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Cadillac CT6 to get twin-turbo V8

Say what you will about his decisions at Infiniti and now Cadillac, but Cadillac CEO Johan de Nysschen knows how to deliver a compelling interview. During an online Q&A session with Jalopnik readers, de Nysschen offered substantial hints at what's coming for the brand. By dropping coordinates on the brand's star chart, in reading the entire thing and connecting the dots you can see a Cadillac that is much grander than the one we know now. The CT6 that got revealed during the Oscars telecast? Answering the question of whether it would have the performance to compete with a Mercedes S550 or BMW 750, de Nysschen said the big sedan's "lightweight body structure allows us to achieve formidable performance even with a twin-turbo V6. Imagine how this car would perform with a twin-turbo V8." In clarifying a subsequent question that also dealt with how the CT6 would compare to German rivals, he wrote that the CT6 would have "a very wide mix of engines, starting with a two-liter turbo, up to, eventually, a high-performance advanced V8 turbo." Patience and the future and the word "eventually" were heavy themes. The brand will embrace diesel engines as well, de Nysschen writing, "We will have four-cylinder and six-cylinder diesel engines, but not before 2019." As to the return of something like the XLR, which was Corvette muscle underneath a Cadillac body, he wrote, "I think in the fullness of time, we will get around to developing a high-performance, very-emotive sports car as a halo for the Cadillac brand. But we have so many projects to occupy us through 2020 that this will have to wait a little while." And on the design language across model lines, which enthusiast Cassandras have warned is too similar (as if that hasn't worked out for the Germans), he wrote that it is "undergoing gradual evolution and you will notice stunning new designs in future models, which remain unmistakably Cadillac and reflect our DNA but which take our sophisticated Art and Science design to a new level." But of course he would say that, which is what brings us back to patience and the future and eventually, when we'll see what this all really means. It all reads well enough, and we'd love to see it happen. One thing we won't see are the ducks that once adorned the Cadillac crest; when a reader asked if he could have them back, de Nysschen said, "No, you can't have them back. I play with them each night in my bath." Head over to Jalopnik for the full read. It's worth it.

GM winding down Chevrolet brand in Europe

If you've taken even a cursory look at GM's European strategy and wondered how it can target the market there with both Chevrolet and Opel/Vauxhall, you're not alone. In fact General Motors itself has found it difficult to justify the two-pronged approach. That's why it's essentially pulling Chevy from the European marketplace.
Instead of trying to ply European buyers with what are mostly former Daewoo products rebadged as Chevys, GM will now let Opel (or Vauxhall in the UK) represent its mass-market aspirations. Chevrolet will keep its presence in Russia and other former Soviet markets, and will continue selling certain niche products in Eastern and Western Europe. The Corvette, for example, has long been sold in Europe through Cadillac dealerships, which for its part is currently "finalizing plans for expanding in the European market".
While the shift in strategy is expected to help GM get a stronger foothold in the European market in the long run, in the short term the restructuring will cost it dearly: between $700 million and $1 billion, according to its own estimates, split between the last quarter of this year and the first half of the next. Jump into the full press release below for more.

Cadillac drops the base engine in the 2017 ATS

Cadillac, in an effort to boost sales of the slow moving ATS, is making some changes to the 2017 model. Most notably, the luxury manufacturer is dropping the base 2.5-liter normally-aspirated four-cylinder engine from the lineup, leaving the 272 hp 2.0-liter turbocharged four as the base engine. The base 2.0-liter ATS will start at $35,590, $1,380 more than the 2016 model, though that's partially offset by more standard equipment. The base model now comes standard with Cadillac's controversial CUE infotainment system with an 8-inch touchscreen display, a Bose surround-sound speaker system, and a backup camera. Despite the bump in price for the base model, all other ATS trim levels will see prices reduced between $650 and $1,100, depending on the model. The ATS was designed to be Cadillac's answer to the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Though the ATS was originally released at a time where the Germans were slightly off their game, it's never quite matched up in terms of performance or customer perception posting disappointing sales figures compared to the competition. Cadillac has had problems getting customers into cars, and few ATS customers are converts from luxury competition. In order to offload inventory and lure in new customers, the company has previously been forced to offer big lease deals. Many of these customers have come over from more mainstream brands like Chevrolet and Ford. ATS sales have fallen 23 percent through May versus 2015. The car's market share has fallen every year since 2013, currently occupying just 4.5 percent of the compact luxury market. Unless Cadillac can offer some truly amazing deals, we don't expect many shoppers to buy American over the strong German competition. Related video: Cadillac Luxury Sedan