Cadillac

A sneak peak at Cadillac's restyled crossover
In Pebble Beach yesterday, Cadillac introduced their new SRX at a special sneak preview.

Clay Dean, Cadillac design director, said, "The next-generation SRX is the result of the continued exploration and refining of Cadillac design language, with the goal of creating dramatic presence in the luxury crossover space."

Cutting edge styling
I don't think Cadillac needs to worry about creating a "dramatic presence" in the crossover market or any market for that matter. Their new design philosophy makes a statement and is unmistakable from any other vehicles on the road.

But this plays into Cadillac's hands quite nicely. Their styling makes a statement, one that easily sets it apart from others. You could easily argue that they gambled a little but I think it's paid off.

BMW, as a competitor, is a good example. With the arrival of the new 7-series in 2001, BMW announced a styling breakthrough for the German auto maker. The automotive press, however, was not kind. Today, BMW is clearly toning down the "Bangle butt" styling in favor of something less overt. Did Chris Bangle's design hurt BMW sales, and likewise, their brand? I'll leave you to speculate.

Art and Science
I guess you can take the same approach with Cadillac. Not everyone is crazy about their Art and Science approach. But while BMW's 7-series caught flak and criticism, Cadillac's CTS, with its introduction in 2003, could be argued as relaunching Cadillac's brand. The CTS rejuvenated Cadillac, possibly saving it from extinction. It brought the younger buyers into Cadillac's showrooms, buyers that they had been trying to attract since the 1990's.

It's clear with the new SRX that Cadillac has no plans of changing their philosophy. But even though their current styling isn't new, it's not wearing thin. It will be interesting to see what they do in the future.

It appears that Cadillac has knocked down the door to the performance sedan market, letting the likes of BMW and Audi know that they indeed are a force to be reckoned with.

Just a few days ago, John Heinricy, a GM Performance Division executive who happens to be an experienced race car driver, broke the eight minute barrier while at the wheel of the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V on the Nürburgring's north loop, known as the Nordschleife. His time was 7:59.32 which appears to be the "fastest documented lap time" for a production sedan. The new CTS-V was unmodified, running production-spec performance parts. All of those parts are planned for consumer production, which is scheduled to begin this fall.

More news should be available soon on the Cadillac Driver's Log. In addition, a video will be made available of the car's ground-breaking lap. We'll keep our eye out for it and post it here on Ridestory. According to Cadillac, the car is in it's final stages of testing. Their goal is to make the CTS- V the world’s fastest production sedan. As testing is finalized in the coming weeks, Cadillac will be releasing the car’s certified SAE power ratings, acceleration specifications and U.S.-market pricing.

In the same blog post, they estimate the car to have 550 horsepower, coming from a new LSA 6.2-liter supercharged V8. My bet is this performance spec will hold true. You can't fly around the Nordschleife in under 8 minutes without some serious horsepower. Performance such as this is usually reserved for race cars and exotic sports cars, not four-door sedans.

But horsepower isn't everything. Any part of the Nürburgring is a challenge to drive and cars negotiating it quickly must have a suspension tuned to handle it. Clearly the CTS-V is no slouch. Hopefully, as more information trickles out, Cadillac will include specs such as skid pad and slalom numbers. We'll get a better idea of how the car handles the twisties if these numbers are high. We're looking forward to the possibility of a Cadillac trumping a BMW M5 on the track.

There is an ongoing discussion taking place on the Corvette Forum. Some are excited, as we are, that GM will be producing a true sport sedan at a reasonable price. Others are crying foul, claiming that until actual tests are done, the claims from Cadillac that the new CTS-V is the fastest production sedan "...is fluff at best."

Any way you look at it, this is exciting. A performance-minded American four-door sedan getting some attention is a good thing! What do you think? Will the CTS-V out-perform a BMW M5? How about an Audi S6?