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Junkyard Gem: 1997 Cadillac Catera

GM's Cadillac Division was having a tough time in the early 1990s, with an onslaught of Lexuses and Infinitis pouring across the Pacific to steal their younger customers while high-end German manufacturers picked off their older customers. Flying an S-Class-priced model between assembly lines in Turin and Hamtramck hadn't worked out, so why not look to the European outposts of the far-flung GM Empire for the next Cadillac? That's how the Catera was born, and I have found a rare first-year example in a North Carolina car graveyard. Across the Atlantic, GM's Opel and Vauxhall were doing good business with prosperous European car buyers by selling them the sleek rear-wheel-drive Omega B (whose platform also lived beneath the Holden VT Commodore in Australia). Here was a genuine German design that competed with success against BMW and Audi on their home turf! So, the Omega B was Americanized and renamed the Catera. Opel wasn't a completely unknown brand to Americans at the time, since its cars were sold here with their own badging through Buick dealerships from the middle 1950s through the late 1970s (for a much shorter period, American Pontiac dealers attempted to sell Vauxhalls). Even after that, plenty of Opel DNA showed up in the products of U.S.-market GM divisions. The Catera was by far the most affordable Cadillac for 1997, with an MSRP starting at $29,995 (about $59,113 in 2024 dollars). Being a genuine German car, it looked much more convincingly European than the DeVille ($36,995), Eldorado ($37,995) and Seville ($39,995). Inspired by the ducks on the Cadillac emblem (they were really supposed to be martlets, mythical birds with no feet and occasionally lacking beaks), Cadillac's marketers went after youthful car shoppers with a whimsical animated duck named Ziggy. For the 21st century, the birds were removed from the Cadillac emblem in order to attract California buyers under 45 years of age. As we all know, the Catera flopped hard in the marketplace. What sold well in Europe turned out not to translate so well in in North America, especially when bearing the badges of such a historically prestigious brand. The Catera's engine was a 54-degree 3.0-liter V6 rated at 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet. Just as had been the case with its predecessor, the Allante, no manual transmission was available.

Cadillac CT6 ushers in new naming convention

Johan de Nysschen has been at his new post as president of Cadillac for not even three months , but he's already seen two of his most notable accomplishments from his two-year tenure as president of Infiniti matched by Cadillac. The brand has announced that it is relocating its headquarters, and is now officially changing its nomenclature.
The brand's new flagship model will abandon the familiar three-letter designation enjoyed by every other model in the range (aside from the Escalade), and adopt an alpha-numeric title. So, rather than the expected title of LTS, Cadillac's top-end car will be called the CT6.
Of course, this won't be limited to just one model. According to Cadillac's press release, "familiar lettering like 'CT' would be used for car models, with the number indicating the relative size and position of the cars in the hierarchy of Cadillac models." And yes, that means what you think it means - Cadillac will use the exact same naming formula, albeit with different letters, as Infiniti.

Cadillac prices new XT5 from $39,990

Keen to put your deposit down for a new Cadillac XT5, but waiting to find out how much you'll need to set aside? Well the wait is over, friend, as Cadillac has announced pricing for the new crossover. US pricing starts at $38,995, which works out to $39,990 once you factor in the standard $995 destination charge. That's only $1,390 more than the now wreathless brand charged for the outgoing SRX, which the new XT5 replaces and which carried a starting price of $38,600 (delivered). It also undercuts the competition from most other luxury automakers. The BMW X3 ($40,495), Audi Q5 ($40,900), Lexus RX 350 ($42,850), and Infiniti QX70 ($45,850) each start at a higher base price than the Caddy. However the Mercedes GLE stats marginally lower at $39,875, and the Lincoln MKX goes for significantly less at $37,935 – all prices including destination charges. Of course, that starting price is just for the base model with front-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is optional on Luxury and Premium models, but comes standard on the top-spec Platinum. Step that far up the ladder, though, and you'll be looking at $63,495 (delivered). Related Video: New 2017 Cadillac XT5 Crossover Arrives in April 2017 XT5 CROSSOVER PRICED FROM $38,995 IN THE U.S. 2016-02-10 The first-ever Cadillac XT5 will arrive in U.S. dealerships in early-April, continuing the brand's product-driven growth. XT5 enters the strongest category in the luxury automotive space, the midsize luxury crossover segment, where Cadillac set sales records in 2015. "The arrival of this sophisticated new crossover positions Cadillac well, as XT5 enters the most popular segment in the global luxury market," said Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen. "It's pivotal to our ongoing growth, which is why we've developed XT5 from the inside out to provide customers more space, more technology, more luxury and more efficiency." The XT5 is the first in a series of upcoming luxury crossovers carrying the "XT" designation, a key aspect of the brand's product-driven global growth plan. The new luxury crossover joins Cadillac's lineup immediately following the new range-topping CT6 Sedan, as the brand enters a new phase of product growth. The XT5 is the next chapter in elevating the Cadillac brand: it is bold, distinctive and sophisticated with enhanced driving dynamics. This new crossover perfectly reflects Cadillac's positioning in the luxury automotive marketplace, de Nysschen said.