1966 Cadillac Fleetwood on 2040-cars

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Combative de Nysschen defends Cadillac move, naming change

Johan de Nysschen isn't afraid of taking quick, decisive actions, even if they are criticized. Since taking the wheel at Cadillac, he instigated moving the luxury division's base of operations to Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood and introduced a new naming scheme for the future of the brand, like he did at Infiniti. The polarizing boss recently explained his feelings about the future of Cadillac in more depth on his Facebook page, but unfortunately only his friends could read it. Thankfully, Daily Kanban posted much of the strongly worded missive for the whole world to see.
Much of the message examines the decision to move some employees to New York. De Nysschen claims that it's all about giving Cadillac distance from Detroit to reshape itself. It allows for, "No distractions. No side shows. No cross-brand corporate considerations. No homogenized lowest common denominator approach. Just pure, unadulterated, CLASS."

Cadillac scraps three-row CUV plans

Crossovers are one of the hottest automotive segments on the planet. Apparently, the idea of mixing the practicality of a station wagon with the looks of an SUV appeals to people whether they are in Cleveland or Shanghai because nearly every automaker is jumping into the market. So it was no surprise when early rumors suggested Cadillac was planning two, new CUVs to fit above and below the SRX. But things might have changed since then.
New rumblings indicate Caddy is taking a different route. Instead of two crossovers, only the compact is on the way, and the larger, three-row CUV on the Lambda platform to sit between the SRX and Escalade may be a goner. According to Ward's Auto, General Motors thinks that the other three-row, Lambda vehicles like the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia compete too closely with the proposed Cadillac. The decision comes fairly close to the 2017 intended production date.
As far back as 2010, this Lambda-platform based CUV was considered highly likely for production. However, Cadillac Senior Vice President Bob Ferguson was somewhat cooler about it when he discussed the new crossover briefly last year. He said the model could use the Escalade name, despite its unibody chassis, but no decision had been made yet to actually produce it.

Cadillac ELR, Nissan Resonance and Ford Atlas win Eyes on Design awards

This year's annual Eyes on Design awards were presented at the end of press days for the Detroit Auto Show on Tuesday. Given out for the best production and concept car designs that debuted at the show, and voted on by an esteemed panel of actual car designers, this year's award for best production vehicle design went to the 2014 Cadillac ELR. The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette, which was the show favorite among Autoblog editors, apparently did not impress the Eyes on Design judges enough with its all-new vent-festooned design.
The award for best concept design was actually split as a tie among the Nissan Resonance and Ford Atlas concepts. Last year's winners were the 2013 Ford Fusion and the Lexus LF-LC concept.
The Eyes on Design organization also presented a new honor this year called the Catalyst Award to Bob Lutz, former Vice Chairman of General Motors. Lutz is reported to have given a defense of design in his acceptance speech, arguing that advancements in quality across the industry as a whole have made good design a key differentiator for buyers.