Cadillac greenlights CTS Coupe for production

DETROIT, Mich. — If the Cadillac CTS Coupe concept that debuted at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show made your heart beat faster, then here's something that might make it explode. GM will put this dramatic display of its Art and Science design language into production in 18 months' time.

 

While Ed Welburn, GM's vice president of Global Design, told reporters at the CTS coupe's press conference "this vehicle really wasn't supposed to exist," the new luxury coupe has been part of GM's plan since at least the middle of 2006. Code-named GMX226, the 2010 Cadillac coupe will start rolling down the assembly line at the Lansing Grand River plant in early June of 2009. Annual production is expected to be in the range of 15,000 to 20,000 units.

 

Don't expect the production model to differ much from the concept. In back, the very short rear deck lid, angular taillights and sculpted sheet metal will appear on the real coupe. One thing the production model will have, that the concept does not, is a lip spoiler with an integrated middle brake light. The center-mounted exhaust will also be swapped out for a more conventional setup.

Ugly?

Ugly?

 

 

ugly!!!

Like most of Caddy's designs, this is another love/hate deal.

 

The back is too VW-Corrado like to me. The trunk should have been extended out another inch or two, it's too hatchback-looking.

 

They were close, a few tweaks and it would have been sharp, but this is a swing and a miss.

 

 

It's TOO tall, maybe it won't be so with the production car.

Like most of Caddy's designs, this is another love/hate deal.

 

The back is too VW-Corrado like to me. The trunk should have been extended out another inch or two, it's too hatchback-looking.

 

They were close, a few tweaks and it would have been sharp, but this is a swing and a miss.

 

 

 

They were on the right track.

It looks like a nice car that got rear ended.

This may be one of those designs that needs to be seen in person in order to be appreciated. Sometimes, photos do not do a car justice. I like the front three quarter view, and if you squint a little, the direct side view has a little Bentley GT in it. Maybe you have to squint a lot.

 

I am confident some different colors will help this design. My internal jury is still out on this one. I think I may like it once it hits the street live. Regardless of our stylistic differences, I think its a good step for Cadillac, and they will probably do well on the sales front.

Imho the front is fine but the rear is fugly......They should have just removed the rear door/cabin section and welded on the regular CTS back end....The regular CTS rear certainly looks better than this silly design..

I like the car, but wish that the designers would have stayed to do the rear end of the car.

I didn't much care for the design when I first saw pictures. I saw the actual car at Detroit and still wasnt impressed. The front end looks good, but the back just looks kind of bulbous and awkward. Hopefully some of the constraints of making the production version will bring some changes.