http://www.leftlanenews.com/cadillac-cts-coupe.html

Spied again: 2010 Cadillac CTS Coupe (with interior shots!)

July25

Spies have snapped another round of photos showing the production Cadillac CTS Coupe undergoing testing — this time on public roads. Overall, it looks like GM is keeping the production CTS Coupe as close to the concept’s design as possible.

Codenamed GMX226, the stylish couple will be built alongside the CTS sedan at the Lansing Grand River Plant. Production will start in May of 2009. The coupe will feature a backup camera which is not currently found on the sedan, and won’t have traditional door handles, but rather a touch-pad setup instead.

Thankfully, it appears that the majority of the CTS Coupe concept’s lines have been faithfully duplicated on this production model. Some feared that the concept’s radical fastback design might be watered down, revealing the Coupe’s sedan roots, but our profile view proves these fears as unfounded. It appears that the production version may have a slightly more pronounced rear deck, but if that’s so, it’s not enough to significantly alter the concept’s silhouette.

The CTS Coupe prototype further separates itself from its sedan donor thanks to the elimination of a conventional door handle, adopting instead the concept’s Corvette-style design which hides the door trigger behind the door’s aft cut-line. The concept and production similarities continue with the Coupe’s revised lower side sill, and the distinctively sculpted waistline, which begins at the A-pillar/fender vent, and narrows as it stretches rearward. The camouflage hides whether or not the line terminates into the concept’s razor-sharp point at the C-pillar, but it looks likely that that’s another design convergence between the show- and production cars. Earlier photos also confirmed that the concept’s bold central exhaust will also reach showrooms.

There are some visible differences between the Detroit Show Standout and the production model. Cost and feasibility studies have killed the concept’s glass-to-glass side windows, in favor of a visible B-pillar on the production model. The rest of the changes are found in front of the A-pillar. The concept coupe’s large, CTS-V-style hood bulge is gone on this prototype (although we’d love to see it return on the “V” coupe). And the show car’s reshaped front fenders — which sweep more voluptuously to a revised front bumper, tweaked front ground-effects, and more dynamic headlight and fog-light clusters — appear to have been replaced with stock items from the CTS sedan. It looks to us like the CTS Coupe and sedan will share identical front fenders and front fascia designs. From there back, however, the cars could scarcely be more different. The drama of the CTS Coupe concept is alive and well, and on its way to Cadillac showrooms.

July 25th

Love it! This will likely be my future ride.

As much as I like the aesthetic of center exhaust outlets, I have to wonder how GM will avoid the obvious problem of people trying to load/unload something from the trunk (perhaps way back in the trunk) and severely burning themselves on the exhaust outlets. When mounted to the side, they are out of the way of the trunk opening and any loading/unloading operations.

I think this is going to be an incredible car on the street. It will be a head turner for sure. Can't wait.