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Cadillac's Butler announces surprise departure

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Cadillac's vice president of global strategic development, Don Butler, has resigned. Butler has held the position since April, after a term as vice president of US marketing for General Motor's luxury brand.
As the report explains, the timing here is pretty unfortunate for Cadillac. Butler is the third high-profile member of Cadillac's brass to depart in recent months, following the firing of US sales boss Chase Hawkins and the pending departure of Susan Docherty. Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell told the Detroit paper, "Bob [Ferguson]," global boss for Cadillac, "and other leaders asked him to stay on. Don's here in the office today - and told our team that his decision is purely on a personal level. After three years of putting everything into Cadillac, he is stepping away for some personal time, and to consider new avenues in his life."
Butler says his decision is part of a decision to "recalibrate, reassess my priorities." Whatever the reason, it's an unpleasant surprise for Cadillac, which has been on a surge in 2013, with 30-percent jump in sales on the heels of the hot-selling ATS.

Cadillac ATS was almost front-wheel drive

"We were going to do a front-wheel drive Cadillac compact off of Delta because it was going to be less expensive," Doug Parks, General Motors' vice president of global product programs, told the Automotive News during the Detroit Auto Show in January of this year. That sentence, referring to early ATS discussions more than five years ago - a period when the automaker, and the industry, was struggling - reveals that Cadillac's highly acclaimed rear-wheel drive compact sedan almost never happened.
Parks revealed that that automaker actually built a 2.0-liter test mule, on GM's Delta platform (shared with the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Verano) and tested it in Europe. While the prototype was "pretty darn good," according to Parks, the team realized that in order to compete against Mercedes-Benz and BMW it would have to invest in a new rear-wheel drive platform.
The resulting all-new Alpha platform would eventually underpin the Cadillac ATS, and many would argue that its balanced rear-wheel drive chassis is its single most important attribute. Thankfully, the Alpha's goodness won't stop with the ATS. The upcoming 2014 Cadillac CTS and the future Camaro will also share its architecture, meaning the Cimarron will remain a distant memory.

Cadillac ATS-V shares track time and new face with CTS-V sibling

It's been about eight months since we last heard anything on the eagerly anticipated Cadillac ATS-V, meaning it was high time a new batch of photos arrived of the twin-turbocharged, V6-powered sedan.
This latest round includes a shot of the hot ATS-V alongside the upcoming CTS-V, allowing us to glimpse through the camouflage and spot the family resemblance between the two über sedans. According to our spies, this is the first time we've gotten a look at the ATS-V's fascia without a nose bra to obscure larger details. This isn't the first time we've seen a vertically slated grille on an in-development Cadillac V car, although it is the first time we've seen it on the ATS-V. Aside from the main grille, the shapes of the sportier front fascia of the ATS-V tie in nicely with its big brother. We are rather curious about the hood on the ATS-V. It's difficult to tell from these images, but it looks like there may be some vents up there that may be meant to improve cooling to the alleged 425-horsepower engine.
Other details that we can see include swollen fenders and larger wheels that hide amplified brakes. The rear of the car remains heavily obscured by camo, with the sole details of note being the quad exhausts, which we've spotted on previous ATS-V prototypes.