Fifteen years ago, we'd have been hard-pressed to believe that Cadillac could build SUVs that appear in rap songs or performance cars that can keep up with BMWs. We probably wouldn't have predicted a station wagon, either. On the other hand, we'd have been aghast to learn that Cadillac could neglect the traditional full-size sedan, as it has for most of the last decade. That will change starting this spring, when Cadillac launches the XTS, which debuts in production form this week at the Los Angeles auto show.
Changing needs
To better understand what the XTS is -- and isn't -- it's helpful to remember what was going on when the project started a short three years ago.
Cadillac had just introduced the second-generation CTS and had been considering several plans for a larger car -- rumors abounded that Bob Lutz wanted a six-figure flagship based on the 2003 Sixteen concept. Then the economy collapsed, and General Motors quickly ran short of cash.
"It was leading into some financial crisis that changed plans - the world changes, customers' needs change," says Cadillac product director Hampden Tener.
In other words, Cadillac wasn't going to mount a full-on assault on the likes of the BMW 7-series and the Mercedes-Benz S-class as it -- and many luxury-car buyers - stared down the barrel of a crippling recession. And yet the brand urgently needed a new full-size sedan. The rear-wheel-drive STS was failing to attract many new buyers into showrooms, and the antediluvian DTS was actually scaring them away.
2013 Cadillac XTS
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