1964 Cadillac Deville Convertible Great Driver on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM laying off 510 amidst slow Cadillac, small car sales

General Motors is laying off about 510 workers from two factories beginning in January, and it could be months before the automaker needs some of that latent capacity to come back on line. A combination of poor sales and high dealer inventories are prompting the cutbacks, according to Automotive News.
The largest changes come at GM's Lansing Grand River plant, where the Cadillac ATS and CTS are made. An entire shift of about 350 workers is being laid off, but the automaker hopes to find positions for some of them at other nearby factories. The decision leaves just a single shift building vehicles there. According to Automotive News, the move is partially spurred by Johan de Nysschen's plan to make Cadillac a more exclusive brand.
The lost shift will likely return for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro at the plant, according to the report, but GM isn't saying when that will be. A previous announcement from the Canadian Auto Workers union indicated that the Oshawa, Ontario, factory would lose the coupe in late 2015 or early 2016.

Cadillac considering more electric cars, Elmiraj business case gaining popularity

Cadillac's electrification isn't likely to stop at the $76,000 ELR coupe, according a report from TheDetroitBureau.com. Speaking to Cadillac's global sales boss, Bob Ferguson, a successful ELR will likely lead to a larger, even more upscale offering than the Volt-based two-door. "I could certainly see a larger vehicle, something even more luxurious," Ferguson said of a potential second, battery-powered Caddy.
That car would likely boast a more potent version of the Voltec powertrain that motivates the Volt and ELR. This next-generation system is still sometime off, though, and won't likely arrive until the second-generation Volt hits the market.
Besides hinting at future plug-in hybrids, Ferguson spoke to TDB about the improving business case for the Elmiraj Concept, shown at the Pebble Beach Concours in Monterey in August. "I'm very excited about the reception for the Elmiraj," Ferguson said. "I'd like to see it in showrooms as soon as possible," he added, before saying that a business case for the production version of the big coupe still needed to be presented to the brass. "It was made to be operationalized," Ferguson added, which is just what we want to hear when it comes to big, flashy concept cars.

Cadillac releases updated 2015 CTS

Cadillac is in the process of applying the new wreathless emblem across its range one model at a time, but rather than simply slap the new logo on the existing models, it's taking the opportunity to roll out some revisions as well. First came the ATS coupe, followed by the updated ATS sedan, and now the flagship brand in the General Motors portfolio has quietly announced some revisions for the CTS sedan as well.
For the 2015 model year, the CTS - which was just introduced last year - gets a revised front end with that wreathless crest but also a new chrome grille with active aero elements on standard models and a black-chrome grille on the Vsport. The revised grille is flanked by new headlights, but behind them the engine lineup carries over: a 2.0-liter turbo four with 272 horsepower, a 3.6-liter V6 with 321 hp or - in the Vsport performance model - a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 with 420 hp that's still the most powerful V6 GM has ever made. All engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission (ditching the six-speed auto on previous versions) and (apart from the RWD Vsport) can be had in rear- or all-wheel-drive flavors.
Cadillac has also given the updated CTS some new electronics (including inductive smartphone charging, onboard wifi, and more advanced parking and lane assist systems) as well as new wheels, trims and color options, details on which you can read in the press release below.