Cadillac Flagship Is Back On

[ahmed_7erzon]

At the confluence of GM paying off its initial federal loans (which doesn't count the $52 billion in U.S. Treasury funds in exchange for 60.8 percent of the company) and Bob Lutz's retirement as the automaker's chief car guy, the latest buzz is Cadillac has revived work on designing a flagship. The project has been on again/off again since Cadillac showed its V-16-powered Sixteen concept (pictured) at the 2003 Detroit show.
Cadillac needs a low-volume flagship to define the brand, to unify the styling theme of such disparate current and future models as the CTS, Escalade, XTS, and ATS (3 Series competitor). The Sixteen concept defined Cadillac's Art & Science of the past decade.

Obviously, a big, low-volume Cadillac flagship wasn't the car to work on as GM was emerging from bankruptcy. Now that the Chevrolet Volt is essentially complete and nearly ready for its debut, GM may be able to free up design and engineering resources for the other end of the automotive spectrum.
Every other serious luxury brand has production flagship; Mercedes-Benz has two, if you count the Maybach and S-Class. There are also Lexus LS, Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, and Jaguar XJ.

The Audi A8 proves not all flagships are rear drive, though if Cadillac chooses a front-drive platform, like the A8, its flagship would use all-wheel drive only. On the other hand, GM has what it needs to build a flagship off a rear-drive platform.
For 2014, CTS switches to the Alpha RWD platform ("Trend," May), leaving the Sigma platform unrepresented in the U.S. In China, Cadillac sells a stretched version of the Sigma-based STS, called SLS. For the SLS, Cadillac stretches the STS's 116.4-inch wheelbase by four inches. At 120.4 inches, it's about an inch longer than the standard-wheelbase Jaguar XJ. Current Sigma components could be the basis of a new flagship.