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Cadillac CTS wins 2014 Motor Trend Car of the Year [w/video]

For the second time, the Cadillac CTS has been named Motor Trend's Car of the Year. After winning the COTY crown for 2008, the new-for-2014 CTS outdid the other two finalists for Car of the Year honors, the Mazda3 and its corporate cousin, the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
What's notable about the Caddy's victory, though, is how it simply brushed off its competition. Both the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series failed to make the finalist's bracket, leaving the CTS to claim victory. "It had to beat [Mercedes and BMW] on style, on performance, on comfort, and on quality. It has," Motor Trend said in its COTY recap for the CTS.
The team at Motor Trend praised the CTS chassis, calling it "fantastic," and citing weight advantage the Caddy has over the competition. There was also praise heaped on the car's engines, with the 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder getting nods of approval from the MT team. The team also raved about the VSport model and its twin-turbocharged V6, magnetic shocks and other performance accoutrements.

Cadillac can't keep up with Escalade demand, can't move its sedans

No matter how much Cadillac revitalizes its lineup and its image, it seems that all consumers want is the Escalade. In fact, Automotive News reports that General Motors can't keep up with demand for the fullsize luxury SUV, despite sticker prices that start at over $70,000 and approach six figures at the top end of the spectrum. Contrast that with sedans like the ATS and CTS, which are far cheaper but which Cadillac hasn't been able to move fast enough to keep up with production, prompting both the manufacturer and dealers to offer substantial incentives to keep them from piling up. Cadillac had been resisting a price cut of the ATS or CTS, lest it hurt resale values – itself a factor that could explain consumers' reluctance to buy them in the first place – but been offering subsidized leases, discounted financing, rebates and cheaper options. Combined with incentives from individual dealers, according to AN, buyers can be looking at five-figure discounts on buying a new Cadillac sedan. And now, finally, it seems the CTS will indeed get a little bit off its bottom line. Yet GM has been producing the ATS and CTS at rates that their sales can't keep up with. The automaker was forced to idle the plant in Lansing, MI, where it assembles the ATS and CTS for six weeks starting this past December. And since it reopened late in January, it's been reduced to a single shift as dealers try to move the metal they've already got. Meanwhile the plant in Arlington, TX, that produces the Escalade and its Chevy and GMC siblings has been running on overtime, with three shifts throughout the week and even into the weekend to keep up with demand. Profitable as it's been for Cadillac and GM, though, the Escalade does not represent the future of where it wants to take the brand - separating the Escalade as almost a brand unto itself that's been left out of the company's new naming scheme. If only it could make its sedans as successful as its fullsize SUVs, it'll be all set.

Cadillac logo losing its wreath?

The easily recognizable Cadillac logo dates back to the company's founding in the early 1900s, but over the last 110 years, there has been an on-again, off-again love affair with the wreath surrounding the crest. Cadillac's current badge design has used the wreath since the 1980s, but Automotive News is reporting that GM's luxury division is planning to ditch the laurel wreath for a cleaner-looking logo.
The new logo could make its debut as early as next month on a new concept car that will be revealed at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, although the report also says that it might be until 2015 before it makes its way to a production car. Even then, it doesn't like anything has been finalized yet, as the article also says that plans could still change.
As Cadillac looks to improve its global presence as a luxury automaker, the report says that a simpler logo could make it easier for designers to incorporate the badge onto the car - either in the grille or above the grille (possibly in a fashion similar to Mercedes-Benz). Head on over to the AN article, which shows the Cadillac logo dating back to its earliest design.