William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

September 12, 2012

When the first-generation Cadillac CTS debuted in 2002, it premiered the Art & Science design language with crisp lines and sharp edges. Ask GM design chief Ed Welburn what he thinks of it and this is what he would say,

"It had a dramatic presence, very angular. But when you really look at it, the surfacing of the body was not very sophisticated at all," Welburn said to Automotive News.

The second-generation CTS would add some sculpture that would smooth out the angular look while remaining as interesting as the first-gen model.

So what's in store for the next-generation CTS? Welburn says the car will lose more of its edgy-ness for more contours (see ATS for an example). Welburn goes onto say that the CTS "will continue to be very dramatic, but I think in some ways even more sophisticated."

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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That is code for more $$$$ and a much better car.

It needs sophistication, but I think a strength of Cadillac styling is the angles. The Evoq concept for example was very well done, and I think the XLR had very good exterior styling, just the wrong interior and wrong price tag. I don't care much for the rounded off Cadillac style, the ATS seems too round, and that rounded off blandness killed the STS.

The sophistication is more needed on the interior and under the hood though.

Smoothing the edges on the CTS will helps sales. As it is the car has been love/hate for most and just softening the car a little will retain most of the present lovers and only add more.

Think of it like The Band Metallica. While the purist love the Kill Em All era and hate the Black Album the hard fact remains the Black Album opened the door for Metallica to so many more sales and more fans.

Targeting the far ends may win you praise but targeting the majority appeal wins you profits.

was in a caddy store today.....as a 'by the way'...the CTS is leasing real cheap right now. Lots of untrumpeted incentives....... there was a 12 base AWD 3.0 CTS with pleather that was really a good deal right now.