Cadillac ’s future lineup will include three sedans, with a model positioned below the CTS and one positioned above it. That means General Motors will either axe the DTS or STS, Troy Clarke, president of GM North America told Automotive News.
The simplified lineup will see the elimination of front-wheel-drive, although the company could elect to keep the DTS in name only.
Consumers should expect to see “something less than the CTS, something around the CTS and something bigger than the CTS” in the future, Clarke said.
GM is widely expected to expand the CTS lineup to include a coupe, and maybe even a wagon. A recent report citing inside information indicated the CTS would get a refresh in 2010 to better align it against the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class.
This would then make room for a new rear-wheel-drive Cadillac built on the company’s Alpha platform to take aim at the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class in 2011. Cadillac would likely use the BLS name for this car.
Somewhere along the line the company will launch a replacement to the STS and DTS, designed to rival the BMW 7-Series or Mercedes S-Class.
Cadillac General Manager Jim Taylor previously stated GM could keep the DTS nameplate, but build its replacement on the Zeta platform.
Although the Zeta platform — which underpins the new Camaro and Pontiac G8 — has yet to be used for such a large vehicle, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently told The Car Connection this would be possible.
“What you’ve got to understand is that we’ve got this modular product architecture kit where we have two different lengths of center underbodies, two different lengths of front rails and two different lengths of rear overhang. So we can modify those elements any way we want. In the case of the Camaro, it’s long short, short. If, for instance, we wanted to do a very large rear-wheel-drive Cadillac with more than eight cylinders you could do long, long, long,” Lutz said.
