Impala. That suggests the Escala, which was branded as a four-door coupe, will likely keep that layout. It'll also be built on the CT6 platform. Cadillac has been talking about fitting a flagship sedan above the CT6 for years, and the Escala's design language has been influencing bits of other Cadillac models, from the refresh of the CT6 to the broad grille shape on the new XT4 crossover, which debuts at the New York Auto Show next week. The concept Escala featured a wide, muscular stance and a minimalist, white mid-century modern interior aesthetic, with tail lamps that evoke waterfowl in flight. Interestingly, it came equipped with a 4.2-liter twin-turbo V8 with cylinder deactivation, which Cadillac President Johan De Nysschen said at the time was "absolutely worthy of a car of this caliber." But with such a long horizon before production, there's obviously lots of time to develop a more pragmatic production model and cue ravenous speculation. Or, for that matter, to decide to rename it something like the CT8. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac Escala Concept View 33 Photos Image Credit: Jeff Jablansky Design/Style Cadillac Coupe Concept Cars Luxury Sedan cadillac ct6 cadillac xt4 cadillac escala

Cadillac releases updated 2015 CTS

Cadillac is in the process of applying the new wreathless emblem across its range one model at a time, but rather than simply slap the new logo on the existing models, it's taking the opportunity to roll out some revisions as well. First came the ATS coupe, followed by the updated ATS sedan, and now the flagship brand in the General Motors portfolio has quietly announced some revisions for the CTS sedan as well.
For the 2015 model year, the CTS - which was just introduced last year - gets a revised front end with that wreathless crest but also a new chrome grille with active aero elements on standard models and a black-chrome grille on the Vsport. The revised grille is flanked by new headlights, but behind them the engine lineup carries over: a 2.0-liter turbo four with 272 horsepower, a 3.6-liter V6 with 321 hp or - in the Vsport performance model - a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 with 420 hp that's still the most powerful V6 GM has ever made. All engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission (ditching the six-speed auto on previous versions) and (apart from the RWD Vsport) can be had in rear- or all-wheel-drive flavors.
Cadillac has also given the updated CTS some new electronics (including inductive smartphone charging, onboard wifi, and more advanced parking and lane assist systems) as well as new wheels, trims and color options, details on which you can read in the press release below.